Berkman Center

Robin Chase — cofounder of Zipcar and Veniam (building a dynamic communications network for the Internet of moving things) — lays out a near term future where communications and software platforms will deliver us smart cities, smart homes, and ubiquitous clean low-cost shared transport. On the one hand we have an environmental imperative to get […] Dec 04, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg You’ve likely heard of Silk Road – the black market e-commerce hub that was shutdown in 2013 for becoming a magnet for vendors of illicit goods. But the story of its shutdown, and the investigation and trial that followed, is complicated enough that we need a guide. On this […] Nov 20, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg On your computer, you don’t ever really “take out the trash.” Data doesn’t get picked up by a garbage truck. It doesn’t decompose in a landfill. It just accumulates. And because space is becoming less and less of an issue — hard drive space keeps getting cheaper, and a […] Nov 06, 2015

Crowdwork — “the process of taking tasks that would normally be delegated to an employee and distributing them to a large pool of online workers, the ‘crowd,’ in the form of an open call” — has become an entire category of global employment we could never have imagined existing a few short years ago. In […] Nov 05, 2015

Women are disparately impacted by harassment on the Internet. Harassment can be framed as a civil rights problem, with legal solutions proposed and vitriol directed towards platforms for failing to protect female users. But, as Sarah Jeong — a lawyer and journalist who covered the Silk Road trial for Forbes — suggests, the Internet has […] Oct 30, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Facebook has had a lot of trouble with misogynistic speech. A few years ago, several women’s groups joined together to petition Facebook to work harder to block misogynistic pages, posts, and replies. At the time Facebook had strict standards against hate speech that was racist or anti-semitic — such […] Oct 30, 2015

In this conversation with Jonathan Zittrain, Cory Doctorow — author and EFF Special Advisor — explains how he plans to kill all DRM in the world forever, within a decade. Download the MP3 …or download the OGG audio format! More info on this event here. Oct 26, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg A recent New York Times survey of the top 50 news sites showed that blocking ads while surfing their mobile news sites could save up to 14 megabytes per page loaded. 14 megabytes adds up to 30 seconds over 4G, and, if you’re on a restricted data plan, it […] Oct 22, 2015

Researcher Camille François leads a discussion of the “Mozilla Delphi Cybersecurity 1.0. Study: Towards A User Centric Policy Framework” with Berkman community members Josephine Wolff, Andy Ellis, and Bruce Schneier, who participated in the study. More than 30 leading cybersecurity experts from a wide variety of backgrounds – including academia, civil liberties, government and military, security, and technology […] Oct 07, 2015

The LibraryBox Project (along with other emerging projects like PirateBox, occupy.here, IdeasBox, and others) is an attempt at bridging the divide in delivery of digital information in areas where there is a lack of communications infrastructure or where that infrastructure has been damaged or is overly monitored or controlled. As self-contained, non-connected portable servers, these […] Sep 24, 2015

Berkman Center Faculty Chair Jonathan Zittrain leads a dynamic introduction to the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s history, and the network of researchers, activists, faculty, students, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, lawyers, and more who are influencing the future of the Internet. Download the MP3 …or download the OGG audio format! More info on this […] Sep 17, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Ethnographer Whitney Phillips embedded with the trolls of 4chan, observing for years how anonymous members of its subversive “/b/” forum memed, pranked, harassed, and abused, all for the “lolz” — the thrill of doing something shocking. The result: a book, “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping […] Sep 17, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Bitcoin’s 7th birthday is this year, and its promise to change the way the world thinks about money is looking less and less hyperbolic. For one, the block chain technology underlying Bitcoin – the public ledger that makes the exchange transparent and accountable – is now being used to clean up Wall Street. […] Aug 13, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg The market for recorded music has undergone at least three major reinventions since the dawn of the Internet. At the turn of the century illegal downloading ate away at the music industry’s bottom line. Then the iTunes music store made it easy to buy music again, albeit disaggregated from […] Aug 05, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg With 316 million users posting 500 million tweets a day, someone is bound to write an unoriginal tweet now and then. But there are some Twitter users whose entire existence relies completely on plagiarizing tiny jokes and relatable observations created by other Twitter users. Many plagiarizing accounts have follower […] Aug 03, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Reddit is sometimes called “the frontpage of the Internet.” 170 million people a month help upload, curate, and make viral the cat photos, prank videos, and topical discussions that help fuel our neverending thirst for content. But recent moves by Reddit management to tighten up their content policy have […] Jul 27, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Why are over 450 towns in the US building their own high speed Internet networks? Let’s look at the example of the small town of Holyoke, Massachusetts. A few years back the town’s mayor asked if the local cable or telephone companies wanted to build a fiber network to serve […] Jul 15, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg The International Labour Organization estimates that between forced labor and the commercial sex trade, more than 20 million men, women, and children are being trafficked internationally. The web plays a huge role in keeping trafficking industries viable, but new technology is also contributing to the efforts to police and […] Jul 01, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Public spaces function based on a varying give-and-take relationship with community members. Publicly supported media — whether it be college radio, a local NPR station, cable access, or PBS — shares the word “public,” but traditionally doesn’t have the same relationship with members as other “public” institutions, for examples parks and libraries. On this […] Jul 09, 2015

