Reading blogs #19
I don’t have much time recently to follow news, because I am working on a paper, but here is what did manage to go through:
Recently I started playing with Twitter, which turned out to be a good source of interesting information. However, many times there is a gap between the time I open a link posted on Twitter and the time I actually read the item and add it to the digest. As a result, I think a number of items here are missing attribution. Not sure how I am going to deal with it, but if you have any ideas, please share. In the meantime, I just put “via Twitter” by those posts.
Interesting reports, numbers, and visualizations
“OECD Communications Outlook 2009” – A new report was recently released by OECD and it is accessible online.
“In the blogosphere, Afghanistan emerges as a hot topic” (via Twitter) – A report from the PEW Excellence in Journalism project looking at the content of the blogosphere; pretty interesting and I wonder if they would keep up with it on a regular basis.
“Government Sites Serve 42% of Online Americans” (via Twitter) – Some stats about how Americans interact with the numerous website the new administration has set up.
“Nigerian scams evolve, but motive still money” (via @evgenymorozov) – A Chicago Tribune article surveying how the original “Nigerian” scam has evolved playing off Western arrogance and highlighting that online tacit knowledge is probably as important as skill (or maybe even more important).
“Where Google Is Really Big: India and Brazil” (via @evgenymorozov) – On average around the globe people spend 9.4% of their online time on one of the Google’s services; in Brazil it is 30% and in India it is 29% (note how they got the URL wrong – China, Brazil… what’s the difference).
Some country specific info:
- Australia – Mobile broadband
- Nigeria – Mobile market.
- Slovenia – Telecom market regulation.
- Solomon islands – Telecom market.
- South Korea – Telecom market.
- Uganda – Telecom market.
Interesting thoughts, ideas, opinions, and discussions
“As Internet Turns 40, Barriers Threaten Its Growth” – Usually we hear about the opportunities or the threats stemming from the wide adoption of the internet; this article is about the threats and challenges that the medium itself is facing. Here is another opinion on the same occasion – “Happy Birthday, Internet!”
“Corruption adds to African IT costs, insiders say” – Something that is rarely mentioned in the debates about the digital divide.
“Access and the Internet” (via Information Policy) – An editorial in NY Times; is net neutrality becoming another face of the digital divide?
“Govt may block all Internet telephony services” (via Twitter) – This article is about India; when it happened in Russia, the analysts agreed that it was a government move to assist the local telcos and the security argument was just an excuse; no such argument here.
“US Broadband stimulus package” – Good and accessible analysis of the US broadband stimulus package.
“Microsoft pushes for single global patent system” (via @evgenymorozov) – I think the title is descriptive enough and I wonder if this is a beginning of a trend regarding issues that are inherently global, like the internet.
“‘Social control’ better than legislation” – The point is interesting as is the example from Philippines.
“Israeli bloggers trying to wrest control of ’secretive’ Web group” (via @guysoft) – Thanks to Guy for bringing this entire issue to my attention and supplying me with a constant flow of link; this is the first of what I think will be a number of articles on the subject and although this one is not the deepest one, it does present the issue.
ICANN public comment – I think ICANN has launched a new forum platform for public consultations.
“Yahoo! makes a big move in the Middle East – buys Maktoob” – Yahoo! follows Goolge and expands into the Arabic language internet; an analysis.
“Electronics Reach Out to the Ends of the Age Spectrum” – I think this is quite a logical step; the next one could be greater emphasis on developing countries.
“300 Million and On” – Mark Zuckerberg’s post about Facebook reaching 300 million users, but most interestingly it now has positive cash flow.
“Games lessons” – A short piece from the Economist discussing the use of computer games in education.
“Technorati To Start Competing with Bloggers” – I am not sure I would subscribe to the title, but this item is about the next move of Technorati, which is trying to formulate a business model on the platform it has created. I am not sure I necessarily see the competition with bloggers component, but it is too soon to tell. In the meantime you may want to take part in Technorati’s survey of bloggers.
“Russia: Medvedev launches YouTube channel” – I wrote before about Medvedev adopting some technologies even before the technologically-savvy President Obama; this time he is a latecomer.
“Democracy 2.0 Awaits an Upgrade” (via Twitter) – a nice article from NY Time that presents the two opposing opinions on technology and democracy.
www.presidentassad.net (via @jilliancyork) – Syrian “President of Just & Comprehensive Peace” is trying to follow the footsteps of Obama and Medvedev by setting up a website. Not sure how new it is, but I wonder if it is another face of the digital divide.
Simply Interesting, Fun, and Coll Stuff
If you are into building websites, here is a short explanation of the basic principles :)
In fact, it seems like this guy has realy found himself a niche. Check out this video on social media and this one on paid search… :)
And if you are feeling nostalgic, take a look at – “The FSA and the Dawn of Kodachrome” – for a set of old color photos capturing the US in early 20th century.
