One of the hazards of the 'blogosphere' is that conspiracy theories and rumours can take on a life of their own. Take this example, reported in the Detroit Free Press, "A conspiracy to get Bush? No, just blog legend", Friday, October 8, 2004:
"The fast-growing universe of political blogs is taking a hit to its credibility over a flap involving a few dozen misprinted absentee ballots in a tiny Michigan community.
In one precinct in the city of Alma (population 9,275) in rural Michigan's Gratiot County, 69 absentee ballots were misprinted so the arrows didn't line up properly next to the places to vote for President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. The problem was immediately discovered, says the Michigan Secretary of State's Election Division. The 69 bad ballots were reprinted and redistributed and steps were taken to make sure that those 69 ballots could not be counted should someone find and turn one in.
No other place in the state had the problem.
So that's the end of the story, right? Nope.
Enter the blogosphere. Someone in Alma got hold of one of the misprinted ballots, scanned it and posted it on the Net and -- faster than you can say conspiracy -- it was picked up and run by blogs all over the world. Many of the blog postings and comments voiced outrage and urged people to protest, claiming the problem was a political dirty trick to make Kerry votes count for Bush...."
Friday, October 08, 2004
Thursday, October 07, 2004
New media and internet activism
There is a good article available through Ingenta -
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging",
by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, in new media & society, Vol6 (1): 87–95, 2004
"The examples in this article suggest how new media developments in
technoculture make possible a reconfiguring of politics and culture and a
refocusing of politics on everyday life. In this conjuncture, the ideas of Guy
Debord and the Situationist International are especially relevant, with their
stress on the construction of situations, use of technology, media of
communication, and cultural forms to promote a revolution of everyday life,
and to increase the realm of freedom, community, and empowerment."
"New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging",
by Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner, in new media & society, Vol6 (1): 87–95, 2004
"The examples in this article suggest how new media developments in
technoculture make possible a reconfiguring of politics and culture and a
refocusing of politics on everyday life. In this conjuncture, the ideas of Guy
Debord and the Situationist International are especially relevant, with their
stress on the construction of situations, use of technology, media of
communication, and cultural forms to promote a revolution of everyday life,
and to increase the realm of freedom, community, and empowerment."
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
The Baghdad Blogger
The classic example of a political blogger - Salam Pax from Baghdad:
From the Globeandmail.com, Canada, wed Oct 6th 2004, "A weblog's trip to fame" :
"Two years ago, Salam Pax was in his parents' house in suburban Baghdad, preparing for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On Sept. 7, he wrote the following entry on his weblog: "I'm preparing my emergency lists these days -- any suggestions are welcome. At the moment I have: Candles Alcohol (maybe red wine?) Good books Crunchy munchies. I think that will get me thru [sic] the bombing quite nicely."
Pax's droll, incisive and increasingly frustrated bulletins soon became an international phenomenon. Every day, thousands of people visited what became known as the Baghdad Blog (http:dear_raed.blogspot.com) to read daily updates by this mysterious young man. The topics he wrote about, in fluent English, ranged from the CDs in his collection (Bjork, David Bowie and Coldplay are favourites), to open criticisms of both Saddam's regime and the U.S.-led coalition troops.
After his identity was revealed by a Guardian journalist (there was speculation he was a CIA agent or a Baath Party plant), Pax parlayed his writing into a book of collected blogs, a bi-monthly column for The Guardian and an on-going stint as a video reporter for Newsnight, the current-affairs TV program on BBC Two.
At first, the blog was simply a way for Pax to keep in touch with his friends Raed, who had moved from Baghdad to Jordan to study for his master's degree in architecture, and Ghaith, known only as "G" in the blog, who disappeared after refusing to do military service. The three had graduated from architecture school together in Vienna. And like many of the diatribes, which have become such a hot phenomenon on the Web, Pax's first few blogs were filled with banter and banalities that would hardly interest anyone outside the trio.
