Welcome to Information Technology and Society

Week 9

Here's the wiki with course material: http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/FrontPage.

In this class we'll focus on how the information technology revolution developed, especially vis-a-vis long time Berkeley Professor Manuel Castells' research on the Network Society, as well as http://webnographers.org - a wiki bibliography on virtual ethnography.

I invite your questions, and I'll post a version of the text from each class to http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/FrontPage over the weeks.

There's already a lot of information on this wiki, which will develop with this class.

And please join the Google Group for World University and School - like Wikipedia with MIT Open Course Ware -

http://groups.google.com/group/World-University-and-School.

Today's class (6 Nov 2010) was primarily in voice.

This is a transcript from the Fall 2010 course -

[11:00]  Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...
[11:00]  Connected
[11:01]  You decline Music Island, Sea Turtle Island (52, 11, 21) from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:01]  You decline Music Island, Sea Turtle Island (52, 11, 21) from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:01]  You decline VWER Holiday Party 2010 from A group member named Olivia Hotshot.
[11:01]  You decline PeaceFest @ Music Island, Nov 6 from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:01]  You decline TLE Writers Symposium from A group member named aelwyn Fields.
[11:01]  You decline TLE School Of Languages, Raziel (156, 221, 41) from A group member named aelwyn Fields.
[11:01]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello Roman!
[11:01]  Roman Takacs: Aloha !
[11:02]  Aphilo Aarde: It looks like something is getting built in the air above us toward the screen area
[11:02]  Roman Takacs: Caught an interesting story as I was setting things up ... Europe Simulates Total Cyber War, Typical profiles of players were Computer Emergency Response Teams, Ministries, National Regulatory Authorities, etc.
» http://j.mp/cr0Xuf
[11:02]  Aphilo Aarde: Thanks - interesting
[11:03]  Roman Takacs: That mountain I was worried about falling on me last week was just the top of a building that was having some rendering issues ...
[11:03]  Steve100 Juanos: 'gday
[11:03]  Roman Takacs: Aloha s10^2
[11:03]  Roman Takacs: :)
[11:03]  Aphilo Aarde: There are a few sections at http://webnographers.org on cybersecurity and cyberwar ...
[11:03]  Steve100 Juanos: thx
[11:03]  Aphilo Aarde: interesting to follow the academic literature about this
[11:03]  Roman Takacs: I lkke the list of participants:
[11:03]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello Steve!
[11:04]  Roman Takacs: I want to play the role of a "Regulatory Authority" :)
[11:04]  Roman Takacs: That, or a High Druid Priest :)
[11:04]  Aphilo Aarde: We'll look later on at some of early examples of war in world ... the distributed network of the internet rewrites so much, as does the 'locus' of information
[11:04]  Aphilo Aarde: :)
[11:04]  Roman Takacs: Not to mention the drones ...
[11:05]  Aphilo Aarde: And since the web is very horizontal, a fundamental aspect of the military is challenged by these technologies - hierarchy, - potentially
[11:05]  Steve100 Juanos: hear you 5 by 5
[11:05]  Roman Takacs: a few interesting stories about the guys in Nevada bombing villages, then heading off to pick up their kids from school ... a disconnect of sort ...
[11:05]  Roman Takacs: HEY ! Great !
[11:05]  Roman Takacs: No breaking up !
[11:06]  Steve100 Juanos: sound fine here
[11:06]  Roman Takacs: No ... Quality is EXCELLENT !
[11:06]  Roman Takacs: (Scarey !)
[11:06]  Steve100 Juanos: how did you improve it?
[11:06]  Steve100 Juanos: sound
[11:07]  Steve100 Juanos: t
[11:09]  You decline Music Island, Sea Turtle Island (52, 11, 21) from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:09]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello Meow!
[11:09]  Roman Takacs: , o O (I'd say transcription is ... "poetic" :))
[11:10]  Roman Takacs: Arf ! Arf ! Arf !
[11:17]  Steve100 Juanos: facinating how the chinese DO look at the internet as a group thing
[11:17]  Steve100 Juanos: of course they are worried about being "harmonized"
[11:18]  Roman Takacs: (4 part harmony !)
[11:18]  Steve100 Juanos: I am refering to the mud horses
