oddtag's posterous http://oddtag.posterous.com Most recent posts at oddtag's posterous posterous.com Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:39:00 -0800 Communication Power http://oddtag.posterous.com/communication-power http://oddtag.posterous.com/communication-power

book: Communication Power - Manuel Castells on amazon.com

 

We live in the midst of a revolution in communication technologies that affects the way in which people feel, think, and behave. The mass media (including web-based media), Manuel Castells argues, has become the space where political and business power strategies are played out; power now lies in the hands of those who understand or control communication. Over the last thirty years, Castells has emerged as one of the world's leading communications theorists. In this, his most far-reaching book for a decade, he explores the nature of power itself, in the new communications environment. His vision encompasses business, media, neuroscience, technology, and, above all, politics. His case histories include global media deregulation, the misinformation that surrounded the invasion of Iraq, environmental movements, the role of the internet in the Obama presidential campaign, and media control in Russia and China. In the new network society of instant messaging, social networking, and blogging--"mass self-communication"--politics is fundamentally media politics. This fact is behind a worldwide crisis of political legitimacy that challenges the meaning of democracy in much of the world. Deeply researched, far-reaching in scope, and incisively argued, this is a book for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics and character of the modern world.

links:

  - #tunisie

- #wikileaks on twitter

 

video: Castells' keynote at oxford for the release of his new book, "Communication Power" on vimeo.com

 

 

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Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:18:00 -0800 Never waste a good crisis: the Net, the Power and WikiLeaks http://oddtag.posterous.com/never-waste-a-good-crisis-the-net-the-power-a http://oddtag.posterous.com/never-waste-a-good-crisis-the-net-the-power-a

txt: Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It's your choice - John Naughton, guardian.co.uk

 

The most obvious lesson is that it represents the first really sustained confrontation between the established order and the culture of the internet. There have been skirmishes before, but this is the real thing. And as the backlash unfolds – first with deniable attacks on internet service providers hosting WikiLeaks, later with companies like Amazon and eBay and PayPal suddenly "discovering" that their terms and conditions preclude them from offering services to WikiLeaks, and then with the US government attempting to intimidate Columbia students posting updates about WikiLeaks on Facebook – the intolerance of the old order is emerging from the rosy mist in which it has hitherto been obscured. The response has been vicious, co-ordinated and potentially comprehensive, and it contains hard lessons for everyone who cares about democracy and about the future of the net.

 

links:

- How Wikileaks has woken up journalism - Emily Bell, Tow Center Columbia University

- Il potere digitale - Stefano Rodotà, repubblica.it

- Why WikiLeaks Is Good for America - Evan Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Wired.com

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Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:56:21 -0700 Veneziacamp 2010 the digital innovation festival - Venice 1-3 july http://oddtag.posterous.com/veneziacamp-2010-the-digital-innovation-festi http://oddtag.posterous.com/veneziacamp-2010-the-digital-innovation-festi txt: www.veneziacamp.it Google english translation
I temi della manifestazione, trattati in oltre 50 sessioni, speech e dibattiti, sono: innovazione ed e-commerce (1 luglio); cultura della rete, scuola e social networking, pubblica amministrazione (2 luglio); barcamp, tourism web 2.0, politica e rete (3 luglio). Ampio spazio verrà inoltre dedicato ai cambiamenti in atto e al futuro dell’editoria, con l’affermarsi di prodotti come iPhone e iPad. Per la prima volta parteciperà alla manifestazione l’Associazione Italiana dei Parchi Scientifici Tecnologici. Tra gli eventi speciali: Facebook developer garage, una full immersion sull’evoluzione di Facebook e della sua piattaforma di sviluppo; WIFI Day a Venezia, un anno di Cittadinanza Digitale, in occasione dell’anniversario dell’offerta della connessione Internet gratuita ai cittadini da parte del Comune di Venezia. Per la prima volta arrivano nel Nord Est le GGD Girl Geek Dinners con l’organizzazione di una cena per donne, ma non solo, appassionate di informatica e cultura digitale. che segnerà l'esordio di una serie di meeting in Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia e Trentino Alto Adige. VeneziaCamp si svolgerà nelle Tese di San Cristoforo, nell’Area Nord dell’Arsenale di Venezia. L’ingresso è libero. Nei giorni della manifestazione è prevista la connessione gratuita alla rete Wi-Fi, previa iscrizione on-line nel sito dell’evento: www.veneziacamp.it VeneziaCamp – Festival dell’Innovazione Digitale è organizzato da VEGA Parco Scientifico Tecnologico di Venezia e Expo Venice e gode del patrocinio della Provincia di Venezia, del Comune di Venezia, del Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca con gli Uffici Scolastici Regionali di Veneto e Lombardia, del W3C – World Wide Web Consortium e di Formez PA.