As the situation in Iraq became more heated, however, Pax decided he should start documenting the events that were happening around him, such as the feverish stockpiling of food in the weeks before the invasion, fluctuations in the value of the dinar and the fear that surrounded him. He soon began commenting on bits of news he was reading and the blog became steadily more political. As an English-based Iraqi who had spent many years abroad, a homosexual and an atheist, Pax wrote with an outsider's view that helped his Western readers relate.
"My man Salam," William Gibson, the Vancouver-based, sci-fi author wrote on his own blog. "I'm a total fan. Tells it like he sees it, and sees it like I can't."
"It worries me," says Pax, who stopped writing his blog last May. "I don't want people to come looking for answers. I have no idea what's happening in Iraq these days . . . Believe me, I am more confused about what Iraqis want these days than you are, and I'm an Iraqi."
"We are trying to get on with our lives. I hate it when people say to me 'You Iraqis are doing nothing for yourselves, you expect people to do everything for you.' No, we're not. We're really trying as hard as we can. The thing is, we lost a government. There are no laws. We need basic support."
He spares no vitriol for the U.S. troops. But for all the continuing violence and hatred and misunderstanding and uncertainty, Pax still says the U.S. invasion was worth it.
"We have hope now. It used to be Saddam, the son of Saddam, the son of the son of Saddam for the rest of your life. Now you actually have hope for something better if we can get our act together and work out our differences. . . .
"Life does go on and you have to hope that some day we'll have our country back."
From the Globeandmail.com, Canada, wed Oct 6th 2004, "A weblog's trip to fame" :
"Two years ago, Salam Pax was in his parents' house in suburban Baghdad, preparing for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On Sept. 7, he wrote the following entry on his weblog: "I'm preparing my emergency lists these days -- any suggestions are welcome. At the moment I have: Candles Alcohol (maybe red wine?) Good books Crunchy munchies. I think that will get me thru [sic] the bombing quite nicely."
Pax's droll, incisive and increasingly frustrated bulletins soon became an international phenomenon. Every day, thousands of people visited what became known as the Baghdad Blog (http:dear_raed.blogspot.com) to read daily updates by this mysterious young man. The topics he wrote about, in fluent English, ranged from the CDs in his collection (Bjork, David Bowie and Coldplay are favourites), to open criticisms of both Saddam's regime and the U.S.-led coalition troops.
After his identity was revealed by a Guardian journalist (there was speculation he was a CIA agent or a Baath Party plant), Pax parlayed his writing into a book of collected blogs, a bi-monthly column for The Guardian and an on-going stint as a video reporter for Newsnight, the current-affairs TV program on BBC Two.
At first, the blog was simply a way for Pax to keep in touch with his friends Raed, who had moved from Baghdad to Jordan to study for his master's degree in architecture, and Ghaith, known only as "G" in the blog, who disappeared after refusing to do military service. The three had graduated from architecture school together in Vienna. And like many of the diatribes, which have become such a hot phenomenon on the Web, Pax's first few blogs were filled with banter and banalities that would hardly interest anyone outside the trio.
As the situation in Iraq became more heated, however, Pax decided he should start documenting the events that were happening around him, such as the feverish stockpiling of food in the weeks before the invasion, fluctuations in the value of the dinar and the fear that surrounded him. He soon began commenting on bits of news he was reading and the blog became steadily more political. As an English-based Iraqi who had spent many years abroad, a homosexual and an atheist, Pax wrote with an outsider's view that helped his Western readers relate.
"My man Salam," William Gibson, the Vancouver-based, sci-fi author wrote on his own blog. "I'm a total fan. Tells it like he sees it, and sees it like I can't."
"It worries me," says Pax, who stopped writing his blog last May. "I don't want people to come looking for answers. I have no idea what's happening in Iraq these days . . . Believe me, I am more confused about what Iraqis want these days than you are, and I'm an Iraqi."
"We are trying to get on with our lives. I hate it when people say to me 'You Iraqis are doing nothing for yourselves, you expect people to do everything for you.' No, we're not. We're really trying as hard as we can. The thing is, we lost a government. There are no laws. We need basic support."
