Published May 21st, 2007
in Uncategorized.
Hey gang, before we break for the summer I want to talk to you about a website/project that I have been meaning to profile for a long time. I am talking about KIVA (http://www.kiva.org/). It is social networking applied to microcredit. You go to their website you pick a project, you loan a small sum to someone in a developing country and make a WORLD of a difference in their lives. It is microcredit with a face. You know the person you lend the money to, you know what they’re going to use the money for, it is a small sum of money for you but a fortune to them and if you don’t get your money back (which hasn’t happened so far) it is no big loss.
For the price of a few lattes (that won’t go to your waistline) you can make a big difference in a person’s life and in a community.
If you want to find out more about it, check this website where you’ll get all the information you need :
(http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?ens&rdm=92538.90892523128).
Muhammad Yunus the father of microcredit (lending small amounts of money to poor people with whom banks won’t do business) was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/press.html). To find out more about him, click on this link: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/yunus-lecture-en.html.
Both Yunus and the people behind Kiva are an inspiration to all of us.
Published April 15th, 2007
in Uncategorized.
OK, if anyone wants to check out my favorites go right ahead:
http://del.icio.us/Digital_Tinkerer
I also created a new blog on WordPress:
http://digitinkerer.wordpress.com/
Published April 15th, 2007
in Blog for Gold.
The Lessig Video
I found this video to be very entertaining, informative and sometimes frightening when Lessig discusses the rapid loss of creativity in our culture. You know what he is saying is true, as you see the public domain laws constantly extending the period of time it takes to acquire free rights to public properties.
If you take the example of Walt Disney, building a creative assembly line of movies based on the classic works of others, and then locking them up so no one can use them for an extended periods of time, seems unfair to myself and others — as stated in KMAP’s Blog (http://thekmap.blogspot.com) - even something as old as Steamboat Willie (the character, Mickey Mouse was based on a character in a silent movie called Steamboat Bill) which was made in 1928 won’t be in the public domain until 2023, that is if they don’t lobby congress to extend it again “. “ If I made a cheap Mickey Mouse Knock off that nobody liked, I’d either be laughed at, flamed or ignored altogether – but what if I redesigned the character and made him much cooler a more appealing than Disney’s Mickey Mouse? Well, that’s when Disney would bother to come after me because now I’m a legitimate threat”.
I believe that when artistic development is manipulated in this way it leaves a void in space and time that can never be filled. That’s how cultures, and the civilizations that are based on them, disappear.
As I was searching through Technorati, I discovered a new website called “Archive.org”, Universal Access to Human Knowledge (http://www.archive.org/index.php), where you can find what intellectual properties have gone into the public domain and you can even download them for free if they have.
Published April 1st, 2007
in Blog for Gold.
Larry Sanger, one of the founders of wikipedia has branched out to start his own version that he calls Citizendium .com. Like Wikipedia, Citizendium is an anyone-can-edit, open-design encyclopedia — but Wikipedia has some weaknesses that will be addressed by Citizendium. Due to the open-edit nature of Wikipedia there is a certain amount of vandalism, inconsistency and errors. Citizendium which is a non-profit, no-adds, free-to-read-and-edit encyclopedia will have contributors give their names and experts check the articles.
Sanger says ” If there is going to be a free encyclopedia, I’d like there to be a better free encyclopedia. It bothered me that I helped to get a project started (Wikipedia) that people are misusing in that way. Yet the project itself has little chance of radically improving”.
Wikipedia’s mantra is “anyone can edit” is a big draw around the world in many languages but many people with valuable expertise to share don’t want their contributions overwritten in minutes by anyone.
I found this piece of news very interesting because I had posted a blog about the shortcomings of Wikipedia (History Department Bans Wikipedia As a Research Source)and had suggested the same solutions that Sanger is proposing.
Published March 18th, 2007
in Blog for Gold.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/fashion/18myspace.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
“MySpace - the largest social-networking site - is now setting its sights higher: to help elect the next president of the United States” goes this blog.
I think we need an online version of a townsquare meeting where people can air their political views without worrying about discussing politics in an inappropriate forum or manner. Since we’ll be able to see the personal sites of candidates running for the 2008 presidential election, we’ll have a better understanding of their platform and also of their character. I think that one day people will be able to vote right from their computer and our elected officials will be chosen by a larger base of voters making for a better democracy.
This is the first time anything like this has been done and while there are some risks (misrepresentation, manipulation among others) inherent to this new procedure I think that if we read between the lines we’ll be able to get to their true agenda and we’ll be more educated voters.
Since MySpace reaches 60 million people a month, it might also attract new voters who have until now shown no interest for politics. Generally, I think it is a good way to combine business and politics as long as there are safeguards and the public is educated about the risks involved.
Published March 4th, 2007
in Blog for Gold.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/license-to-blog.html (The Blog)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/27/opinion/edalthouse.php (DIrect link to the article)
“A License to Blog” by Ann Althouse (NY Times, Feb. 27, 2007).
