NOTE: Tim Wu has a new book out, called The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires!
The term network neutrality was the brainchild of Tim Wu of Columbia Law School. So what does this term mean, and what power does it have?
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(2:23 minutes)
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Jimmy Wales, the founder of the free online encylopedia Wikipedia, shares his thoughts on the power of one incredibly successful neologism – that amazing name! Wikipedia is a name he’s “stuck with” — in a good way, of course!
Click here: to listen. (2:13 minutes) And hear what else “Jimbo” had to say that day, to the Chronicle of Higher Education!
Neologisms are defined as new words or phrases (or new uses of a word or phrase). And what better place to find them than at a gathering of netizens (itself a neologism) steeped in the new world of the “net”. The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, at Harvard, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and ThoughtCast was there, fishing for novelty…
The Catch:
Internet guru Esther Dyson came up with an expression I’d never heard before… Have you? Here’s a clue: what does Google have to do with your refrigerator??!!
Click here: (1 minute) to find out!
But wait, there’s more!
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Note: this program was broadcast on WGBH‘s sister stations WCAI & WNAN, and on KUT News, in Austin, Texas!
Jay Allison has egalitarian instincts. He’s a maverick, who’s made it his mission to put the “public” back into public media. As an independent producer of stellar public radio – and television – Jay’s been able to work outside the system, and then change the system. Take This I Believe for example. Jay’s the man behind this series of audio essays, written and performed by a wide variety of Americans, ranging from the well-known to the unknown. As Jay says in this ThoughtCast interview, their sincerity and lack of skepticism make them almost the antithesis of “journalism” — and yet there they are, on NPR.
Click here: to listen. (28 minutes)
Jay Allison is also a contributor to Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers’ Guide, a selection of essays from Harvard’s Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, and edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call. At the Harvard Book Store recently, Allison and Kramer banded together to tell a few stories of their own about authenticity, the narrative voice and the gruelling process of authorship.
Click here: to listen. (55 minutes)
And to hear more from Jay Allison on the Forum Network, click here!
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Say the word “Doc” and the technorati cognoscenti know exactly who you’re talking about. Doc Searls is the well-known blogger and co-author of the prescient “Cluetrain Manifesto,” which explains how the Internet has transformed corporate marketing. He’s also the senior editor of Linux Journal, and a fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. During the recent Integrated Media Association conference, Doc sat down with ThoughtCast for a few questions…
Click here: to listen (10 minutes)
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Paul Brannan, the Deputy Editor of BBC News Interactive, offers a candid assessment of the state of public broadcasting here in the US – and back home in London. It seems the BBC’s way ahead of us, as Paul, who spoke at the 2007 Integrated Media Association Conference here, explains. He’s an evangelist for “integrated media” and knows from hard experience what that abstract phrase actually means.
Click here: to listen to the interview (8.5 minutes).
Across the pond in Canada, Sue Gardner is the Senior Director of CBC.CA, the website of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She shared the podium with Paul at the conference, and offers her views on ThoughtCast about how to remain “relevant” in today’s evolving media marketplace — in other words, how to broaden the appeal of public broadcasting without “dumbing down”!
Click here: to listen to the interview (6 minutes).
To listen to a discussion on “Open Content and Public Broadcasting” on the WGBH Forum Network, click here.
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