Thoughts About a Hypothetical Social Network for Activists I

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 July 2010 14:57 Written by Mehmet Ali ANIL Tuesday, 01 June 2010 12:33

Freedom for Gaza Movement Flotilla and the Social Networks

When I heard about the attacks towards Free Gaza Flotilla, I looked up in the Internet about how the social networks responded. With many activist networks that are interconnected in a dense way, Twitter and Facebook come first in place. I looked up Twitter first, the social network that served as one of the information source about Iranian elections and violence that took right after, expecting that its structure is the most suitable for a protest to propogate within. I found out that many of those who protested or sent out news used the #flotilla tag in Twitter, which means that that tweet is about #flotilla, with many other tweets. Expecting the #flotilla topic to rise in rank, many people were tweeting about the incident. Depending upon the number of tweets in unit time, it was sure that #flotilla was the topic that was the most tweeted about. But the website, though it must've been an automatic process didn't put it into the trending topics, causing many twitter users to suspect censorship. This action, if it is taken on purpose, has limited the number of links that each tweet could make with others, thus limited the propogation of information, and supressed a probable exponantial boom in awareness in user numbers. The number of links, which is tweets in Twitter, inbetween each user within social web, is the key parameter that controls whether a news about an incident exceed the critical rate of spread. Links matter a lot. 

Thinking about the possibility that Twitter could've been at least undergoing a data mining procedure about the tweets that is shared within its network, and supressing those which could've been disturbing to the wider audience. That could've been the case, since the flotilla topics are associated to the Palestanian conflict, and since most of the world is both politically and spatially distant to most of what is going on there, and even most of the time clueless about what is happening, It might be an adventageous policy for Twitter to supress "extremes" from those who are "fed up" about Middle East crises and want to see Lakers trending instead.

Properties of Social Networks

So with the assumption that such censorship was in action, I thought about where actually these social webs fit in a set of all probable structures. Most social networks show some features that we take for granted. For example, in most of those networks, we know about the person that we are connected with, we know who she is, we have a tendency to confirm that the person exists in real life, the social link inbetween is generally persistent, and we are exposed to a huge amount of social data via a page that is always up to date. Chatroulette might be the example that is out of this generalization, though it has a very different emphasis. Another property of most of the social networks that it is a service. A service that though its clients are mobile, its servers are immobile. It is not a social network, but the Torrent network might be a very good example not working in this fashion, and is a good example about my upcoming claim.

If they differ, these networks differ in topology. For example Facebook is one of those networks that nodes are very common, and a single link is very rare (which is actually a user with only one friend). So everybody knows about every single action taken by others.  A groupware in contrast, has a graph, that is hierarchized in a way. Every employee has one way links to her inferior, whereas distinct workgroups are clearly defined, with roundabout links inbetween, in order to facilitate focusing. The first introduces endless opportunities and self organization, the other sustains easy control and is very energy efficient.

Though many of these properties that I cited are generally taken as very natural, due to our circumstances, but the area that I will ve trying to implement social networking to, requires to abandon these presuppositions. 

Thoughts About a Hypothetical Social Network for Activists.

I think that the current social networking scheme is unable to provide the needs of activism. What made me think about that is not only the recent observations I made in Twitter, but set of rules, or in other words a systematized culture which is called the Security Culture^1,2 , that has rules for those that are targeted by government, for example activists.

In short, the Security Culture has this social links of don't ask, don't tell, in order to prevent infiltration. It reminds activists that when an information is shared, an action is bragged about or any nonanonymity would result in weakness of the whole structure. It depends on the fact that when a fellow is investigated, she cannot tell what she doesn't know about you or the protest. In contrast of many social links that we encounter in Facebook, for example, this network calls for different needs, and they differ a lot in essence. 

A Social Network on the Internet that activist groups are going to use will indeed introduce some very exotic properties.  I will be writing a set of articles, from time to time depending on the Security Culture requisites, I will try to build a hypothetical network, in other words brainstorm about how a suitable system can be obtained for activist groups, that would help them only and only in their cause, how problems might arise and how could one get over them.

In my opinion there seems to be a gap in the social networks that is in use today. This approach, seems to alter the way that we consider information, how it is shared, its back-traceability, how social hubs are formed and such. Since, first of all, and probably for the first time, we will require a social web to show as small information as possible from our neighbors, and the ability to recruit fast and anonymously.

It is a fun challenge to consider. 

Will be continued.

Freedom Flotilla, an aid convoy, attacked by Israeli Armed Forces

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 July 2010 14:57 Written by Administrator Monday, 31 May 2010 10:02

Though I avoid writing my personal feelings in my blog posts, for this one, this had to start a bit more personal.