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Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:58:14 -0700 The Future of Publishing http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-future-of-publishing http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-future-of-publishing txt: PenguinGroup - The Future of Publishing on youtube.com
This video was prepared by the UK branch of Dorling Kindersley Books and produced by Khaki Films. Originally meant solely for a DK sales conference, the video was such a hit internally that it is now being shared externally. We hope you enjoy it (and make sure you watch it up to at least the halfway point, there's a surprise!). Read an interview with the creator of the video on the Penguin Blog: The clip was inspired by a video created by an Argentinian agency, Savaglio/TBWA entitled Truth
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg]

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Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:47:48 -0700 The Internet of things http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-internet-of-things http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-internet-of-things video+txt: IBMSocialMedia on youtube.com
When we talk about a smarter planet, you can say that it has two dimensions. One is to be more efficient, be less destructive, to connect different aspects of life which do affect each other in more conscience and deliberate and intelligent ways. But the other is also to generate fundamentally new insights, new activity, new forms of social relations. So you could look at the planet as an information, creation and transmission system, and the universe was hearing its information but we werent. But increasingly now we can, early days, baby steps days, but we can actually begin to hear the planet talking to us.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk]

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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:19:43 -0800 A digital Googlenaissance http://oddtag.posterous.com/a-digital-googlenaissance http://oddtag.posterous.com/a-digital-googlenaissance txt: A digital renaissance: partnering with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage
The Renaissance, Europe's period of cultural, political and scientific rebirth, began in Florence around 600 years ago. At Google we're interested in a (small “r”) renaissance of a different kind — a digital one. Since the launch of Google Books, we’ve been working with libraries and publishers around the globe to bring more of the world's books to more readers around the globe. Any school child should be able to access the works of Petrarch, Dante or Vico (or, if they're so inclined, Machiavelli). In the case of these more famous authors, this is already largely possible, but what about the work of Guglielmo il Giuggiola or Coluccio Salutati? We want all of the great literature and writings of Italy to be accessible to the general public.
links: - MiBAC / Google: Conferenza Stampa di presentazione di uno storico accordo - Europeana

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Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:05:03 -0800 Internet as a tool (of freedom) http://oddtag.posterous.com/internet-as-a-tool-of-freedom http://oddtag.posterous.com/internet-as-a-tool-of-freedom txt: March 11, 2010: Lawrence Lessig speech at Italian Parliament: Internet is Freedom [blip.tv ?posts_id=3351759&dest=-1]

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Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:31:38 -0800 A random place in the world: Carnarvon Rd, Hong Kong http://oddtag.posterous.com/a-random-place-in-the-world-carnarvon-rd-hong http://oddtag.posterous.com/a-random-place-in-the-world-carnarvon-rd-hong Google maps is an impressive way to look the world. Like when the childs point a finger random on the globe, and dream about it. [googlemaps http://maps.google.it/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=it&geocode=&q=...,12.392578&sspn=16.458104,39.506836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hong+Kong&layer=c&cbll=22.298978,114.173659&panoid=wzNIV23efnG8MhKFy6dKEw&cbp=13,203.24,,0,6.9&ll=22.396428,114.109497&spn=0,359.951763&z=14&output=svembed&w=500&h=400]

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Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:11:07 -0800 Like a customer (with rights that are respected) http://oddtag.posterous.com/like-a-customer-with-rights-that-are-respecte http://oddtag.posterous.com/like-a-customer-with-rights-that-are-respecte txt: Big change in the tech world - Dave Winer www.scripting.com
Think about how you're treated by airlines. By insurance companies. If you have to go to a hospital. That's the kind of relationship you have with Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc. Sooner or later there will be a massive oil spill or a massive network-wide security breach. Expect these companies to be every bit as bad as the ones in other industries. Probably worse because they've come so far without much oversight or scrutiny. Recently Google was given permission to trade energy. Who are these companies? We have no idea. If you want to know what you can do, great -- there are things you can do. Buy your own services and put your content in places where you are treated like a customer with rights that are respected. That's still possible. In many industries it's no longer possible, but you can get that kind of service on the Internet now, but you have to pay for it.