[11:18]  Steve100 Juanos: re: blogged etc
[11:18]  Steve100 Juanos: no
[11:19]  Roman Takacs: (the inca llama ...)
[11:20]  Aphilo Aarde: China: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/
[11:20]  Aphilo Aarde: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/2763
[11:20]  Roman Takacs: China Digital Times has translated the Song of Grass Mud Horse, a big hit in the Internet, in early February. In brief, Grass Mud Hors
[11:20]  Steve100 Juanos: ah
[11:21]  Steve100 Juanos: eys yes
[11:21]  Roman Takacs: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/03/02/china-more-on-grass-mud-horse/
[11:21]  Roman Takacs: Grass Mud Horse （草泥馬
[11:22]  Aphilo Aarde: http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#China_and_Virtual_Ethnography
[11:23]  Aphilo Aarde: Tor etc - end user circumvention
[11:24]  Roman Takacs: In some sense, however, this has been the story of China ... since the first emperor ...
[11:24]  Aphilo Aarde: http://www.webnographers.org/index.php?title=Papers#Circumvention_Tools_and_Virtual_Ethnography
[11:24]  Roman Takacs: And "poetic illusion" as a way to thwart it ...
[11:24]  Steve100 Juanos: and information is classifed or free
[11:24]  Steve100 Juanos: in asia
[11:24]  Roman Takacs: "allusion"
[11:25]  Aphilo Aarde: http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Courses#Law_School
[11:32]  Aphilo Aarde: Zapatistas
[11:35]  Roman Takacs: (i remember the 8" ones :) )
[11:35]  Aphilo Aarde: PUBLIC OPINION
[11:35]  Steve100 Juanos: gone
[11:36]  Aphilo Aarde: Institute for Global Communication in San Francisco
[11:36]  Aphilo Aarde: in 1994-95
[11:36]  Aphilo Aarde: and in 1993 - Women's group on the computer formed
[11:36]  Aphilo Aarde: La Neta - "the real things"
[11:37]  Aphilo Aarde: the "real thing"
[11:38]  You decline Follow the Light - Peacefest 6 Nov 2010 12 noon slt audience from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:41]  Aphilo Aarde: Politics on the Internet
[11:42]  Aphilo Aarde: 1 social movements / social protest AND the Internet
[11:42]  Aphilo Aarde: 2 Citizen network / community participation
[11:42]  Aphilo Aarde: 3 "Formal" politics and the Internet
[11:43]  Aphilo Aarde: 1 social movements / social protest AND the Internet
[11:43]  Aphilo Aarde: a role of values AND symbols
[11:43]  Aphilo Aarde: b) the role of networks in social change
[11:43]  Aphilo Aarde: c) relationship between the global and the local
[11:43]  Anatoliy Learner: Hi
[11:43]  Aphilo Aarde: Hi
[11:44]  Anatoliy Learner: Hello
[11:45]  Aphilo Aarde: This is a class on Information Technology and Society
[11:45]  Aphilo Aarde: from 11-1 SLT on Satuerdays
[11:45]  Anatoliy Learner: It's intresting
[11:45]  Aphilo Aarde: http://socinfotech.pbworks.com
[11:47]  Aphilo Aarde: 1 change minds
[11:47]  Aphilo Aarde: 2 boycott
[11:48]  Aphilo Aarde: change of values
[11:48]  You decline TLE Sandbox & Newbie Park Raziel (203, 139, 22) from A group member named aelwyn Fields.
[11:49]  Aphilo Aarde: blogger.com
[11:49]  Aphilo Aarde: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=blogger&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.blogger.com%252Fhome%253Fpli%253D1%26a%3DADD_SERVICE_FLAG&alinsu=0&aplinsu=0&alwf=true&hl=en&ltmpl=start&skipvpage=true&rm=false&showra=1&fpui=2&naui=8#s01
[11:52]  Steve100 Juanos: supposedly stout was to help provide a liquid bread
[11:57]  Aphilo Aarde: No globalization without Representation
[11:59]  You decline Follow the Light - Peacefest 6 Nov 2010 12 noon slt audience from A group member named Kate Miranda.
[11:59]  Aphilo Aarde: Independent Media Center is a NETOWRK - which can go on and off line
[12:00]  Roman Takacs: Taking over wheeler hall ? :)
[12:01]  Aphilo Aarde: There was takeover this year of Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley
[12:01]  Roman Takacs: It's always been taken over :)
[12:01]  Aphilo Aarde: 40 students were arrested, or so :)
[12:01]  Roman Takacs: No sticking power !
[12:02]  Aphilo Aarde: :)
[12:02]  Steve100 Juanos: taking over a building has always to mee seemed a waste of time
[12:02]  Steve100 Juanos: but old patter
[12:02]  Steve100 Juanos: n
[12:02]  Aphilo Aarde: It's an old pattern - and yet students do it again and again
[12:02]  Aphilo Aarde: So here's the blog entry from November 21, 2009 -
[12:03]  Aphilo Aarde: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/11/great-horned-owl-chicks-whats.html