Today, though I claim myself a non-nationlist and a non-believer, I got up enraged. I am sorry to put it this personal, but I thought it over lot of times and couldn't manage to put it  another way. It is very disturbing to get up early in the morning hearing about a convoy garrying aid attacked by military forces, killing civilians. To be honest, even writing a blog entry about it feels unnatural, but this I take as a necessity of being a humanist. If I have audience, let them hear these, though I must state that I am not a dependable source of information right now.

Despite of the fact that there are many little details about the incident, and I know that these details are either ingored or exaggerated depending on the source. Talking about those is the work of the people whom try to obtain an objective stance when such incident is investigated. All those I see when I open up a webpage about the attacks, is a brief explanation of what happened, and fine assurance of legitimacy for both sides, which is familiar, and expected from global news agencies. Those things are the things that will be consulted when this intervention is investigated afterwards.

So stripped out from the details, though many readers are probably have thirst for those details, I am sorry for those but can google it anyway: This night, the free Gaza movement ships a.k.a. "Freedom Flotilla" that headed towards military blockaded Gaza, loaded with aid, was intervened by Israeli Armed Forces, with 600 to 800 civilians on board. Facing resistance, İsraeli Forces responded with fire, killing 10 to 16 civilians as a result.

That's as simple and as real as it gets. 

So, this is the situation, though many will first mention that it took place in international waters, or that civilians wounded two Israeli soldiers, that the soldiers fired as soon as they landed on deck, that Israel had warned beforehand, or that wounded civilians were handcuffed. 

The point for today is that civilians died there while carrying humanitarian aid for people of Gaza. And that such action is taken towards a semi-international humanitarian organization has several clear consequences. First of all, though response towards such actions peak right after the incident and settle down pretty rapidly with the need for so called neutral commentary, the feelings of Turkish citizens towards Israeli Government which was under a veil of professionalism and "legimitate war" on "terror", has now shown its other side, triggering both religious and nationalist feelings and the need for revenge, which are deep rooted within the society already, but was targeted on other directions.

Israel and Turkey, being both military states (or warfare state, which is also in use, not being a welfare state) which both engineered strong ties between its military and people, which both have to induce nationalism and religion to its people in order not to lose its integrity, since they both have and still perform illegimite actions towards their residents and neighbors, are one of the few nations that such a conflict, when backed with emotions arose from the tendencies stated, would lead to severe consequences. When Turkey made a invasion to Northern Iraq, I saw how people watch death counts, silently found satisfacton from the ratio of casualties, in a hidden need of revenge. I don't think It was any different in Israel when it invaded Gaza Strip.

So, from now on, it doesn't seem to be the ones that want freedom in Gaza that have very bad personal feelings towards Israel as a state, but a majority of the residents of Turkey. Concerning their social structures, Israel and Turkey seem to be the worst choice, when it a major conflict comes to be the issue. This incident will motivate people to bring their fragile tendencies, like national or religous beliefs, out here, though probably in Israel it will only induce a chain of cool beurocratic movements. 

Right now, the Consulate General in Istanbul and Embassy in Ankara of Israel is subject to big demonstrations. There is a rally in Taksim square right now, and many are expecting a very bold international response, though it seems unlikely.

Jonsi & Alex Eminönü Halk Konseri

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 July 2010 14:56 Written by Mehmet Ali ANIL Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:50

22 Mayıs 2010 akşamı, Eminönü'nde halk konseri dediğimizde aklımızda canlanması muhtemel olandan oldukça farklı geçen bir konseri belki biraz da mazur görmenizi umduğum prematüre bir heyecan ile kısaca anlatacağım.

Öncelikle bahsi geçen konser nasıl oldu ise, tanıtımı pek bir cılız yapılmış, cılız olmasa dahi bana haberi dostlarım olmasa ulaşmayacakmış. Her ne kadar İstanbuldaki ortaklığı İTÜ MİAM ile yapılmış olsa da haberini okuldan almamış olmam düşündürücü. Ya da ben aklım beş karış havada geziyorum.

Aslında kendisi "The Morning Line"  adı verilen üç günlük bir festivalin açılış konseri. Eminönü meydanına (Yeni Cami nin önündeki kuşlu meydanda) kurulmuş bir enstalasyon (yerleştirme) ile oldukça ilgi çekici duran bir yapıda yapılacak olan bir festival kendisi. Burada en açıklayıcı olacak şeyin bir resim olduğunu düşünüyorum:

Matthew Ritchie, Aranda\Lasch and Arup AGU The Morning Line Istanbul 2010
http://www.tba21.org/pavilions/83?category=pavilions

Bu metal yapının içerisinde insanların kendi hissi yolculuğuna çıkmaları için bir çok hoparlör ve birkaç ekran yerleştirilmiş. Aslında yapının görsel olarak bir bütünlüğü güzel arzettiğini, eğreti durmadığını kabul etmekteyim, fakat şu ana kadar belki de deterministik ve gözlemlemeye çırpınan yapımdan dolayı bir kaç an dışında bu tip yerleştirmelerde bir hisse kapılamadım. Belki de çok kalabalıktı, ve insan diyaloglarının sürekli farklı kesirlerini duymaktan dolayı zavallı hale gelmiş olan bedenim bir şey hissetmeyi reddetti, mümkün. Bu yapının içerisinde konser dinleme fikrini beğendim ama, günümüzün sanatında boyut arttırma eğilimi ile ilgili bir şey olabilir tabii ki (Bir boyutlu sanat eseri bilen biri lütfen bana haber versin).

