Society and Information Technology in Second Life

Wednesdays, January 9 - July 30, 2008, 4-6, SLT/PT, 7-9 pm ET

on Berkman island in Second Life - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/114/70/25

Course homepage - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

 

Instructor: Scott MacLeod (not on Harvard's faculty) = Aphilo Aarde (in Second Life)

http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm

 

 

 

Apr 23 2008 Soc and Info Tech class transcript 

 

[15:59]  Connected

[16:00]  sara Gartenberg: what od you mean?

[16:00]  Aphilo Aarde: location?

[16:00]  sara Gartenberg: where i live?

[16:00]  Aphilo Aarde: Hi Boston!

[16:00]  sara Gartenberg: japan

[16:00]  Aphilo Aarde: what time is it there?

[16:00]  Aphilo Aarde: HI Bruce!

[16:01]  You: Hi Aphilo

[16:01]  sara Gartenberg: it's 8 in the morning

[16:01]  Bruce Flyer: good evening all

[16:01]  You: Hi sara

[16:01]  Bruce Flyer: good morning :-)

[16:01]  Aphilo Aarde: A good time for something like this :)

[16:01]  sara Gartenberg: hi boston

[16:01]  You: Hi Bruce

[16:01]  Bruce Flyer: hi Boston

[16:01]  sara Gartenberg: hi bruce

[16:01]  Aphilo Aarde: How did you hear about this course, Sara?

[16:01]  Bruce Flyer: hi sara

[16:01]  sara Gartenberg: i searched a education

[16:01]  Aphilo Aarde: Hi Mac

[16:01]  Aphilo Aarde: Great

[16:02]  sara Gartenberg: so are you a lecturer?

[16:02]  sara Gartenberg: aphilo?

[16:03]  Andromeda Mesmer is Offline

[16:04]  Aphilo Aarde is Offline

[16:05]  Geda Hax: Hello everybody

[16:05]  sara Gartenberg: hi geda

[16:05]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi geda

[16:05]  You: Hi Geda

[16:05]  01 Hifeng: hey

[16:05]  Mec Benelli: hello Geda

[16:06]  You: Looks like Aphilo lost the connection

[16:06]  sara Gartenberg: yeah ... hope he'll be back soon

[16:06]  You: I hope so!

[16:06]  Andromeda Mesmer is Online

[16:08]  You: I got a call from Aphilo. He says he hopes to be back in a minute or two. Bad connection in the cafe he's in.

[16:08]  sara Gartenberg: all right

[16:08]  Aphilo Aarde is Online

[16:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Sorry about that - lost internet access

[16:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello again.

[16:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Hie UnderX

[16:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Claryssa, Geda

[16:09]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi

[16:09]  UnderX McMillan: Hi

[16:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Greetings.

[16:10]  Aphilo Aarde: This is a course on Society and Information Technology

[16:10]  Aphilo Aarde: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[16:10]  Aphilo Aarde: Tonight we'll examine the Digital Divide

[16:10]  Aphilo Aarde: One interesting recent contribution to changing who has access to computing and the Interent,

[16:11]  Aphilo Aarde: and who doesn't is Negroponte and Bender's One Laptop per Child

[16:11]  Aphilo Aarde: Which has had some success in reaching children, and giving them ownership

[16:11]  Aphilo Aarde: which is one of the XO's primary goals

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: But I'd like to foucs

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: on 4 things in this class

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: 1. The Concept of the Digital Divide

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: 2. Global Inequality

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: 3. the Global Digital Divide

[16:12]  Aphilo Aarde: and 4. US Minorities and Poverty

[16:13]  Aphilo Aarde: and, acutally, a fifth topic 5. The Digital Divide in the US and policies to Overcome it

[16:13]  Aphilo Aarde: I find conversations in SL most interesting

[16:13]  Aphilo Aarde: and while I have a number of things I want to cover today and perhaps next time

[16:14]  Aphilo Aarde: I encourage fully our observations and questions, and knowledge.

[16:15]  Aphilo Aarde is Offline

 

 

[16:09]  You: Sorry about that - lost internet access

[16:09]  You: Hello again.

[16:09]  You: Hie UnderX

[16:09]  You: Claryssa, Geda

[16:09]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi

[16:09]  UnderX McMillan: Hi

[16:09]  You: Greetings.