The past decade has seen a dramatic decline in user agency all across the Web, but especially in education. The Aughts saw the budding of a golden age of user-produced media on the Web. But these buds never fully flowered, over-shadowed by the development of proprietary platforms like Facebook in the social sector and learning […] Jul 07, 2015

Anyone seeking to participate in the 21st century needs to understand how to find and use the vast stores of information available online. Libraries play a crucial role in making these skills and information available, and yet are at risk. John Palfrey — Head of School at Phillips Academy, Andover and President of the Board […] Jun 30, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg The more comfortable we get using digital platforms the more important it becomes to understand our relationships to them. From Facebook, to Fitbit, to Wikipedia, to networked games, and even to our schools and employers, the more we entrust our data to an outside platform, the more we have […] Jun 25, 2015

Microsoft Research PhD Interns Ifeoma Ajunwa, Stacy Blasiola, Nathan Matias, and Aleena Chia present their current research on corporations and the quantified self; the Facebook newsfeed algorithm; how sites like Reddit and Wikipedia are made accountable to their users and the public; and the participatory politics of online gaming. Download the MP3 …or download the […] Jun 25, 2015

Universities are drowning in data, not only data produced by their researchers and students, but also data they collect about their communities. Research data are subject to sharing and retention requirements by funding agencies and journals. Data from course management systems, faculty personnel records, security cameras, and social media are being used as indicators for […] Jun 25, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg You may be familiar with a typical hack-day or hack-a-thon. Throw a group of developers and creators in a conference room for the weekend, and they’ll come up with some amazing app or product to make life better for all of humankind. Radio Berkman recently stumbled on a hack-a-thon […] Jun 17, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg A lot of personal information about you is completely invisible, intangible, and racing around cyberspace on a mission to pay your bills and geolocate your Facebook status. And, of course, this is useful and in a lot of ways really cool. But today on Radio Berkman we’re going to […] Jun 08, 2015

What does it mean to be a member of a public radio station in the United States? What could it mean? How could expanding the definition of membership instill a sense of ownership and identity among listeners, allowing them to feel more connected and invested in the work we do? In this talk Melody Kramer […] Jun 04, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Few sectors of the networked environment get a worse reputation for hate speech than online gaming. Competitive games with chat functions have always involved some level of trash talking. Slurs, shaming, and casual threats are part of the players’ toolkit for riling up their opponent. But the toxicity levels […] Jun 01, 2015

There are any number of compelling reasons the US would want to have a good information relationship with other countries, from counter-terrorism and cyber-crime prevention, to simple tax identification. This information sharing is not only necessary to strengthen relations with foreign governments but to protect the country from threats, foreign and domestic. But how does […] May 19, 2015

Today we feel the impact of technology everywhere except in our paychecks. In the past, technological advancements dramatically increased wages, but during the last three decades, the median wage has remained stagnant. Machines have taken over much of the work of humans, destroying old jobs while increasing profits for business owners. In this talk, James […] May 19, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg In Radio Berkman 216 we tackle the web as we know it in 2014-2015. Hate speech online, freedom of speech online, censorship and surveillance online, and, of course, whether our smart machines are out to destroy us. All of these stories and more are part of this year’s Internet […] Mar 24, 2015

The citizen response to 2012’s Hurricane Sandy was in many important ways more effective than the response from established disaster response institutions like FEMA. New York-based response efforts like Occupy Sandy leveraged existing community networks and digital tools to find missing people; provide food, shelter, and medical assistance; and offer a hub for volunteers and donors. In this […] Mar 10, 2015

The Internet is democratizing access to the global marketplace for millions of people around the world. Thanks to online platforms, payment systems and logistics services, companies, nonprofits and individuals can embark on global journeys like never before. In this conversation, Usman Ahmed — Policy Counsel for eBay Inc — and Jake Colvin — Executive Director […] Feb 25, 2015

The Digital Problem-Solving Initiative (DPSI, or “dip-see”) at Harvard University, is an innovative and collaborative project, hosted through the Berkman Center. DPSI brings together a diverse group of learners (students, faculty, fellows, and staff) to work on projects to address challenges and opportunities across the university. In this talk DPSI participants showcase: a smartphone app […] Feb 25, 2015

