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First POST: Big Data

BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, March 29 2012

An art installation at Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K. Photo: David J. Morgan / Flickr

Must-Reads

  • The Obama administration will announce today a major research initiative in big data computing, according to the New York Times:.

    The effort, which will be announced on Thursday, involves several government agencies and departments, and commitments for the programs total $200 million...On Thursday, the National Science Foundation will announce a joint program with the National Institutes of Health seeking new techniques and technologies for data management, data analysis and machine learning, which is a branch of artificial intelligence ...

  • Personal Democracy Plus exclusive: What can last year's ballot initiative fights tell us about what mobile technology really can and can't do for a campaign? And after two years in the field, are the mobile canvassing and voter targeting tools launched in 2010 getting traction? Are they effective?

    These are some of the questions our researcher Jack Harris set out to answer for you in a new techPresident tech brief available exclusively to Personal Democracy Plus subscribers, "The Pocket Campaign: Mobile Politics in 2012." It's our look at what state and local campaigns can learn from how organizations of all sizes have used mobile devices, whether it's to reach potential voters with advertising or to empower volunteers in the field. Full of advice and examples from people who have used mobile messaging in the field in the past two years, we think it's worth a read.

  • With the Supreme Court hearings this week still under a social media blackout and with no live access, a website called http://scotuslive.com/ offered several updated mock sketches about what could be taking place in the courtroom, such as the Justices watching Judge Judy.

  • The American Action Forum, which has submitted three amici briefings against the Affordable Care Act, has been working with Google and Targeted Victory to run mobile ads for users searching the term "supreme court" and standing within a two-block radius of the court building.

  • Six staff members of the Wisconsin State Journal signed the recall petition against Governor Scott Walker, according to a database of signatures at iverifytherecall.com, putting them at odds with the paper's ethics policy, although only one of them works in the newsroom.

Notable

  • Banks have been slow to adopt social media presences, according to a survey. "A survey on the social media activities of 50 leading private banks found that most had developed "amateurish" social media strategies, were "hibernating" on Facebook and displaying "tokenism attitudes" to Twitter and YouTube, according to Assetinum.com, an independent financial information portal for investors," the New York Times reported.

  • Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom says over one thousand accounts on the website originated from government domains, as did over 15,600 accounts from U.S. Military domains.

  • A blogger at the Friendly Atheist website started a scholarship campaign for a girl in Rhode Island who had successfully protested a prayer banner at her high school, a campaign that has raised $64,000.

  • A high school senior in Indiana has been expelled for tweeting a profanity. "The principal at Garrett High School claims their system tracks all the tweets on Twitter when a student logs in, meaning even if he did tweet it from home their system could have recognized it when he logged in again at school," a local station reported.

  • The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is considering fines for people who cause flight delays when they don't switch off their cell phones or tablets before take-off.

  • The Food Bank for New York City is running a virtual food drive for Passover. The 28 year old director of operations of the Bronx Jewish Community Council told the Daily News that "my generation, we don't write checks."

  • A man was able to retrieve $5,000 in cash, personal checks and company documents from a New York City taxi cab with the help of the GPS system in the taxis.

  • The Sierra Club is running a new campaign against burning coal that includes online videos featuring a fake coal executive, based on a 90's comedy series, in a campaign that has its own Facebook and Twitter Page titled Mr. Coal Guy.

  • Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer is planning a new digital video news start-up that will emphasize social media.

  • Nieman Lab spoke to the outgoing online head of Al Jazeera English about the channel's efforts on the web:

    Nanabhay said one thing that is overlooked when considering the role social media played in their coverage is the fact that Twitter and Facebook would not have been effective if Al Jazeera's journalists weren't familiar with the people, activists and other groups providing updates from the ground.

  • Twitter is searching for a platform evangelist in Europe. "Twitter says it's looking for someone with "experience in government, politics or public policy with deep familiarity across all three disciplines," and only a "reasonable fluency in technology" to promote its message and brand across the EU," Sociable reported.

  • Winners of the Shorty Awards this week included @OccupyWallStNY in the category of Activism, @NASA in the category of government @acarvin in the Journalist category and @MikeBloomberg as Foursquare Mayor of the Year.

International Headlines

  • Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took to Twitter to reassure concerned citizens that his cat was safe after a rumor had spread online that it had run away.