[16:10]  You: This is a course on Society and Information Technology

[16:10]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[16:10]  You: Tonight we'll examine the Digital Divide

[16:10]  You: One interesting recent contribution to changing who has access to computing and the Interent,

[16:11]  You: and who doesn't is Negroponte and Bender's One Laptop per Child

[16:11]  You: Which has had some success in reaching children, and giving them ownership

[16:11]  Barbie Starr is Online

[16:11]  You: which is one of the XO's primary goals

[16:12]  You: But I'd like to foucs

[16:12]  You: on 4 things in this class

[16:12]  You: 1. The Concept of the Digital Divide

[16:12]  You: 2. Global Inequality

[16:12]  You: 3. the Global Digital Divide

[16:12]  You: and 4. US Minorities and Poverty

[16:13]  You: and, acutally, a fifth topic 5. The Digital Divide in the US and policies to Overcome it

[16:13]  You: I find conversations in SL most interesting

[16:13]  You: and while I have a number of things I want to cover today and perhaps next time

[16:14]  You: I encourage fully our observations and questions, and knowledge.

[16:15]  Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...

[16:15]  Disconnected from in-world Voice Chat

 

 

16:21]  sara Gartenberg: since he gave a resume ... we can start with the fucus 1, about the concept of the digital divide .. if anybody familar and explain it :)

[16:23]  sara Gartenberg: does it mean computer in general?

[16:23]  Aphilo Aarde is Online

[16:23]  Bruce Flyer: to me the digital divide refers to the fact that for any of several reasons access to cyberspace is unequal and unfair

[16:23]  sara Gartenberg: oh he's back

[16:23]  You: The "digital divide" refers to the differences in access to information technology between differnet countries and different groups of people.

[16:24]  sara Gartenberg: thanks, boston and bruce :)

[16:24]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello again -

 

 

 

[16:23]  Movies1963 Beck is Online

[16:23]  Bruce Flyer: to me the digital divide refers to the fact that for any of several reasons access to cyberspace is unequal and unfair

[16:23]  Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...

[16:23]  Connected

[16:23]  sara Gartenberg: oh he's back

[16:23]  Boston Hutchinson: The "digital divide" refers to the differences in access to information technology between differnet countries and different groups of people.

[16:24]  sara Gartenberg: thanks, boston and bruce :)

[16:24]  You: Hello again -

[16:24]  You: internet access here is the worst its been in 6 months

[16:24]  You: sorry

[16:25]  You: So the digital divide is a media term

[16:25]  You: not a concept or social science term

[16:25]  You: It refers to unequal distribution of technology and technological capacity among people

[16:26]  You: it also refers to access to technology and the ability to use it

[16:26]  Michele Mrigesh is Offline

[16:26]  You: And the capacity to use it has serious consequences for people at large

[16:26]  You: The digital divide refers to differential access to the Internet and Computers

[16:27]  You: And we'll look at it in terms of social groups, countries and regions

[16:27]  You: After covering the topic, it doesn't make sense to refer to technology and inquality, by starting with technology

[16:27]  You: and then look at which patterns and processes are associated with Info tech

[16:27]  Annette Paster is Online

[16:28]  You: Instead, wer're going to understand the emergence of inequality and then

[16:28]  You: an analysis the Digital Divide

[16:28]  You: will come after the analysis of inequality

[16:29]  You: IN conclusion, in a society and economy in which technology has an extraordinarily increased the capacity to be efficient

[16:29]  You: the digital divde is a serious barrier to be equality

[16:29]  You: At the same time, in the last 20 years, we've expereinced an increase in inequality

[16:30]  You: Gurus say that the end of scarcity is near

[16:30]  You: that it's down the line - but where is down and what is the line?

[16:30]  You: Do you have a question Seeker?

[16:30]  You: Anyone?

[16:30]  Seeker Schussel: no

[16:30]  You: Bruce?

[16:30]  Bruce Flyer: many hungry people hope here and soon

[16:31]  Bruce Flyer: scarcity of what?

[16:31]  You: for people in terms of basic necessities of life, as well as access to computing.

