Radio Berkman

RB202: Memeology

Fri, 18 May 2012 20:13:03 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Two weeks ago, the Berkman Center co-sponsored the third – and, we learned, final! – ROFLCon. For the n00bz, ROFLCon is a conference named after the acronym for “rolling on the floor, laughing” and devoted to celebrating internet culture. Friend of the Show Tim Hwang co-founded the event [...]

RB 201: The 42 Streams (Rethinking Music X)

Fri, 04 May 2012 23:04:34 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg In today’s episode we wrap up our coverage of last week’s Rethink Music conference with a conversation between guest host Chris Bavitz and Kristin Thomson. In addition to her work as community organizer, social policy researcher, entrepreneur and musician, Kristin is a consultant at the Future of Music Coalition, [...]

RB 200: The Library Of The Future

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:27:47 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg The technological advancements of the past twenty years have rendered the future of the library as a physical space, at least, as uncertain as it has ever been. The information that libraries were once built to house in the form of books and manuscripts can now be accessed [...]

RB 199: Be Great. Go Viral. (Rethinking Music IX)

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:52:24 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Dave Herlihy currently teaches music industry classes at Northeastern University and operates his own practice specializing in entertainment law, intellectual property, copyright, trademark, licensing, and new media. But twenty-five years ago he was the lead singer of O Positive, a Boston-area band poised on the brink of a major label record [...]

RB 198: The Community Supported Musician (Rethinking Music VIII)

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:23:05 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Is there room in the music industry for middle-class musicians? Friend of the show Nancy Baym brought together three career performer/songwriters who all stumbled on the same analogy for how musicians can “make it” in the digital age: that of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs). Kristin Hersh, Zoe Keating, [...]

RB 197: University 2.0

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:26:11 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week’s guest, Juan Carlos de Martin, readily admits that he is only the latest in a long line of thinkers to portend the end of the university as we know it. He almost gleefully cites Thomas Edison as one of his most notable predecessors. But Juan Carlos may be [...]

RB 196: The Rally Cry of SOPA

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:09:09 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg We all know by now that SOPA/PIPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect IP Act, respectively — died a sudden death in Congress in January. When online giants like Wikipedia and Tumblr went dark on January 18th of this year to protest the measures Congressional [...]

RB 195: Can 100 Million Viewers Save a Child?

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:10:51 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg The #Kony2012 video, and accompanying campaign and meme, has done a lot to raise awareness. Of WHAT exactly, it’s hard to tell. The intended target for attention — the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony — is certainly a big one. But the video was flawed. In favor of simplicity [...]

RB 194: The Wiki 1%

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:19:27 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week at Radio Berkman we tried something new. During our recent interview with Berkman Fellow Justin Reich about his report The State of Wiki Usage in U.S. K-12 Schools: Leveraging Web 2.0 Data Warehouses to Assess Quality and Equity in Online Learning Environments, we learned that only one percent of educational wikis [...]

RB 193: Facts Are Boring

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:46:51 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week we tear apart the difference between Truth, Fact, and Evidence, and the quiet, but irreplaceable, role of the humble factchecker in our media: Author/factchecker Jim Fingal on the Lifespan of a Fact Former GQ intern and factchecker Gillian Brassil on how factcheckers get paid to watch [...]

RB 192: Wikis, Teaching, and the Digital Divide

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:01:44 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Technology has made us all kinds of promises when it comes to transforming the way we learn — not least of which was the promise to break the “digital divide.” The ease of communication promised by the web would allow the economically disenfranchised to have access to ideas [...]

RB 191: Quality Control

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:52:23 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg When the net competes with family, friends, school, and mass media, how do kids tell truth from the garbage? Researchers here at the Berkman Center sought to find out, and came back with some fascinating findings: 1. Search shapes the quality of information that youth experience online. 2. [...]

Help Radio Berkman!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:47:21 +0000

Hey folks! We’re hoping to take Radio Berkman in some amazing new directions this Spring, but we want your feedback. Should we change our name? How can we tell better stories? What’s missing from current reporting on tech and internet issues? We’ve made up a cute little survey right here, and would love for you [...]

RB 190: Dating, Reverse Engineered

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:22:52 +0000

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Until everyone started using the net to date sociologists didn’t have much information to go by when trying to figure out the beautiful process of human courtship. Only things like this. But dating sites are the 2nd leading source for modern relationships. And the data collected by dating [...]