He spares no vitriol for the U.S. troops. But for all the continuing violence and hatred and misunderstanding and uncertainty, Pax still says the U.S. invasion was worth it.
"We have hope now. It used to be Saddam, the son of Saddam, the son of the son of Saddam for the rest of your life. Now you actually have hope for something better if we can get our act together and work out our differences. . . .
"Life does go on and you have to hope that some day we'll have our country back."
Bill Gates backs blogs for businesses
BBC News , 21 May 2004
Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said.
In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.
He said blogs had advantages over other, older ways of communicating such as e-mail and websites.
More than 700 Microsoft employees are already using blogs to keep people up to date with their projects.
Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said.
In a speech to an audience of chief executives, Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.
He said blogs had advantages over other, older ways of communicating such as e-mail and websites.
More than 700 Microsoft employees are already using blogs to keep people up to date with their projects.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
International Conference on Communities & Technologies
Just to indicate how the issue of online communities and c0mmunities online is of increasing interest and importance, take a look at the issues being covered at the Second International Conference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) being held in Milan, Italy, 13-16 June, 2005; http://www.cct2005.disco.unimib.it/
The relationship between communities and technology is an increasingly important research topic as the number of communities turning to technology for online and face-to-face support grows. The Second InternationalConference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) conference provides a forum for stimulating and disseminating research about all facets of community and technology support for communities.
To be successful this field requires multidisciplinary research effortsinvolving researchers from different fields of applied computer science (Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, Human ComputerInteraction, Information Systems), the social sciences (Economics,Management Science, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Ethnography,Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Economics) and many application areas, such as Education, Business, Medicine and civic engagement.
Communities are social entities whose participants share common goals,needs, interests, and practices: they constitute the basic units of social experience. For a number of reasons, researchers are increasingly interested in the topic of communities.
First, within a global knowledge-based society,communities play a pivotal role. Problems such as new forms of politicalparticipation and civic engagement, maintenance of cultural identity, or theintegration of minorities need to be tackled on the community level.
Second, communities also re-shape the processes of learning and sharing knowledge in and among organizations, formal and informal groups. The Internet and the Web make communication possible across national boundaries and between cultures in ways that could not happen before. Furthermore, mobile devices, particularly advanced phone technologies, promise to open the Internet to people who have been denied access for financial, technical and cultural reasons. For information technologies to support communities research is needed to understand the social, technical and usability needs of participants.
Many topics need to be addressed including: trust-building, maintaining social relations, social capital, visualization of social relationships, matching participants, bridging between physical and electronically-mediated interaction, cultural needs.
The conference offers an opportunity to present and discuss empirical and conceptual research. Topics covered include, but are not restricted to, the following subjects:
Social science approaches to communities and technologies:
* models and theories
* online communities and organization theory
* communities and social network analysis
* ethnographic studies of virtual communities
Social dimensions of community technologies:
* privacy and security
* empathy and trust
* participation and non-participation
* community learning
Local communities and social capital:
* technologies and social capital development
* community informatics / digital cities
* case studies of community building and development
* cross-cultural communities
* communities and NGO's
* local, rural and regional communities
Communities in organizations and business:
* communities and business models
* consumer communities and electronic commerce
* online consumer and brand communities
* communities and knowledge management
Communities and innovation:
* communities of practice and communities of interest
* communities and innovation
* open source communities
* epistemic communities and technology development
Technologies for community support:
* virtual, networked and mobile community formation and development
* novel forms of technology support
* design and development methods
* technical architectures
* interoperability among community systems
* virtual community support for education, business, government, civic activities, etc
* light-weight technologies
* visualization
The relationship between communities and technology is an increasingly important research topic as the number of communities turning to technology for online and face-to-face support grows. The Second InternationalConference on Communities & Technologies (C&T 2005) conference provides a forum for stimulating and disseminating research about all facets of community and technology support for communities.
To be successful this field requires multidisciplinary research effortsinvolving researchers from different fields of applied computer science (Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Information Retrieval, Human ComputerInteraction, Information Systems), the social sciences (Economics,Management Science, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Ethnography,Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Economics) and many application areas, such as Education, Business, Medicine and civic engagement.
