February 2011 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Democratic revolutions and democracies in crisis
by Philippe Aigrain Feb. 24, 2011

Feb. 24, 2011

Comments are flowing on the Arab and Iranian democratic revolutions, of which we see only the beginning. In a must read interview, Manuel Castells stated : “the popular uprisings in the Arab world perhaps constitute the most important Internet-led and facilitated change”. Beyond the direct role of the Internet and information technology in these movements, it is the anthropological and social transformations that make them possible that merit our attention. New types of individuals are born and grown up, wise, able to expose a political deceit, to coordinate, to speak to each other beyond social or cultural boundaries, to quickly adjust their behavior in face of previously unmet situations. In my opinion, the practices afforded by information technology and the Internet were key to the birth of these new capabilities, but their reach is not limited to where they were born. When one cuts the Internet, one does not stop (or at least not before a long time) the agency of those whom it empowered. We knew all this, and nonetheless, our surprise is huge. We are faced with the contingency of movements whose scale we did not anticipate, and neither did their originators. Retrospectively, historians will recall their antecedents and they will one day appear as part of a logical process, but today, they are in the best sense, events that spring up unexpectedly. To pay tribute to them, and express the fragile support of my keyboard, I would like to explore the inspiration that can be drawn from them by those who try to regenerate established but presently in crisis democracies. Two precautions are needed. For once, it would be absurd to confuse the situations of our respective countries: it is by recognizing their differences that one can build a constructive exchange. Furthermore, “democracy in crisis” is a tautology. It is the essence of democracy, because citizens are permanent judges of the imperfection of its state, to be always in crisis, always imperfect, and, at best, being reinvented. More at http://paigrain.debatpublic.net/?p=2884&lang=en

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"Un diritto d'autore per tutti" - domani ore 15 Roma
by Giuseppe Futia Feb. 24, 2011

Feb. 24, 2011

Nella giornata di domani 24 febbraio a partire dalle ore 15 presso la Sala dell'ex hotel Bologna del Senato della Repubblica avrà luogo la tavola rotonda "*Un diritto d'autore per tutti*", nella quale si confronteranno associazioni di categoria, industrie creative e istituzioni per discutere a proposito delle sorti del diritto d'autore sul Web L'incontro - promosso da Istituto Politiche per l'Innovazione, Federazione Femi e Centro NEXA su Internet & Società del Politecnico di Torino - avviene a pochi giorni dalla chiusura della consultazione pubblica <http://www.agcom.it/default.aspx?DocID=5413> dell'Agcom per la stesura del Regolamento sul testo Unico del Decreto Romani, e verrà trasmesso in diretta "a rete unificata" su Altratv.tv <http://www.altratv.tv/> e sulle micro web tv italiane. Ai lavori partecipano il Commissario AGCOM, Nicola D'Angelo cui è affidata l'introduzione, il Sen. Vincenzo Vita (Vice presidente della Commissione cultura del Senato della Repubblica), la Dr.ssa Stefania Ercolani (Direttore Dipartimento Multimediale SIAE), Paolo Marzano (Presidente del Comitato permanente sul diritto d'autore), Marco Pierani (Responsabile Affari Istituzionali Altroconsumo), Antonello Busetto (Direttore Rapporti Istituzionali Confindustria SI), Giampaolo Colletti (Presidente FEMI), Matteo Mille (Presidente BSA), Fabrizio Caccavello (Direttivo IWA), Carlo Blengino (Nexa Center for Internet & Society), Paolo Nuti (Presidente AIIP), Giordano Sangiorgi (Presidente Meeting Etichette Indipendenti), Dino Bortolotto (Presidente Assoprovider), Stefano Trumpy (Presidente ISOC Italia). Interviene in videoconferenza Enzo Mazza (Presidente FIMI). Modera la tavola l'avv. Guido Scorza (Presidente Istituto per le politiche dell'innovazione).

