Metaboston

Internet Policy Discussion: October 9

 

Harvard's Berkman Center will be hosting a panel discussion on internet policy issues called:  The Uncertain Internet: Core Net Values for the [TBD] Administration.  The discussion will be on October 9.

Now is a critical moment for defining and reinforcing the best features of our communications platforms.  What do we value about the internet and what should be the focus of the next administration?  This event will be a discussion exploring the Net’s benefits and its increasing vulnerabilities.  How do we maintain the network we know, and anticipate the network it is becoming?  What issues emerge in the era of "cloud computing" and the mobile internet?  How do we ensure broadband for everyone?  What can be done to promote open networks and open devices?  Join us for a wide-ranging discussion with leaders from the legal, technical, and political fields.

The panel will include:

• Jonathan Zittrain (Professor, Harvard Law School)
• Susan Crawford (Professor, University of Michigan Law School)
• Alec Ross (Tech Policy Advisor to Obama)
  
• Rich Miner (Mobile Platforms, Google; co-Founder of Android)

More Information.

Info:
When:  Thursday, October 9, 6:00 PM
Where:  Austin East Classroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
Cost:  Free and open to the public, no RSVP required.

Secret History of the One Laptop Per Child Project

Gizmondo has put together a secret history of the Cambridge-based One Laptop Per Child project whose revolutionary project pioneered the way for the ultraportable over the last few years even as the project itself has been criticized.  The article does a good job of pointing out the achievement of the OLPC project in the development of cheap ultraportables even as OLPC has been plagued with internal dissent and management issues.

“At this point, even if the millions of third-world students eventually get laptops, it's unlikely that the XO will be the one they receive. Still, the past two years are definitive proof that Negroponte can take credit for the birth of an entirely new kind of PC.'

Willoughby & Baltic Expands in Davis Square

Willoughby and Baltic, the Somerville maker/hacker/robotics space is hosting an information session August 27th at 7:00pm to discuss new initiatives and classes (also discussed below).

"Willoughby and Baltic, founded in 2001, became home to DorkbotBoston in January 2005. Since then, the former gallery has been bursting at it’s seams while juggling robotics classes, hacker meetings, and exhibition planning.

In October 2008, Willoughby and Baltic will acquire two additional locations to support the growing hacker and maker communities in Boston. This volunteer-run initiative is a result of our growing community, and will serve as a center in the Somerville/Cambridge area for like-minded tinkerers and builders.  (more below)

Copyright Nuttiness: Free Friday Flicks at the Hatch Shell Edition

WBZ says they can't publish the titles of the free movies shown on Friday nights at the Hatch Shell because of copyright issues.  While giving hints is cute and free is nice, what actual non-paranoid purpose is served by this?

Miro from Worcester's Participatory Culture Foundation

Lifehacker takes a look at Miro, "a free open-source desktop video application" from the Participatory Culture Foundation in Worcester.  Lifehacker calls it "TiVo for internet video."

"The free, cross-platform internet video player Miro can automatically download online video series via RSS feed or BitTorrent, play almost any format you throw at it, and keep track of what you've watched and what's new and queued up for you. More and more independent producers are putting out fabulous video content on the web, but keeping up with it by visiting your favorite video hosting web site or in your regular feed reader can be almost impossible—but setting up Miro is like getting TiVo for web video."

One complaint from a lot of commenters:  Miro is a resource hog.

Crank That Stallman Boy!

Richard Stallman and other MIT friends do the Soulja Boy. (via Digg)

Two Bits: The People of Free Software

Chris Kelty will discuss his new book Two Bits, an examination of the people and cultures of the free software and free culture, at MIT on June 24.  The book is available as a free download too!

"In "Two Bits", Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have revolutionized not just the way software is created, but the way knowledge is produced and shared in fields including education, science, film, and music.

"I know of no other book that mixes so beautifully a deep theoretical understanding of social theory with a rich historical and contemporary ethnography of the Free Software and free culture movements. Christopher M. Kelty's book speaks to many audiences; his message should be understood by many more."--Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School

Christopher M. Kelty is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Rice University and Visiting Assistant Professor in the History of Science at Harvard University ."

