Scientific research reveals positive results from ICA in Arab Spring

http://pitpi.org/?p=1051

"Focused mainly on Tunisia and Egypt, this research included creating a unique database of information collected from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  The research also included creating maps of important Egyptian political Websites, examining political conversations in the Tunisian blogosphere, analyzing more than 3 million Tweets based on key-words used, and tracking which countries thousands of individuals Tweeted from during the revolutions.  The result is that for the first time we have evidence confirming social media’s critical role in the Arab Spring."

First, social media played a central role
in shaping political debates in the Arab
Spring.

Second, a spike in online revolutionary
conversations often preceded major
events on the ground.

Third, social media helped spread
democratic ideas across international
borders.



Finally, a data-centered study on the value of social media during a revolution.

Decentralized internet

http://www.soa-world.de/echelon/2011/09/the-decentralized-web-movement.html

"And the concept of a decentralized web is gaining traction: more and more people realize something has to change. The cause for this trend is obvious: the number of data security and privacy disasters that were made public has spiked in recent times . In April ’11 for example an update to the security terms of service of the widely used Dropbox tool revealed that contrary to previous claims, Dropbox Inc. has full access to user data.
An analysis of the changes to the Facebook privacy policy over time paints a gloomy picture of how the world’s largest social network changed 'rom a private communication space to a platform that shares user information with advertising and business partners while limiting the users’ options to control their own information'.
With more and more of our personal data moving to centralized servers or 'cloud services' – a term that should be used as an euphemism – we’re no longer in control. But there is hope in sight: there are dozens of projects out there that try to stop the trend of centralization and data consolidation."

Have the days of getting useful resources from big companies in exchange for letting them rifle through your information gone away finally?  Why not just get the useful information without having to have commercial snoops spying on you as well?  Hopefully these new efforts will save us.

Article on internet activists in Tunisian revolution

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38379/?mod=ArabSpring_sidestory

"Days after the Egyptian parliamentary elections, described as the most fraudulent ever by some human rights groups, Tunisia's revolution began as it would end, in flames. On December 17, Mohamed Bouazizi, a poor vegetable seller, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid in protest of a series of humiliations suffered at the hands of petty officialdom. Peaceful protests that broke out in response met with heavy-handed reaction, as reports online made clear, but the country's tamed media kept quiet. Bouazizi's death galvanized hitherto isolated pockets of resistance. "People realized it was now or never," says Haythem El Mekki, who hosts a TV show about Internet society in Tunisia. They had to "go to the streets and scream and shout." A Tak in Sidi Bouzid contacted the Takriz Facebook page admin about the first protests. He was directed to e-mail Foetus, who didn't know him personally. Foetus decided on the basis of a Skype call to trust the source. Takriz leaders knew that Ben Ali would cut off the area as he had during the 2008 protests in Gafsa, so they rushed more Taks in to get there before road and Internet access was severed."

There's a lot here that outsiders (like me) would never know about. I had not heard of Takriz before, for instance. Essential reading for understanding at least part of the Arab Uprising and what role ICA played.

This article was followed up here.

crowdsourcing invention ideas

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/national/invention-site-quirky-finds-genius-in-the-masses/article_550bb921-5987-500a-8a2f-9293373c9d5b.html

"Quirky is an invention website that takes ideas from its online community and makes them into real consumer products. Ben Kaufman, 24, founded the Manhattan-based Quirky two years ago with the aim of making invention accessible.
Though it uses the en-vogue model of crowd-sourcing, it still relies on nuts-and-bolts creation of tangible goods. Beyond Quirky's rows of desks lurks a design shop, complete with a 3-D printer and various work-shopped inventions, along with the curious leftovers of development."

The power of social media in today's world; socialnomics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5a4kSMA2b5k

This is a powerful presentation of the power of social media, by Socialnomics.

I have another blog, prepareforchange.com.  A lot of times I think I should post the same thing on both sites because of the power and influence of social media and the changes that are coming so quickly. 

flash mob robs store

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/16/maryland.flash.mob/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

" A 'flash mob' believed to have been organized on the Internet robbed a Maryland convenience store in less than a minute, police said Tuesday, and now authorities are using the same tool to identify participants in the crime. Surveillance video shows a couple of teens walking into the Germantown 7-Eleven store Saturday at 1:47 a.m. Then, in a matter of seconds, dozens more young people entered and grabbed items from store shelves and coolers. Police said the teens left the store together, without paying for anything."

Tools can be used for good or ill.

microbloggers in China protect journalists

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/12/us-china-microbloggers-idUSTRE77B0JH20110812

"When Chinese journalist Wang Keqin found himself cornered in the countryside two years ago by police who were trying to stop him looking into a rape case involving local officials, he looked online for help.  Wang, one of China's most dogged investigative journalists, and his colleagues called a friend who posted constant updates about their stand-off with encroaching police to a Twitter-like microblog site. Authorities in Badong County, central China, were soon flooded with phone calls from citizens warning them not to detain or hurt him."

   Wang didn't have any authority over his helpers. He just asked for help and got it.  I'm sure he didn't even know many of the people who came to his aid.  Yet it worked.

People tired of government dilly-dallyiing, do it themselves

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/08/2011810142915166342.html

"In the months since the catastrophe, the Japanese government, its nuclear watchdogs and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), have provided differing, confusing, and at times contradictory, information on critical health issues. Fed up with indefinite data, a group of 50 volunteers decided to take matters, and Geiger counters, into their own hands. In April, an independent network of like-minded individuals in the Japan and United States banded together to form Safecast and began an ongoing crusade to record and publish accurate radiation levels around Japan. The group handed out mobile radiation detectors and uploaded the readings to the internet to map out exposure levels. "

While this doesn't say that Safecast organized on the internet, they are certainly making use of it.  When a government does not do it's job, now it's getting easier for the people to rise up and do it themselves.

Some ICA after the riots in UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14472567

"A massive clean-up operation is getting under way in areas affected by the riots across England.Twitter and Facebook users are harnessing the power of social networking to co-ordinate operations."

   It should be noted that reports say the rioters were using ICA to at least coordinate how to avoid the police.  So of course it can be used for both good and evil.
   But here at least is a nice example of how people who don't know each other and are only connected by being in the same vicinity can quickly come together and accomplish a useful task.

site for study of internet "social power"

http://www.meta-activism.org/

"We pursue our mission by building human and informational infrastructure for the study of digital activism, which means weaving human networks of activists and scholars and creating informational resources. Our motivating question is: 'How are we creating knowledge about digital activism and how can we do so more effectively?'"

This open source site has a nice blog, a book in progress, and other projects for distributing useful data about internet activism.  GREAT IDEA!