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Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:26:44 -0800 Question: how has the internet transformed our lives for the worse? http://oddtag.posterous.com/question-how-has-the-internet-transformed-our http://oddtag.posterous.com/question-how-has-the-internet-transformed-our txt: You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto - A Q&A with Author Jaron Lanier - amazon.com
Question: You argue the web isn’t living up to its initial promise. How has the internet transformed our lives for the worse? Jaron Lanier: The problem is not inherent in the Internet or the Web. Deterioration only began around the turn of the century with the rise of so-called "Web 2.0" designs. These designs valued the information content of the web over individuals. It became fashionable to aggregate the expressions of people into dehumanized data. There are so many things wrong with this that it takes a whole book to summarize them. Here’s just one problem: It screws the middle class. Only the aggregator (like Google, for instance) gets rich, while the actual producers of content get poor. This is why newspapers are dying. It might sound like it is only a problem for creative people, like musicians or writers, but eventually it will be a problem for everyone. When robots can repair roads someday, will people have jobs programming those robots, or will the human programmers be so aggregated that they essentially work for free, like today’s recording musicians? Web 2.0 is a formula to kill the middle class and undo centuries of social progress.
link: www.jaronlanier.com

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Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:37:25 -0800 2000-2009: A downhill decade (and now?) http://oddtag.posterous.com/2000-2009-a-downhill-decade-and-now http://oddtag.posterous.com/2000-2009-a-downhill-decade-and-now txt: Current Decade Rates as Worst in 50 Years - PEW
The internet – perhaps the seminal technological development of recent decades – continues to be widely seen in a favorable light. About two-thirds (65%) say the internet has been a change for the better, while just 16% say it has been a change for the worse; 11% say it hasn’t made much difference while 8% are unsure. This largely mirrors the balance of opinion at the close of the 1990s – the decade that saw the widespread adoption of the web. In 1999, 69% called the internet a change for the better and 18% called it a change for the worse.

