Dear friend Kurt Shaw just sent a fascinating and disturbing email about impending gang violence in Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela. Kurt runs a nonprofit called… Read More »Gang Violence in the Favelas of Rio

My latest foray into internet sociology has involved beating my head against the Google Adwords program. I’m interested in seeing what data researchers can extrapolate… Read More »Fun with Google AdWords – or “Why Genocide’s Worth at Least a Buck a Click”

Wikipedia is rapidly emerging as the poster child for peer-produced content. While Linux, Apache and other high-quality open source software convinced most in the technical… Read More »Systemic Biases in Wikipedia?

J.D. Lasica, blogger and frequent contributor to USC Annenberg’s excellent Online Journalism Review, emailed me a few days ago with an interesting question: Why does… Read More »How News Portals Serve Up Political Stories

CNN moves Switzerland to where the Czech Republic used to be. No word yet on where the Czechs have gone, or the fate of CERN,… Read More »CNN’s creative new map of Europe

I’m commuting from my home in western Massachusetts to the Berkman Center in Cambridge once a week, usually on Tuesdays. If all goes well, the… Read More »Radio, translation and intercultural communication