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Category Archives: Developing world
Open Data Dead on Arrival
In 1984 Karl Popper wrote a private letter to an inquirer he didn’t know, responding to enclosed interview questions. The response was subsequently published and in it he wrote, among other things, that: “Every intellectual has a very special responsibility. … Continue reading
What's New at Science Foo Camp 2009
SciFoo is a wonderful annual gathering of thinkers about science. It’s an unconference and people who choose to speak do so. Here’s my reaction to a couple of these talks. In Pete Worden’s discussion of modeling future climate change, I … Continue reading
Bill Gates to Development Researchers: Create and Share Statistics
I was recently in Doha, Qatar, presenting my research on global communication technology use and democratic tendency at ICTD09. I spoke right before the keynote, Bill Gates, whose main point was that when you engage in a goal-oriented activity, such … Continue reading
Stuart Shieber and the Future of Open Access Publishing
Back in February Harvard adopted a mandate requiring its faculty member to make their research papers available within a year of publication. Stuart Shieber is a computer science professor at Harvard and responsible for proposing the policy. He has since … Continue reading
A2K3: Connectivity and Democratic Ideals
Also in the final A2K3 panel, The Global Public Sphere: Media and Communication Rights, Natasha Primo, National ICT policy advocacy coordinator for the Association for Progressive Communications, discusses three questions that happen to be related to my current research. 1) … Continue reading
Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Internet and Democracy
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A2K3: Communication Rights as a Framework for Global Connectivity
In the last A2K3 panel, entitled The Global Public Sphere: Media and Communication Rights, Seán Ó Siochrú made some striking statements based on his experience building local communication networks in undeveloped areas of LCDs. He states that the global public … Continue reading
Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Human Rights, Internet and Democracy, Technology
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A2K3: Opening Scientific Research Requires Societal Change
In the A2K3 panel on Open Access to Science and Research, Eve Gray, from the Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town, sees the Open Access movement as a real societal change. Accordingly she shows us a picture of … Continue reading
A2K3: Technological Standards are Public Policy
Laura DeNardis, executive director of Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, spoke during the A2K3 panel on Technologies for Access. She makes the point that many of our technological standards are being made behind closed doors and by private, largely … Continue reading
Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Internet and Democracy, Technology
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A2K3: Access to Knowledge as a Human Right
Building on the opening remarks, the second panel addresses Human right and Access to Knowledge. Caroline Dommen, director of 3D, an advocacy group promoting human rights consideration in trade agreements, emphasizes the need for metrics: how can we tell how … Continue reading
Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Human Rights, Intellectual Property
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A2K3: Tim Hubbard on Open Science
In the first panel at A2K3 on the history, impact, and future of the global A2K movement, Tim Hubbard, a genetics researcher, laments that scientists tend to carry out their work in a closed way and thus very little data … Continue reading
Access to Knowledge 3: Opening Remarks
I’m at my first Access to Knowledge conference in Geneva and I’ve never felt so important. Walking to the Centre International de Conférences in Geneva I passed the UN High Commission for Refugees and I’m sitting in an enormous tiered … Continue reading
Posted in A2K3, Conferences, Developing world, Intellectual Property
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Vacations or "Vacations" :)
I’m here at the Global Voices Summit in Budapest and I just listened to a panel on Rising Voices, a group within Global Voices dedicated to supporting the efforts of people traditionally underrepresented in citizen media. (See their trailer here). … Continue reading
Posted in Conferences, Developing world, Media, Technology
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Amartya Sen at the Aurora Forum at Stanford University: Global Solidarity, Human Rights, and the End of Poverty
This is a one day conference to commemorate Martin Luther King’s “The Other America” in his 1967 speech at Stanford, and heed that speech’s call to create a more just world. Mark Gonnerman, director of the Aurora Forum introduces the … Continue reading
Posted in Conferences, Developing world, Economics, Human Rights, Talks
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The Internet Drives Election Results in Malaysia
On March 8, elections were held to the Malaysian parliament. The incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, who lost its two-third majority in parliament, had held power since independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. In the months leading up to … Continue reading
Posted in Developing world, Internet and Democracy, Media
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A Test of the Internet's Free Speech Promise: China and Tibet
I haven’t seen any evidence that the internet was an important facilitator of the organization of the protests in Tibet, but citizen reporting on the events in Lhasa beginning March 10 made heavy use of the internet. The interesting question … Continue reading
Book Review: "Development as Freedom" by Amartya Sen
What is a developed country? According to Sen, development should be measured by how much freedom a country has since without freedom people cannot make the choices that allow them to help themselves and others. He defines freedom as an … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Developing world, Economics, Human Rights, Statistics
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Implementing a Human Rights Policy at the World Bank
Galit Safarty gave a talk at Harvard Law School today titled: Why Culture Matters in International Institutions: The Marginality of Human Rights at the World Bank. Sarfaty obtained her JD from Yale and is a lawyer and anthropologist. She is … Continue reading
Posted in Developing world, Human Rights, Talks
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Book Review: "What Went Wrong" by Bernard Lewis
When we were in Istanbul my mother picked up this book on a whim. It was published in 2002 and entirely written, excepting the preface, before 9/11. The subtitle of the book is “Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response” and … Continue reading
Reducing Election Violence Cheaply – eVoting?
I can’t help but notice the violence surrounding the recent elections in Kenya, Pakistan, Zimbabwe (where I still have family) and many other places. To the extent that the problem is citizen mistrust of the voting process, this seems like … Continue reading
Choosing not to Choose – Turkish Headscarves and Governance in Somalia
What happens when the results of democratic choice do not align with traditional democratic values, such as freedom and choice? A Feb 19 New York Times article discusses the proposed repeal of a ban on the wearing of headscarves at … Continue reading
Posted in Developing world, Middle East
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