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Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:55:51 -0800 Who finds 1000 True Fans finds a treasure http://oddtag.posterous.com/who-finds-1000-true-fans-finds-a-treasure http://oddtag.posterous.com/who-finds-1000-true-fans-finds-a-treasure via: The Technium: 1,000 True Fans.
The long tail is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches. But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales. Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail? One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply: A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:28:02 -0700 The cluetrain wants to move http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-cluetrain-wants-to-move http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-cluetrain-wants-to-move [txt] The cluetrain Manifesto - 95 Theses
1. Markets are conversations. 2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors. 3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice. 4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived. 5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice. 6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. 7. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.
[img] waiting for the train JCuerva on flickr.com
Media_httpfarm1static_jotwb
8. In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way. 9. These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge. 10. As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally. 11. People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products. 12. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone. 13. What's happening to markets is also happening among employees. A metaphysical construct called "The Company" is the only thing standing between the two. 14. Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman. 15. In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court. 16. Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone. 17. Companies that assume online markets are the same markets that used to watch their ads on television are kidding themselves. 18. Companies that don't realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity. 19. Companies can now communicate with their markets directly. If they blow it, it could be their last chance. 20. Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them. 21. Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously. They need to get a sense of humor. 22. Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view. 23. Companies attempting to "position" themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about. 24. Bombastic boasts—"We are positioned to become the preeminent provider of XYZ"—do not constitute a position. 25. Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships. 26. Public Relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets. 27. By speaking in language that is distant, uninviting, arrogant, they build walls to keep markets at bay. 28. Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on inside the company. 29. Elvis said it best: "We can't go on together with suspicious minds." 30. Brand loyalty is the corporate version of going steady, but the breakup is inevitable—and coming fast. Because they are networked, smart markets are able to renegotiate relationships with blinding speed. 31. Networked markets can change suppliers overnight. Networked knowledge workers can change employers over lunch. Your own "downsizing initiatives" taught us to ask the question: "Loyalty? What's that?" 32. Smart markets will find suppliers who speak their own language. 33. Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can't be "picked up" at some tony conference. 34. To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities. 35. But first, they must belong to a community. 36. Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end. 37. If their cultures end before the community begins, they will have no market. 38. Human communities are based on discourse—on human speech about human concerns. 39. The community of discourse is the market. 40. Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die. 41. Companies make a religion of security, but this is largely a red herring. Most are protecting less against competitors than against their own market and workforce. 42. As with networked markets, people are also talking to each other directly inside the company—and not just about rules and regulations, boardroom directives, bottom lines. 43. Such conversations are taking place today on corporate intranets. But only when the conditions are right. 44. Companies typically install intranets top-down to distribute HR policies and other corporate information that workers are doing their best to ignore. 45. Intranets naturally tend to route around boredom. The best are built bottom-up by engaged individuals cooperating to construct something far more valuable: an intranetworked corporate conversation. 46. A healthy intranet organizes workers in many meanings of the word. Its effect is more radical than the agenda of any union. 47. While this scares companies witless, they also depend heavily on open intranets to generate and share critical knowledge. They need to resist the urge to "improve" or control these networked conversations. 48. When corporate intranets are not constrained by fear and legalistic rules, the type of conversation they encourage sounds remarkably like the conversation of the networked marketplace. 49. Org charts worked in an older economy where plans could be fully understood from atop steep management pyramids and detailed work orders could be handed down from on high. 50. Today, the org chart is hyperlinked, not hierarchical. Respect for hands-on knowledge wins over respect for abstract authority. 51. Command-and-control management styles both derive from and reinforce bureaucracy, power tripping and an overall culture of paranoia. 52. Paranoia kills conversation. That's its point. But lack of open conversation kills companies. 53. There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One with the market. 54. In most cases, neither conversation is going very well. Almost invariably, the cause of failure can be traced to obsolete notions of command and control. 55. As policy, these notions are poisonous. As tools, they are broken. Command and control are met with hostility by intranetworked knowledge workers and generate distrust in internetworked markets. 56. These two conversations want to talk to each other. They are speaking the same language. They recognize each other's voices. 57. Smart companies will get out of the way and help the inevitable to happen sooner. 58. If willingness to get out of the way is taken as a measure of IQ, then very few companies have yet wised up. 59. However subliminally at the moment, millions of people now online perceive companies as little more than quaint legal fictions that are actively preventing these conversations from intersecting. 60. This is suicidal. Markets want to talk to companies. 61. Sadly, the part of the company a networked market wants to talk to is usually hidden behind a smokescreen of hucksterism, of language that rings false—and often is. 62. Markets do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall. 63. De-cloaking, getting personal: We are those markets. We want to talk to you. 64. We want access to your corporate information, to your plans and strategies, your best thinking, your genuine knowledge. We will not settle for the 4-color brochure, for web sites chock-a-block with eye candy but lacking any substance. 65. We're also the workers who make your companies go. We want to talk to customers directly in our own voices, not in platitudes written into a script. 66. As markets, as workers, both of us are sick to death of getting our information by remote control. Why do we need faceless annual reports and third-hand market research studies to introduce us to each other? 67. As markets, as workers, we wonder why you're not listening. You seem to be speaking a different language. 68. The inflated self-important jargon you sling around—in the press, at your conferences—what's that got to do with us? 69. Maybe you're impressing your investors. Maybe you're impressing Wall Street. You're not impressing us. 70. If you don't impress us, your investors are going to take a bath. Don't they understand this? If they did, they wouldn't let you talk that way. 71. Your tired notions of "the market" make our eyes glaze over. We don't recognize ourselves in your projections—perhaps because we know we're already elsewhere. 72. We like this new marketplace much better. In fact, we are creating it. 73. You're invited, but it's our world. Take your shoes off at the door. If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel! 74. We are immune to advertising. Just forget it. 75. If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change. 76. We've got some ideas for you too: some new tools we need, some better service. Stuff we'd be willing to pay for. Got a minute? 77. You're too busy "doing business" to answer our email? Oh gosh, sorry, gee, we'll come back later. Maybe. 78. You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention. 79. We want you to drop your trip, come out of your neurotic self-involvement, join the party. 80. Don't worry, you can still make money. That is, as long as it's not the only thing on your mind. 81. Have you noticed that, in itself, money is kind of one-dimensional and boring? What else can we talk about? 82. Your product broke. Why? We'd like to ask the guy who made it. Your corporate strategy makes no sense. We'd like to have a chat with your CEO. What do you mean she's not in? 83. We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as you take one reporter from The Wall Street Journal. 84. We know some people from your company. They're pretty cool online. Do you have any more like that you're hiding? Can they come out and play? 85. When we have questions we turn to each other for answers. If you didn't have such a tight rein on "your people" maybe they'd be among the people we'd turn to. 86. When we're not busy being your "target market," many of us are your people. We'd rather be talking to friends online than watching the clock. That would get your name around better than your entire million dollar web site. But you tell us speaking to the market is Marketing's job. 87. We'd like it if you got what's going on here. That'd be real nice. But it would be a big mistake to think we're holding our breath. 88. We have better things to do than worry about whether you'll change in time to get our business. Business is only a part of our lives. It seems to be all of yours. Think about it: who needs whom? 89. We have real power and we know it. If you don't quite see the light, some other outfit will come along that's more attentive, more interesting, more fun to play with. 90. Even at its worst, our newfound conversation is more interesting than most trade shows, more entertaining than any TV sitcom, and certainly more true-to-life than the corporate web sites we've been seeing. 91. Our allegiance is to ourselves—our friends, our new allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that have no part in this world, also have no future. 92. Companies are spending billions of dollars on Y2K. Why can't they hear this market timebomb ticking? The stakes are even higher. 93. We're both inside companies and outside them. The boundaries that separate our conversations look like the Berlin Wall today, but they're really just an annoyance. We know they're coming down. We're going to work from both sides to take them down. 94. To traditional corporations, networked conversations may appear confused, may sound confusing. But we are organizing faster than they are. We have better tools, more new ideas, no rules to slow us down. 95. We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting.

