LIVING IN THE FUTURE (go to www.stevenduque.com)
type: channel
description: steven richard duque's thoughts on media, technology, culture & life
date: 2010-03-03T22:06:44Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Liberty vs Privacy: the US & EU's Ideological Internet Collision
items: Zeitgeist: Superman's First Comic Sells Online for $1m
items: The Buzz Around Google Buzz
items: The iPad: 3 Reasons Why a Built-In Camera Will Make It a Must-Have Device
items: Wiki-counter-terrorism & Social Surveillance
items: The Counterculture of Our Future: 'Jacked In' versus 'Checked Out'

Liberty vs Privacy: the US & EU's Ideological Internet Collision
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-03-03T22:06:44Z
subject: Culture
subject: Life
subject: Media
subject: Stuff
subject: adah isaacs menken
subject: adam liptak
subject: alexandre dumas
subject: bob sullivan
subject: Google
subject: human dignity
subject: human rights
subject: Italy
subject: james whitman
subject: liberty
subject: new york times
subject: papparazzi
subject: personhood
subject: privacy
subject: susan crawford
subject: the three musketeers
subject: tiger woods
subject: university of michigan
subject: yale law journal
description: In 1863, Alexandre Dumas, famed French author of The Three Musketeers (and known for his love of women) , and Adah Isaacs Menken , a well-known Texan actress, posed for what then qualified as scandalous photographs. The photographer, an aspiring paparazzo, attempted to profit from the photographs, and was sued shortly after by Dumas. Contrary […]
encoded: In 1863, Alexandre Dumas, famed French author of The Three Musketeers (and known for his love of women) , and Adah Isaacs Menken , a well-known Texan actress, posed for what then qualified as scandalous photographs. The photographer, an aspiring paparazzo, attempted to profit from the photographs, and was sued shortly after by Dumas. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-112" class="size-medium wp-image-112" title="Privacy Picture NYTimes" src="http://stevenduque.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/privacy-300x204.jpg" alt="Privacy Picture NYTimes" width="300" height="204" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/03/privacy-300x204.jpg 300w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/03/privacy.jpg 650w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> A graphic provided to convey differing opinions on privacy by the The New York Times in its 'Week in Review' Section on February26, 2010. Contrary to most contemporary intuitions about media treatment of stars like Tiger Woods, the court ruled, as related in an article by MSNBC‘s Bob Sullivan, that: “…posing for the photographs did not mean Dumas and Menken had surrendered their rights to privacy and dignity, even if they consented to do just that during a heady romantic moment. These rights trumped any commercial property rights the photographer might have claimed, the court said.” For most Americans, this ruling, along with the recent ruling against three Google executives in Italy for passively allowing ‘privacy-infringing’ videos to be posted on YoutTube, is troubling. Beyond the need to fine-tune Google’s passive distribution policies for offensive content, this case highlights a deeper ideological divide, which Dumas’ case also exemplified. As The New York Times‘ Adam Liptak writes, “… it called attention to the profound European commitment to privacy, one that threatens the American conception of free expression and could restrict the flow of …

Zeitgeist: Superman's First Comic Sells Online for $1m
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-02-24T23:33:58Z
subject: Culture
subject: Media
subject: Stuff
subject: Technology
subject: action comics
subject: action comics no. 1
subject: alex ross
subject: cambridge university
subject: christie's
subject: comicconnect.com
subject: e-commerce
subject: ebay
subject: jerry siegel
subject: joel schuster
subject: multimedia comics
subject: national allied publications
subject: pop art
subject: populism
subject: roy lichtenstein
subject: superman
subject: threadless
subject: wwII
description: Earlier this week Action Comics No. 1, which features the first appearance of Superman, sold online for a record-breaking $1m (£640,000). This event marks an important cultural milestone in media for a few different reasons, all centered on some notion of populism. 1. Internet commerce. The comic was sold through one of the many successful […]
encoded: Action Comics No.1 (1938), the first appearance of Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. Earlier this week Action Comics No. 1, which features the first appearance of Superman, sold online for a record-breaking $1m (£640,000). This event marks an important cultural milestone in media for a few different reasons, all centered on some notion of populism. 1. Internet commerce. The comic was sold through one of the many successful but niche, mom’n pop auction websites borne by the internet age — ComicConnect.com. Unprepared for heavy traffic after news of the sale spread, the site was down yesterday, except for a press release. From this perspective, Action Comics No. 1’s sale highlights how far internet e-commerce has come. Less than five years ago, making purchases on the internet was a scary thought to many, especially those 55 and older. And the notion that someone would spend up to a $1m on a less-than-secure-looking, website for a comic book would be laughable. <img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-104" class="size-full wp-image-104 " title="Detective Comics No. 27: Batman's first appearance" src="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/batman1.jpg" alt="Detective Comics No. 27: Batman's first appearance" width="202" height="282" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/batman1.jpg 411w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/batman1-214x300.jpg 214w" sizes="(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px" /> Shortly after I wrote this post, Detective Comics No. 27 (1939), which features the first appearance of Batman, exceeded Action Comics No.1's sale price, going for $1.08m. ComicConnect.com’s big sale is indicative of a broader trend toward trusting non-big brand e-commerce sites, a sentiment ushered in by trailblazers like eBay and innovated by upstarts like Threadless. As trust in online purchasing burgeons and apprehension dissolves, the internet’s democratization of informati…

