Meme
The Internet is making us stupid
We have access to more information than ever, yet disinformation is more widely available than ever before and we seem to be regressing . How is this possible? Can the Internet really be making us stupid?
Meme
The Memification of knowledge: Is the Internet making us less informed?
I love the Internet. Games. Netflix. Twitter. Cat gifs. Memes. The whole world’s knowledge at your fingertips. Expert opinion, peer reviewed articles, books in the public domain, online encyclopaedias. Never in history has been so much information made available to us in such a reachable fashion. Why is it then Read more…
Meme
Crowdfunding needs a curator
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/joe_hill/status/212902087481241601″] I have just read one of the most interesting tweets in a while, and I suspect that the author’s intention was different from the actual result. In case you cannot read the code above, it is a comment from Joe Hill to Neil Gaiman complaining about how geeks Read more…
Anon
Anonymous and the decline of individualism
The rise of individualism One of my favourite documentaries of all time is The Century of the Self (2002) by Adam Curtis (you can view it on YouTube in its glorious four hour entirety here). I’ll concede that Curtis is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I believe that in Read more…
Hacktivism
Web activism grows up, but beware its narrow focus
As Wikipedia goes silent today in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), and as other Internet giants unite their voices against the proposed legislations, we could really say that Web activism is starting to become a force to be reckoned with. Undoubtedly Read more…
Meme
On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a meme
Many of us have been following with interest the adventures of Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, better known as A Gay Girl in Damascus, a half Syrian, half American girl writing about her struggles in the Arab Spring. I have to admit that although I have read some of her entries, Read more…
Meme
Why sue when you can use social media?
Yesterday we got a very interesting lesson about law enforcement online. Imagine that you discover your rights are being violated in some way, and you are almost certain that you are on the right. Traditionally you had three options: do nothing, contact the offender to negotiate, or file a lawsuit. Read more…
ACTA
Is it time to take Anonymous seriously?
Anyone who has ever heard me speak about Internet regulation will know of my barely contained scepticism with regards to Barlow’s Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, and all that it represents. In fact, the Declaration speaks of a more innocent time in Internet history, and it is usually considered to Read more…
Meme
OK Go video goes viral thanks to embedding
Last week we were bemoaning the fact that record company EMI had disabled embedding of its music videos outside of YouTube, a measure that directly affected bands that rely in viral fan distribution and embedding for their dissemination, namely band OK Go. The band’s new video is called This Too Read more…
Meme
Twitter panic
xkcd once again demonstrates keen insight into new technologies. I’m not really worried about swine flu. Now, if it was the dreaded alpaca pox, things would be different. By the way, if you think that this is an exaggeration, check out the hash tag #swineflu.