[16:31]  Bruce Flyer: as population increases it seems that almost everything will become more scarce

[16:32]  You: Hans Rosling, the Swedish professor, whose video I've mentioned recently

[16:32]  You: shows how, over the past 40 years, inequality has decreased, and that access to computing correlates with increased standards of living

[16:33]  You: www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

[16:33]  You: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

[16:33]  You: This talk is also very funny, and dynamic

[16:33]  You: Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen

[16:34]  You: But the digital divide still exists

[16:34]  Michele Mrigesh is Online

[16:34]  You: And things like the Green Revolution, another advance due to technology has offset hunger

[16:34]  Bruce Flyer: my students network a lot online but it does not seem to help them become smarter

[16:34]  You: But in the 1st 2 decades

[16:35]  You: of expansions of technology and the network society, there has also been an increase in inequality

[16:35]  You: It's interesting, Bruce, to see how computing can be used to help students learn

[16:35]  Boston Hutchinson: FAcebook probably doesn't make them smarter, but what about Google?

[16:36]  You: For some, the ability to simply access the Internet requires a sophistication vis-a-vis information access that they learn

[16:36]  Bruce Flyer: i would like to know how computing can help them think more clearly

[16:36]  01 Hifeng: google - my best friend ;) *cough*

[16:36]  You: and the best students probably do gain a lot . . .

[16:36]  You: learn latin? :)

[16:37]  You: latin strucutres thinking, but learning requires discipline, best internalized

[16:37]  Bruce Flyer: technology may "lift all boats" but in so doing inequity is likely to increase

[16:37]  Bruce Flyer: that is my problem with "closing the gap" strategies

[16:37]  You: Yes, and the correltion between the expansion of technology and inequality and the expansion of inequality

[16:38]  You: is NOT proof that inequality is increasing

[16:38]  Bruce Flyer: it seems to suggest something is gained by limiting the advancement of the already advanced

[16:38]  You: What happens as a result of technology deepens the processes of inequlity rooted in structures and institutions of society

[16:38]  You: Inequality occurs in 8 ways

[16:38]  You: and people engage in these processes indiscriminately

[16:39]  You: Each one of the 8 ways has a different behavior

[16:39]  You: To understand inequality and social exclusion

[16:39]  You: we need to differentiate how people relate to

[16:39]  You: 1 consumption - how one relates in terms of work to production

[16:40]  You: 2 produciton - who gets what under produciton, i.e. money, housing, benefits, and work in the production system

[16:41]  You: 3 the different scales or criteria that differentiate people

[16:41]  You: There are different appropriateion of wealth strategios of people

[16:42]  You: 1) Inequality involves differentail appropriation of wealth by different individuals and social groups relative to each other, in terms of income and assets

[16:42]  You: 2) Polarization - a specific process of inequality

[16:42]  You: that occurs when both top and bottom of scale of distribution expand

[16:42]  You: shrinking the middle,

[16:43]  You: and increasing differences between the extremes

[16:43]  You: leading to greater inequality

[16:43]  Sunnyk Noyes is Offline

[16:43]  You: the rich get richer and the poor get richer too

[16:43]  You: The rich get even richer than the poor get richer, though.

[16:44]  You: This happens throughout societies and leads to greater inequality

[16:44]  You: One could also have polarization decreasing and inequality increasing

[16:44]  You: There are many possible combinations

[16:44]  You: For example

[16:45]  You: If in the U.S. you divide people by 20% increments in each category

[16:45]  You: and you calculate the ratio of money to mpeople

[16:45]  You: if the 50% caetgory increases to 55%

[16:45]  You: a polarization occurs

[16:46]  You: If this refers to teh relative distribution and everybody increases 10%

[16:46]  You: the top gets more and the bottom less

[16:46]  You: So polarization occurs when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

[16:46]  You: 3) Poverty

[16:46]  You: This is a different matter

[16:46]  You: that is an institutionally defined norm

[16:47]  You: it's a certain level of income given on avg to a family of 4

[16:47]  You: People need to ahve a decent living, and below this is poverty

[16:47]  You: ...relative to price, cost, and normal standards of living

[16:47]  You: Extreme poverty is the poorest of the poor

[16:48]  You: And this refers to those households that fall below 50% of the level of income that defines poverty

[16:48]  You: 4) the relationship of consumption or lack of consumption

[16:49]  You: refers to the differential approapriation of wealth in society

[16:49]  You: it refers to relationships of produciton of work process in a production system

[16:49]  You: where individualization - the process by which

[16:50]  You: labor's contribution to production is defined specifically by each worker - is much more signficint in the info Tech revolution

[16:50]  Sariah Chihuly is Offline

[16:50]  You: And each worker relates to a different status - and the extreme case is the self empployed

[16:51]  You: Imagine a ceratin type of working arrangment that is the norm for society

[16:51]  You: And Imagine an indsutry in that norm

[16:51]  You decline From Myspace to Hip Hop from A group member named In Kenzo.