Communities are social entities whose participants share common goals,needs, interests, and practices: they constitute the basic units of social experience. For a number of reasons, researchers are increasingly interested in the topic of communities.
First, within a global knowledge-based society,communities play a pivotal role. Problems such as new forms of politicalparticipation and civic engagement, maintenance of cultural identity, or theintegration of minorities need to be tackled on the community level.
Second, communities also re-shape the processes of learning and sharing knowledge in and among organizations, formal and informal groups. The Internet and the Web make communication possible across national boundaries and between cultures in ways that could not happen before. Furthermore, mobile devices, particularly advanced phone technologies, promise to open the Internet to people who have been denied access for financial, technical and cultural reasons. For information technologies to support communities research is needed to understand the social, technical and usability needs of participants.
Many topics need to be addressed including: trust-building, maintaining social relations, social capital, visualization of social relationships, matching participants, bridging between physical and electronically-mediated interaction, cultural needs.
The conference offers an opportunity to present and discuss empirical and conceptual research. Topics covered include, but are not restricted to, the following subjects:
Social science approaches to communities and technologies:
* models and theories
* online communities and organization theory
* communities and social network analysis
* ethnographic studies of virtual communities
Social dimensions of community technologies:
* privacy and security
* empathy and trust
* participation and non-participation
* community learning
Local communities and social capital:
* technologies and social capital development
* community informatics / digital cities
* case studies of community building and development
* cross-cultural communities
* communities and NGO's
* local, rural and regional communities
Communities in organizations and business:
* communities and business models
* consumer communities and electronic commerce
* online consumer and brand communities
* communities and knowledge management
Communities and innovation:
* communities of practice and communities of interest
* communities and innovation
* open source communities
* epistemic communities and technology development
Technologies for community support:
* virtual, networked and mobile community formation and development
* novel forms of technology support
* design and development methods
* technical architectures
* interoperability among community systems
* virtual community support for education, business, government, civic activities, etc
* light-weight technologies
* visualization
Monday, October 04, 2004
"there is no more knowledge; there is only information"
Interesting article by Mark Edmunson, "All Entertainment All the Time" in the Poets and Writers Review. It offers interesting insights into higher education in America (and here). For example, he shows how the Web has changed the way students research and think:
"Now that computers are everywhere, each area of inquiry in the humanities is more and more defined by the computer’s resources. Computers are splendid research tools. Good. The curriculum turns in the direction of research. Professors don’t ask students to try to write as Dickens would were he alive today. Rather, they research Dickens. They delve into his historical context; they learn what the newspapers were gossiping about on the day that the first installment of Bleak House hit the stands. We shape our tools, McLuhan said, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Many educated people in America seem persuaded that the computer is the most significant invention in human history. Those who do not master its intricacies are destined for a life of shame, poverty, and neglect. More humanities courses are becoming computer-oriented, which keeps them safely in the realm of cool, financially negotiable endeavors. A professor teaching Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper,” which depicts the exploitation of young boys whose lot is not altogether unlike the lot of many children living now in American inner cities, is likely to charge his students with using the computer to compile as much information about the poem as possible. They can find articles about chimney sweepers from 1790s newspapers; contemporary pictures and engravings that depict these unfortunate little creatures; critical articles that interpret the poem in a seemingly endless variety of ways; biographical information on Blake, with hints about events in his own boyhood that would have made chimney sweepers a special interest; portraits of the author at various stages of his life; maps of Blake’s London. Together the class might create a Blake—Chimney Sweeper Web site: www.blakesweeper.edu.
Instead of spending class time wondering what the poem means, and what application it has to present-day experience, students compile information about it. They set the poem in its historical and critical context, showing first how the poem is the product and the property of the past—and, implicitly, how it really has nothing to do with the present except as an artful curiosity; and second how, given the number of ideas about it already available, adding more thought would be superfluous.