[12:03]  Roman Takacs: Most protests are "disruptive" ... and occassionally they can be disruptive enough to close a business (e.g. draft protests in the Bay Area and Boston)
[12:03]  Aphilo Aarde: where I observed Wheeler Hall being cordoned by riot police
[12:03]  Aphilo Aarde: with students inside
[12:03]  Roman Takacs: but generally, they don't "stick"
[12:04]  Aphilo Aarde: 12:20 SLT
[12:04]  Roman Takacs: (no trees in the neighborhood ? :) )
[12:04]  Aphilo Aarde: :)
[12:05]  Aphilo Aarde: See you in 15
[12:20]  Aphilo Aarde: Hello everyone!
[12:20]  Steve100 Juanos: hello
[12:20]  Roman Takacs: Aloha ...
[12:20]  Aphilo Aarde: Aloha!
[12:21]  Aphilo Aarde: Observations, thoughts, comments?
[12:21]  Aphilo Aarde: ... thus far?
[12:21]  Roman Takacs: I follow China marginally - I'm more into Japan and Keitai culture ...
[12:22]  Aphilo Aarde: Rebecca MacKinnon, Ethan Zuckerman, GlobalVoicesOnline.org, blogging community in China
[12:23]  Aphilo Aarde: http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/11/great-horned-owl-chicks-whats.html
[12:23]  Aphilo Aarde: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
[12:24]  Roman Takacs: (There is a n interview s.w. with the tank driver ...
[12:24]  Aphilo Aarde: what's the url?
[12:24]  Roman Takacs: no.
[12:25]  Roman Takacs: (of course! i)
[12:27]  Roman Takacs: (Recall mao taught "teach rebellion")
[12:27]  Roman Takacs: (In japan, this would be called the "samurai spirit")
[12:28]  Aphilo Aarde: Isaac Mao, a Berkman Center for Internet and Society fellow, Rebecca MacKinnon, Ethan Zuckerman, GlobalVoicesOnline.org, blogging community in China
[12:28]  Steve100 Juanos: ok
[12:31]  Roman Takacs: "Chinese Daily Life" =/= "American Daily Life"
[12:31]  Steve100 Juanos: I would say .. focusing the little things is what I know of the chinese here...looking there
[12:31]  Roman Takacs: or not intersect ...
[12:32]  Aphilo Aarde: http://webnographers.org
[12:32]  Steve100 Juanos: fun asside .. doesn't EVERYONE have an electric bike .. from a young woman who came for a short work stay?
[12:35]  Aphilo Aarde: How can you stop a network?
[12:35]  Steve100 Juanos: kill the networkers?
[12:35]  Roman Takacs: kill the bits :)
[12:36]  Roman Takacs: bury them in more bits :)
[12:36]  Steve100 Juanos: china seems to lock them up for a long time
[12:38]  Aphilo Aarde: Networks of Mobilization
[12:38]  Aphilo Aarde: decisive change - thanks to the internet
[12:39]  Aphilo Aarde: globalization of movement
[12:39]  Aphilo Aarde: globalization of movements
[12:40]  Aphilo Aarde: Global Sociel Movements 2000
[12:40]  Aphilo Aarde: *Social
[12:44]  Aphilo Aarde: Internet is scalable
[12:45]  Aphilo Aarde: Values and code changes organized around networking, and characterized by organizing locally and acting globally.
[12:46]  Aphilo Aarde: Rand corporation - Arquilla and Rondfeld
[12:46]  Aphilo Aarde: researchers
[12:49]  Roman Takacs: (no "workers of the world unite?" ?)
[12:51]  Steve100 Juanos: probably in last 6 months .. I have been barrashed by a stealth emali campaigh by some shadowy right wing group
[12:51]  Steve100 Juanos: intersting and virtal
[12:53]  Aphilo Aarde: identity - which may threatened vis-a-vis globalization in this case today of social movements due to networking
[12:53]  Aphilo Aarde: all in the context of free speech
[12:53]  Roman Takacs: Chomsky had an interesting take on the election and "popular discontent" ("protest:) ... Chomsky on the election, Chris Potter,
» http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A87541
[12:54]  Aphilo Aarde: Thanks, Steve :)
[12:54]  Aphilo Aarde: Roman*
[12:55]  Roman Takacs: http://www.funkylist.com/ViewList.aspx?id=577&name=Checkout+What+Chinese+Walmart+Sells
[12:56]  Roman Takacs: Yes, all wrapped up in plastic !
[12:56]  Roman Takacs: It's "ethnophobia?"
[12:59]  Steve100 Juanos: y
[13:01]  Steve100 Juanos: fyi: the future discussed..
off topic: gartner group hype cycle.
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1447613
[13:01]  Roman Takacs: 1800 technologies !
[13:01]  Steve100 Juanos: yes
[13:01]  Roman Takacs: My house isn't big enough !
[13:01]  Steve100 Juanos: and where they are on the cureve
[13:01]  Steve100 Juanos: yw
[13:01]  Steve100 Juanos: adeu
[13:02]  Steve100 Juanos: thx
[13:02]  Roman Takacs: Ciao !
[13:02]  Aphilo Aarde: Aloha!
[13:03]  Roman Takacs: I love the trough of disillusion :)
[13:05]  Aphilo Aarde: :)