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Manuel Castells: "The popular uprisings in the Arab world perhaps constitute the most important internet-led and facilitated change"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

Interview with Manuel Castells *"The popular uprisings in the Arab world perhaps constitute the most important internet-led and facilitated change"* February 2011 / By Jordi Rovira The media has spent weeks concentrating first on Tunisia and now on Egypt. The popular uprisings which followed the sacrifice of the young Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi soon led to the downfall of dictator Ben Ali and, like a stack of dominoes, the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak, opening up a democratic process in the country. Demonstrators also took to the streets in Yemen, Algeria and Jordan. What we are seeing is the Arab world rising up, calling for greater levels of freedom from its respective regimes. New technology plays a fundamental, even key, role throughout this process, particularly social networks which enable people to by-pass the prevailing censorship. In light of these historical events, Manuel Castells, university professor of Sociology and Director of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), reflects on what is happening and provides keys to understanding a citizens' movement which is exploiting fully the new communication channels available to it. *The spontaneous social movements in Tunisia and Egypt have caught political analysts on the hop. As a sociologist and communication expert, were you surprised by the ability of the network society in these two countries to mobilise itself?* [...] Continua qui: http://www.uoc.edu/portal/english/sala-de-premsa/actualitat/entrevistes/201…

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Universities as Knowledge Institutions in the Networked Age
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

Nel caso non l'aveste notato, la deadline e' stata spostata al 15 marzo 2011. Un caro saluto, juan carlos pfie Logo CALL FOR PAPERS FOR SPECIAL ISSUE *Universities as Knowledge Institutions in the Networked Age *Guest Editors: PHILIPPE AIGRAIN, JUAN CARLOS DE MARTIN & URS GASSER The journal /Policy Futures in Education /(PFIE) -- available online at w ww.wwwords.co.uk/PFIE <http://www.wwwords.co.uk/PFIE> -- will publish a special issue on the impact of information technology and the Internet on universities: to keep and develop their role as knowledge institutions, how should universities reshape in this new environment? S ub-topics, such as open access to scientific literature and distance learning, have an established track of studies and proposals. However, it has not been common so far to aim at an integrated analysis of how universities will and should change to acco mmodate the changes brought by cyberspace in their specific role of knowledge user, processor, producer and disseminator. One topic to be addressed is how the process of learning within universities will change because of the Internet and digital devices. For centuries, college student were educated by listening to their professor read aloud selected books taken from the u niversity library ('lesson' comes, in fact, from 'lectio', Latin for 'reading session'). Gutenberg changed that by making books cheaper and therefore more amenable to individual ownership and private reading, but the typical university lesson ended up not changing much anyway. Thanks to technology, we are now experiencing, at least potentially, a Renaissance of learning methods: from ebooks to podcasts, from virtual worlds classrooms to streaming, from computer-assi sted learning to videogames, the avenues of learning have increased dramatically. Are we heading towards purely technology-mediated learning strategies? Is the old Socratic professor-student direct approach completely obsolete? Doesn't the wider s pectrum o A second topic is how research will be affected by the Internet. A major potential impact will be on the way research results will be communicated in the future. The scientific paper as a rhetorical device is increasingly under pressure in favour of mor e flexible, digitally-enabled forms of communication, mostly based on semantic web technologies. How would the decline of the scientific paper affect science? What about the role of search engines in the future of research? Will the Internet enable new forms of evaluation of scientific results ? How would that change the centuries-old mechanism of recognition and promotion within the scientific community? Moreover, the transition towards digital knowledge seem to affect trends towards commercializatio n of knowledge at universities and knowledge institutions, and the impact those trends have on knowledge generation. Additionally, the Internet seem to be increasing the tension between the growing specialization of research activities and the aspiratio n towards The third topic regards how should universities use cyberspace to best implement their mission with respect to society. In recent years society has been asking universities to do more than simply -- albeit crucially -- educate students and pro duce new academic knowledge. The list of new demands include life-long education, open access to scientific papers and educational resources, and encouragement and support for spin-offs and start-ups. But is that it? Of course not. Public education, at all levels, was born with a clear mandate to educate citizens and to increase social mobility, not simply provide students with marketable skills and bookshelves with new scientific journals. Moreover, in our age the increasingly complex problems that w e are facing as society, from global warming to water supplies, from the environment to energy issues, from the challenges (and opportunities) presented by bio-genetics and nanotechnology, don't call for a renewal of the concept of University as P ublic Ins The special issue builds upon the COMMUNIA 2010 Conference on University and Cyberspace -- /Reshaping Knowledge Insti tutions for the Networked Age/, held at Turin, 28-30 June 2010. Submitters can visit the conference site and access material originating from the conference at http://www.communia2010.org /Possible issues relating to the above topics include:/ - Digital Natives: how will the characteristics of the new generations of students, faculty and staff shape the future of universities? - The Spatial Infrastructure: physical and virtual spaces for higher education - The Use of Digital Technology in the Classroom - Open Access to Scientific Results (papers, data, software) - Open Educational Resources - Educational Videogames - Digital Devices as Platform for Learning - Non-formal Education via the Internet - Digital Divide and Higher Education - Long-term Knowledge Preservation in a Digital Age - Academic Production and the Knowledge Commons - Digital and Physical Social Networks - Intellectual Property and Academic Production - Physical and Digital Library - Semantic Web Technologies Applied to Scientific Results and Educational Resources *Papers should be sent as email attachments: **pfie-specialissue(a)nexa.polito.it* <mailto:pfie-specialissue@nexa.polito.it> *Deadline for submissions: 15 January 2011* All papers submitted will be evaluated using the PFIE's normal peer review process. Please also see the Journal's information for authors: www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/howtocontribute.asp <http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/howtocontribute.asp> EDITORIAL CONTACTS *Dr Philippe Aigrain* CEO, Sopinspace 4, passage de la Main d'Or F-75011 Paris France philippe.aigrain(a)sopinspace.com <mailto:philippe.aigrain@sopinspace.com> *Professor Juan Carlos De Martin* Co-Director, NEXA Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino -- DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 I-10129 TORINO Italy demartin(a)polito.it <mailto:demartin@polito.it> *Urs Gasser *Executive Director Berkman Center for Internet & Society 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA 02138 USA ugasser(a)cyber.law.harvard.edu <mailto:ugasser@cyber.law.harvard.edu> *SYMPOSIUM JOURNALS* PO Box 204, Didcot, Oxford OX11 9ZQ, United Kingdom Check out www.symposium-journals.co.uk <http://www.symposium-journals.co.uk> for the contents of our journals, with abstracts and full texts of all articles, instructions for contributors, together with complete editorial, bibliographical and subscription information. To unsubscribe from this Newsletter please go to http://www.wwwords.co.uk/unsubscribe.asp <http://www.wwwords.co.uk/unsubscribe.asp?id=32953&j=pfie&email=rok@elertser…>