    "About the cat. A source close to #Dorofei says he has not got lost anywhere. Thank you all for your concern!" Medvedev tweeted from a trip to Asia. ... Reports that Dorofei had been lost spread after a tabloid newspaper, Sobesednik, said he was missing and that appeals to find him had been posted on telephone poles in the elite Moscow suburb near Medvedev's official residence.Some Twitter users were sympathetic but many joked the cat showed good sense to make a break for it."'It's now or never,' Dorofei thought," Anatoly Srakarny tweeted

  • Oxford University's Internet Institute has published its first interactive, digital textbook for students, and it will also be freely available to the public.

  • A report by British members of Parliament says that Google should censor search results when a court has concluded that they are hurting an individual's privacy.

  • Britain's House of Commons Commission will next month consider whether all Members of Parliament should be issued iPads.

  • Symantec is ending a joint venture with Chinese company Huawei Technologies because it is concerned that the cooperation means it will be unable to obtain U.S. government classified information about cyberthreats, the New York Times reported.

  • A multimedia archive about the legacy of former South African President Nelson Mandela, funded with a grant from Google, is now online.

  • Students in Swaziland have been marching for more democracy and more scholarships, but a spokesperson for the People's United Democratic Movement says the spread of democratic ideas is hard in the country. in part because use of social media is difficult since many aren't connected.

    The main audience for social media platforms created by Swazi activists has been among Swazis and sympathizers living outside Swaziland. Mabuza noted that that at least has the power to embarrass the government, noting that earlier this month, the prime minister told parliament he was drawing up laws to provide for ways to punish those who used social media platforms to criticize the king."It's an indication that the regime is unprepared to democratize," Mabuza said.

News Briefs

RSS Feed today >

New Online Platform for Crowdsourced Videos About Human Rights Issues

Anyone with a phone and an Internet connection can be a citizen journalist, as was made clear in the hours and days after the Boston Marathon Bombings. Citizen journalism has its pros and cons, but it has popped up where most needed: after natural disasters or in war torn regions where career journalists might be barred. A new human rights initiative seeks to link citizen reporting in the form of online videos with mainstream media, governments and other policy makers. The online platform, called Irrepressible Voices, will both document human rights issues and work on solutions as a community.

GO

wednesday >

Facebook Becomes Full Member of Global Network Initiative

Facebook announced today that it has opted to become a full member of the Global Network Initiative, a group founded by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to address the challenges technology companies face when dealing with governments about issues like freedom of expression and data privacy. GO

Russia's OGP Concerns Show That Transparency Matters

Last week, Russian officials announced they have withdrawn their letter of intent to join the Open Government Partnership. The Moscow Times has a statement to the Russian paper Kommersant from a presidential spokesman, saying, "We are not talking about winding up plans to join, but corrections in timing and the scale of participation are possible." So Russia may still be in. Just not soon. And maybe never. Confused? You're not alone. I actually find it fascinating that the Kremlin acts like "openness" and transparency matter. Here's why. GO

In Denmark, Online Tracking of Citizens is an Unwieldy Failure

Six years after Denmark passed a law mandating that telecommunication companies retain and store their customers' personal data for up to two years, local advocacy groups and the telecom industry are pushing for immediate changes to the legislation. The practice of keeping records of private citizens' Internet use is an unjustifiable invasion of privacy, they say. The police, meanwhile, have concluded that requiring telecoms to store subscriber data has not helped them track criminals, which was the the ostensible purpose of the practice. But the Danish government still wants to postpone an evaluation of the law for another two years. GO

"Accidental" Blocking of Australian Websites Raises Concerns About Government Censorship

An Australian government agency admitted last week to unintentionally blocking more than 1,200 perfectly legal websites in the process of shutting down one allegedly fraudulent site. In their defense, they pointed out that they have successfully blocked a number of websites in the past nine months without such digital collateral. This assertion came as no consolation to Australian netizens concerned about Internet censorship, especially opaque and hazily legal censorship.

GO

tuesday >

Honda Campaign Rolls Out Endorsements From Asian American Stars

Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) rolled out several additional endorsements from Asian American leaders and celebrities Tuesday, with one of them vouching for his high-tech bona fides. GO

Here Are The People President Obama Hopes Will Repair American Elections

The Presidential Commission on Election Administration established by President Obama after problematic 2012 elections now has a web presence at SupporttheVoter.gov. Obama established the commission by executive order on March 28 "to identify best practices in election administration and to make recommendations to improve the voting experience." GO

After Oklahoma Disaster, Neighbors Look Online for Ways To Help

In echoes of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast, social media sites and small business websites in and around tornado-wracked Moore, Okla., are full of offers of help, questions about missing pets and loved ones, and evidence that neighbors are willing to reach out to help one another in a disaster. On a single Facebook group, there's a Mexican restaurant in Oklahoma City promising free meals to first responders or people hit by the tornado; a mother a few hours' drive from Moore offering to open her door for children who might need a place to stay; a resident sharing a picture of a found dog and contact information for the owner to get in touch. GO