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Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:07:30 -0700 Save the internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/save-the-internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/save-the-internet txt: Net Neutrality 101 - www.savetheinternet.com
Net Neutrality 101 When we log onto the Internet, we take lots of things for granted. We assume that we'll be able to access whatever Web site we want, whenever we want to go there. We assume that we can use any feature we like -- watching online video, listening to podcasts, searching, emailing, and instant messaging -- anytime we choose. We assume that we can attach devices like wireless routers, game controllers, or extra hard drives to make our online experience better. What makes all these assumptions possible is "Network Neutrality," the guiding principle that ensures the Internet remains free and unrestricted. Net Neutrality prevents the companies that control the wires bringing you the Internet from discriminating against content based on its ownership or source. But that could all change. The biggest cable and telephone companies would like to charge money for smooth access to Web sites, speed to run applications, and permission to plug in devices. These network giants believe they should be able to charge Web site operators, application providers, and device manufacturers for the right to use the network. Those who don't make a deal and pay up will experience discrimination: Their sites won't load as quickly, their applications and devices won't work as well. Without legal protection, consumers could find that a network operator has blocked the Web site of a competitor, or slowed it down so much that it's unusable. The network owners say they want a "tiered" Internet. If you pay to get in the top tier, your site and your service will run fast. If you don't, you'll be in the slow lane. What's the problem here? Discrimination: The Internet was designed as an open medium. The fundamental idea on the Internet since its inception is that every Web site, every feature, and every service should be treated without discrimination. That's how bloggers can compete with the CNN or USA Today for readers. That's how up-and-coming musicians can build underground audiences before they get their first top-40 single. That's why when you use a search engine, you see a hit list of the sites that are the closest match to your request -- not those who paid the most to reach you. Discrimination endangers our basic Internet freedoms. Double-dipping: Traditionally, network owners have built a business model by charging consumers for access. Now they want to charge you for access to the network, and then charge you again for the things you do while you're online. They may not charge you directly via pay-per-view Web sites. But they will charge all the service providers you use -- who will pass those costs along to you in the form of price hikes or new charges to view content. Stifling innovation: Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Unless we preserve Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web. On a tiered Internet controlled by the phone and cable companies, only their own content and services -- or those offered by corporate partners who pony up enough "protection money" -- will enjoy life in the fast lane. The End of the Internet? Make no mistake: The freewheeling Internet as we know it could very well become history. What does that mean? It means we could be heading toward a pay-per-view Internet where Web sites have fees. It means we may have to pay a network tax to run voice-over-the-Internet phones, use an advanced search engine, or chat via Instant Messenger. The next generation of magical new inventions will be shut out of the top-tier service level. Meanwhile the network owners will rake in even greater profits.
video: Save the Internet! - SaveTheInternet on youtube.com [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt0XUocViE]

