Does the broken windows theory hold online?

http://www.kottke.org/08/12/does-the-broken-windows-theory-hold-online

Much of the tone of discourse online is governed by the level of moderation and to what extent people are encouraged to “own” their words. When forums, message boards, and blog comment threads with more than a handful of participants are unmoderated, bad behavior follows. The appearance of one troll encourages others. Undeleted hateful or ad hominem comments are an indication that that sort of thing is allowable behavior and encourages more of the same.

What is DRM really good for

http://library.duke.edu/blogs/scholcomm/2009/01/10/what-is-drm-really-good-for/

If DRM systems really are being used primarily to suppress competition and prevent innovation, they are working directly in opposition to the fundamental purpose of copyright law they were sold to us to support. Read together, these two reports suggest that tinkering with exceptions, as the Library of Congress is charged to do every three years, is not enough; instead, the value of the whole idea of providing legal protection to DRM should be reexamined.

Clay Shirky: Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality

http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html

A persistent theme among people writing about the social aspects of weblogging is to note (and usually lament) the rise of an A-list, a small set of webloggers who account for a majority of the traffic in the weblog world. This complaint follows a common pattern we’ve seen with MUDs, BBSes, and online communities like Echo and the WELL. A new social system starts, and seems delightfully free of the elitism and cliquishness of the existing systems. Then, as the new system grows, problems of scale set in. Not everyone can participate in every conversation. Not everyone gets to be heard. Some core group seems more connected than the rest of us, and so on.

Interviews at Community Colleges

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2009/05/01/lydic

You have decided you want to teach at a community college. You’re a four-year college or university teacher in a non-tenure track position looking for greater security. You’re a high school teacher looking to move to a different level. You’re a graduate student who loves teaching and realizes that is what we do at the two-year college. You have applied for an opening. You’ve been notified. You have an interview.