[16:51]  You: wher e overexploitation occures

[16:51]  Bruce Flyer: "9 to 5"

[16:51]  You: where some people are put under a norm

[16:52]  You: Even tody, women are paid 77% of what men get, but it used to be 60%

[16:52]  You: Or if you are an undocumented worker, or young, or out of prision, these

[16:52]  Seeker Schussel: as they should

[16:52]  You: there* are so many circumstances that affect formal working relations

[16:52]  You: And give you some wage but no benefits

[16:53]  You: We're still talking about relationships to producion

[16:53]  You: Another relationship of production

[16:53]  Bruce Flyer: i am concerned about a kind of digital divide related to faculty members

[16:53]  You: and this is the most controversial

[16:53]  You: Yes, Bruce?

[16:53]  You: What do you mean?

[16:54]  Bruce Flyer: an increase in "use" of online adjunct faculty

[16:54]  Bruce Flyer: resulting in fewer tenure track positions

[16:54]  You: Yes, that is an interesting development

[16:54]  You: I haven't seen data, but reflecting

[16:54]  Keane Koga is Online

[16:54]  You: a further individualization

[16:55]  You: where adjunct faculty members have computers, but no benefits

[16:55]  Bruce Flyer: often the case i fear

[16:55]  You: Yes, but it isn't yet as conroversial as SOCIAL EXCLUSION

[16:56]  Aidan Aquacade is Offline

[16:56]  You: as a category and the 3rd relationship of production

[16:56]  You: It was originally proposed by a European Commisision, and then the United Nations

[16:56]  You: And it isn't widely used in the US literature

[16:56]  Aidan Aquacade is Online

[16:56]  You: the term MARGINALITY is used in the US literature

[16:57]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[16:57]  You: Social exclsuion refers to social rites of citizens to a certain basic standard of livng to particiapte in major social processes

[16:58]  You: A process by which special individuals and groups are systematiclly bared from access to positions

[16:58]  You: that would enable them to an autnomous livelihood

[16:58]  You: usually a job -

[16:58]  You: but not necessarily a job -

[16:58]  Keane Koga is Offline

[16:58]  You: Under usual circumstands it leads to a lack of regular paid work

[16:59]  You: e.g.e homelensses

[16:59]  You: After a while of living on the street, you are out

[17:00]  You: And some conditions - homelessness, conditions of crime - lead to social exclusion

[17:00]  You: 4 Perverse integration

[17:00]  You: refers to perversion working in the criminal economy

[17:00]  You: And it's unrelated to other workers int eh criminal economy

[17:01]  You: it's estimated that money laundering in criminal revenue-generated and circulated

[17:01]  Arrehn Oberlander: : pardons himself.

[17:01]  You: is about the same as in the computer industiaon in 2000 - abt 1.5 trillion us dollars

[17:02]  You: Are there questions so far?

[17:02]  You: In exploring inequality

[17:02]  You: before we get to the digital divide?

[17:02]  You: Obsevations before

[17:02]  You: we take a 10 minute break?

[17:02]  Bruce Flyer: ok

[17:03]  You: Then let's take a 10 minute break before we return to the 4 final topics of the Digital Divide -

[17:03]  You: We will meet next week . . .

[17:03]  Seeker Schussel: Looking good!

[17:03]  You: See you in 10 minutes!

[17:04]  You: I'll post the transcript thus far - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[17:04]  You: See you at 14 mintues past the hour

 

 

 

 

[17:14]  You: Hi All

[17:14]  Bruce Flyer: :-)

[17:14]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi Aphilo

[17:14]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/Apr-23-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[17:15]  You: Here's the wiki url for the transcript

[17:15]  You: So in the first half of the class, we've looking at the Concept of Inquality

[17:15]  You: Thanks for your questions!

[17:16]  You: And before we move on to the 2nd of 5 topics for the Digital Divide - 2 Global Inquality

[17:16]  You: let's conclude abt the concept of inequality

[17:17]  You: where we can define it as a specific condition characterized by instability and high risk

[17:17]  You: the bottom line here is

[17:18]  You: most people will necessarily go to where they can earn money, and then they're are drawn into the system

[17:18]  You: of production

[17:18]  You: They tehn trade freedom for what you can make

[17:19]  You: And the above occurs acorrs culture and relates to what has been happening in the past 2 decades.

