AI HYPE: A Commentary by A. Michael Noll March 29, 2023 Copyright © 2023 A. Michael Noll The 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick frighten us with the computer “HAL” that reads lips, makes decisions, kills, and ultimately goes berserk. Decades later around 2011, IBM introduced its “Watson” … Continue reading AI Hype
Digital Industries
The Myth of an AI Leisure Class?
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is real and significant. But AI is not new albeit in 2023 it is more focused on machine learning than programming. On a recent trip to Singapore, the rise of robots was clear, cleaning the floors of the airport and moving trays around restaurants, for instance. That said, the … Continue reading The Myth of an AI Leisure Class?
New Histories of Information and Media Technologies
New Historical Perspectives on Media and Information Technologies? For decades, students of media, communication, and internet studies have been so focused on the future that the past is too often ignored. Is there a rising interest in the history of media and information technologies and policies? Might more attention to the past hold promise for … Continue reading New Histories of Information and Media Technologies
Digital Kaleidoscope: A Commentary by A. Michael Noll
DIGITAL KALEIDOSCOPE A. Michael Noll February 2, 2023 © A. M. Noll 2023 [The following commentary is authored by A. Michael Noll, and posted with the permission of the author. Michael experimented with many of the technologies of 3D, computational art, and tactile telecommunication in the 1960s and 1970s at Bell Labs. I always find … Continue reading Digital Kaleidoscope: A Commentary by A. Michael Noll
Should Elites Get Off Twitter?
Should Elitists Get Off Twitter? An opinion piece in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh (2022) argued that the real reason to get off Twitter was that it “reeks of low status”. Stay on it long enough and you can “catch” its tone of “domestic mediocrity”. Even elites who use this micro-blogging site should beware … Continue reading Should Elites Get Off Twitter?
Working from Home and Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Problems: Before, During, and Post-Pandemic William H. Dutton and Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre (GCSCC), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford Has the shift in working patterns in response to the pandemic caused more problems with cybersecurity? Along with colleagues at the GCSCC, we interviewed a set of experts on cybersecurity to get … Continue reading Working from Home and Cybersecurity
Levelling Up the UK with Information
The UK government has committed to a strategy for levelling up economic activity across the UK.[1] While I am not a geographer or an economist, one need not be to see ways forward on this strategy. The Internet has been seen as a force that might reconfigure the geography of work – what jobs go … Continue reading Levelling Up the UK with Information
Twitter @Freedom of Expression
Twitter debates might put freedom of expression back on the agenda
Linking Cybersecurity Capacity Research to Development in Africa and Worldwide
The value of having a global constellation of cybersecurity capacity centres was brought home today. I viewed the many sessions of the hybrid annual conference of the network of cybersecurity research centres focused on cybersecurity, which was organised by C3SA in Cape Town, South Africa. Conferences held at other centres, including Oxford’s Global Cybersecurity Capacity … Continue reading Linking Cybersecurity Capacity Research to Development in Africa and Worldwide
Cybersecurity Problems?
Cybersecurity Problems Before, During, and Post-Pandemic William H. Dutton, Patricia Esteve-Gonzalez, and Ioannis Agrafiotis We interviewed a set of experts on cybersecurity to get a tentative idea on whether the pandemic and its effect on working from home (WFH) caused more cybersecurity problems. The interviews led us to entertain the idea that cybersecurity advances over … Continue reading Cybersecurity Problems?