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Networked information economies and political morality

In Yochai Benkler’s Toward a Political Economy of Information, he examines the prospective impact of a shift from what he calls an “industrial information economy” to a “networked information economy.” In this networked economy, the centralized production and distribution of information is challenged as networked individuals connect as engage users that actively participate in, create and judge information based on their own access to the new ecosystem of knowledge. Benkler does not suppose that this networked economy will supplant the industrial information economy, but it will, he asserts, have the potential for profound effects on the contours of liberal democracies. He defines these effects as applying to the wider political morality, the intent and actions of nations and their governments.

Within the sphere of political morality Benkler cites three core values of liberal democracies that stand to gain from this transition in particular: autonomy, democracy and social justice. While these three pillars may be expressed with varying degrees of emphasis in different nations, he says, all stand to be significantly impacted. “If the networked information economy is permitted to emerge from the institutional battle,” Benkler says, “it will enable an outward shift of the limits that productivity places on the political imagination… A society committed to any positive combination of the three values needs to adopt robust policies to facilitate these modes of production, because facilitating these modes of [networked] production does not represent a choice between productivity and liberal values, but rather an opportunity actually to relax the efficient limit on the plausible set of political arrangements available given the constraints of productivity.”[1]

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Twitter week in review

• Causing Google to reconsider wisdom of cloud computing. #

Twitter week in review

• PBS' programs A-Z page is one of our most trafficked. Working on some serious optimization to make ppl find what they're looking for. #
• PBS programmers: Why not run Washington Week opposite comparatively awful Sunday shows? Like Matthews but without the booze and spittle. #
• Posted an update to the Cantor "skies full of lead" story on the Observer http://bit.ly/9LYtQc #

The challenge of TV to web

Structured storytelling with Twitter

Twitter week in review

• Just got a party invite that reads "everyone will be there… C3, C4, etc.!" #onlyindc #
• I'll be at #tcamp this weekend rep'ing @pbsnews. Looking forward to meeting more gov transparency geeks (besides @noahkunin). #
• Somehow "basic keyframe animation in Flash" doesn't quite do justice for this music visualization http://vimeo.com/5324878 #
• Bar patrons giving DLs to a stranger offering free lighters. DLs being captured with a handheld device. Welcome to the identity economy. #

Metro Roundup: Bullets and blunders

D.C.: No jail time for Arenas handgun folly

Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas was spared jail time Friday for his D.C. Verizon Center locker room antics in which he pretended to shoot teammates while in possession of multiple handguns, a violation of the district’s strict gun regulations.

Arenas was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house, two years of probation and community service, “not to be served in basketball clinics,” according to Superior Court Judge Robert Morin. His season-long NBA suspension remains, however, and there are no indications from the beleaguered Wizards if he will rejoin the team once the suspension ends.

Despite the seriousness of the charges he faced and alleged attempted cover-up, some are eager to see him get back to the game and let both him and the Wizards move on from the blistering press that the episode has garnered.

From the National Post: “No prison time sends the message that the rich and famous can skate away when they break the law. But that doesn’t mean I wanted him to go to jail. I admit to rooting for Arenas, despite his juvenile taste in pranks, his immaturity, his stubbornness, his recklessness. I root for him because there are so few genuine characters left in sports as the whole edifice balloons into ever-greater corporatism. As Arenas put it in court yesterday, “I like to make people laugh. I like to make people smile.”

Or, if you’re still unconvinced, you can weigh in on the severity of his punishment on a poll from the Los Angeles times.

Virginia: Bullet fired at Cantor’s office more incidental than incident

In an impromptu press briefing Thursday aimed at criticizing Democrats for discussing recent threats following the passing of landmark health care legislation, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) dropped a bomb:

“Just recently, I have been directly threatened… A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I have received threatening e-mails. But I will not release them because I believe such actions will only encourage more to be sent.” (via NYTimes.com)

Suddenly the scope of threats and violence on health care had widened. But why? With the GOP firmly opposing the legislation, Cantor seemed like an odd target. Theories about “Rovian” tactics from the left took off but, in the end, an investigation by the Richmond police showed the bullet was likely fired randomly into the air.

The AP reports that “Richmond police said in a news release that the bullet had been fired into the air around 1 a.m. Tuesday. It finished its random arc back to earth at a sharp downward trajectory, breaking a window pane on the bottom floor of the two-story brick building where Cantor’s campaign leases the top floor.”

In fact, the bullet was moving so lethargically that it posed almost no threat. “The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds,” Richmond police said.

Reposted from the American Observer

Twitter week in review

• Tomorrow's D.C. headline: Anti-War Marathon Celebrates Slaughter #
• Working on a roundup of MD/DC/VA news for the week. (@ MGC) http://4sq.com/90xZhc #
• Thanks PBS folks out in Austin! Looks and sounds great! : http://soc.li/OveboTK #
• Figured out how much content is published to PBS.org. It's a lot. But is it sad that I had to use Google to figure this out? #goodproblem #
• Internet at home for first time in 3 weeks. Yes, comcast this and that but c'mon stingy neighbors! #

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