computing (104)

The netizen's civic duty is to contribute to the information stored on the Internet. Preferably with accurate, relevant, and generally high quality content.

In order to contribute information constructively, one needs to find the relevant online systems that will store this new information. That is, online systems that accept submissions from arbitrary users as part of its main data - the equivalent of "crowdsourced" systems.

Now that's a book I want to read:

Christian Siefkes.
From Exchange to Contributions: Generalizing Peer Production into the Physical World.

People die. When netizens or their relatives die, it is natural to want to preserve their memory, just like we do in physical life. So far, I have mostly seen Facebook groups that are dedicated to the memory of the departed, usually created by a friend of theirs. This space allows for people who knew the deceased to stop by and leave a comment. But as the Internet gets older, and generations of netizens come and go, it will be necessary to build a better infrastructure for Web cemeteries.

1. If I own a physical copy of the album (BluRay, DVD, CD, tape, LP), does that entitle me to freely download or stream the same album?
2. If I purchase or am entitled to a digital copy of the album, can I lend it to my friends? my wife? my daughter?
3. Can I store my legal digital copy on a streaming server for me to enjoy anywhere I go?

Affirmative answers to these questions would open up new ways of distributing music content that no one seems to be contemplating today.

Here are some questions I often wonder about concerning issues of online openness versus privacy:

• As a netizen, do I have the right to retrieve my own information from any Web application where I deposited it?

• Do I have the right to completely erase my own information from any Web application?

• Can I receive proof that the totality of information referring to me is actually accessible to me?

• Can I examine the physical tables of those Web applications to ensure that my information is not at risk?

Contributing to open source means a lot of evening hours spent in front of a computer, that I could spend doing something else - spending time with my wife and daughter, playing music, sports, whatever. Of course, open source is based on passion and that's what drives me.

But the point is that the time spent coding for open source is *unbilled*, meaning I'm not directly making a living from it. I might be re-using open source software for my professional work, but typically the code that I write for paying customers or for my employer is not contributed back to the community.

The question of how Twitter will ever make money is on many minds.

For starters, Twitter cannot charge its users. Because all of Twitter is user-generated content, it doesn't make sense to make them pay. Paraphrasing the words of a co-worker: Twitter is doing nothing that can't be achieved using RSS and a 140-chars textarea :-)

The problem is compounded with the fact that Twitter has an API that can help bypass the site altogether, thereby ruling out the traditional - and failed IMO - online advertising revenue model.

What's left? A Twitter Pro with higher level of service?

Structure of the documentary:

• Introduction to the sad state of humanity: Krishnamurti.
• Description of the current debt-based monetary system: from the Fed to economic hitmen.
• Technology as the answer to scarcity: the Venus project and the resource-based economy.
• Change of the individual from submissive to ideologies, to active actor in the "emergent", "symbiotic" universe.
• A call to action: stop supporting the system.

The mediastore will replace today's both DVD rental and music stores. It will only serve digital media, that customers will load onto their personal storage devices, such as USB flash drives or iPods. They will also be able to order it to be placed online, to later stream it from home.

The value of the mediastore will be the same as today's video or CD store: to find current media in an environment designed for findability.

The Internet is defining new social ethics: they are called Netiquette.The most well-known instance is email etiquette. I recommend those short email etiquette guides.

What are ethics?