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da peppino ortoleva
by peppino ortoleva Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

Carissimi il dibattito mi sembra stia diventando leggermente ripetitivo. A me pare che i movimenti, in generale, si manifestino quando si incrociano almeno due delle seguenti condizioni: a. la crisi di un sistema, magari corrotto ma efficiente, di rappresentanza, degli interessi e delle identità b. il reciproco riconoscersi di un soggetto sociale c. l'attivarsi o il riattivarsi di un canale di trasmissione d. il configurarsi di un mythos, di un racconto condiviso o di un luogo dell'immaginazione e del desiderio. Quello che rende confuso il quadro oggi è che, da un lato rischiamo di sottovalutare il punto a., che invece è assolutamente essenziale, nel mondo arabo come da noi, dall'altro Internet agisce sia come canale effettivo di trasmissione, sia come mythos: il mito della spontaneità sociale assoluta, della ribellione che non ha bisogno di nessuno di quegli elementi che domani potrebbero rovesciare la rivolta nel suo contrario. A questo mythos piacerebbe a tutti (o quasi) poter credere, ma dovrebbe esserci chiaro che di mitologia comunque si tratta, e che tra l'altro in questo momento nella sinistra italiana il sogno di una società civile che prende il mondo nelle proprie mani è l'inverso speculare dei luoghi comuni (una contro-mitologia) sul "populismo", cioè su una società che è di fatto plebe ipnotizzata dal nemico. Senza dimenticare il punto b., il riconoscimento, quello che per esempio ha trasformato le rivolte locali del Sessantotto in un movimento globale (perché Michnik in Polonia diceva a suo padre "Cohn-Bendit sono io", perché tutti gridavamo "la FIAT sarà il nostro Vietnam"), quello che ha fatto il femminismo grazie al fatto che le donne improvvisamente si riconoscevano tra loro in una comune identità che in precedenza era ovvia e invisibile come la lettera rubata di Poe. E anche nel riconoscersi tra di loro delle persone che scendono in piazza, e delle piazze di tante città diverse, Internet ha un ruolo decisivo: non solo di legante concreto, ma anche per così dire di segno che tutti quelli che scendono in piazza portano su di sé. Grazie a tutti per gli stimoli Peppino Ortoleva