Do we have the license to blog? Do we need one?
“Blogging is just writing”, says Ann Althouse. The blog is a meeting place, a Starbucks for strangers. Some people would like to impose strict rules for blogging and even blacklist some bloggers. If your blog is open for comments, you get responses that are either of a serious nature or casual and humorous.
If you interact with someone while blogging, the association will either develop or unravel naturally. Blogging is self-policing because the local community of bloggers will deal with any hidden agenda in time, ie political operatives (bloggers who blog for profit, monetary or political).
Yes, we do have a “license to blog” and we live in “The Land of the Free and Opinionated”
Published February 25th, 2007
in Uncategorized.
After reading Alex’s blog (Baby Girls, Feb. 23) where he talks of the plight of baby girls in China, due to the one-child policy and the preference for boys, it was with great interest that I learned from an article in the New York Times (and also from a newsbrief on the BBC WorldNews) that men in those Asian countries that have build up a huge deficit in females due to the preference for boys (China, India, South Korea) are now having a very hard time finding a bride. That is why in China wives are being snatched and sold to other men (preferably far from their home region I suppose) and in South Korea men now have to go bride shopping in poorer Asian countries like Viet Nam to find a mate. The NY Times explained that since the whole trip to Viet Nam lasted five days, the men had two hours to chose from a group of eligible young women who were presented to them as soon as they stepped off the plane. The article went on to express concern over what would happen in the future when poorer Asian countries caught up with their wealthier neighbors. I thought to myself that through no fault of theirs really the Chinese, Indian, Korean men would end up being victims of their country’s and their parents’ prejudiced views about gender. I thought that it was probably the beginning of the revenge of the Baby Girls.
Published February 25th, 2007
in Blog for Gold.
http://www.ictal.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1633&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
“A college’s rule raises questions over the use of a fallible online encyclopedia” said the heading in a New York Times article this week (NY Times, Feb. 21, 2007) and I found myself quite interested in this article because I had questions myself over the correctness of some of the definitions. The article goes on to say that there are mistakes in the definitions and also some deliberate falsehoods in the content published on the wikipedia website.Wikipedia is aware of the problem and has made some attempts to solve it but college professors have taken this opportunity to stress that students shouldn’t quote Wikipedia or any encyclopedia for that matter. I agree with them: I feel that users of wikipedia should build on those definitions to get general information about the subject but should then go on to more elaborate research and then present their own ideas about the subject. As for those who contribute to Wikipedia I think that it gives them a great opportunity to do research on a subject and then analyse that information and use it as the basis of their wikipedia entry. If the contributors are college students there should very strict scrutiny by their professors to make sure that the information is correct. It might be useful to the users to have an idea of the source of the article. If it is the brainchild of serious college students and has met the approval of the faculty, it should be mentioned. If it is just the entry of one person loosely or not connected to academia or anyone who can warrant for the truthfulness of the information, it should be indicated somewhere so that the user could then use his judgment before deciding what to do with the information.
In the meantime I think we should exercise great caution in the selection and the use of our sources, to save ourselves the embarrassment (and the bad grades).
Published February 17th, 2007
in Blogroll.
I just read this article in the New York Times about President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan being in danger because of Taliban insurgents (NY Times, Feb 16, 2007, Pressing Allies, President Warns of Afghan Battle). He is calling for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan in addition to the reinforcements already sent there recently.
This comes at the time when half the country (at least) is calling for the troops to be brought home and at a time of very low approval ratings for President Bush among the American people because of the debacle in Iraq.
The article goes on to talk about Iran supplying militias in Iraq with roadside bombs that are killing American soldiers who are acting as police in a civil war. All this shows that all the conflicts in that region are related: Afghanistan, Iraq and maybe soon Iran (Syria, also?).
My reaction is that these events are very troubling for me because I don’t believe that the American are backing this war and I think that it is a political war brought on by the current Administration under false pretenses. I think that sending more troops whether in Iraq or Afghanistan is a waste because nobody is making any headway anywhere in the region (except the Taliban and other extremists).
President Bush tries to use rhetoric and fear tactics - right now about the Iranian Nuclear Program - to convince the American people and Congress to go the way he wants. The problem is that all his policies have failed and too many people have died already.
Moreover the wars have cost billions and billions of dollars that could have been used at home for education, for health care, for the protection of the environment, for the reconstruction of New Orleans, you name it, there are plenty of projects that need financing here in this country. Before you go solve other people’s problems, you should fix your own!
Published February 10th, 2007
in Uncategorized.
The YouTube version of the “Five-Minute University” video was a slightly better audiovisual quality.
There were ads and places for comments and sharing information with friends and other viewers. YouTube is interactive. Other viewers can respond to your comments and perhaps broaden your horizon and perspective. The media wiki version was downloaded from YouTube.
