Posts by Micah L. Sifry

Meanwhile, Back in Tunisia, They're Drafting a Constitution on PiratePad

BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, March 9 2011

Well, not exactly. But we keep seeing hints and signs that the revolutionary spirit of Tunisia is heavily influenced by open source culture, or what BoingBoing might call "happy mutant" thinking. To wit, on March 4th, ... Read More

A New Must-Read: Robert Manne's "The Cypherpunk Revolutionary Julian Assange"

BY Micah L. Sifry | Sunday, March 6 2011

It will take you a half hour to read Robert Manne's new essay on Julian Assange, but trust me, if you are one of those people who have been transfixed by the epic and world-shaking trajectory of WikiLeaks, the time will ... Read More

The New Age of Transparency: A Scorecard of Sorts

BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, March 2 2011

It seems as though digital information is leaking out, or sort of leaking out, all over the place, rearranging and upsetting little ecosystems of power in all kinds of strange and unpredictable ways. In some cases, the ... Read More

The 2012 File on Newt Gingrich: How's He Doing Online?

BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, March 1 2011

With ABC News reporting that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is about to become the first Republican to formally throw his hat into the 2012 presidential sweepstakes by creating a "presidential exploratory committee," ... Read More

Quote of the Day: Blind Carbon and Other Online Misadventures

BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, March 1 2011

Am I bcc’ing him on every e-mail I send out? Of course not. — Kurt Bardella, spokesperson for Rep. Darrell Issa's Oversight and Government Reform Committee, yesterday, on being asked about whether he was ... Read More

Two Years Later: Recovery.gov Still Sucks At Public Engagement

BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, February 28 2011

Two years ago, Barack Obama promised the public that he was going to run government in a more transparent and interactive way. Read More

#WeAreWI and #USuncut Saturday: Will the Left Show Some Muscle? [UPDATED]

BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, February 25 2011

American progressives are betting that tomorrow will be a red letter day for grassroots activism. In a matter of days and almost entirely without national attention or leadership by the traditional players, but with a ... Read More

After Egypt: The "Democratic Republic of Facebook" Struggles to Grow Up [UPDATED]

BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, February 25 2011

A few days ago, Dr. Rasha Abdulla, an expert on the role of the Internet in Egypt who teaches at the American University in Cairo (and who I'm pleased will be speaking at Personal Democracy Forum this June in New York), ... Read More

PdF 2009 Video--danah boyd's "The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online"

BY Micah L. Sifry | Friday, July 17 2009

In case you missed it, or want to share it with friends and colleagues, here's digital ethnographer danah boyd's talk about race, class, and the disturbing signs of "digital white flight" among Americans online. She ... Read More

PdF 2009 Video--Michael Wesch's "The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity

BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, July 15 2009

Here's the video of Michael Wesch's keynote talk from the second day of Personal Democracy Forum 2009. Wesch, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, first gained acclaim as the author of "The Machine is ... Read More

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