Information Society Watch

December 11, 2007, Ujwal Tickoo, thebizofcoding.com

This article predicts that 2008 will herald the rise of applications that manage scattered online social lives on a variety of social networking sites. Observing the rise of startups in the category of 'Social Network Aggregation', the author predicts that even more investment, acquisitions and creative startups will emerge.

August 6, 2007, Scott Gilbertson, Wired.com

This article scrutinises the closed-network characteristics of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, whose increasing popularity makes them an important terrain on which to take up the argument for open standards. In fact sites such as Facebook and MySpace are propriety networks--just as cellphones are locked and music is copy-protected, the personal data on these social networking sites is available only to users of that particular site.

April 27, 2007,Indian-Express

Yahoo has recently launched its India Our City application to provide highly localised content from 20 cities across the country. With the Indian market at 45 million users at present and growing in double digits, AOL is looking to leverage this opportunity.

April 22, 2007, Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

In this article, the author looks at the evolving nature of the Internet and explores the view that this evolution is going to 'destroy' human civilisation. The Internet of yesterday which comprised of dial-up connections, dot-com crashes and some of the worst business plans is fast giving way to a different kind of Internet, Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is more interactive, connected by broadband, has significant user involvement in content generation, and makes money.

April 9, 2007, The New York Times

Faced with an increasing number of hate messages and threats to a large number of bloggers, there have been calls by prominent netizens to observe a code of conduct while blogging. Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.

March 14, 2007, Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post

The Internet has become a centre of religious worship for millions of people around the world of all faiths. Many use websites for prayer and meditation, or to gather in "virtual" religious settings. The Internet is thus providing a new arena for religious seekers.

1997, Sherry Turkle, Social Research

This paper explores the history of artificial intelligence and other technological advances in light of their impact on human psychology and self-image. Computational theories of intelligence now support decentred and emergent views of the mind, while experience with today's computational objects encourages rethinking identity in terms of multiplicity and flexibility.

October 22, 2006, BBC News Service

A study shows that despite fears of happy slapping (a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault commonly with a camera phone or a smart phone), parents are encouraging their children to actively use mobile phones. They see this as a way to keep in touch with their children and monitor safety.

September 2, 2006, Washington Post

Google is complying with a Brazilian court's orders to release data that could help identify users accused of participating in Orkut groups that encourage racism, pedophilia and homophobia. This move is despite the rejection of a US Justice Department request for similar information relating to a broad civil case.

October 10, 2006, India e-Gov

In a move towards censorship of 'hate' material, the Aurangabad branch of Bombay High Court has told the Maharashtra government to issue a notice to Google for allegedly spreading hatred of India through`Orkut', Google's social network service.