Category Archives: web

Journey to the center of the web

Posted on January 30, 2013 by

Come with me down the virtual crater of a digital volcano, located anywhere in the world – but for the sake of the story, let’s say Iceland.  We are about to embark on an inconceivable adventure:  an excursion to the … Continue reading →

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Academia in the age of Skype

Posted on January 22, 2013 by

The American university is in truth a medieval institution reformed along German lines in the 19th century.  At that time, the university replaced the informal “republic of letters” as the arbiter of authority in published works.  The academic self-image resembles … Continue reading →

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Politics and the culture of the web

Posted on January 7, 2013 by

The latest issue of The Economist carries a longish essay on “The new politics of the internet” – in essence suggesting that web activism today may be at a take-off point, comparable to the birth of the environmental movement after … Continue reading →

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Marx and the Fifth Wave

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

Karl Marx was a creature of the industrial revolution.  Colossal productive forces were unleashed during his lifetime, which swept over and altered every form of human relations.  An irreparable breach opened like a wound between nineteenth-century Europe and its own … Continue reading →

Posted in cataclysm, the public, web | 3 Comments

Unfriending the dead

Posted on December 8, 2011 by

Some months ago, a member of my family died who had an intermittent presence on Facebook.  At her husband’s request, the profile was taken down.  This made sense.  The deceased had left few traces of herself online, and bumping into … Continue reading →

Posted in new media, web | 4 Comments

Libya the lab rat

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

If the Middle East has become a huge laboratory of information effects, Libya’s part in the experiment is the most difficult and uncertain:  that of control animal. From the perspective of information flows, Libya resembles Cuba more than Tunisia or … Continue reading →

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The Shirky-Marazov social media dispute turns ugly

Posted on March 3, 2011 by

An increasingly tedious dispute has sputtered on for months in books and articles over the effects of social media.  This dispute has two sides but three perspectives. Social media optimists believe platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter will have powerful, … Continue reading →

Posted in web | 3 Comments

Shutting down the web

Posted on February 16, 2011 by

On Friday, 28 January, the Egyptian government shut the door on its population’s access to the internet.  How this was done is still unclear.  Initial reports mentioned phoned commands to service providers.  A more recent story posits a single internet … Continue reading →

Posted in cataclysm, web | 1 Comment