Help me online annotate Jonathan Zittrain's new book

Tony Curzon Price, 27/04/08

Elsewhere on openDemocracy

JZ has written an important new book: "The Future of the Internet (and how to stop it)". The PDF can be downloaded here, and you can buy it here But it has a beautiful HTML edition here.

This really inspires me to do something I've been looking for an opportunity to do for a long time --- do a group online annotation of an important book. If you'd like to join in, please email me and I'll tell you how we'll go about it.

I blogged a lecture I saw JZ give on the topic, here. You can see the passion the subject aroused by looking at the Slashdot thread it provoked. This is important stuff.

It will center around using diigo.com, rather than the note-taking feature on the HTML edition, because of diigo's nice research-centered features.

Email me to join in --- when we're done we'll have a digest of the book and a trace of our commentary and opinion.

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opendemocracy said:

Wed, 2008-04-30 07:42

Hi,

Here are my thoughts at end day 1 of the experiment of how we can get this annotation done:

1. if you have a moment to devote to the Digest project, go to the group bookmark page to see where we have got to in the annotation process:

http://groups.diigo.com/o_d-digest-_-future-of-the-internet-annotation/bookmark
Click on the top bookmark link, which will take you to the page of the JZ book that is being annotated

2. read the digest notes up to that time to understand where the argument is (best is by using the Diigo "Comment" view that you get to by clicking the Comment button on the toolbar

3. once you get to an un-annotated paragraph, add your note...

This way, the next person will take up where you've left off.

I realise this requires the notes to be quite good - so that you can really get a sense of the argument by reading the notes. If you can no longer follow the argument at some point, click on the note in question to have it take you to the text. Add a better note if you think a better one is needed.

Hope this works, and please keep the suggestions coming on how we can make the process useful.

I'm still working on styling a page on oD where we can read the Digest. And keep the commentary coming on the other group.

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opendemocracy said:

Mon, 2008-04-28 22:42

The Future of the Internet2014And How to Stop It » Introduction

- iPhone is object of desire
- Apple II was a generative box whose success depended on others' additions to it, like VisiCalc
- Apple II was open for tinkerers and hobbyists, unlike the iPhone
- iPhone needs Apple permission before you can tinker; Apple can remote modify it; it is a controlled system.
- The dark side of openness - viruses, spam, crashes - makes the closed philosophy of the iPhone attractive to consumers.
- iPhone / Apple II story is representative of the Internet: it is moving form the open to the tethered, the generative to the controlled.
- The original PC is a blank slate.
- Boxed appliances are fine, but they endanger the NEXT ROUND of innovation --- innovation-types they themselves were dependent on in the past.
- When there is separation of PC ownership and use, interests diverge: stability versus "wilderness"
- As long as a PC can run code it is given, and especially with broadband connectivity, the dangers are there, and are serious.
- These dangers add support for lockdown and interference by the surveiling centre --- with all the dangers this implies in authoritarian states.
- Lockdowns and box-appliances will destroy the creativity of IT, and to stop this happening we'll need new technologies, communities that sustain the right ethos and a sense of public purpose.
- The everlasting battle will be between open, Web 2.0 systems and services and "bottled power" as exemplified by the iPhone.