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NYRB (Darnton): "1789–2011?"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

*1789–2011?* /*Robert Darnton*/ The question has come to haunt every article and broadcast from Egypt, Tunisia and other countries in the region whose people have revolted: what constitutes a revolution? In the 1970s, we used to chase that question in courses on comparative revolutions; and looking back on my ancient lecture notes, I can’t help but imagine a trajectory: England, 1640; France, 1789; Russia, 1917 … and Egypt, 2011? I would not presume to pronounce on the course of events in Egypt over the past three weeks, but I think it’s fair to ask whether the information that now arrives every second by every means of communication from Twitter to television bears any relation to the classic models of revolution. Or should Egypt teach us to abandon those models altogether and to consider a kind of upheaval undreamt of in our old varieties of political science? [...] Continua qui: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/feb/22/1789-2011/

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[NEXA]"Error 404: page not found" web-manuale della ribellione - Repubblica.it
by vale.it.newsletters＠gmail.com Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

CENSURA "Error 404: page not found" web-manuale della ribellione La rete come moltiplicatore di idee e di rivendicazioni. E i regimi dittatoriali la spengono per zittire la voce delle proteste. Che strumenti hanno per farlo e come ci riescono. Ma gli oppositori sanno come aggirare i divieti di ARTURO DI CORINTO http://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/2011/02/23/news/web_rivolte-12769492/?r…

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Economist: Palfrey vs Morozov (live debate)
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/662 *Internet Democracy /This house believes that the internet is not inherently a force for democracy/* *Defending the motion* _Evgeny Morozov _ Author, "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom" While the internet has the potential to both oppress and liberate, which side dominates depends on the social and political context in which it is used rather than on some internal "logic" that derives from its architecture or culture. *Against the motion* _John Palfrey_ Henry N. Ess Professor; Vice-Dean, Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School The internet is inherently a force for democracy. That will not necessarily always be true, but it is the case today, given its present architecture and the way that people use the network.

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De kerckhove: "Generazione Google tutt'altro che stupidi"
by Masera Anna Feb. 23, 2011

Feb. 23, 2011

grazie a giuseppe granieri dell'editore di ebook 40k che ce l'ha concessa, l'abbiamo pubblicata anche sulla Stampa "cartacea" oggi, nel caso non l'aveste vista è qui: http://www3.lastampa.it/cultura/sezioni/articolo/lstp/390219/

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InformationWeek: "10 Steps To Open Government"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 22, 2011

Feb. 22, 2011

10 Steps To Open Government *The feds have accomplished a lot with the year-old Open Government Directive, but they must get going this year on these 10 critical action items. * By *John Foley* <http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml;jsessionid=AWF2IFQ1…> , InformationWeek <http://www.informationweek.com/;jsessionid=AWF2IFQ1IIHVXQE1GHOSKHWATMY32JVN> febbraio 19, 2011 12:00 AM One year after the federal Open Government Directive was released, the list of accomplishments is long: Detailed plans are in place, new Web sites have been launched, and more than 300,000 data sets have been released to the public. But how much of what's been done to establish a more transparent government--one that encourages collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as participation from citizens--is having a real impact? And what work remains to be done? The Office of Management and Budget's open government scorecard, the feds' self-assessment, paints an overwhelmingly positive picture of the progress. Its visual dashboard, which grades 29 agencies across 10 categories, is almost entirely green, the color associated with "meeting expectations." In fact, there isn't a single instance in which one of the 29 agencies fails to meet OMB expectations in any of the categories measured. [...] Continua qui: http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?art…

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