Category Archives: Internet Philosophy

This section contains posts that chart or comment upon the Internet as a medium. How does it affect our lives, our societies, our cultures and our politics? What are the trends that shape the technology? What are the fundamental differences between The Net and other means of communication.

#BSDthinks Event Write-up

Posted on 3 February 2012 by Robert

I went to a Blue State Digital event earlier in the week and assembled my tweeted aide memoirs on Storify: Blue State Digital THINKS.  We discussed digital trends that are now mainstream. Its a rather long Storify, so I won’t … Continue reading →

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The Websiteless NGO

Posted on 29 January 2012 by Robert

I’m managing a rebrand and website redesign for English PEN. Part of the project is the integration of third party services like Twitter and YouTube that host some of our output. This has prompted me to wonder whether it would … Continue reading →

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Sharing Adele on the Internet

Posted on 20 January 2012 by Robert

It is enriching art like this which is likely to be compromised by the propose SOPA legislation in the USA. Continue reading →

Posted in Art and Cultures, Internet Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How the Depiction of Technology in #Sherlock Captures the Zeitgeist

Posted on 8 January 2012 by Robert

In a paywalled Times article this time last week, Hugo Rifkind highlighted our loss of the communal Christmas TV moment. EastEnders can never achieve the dizzy ratings heights of the 1980s, Eric and Ernie are dead, and even the numbers … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and Cultures, BBC, Internet Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can Publishing Be a Form of Fact-Checking?

Posted on 9 August 2011 by Robert

For citizen bloggers, publishing a claim online carries the implicit (and often explicit) request – “please help me verify”. Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Philosophy, Media | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On Linking To Your Enemies

Posted on 4 August 2011 by Robert

A a failure to link properly looks a bit sly and scheming. Let’s leave the obfuscation and misdirection to the newspapers. Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Philosophy, Media | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Through A Web Darkly: The Dangers of Facebook and Google

Posted on 6 July 2011 by Robert

The danger with this is that opinions that differ from your own are eventually weeded out of your personalised stream of information. Mistaken or ill-thought out beliefs are affirmed and not challenged, and our knowledge is weaker as a result. On a macro level, our democracies can become more polarised, with less consusus and a smaller space for compromise. Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Philosophy | 1 Comment

The Problem of Verification

Posted on 12 June 2011 by Robert

Angela Philips of Goldsmiths College, at last Friday’s POLIS conference: A Major skill for journalists is to learn how to authenticate sources Or, words to that effect! I made the note on twitter and therefore may have paraphrased. To fully … Continue reading →

Posted in Diary, Internet Philosophy, Media, Middle East | 4 Comments

Facial recognition software could get you sued or fired

Posted on 8 June 2011 by Robert

Those of us who have been anally removing the tags of ourselves in Facebook photos are feeling pretty smug today, as the latest privacy scandal breaks.  By default, they’ve turned on a new automatic facial recognition feature.  Online provacy groups … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet Philosophy, Visual | 4 Comments

Building Critical Mass for #Fatullayev

Posted on 27 May 2011 by Robert

It is worth pausing analyse the success of this campaign and unravel the various elements. Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Internet Philosophy | Leave a comment