Don Tapscott on the power of collaboration
technology
Using social media to discuss law
The first-ever Twitter Moot will examine the impact of social media on the justice system.
Related rabble.ca story:
Crowdsourcing the world
When Vancouverites gathered at the W2 Media Arts Centre for the second Fresh Media Remixology social, myself and the other organizers expected that conversations would be focused on crowdsourced media making. What we didn't anticipate was that attendees would have a hunger to talk about the implications of what this new form of media is making in other spheres of society.
We shouldn't have been surprised. After all, several of us conceptualized the Remixology series as something that would forward the idea of remixing our roles and society at large (society as an open platform). But it was a surprise nonetheless.
Learning from nature's design
Admit it, it's been quite a summer. Epic rains flooding swaths of Pakistan and China, fires ravaging Russia, while on this continent the plague of viscous black death has seeped into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's barely capped Deepwater Horizon, its true toll unlikely ever to be fully tallied.
Tragedy poses the basic questions: What is life really all about? Is nature trying to tell us something?
Funny you should ask.
The young discipline of biomimicry is coming into being based on a deep biological read of exactly these two questions. The good news is that this approach opens the door to radically hopeful new solutions to profound human problems.
Is Canada a mobile laggard?
There is something uniquely powerful about everyday people having access to the Internet from tiny devices in their pocket. That ubiquitous access to each other creates possibilities that are worth fighting for and saving. The mobile and wireless accessed Internet, combined with emerging open web and open data applications, has the potential to usher in a new era of connectedness, and with it dramatic changes to social practices and institutions. If we get digital public policy right, Canada could become a leader in mobile communications, leading to empowerment, job creation and new forms of entrepreneurialism, expression and social change.
Big Data: The role of citizen scientists in the age of information abundance
A group of 36 students in Western University's Master of Arts in Journalism class has spent three months studying and reporting on citizen science. Over the past three weeks we have been sharing our citizen science stories -- how it emerged and evolved, where it stands now and where it's going. Visit our Citizen Science page to read previous articles. The series concludes next week.
Stephen Brabin is very good at folding proteins. He twists and contorts their structures, bending them to his will. He does this, not for his living, but for fun.
Arguing for Our Lives: A User's Guide to Constructive Dialogue
Arguing for Our Lives: A User's Guide to Constructive Dialog
(City Lights Publishers,
2013;
$13.95)
The following is an adapted excerpt from the new book Arguing for Our Lives: A User's Guide to Constructive Dialogue, published by City Lights Books.
"The universe is an undifferentiated whole. About that we can say nothing more."
This catchy aphorism from political philosopher Bruce Wright may seem nonsensical at first glance, but is worth exploring in the service of deepening our intellectual humility. Facing multiple, cascading ecological crises, we humans need science more than ever and more than ever we need to understand the limits of science.
Citizen scientists: Vital to the future of science
A group of 36 students in Western University's Master of Arts in Journalism class has spent three months studying and reporting on citizen science. Over the next three weeks, we will be sharing our citizen science stories -- how it emerged and evolved, where it stands now and where it's going. We will be tackling scepticism about whether or not it is indeed science, looking at the effectiveness of gathering "big data" and introducing activists who are using citizen science to bring attention to their causes. To view all of the articles in this special series thus far, visit our Citizen Science page.
Can citizen science activism come to the rescue?
A group of 36 students in Western University's Master of Arts in Journalism class has spent three months studying and reporting on citizen science. Over the next three weeks, we will be sharing our citizen science stories -- how it emerged and evolved, where it stands now and where it's going. We will be tackling scepticism about whether or not it is indeed science, looking at the effectiveness of gathering "big data" and introducing activists who are using citizen science to bring attention to their causes. To view all of the articles in this special series thus far, visit our Citizen Science page.