Radio Berkman

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Dave Herlihy currently teaches music industry classes at Northeastern University and operates his own practice specializing in entertainment law, intellectual property, copyright, trademark, licensing, and new media. But twenty-five years ago he was the lead singer of O Positive, a Boston-area band poised on the brink of a major label record [...]

Dave Herlihy currently teaches music industry classes at Northeastern University and operates his own practice specializing in entertainment law, intellectual property, copyright, trademark, licensing, and new media. But twenty-five years ago he was the lead singer of O Positive, a Boston-area band poised on the brink of a major label record deal. Friend of the show, Assistant Director of Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, and lecturer at Harvard Law School Chris Bavitz interviewed Dave about his band’s trajectory from being the “best band in the basement” to appearing on the Billboard charts (and what came after). Dave also offers his insight into the role of record labels in the YouTube era, and how he would resolve media licensing issues if he were an enlightened despot, and how to get famous.

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg Is there room in the music industry for middle-class musicians? Friend of the show Nancy Baym brought together three career performer/songwriters who all stumbled on the same analogy for how musicians can “make it” in the digital age: that of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs). Kristin Hersh, Zoe Keating, [...]

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week’s guest, Juan Carlos de Martin, readily admits that he is only the latest in a long line of thinkers to portend the end of the university as we know it. He almost gleefully cites Thomas Edison as one of his most notable predecessors. But Juan Carlos may be [...]

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg We all know by now that SOPA/PIPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect IP Act, respectively — died a sudden death in Congress in January. When online giants like Wikipedia and Tumblr went dark on January 18th of this year to protest the measures Congressional [...]

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg The #Kony2012 video, and accompanying campaign and meme, has done a lot to raise awareness. Of WHAT exactly, it’s hard to tell. The intended target for attention — the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony — is certainly a big one. But the video was flawed. In favor of simplicity [...]

The #Kony2012 video, and accompanying campaign and meme, has done a lot to raise awareness. Of WHAT exactly, it’s hard to tell. The intended target for attention — the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony — is certainly a big one. But the video was flawed. In favor of simplicity it glossed over crucial facts and advocated passionately for questionable solutions, in the end bringing more critical attention back to Invisible Children, the charismatic American youth group behind the campaign. Most of all the explosion of Kony 2012 has raised awareness about sensitivities around the politics of intervention in Africa, and the utility of digital activism and fundraising for awareness campaigns in the United States. Today we hear from four guests: Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan journalist, about where Joseph Kony is now, and how Ugandans are responding to the new attention Gilad Lotan, a network researcher, about what he found when he dug into the data on how the Kony2012 meme spread Ethan Zuckerman, a founder of Global Voices, on whether simple narratives can ever help solve complex issues and Amanda Taub, a blogger and human rights expert, on what Invisible Children could have done differently. More, including our up-to-date list of the most thoughtful posts on Kony, Uganda, Central Africa, Invisible Children, and digital activism, here: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2012/03/23/rb-195-can-100-million-viewers-save-a-child/

This week at Radio Berkman we tried something new. During our recent interview with Berkman Fellow Justin Reich about his report The State of Wiki Usage in U.S. K-12 Schools: Leveraging Web 2.0 Data Warehouses to Assess Quality and Equity in Online Learning Environments, we learned that only one percent of educational wikis succeed in creating the kind of multimedia, collaborative learning environment we have come to associate with open educational resources like PBWikis and Wikispaces. Justin’s findings, and their implications, are so intriguing that we decided it was time to go into the field and do some investigative work of our own. Radio Berkman wanted to know: Who is making those successful wikis and how? Producer Frances Harlow spent a day at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts sitting in on professional development sessions and interviewing instructors, including Director of Studies and History Department Head (and classroom wiki “missionary”) Matt Dunne Veteran History teacher Norma Atkinson Listen to what she found and be sure to let us know what you think of this Radio Berkman experiment!

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week at Radio Berkman we tried something new. During our recent interview with Berkman Fellow Justin Reich about his report The State of Wiki Usage in U.S. K-12 Schools: Leveraging Web 2.0 Data Warehouses to Assess Quality and Equity in Online Learning Environments, we learned that only one percent of educational wikis [...]

This week we tear apart the difference between Truth, Fact, and Evidence, and the quiet, but irreplaceable, role of the humble factchecker in our media with: -Author/factchecker Jim Fingal on the Lifespan of a Fact -Former GQ intern and factchecker Gillian Brassil -Veteran Atlantic Monthly factchecking department head Yvonne Rolzhausen -David Weinberger, author of the recent book Too Big To Know

Listen: or download | …also in Ogg This week we tear apart the difference between Truth, Fact, and Evidence, and the quiet, but irreplaceable, role of the humble factchecker in our media: Author/factchecker Jim Fingal on the Lifespan of a Fact Former GQ intern and factchecker Gillian Brassil on how factcheckers get paid to watch [...]

From February 4th, 2009 A first glimpse into the challenges and opportunities the Berkman Center faces in 2009, with the Center’s new Executive Director, Urs Gasser. CC-licensed music this week: Brad Sucks – “Gasoline” Greg Williams – “Teagarden Blues and Rain”