Berkman Buzz: September 29, 2012

The document is guided by two questions: “What is bullying?” and “What can be done about bullying?” and focuses on the online and offline contexts in which bullying occurs. Although the medium or means through which bullying takes place influence bullying dynamics, as previous research demonstrates, online and offline bullying are more similar than different. This dynamic is especially true as a result of the increasing convergence of technologies. Looking broadly at the commonalities as well as the differences between offline and online phenomena fosters greater understanding of the overall system of which each is a part and highlights both the off- and online experiences of young people – whose involvement is not typically limited to one end of the spectrum.

Thanks much @LauraDeNardis for a wonderful review of our book Interop in Science, http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6101/1454.full @jpalfrey @BasicBooks @berkmancenter
—Urs Gasser (@ugasser)

A thoughtful review in this week's @sciencemagazine says “INTEROP will serve as a constructive and motivating resource" @jpalfrey @ugasser
—@Basic Books

This is where I earn the L33t Speak portion of the blog name. Recently, I’ve been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 is a MMORPG (pronounced ma-more-pa-gah, just ask Yahtzee), or massive multiplayer online role playing game. Basically, it’s like World of Warcraft. However, Guild Wars 2 has done a bunch of things that I think will fundamentally change the genre from the funk that it has been in since WoW became the game to compete with. Those changes have made me reflect on how a couple of code tweaks can totally change the way people play a game and relate to other players.

On Tuesday, Egyptian-American activist Mona Eltahawy was arrested for “criminal mischief” – or “the willful damaging of property” – when she responded to disturbingly racist ads that were posted in the New York City subway system with spray paint. Her act of political resistance went beyond spray paint however. In some ways, it was intentionally designed to get the attention of the internet. When she encountered resistance from a person defending the ads – who clearly knew Mona and kept responding to her by name – Eltahawy chose to create a challenge over her right to engage in what she called “freedom of expression.” This altercation escalates as the two argue on camera over whether or not Eltahawy is violating free speech or “making an expression on free speech.”

Digital beats tend to be highly structured, audience-centric, and mission driven. They develop resources and are narrow in focus but cross-disciplinary in approach.

Digital beats use digital tools but are not necessarily defined by any one tool. We’re talking about beats that, in their conception, are Internet native, even though they may be, at their heart, very traditional. Sports. Education. Crime.

Finally, digital beats use tools, but not at the expense of narrative. Digital beats always tell a story. While they may be “shiny,” they are not gimmicky.

Ty @natematias! New post: Mexico's Networked Social Movements #YoSoy132 http://bit.ly/QGrlko w/@andresmh @antonioattolini @schock @lilaroja
—Sasha Costanza-Chock (@schock)

Google searches employ two features: autocomplete and Google instant. These work together to complete your search terms and to automatically load search results while you're typing. While you're probably thankful for the few seconds this saves, or the way it triggers a connection you couldn't recall, Bettina Wulff (wife of former German President Christian Wulff) would be unlikely to agree with you these days. Type Wulff's name into Google, and the first autocomplete suggestions you'll see are "Bettina Wulff escort," and "Bettina Wulff prostituierte." Wulff is now suing Google for defamation, along with German TV host Günther Jauch and over 30 bloggers and media outlets. Wulff's suit against Google focuses on the results of this autocomplete feature.

The just-announced slogan of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics (“Hot. Cool. Yours.”) has spurred a brief episode of merrymaking on the RuNet. At first that may seem surprising — while the English version of the slogan may sound slightly confusing and a bit corny, it isn't particularly rich fodder for jokes or double entendres.

The Russian version is a different story. In Russian, the slogan reads “??????. ??????. ????.” or literally “Hot. Wintry. Yours.” There are several issues here on which online jokesters picked up.