The Buzz Around Google Buzz
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-02-09T23:06:09Z
subject: Life
subject: Media
subject: Stuff
subject: Technology
subject: Adam Ostrow
subject: AltaVista
subject: Bing Twitter
subject: Collecta
subject: facebook
subject: Facebook ID
subject: Gchat
subject: Google
subject: Google Buzz
subject: Google Goggles
subject: ImageShack
subject: Mashable
subject: Michael Arrington
subject: OpenID
subject: Orkut
subject: Picasa
subject: Real-Time
subject: social media
subject: Tech Crunch
subject: The Wall Street Journal
subject: Twitter
subject: youtube
description: Leaked yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, Google announced the deployment of Google Buzz, its exciting foray into providing its own real-time social media platform. Other Google Social Media Endeavors To say, however, Buzz is Google’s first social media venture is not quite right. In 2004, Google launched Orkut, its proprietary social network, to little […]
encoded: Beyond Status Messages: Google's push into social sharing of updates, photos, videos & more. Leaked yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, Google announced the deployment of Google Buzz, its exciting foray into providing its own real-time social media platform. Other Google Social Media Endeavors To say, however, Buzz is Google’s first social media venture is not quite right. In 2004, Google launched Orkut, its proprietary social network, to little fanfare and minimal Stateside impact to this day. According to demographic reports, over 50 percent of users hail from Brazil, roughly 20 percent from India, and a measly 17 percent from the US. Interestingly, Google’s nascent real-time social media search has received considerably less media coverage (largely obscured by its release of Google Goggles on the same day and the existence of rivals like Collecta and Bing Twitter), although its ultimate impact on the largely untamed social media landscape, I think, could be tremendous. Echoing Michael Arrington’s sentiment, social media now feels like search did a decade ago. Perhaps Google can be the transformative force in real-time media, as it was in taming the vastness of the internet. Arrington writes: A decade ago most of us were using AltaVista or something similar for search. No one was really complaining very much about the huge amount of spam and other noise that cluttered the results because we didn’t know there was a better way. Then Google came along with Page Rank, and had a profound effect on the quality of Internet search. Suddenly (and it really was that sudden), we couldn’t imagine going back to AltaVista and searching pages of results for the thing that Google gave us immediately. … The online social landscape today sort of feels to me like search did in 1999. It’s a mess, but we don’t complain much about it because we don’t know there’s a better way. Google Buzz Google Buzz may very well be the piece of social media that “unites the clans,” so to speak. Whi…

The iPad: 3 Reasons Why a Built-In Camera Will Make It a Must-Have Device
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-02-03T06:38:26Z
subject: Life
subject: Stuff
subject: Technology
subject: apple
subject: augmented reality
subject: cell phones
subject: education
subject: ipad
subject: moses
subject: old media
subject: social media
subject: steve jobs
subject: the economist
subject: video blog
subject: webcam
subject: wired
description: Rumors that Apple’s highly anticipated iPad will ship with a webcam gives me reason to believe that Steve Jobs’ tablet from on high is, indeed, the must-have item of the next decade. A webcam not only adds value to the iPad’s functionality, but it also can potentially transform how we communicate with one another, interact […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45" class="size-full wp-image-45 " title="ipad" src="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/ipad.jpg" alt="Steve Jobs and Apple's new product: the iPad" width="322" height="193" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/ipad.jpg 460w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/ipad-300x180.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px" /> Steve Jobs holding up the iPad, to be released in April 2010. Rumors that Apple’s highly anticipated iPad will ship with a webcam gives me reason to believe that Steve Jobs’ tablet from on high is, indeed, the must-have item of the next decade. A webcam not only adds value to the iPad’s functionality, but it also can potentially transform how we communicate with one another, interact with the real world, and convey our identities through social media. 1. As a Portable Video Replacement for the Cell Phone. Imagine a world in which people replace cell phones with iPads. Looking into the face of callers on a 10-inch color screen replaces audio-only communication. Not only that — instead of paying for the minutes and data plan for your smart phone, you only pay one flat fee for unlimited iPad 3g/4g service. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-50" class="size-medium wp-image-50" title="skypeiphone" src="http://stevenduque.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/skypeiphone-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/skypeiphone-300x225.jpg 300w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/02/skypeiphone.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Skype on iPhone - click to Learn more about its limitations. 2. Augmented Reality Viewer. Imagine pointing your iPad at an object and/or place and immediately receiving a wide array of information about the object, which is overlai…

