By Kathleen Kalk on March 20, 2010 | Tagged with Connect, open access, social_network
The digital divide debate has been going in a major way since the 1970’s. Back then it was an ideological divide on the floor of UNESCO at the United Nations. Today, it is simply a stark reality between states that are rich and states that are poor. While every new technology has a global lag from its centre of creation to the farthest ends of its consumption, the ability to produce at economies of scale and the modern accessibility to global networks leaves two stark ethical questions to be asked: a) why are the least connected of the world also the poorest; and b) does internet connectivity equal a better live?
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Not to confuse cause and affect here, it is not the Internet that makes countries rich, but rather that the Internet is a privilege of rich countries (and often protected by them so as to ensure return on investment). This solves the assumption of the first question, leading us to the underlying issue of the second – does having the Internet lead to a better quality of life?
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If the Internet means access to global markets, and therefore economic opportunity and growth, I would say yes it could make one’s life quantitatively better. If it means that now I can connect with my neighbor in the next village to chat about last nights dinner, then I would say maybe not, as it would probably improve community cohesion and one’s physical health to instead walk over and chat face to face.
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The BBC just cited a study that says the global digital divided has grown bigger than ever. Some countries have more than 90% of their populations on-line, while others have less than a half of one percent. This should not come as a shock. Technology is growing at such a fast pace, that even I feel left out a times. Technology is a language, and the later one learns, the less chance one has to master it. In the case of digital technologies, there are entire countries that have yet to be exposed to things that others have had for more than 30 years. We shouldn’t be shocked that the poorest of the poor are being left behind. Instead, we should be asking, should we work to solve this phenomena, how do we solve it, and what are the societal and cultural consequences of solving it?
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By Kathleen Kalk on March 10, 2010 | Tagged with Copyright, Publish, research, sharing
A recent story in the European press has revealed that some of the oldest works in the human quiver of knowledge will be added to the e-shelf. Italy’s national library has slated up to one million titles for the scanner box, many of them the original works of philosophy and science pioneers.
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Standard copyright law in North America is 50 years after the publication of a work and/or the death of the author (this is why classic novels are a lot cheaper in the bookstore than new releases), but in Europe copyright lasts even longer. Publishing similar classical works en masse has gotten Google in trouble before, but this time they appear to be in the clear. Provided some Internet mole doesn’t invade the web and library servers, nearly all of the wisdom and knowledge of antiquity will be backed up by the Internet. This will hopefully protect for space-earthlings of the future, the body of human knowledge which was nearly all destroyed in the disastrous fire in Alexandria 2000 years ago.
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By Kathleen Kalk on February 25, 2010 | Tagged with Protect, Publish
I don’t think it is the end of Youtube, but it is certainly a bit of a scare. An Italian court made the precedent setting decision to hold three Google executives responsible for invasion of privacy because of video hosted on the popular site. Up until now, web hosts have been exempt from privacy and defamation charges but this decision could shake things up. None of the executives had ever seen the video, uploaded it, or knew of its existence until charges were laid, but the court has ruled that they are ultimately responsible.
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Standard practice dictates that web-hosts like Youtube are not ‘publishers’ because they do not edit or vet the content as a standard publisher would. If decisions like this catch-on in other national courts, it could pose a real challenge to the ‘free’ exchange the internet provides. For all of us bloggers and social media users out there, this is another reminder that no one is untouchable when the long arm of privacy, copyright and defamation law reaches. I do not think this decision will catch on, but it has left a lot to ponder. And, in the worst case scenario, if Youtube is classed as a publisher rather than a host, it will mean the death of Youtube, or create an entire new realm of employment as editors for all of us aspiring media folk out there.
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By Kathleen Kalk on February 11, 2010 | Tagged with Protect
I wanted to write about another Google row, (this time between the search engine and Iran), but as I surfed the BBC’s technology website I encountered the following headline: “Online safety push for five-year-olds.” Sure there were other stories about government surveillance, web hacking, hi-tech gadgets, and third world countries laying broadband track – but this one struck my eye. Five year olds surfing the web and going to chat rooms? Really?