Info:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 5:30pm
MIT 32-144, Ray and Maria Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Walter Bender Left One Laptop Per Child Because . . .

. . . of a difference over educational philosophies!

"“O.L.P.C. has become implicitly agnostic about learning,” he said. The project’s focus, he said, is on bringing low-cost laptop computers to children around the world. “It’s a great goal, but it’s not my goal,” he said.

Mr. Bender is a founder of Sugar Labs, a new organization whose goal is to continue developing and promoting the use of Sugar open-source education software.

The Sugar software, which provides the user interface for O.L.P.C. laptops, is the means toward the end of a “constructionist learning model,” said Mr. Bender. It’s an approach that builds on the conceptual work of Jean Piaget, the Swiss philosopher and developmental theorist, and the practical research of his intellectual descendants like Seymour Papert, the M.I.T. computer scientist, educator and inventor of the Logo programming language, designed for education.

The constructionist model, put simply, says people learn best by building things — solving problems by “constructing” answers as active agents — instead of by being passive recipients of facts and received knowledge."

Does the Regal Fenway 13 Have Intentionally Defective Indiana Jones Prints?

A Boing Boing post saying that "Paramount has intentionally silenced bits of the soundtrack of _Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_ in order to deter and track piracy" attracted a number of commenters who said they experienced this problem including one Boston commenter who noted:

"I saw Indiana Jones at 12:01 opening night at the Regal Fenway Cinema in Boston and the sound definitely dropped for a few seconds at a time on maybe a half-dozen occasions. The drop-offs were at random, annoying moments, such as in the middle of chase scenes. It was annoying but I don't remember anyone in our group commenting about it afterwards, so it didn't hurt the movie any more than, say, the crappy ending."

So be warned.  Any other theatres?

Zuneral with Pictures

Harvard Free Culture held a funeral for digital rights management this weekend symbolically interring DRM-laden devices like Microsoft's Zune (hence the Zuneral) and Apple's iPod.

(Images:  (top Wendy Seltzer; above Harvard Free Culture).

Zittrain Discusses "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It"

Jonathan Zittrain who helped found Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet &  Society and is now a professor at Oxford will return to Cambridge tonight to discuss his new book The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It:

"With the unwitting help of its users, the generative Internet is on a path to a lockdown, ending its cycle of innovation—and facilitating unsettling new kinds of control.

IPods, iPhones, Xboxes, and TiVos represent the first wave of Internet-centered products that can’t be easily modified by anyone except their vendors or selected partners. These “tethered appliances” have already been used in remarkable but little-known ways: car GPS systems have been reconfigured at the demand of law enforcement to eavesdrop on the occupants at all times, and digital video recorders have been ordered to self-destruct thanks to a lawsuit against the manufacturer thousands of miles away. New Web 2.0 platforms like Google mash-ups and Facebook are rightly touted—but their applications can be similarly monitored and eliminated from a central source. As tethered appliances and applications eclipse the PC, the very nature of the Internet—its “generativity,” or innovative character—is at risk."

There's a free reception as well.

Info:

Friday, April 18
6:00pm
Langdell North Classroom, Langdell Hall
Harvard Law School
Map: Map Cost: Free

Lawrence Lessig to Speak in Cambridge: April 4

Lawrence Lessig, the founder of Creative Commons and author of books like Free Culture and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (both downloadable at those links) will be speaking at a free event  at Harvard on April 4th discussing his new project Change Congress.

"Change Congress is a movement to build support for basic reform in how our government functions. Using technological and internet tools, both candidates and citizens can pledge their support for basic changes to reduce the distorting influence of money in Washington. The Change Congress community will link candidates committed to a reform with volunteers and contributors who support it.

Change Congress organizes citizens to push candidates to make four simple commitments:

1. No money from lobbyists or PACs
2. Vote to end earmarks
3. Support publicly-financed campaigns
4. Support reform to increase Congressional transparency "

Important Info:
Friday, April 4, 2008
5:00 p.m.
Ames Courtroom, second floor of Austin Hall on the Harvard Law School Campus (map)
Free and Open to the Public