Blogspot blocked again

As reported here and here, blogspot is blocked again in China, at least in Beijing, so I'll be dusting off those plans to migrate over to WordPress and a private domain name.
Any URL ideas?

Links for Learning

I read an article about linkbaiting (that is, posting of blog content specifically formatted to attract links from other sites, potentially to increase "searchability" of blogs) a couple days ago and it suggested that posting of list compilations are a great way to generate links.

Plus the added social benefit that they are indeed wonderful resources for your target niche.

In line with this practice, I came today across a great list that John Palfrey of the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School put together with technology resources for teachers.

My favorites in his list are Moodle and Eduforge.

The one I used the most this summer is the Victorian Commercial Teachers Association which helped me great for accounting.

Wikipedia in China

I wrote back in August that the Chinese authorities unblocked blogspot allowing me to keep this blog going while living in Beijing.

Well around that same time I read an article saying that new sophisticated censoring techniques allowed them to also unblock other sites like Wikipedia and only block sensitive information. So fresh with my blogspot jubilee I checked out wikipedia and found it...still blocked.

But I tried again this week (thanks to a posting by Andrew Lih) and found that wikipedia is indeed accessible from China for the time being.

I've tried sensative words like "T1ananm3n Ma55acr3 of 1989," and "T1b3t," (sorry for the disguised spelling, you can never be too cautious. Those of you with more knowledge about China's censorship technology than me please feel free to have a hearty laugh over my paranoia) and my wikipedia access gets immediately blocked for several hours, but for most entries I have had no access issues at all.

OK, that's all, just thought I'd share...

Bare with me - Upgrading to Beta

I know, I know, the blog has lost its aesthetic appeal.
I am in the process of upgrading to the new blogger beta.
This will allow me to finally have categories (which blogger calls labels), but should take a while of editing before I have the same easy-on-the-eyes layout as before.

The Wealth of Networks - 1

This April, just as final exams were upon me back at SAIS, Lawrence Lessig said in his blog:

Yochai Benkler’s book, The Wealth of Networks, is out. This is — by far — the most important and powerful book written in the fields that matter most to me in the last ten years. If there is one book you read this year, it should be this. The book has a wiki; it can be downloaded as a pdf for free under a Creative Commons license; or it can be bought at places like Amazon.

Read it. Understand it. You are not serious about these issues — on either side of these debates — unless you have read this book.

Well with such a strong and ringing review from a man who himself has written no small number of "powerful and important" books, I dutifully downloaded the 527 page pdf (including notes and an index) and began working my way through, highlighting, taking notes, rereading, and generally giving it a more thorough reading than most of the books I worked through during my masters program.

I am happy to say that today, several months later, I finished, and I can now hopefully write a series of postings reviewing what I learned. For any of you that haven't yet and want to read this book for yourselves, but are a bit intimidates by 500+ pages of legal writing (especially challenging when read on 12.1 inch laptop screens) please know that not only does the author suggest shortened reading methods for different reading audiences, but that the wiki also provides chapter summaries, outlines and other tools to help you get to the information you find most interesting.

So enjoy.

Municipal Wifi and Wimax in Beijing

Thanks again to the guys over at Marbridge Consulting who reported on this potential upcoming development here in Beijing. As someone who knows and frequents just about every place in the city with free Wifi at the moment, I will be overjoyed if a municipal network is rolled out, even if it is after the Olympics.

Beijing Daily, 9/29/06

A Beijing IT Office official speaking at the Beijing: Mobile City Development Forum, which opened September 26, revealed that Beijing is carrying out a feasibility study on city-wide wireless Internet access, with a draft for approval by municipal authorities already completed.

Previously some government departments, local governments and universities have trialed wireless Internet access. The Public Security Bureau in Xicheng District realized wireless management of police services, and some villages in Pinggu now have complete wireless coverage.

LENS: According to the feasibility report, both WiFi and WiMAX technology will be implemented in Beijing's proposed wireless broadband network.

Domestic operators have been working on WiFi technology since 2001, providing hotspots at airports, convention centers, hotels, office buildings, cafes, and other areas in a number of different cities. Currently, the WiFi market is dominated by China's four main telecom operators - China Netcom, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom - and broadband ISP Great Wall Broadband.

Recently, domestic operators have also begun testing and deploying WiMAX technology. China Netcom, for example, has initiated trial networks in a number of provinces, such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Guizhou, and Guangdong, primarily aimed at serving corporate clients. China Telecom is similarly carrying out tests and commercial trials of WiMAX in 9 Northern provinces and municipalities, hoping to leverage the technology as a way to compete in China Netcom's home territory. China Mobile has also been conducting WiMAX tests for over half a year, and Unicom has been running trial networks in 5 cities including Dalian and Shanghai.

Although WiFi and WiMAX implementations have been increasing, large-scale deployment has been held up by a variety of issues, including compatibility with 3G networks (licenses for which have yet to be issued), licensing fees, and national industry issues (e.g. China's desire to promote its own wireless Internet protocol, WAPI). Accordingly, many of wireless Internet networks currently planned are not scheduled to be fully operational for another 2-3 years. Despite these issues, the 2008 Olympics have been and will continue to be one of the driving forces behind WiFi and WiMAX innovation.