Amnesty International launched today a new campaign called www.irrepressible.info to call public attention and pressure on governments that censor their citizens online and the companies that develop the surveillance software. To support the campaign, you can add censored content to your website or blog and sign their petition. Already 7,000 + people have done just…
Category: Information Society
More Macs on the R Train!
This morning I saw yet another person using their Mac on the R train, from at least City Hall to 42nd street. This guy looked like he was learning how to use a design app, playing with fonts. He even had on headphones connected to his iPod nano. It was after 9:30am, so the train…
Actual real-live working we’re-serious-this-time but-still-sorta-in-beta $100 laptop photos
New pics of the first working prototype of the $100 laptop have been posted by Pete Barr-Watson on Flickr. These laptops, produced under the coordination of the non-profit One Laptop Per Child, are designed to help kids in the developing world bridge the digital divide. There appear to be at least three flavors: orange creamsickle,…
UNAIDS warns about scam emails
I never intended this blog to be the disseminator of knowledge about scam emails purporting to be from the United Nations. And yet, that has become by far my largest “audience” from looking at my stats. I just found another warning from a UN agency about these scam emails, this one from UNAIDS: Various scam…
How to put on an event for students, activists and talking bears
I have started a wiki page on the Second Life Education wiki to encourage folks who know better than me to share their thoughts and suggestions on how to organize “multi-verse” events. I.e. events that take place simultaneously in virtual space and in real space. My contention is that there must be a growing body…
Virtual laptops for real world kids
I have previously blogged about MIT’s “One Laptop Per Child” project. Spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte, the project aims to develop a small, linux-based laptop costed at less than $100 for use by students in schools in the developing world. I am interested in seeing if the Second Life metaverse is a useful space to develop…
Kofi Annan calls for cyber-security on World Info Society Day
Yesterday, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a statement on the first World Information Society Day, May 17th. His short speech centered on the importance of "cyber-security": In an increasingly interconnected and networked world, it has become critically important to safeguard our vital systems and infrastructures against attack by cybercriminals, while instilling confidence in…
Happy World Information Society Day!
Hey, everybody, it’s World Information Society Day! On 27 March 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/60/252 proclaiming 17 May as annual World Information Society Day. According to the ITU, the commemorative day will "help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information communications technologies (ICTs) can…
If it’s not neutral, its not the net
Dan Berninger, senior analyst at Tier1 Research, has an interesting take on the Net Neutrality debate. He notes that the Bells are free to limit people’s access to content via discriminatory throttling of traffic from less-privileged providers (i.e. tiny bloggers like me) in favor of large corporate providers willing pay the toll. But the Bells…
Beyond Broadcast towards Citizen Empowerment
Returning to my little universe after the Beyond Broadcast conference in Harvard this weekend, my take-away is that we all face the daunting challenge is how to re-invent our institutions in a digital age. For public broadcasting, this means incorporating new technologies to better serve their communities with relevant content and to better invite them…