The world of the Internet seems to be having a face-off with the concepts of privacy and anonymity. Google is under criminal investigation for its streetview data on GoogleMaps (BBC News). Wikileaks is under siege since one of its anonymous sources, a certain ‘rogue’ Bradley Manning (a 22-year-old who had just broken up with his [...]
WikiLeaks is one of the most riveting initiatives (read: ongoing battles) on the Internet and is putting a new spin on the transparency-anonymity debate. The Sunshine Press, which runs WikiLeaks, is an non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public. The “brown paper envelope of the digital age”, WikiLeaks.org could [...]
This is the second of four posts on the topic of Transparency. This second post deals with the role of the Internet in the evolving importance of transparency. With the Internet providing the opportunity for all people to express their opinion more or less liberally, governments, associations and companies – and to some extent even individuals — that reign by fear, with tight-fisted control will struggle to justify or manage their subjects. Lack of transparency and incongruent positions will, over time, be shown up.
Transparency is one of the important buzzwords that has surged into new management and leadership vocabulary and, surely, rightly so. It has, in fact, become such a buzzword that the University of Michigan has put it tops of its 2010 list of 15 words that should be banished. This post is the first of a [...]
The social media platforms have clearly managed to bring speed (real time) and globality (new word) to an unfolding crisis, such as we have seen in the 2007 San Diego forest fire through to the ongoing Haitian disaster.
I attended a GEF (Grandes Ecoles au Feminin [1]) conference yesterday, here in Paris, at which I listened to the results of an Ipsos study entitled, “How to improve the mix of women in management [in France].” You can read the French results here. This was the fourth time that a study had been commissioned [...]
This photograph from the UK’s Guardian newspaper (17 Sept 2009) caught my attention initially for the curious position, in the foreground, of the unfortunate person on the receiving end of a flip in a judo exhibition. Then I zeroed in on President Obama and Michelle Obama’s expressions, framed between the outstretched legs. The photo is [...]
If the plight of children and the role of women is the key issue for the MEDEF Summer University [Universite d'Ete] 2009, Ms. Cherie Blair was a wonderful choice to open the conference. If her speech felt a little long, there were many interesting points raised in her 30 minute speech. I captured below a [...]
When I was in London recently, I observed a lady parking warden walk up to a street sign and snap some close up photographs. It was a curious sight, as I initially imagined that it might be a cross between curiosity and tourism. Then, she went some five or so metres back and started taking [...]
