too many topics,

    too little time.

4th International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society:
Technology Conference 2008

Welcome to website of the Fourth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society.

The inaugural Technology Conference was held at the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco, in February 2005. Since then, the conference has been held in Hyderabad, India, 12-15 December 2005, a symposium on Technology and Democracy was held at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, 9-10 June 2006, and the Third International Conference at Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, 9-12 January, 2007.

—-

this could be cool

YouTube - Bob Newhart as Psychologist (”Stop It!!”):
Psychologist

—-

classic!

YouTube - Web 2.0 - Catch the Wave:
Web 2.0 - Catch the Wave

——

smacks forehead…..

Articles:
The Best and Worst Internet Laws
Date: Apr 20, 2007 By Eric Goldman.
Over the past dozen years, the lure of regulating the Internet has proven irresistible to legislators. For example, in the 109th Congress, almost 1,100 introduced bills referenced the word Internet, and hundreds of Internet laws have been passed by Congress and the states. This legislative activity is now large enough to identify some winners and losers. In the spirit of good fun, Eric Goldman offers an opinionated list of personal votes for the best and worst Internet statutes in the United States.

—-

this is a good read… it covers in a U.S.-centric way some of the most important internet issues of our day.

Internet traffic prioritisation:
Internet traffic prioritisation is an increasingly important policy issue as bandwidth demands increase and Internet applications require higher levels of quality of service to function well. Debates about traffic prioritisation, particularly in the context of “network neutrality” discussions, have been divisive. The study provides background for national debates by examining the role of traffic prioritisation in networks and highlighting associated policy and regulatory issues.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/63/38405781.pdf

—–

It is the net neutrality debate by another name.

Freedom of Expression — Press Freedom:
World Press Freedom Day 2007

May 2, 2007

——

a free press is central to peace and democracy.

‘$100 Laptop’ to Cost $175:
That’s partly because at least seven nations have expressed interest in being in the initial wave to buy the little green-and-white “XO” computers - Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Thailand, Nigeria and Libya - but it remains unclear which ones will be first to pony up the cash. The project needs orders for 3 million machines so its manufacturing and distribution effort can get rolling.
—

hmmm, it just doesn’t roll off the tongue like $100….

Quantum physics says goodbye to reality (April 2007) - News - PhysicsWeb:
Quantum physics says goodbye to reality

—-
Berkeley was right? well sort of. ‘reality does not exist when we are not observing it’

this is a hard metaphysical question to address actually, and the ’science’ is not really speaking about reality as much as what can be observed… so the model is probably more of: ‘that which we are trying to measure/observe does not manifest its properties when we are not observing it’

Cool Ads, issue 5 (cont.):
Cool Ads, issue 5 (cont.)
—-

some funny adverts…..

What not to say at your Dissertation Defense:
Things you shouldn’t say at your dissertation defense

—–

hehe…

TV Turnoff Week:

——–
Radical Vixen points us to TV Turnoff Week, which if we were allowed to post things on walls and door outside of certain areas… would be posted on my door at work.

Ted Leung on the Air » Macintosh Tips and Tricks:
Macintosh Tips and Tricks

This is a list of hardware, software and information that has been useful to me as I’ve moved over to Mac OS X. I hope that you find it useful as well. This version is now up to date for Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and Intel Macs.

—-

ted’s tools and tips…. worth a glance or more.

Map of Science:
The Map of Science is a network map showing the relationships between 1.6 million scientific articles. The algorithm for the map was put together by Richard Klavans and Kevin Boyack. At the site you can click through to other maps showing analysis by geography, industry, institutions, and topics.
—-

Pretty cool, but does history guide policy in this way. does prior performance of scientific networks determine how we should encourage them in the future? I’m not really certain, but my opinion is that the data that comprises systems like this is at best representative of certain scientific misconceptions and at worst only related to individual subjects in a way that makes real systemic understanding impossible.

Medicating Aliah:
When she was transferred from Austin State Hospital to a residential facility on March 18, 2004, Aliah was on five different medications, putting her on the extreme end of a growing practice known as polypharmacy that worries many doctors. “This is a complicated regimen using powerful psychotropic medications in a barely adolescent girl, so I would be quite concerned about it,” says Dr. Joseph Woolston, a Yale University professor and chief of child psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “It isn’t grossly, acutely dangerous, but it is sedating and would make it difficult for a child to experience the world in a normal way. If you or I were on that regimen we would have a lot of trouble attending to work or school. We don’t have any idea what that combination of medications does to a developing child. It may have a number of long-term side effects.” He also suspects that the drugs may have been used as much to control the angry reactions of a girl who was hospitalized against her will as to treat any mental and emotional problems.

—–

this is a sad story of medicalization going too far into schools and drug treatments going too far in arresting a teenagers natural life of the mind.

Call for Papers/Participation

Please join us in a workshop on learning and research in Second Life
(R) on October 17, 2007 in Vancouver at Internet Research 8.0 (http://
wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR8.0)

Paper Deadline August 15th.

Second Life(R) is a 3d virtual environment created by Linden Lab
which has captured the attentions of researchers and teachers from
around the world from a variety of disciplines.

This workshop aims to improve the understanding of Second Life as a
Learning and Research environment. It will bring 35 researchers
together to collaborate, discuss and workshop diverse topics related
to research and learning in Second Life. We will pursue a full-day
schedule in which participants will discuss their work and interests
on four different topics: learning in Second Life, integrated
learning, the contributions of research to the community and ethical
research methods. How can we better enable learning in this sphere?
How can we better enable research?

As a highlight, Robin Linden will give a talk to the group, and
members of Linden Lab will likely participate throughout the day.

We encourage researchers to submit papers and short biography to
slworkshop@tmttlt.com which will be selected and distributed amongst
participants before the workshop. First invitations will be offered
to those who provide full papers for consideration.

These papers have two purposes: first is to provide a common platform
for understanding our research and teaching and second submitted
papers may be considered for publication in an edited volume being
produced in relation to the workshop, or possibly in peer reviewed
publication derived from the workshop (these are currently under
discussion).

Subsequent invitation will be made based upon research/teaching
statement and biography. If you are interested in participating,
please send an email containing your information to
slworkshop@tmttlt.com.

Decisions will be made by September 1st, barring incident. There is
a limit of 35 participants at the physical meeting; the event will be
simulcast into Second Life.

We welcome professionals, faculty and graduate students to
participate.

This workshop is sponsored by Linden Lab creators of Second Life and
is organized by Jeremy Hunsinger and Aleks Krotoski. Free lunch,
coffee breaks and the room is included in participation.