Egypt Decides! Let's Stand Back for a While

Saturday, 12 February 2011, Day 1 Freedom - Victory Tahrir Square, Photo by Darla Hueske, Creative Commons license, Some rights reserved

These are exciting times! The citizens revolution in Tunisia started a tidal wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world, and the resignation of Hosni Mubarak form the Presidency in Egypt proves there is no stopping it.
Fortunately, this wave has not caused the death and destruction tidal waves usually do, because it is the people themselves who are the wave, and it is the elite who are being swept away, not in a bloody coup, but through real people power. Final costs have yet to be assessed. People were jailed and others killed, but violence and destruction to property have been minimal. The police were brutal and ruthless and far too many were killed, but protests continued and the police disappeared quickly. After that, the one significant effort of Mubarak loyalist to crack heads, backfired terribly.
Most Americans are excited by this wave of democracy and have an innate tendency to support it. Others got very nervous when the wave hit Egypt. What happens if the Muslim brotherhood takes over? There are even voices who get far to much airplay in the media and too much ink in the press who say that people in the region are incapable of self governance and need strong arm leadership. The most looney voice has to be Glenn Beck who fears Mubarak’s fall will open the door to a Islamist Caliphate that will spread until it meets and joins forces with a Chinese-led “red” wave on a quest for world domination.
Continue reading

Academic Freedom Media Review, January 22-28

The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Purge or Quality Control?
Dan Berrett, Inside Higher Ed, 1/28
University dispute causes a crisis of credibility /
Shirley Brooks, Mail and Guardian, 1/28
Iraqi Academics Come Together to Debate Future of Higher-Education System
Ursula Lindsey, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/28
Arab Scholars, Politicians and Activists Issue Appeal for Human Rights and Democracy in the Arab World
Reuters, 1/27
Continue reading

TV News and Reporting from Egypt

Dear Media,
Please stop marveling at how anything is happening in Egypt even though the internet is shut down and people can’t get on Twitter or Facebook.  You do realize that there were popular revolts before social media, don’t you?  In the latter half of the 20th century we had the Prague Spring in 1968, the Soweto uprising in 1976, the Paris riots in 1968, and even Tiananmen Square in 89. How do you think people coordinated the labor demonstrations of the 30s, the anti-colonial revolts of the developing world in the decades following World War II.  What about the French Revolution in 1789?  OMG?  How did they get anything done.  They didn’t even have land lines!
Continue reading

FCC Approves Comcast NBC Merger

Federal regulators on Tuesday approved Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, allowing for a joint venture that puts a vast library of television shows and movies under the control of the nation’s biggest cable and broadband Internet service provider.
The Justice Department also announced its approval of the deal with conditions aimed at keeping Comcast-NBCU from quashing competition from other networks and Internet providers.
-Read more about the decision at The Washington Post.

This is not good news. I do not believe the conditions set by regulators are sufficient, and I don’t believe such mergers ought to be allowed in any case. Here we have one of the largest media conglomerates in the United States and abroad teaming up with the largest internet and cable providers in the US. It is a bad precedent.
Continue reading

Academic Freedom Media Review, October 30 – November 5, 2010

The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Singapore suppresses dissident
Drew Anderson, Yale Daily News, 11/5
Scholars at Risk Expresses Concern Over Professor Denied Entry to India
Scholars at Risk, 11/4
Iran Sets New Conditions For Employing Teachers
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11/4
News of Government Guidelines on ‘Pluralism’ Alarms Israeli Academics
Matthew Kalman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/4
Continue reading

Academic Freedom Media Review – October 2-8, 2010

Compiled by Scholars at Risk
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Iranian Human Rights Lawyer On Hunger Strike
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 10/8
Nobel Peace Prize Given to Jailed Chinese Dissident
Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times, 10/8
Blogger Abdeljalil Al-Singace mistreated in detention, concern over condition
Reporters Without Borders, 10/7
Academic urges end to bullying
Bangkok Post, 10/7
Columbia launches Palestinian center
Joseph Picard, International Business Times, 10/6
U. of I. faculty members, students may ask trustees to reconsider William Ayers
Jodi S. Cohen, The Chicago Tribune, 10/5
Continue reading

Academic Freedom Media Review, September 25-October 1, 2010

Compiled by the Scholars at Risk Network
The Scholars at Risk media review seeks to raise awareness about academic freedom issues in the news. Subscription information and archived media reviews are available here. The views and opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of Scholars at Risk.
Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of detained Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
Scholars at Risk, 10/01
Forskerkonkurranse i videregående skole (in Norwegian)
University of Oslo (UiO), Rector’s Blog, 10/1
University Transparency Bill Vetoed in California
Inside Higher Ed, 10/1
Vietnam Putting Professor on Trial for Online Dissent
Patrick Goodenough, CNS News, 9/30
Low grades for the party: The Communist Party’s grip is holding back the country’s best and brightest
The Economist, 9/30
Continue reading

Music in the Clouds

Source: My Grafitis in Tehran (http://my.opera.com/nbt4u/blog/)

There was an interesting piece in PC World yesterday about an iPhone app called Cloud Music that allows you to store your music in Google Docs and stream it through your iPhone. Google Docs now allows users to store files of all types, so this app takes advantage of that fact. I’ve yet to play with it, but its an interesting response to the restrictions the Digital Rights Management puts on our music. Since users can share things in Google Docs, presumably they can also share the music in their digital collection, provided it is not protected by DRM measures they are not able to break.
A day before that the American Public Radio program Marketplace had an interesting segment on cloud computing and streaming music, but from a totally different angle. This time it is not the users that uploads and access their own files, but rather rather the users subscribe to a huge digital library of music and stream what they want. Most of these services also offer the opportunity for downloads for users who want to be able to take their music offline. The best known examples of this are Rhapsody.com and Lala.com, recently purchased and shut down by Apple. For a monthly fee you can listen to whatever you wan in the order you want. In essence it is a vast online digital library.
Continue reading

Whrrling Around Town

I’ve been singing the praises of an app called Whrrl for while. If you like FourSquare, then this is sort of the same thing. Except it’s less competitive and more in the spirit of community. Instead of competing for a single place as “Mayor,” you become part of societies that relate to specific places or to general topics. You become a member of a place’s society when you check in at that place and if that place, in turn, if part of another group, then you become part of that society as well. Theaters and museums are part of the “Cultured Society” for example. Bars that offer drink specials are part of the “Happy Hour Somewhere Society.” There are levels in the societies–I’m a Level 6 Insider in the British Beer Company Society, but only a Level 3 Rookie in the Acapulco’s Restaurant Society–but no single Mayor.
It also makes it very easy to make recommendations on places. Think FourSquare meets Yelp, but with an easier interface. I don’t just check in at Acapulco’s, but can also recommend to you the rather excellent Margarita’s they have there, or tell you why it’s a good place to watch the World Cup matches. So, too, with my gym, grocery store, bank, coffee shop…
Continue reading

Academic Freedom Media Review, June 12-18

scholarsatrisk.nyuAcademic Freedom Media Review
June 12 – 18, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Students Gain After Strike in Puerto Rico
Damien Cave, The New York Times, 6/17
Irvine Responds to Heckling Incident
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 6/15
Continue reading