astu400f course website

Hey everyone,

On Twitter right now, there is a ‘virtual protest’ going on. Read the full article here , but basically a man tweeted that the Robin Hood airport was closed and jokingly said he was going to blow up the airport. That landed him 1,000 pound fine. Where are the lines between joking, free speech and censorship?

More interesting however, are the responses by other twitter users threatening to do similar things, using the #iamspartacus hashtag as a form of protest, referencing to the Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus.

-Jon

I just found this in the midst of our discussion about government censorship. Interesting stuff…

http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/

Sesame Street anyone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM.

Yes, yes, it’s immature, but what does it speak about misguided censorship?

Hey Everyone, I found this great video about connectivity and innovation that I thought related well to our course. The basic premise Steven Johnson presents is that innovation has been led by connectivity and that the internet fosters this. It’s an intersting idea and is presented in a really cool format.

I found this interesting. Perhaps I’m the only one who’d find it interesting, but I here it is nonetheless. In the age of Twitter, authoritarian regimes might want to think twice before considering employing tactics like the Burmese did at Depayin – but, of course, that’s contingent on the infrastructure being there, which I don’t think it is in Burma at the moment.

And, of course, they’re going to have to actually let her out after Nov. 7 for this to materialize:

Aung San Suu Kyi plans to join Twitter

http://irevolution.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/gladwell-newyorker/

Worth checking out.

So I’m not here today as I’m attending a meet-the-producer for the VIIF premiere for “Togetherness Supreme”. Youtube the trailer. In my stead I’ll leave a couple things.

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In some places, the war is already over…But in China??? Meh, give it time!

Check out this article that discusses how warfare is evolving digitally: http://www.cyberwarzone.com/content/how-war-will-be-fought-21st-century.

Here’s the map of internet censorship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship. Notice:

Enjoy discussion peeps!

Is anyone thinking of checking this out?

http://idrn-ubc.eventbrite.com/

We could all go together!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-12-30-surrogacy_N.htm?csp=34

http://doctorandpatient.blogspot.com/2006/05/wombs-for-rent-cheap.html

The articles above have more to do with outsourcing than crowdsourcing, but very interesting! In fact, there are “rent-a-womb” clinics in India even. Take a look at what the world has come to…

Although it’s not crowdsourcing, this example of outsourcing definately has some security implications to think about, as well as others. Citizenship issues, maternal health, ethics, legality, and exploitation of woman are all examples of issues raised by critics.

The Medpedia Project is a collaborative online source of medical information for health professionals and the general public. The goal of the project is to provide an alternative to traditional medical information by offering free, up to date, unbiased knowledge to the world. The site is maintained by health experts around the world and unlike Wikipedia, Medpedia requires that people posting must have an M.D., D.O. or Ph.D. in a biomedical field. The knowledge base consists of articles divided into two pages: a “Plain English” page for the public and a “Clinical” page for professional users.  This project will not only benefit the average North American mother of 3 but also people in developing countries that don’t have readily available access to medical professionals or confidential enquires.

-Steph