[17:19]  You: So 2. GLOBAL INEQUALITY

[17:19]  You: In a millenium report at the UN in 2000

[17:19]  You: October

[17:19]  You: Kofi Anan, the then head of the UN

[17:19]  You: provided a description of inequality

[17:20]  You: a synthetic view of inequality

[17:20]  You: a projection on 1000 individuals in terms of who gets what

[17:20]  You: And, of those 1000 individuals, representing poeple in the world

[17:20]  You: 150 live in affluent areas, so 15%

[17:21]  You: 780 live in poor dilapidated conditions

[17:21]  You: and 70 live in transition neighborhoods

[17:21]  You: The average income in $6,000 a year

[17:21]  You: And in this 'village'

[17:21]  You: 200 of the 1000

[17:22]  You: have 86% of all the wealth while

[17:22]  You: 500 of the 1000 live on less than 2 dollars a day

[17:22]  You: And $6,000 / year income as average jsut doesn't exist

[17:22]  You: Of these 1000, 400 are under 20 years of age

[17:23]  You: 300 are illiterate

[17:23]  You: And less than 60/1000 own a computer

[17:23]  You: and only 24 have access to the internet

[17:23]  You: and more than 50% have never telephoned

[17:23]  You: 400/1000 have no electricity

[17:23]  You: and 35% have no running water

[17:24]  You: and 650 / 1000 or 65% have no proper sanitation

[17:24]  You: Life expectancy, however, has substantially increased over 30 years.

[17:25]  You: And the distribution of life expectancy is extraordinarily unequal

[17:25]  You: Life expectancy is 78 yrs on average in the affluent countries

[17:26]  You: in moderately affluent countires, it's 68 yrs

[17:26]  You: in moderately poor ones, it's 64 years

[17:26]  You: and the poor die at around 52 years of age, on avaergae

[17:26]  You: In the OECD countries

[17:27]  You: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

[17:27]  You: the rich coutnries are members - it's kind of a coutnry club of countries

[17:27]  You: See Rosling's video above for this, too

[17:28]  You: While the OECD is primarily made up of rich countries, the number of countries in this gorup has increased signficantly

[17:28]  You: since 1960

[17:28]  You: from 48 to 64

[17:28]  You: And they tend to trade with each other

[17:29]  You: And then include north america, japan, mexico, europe

[17:29]  You: In terms of inequality (according to the UN)

[17:29]  You: 1 billion people from the developed coutnreis have 60% of the world financial assets

[17:29]  Aidan Aquacade is Offline

[17:29]  Geda Hax is Online

[17:30]  You: and 3.5 billion people have only 20% of financial assets

[17:30]  You: Hi Geda!

[17:30]  You: And with the increase in population expected, of 2 billion more

[17:30]  Jon Seattle is Offline

[17:30]  Tori Annenberg is Online

[17:30]  Geda Hax: Hi there , awful sl day

[17:30]  Bruce Flyer: second life is hard

[17:30]  You: of these 2 billion 95% of them will be born in developing counries below the world poverty line

[17:31]  Geda Hax: I am getting even the feared blue screen

[17:31]  Geda Hax: sorry ... *zip*

[17:31]  You: Weather in SL can be a bit inclement :)

[17:31]  You: So the trend is for the poor to increase

[17:31]  Bruce Flyer: why is it that in most places poverty leads to high birth rates but in Russia the reverse?

[17:31]  You: So I'm trying to give you a dynamic snapshot

[17:32]  You: Developed countries all lower their birth rates -

[17:32]  You: a correlate with industrialization . . .

[17:32]  Arrehn Oberlander: Emigration.

[17:32]  You: Yes

[17:33]  You: To see the long term -

[17:33]  You: 1870 - 1990s

[17:33]  Dnate Mars is Offline

[17:33]  You: over the long term the ratio of rich to poor coutnreis inequality has been multiplied by 6

[17:33]  You: And the distribution of wealth between countreis

[17:34]  You: over the last 25 years - the distance between the wealth of countries - has increased

[17:34]  You: with two exceptions

[17:34]  You: The gap in income lessened between the west and

[17:34]  You: 1) Japan

[17:35]  You: 2) and there was some decrease in inequality between asian pacific countries and the rest of the world

[17:35]  You: By 1995, considerable progress was made in reducing this distance

[17:36]  You: So what has happened recently with income inequality?

