http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog EthanZ's musings on Africa, media and international development Thu, 15 May 2008 15:44:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I came to the Berkman at Ten conference under doctor's orders to keep my eyes closed. This leads to an unusual - for me, at least - approach to conference-going. I'm here in Ames Courtroom at Harvard Law School with a heavy blindfold on, sitting next to my friend Thomas ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/15/eyes-closed-at-berkman-at-ten/ You know that moment in the old movies when they take the bandage off the patient's eye? He blinks once, twice and as his vision resolves, he sees the beautiful nurse smiling at him. That's not how it happened for me. As the medical resident took the bandages off me, I saw ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/10/reality-by-rothko/ My friend Andrew travels more than I do - which is a dubious sort of achievement - and with at least as much joy in his peregrinations. He tells me that one of his favorite moments is that instant where the boarding door closes, where you have to shut your ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/05/why-ill-be-ignoring-you-for-the-month-of-may/ My friend David Weinberger has famously observed that "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people." (Modestly, he has noted that he's probably not the first person to make this observation.) David makes the point that fame in an internet age can be a very different phenomenon than ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/04/korb-eynon-and-tribal-fame/ It's been very gratifying to read comments and posts linking to my post last week on homophily, serendipity and xenophilia. I have high hopes of writing more on the topic, and am currently digging into "Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks", which danah boyd recommends as a thorough ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/03/talking-homophily-with-brooke-gladstone-and-on-the-media/ The Cognitive Age - New York Times Excellent piece from David Brooks trying to complicate globalization conversations with the idea that a skills revolution and an emerging "cognitive age" is more important and relavent than outsourcing of manufacturing (tags: globalization commentary oped economics) YouTube - Sami al-Hajj speaks of his Guantanamo ordeal - ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/03/links-for-2008-05-03/ on Flickr - Photo Sharing! Redditors - myself included - send Helen Thomas flowers to thank her for asking Dana Perino tough questions about the Bush administration's authorization of torture (tags: uspolitics journalism networks) BBC NEWS | Technology | BBC exposes Facebook flaw BBC develops a simple trojan horse application for Facebook designed to ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/02/links-for-2008-05-02/ Aden Hashi Ayro, one of the leaders of the al-Shabab insurgency in Somalia, was killed last night in a US airstrike. Seems like a) a good time for a review of the third front in the perpetual "war on terror" and b) a discussion of just who's in al Qaeda ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/05/01/how-to-tell-the-story-of-the-strike-against-al-shabab-in-somalia/ Chris Conley leads one of the most difficult research projects we've undertaken at the Berkman Center - the surveillance study of the Open Net Initiative. Over the past five years, the good folks at ONI have gotten very smart about how the internet is filtered in nations around the world. ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/04/29/how-to-study-surveillance/ Sierra Leone: Bio Diesel Wonderful post about making biodiesel from palm kernels in Sierra Leone. Via Afrigadget, Emeka Okafor (tags: africa sierraleone energy green innovation) Gin, Television, and Social Surplus - Here Comes Everybody Clay gets snippy with a TV interviewer who wonders why people "waste time" on Wikipedia. Observes that TV functions as ... http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/04/29/links-for-2008-04-29/