By putting a world of facts at the end of a key-stroke, computers have made facts, their command, their manipulation, their ordering, central to what now can qualify as humanistic education. The result is to suspend reflection about the differences among wisdom, knowledge, and information. Everything that can be accessed online can seem equal to everything else, no datum more important or more profound than any other. Thus the possibility presents itself that there really is no more wisdom; there is no more knowledge; there is only information. No thought is a challenge or an affront to what one currently believes."
"Now that computers are everywhere, each area of inquiry in the humanities is more and more defined by the computer’s resources. Computers are splendid research tools. Good. The curriculum turns in the direction of research. Professors don’t ask students to try to write as Dickens would were he alive today. Rather, they research Dickens. They delve into his historical context; they learn what the newspapers were gossiping about on the day that the first installment of Bleak House hit the stands. We shape our tools, McLuhan said, and thereafter our tools shape us.
Many educated people in America seem persuaded that the computer is the most significant invention in human history. Those who do not master its intricacies are destined for a life of shame, poverty, and neglect. More humanities courses are becoming computer-oriented, which keeps them safely in the realm of cool, financially negotiable endeavors. A professor teaching Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper,” which depicts the exploitation of young boys whose lot is not altogether unlike the lot of many children living now in American inner cities, is likely to charge his students with using the computer to compile as much information about the poem as possible. They can find articles about chimney sweepers from 1790s newspapers; contemporary pictures and engravings that depict these unfortunate little creatures; critical articles that interpret the poem in a seemingly endless variety of ways; biographical information on Blake, with hints about events in his own boyhood that would have made chimney sweepers a special interest; portraits of the author at various stages of his life; maps of Blake’s London. Together the class might create a Blake—Chimney Sweeper Web site: www.blakesweeper.edu.
Instead of spending class time wondering what the poem means, and what application it has to present-day experience, students compile information about it. They set the poem in its historical and critical context, showing first how the poem is the product and the property of the past—and, implicitly, how it really has nothing to do with the present except as an artful curiosity; and second how, given the number of ideas about it already available, adding more thought would be superfluous.
By putting a world of facts at the end of a key-stroke, computers have made facts, their command, their manipulation, their ordering, central to what now can qualify as humanistic education. The result is to suspend reflection about the differences among wisdom, knowledge, and information. Everything that can be accessed online can seem equal to everything else, no datum more important or more profound than any other. Thus the possibility presents itself that there really is no more wisdom; there is no more knowledge; there is only information. No thought is a challenge or an affront to what one currently believes."
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Robin Hamman
I am hoping that Robin Hamman will be coming to give a talk later in the term. Robin runs cybersoc.com which is "an online resources for social scientists and internet professionals interested in the study of cyberculture, cyberspace, computer mediated communication and online communities"
Robin currently works as a Community Producer at the BBC and his written several articles on online communities. His most recent is a talk he gave "Global Networks act local" at a conference in Warsaw. He makes the argument that "instead of using the internet to act globally, many users today are more interested in using the internet to make new local connections or to supplement existing communication between themselves and people they are already familiar with"
He refers to the BBC'c "Where I Live" websites as an example of the Internet being used for local information and reinforcing local ties. Another local example would be Manchester Community Information Network (MCIN) of which I am chair. More about MCIN later, but just to observe that it has established 13 local 'community wide webs' in Manchester, based round geographical areas (eg: Cheetham info) or communities of interest (eg: the deaf community gateway)
Robin currently works as a Community Producer at the BBC and his written several articles on online communities. His most recent is a talk he gave "Global Networks act local" at a conference in Warsaw. He makes the argument that "instead of using the internet to act globally, many users today are more interested in using the internet to make new local connections or to supplement existing communication between themselves and people they are already familiar with"
He refers to the BBC'c "Where I Live" websites as an example of the Internet being used for local information and reinforcing local ties. Another local example would be Manchester Community Information Network (MCIN) of which I am chair. More about MCIN later, but just to observe that it has established 13 local 'community wide webs' in Manchester, based round geographical areas (eg: Cheetham info) or communities of interest (eg: the deaf community gateway)
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