Ari Melber

"In return for driving the profits of social media companies, users get free software, but the cost..."

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:06:05 -0400

“

In return for driving the profits of social media companies, users get free software, but the cost is contracts that give companies control over your data, prose, pictures, personal information.

This is a classic example of form contract abuse – when a single, powerful party pushes a contract onto a disparate group of other parties.

Think of that cell phone contract you didn’t read, or the waiver you must sign to go river-rafting.

But imagine if social media users came together and developed a People’s Terms of Service Agreement—a common reference point and stamp of approval, like a Fair Trade label for the web, to govern the next photo-sharing app or responsible social network.

”

- From our new article, Fighting Facebook, A Campaign For a People’s Terms of Service in The Nation.

By Ari Melber & professors Woody Hartzog & Evan Selinger

(via nycgov )

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:03:33 -0400

(via nycgov )

President Obama on IRS Report

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:37:44 -0400

“I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog’s report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. And the report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable. The federal government must conduct itself in a way that’s worthy of the public’s trust, and that’s especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test.

I’ve directed Secretary Lew to hold those responsible for these failures accountable, and to make sure that each of the Inspector General’s recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such conduct never happens again. But regardless of how this conduct was allowed to take place, the bottom line is, it was wrong. Public service is a solemn privilege. I expect everyone who serves in the federal government to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards. So do the American people. And as President, I intend to make sure our public servants live up to those standards every day.”

triciawang: “Tumblr is what one might call an “unbounded”...

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:20:12 -0400

triciawang:

“Tumblr is what one might call an “unbounded” social network. In her theory of the “elastic self,” presented recently at the Microsoft Social Computing Symposium, sociologist Tricia Wang argues that not all social media are the same. It’s something we intuitively know — most people keep separate personas on Twitter vs. Facebook, for instance — but why we tend to be more freewheeling on one versus the other has largely not been articulated.

In Wang’s theory, a network like Facebook, which enforces real name registration and consists of a person’s friends and family from time immemorial, encourages bounded use. It’s like the small town you never left, the grammar school class you couldn’t pass out of, the first dead-end job. It’s a network mired in past and present, and by its nature it enforces a limited sense of identity and expression.

By contrast, something like Tumblr encourages unbounded use. It allows you to experiment and play. It’s the big city, and each new tumblelog you create is like a new bar or neighborhood where you can try on a new self and see how it fits. In one instant you can be a pug lover, reblogging the best animated GIFs of the flat-faced dogs. In the next, you can dive deep into the Go Pro snowboarding community and post snaps from your latest run.

Hence Wang’s notion of the elastic self. Like rubber bands, when we step into Tumblr we can stretch and reshape ourselves into different configurations. Each new hat we try on stretches the rubber band just a little bit further, and over time it might evolve into a new configuration. This allows for remarkable opportunities to explore different potentials of self and self-expression.

Wang would know. Though a sociologist by training, she has a long history with the arts, doing hip-hop education and documentary film. This expressiveness leaks through in the wide variety of tumblelogs she keeps, listed at the bottom of her website. There’s a tumblelog for her elastic self theory, one for digital urbanisms, one for her ethnographic notes on China tech usage. But she also tumbles on pussy power, fuck yeah pho, her “Crasian” mother, and dancing. Each tumblelog represents an element of herself, and though she links to them from her central web site, she doesn’t have to, nor are most of her researcher friends aware of them.”

—————-

I was just about to tweet “I love Tumblr!”

Digital selves….

Why Democrats Don't Trust Andrew Cuomo

Thu, 02 May 2013 16:33:45 -0400

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thanks you guys!! thecyclemsnbc: Look who finally got a mug!...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:33:18 -0400

Thanks you guys!!

thecyclemsnbc:

Look who finally got a mug! @arimelber http://bit.ly/11SSGp8

early morning mug shots with S.E. … thecyclemsnbc: Send...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:29:33 -0400

early morning mug shots with S.E. …

thecyclemsnbc:

Send us a picture of you with your favorite mug! #thecyclemsnbc

saw this in the Subway today - they’re still running...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:43:55 -0400

saw this in the Subway today - they’re still running Seinfeld ads!

Story of my life. newyorker: A cartoon by Charles Barsotti:...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:43:25 -0400

Story of my life.

newyorker:

A cartoon by Charles Barsotti: http://nyr.kr/ZXZKPw

Bill Clinton: Jason Collins Took Important Step for Sports and the LGBT Community

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:31:45 -0400

Statement by President Bill Clinton on Jason Collins

“I have known Jason Collins since he was Chelsea’s classmate and friend at Stanford. Jason’s announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community. It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities. For so many members of the LGBT community, these simple goals remain elusive. I hope that everyone, particularly Jason’s colleagues in the NBA, the media and his many fans extend to him their support and the respect he has earned.”

whitehouse: Five Presidents.

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:45:59 -0400

whitehouse:

Five Presidents.

Hi hater! This is an intriguing taxonomy. annfriedman: In my...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:11:37 -0400

Hi hater! This is an intriguing taxonomy.

annfriedman:

In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for understanding haters, I created The Disapproval Matrix**…. This is one way to separate haterade from productive feedback.

Here’s how the quadrants break down…

Video

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:08:06 -0400

"President Bush set the bar so low, many influential political analysts have suggested his successor..."

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:55:28 -0400

“

President Bush set the bar so low, many influential political analysts have suggested his successor deserves praise simply for not breaking the law, for not operating black sites and not torturing people.

This is as absurd as it is depressing. Obeying the Constitution is a prerequisite for every president. Not a metric on which to be scored.

”

- My new Reuters article explains the legal reasons why the Boston suspect probably cannot be charged as an enemy combatant, and the legal dilemmas ahead.

“Photos Released in Bombings Case,” from the FBI.

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:52:29 -0400

“Photos Released in Bombings Case,” from the FBI.

54/100 + 90% - NRA = 0 — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) April 17, 2013

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:15:47 -0400

54/100 + 90% - NRA = 0
— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) April 17, 2013

Video

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:08:43 -0400

via motherjones

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:33:04 -0400

via motherjones

"When faced with a hard question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:48:26 -0400

“When faced with a hard question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.”

- Dan Kahneman
(from “Thinking, Fast and Slow”)

View from the new office! thecyclemsnbc: The #30rock ice rink...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:33:23 -0400

View from the new office!

thecyclemsnbc:

The #30rock ice rink is being dismantled so @arimelber says spring is coming! http://instagram.com/p/X2g7xDhB4_/