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Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:11:55 -0700 Massconomy (dancing with gorillas) http://oddtag.posterous.com/massconomy-dancing-with-gorillas http://oddtag.posterous.com/massconomy-dancing-with-gorillas txt: The Emerging Main Street Web - by Bernard Lunn on readwriteweb.com
In the new web era, we will use that power to make a living. That is why I call this new era the Main Street Web. This is a nod to Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing The Chasm, the point in the adoption cycle when technology goes mainstream. The Main Street Web is about people who don’t care about technology or media, they just use it. Above all it is about really simple business models that work in the physical world as well as online world. The Main Street Web will empower small business and level the playing field with big business. [...] The final post in this series, “Dancing with Gorillas”, looks at opportunities for entrepreneurs in the emerging Main Street Web in a world dominated by a few big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon.
link: The Whatchamacallit, Post Recession Phase Transition video: Dancing Silverback Gorilla [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk6kk1DWrT4]

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Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:32:15 -0800 YouPay http://oddtag.posterous.com/youpay http://oddtag.posterous.com/youpay video: Humanity Lobotomy - Second Draft [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw] text: Liberty - wikipedia
Liberty, in modern time, is generally considered a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has the ability to act according to his or her own will. Individualist and liberal conceptions of liberty relate to the freedom of the individual from outside compulsion; A socialist perspective, on the other hand, associates liberty with equality in wealth. As such, a socialist connects liberty (i.e. freedom) to the equal distribution of wealth, arguing that liberty without equal ownership amounts to the domination by the wealthy. Thus, freedom and material equality are seen as intrinsically connected. On the other hand, the individualist argues that wealth cannot be evenly distributed without force being used against individuals which reduces individual liberty.

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Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:42:52 -0800 Links As News, Links As Art http://oddtag.posterous.com/links-as-news-links-as-art http://oddtag.posterous.com/links-as-news-links-as-art txt: Reinventing Journalism On The Web: Links As News, Links As Reporting - publishing2.com
Robert Niles at Online Journalism Review has a practical guide to linking on the web, where he observes: "Ultimately, the addition of useful hyperlinking within an online news story reflects the strong reporting of its author. If a reporter does not know of online pages with extra information relating to the story, he or she cannot link to them. But if you have that information, why not share it with those readers who are eager for it?" Again, I would take this a step further — links aren’t just a fundamental element of the reporting. Links can BE the reporting.
video: Linkin Park - What I've Done ooops! What they've Done? the video is no longer avalilable. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgycukafqQ]

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Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:37:22 -0800 All Is Full Of Internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/all-is-full-of-internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/all-is-full-of-internet txt: Internet - Wikipedia
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).
video: Björk - All Is Full Of Love on YouTube [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0cS1FaKPWY]

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Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:04:07 -0800 The tame of the Shrew-Internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-tame-of-the-shrew-internet http://oddtag.posterous.com/the-tame-of-the-shrew-internet txt: Lawrence Lessig - The Future of Ideas
The cultural dinosaurs of our recent past are moving to quickly remake cyberspace so that they can better protect their interests against the future. Powerful conglomerates are swiftly using both law and technology to "tame" the Internet, transforming it from an open forum for ideas into nothing more than cable television on speed. Innovation, once again, will be directed from the top down, increasingly controlled by owners of the networks, holders of the largest patent portfolios, and, most invidiously, hoarders of copyrights. The choice Lawrence Lessig presents is not between progress and the status quo. It is between progress and a new Dark Ages, in which our capacity to create is confined by an architecture of control and a society more perfectly monitored and filtered than any before in history. Important avenues of thought and free expression will increasingly be closed off. The door to a future of ideas is being shut just as technology makes an extraordinary future possible.
img: Big Brother - drp on flickr.com
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Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:25:43 -0800 I'll get outside today: merry Xmas to everybody http://oddtag.posterous.com/ill-get-outside-today-merry-xmas-to-everybody http://oddtag.posterous.com/ill-get-outside-today-merry-xmas-to-everybody Let's shut down our computer, turn off connections, forget our smartshits. It's Christmas, it's the end of another year. Go outside. Meet your friends, your love, find people, real people. Small real people. Breath. Live. Merry Xmas to all of us. img: The Internet Was Closed...
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