Wiki-counter-terrorism & Social Surveillance
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-01-25T21:43:10Z
subject: Culture
subject: Media
subject: Stuff
subject: Technology
subject: afghanistan
subject: barack obama
subject: big brother
subject: citizen participation
subject: counterterrorism
subject: don tapscott
subject: iraq
subject: national security
subject: new york times
subject: private military companies
subject: prosumers
subject: red scare
subject: social media
subject: social surveillance
subject: steven duque
subject: surveillance drones
subject: trust neighbors
subject: war on terror
subject: wikicounterterrorism
subject: wikinomics
subject: youtube
description: In his book Wikinomics, business strategist Don Tapscott writes: “Employees drive performance by collaborating with peers across organizational boundaries, creating what we call a ‘wiki workplace.’ Customers become ‘prosumers’ by cocreating goods and services rather than simply consuming the end-product. So called-supply chains work more effectively when the risk, reward, and capability to compete major […]
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32" class="size-full wp-image-32 " title="Social Drone" src="http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/01/drone2.jpg" alt="Social Drone" width="328" height="203" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/01/drone2.jpg 650w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/01/drone2-300x186.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 328px) 100vw, 328px" /> An MQ-1 Predator drone returned from a mission to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan with a new paintjob, courtesy of StevenDuque.com. In his book Wikinomics, business strategist Don Tapscott writes: “Employees drive performance by collaborating with peers across organizational boundaries, creating what we call a ‘wiki workplace.’ Customers become ‘prosumers’ by cocreating goods and services rather than simply consuming the end-product. So called-supply chains work more effectively when the risk, reward, and capability to compete major projects—including massively complex products like cars, motorcycles, and airplanes—are distributed across planetary networks of partners who work as peers (1).” According to a recent article in The New York Times, unmanned surveillance drones are currently collecting more video intelligence than analysts are able to handle. The volume of footage taken from last year’s surveillance efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan nearly triple what it was only a few years ago–a grand total of roughly 24 years’ worth of footage, if watched without break. As operations in Afghanistan will certainly escalate in the near future and U.S. troops are withdrawn from both countries over time, the problem of excess, unmanned surveillance will only compound. What if, as customers of national security, citizens aided the government’s counterterrorism surveillance efforts through mass collaborative online efforts? The government could post snippets of video on a centralized media hub, and citizens could review v…

The Counterculture of Our Future: 'Jacked In' versus 'Checked Out'
type: item
creator: sduque
date: 2010-01-16T20:14:05Z
subject: Culture
subject: Life
subject: Media
subject: Stuff
subject: Technology
subject: apple
subject: apple tablet
subject: checked out
subject: conversation
subject: counterculture
subject: facebook
subject: future
subject: intuitive interfaces
subject: itablet
subject: jack morton worldwide
subject: jacked in
subject: liz bigham
subject: media trends
subject: michael padgett
subject: plugged in
subject: social media
subject: sociological trends
subject: steven duque
subject: technological trends
subject: trends
subject: unplugged
description: It’s appropriate, I think, that the first post of this blog covers a subject characterized by all four categories of the blog’s tagline — “media, technology, culture and life.” The idea for the post — the emergent counterculture of those who reject a world in which outward-facing identities are increasingly characterized by social media — […]
encoded: It’s appropriate, I think, that the first post of this blog covers a subject characterized by all four categories of the blog’s tagline — “media, technology, culture and life.” The idea for the post — the emergent counterculture of those who reject a world in which outward-facing identities are increasingly characterized by social media — arose from two very different conversations I recently experienced. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-13" class="size-large wp-image-13 " title="Anti_Facebook_Logo_by_CrapsY" src="http://stevenduque.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Anti_Facebook_Logo_by_CrapsY-1024x385.jpg" alt="" width="344" height="130" srcset="https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/01/Anti_Facebook_Logo_by_CrapsY-1024x385.jpg 1024w, https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/stevenduque/files/2010/01/Anti_Facebook_Logo_by_CrapsY-300x112.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 344px) 100vw, 344px" /> An image pulled from DeviantArt by CrapsY (username). The first was with an old friend, Michael P. (whose facebook profile I took the below quotation from), who forsook the life of a Harvard-graduated consultant to work in a coffee shop and live as a Central Square hipster. Our conversation, which ranged from ‘catching up’ to ‘big issues,’ gravitated toward Michael’s thoughts on an emergent counterculture that he termed ‘the unplugged’ — that is, those who refuse to subscribe to a lifestyle that increasingly depends on modern technology. A proponent of this lifestyle, Michael made significant efforts in the last couple years to reduce his online footprint, pare down his digital interactions, and do things like increase the size of his record collection and work on a screenplay about an 80’s record producer. As I understood them, Michael’s views (and those of ‘the unplugged’) are premised on the notion that technology detracts from our lives’ experiences by drawing our attention away from our real-world experiences and interac…