[17:36]  You: Income inequality between people at world levels has increased - overall

[17:36]  You: Between 1993 and 1999

[17:37]  You: the share of income of the riches 20% of all coutnreis

[17:37]  You: went from 70% to 85%

[17:37]  Dnate Mars is Online

[17:38]  You: In the 1960s, the 20% richest countries / (over) the 20% poorest had a ration of 30 : 1

[17:38]  You: and the ratio in 1996 was 61 :1

[17:39]  Covey Homewood is Online

[17:39]  You: In 1996 , there were 383 persons who were billionaires and had assets which when combined were equal

[17:39]  Diego Ibanez is Offline

[17:39]  You: to 50% of the world population's assets

[17:39]  You: Moving to countries, what has happened with them?

[17:40]  You: It's a complex picture, but we'll look at the trend . . .

[17:40]  You: Increasing inequality occurred in most countries during teh 1990s

[17:40]  You: in the US, UK, European Union except for southern Europe

[17:41]  You: Sweden increased inqueality in realtion to Spain

[17:41]  You: And the trend toward increasing inequality is occurring in Russia and China

[17:41]  You: and Brazil couldn't get any worse

[17:41]  You: It is has one of the highest in the world

[17:41]  Geda Hax nods

[17:41]  Geda Hax: it does

[17:42]  You: "Haiti is worse," Brazil says.

[17:42]  Geda Hax: lol

[17:42]  You: You live in Brazil, correct, Geda?

[17:42]  Geda Hax: yep

[17:42]  You: :)

[17:42]  Geda Hax: ;)

[17:42]  You: Japan and Taiwan ahve the least income inequality

[17:42]  You: but in terms of th trend, they have increased, as well.

[17:42]  sara Gartenberg: yeah, but it's changing now

[17:42]  Geda Hax: also we have the highest tax as well

[17:43]  You: The only places in the world with decreasing inequality are

[17:43]  You: India

[17:43]  You: Malaysia

[17:43]  You: and Singapore

[17:43]  You: So polarization has increased systematically in all countries

[17:43]  You: The rich get richer and poor get poorer

[17:44]  You: Polarization has increased.

[17:44]  You: Poverty is a different matter - and it has been substantially reduced in some cases

[17:44]  Bruce Flyer: would Marx have said anything about influence of modern technology today regarding polarization?

[17:44]  You: It was very bad in 1990, and is only now around 25%

[17:45]  You: I think he didn't trace the rise of individualization that has occurred with the Info Tech revolution

[17:45]  You: that has led to divides and inequality in the rich world

[17:46]  Xirconnia Morphett is Online

[17:46]  You: and his technological determinism, now with globalization, certainly reflects his conflct theory

[17:46]  Arrehn Oberlander: Is there a correlation between rate of change in equality and rate of economic growth?

[17:46]  Bruce Flyer: i don't want to lead you off track. am thinking about relationships between individualization and alienization

[17:47]  Geda Hax is Offline

[17:47]  You: You might look at "Empire" for further analysis and contemporary, Arrehn and Bruce

[17:47]  You: (book)

[17:48]  Arrehn Oberlander nods.

[17:48]  You: So to return to this snapshot

[17:48]  You: before we conclude obervations and questioins.

[17:48]  You: there are two major cases in substantial reduction in poverty in the past 2 decades

[17:48]  You: IN China and India

[17:48]  You: why?

[17:49]  You: Mainly due to a massive movement of peoples from rural to urban settings.

[17:49]  You: the rural live in dire poverty, and in income it's worse

[17:49]  You: Due to a process of industrialization and urbanization

[17:49]  Bruce Flyer: in case of China, physical exports?

[17:49]  You: in China and India, things look better

[17:50]  Bruce Flyer: in case in India, virtual exports?

[17:50]  You: Poverty in urban areas in Latin America, However, has increased.

[17:50]  Michele Mrigesh is Online

[17:50]  You: And in Africa, sub-saharan especially,

[17:50]  You: poverty has dramatically decreased

[17:51]  You: So overall there has been a reduction of poverty in some areas

[17:51]  You: and substantial increase of number of poor in the world.

[17:51]  You: So, next week, we'll look at the CONSUMPTION side of the equation

[17:52]  You: But questions, observations, thoughts?

[17:52]  Covey Homewood is Offline

[17:52]  You: Knowledge about the Info Tech and the digital divide? which we'll get to after looking at inequality, first . . . ?

