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The “Google generation” and Andrew Keen

jordan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:57:27 +0000

I just got done listening to the JISC podcast “The Google Generation: Myth or Reality?“, and it seems like the key thing discussed in it (I haven’t had time to read the report) crosses over with some of what Andrew Keen discusses in The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture: lack of information literacy. One of the criticisms that I see at the root of some of Keen’s arguments is that people are taking Google results, blogs, wikis, “web 2.0″ (etc) at face value and not engaging with it critically. As the traditional gatekeepers (editors, paid news professionals, and so on) lose out to user generated content, there is a greater need to think about content critically because it hasn’t gone through this vetting process. From the JISC project website for the Google Generation study:

The report by the CIBER research team at University College London claims that, although young people demonstrate an ease and familiarity with computers, they rely on the most basic search tools and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to asses the information that they find on the web. The report ‘Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future’ also shows that research-behaviour traits that are commonly associated with younger users – impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs – are now the norm for all age-groups, from younger pupils and undergraduates through to professors.

And for a representative sample of Keen, p 93:

But the problem is that the Web 2.0 generation is taking search-engine results as gospel.

Maybe part of the response to Keen’s view of the Web 2.0 future is, as this study suggests, education:

The findings also send a stark message to government – that young people are dangerously lacking information skills. Well-funded information literacy programmes are needed, it continues, if the UK is to remain as a leading knowledge economy with a strongly-skilled next generation of researchers.

Education of the end-user can make up for the lack of traditional gatekeepers in terms of user generated content (though I don’t think traditional media is dead). If people are only relying on, say Wikipedia, then this is of course a problem. In part because researchers should always go directly to the source whenever possible (though what does that say about me, not having read the report?).

ILAWS inaugural lecture – 17 October

jordan — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:39:34 +0000

ILAWS, the new centre at the University of Southampton to “work on the legal issues, problems and opportunities associated with the Internet, the Web and digital technology. ILAWS is a unique interdisciplinary research centre that combines legal expertise in key domains such as information technology law, e-commerce, IT law and public policy, and intellectual property law.”

The inaugural lecture, given by Prof. Chris Reed, will be on Wednesday, 17 October 2007 at 6PM. Read the full announcement over at panGloss here.

Thomas Eggar, sponsor/partner of ILAWS, has a page on their site about ILAWS available here.

Way cool ccTLD domain name map

jordan — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:30:04 +0000

(HT to CircleID) bytelevel has produced a map of the world based on all of the Country Code – Top Level Domain Names (cc-TLDs).

http://bytelevel.com/map/

It even includes the oddballs such as Bouvet Island (.bv)!

WTO gambling report out

jordan — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:26:07 +0000

Via email from the WTO:

WTO ISSUES COMPLIANCE PANEL REPORT ON GAMBLING DISPUTE
The WTO, on 30 March 2007, issued the report of the compliance panel in
the case brought by Antigua and Barbuda regarding “United States -
Measures affecting the cross-border supply of gambling and betting
services” (DS285).
Download:
Panel report in Word format:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-a_e.doc
Panel report in pdf format:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-a_e.pdf
Annex A in Word format:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-b_e.doc
Annex A in Word format:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-b_e.pdf
Summary of the case DS285:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds285_e.htm
More on Dispute Settlement:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm

Straight EULA

jordan — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:34:38 +0000

Via Boing Boing – A EULA that tells it like it is. After just completing work on the privacy policy and policy documents for the Personality Rights Database, I can appreciate the simplicity.

[Link].