P.S.

Here are notes from Roman Takacs on Tiananmen Square, which he emailed to Aphilo after today;s class:

I think I may have confused the "docudrama" film review with a news report the first time I saw it ... here are some interesting links on the media coverage of the event ...

Inside the Tank at Tiananmen Square, by Jeff Severns Guntzel
A film selected by the 2008 Pangea Day film festival puts us inside the tank where, in this version at least, there is indeed panic. It's a reminder of something almost impossible to glean from the Tank Man images now burned on our brains: This was not so much a standoff between a man and a machine as a meeting of men feeling their way through an unusual moment with nothing but their base instincts to guide them.
http://www.utne.com/Policis/Inside-the-Tank-at-Tiananmen-Square-Guntzel.aspx

West miscasts Tiananmen protesters
By James Kynge - Financial Times - 4 June 20009
From the Financial Times, James Kynge provides a critique of Western media representation of Tiananmen and provides an interesting perspective:
http://www.rascott.com/News%20pages/tiananmen20.htm

Behind the Scenes: Tank Man of Tiananmen
By Patrick Witty
Stories from four photographers with four published photographs (and a few hundred unpublished)
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/behind-the-scenes-tank-man-of-tiananmen/

There is also a book ... Ma Jian, Beijing Coma, Vintage, May 2009. Translation by Flora Drew.

http://socinfotech.pbworks.com