Digital_Heirloom

Our system of law doesn’t acknowledge the derivative nature of creativity. Instead, ideas are regarded as property, as unique and original lots with distinct boundaries. But ideas aren’t so tidy. They’re layered, they’re interwoven, they’re tangled. And when the system conflicts with the reality… the system starts to fail.

Everything is a Remix: System Failure

Information technology has become a ubiquitous presence. By visualizing the processes that underlie our interactions with this technology we can trace what happens to the information we feed into the network.

Our communication methods have improved over time, from stone tablets, papyrus, and vellum through to the printing press and the World Wide Web. But while the web has democratised publishing, allowing anyone to share ideas with a global audience, it doesn’t appear to be the best medium for preserving our cultural resources: websites and documents disappear down the digital memory hole every day. This presentation will look at the scale of the problem and propose methods for tackling our collective data loss.

Jeremy Keith

On 8 November 2011, the Global Pulse team briefed the United Nations General Assembly on its Research Projects, Technology Toolkit, country-based Pulse Labs and its plans for the coming year. The briefing also featured a keynote address by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. This video is an edited version of the full 1.5 hour event and provides a summary of Global Pulse’s work in 2010.

Lower Manhattan’s 60 Hudson Street is one of the world’s most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. This short documentary peeks inside, offering a glimpse of the massive material infrastructure that makes the Internet possible.

In a passionate speech at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Poole claimed that Internet users should have a choice as to whether they want to stay anonymous on the web or use their real identities. The argument comes as Facebook and Google push to remove anonymity from the web. “Google and Facebook would have you believe that you’re a mirror, but we’re actually more like diamonds,” Poole told the audience. “Look from a different angle, and you see something completely different… Facebook is consolidating identity by making us more simple than we truly are.”

In this powerful talk from TEDGlobal, Rebecca MacKinnon describes the expanding struggle for freedom and control in cyberspace, and asks: How do we design the next phase of the Internet with accountability and freedom at its core, rather than control? She believes the internet is headed for a “Magna Carta” moment when citizens around the world demand that their governments protect free speech and their right to connection.

As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy.

“Social Media is among many things, our gateway to discovery and interconnection. While social networking may seem trivial, truth is that we get out of it what we put into it. But this goes beyond the time and energy we spend on day-to-day participation. Our investment in social media earns its largest dividends when intent and purpose meet personification and engagement.

We are defined by what we share and who we know and in the world of business, media, and education, the architecture of a social network is already transforming social graphs into interest graphs. This isn’t about connecting with anyone and everyone; this is about connecting with the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. They are our social catalysts who will not only engage but more importantly, help us scale. As a result, our social network becomes a connected series of social nicheworks where each community around us is cultivated individually based on interests, motivations, and expectations. This is bigger than interpersonal relationships however.”

Fast Company: Introducing Your Friends, Fans, and Followers 

Exposing some idealistic myths about freedom and technology (during Iran’s ‘twitter revolution’ fewer than 20,000 Twitter users actually took part), Evgeny argues for some realism about the actual uses and abuses of the internet.

“What an amazing time in human history. Among other things, there is a revolution in revolutions. Up until three weeks ago [during the events in Tunisia], all revolutions throughout history had leaders…”

Don Tapscott talks about the new age of networked economy, and how collaborative innovation is deeply transforming our society as well as our institutions. Why not open source government, education, science, energy production or even health care as new models of collaboration?

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