[17:53]  You: It would be interesting to see how the XO has analyzed the issue of the Digital Divide

[17:53]  You: And whether MIT's one laptop per child with their aims for childhood ownership have engaged UN statistics, at all.

[17:53]  You: Does anyone know?

[17:53]  You: or know of someone who knows?

[17:54]  Arrehn Oberlander: I wonder if there's someone involved in teh XO (who hasn't resigned) in SL that could be invited.

[17:54]  You: The one laptop per child targets 8 countreis at present

[17:54]  Covey Homewood is Online

[17:54]  You: Good question

[17:55]  You: The Berkman Center for INternet and Society's 10th Anniversary Celebration is occurring in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 15 and 16

[17:55]  You: And I'm attending. When I was at the Berkman Conference last year - "UNIVERSITY: KNOWLEDGE BEYOND AUTHORITY'

[17:55]  Geda Hax is Online

[17:56]  You: XO representatives were showing the XO in Austin Hall at harvard

[17:56]  You: If they're there again this year, I may ask them

[17:56]  You: Although this may have been the last class of this semester, I do have a number of further talks I'd like to give

[17:56]  You: so we'll continue for the next few weeks

[17:57]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[17:57]  You: is the wiki address, which I update

[17:57]  You: I also post transcripts there -

[17:57]  Bruce Flyer: thank you Aphilo

[17:57]  You: I see these talks and our conversations as a kind of knowledge production

[17:57]  You: so please invite friends, those with specific knowledge and general knowledge

[17:58]  You: Are there questions about what we've talked about so far?

[17:58]  Geda Hax is Offline

[17:58]  Robyn Proto is Online

[17:58]  You: Other approaches to the digital divide

[17:58]  You: like the XO

[17:58]  You: that are innovative

[17:58]  You: For another perspective

[17:58]  Champler Snook is Offline

[17:58]  You: this TED talk is dynamically exciting -

[17:59]  You: Hans Rosling's

[17:59]  Jeande Laville is Online

[17:59]  You: I posted it above

[17:59]  You: but here it is again

[17:59]  You: Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen

[17:59]  You: It's only 20 minutes

[18:00]  You: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

[18:00]  You: And it offers a somewhat optimistic view on the digital divide and poverty and inequality trends

[18:00]  You: Rosling also outlines ways to liberate DATA from databases :)

[[18:01]  You: a way of information access in a project called Mind the Gap

[18:01]  You: So http://www.gapminder.org/

[18:01]  You: That too is an interesting reference vis-a-vis many aspects of the digital divide

[18:02]  You: So, see you next week . . .

[18:02]  You: And thanks for coming

[18:02]  Cookie Kappler is Online

[18:02]  Bruce Flyer: bye everyone

[18:02]  sara Gartenberg: thanks aphilo

[18:02]  Boston Hutchinson: Thanks for class!

[18:02]  Bruce Flyer is Offline

[18:02]  sara Gartenberg: very interesting

[18:02]  You: Join this class's group if you're interested - soc and info tech ~ aphilo on Berkman

[18:02]  You: in SL

[18:03]  01 Hifeng: thanks for class :)

[18:03]  Mec Benelli is Offline

[18:03]  You: Thank you:)

[18:03]  Claryssa Schmidt: thanks Aphilo

[18:03]  Claryssa Schmidt is Offline

[18:04]  Covey Homewood is Offline

[18:04]  Arrehn Oberlander: Thanks, it's good to bring a magnifying glass to this topic.

[18:04]  Imper Fegte is Online

[18:04]  Boston Hutchinson: See you next week.

[18:04]  Abigail Tinkel is Offline

[18:04]  Boston Hutchinson is Offline

[18:06]  Robyn Proto: hello Aphilo :)

[18:06]  You: See you next week!

[18:06]  You: Hil Robyn!

[18:06]  You: Nice to see you!

[18:06]  You: Yes, Arrehn

[18:06]  You: Thanks Claryssa

[18:06]  Robyn Proto: do you only meet Wednesdays here?

[18:07]  You: Right now only on wednesdays - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[18:07]  Robyn Proto: oh too bad... will you continue into the summer?

