Analysis

Information overload is a growing problem that most of us face each and every day. Email, phone calls, voice mail, facebook notifications, and that doesn't include the endless flow of spam. However there's no reason all this constant communication can't be tamed and organized so that we don't feel the stress and anxiety associated with being under a waterfall of information.

While some may feel powerless in the face of technological change, resigned to the notion that all this email and information is necessary for their work or personal advancement, the reality is that the cost of our desire to always be connected is high and still growing.

For example the research firm Basex Inc examined the economic impact of information overload on the US economy, and their findings point to a steady growth from one year to the next. In 2005 the cost of information overload to the US economy was $588 billion dollars and in 2006 that figure grew to $650 billion.

In my public speaking I often like to spend time on the subject of the Global Village, the McLuhan metaphor that describes our inter-connected global society. I cite events such as the OJ Simpson trail, the death of Princess Diana, and 9/11 as a few examples among many that illustrate the times when millions of people come together and share their emotions simultaneously across the continent or even the planet.

This week there were two such events, and what I find fascinating is the difference between how the two were understood and experienced.

The death of Heath Ledger was an example of an open emotional moment. Within seconds of the announcement being broadcast, I felt a wave of emotion and saw ripples of reactions across social media like Facebook and Twitter.

There is an interesting article on the cover of today's New York Times that delves into some of the support behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Explicitly the description of Huck's Army sounds quite similar to the Ron Paul Army, although the latter is even more independent and autonomous than the former.

What they both have in common is an effective Internet strategy that allows them to make do with less, while also raising considerable funds online. Huckabee and Paul have both been outspent by opponents who blanket mainstream media with negative ads. Yet in the face of this they've both been able to use the Internet to speak directly to their growing supporters, inspiring them to work for and donate to the campaign.

Yesterday's results in Iowa demonstrate that the Internet is playing a central and strategic role in the 2008 US Presidential Election.

Mike Huckabee, with the help of Chuck Norris, has been able to defeat Mitt Romney who out spent him by a factor of 20! Some estimates put Romney's Iowa expenditures at $10,000 per vote.

Barack Obama, with the help of Obama Girl, has been able to defeat Billary who admittedly had low expectations for Iowa to begin with. It's also worth noting that John Edwards has been able to stay in the race, in no small part due to his sophisticated Internet operation.

Near the end of 2007 I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Ursula Franklin regarding her political and religious beliefs, as well as her lifelong activism and social criticism. I first heard her speak in 1995 at a conference around community access to the information highway (oh what weird words we used back then). At the time I was just starting to look at critical perspectives on technology, and Ursula's work influenced me quite a bit. Her definition of technology as being "how we do things around here" helped me understand the cultural impact of technology where others tend to miss this crucial influence.

Computer security is a field I've always been interested in, both as a journalist, researcher, and system administrator. However I'm also often quite critical of the industry as a whole, and the manner in which they communicate with their customers.

Today a particularly symbolic and silly episode is transpiring that illustrates why the trust and power we put into security and anti-virus software is often misplaced.

Users of the CA eTrust software are being alerted that they've been infected by the JS/SNZ.a virus whenever they surf a website that runs any one of a few common javascript libraries. This includes my own site, which is causing some of my readers to get alerts, one of whom emailed me about it.

The problem of course is that this is not a virus at all, rather a false positive. Most users however won't know that, and instead are being scared away from thousands if not millions of legitimate websites.

In my latest article for cbcnews.ca I've taken a look back at 2007 as a profitable and successful year for cyber crime. Explicitly I take my analysis of the storm worm and draw out a thread that shows the larger socio-political implications of this emerging technology:

The organization of all this criminal activity manifests in the form of bot nets (see sidebar) such as the storm worm, networks of hijacked machines that allow criminals to engage in their activities without being traced or identified. The sophistication of these bot nets has increased so rapidly that many observers have begun speculating that we're witnessing the early stages of a new online arms race, a cyber cold-war in which new weapons and tactics are being developed and tested.

The following segment from 3D Dialogue is a great example of how the show combines politics, religion, sociology, and economics to cover a story in a unique way, especially when it comes to complex issues such as the recent protests in Burma. This interview with Bush Gulati, from the Committee for Restoration of Democracy in Burma, provides an overview of the role Buddhist Monks play in the struggle against the military dictatorship in Myanmar.

The past two weeks have seen a number of announcements by Microsoft, Google, and Facebook that have set the stage for an incredible clash of the titans when it comes to the future of the Internet.

On one side, reigning champion Microsoft, monopolist of the personal computer era, backing young upstart Facebook, the early leader in the emerging social computing era.

On the other side, reigning search engine and online advertising king Google, and instead of backing a single emerging player, they've taken the longer tail and have embraced the concept of Open, which while including open source, also includes a broader philosophical approach to open internet development and initiatives.

A rumour has started spreading online that a sex scandal involving a major US presidential candidate is being covered up by the DC press corp and the media elite in the US. Perhaps covered up is too strong a word, as the accusation is not so much that the story is being stopped, but rather those who are in the know are unsure as to how to handle the information.