On July 20, 2014 the Ebola outbreak landed in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Public health officials warned that an outbreak could be catastrophic in Lagos, a densely populated city of 21 million. 19 confirmed cases left 11 dead from the disease, but Nigeria’s nightmare scenario never occurred. Within three months, the World Health Organization […] Feb 19, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Want to create artificially intelligent machines? Want to find aliens? You might want to try talking to nature first. Philosophers, animal behaviorists, and scientists have worked for decades to get animals to speak “human.” Researchers have even cohabited with primates and dolphins to see if they could somehow connect. […] Feb 03, 2015

Fresh from a party, a teen posts a photo on Facebook of a friend drinking a beer. A college student repurposes an article from Wikipedia for a paper. A group of players in a multiplayer online game routinely cheat new players by selling them worthless virtual accessories for high prices. How do youth, and the […] Jan 30, 2015

The world is witnessing a massive expansion of Chinese telecommunications reach and influence, powered entirely by users choosing to participate in it. In Usage of the mobile messaging app WeChat (微信 Weixin), for example, has skyrocketed not only inside China, but outside, as well. Due to these systems being built upon proprietary protocols and software, […] Jan 15, 2015

Listen:or download | …also in Ogg Not long ago, illegally downloading a movie could land you in court facing millions of dollars in fines and jailtime. But Hollywood has begun to weather the storm by offering alternatives to piracy — same day digital releases, better streaming, higher quality in-theater experiences — that help meet some […] Dec 15, 2014

Why do people create and innovate? And how does intellectual property law encourage, or discourage, the process? In this talk Jessica Silbey — Professor at Suffolk University Law School — discusses her recent book The Eureka Myth: Creators, Innovators, and Everyday Intellectual Property, which investigates the motivations and mechanisms of creative and innovative activity in […] Dec 10, 2014

One of the enduring issues in cyberspace is which laws apply to online activities. We see this most clearly today in the reaction to revelations about government surveillance: on one hand, individuals are increasingly seeking assurances that their content is protected from government overreach, while governments want to ensure they have access to information to […] Nov 14, 2014

In 1787, British philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham conceived of the panopticon, a ring of cells observed by a central watchtower, as a labor-saving device for those in authority. In French philosopher Michel Foucault’s groundbreaking 1975 study, Discipline and Punish, the panopticon became a metaphor to describe the creeping effects of personalized surveillance as […] Oct 22, 2014

Do you have a name? More than one? Does it matter to you who knows it? As digital systems become more integrated into our lives, these questions are becoming very important. We’re in the midst of a literal identity crisis where your identity is quickly becoming, rather than something you define, a social construct that […] Sep 30, 2014

Healthcare professionals worldwide often have extensive non-clinical skills in management, public health, policy, or other fields which are not officially recognized through a degree. In this talk, Rebecca Weintraub, MD — Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Faculty Director of the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University — introduces the concept of digital […] Sep 23, 2014

In 2012, U.S. drone strikes occurred most often in which nation? If you don’t know, you’re not alone. 27 percent of Americans reported they had no a clue and another 60 percent got it wrong. What should the media cover when it comes to drones and military robotics? And what responsibility do journalists have to […] Sep 17, 2014

Learn more about the Berkman Center for Internet & Society — and its incredible network of researchers, activists, faculty, students, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, policy makers, lawyers, and more — in an interactive conversation led by Faculty Chair Jonathan Zittrain. If you’re curious about connecting with our research, our community, or our events, or are just […] Sep 12, 2014

How are inequality regimes challenged, or sometimes perpetuated, in online environments? In this talk Tressie McMillan Cottom — blogger, PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at Emory University, and PhD Intern at the Microsoft Research Network’s Social Media Collective — discusses inequality in online learning, based on qualitative research with students taking courses online at […] Aug 04, 2014

Our online lives are organized by computer algorithms that select and recommend advertisements, search results, news, and online social interactions. These algorithms are often closely-guarded secrets kept by Internet companies. But researchers, users, and the public might legitimately need to know how these algorithms operate. In this talk, Christian Sandvig (University of Michigan), Karrie Karahalios […] Jul 24, 2014

Millions of learners on platforms like edX and Coursera are generating terabytes of data tracking their activity in real time. Online learning platforms capture extraordinarily detailed records of student behavior, and now the challenge for researchers is to explore how these new datasets can be used to advance the science of learning. In this edX […] Jul 07, 2014

We now wander in Best Buy, Lowes and on Amazon and buy all sorts of devices from thermostats, hi-fi gear, tablets, phones, and laptops or desktops as well as home routers to build our home networks. Most of these we plug in and forget about. But should we? In this talk Jim Gettys — American […] Jun 24, 2014