Citizen-Generated Media (CGM)

Take That!

Do you feel inadequate because you cannot come up with a killer insult fast enough to trump your foes?  Have you ever wanted to curse out the Jehovah’s Witness that rings your doorbell at 8 AM but know he’ll not listen unless it is based in scripture?  Do you want to impress your enemies with the encyclopedic extent of your biblical knowledge?  Fear no more.  The Biblical Curse Generator is here, allowing you to smite your foes with custom-made curses.

Digital Rights Management and Hackers

The Krupp steel manufacturing facility in Germany played a deadly game during the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries.  They would manufacture cannons that would penetrate the best armor, then develop better armor that would resist the new cannons.  Krupp did this many times, actually contributing to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.  This is all documented in William Manchester’s magisterial book, The Arms of Krupp. I see a parallel between that and the history of Digital Rights Management software, which seeks to control the uses to which digital recordings can be put.  Every time a new rootkit is introduced, intrepid members of the hacker community devise stronger armor (software) to resist it.  This has been going on as long as digital media has been an economic force, and Ars Technica has published a good introductory history entitled “Hacking Digital Rights Management” by Nate Anderson.

Who Blogs?

57 million Americans read at least one blog daily.  12 million write their own blogs.  Blogging has been an explosively-growing trend, with no end in sight.  The Pew Internet and American Life Project has just issued a white paper, Bloggers, that demonstrates how Americans are taking to blogging and why.

Shifting Populations

The Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia’s Earth Institute has created a map showing what the likely population shifts will be by the year 2025.  This map takes into account probable sea level rise and the coastal dislocations it will bring. Southern and Eastern Europe and Japan are expected to experience population declines, though the number of people living near the coasts worldwide is expected to increase by over 35 percent. 

Flame Wars

Everything you ever wanted to know about abusing the commonly held Internet by venting anger and deliberately hurting perceived opponents is collected by Wikipedia.

Flaming is one of many threats to the global communications revolution driven by the Internet and by bloggers

Net Neutrality Debate Continues

The national debate on net neutrality has been intense and ongoing.  Two new perspectives come from Andy Wibbels and Denise Wakeman.  Wibbels’s commentary is available in HTML or as a PDF File, whereas Wakeman’s is a more traditional blog site.

Both represent constituencies that will suffer if tiered Internet access is introduced by the large common carriers.