Posts

Google, the virtuous? Google, the warrior?

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At the Thousand Oaks conference panel on Social responsibility of Mass Media, there was an interesting discussion about government regulation. A renowned media scholar brought up the “Google exit from China” as an example of how State regulation can indeed have dire consequences for its own population. This professor regurgitated what most media agencies have been propounding on this issue - Google left China after supposed multiple clashes with the Chinese government regarding censorship of its search engine. The Chinese people lost out and ethics won apparently: Drummond , the Senior VP, corporate development and chief legal officer of Google announced the following: We had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with

Not quite "up in the air!"

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Am on the road right now, but not quite Up-In-The-Air style. From Amsterdam to Thousand Oaks (near LA but as argued by some, “far” from LA as possible), I’m doing the conference circuit, the social life of many academics. After all, here’s a willing audience for your obscure Whitehead reference and hand-punctuated intellectualism. And if you thought Marxism is dead, you’ve evidently not attended enough academic conferences. Impossible ideals are preserved in the confines of academia, a natural fodder for multiple critiques of real world practice, leading to publications and sustenance of passion from the vantage point of the beloved armchair. Don’t get me wrong; I l ove armchairs. It’s comfortable, and allows for a respectable pause for reflection and pontification. Of course, I like it even better when we’ve earned the temporary rest through actual experience but then, if that were always the case, whom would we have left to mock? So what was this conference about? Well, besides the

Remember Bucky?

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Walking down memory lane makes you stumble on not just your lived life but also, that which is lived by others. Memories of being 18, of yearning for utopia, of being completely and utterly immersed in learning comes flashing back and Buckminster Fuller, the renaissance thinker, designer, innovator, and teacher, is very much part of this. His grand ideas of dome homes around the world may not have taken off the way he envisioned but it surely inspires! He instills play and humor in spaces of living, a rare feat! Of course what's even more astonishing is how his geodesic design traveled to the most unexpected of places: I encountered the geodesic dome when I was on a work project in Pondicherry, India in 2004 (see pic 1). This "perfect geometric unity" design was used by Aurovilleans , an experimental community to create their space of "sacredness". Be it hippies in Marin, California to refugee camps or UN "tent cities," there's nothing like a loud

Much to know about the Dutch!

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It's been almost a year since I left New York for the Netherlands. In fact, almost 15 years since I left India for the "West" (San Francisco, New York and Boston...got addicted to paying high taxes but apparently not high enough as I decided after all to come to the Netherlands ;-) So, what do I know about the Dutch by now? In danger of reinforcing stereotypes n all, I plunge in... 1) They surely love to smoke. Smoking and cycling seem to be the national commuting style, with no helmets on of course. And this picture comes in family size too- often, a couple of babies are packed in at the front and the back to celebrate the economics of cycling ! 2) They do love their flowers although admittedly not the flower festival as much...I think they surrendered Keukenhof , their annual flower fest to the tourists, willingly might I add. Why on earth they wonder would they PAY to see flowers? Only the dumb tourists and expats like myself would do something so silly. Of course tho

Education today: Head in the sand?

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In another recent book chapter, Global Education Greenhouse: Constructing and Organizing online Global knowledge , Karen and I delve into the possibility of online collaboration in the makings of global knowledge. We were really astounded by how insular our educational systems are in spite of so much talk on globalization! While companies are merging and partnerships across industries are happening across borders that were unthinkable even a decade ago, somehow our educational system continues to be very "local"...very nationalistic. How do we make education globally relevant and applicable? Can we inspire students to think transnationally and cross-culturally? How is global thinking related to innovation? We basically acknowledge that there is a crisis in our current educational system as we are poorly preparing our students for this global era. Tye states that "global awareness will become the first new basic skill of the twenty-first century, as computer literacy ha

Plagiarism: Moral hazards or strategies for the 21st century?

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My book chapter/ case study on academic plagiarism just recently came out - " Copycats of the Central Himalayas: Learning in the age of Information ." Basically, I spent about 8 months in Almora, a rur-town in Central Himalayas, investigating what people do with the Internet. Given that cybercafes had sprung up relatively recently, I volunteered to work for one in exchange of playing witness to internet usage. It was amazing as I really actually pictured people to be using it for the usual browsing and entertainment oriented stuff. Instead, I became an active accomplice to plagiarism by college students - open, active, ingenious plagiarism! Of course as soon as one says "plagiarism," academics and others get all hassled about it, frothing in the mouth about it immorality, the decline of this generation and more. Rather than focus on the "pathological" reasons why students do what they do, I thought it would be worth stopping and asking how on earth did t

Queens day: Happy cows are here again!

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Will power ...what a burden! We sweat the small stuff a lot. We have to constantly exercise our Will to abstain from that extra slice of pie, from being "uncool" by wanting to stay home on a Saturday night watching Youtube, or just calling home to check in. Individualism can suck sometimes. Blame is rarely distributed. There's a reason why we say "exercise" your will...it's pure and simple work. Sometimes, however, society orchestrates an opportunity to take a break. And BREAK it is! Queens day in the Netherlands is one such moment in time! Thousands of people blind you with their orange glory as they sweep through Amsterdam. High on pot, techno and a vague reminder of being Dutch AND low on foot-estate, the mob has come to celebrate their Queen Beatrix and her conveniently timed birthday. (although born on January 31, the weather and her highness pushes this date to May 30th, allowing for orange neon bikinis, rave street parties and blood sporting bargain