Tech Matters: Using tech for positive social change

The best part of my job is brainstorming with brilliant, passionate people around social issues. On my visit to the UK last month to launch International Bookshare.org (check out www.bookshare.org.uk as an inital example), Kevin Carey of HumanITy invited Hiroshi Kawamura, the new President of the DAISY Consortium and me to lunch on Brighton beach. Although it was October, the weather was even nicer than California. I don't think the beachfront used to be this pleasant in the past, but I recommend it highly to anyone in the future! Notes from a Brainstorm The overarching concern of Hiroshi is a potential split in the disability community over new technology, particularly in the broadband age. He would like to see the disability community speak with one voice on these issues. The particular issue that concerns Hiroshi right now is the Second Life problem, 3D avatar immersive environments. To some disability groups, Second Life is wonderful. They can participate in a world acc...

Second Life, the on-line parallel universe, is a controversial topic. Some folks are fanatical about it, and it's touching a lot of real world places. I was wandering by Second Life interviews onsite at Davos. At the same time, I have heard that it is overhyped and that the number of participants is exaggerated. But, hearing something like the following story makes me feel good about Linden Labs, the folks that operated Second Life. Someone started a parody website called GetaFirstLife.com and the reaction of Linden Labs was to send a trademark approval letter ! This runs so counter to the normal overreaching of trademark and copyright owners, like the NFL's attempt to stop a law professor from posting the snippet from the Super Bowl showing how ridiculous their copy right claims were as explained on Techdirt: DMCA Takedown For Professor Showing How Copyright Owners Exaggerate Their Rights .