- Is There a Better Word for Doom? – Six disparate views on the value and ethics of actively re-framing the public discussion surrounding climate change. (tagged: politics policy environment communication propaganda climate change science )
- Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history – A talk given by Clay Shirky to the State Dept. a month or so ago, on the global, social, ubiquitous and cheap media landscape of the 21st century. Especially relevant in light of Iran's elections and protests at the moment. (tagged: web2.0 media propaganda technology social twitter politics transparency )
- Iran's Disputed Election | A Revolution in Pictures – Images are streaming out of Iran. Hundreds of thousands of people marching. Guns, fires, roads blocked by burning busses, riots and blood in the streets. The para-military storming the University. Protesters improbably evacuating an injured riot cop. Tear-gas ping pong. All revolutions look the same on the ground. They are not in practice ideological affairs. (tagged: iran politics election 2009 photos protest police )
- Gadget Teardowns – How to completely and utterly disassemble… just about anything, from a banana to your brand new Macbook Pro. Unclear whether you can put it all back together again! (tagged: technology design maker )
- The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online – An essay by Wired editor and Long Now pundit Kevin Kelly, making analogies between the "socialism" of the 20th century, and the open collaborative systems which have taken hold of the Internet. Larry Lessig hates the fact that he used the S-word, since it's got such a black name in the US, but I'm not so sure it was a bad idea. Actually I think that more than anywhere else, "socialist" ideas can probably work in the world of pure information. We're certainly nowhere near the limits of sharing online yet. (tagged: technology economics politics internet web2.0 socialism lessig longnow )
Shared Links for Jun 16th
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As for changing the name of doom – the diversity of the responses argues for the correctness of having a diversity of frames. Which I take to, among other things, mean that it is fine to keep talking the way I want to about climate change and appropriate solutions and using the words I choose to use. Hopefully they will resonate with an audience somewhat like myself. If I had a more public role in this, as perhaps we should all seek to do, I would think a little bit about my audience before choosing my words. I must admit to being more concerned with solutions. I only discuss the direness of the problems with people I already know to be informed and on board. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. My short term goal is outreach in my neighborhood, and so far that has meant inviting the neighbor kids into my back yard to help water my apple trees and mine the castings from my worm bin. Never once have I mentioned climate change while talking to my neighbors, but I do talk a lot about gardening and getting rid of my lawn and my preference for biking. And I talk about it from the side of really enjoying these things. As far as framing the discussion for national legislation/international action/etc is concerned I think we need a diversity of approaches here. Different things will resonate with different people. I like a little gloom and doom, and voluntary simplicity as long as I can see the gleam of enhanced human connection. Others, not so much. I know.