By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Random Censorship
I don't know whether I am blocked by the new filtering system described in this article (it's not named, and I have no way to check). But I do know that my site is filtered a lot, this based on the rejections I get from my newsletter emails. What interests me is that the list of pople in this post are (mostly) the people I have previously characterized as 'the Techlearn crowd', while those being censored are (mostly) not from the Techlearn crowd. Now - to be clear - I am absolutely not implying any collusion by the bloggers being named. But, that said, there is a consistency of message in those websites, which is being selectively filtered in. And - also to be clear - if this pattern holds then the filtering is not being used to protect children, but to indoctrinate them. Not random at all, but deliberate and calculated. Not good. More...
Censorship Through Noise
Peter Pomerantsev's This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality demonstrates that one variety of globalization is compatible with economic protectionism, cultural isolationism and an obsession with national sovereignty, Scott McLemee writes. More...
Random Censorship
Sacked or silenced: academics say they are blocked from exploring trans issues
Universities are at a loss how to maintain free speech when both sides claim they feel unsafe. More...Archaeologists Ban Member From Meeting for Arrest
By Colleen Flaherty. The Society for American Archaeology on Friday banned a professor from attending its annual meeting, following his arrest for felony aggravated stalking. More...
Do Unconventional Sexual Theories Border on Misconduct?
By Greta Anderson. Students demand more transparency about University of Texas at Austin practices and policies on sexual misconduct by professors. At the same time, others question the continued employment of a professor not accused of or disciplined for misconduct but whose scholarship is based on controversial theories about pedophilia. More...
Professor Loses Job Over Iran Joke
By Colleen Flaherty. Babson College terminated a staff member and adjunct professor who wrote on Facebook that Iran should respond to President Trump’s recent threat to bomb 52 targets of cultural significance by making an American target list of its own -- including a Kardashian family residence and the Mall of America. Babson previously said it was investigating the matter, but Asheen Phansey, the staff member involved, said Thursday that he’d been fired, according to theBoston Herald. More...
Tech Association Announces Dozens of Retractions
By Colleen Flaherty. IEEE, a professional organization for scholars of technology, said Tuesday that it’s retracting 30 articles published in IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility from 2016 to 2018 and 19 papers from the 2018 International Conference on Computing and Network Communications. More...
Publishers to Review Papers on Chinese Minority Groups
By Elizabeth Redden. Academic publishers Springer Nature and Wiley both said they would re-evaluate articles previously published on Uighurs, Tibetans and other minority groups amid growing concern from scientists about China’s use of DNA to study ethnic minorities and the use of this research for surveillance-related purposes, The New York Times reported. More...
Peut-on encore débattre de tout à l’université ?
Blog Headway - Olivier Rollot. « Indignez-vous » disait Christophe Hessel et le moins qu’on puisse dire c’est qu’il a été entendu. On s’indigne de tout, tout le temps et encore plus dans les universités. Le 24 octobre une opposante à la gestation pour autrui, la philosophe Sylviane Agacinski, a été empêchée de venir animer une conférence sur « l’être humain à l’époque de sa reproductibilité technique » à l’université Bordeaux-Montaigne. Des organisations LGBT+ avaient en effet appelé les étudiants à mettre « tout en œuvre afin que cette conférence n’ait pas lieu ». L’université a préféré céder sous la menace. Une reculade qui en rappelle d’autres. En France et encore plus aux Etats-Unis. Plus...
Edublogs Blocked in China
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Edublogs Blocked in China
OLDaily has not been blocked in China, to my knowledge, but it frequently sets off the filters in Australia, resulting in the email version being blocked from all of Queensland. Anyhow, Edublogs, the wonderful service offered by James Farmer, is blocked in China right now. More...
