Daily EM

i’ve got an article in openDemocracy today. here’s a teaser: 

The Web’s unmatched usefulness in providing access to research materials, mobilizing supporters, and raising money has already triggered protracted and painful soul-searching among many hierarchical, well-staffed and budget-driven organizations, who are getting increasingly unsure of their future role. However, just as traditional media organizations are gradually nudging towards embracing aggregation and curation as activities where they could add value, other institutions, whether anti-globalist or not, will have little choice but to follow suit and become the new networking hubs – rather than the headquarters – of social change, which would be increasingly enacted by individuals. 

I’ve got an oped about the Streisand effect in tomorrow’s issue of the International Herald Tribune (I submitted it more than two weeks ago and the IWF dispute has been settled by now - still, the lessons hold). Here’s a teaser: 

Their default strategy in the age of the Streisand Effect should be engaging - not fighting - the online communities that host materials that they find offensive, particularly when these communities are popular and otherwise uncontroversial. For all its shortcomings, Wikipedia does have strong governance and deliberative mechanisms; anyone who has ever followed discussions on Wikipedia’s mailing lists will confirm that its moderators and administrators openly discuss controversial issues on a regular basis. 

However revolutionary it may be, the Internet still hasn’t altered the basic law of human communication: Being nice to your interlocutors is a good way to start any negotiations, particularly, when being hostile is an open invitation for a cyber-fight. 

I have a piece in The Economist next week on the use of social media in Greek riots (their Greece stringer has contributed). Here’s a teaser: 

 Already, the Greek riots are prompting talk of a new era of networked protest. The volume of online content they have inspired is remarkable. Photos and videos of the chaos, often shot with cellphones, were posted online almost in real time. Twitter, a service for exchanging short messages, has brimmed with live reports from the streets of Athens, most of them in Greek but a few in English. 

I’ve got an oped on “digital natives” in tomorrow’s International Herald Tribune. Here’s a teaser: 

Few studies have examined the tribe of “digital natives” born outside the well-off and democratic societies of North America and Western Europe. Are they the “digital renegades,” ready to leverage the power of social networking and text messaging to topple their undemocratic governments? Or are they “digital captives,” whose political and social dissent has been significantly neutered by the Internet, turning them into happy consumers of Hollywood’s digital marginalia? 

I’ve got an article in next week’s issue of The Economist. It’s on cyberwarfare (more to come!). Here is a teaser: 

…For a cyberattack to qualify as “cyberwar”, some observers argue, it must take place alongside actual military operations. Trying to disrupt enemy communications during conflict is, after all, a practice that goes back to the earliest telecommunications technology, the telegraph. In 1862, for example, during the American Civil War, a landing party from Thomas Freeborn, a Union navy steamer, went ashore to cut the telegraph lines between Fredericksburg and Richmond. The Russian navy pioneered the use of radio jamming in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905. On this view, cyberattacks on infrastructure are the next logical step  

I’ve got an article in next week’s issue of The Economist. It’s on the changing face of the environmental activism. Here’s a teaser:

…But even in places to which global NGOs have little access, the ease with which images and sounds can be disseminated has tilted the balance of power in favour of environmentalists.Take the fallout from a deal between the Russian aluminium concern Rusal and the government of Guinea to mine bauxite. Green protests were the last thing Rusal expected. But Kamara Secu, a leader of the Guinean community in Russia, was undaunted. He rang Rusal’s press officers and taped their response; they were dismissive and mocked his accent. Mr Secu then posted a recording of the exchange on YouTube, the video-sharing site; it was picked up by green bloggers, and helped to rally support for a demonstration against Rusal.

I had this piece in OD a few days ago. 

I have an article about crowdsourcing in the new issue of the Economist. Here is a preview:  

WHEN the British government established the Longitude prize in 1714, offering a cash prize for a simple and practical way to determine the position of ships at sea, it was ahead of its time. Rather than funding a single research scientist to solve the problem, it adopted an approach that has lately become known as “crowdsourcing”.  

so my main project — Polymeme — got itself a very nice redesign. take a look! you can also read  about what’s new and why at our blog.

I’ve got an oped in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Check it out here. Here’s a short preview:

While the real war between Russia and Georgia may be over, the Internet war lingers on, with virtual battalions continuing to fight on sites like YouTube.

The point of contention is a short clip of a Fox News program, in which Shepard Smith, the host, interviewed two South Ossetians: a 12 year-old-girl from Walnut Creek, Amanda Kokoev, and her aunt, Laura Tedeeva-Korewiski, who happened to be in the region when the war broke out. The interview went fine until she blamed Georgia for the war. Smith, in a rather abrupt manner, interrupted and asked for commercial break - only to have the aunt call on the Georgian government to resign when they returned on air. “That’s exactly what Russians want,” whispered Smith, as he cut them off again - this time forever.