Comments by Kit

  • I think this raises an interesting distinction, that between external/governmental forces blocking access to the internet and the very same forces making sure their citizens can have universal access to it.

    The difference between being blocked deliberately (e.g. by something like the Digital Economy Bill) from using the net and simply not knowing how to use it is huge.

    I’d argue that a policy that blocks and/or removes someone’s access to the net i in contravention of the UDHR. But the fact the my gran doesn’t know how to upload photos to Flickr isn’t a governmental issue.

    There are also infrastructural issues. Is spending £500k to provide internet access to 3 cottages in the highlands a justifiable expense? And if so, who bears that cost, the taxpayer? The customers of the ISP? It’s sticky…

    Posted on 1st March 2010 in response to Digital Inclusion

  • There’s an interesting article on Comment is Free which touches on this too. Entitled “Facebook groups are the new lynch mobs”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/10/facebook-groups-internet-hadley-freeman

    I think that the democratisation of the internet means that you’ll always get people who use it for this kind of thing. I think in these instances, the best thing to do is respond quickly and respond well. I know it takes up time and resource, but in the long run the benefits of an effective response will be mean that time taken is worthwhile.

    Posted on 11th March 2010 in response to Social Media Trolls

  • It looks like they’re having some real success with this:

    “This evening Facebook posted an update to the official Facebook Page stating that over 50,000 websites have already added the Like button and/or other social plugins since they first launched last week. It’s a significant milestone for one week as it has taken years to reach hundreds of thousands of applications.”

    More here: http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/04/50000-websites-add-facebooks-like-button-and-social-plugins-in-first-week/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+allfacebook+%28Facebook+Blog%29&utm_content=Bloglines (what a very long URL that is!)

    Posted on 30th April 2010 in response to Facebook and the Future