Like many of my colleagues I oppose to SOPA and PIPA. I have been a proponent of Free Culture for many years (which I know is funny to say next to the Microsoft logo) and I have studied young people's perceptions of intellectual property because I find the topic fascinating and extremely important. However, there …
Continue reading Are Internet companies using us to fight against SOPA?
I decided to put my slightly-dormant internet policy research skillz to work to figure this out. It was surprisingly difficult. Most stop PIPA/SOPA websites conflate them-- but they are different. (Note: The best resource was an article I found at Area 51 Technologies.) #1: SOPA's a House bill, PIPA is a Senate bill. SOPA = …
Continue reading What’s the difference between SOPA and PIPA?
This post has been cross-posted from Henry Jenkins' blog. If you don't have time to read this article in full, the easiest way to skim information about this topic is to visit http://americancensorship.org/. In the past year, we've dealt with various novel political moments around the world that have been enabled or augmented with networked …
Continue reading Internet Blackout: SOPA, Reddit, and Networked (Political) Publics
Much to my happiness, the internets are in a frenzy about the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). Congress is currently in recess, but the House announced a hearing on the potential impact to the Domain Name Service on January 18 and everyone expects the Senate to begin discussing a similar bill "PROTECT IP Act" …
Continue reading We need to talk about piracy (but we must stop SOPA first)
::bounce:: I am *ecstatic* to announce that Nancy Baym, Kate Crawford, and Mary L. Gray are all joining Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, MA. See Jennifer Chayes' announcement. ::bounce:: Three years ago (this week), I joined Microsoft Research to help integrate social scientists and computer scientists. I have known about and admired MSR since …
Continue reading Nancy Baym, Kate Crawford, Mary L. Gray to Join Microsoft Research
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3gdqNQ6cw0&list=UUV7zhPAJ8A4GXXDROkBYtzQ&index=1&feature=plcp
This is a really nice intro to the lab, the variety of work being done there, and how social media fits into all of it. Cameos by SMC members throughout, as well as many of the awesome 2011 summer interns.
Over the last couple of years, I've laid awake at night asking myself uncomfortable questions about bullying and teen suicide. I don't have answers to most of the questions that I have, but I'm choosing to voice my questions, fears, and doubts because I'm not confident that our war on bullying is taking us down …
Continue reading Four Difficult Questions Regarding Bullying and Youth Suicide
The scholarly publishing industry used to offer a service. It used to be about making sure that knowledge was shared as broadly as possible to those who would find it valuable using the available means of distribution: packaged paper objects shipped through mail to libraries and individuals. It made a profit off of serving an …
Continue reading Save Scholarly Ideas, Not the Publishing Industry (a rant)
Over the last six weeks, I've posted various opportunities for students, academics, and other scholars that I'm co-directing/hosting, many of which have deadlines looming. I want to summarize them in one post for those who either missed them or wanted some synthesis: Microsoft Research Postdocs. Who: Newly minted/about-to-be-minted PhD students working on social media topics …
Networked technologies – including the internet, mobile phones, and social media – alter how information flows and how people communicate. There is little doubt that technology is increasingly playing a role in the practices and processes surrounding human trafficking: the illegal trade of people for commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and other forms of modern-day …
Continue reading What is the Role of Technology in Human Trafficking?