[18:08]  Robyn Proto: oh not according to your website

[18:08]  You: Yes, we'll continue over the next few weeks - I have more I want to say

[18:08]  You: Yes, I'll change that soon

[18:08]  Robyn Proto: my other class (Wednesday night) ends mid May

[18:08]  Robyn Proto: maybe I can catch one after that :)

[18:09]  You: great . . . :)

[18:09]  Imper Fegte is Offline

[18:09]  Robyn Proto: well have a good night :)

[18:10]  You: You too. Nice to see you :)

 

 

 

 

From a concurrent instant messaging session in Second Life

 

[18:02]  Johan Hecht: I'm an engineering student at Harvard University researching the use of virtual worlds for teaching...I noticed you're teaching a class, so you might have some valuable input. If you have a little time after your done and could spare a few minutes to answer some questions, I think you could provide some valuable information for our project.

[18:02]  Aphilo Aarde: Hi Johan

[18:03]  Aphilo Aarde: Yes, what are you're questions?

[18:03]  Johan Hecht: I was just wondering basic things, like if this platform has worked well for you, what improvements you might like to see, things like that.

[18:03]  Johan Hecht: Any testimonials on why it might work well

[18:04]  Aphilo Aarde: I've enjoyed this platform a lot, as it's developing, and because it allows for conversation with a differeny dynamic than in class

[18:05]  Aphilo Aarde: It also allows for saving the transcript, and referring back to it, thus changing the quality of information exchange.

[18:06]  Aphilo Aarde: And since video conferencing is possible, as well as voice, it can also be very much like RL , and it will develop.

[18:07]  Johan Hecht: Do you use the sound and video conferencing much? And what about the virtual world itself is valuable?

[18:07]  Aphilo Aarde: only a little - not everybody has those capabilities - so group chat is more inclusive

[18:08]  Aphilo Aarde: The virtual world is useful because it's placeless

[18:09]  Aphilo Aarde: , so people from around the world can attend, and it's an interesting example in many ways, but I haven't explored building in class

[18:09]  Johan Hecht: Very true

[18:09]  Johan Hecht: So you teach people from all around?

[18:10]  Aphilo Aarde: At present, yes - someone was in Japan, another in Brazil

[18:10]  Aphilo Aarde: It also potentially allows very knowledgeable people to meet together for conversation -

[18:11]  Aphilo Aarde: a little like an intranet communicating, with very specialized software

[18:12]  Johan Hecht: I've never really thought of that point before. But I like it.

[18:12]  Johan Hecht: How long have you been holding discussions on here?

[18:12]  Aphilo Aarde: I've taught for three semesters now.

[18:13]  Aphilo Aarde: I need to go to the rest room - im me if you have more questions . . .

[18:14]  Johan Hecht: Okay. I think that's all I really needed to know. I was just curious about how the teachers actually felt about using SL, since we've only spoken to one.

[18:16]  Johan Hecht: Thanks a lot! I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me. I guess the only other question I have is possibly your name and institution...We have a presentation of our findings on Monday and I'd like to acknowledge you for this short interview if that's alright.

[18:18]  Aphilo Aarde: It's on the wiki - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[18:18]  Aphilo Aarde: right now, I'm teaching primarily here

[18:18]  Aphilo Aarde: on Berkman Island in Second LIfe - so that's my institution, if you want to call cyberspace or a virtual world an institution

[18:19]  Aphilo Aarde: My RL name is Scott MacLeod

[18:21]  Johan Hecht: Okay, thanks for all the info! If you're wondering what we are researching, it's to connect the existing Harvard campus in Cambridge to the one going to be built in Allston. We came up with a platform much like SL, but with document editing/sharing capabilities. It doesn't exist yet, but we feel it would be very powerful for teaching if it did, so we're going to propose something like it to the faculty at the School of Engineering here and see what we can do.

[18:21]  Aphilo Aarde: Why not use Second Life?

[18:21]  Aphilo Aarde: Great. I'd be happy to meet with them.

[18:22]  Aphilo Aarde: Yes, SL is one of the most versatile platforms.

[18:22]  Aphilo Aarde: In addition, OpenSim will allow for further innovations, partly possibly through competition, and can connect.

[18:24]  Johan Hecht: Cool, we haven't run into that yet! There's just so much info out there, and we don't have enough man power to find it all

[18:24]  Aphilo Aarde: Please let me know if I can help.

[18:25]  Johan Hecht: If you live in the Boston area, we are presenting our report this Monday at Harvard, if you're interested. Unfortunately we aren't simulcasting (would be cool, though).

[18:26]  Aphilo Aarde: I'll be in Boston around May 15 and 16 for the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School's 10th Anniversary celebration, but not before.