Archive for May, 2010

Sarah Silverman, TED, and the Chilling Effects of Enforced Optimism

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Admittedly, I am a johnny-come-lately to this story.  I don’t know how I missed it.  Two things in the world that I deeply appreciate: the TED talks and the edgy-cute humorous stylings of Sarah Silverman.  Upon watching a recent Real Time with Bill Maher episode (clip below), I learned that the two came, very publicly, into conflict.

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TED began as an annual conference for the elite of the technology, entertainment and design worlds and has blossomed into a trend-setting media behemoth, whose speakers now include cutting-edge scientists and political leaders.  For example, Bono’s ONE campaign to end poverty received an enormous boost in its early history when Bono received the TED Prize.

At first rendered relatively obscure by design ($6,000+ entry fees for invitation-only attendees), TED began offering their talks for free via online video a couple of years ago and organizing new conferences in India and the UK.  Now, hundreds of people are franchising the TED experience through the local TEDx program.

Sarah Silverman’s comedy is known for its raunch, self-deprecation, irreverence (even sacrilege), psychedelia, and (on the surface) a juvenile approach to social commentary.  As fans know, this is the window dressing – Sarah’s work constantly exposes the juvenile hypocrisies of “serious grown ups” and celebrates imagination through sophisticated gems of free association strewn throughout her pieces.  Still, right up front in the window is juvenile raunch, self-deprecation, irreverence/sacrilege, and psychedelia.  For anyone who books her, this isn’t even a buyer-beware proposition – Sarah isn’t hiding anything.

So, when I heard TED was bringing Sarah to their conference this year, I was surprised and satisfied.  Then I promptly forgot about it.  Until I saw Sarah talking with Bill Maher…

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Posted in Art, Comedy, Events, News | 2 Comments »

WiredSafety: Keeping Kids Safe and Informed Online

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Wired Safety Bear

Last month, I shared a panel at Future Web with WiredSafety’s Parry Aftab.  As I was new to her work and live in DC, she invited me to her annual Wired Kids Summit, which happened today.

Unfortunately, I could only attend briefly this afternoon.  I caught the tail end of a “grown ups” panel with representatives from Facebook, Nickelodeon, Disney, and various law enforcement professionals, but mostly I was trying too hard to cool down from my walk through the 90 degree DC air to pay my best attention.

I heard a lot of questions for the Facebook representative – no surprise, given yesterday’s announcement of their renewed commitment to users’ control over privacy and identity (optimistically put, I know).  One very young man (10, 11?) pointed out that pornographers are sending out friend requests that (if one accepts) result in lurid ads showing up on one’s page.  Apparently, this is a big deal for kids who think it’s cool to collect thousands of “friends.”  Our Facebook rep reminded us that they want kids to use the “report” button, available all over the site, when this happens and emphasized that it is “not rude to turn down a Facebook friend request” from strangers.  Sage words.

After lunch, a panel of WiredSafety TeenAngels presented their own research and new PSAs on teen sexting behavior and attitudes.  For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to what kids are doing with technology these days, sexting is (broadly speaking) sending sexually explicit, nude or semi-nude, images, usually of and between minors via text, instant message, email, social networking sites, etc.  Obviously, this is linked to abusive behavior, blackmail, ostracism, and a whole lot of ugly no kid deserves.

I don’t have their numbers, but here are some things I learned from their survey results:

  • ~5% of the 10-12 years old surveyed had sent or received sexts.  This number gets close to 20% for respondents approaching 18 years old
  • Girls send the most sexts, boys receive the most sexts.
  • Sexting is very often an impulsive behavior.  It starts with snap decisions, rather than premeditation.
  • Most respondents think youth are very uninformed about the legal and social consequences of sexting.
  • Most respondents didn’t think sexting was preventable. Why?  Rebellious teen culture is one reason.

(more…)

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Posted in Events, Identity, Leadership, Privacy, Youth | 3 Comments »

Cyborg Watch: New BioFuel Cell Uses Glucose in the Body to Produce Electricity

Monday, May 24th, 2010

BioFuel Cell

The rise of cyborg technology and culture is one my lesser known interests, so occasionally, I’ll be linking to such developments.  Maybe later, I’ll include some of my own thoughts on the matter, as they develop.

To that end, Aaron Saenz writes on the Singularity Hub:

Researchers at Joseph Fourier University in France have created a new biofuel cell that harnesses oxygen and glucose from the body to produce electricity. Glucose biofuel cells (GBFCs) were placed inside the bodies of rats, and displayed peak energy densities of 24.4 microwatts per milliliter – better than many pacemaker batteries. Glucose and oxygen flow into the fuel cell, and waste products flow out, but the enzymes and metals inside don’t contiminate the body. The work was detailed in a paper published in PLoS. The JFU team hopes that a new generation of GBFCs will be able to power all kinds of implants in humans. This is another small step towards creating cyborgs.

Read the whole post here.

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Posted in Cyborg, News, Science | No Comments »

First post!

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

After years of talking about the web, advocating for freedom on the web, building a presence for several organizations on the web, and pretty much living my life on the web, I’m so excited to be launching my very first personal web site*!

Many thanks to Jim at Music in Code for building the site and making the process fun (and affordable).

So, what’s this site about?

It is a blog in 2 parts.  On the home page, I will be sharing the experience of working my own peculiar intersection of communications technology, community engagement, politics and policy, research, and the arts.  Currently, that will mean a lot of writing on the new Mozilla Drumbeat initiative, where I am taking a leading role.  Readers will also learn about my work on the board of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (or NAMAC).  I also hope to include some posts on non-work (or at least semi-non-work) parts of my life like travel, cooking and food, films, music, keeping up with the latest trends in scientific and tech research, and reading.  Reading for me means a mix of nonfiction (technology, politics, society, etc.) and science fiction; conveniently, the two have ever more in common.

On the second blog, Open Web Digest, I will collect and share news and views concerning the development of freedom and openness online – my own personal wire service on the internet-related topics I follow.  I hope the Digest can be a resource to others who want to stay informed as the internet and the web continue to evolve and change the world.

I’m shooting for short, informative, even fun posts, but may need to digress into long form essays on occasion.  I hope to make the site interactive, so I encourage people to post comments, ask questions, and make recommendations.

Thanks for reading!

* Ok, ok.  This is only true if you don’t count my pages on Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn.  I think I still have an account on GoodReads.  I also once started a blogspot blog, but we won’t speak of (or link to) that.

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Posted in Drumbeat, NAMAC, NJ | 1 Comment »