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When I was five years-old I was playing with Tonka Toys in a dirt bank outside of Fort St. James, BC. Times have changed. I am sure that when television began to reach every home in the industrialized world, similar questions about safety concerns were raised. In response, under-age censorship ratings were developed and controversial shows were moved beyond the vestiges of ‘appropriate’ bed times. But the Internet is a ‘no-time’ space. And unlike television, which is a one-way experience, the Internet is a two way world, where users can be harmed as much as they can put themselves in harms way.
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The only way I ever harmed myself at a young age via television was the mistake of watching The Shining and having nightmares for a year. The Internet world has made my youthful experiments with horror films child’s play, even for a toddler. Some of the issues brought up in the article by the BBC included the fact that 80% on children age five to seven in the UK use the internet regularly and that one and four parents are concerned about the sites their five year olds visit. Responding to parent and government concern, a training module has been developed, (using a five-year-old friendly cartoon character), to teach children how to navigate the Internet ‘safely.’
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By Kathleen Kalk on February 4, 2010 | Tagged with digital tattoo, history, privacy, Protect
Web users looking for greater privacy in their web browsing have a new search engine to choose from, Startpage. Operating as an Internet middleman, the engine keeps no records of searchers and filters queries through its own scrambler, so-to-speak, before passing the information to the anonymous user. The media frenzy surrounding China’s state surveillance of google searches and hosted websites is sure to peak consumer interest in engines that ensure privacy. The only downside, however, is searches take longer.
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How web users respond will no doubt depend on how they weigh their privacy concerns and their need for speed. As Internet popularity is based on convenience and efficiency, I sadly predict that only the conspiracist’s out there will make the switch to Startpage. Like the old policing adage, only people with something to hide need to fear, I suspect that despite warnings to the contrary privacy intrusion is an expected trade-off for a world of hyper linking and convenience.
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By Kathleen Kalk on January 28, 2010 | Tagged with technology
If you have been watching late night news in the past few days, you no doubt will have encountered some type of coverage of Apple’s latest device, the iPad. Naming problems aside (I am reminded here of Mad TV’s skit involving an iRaq, a shelf, and an iRan, a shoe) the question is will this sleek looking apple technology out compete existing technologies, and will it revolutionize the way consumers read and digest written information?
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Additionally, while the web has always promised to have a positive environmental affect, web and information technologies have not necessarily replaced humanity’s reliance on hard copy, but rather, added to its use through increased access to printing and the necessity of duplicating hardcopy with e-copy. Environmental rant aside (and we have not yet touched on resource extraction in creating such a devise), time will tell if the iPad does to reading and publishing what the iPod has done to listening and the music industry. And for those interested in publishing, will it provide an efficient iTunes like network for small, independent and self publishers?
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Time will certainly tell. Critiques aside, these are exciting times. And for those of you around long enough to have seen original episodes of Star Trek on air, the future is here.
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By Kathleen Kalk on January 20, 2010 | Tagged with google, privacy, Protect
As this row enters its second week, I wonder when, or if, the teeth of Google will ever show and their words turn to action. Everyone from Yahoo to the US government has denounced the overuse of China’s spy ware on American based search engines, but little has been done in terms of censuring the giant.
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The critiques from the US government have revolved around freedom of expression, while the search engines have cited their philosophy of access, privacy and open sharing of information, to defend their ‘reckless’ critiques (as called by Yahoo’s China affiliate). What I find interesting as this saga endures, is that search engines that have no problem selling their wares in a country that openly suppresses information and blocks democratic discourse to its citizens, are now up in arms over a few privacy breaches. I think it is safe to say that this amounts to saber rattling on behalf of Google and that at the end of the day, business will prevail. Google will stay. Yahoo will stay. Hacking and surveillance will stay.
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