Change.org Lands $15 Million From Omidyar

Change.org capped an extraordinary few years of growth Tuesday with the announcement that it has landed a $15 million investment led by the Omidyar Network. GO

What German Politicians Think of Google Glass

The German government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel has not had the easiest relationship with Google. The company launched a public campaign against a law backed by her coalition that would require search engines to pay to show news articles in search results, with mixed results. What's more, Google has long had to navigate the privacy waters in Germany and throughout the European Union. But that has not stopped her federal minister for economics and technology, Philipp Rösler, from giving Google Glass an enthusiastic test run as he leads a delegation of German technology companies and politicians on a trip to Silicon Valley this week as part of German Valley Week. GO

Crowdsourcing Waste Management Solutions in Montenegro

For once we aren't talking about the worldwide scarcity of toilets, just good old-fashioned household waste. Montenegro has a garbage problem so bad even the tourists are complaining about it. A new mobile app sponsored by the Agency for Environmental Protection, NGO Ozon and United Nations Development Programme in Montenegro will hopefully get citizens involved in reporting illegal garbage dumps. GO

monday >

Her Majesty's Government Wants to Monetize Open Data

A new paper from the chair of the U.K. government's Open Strategy Board outlines the best practices for the government's open data policies. The government-commissioned Shakespeare Review – after author Stephan Shakespeare – looks into ways to monetize open data, and recommends an all-encompassing National Data Strategy.

GO

Will Silicon Valley "Disrupt" Politics With a Candidate for Congress?

Sean Parker, of Napster fame and now executive general partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund, has invested in political startups before. But last week, he went a step further — co-hosting a fundraising event for a candidate for Congress. Parker and SV Angel co-founder Ron Conway organized a crowd of Internet industry luminaries to support Ro Khanna, a former assistant deputy secretary in Barack Obama's Commerce Department. Khanna is preparing a challenge to Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), whose newly redrawn congressional district encompasses Silicon Valley. GO

Burma's Upcoming Telecom Revolution Will Probably Not Bring Internet Freedom

Burma (Myanmar) is on the threshold of an Internet revolution, but Human Rights Watch has warned companies to proceed with caution or risk trampling Burmese citizens' rights. GO

friday >

Chilean Anti-Corruption Resource: A Crowdsourced Database of Social and Political Connections

In countries where a small minority of social circles have a majority of the political and economic power, personal relationships can affect major decision-making, a serious concern of anti-corruption activists. A new web platform stores personal profiles of key players in Chilean business and politics, complete with biographies and personal and professional connections through family, education, social circles, employers and coworkers, to make tracking social relationships and conflict-of-interest easier. Called Poderopedia (from the Spanish word for power), the project sounds kind of like LinkedIn, but the creation and management of profiles is being crowdsourced out to journalists, activists and concerned citizens.

GO

Middle Eastern Telecom Accused of Working With Saudi Arabia to Spy on Citizens

Mobily, an arm of the state-owned Middle Eastern telecom giant Etihad Etisalat, has been accused of working with Saudi Arabia to develop software that would allow the government to bypass protections for social media users. The exposé comes from Moxie Marlinspike (neé Matthew Rosenfield), an expert in a certain type of malicious Internet attack called MITM (man-in-the-middle), whereby attackers intercept and secretly alter private messages exchanged via email and other social media platforms. GO

Saudi Religious Leader Warns Twitter Users of Consequences in the Afterlife

In late March, Saudi Arabia's top religious cleric said Twitter was for clowns and corrupters. Earlier this week, he said anyone using social media, in particular Twitter, “has lost this world and the afterlife.” His comments might be laughable, if they did not come at a time when the Saudi government is looking into monitoring or blocking social media sites and eliminating user anonymity.

GO

thursday >

What The Other Silicon Valley Immigration Group Is Doing This Month

A bipartisan coalition of political advocacy, business and tech groups are moving ahead to launch a social media blitz next week designed to persuade members of the Senate to vote in favor of immigration reform legislation supported in Silicon Valley. "We're going to create a virtual digital storm," said Jeremy Robbins in a Wednesday ... GO

The New Yorker Hopes "Strongbox" Is a Wiretap-Proof Sieve for Leaks

The New Yorker yesterday became the first outlet to implement DeadDrop, a new system for sources to submit information to journalists online in a more secure and anonymous way than, for example, email. GO

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