More often that you might think, we get asked about how the Weblogs@Harvard project (the server on which this blog appears) got started and why we at the Berkman Center maintain it. I got several questions about it in the context of an event this week, in fact, eight years or so into the project. … Read more
These are heady days for the study of Internet and its relationship to the practice of politics and the struggles over democratic decision-making. Three stories — in China, in Iran, and throughout the Arabic-speaking world — make a powerful case for the deepening relevance of the use of new technologies by citizens to the balance … Read more
One of the great treats of co-teaching with David Weinberger is getting to be a student on the days that he leads discussion. Today, we’re taking up blogging, something he knows a thing or two about. You can also follow along with the class notes on The Web Difference class blog. A few of the … Read more
Total blue sky, inspired in part by a wonderful gathering pulled together by Jake Shapiro at PRX and Vince Stehle at the Surdna Foundation, picking up on thoughts from various contexts: If I could start (or otherwise will into existence) any non-profit right now, what it would do is to develop and apply code for … Read more
Charlie Frentz, Harvard College student and Berkman intern as well, recapped his summer with BzzAgent with his “first ever blog post.” Read also the great comments his post generated. Charlie’s clearly a natural born blogger, as well as entrepreneur. I read his inaugural post from Shanghai, a city buzzing with entrepreneurship, where Charlie would no … Read more
It’s extraordinary to me that, several years into the blogging-and-RSS phenomenon, we still have the issue of a lack of clarity around the permissible re-use of user-generated content, as reported by CNET’s Elinor Mills (“Please don’t steal this Web content“). Fair use is part of the answer; Creative Commons licenses are another part of the … Read more
Prof. Sunshine Hillygus is presenting about her study of the persuadable voter here at SDP 2007. She has a book coming out with Princeton University Press shortly on her research. I asked her what the most surprising/biggest finding of her book is. She said that she is trying to get away from the question of … Read more
Lisa Williams is off and running with Placeblogger. It’s a wonderful idea and will no doubt be a terrific service. And she’s started with a Top10 list of Placeblogs.
The Personal Democracy Forum has published a compilation of reax from Internet & politics types about what the 2006 cycle in the United States can tell us. You should always listen to Ethan Zuckerman (“there’s always something to talk about in an election”) and Chuck DeFeo (a consistently insightful commentator on the GOP’s use of … Read more
We’re delighted to welcome anyone blogging the vote today at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School. The Blue Mass Group team have taken us up on it, live and in person, along with others swinging by, which is terrific. Seth Flaxman of Demapples was here until he had class. Anyone and everyone of any … Read more