Sanatçı bu görünmeyen beş boyutlu enstelasyonda, uzay-zamanı yapıbozumcu bir dışavuruma sahip şekillerde bükülü tuttuğu 5 farklı durum arasında rastgele geçişler yapmaktadır.

İşte 4+1 boyut, işte enstelasyonda zamandışı ve konumdışı bir deneyim yaşama garantisi!  Kaçışı yok, herkes istese de istemese de birşeyler hissedecek. TA DUM! uzayzamansanat.

Her neyse, sonuçta Fatih Belediye Başkanının ilkokuldaki resmi bayram törenlerindeki hissiyatı tekrar yaşatmış olması hepimizi bir hayli duygulandırdı. Bu toprakların kültürünün oldukça derinlerinde bulunan bir kültürel değerimiz olan bu ritüeli, hiyerarşi vurgusunu, bedenen ve ruhen tecrübe edilen o çile hissini, ve devletin babacanlığını çok başarılı bir şekilde bu kültürden uzak kalmış insanlara tattırmış olması bir festival açılışına bir hayli yakıştı. Aynı zamanda güzel sanatçıyı ve sanatı korumak gibi bu kültürün bir hayli derinliklerinden kopmuş konuşma ile davetlilerin Mali'deki bir fraktal köyün ayinine davetliymiş gibi kendilerini özel hissettiklerine eminim.

Sonuçta bu metal yapı ile başarılı bir etkileşim geçirdikten sonra Sigur Ros'un solisti Jonsi ve Alex'in konserine geçtik.

Bahsi geçen insanların müziği için: Jonsi & Alex

İlgili müzik için: Jonsi - Go

Her ne kadar yazıda size aktaramayacağım bir deneyim olsa da, konser başladığı andan itibaren sağanak şeklinde yağmurun yağması, konserin ilgili yerleştirmenin hemen yanında, ama yine de Yeni Cami ile Rüştem Paşa Caminin arasındaki meydanda olmasının verdiği gerçeküstü hissi bir hayli artırdı. Konserin sonuna doğru Yani Cami ve Rüstem Paşa Cami imamları o yanık sesleri ile sanatçılara katıldı. Oradaki sesin nasıl olduğunu anlatmaya çalışmayacağım, ama emin olun eğreti durmadılar. Günü, kardeşim yanında kulağının kalıba dökülmüş tıpkısını taşıyor bulunduğundan, Jonsi'ye kardeşimin kulağının betondan kopyasını hediye ederek gerçekdışılığın zirvesinde, dada melekleri tarafından kutsanarak noktaladık.

Efendiler, olur da denk gelirseniz tavsiye ederim, ama böylesine denk gelmeniz hayli güç olabilir.

İlgili konserde çektiği fotograflar çok iyi değiller, havadan ve gece olmasından dolayı bir hayli lo-fi çıkacaklarını tahmin ediyorum, fakat bir iki ay içerisinde bastığımda buraya koyacağım.

Scientists Create Synthetic Life

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 July 2010 14:57 Written by Mehmet Ali ANIL Friday, 21 May 2010 00:02

I just had to write about this.

Today, a large group in J. Craig Venter Institute, US, seems to engineer their own DNA (or RNA, NA in which there is encoded information, eventually), synthesize it in laboratory, inject it into a bacteria cell. The encoded DNA is structured  so that the bacteria was able to reproduce itself, and the resultant bacterium do also have the reproductive ability, which are two of the key requirements to be a living organism.

Well, this might be one of the days that will go into the textbooks. Ever since I read "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins, I found the section about "The Replicators" totally mind boggling. The fact that it was self repetition or self organization that is key player of the whole process, a simple algorithm that probably was once in favor of minimizing the energy, or one of millions of such root algorithms, that turned out to result in such large dynamics, as we right now are looking through.

The idea that those key algorithms are being unfolded, piece by piece, that humans are deciphering the motivation, the great kinesis we are right now observing in awe, is enough to give chills. I feel that we're starting to understand organisms in a bottom to up approach, just like mastering the replicator in order to figure genes out, despite of the fact that this was not the approach in biology, and it is not perfectly still.

Right now, that seems to me, genetics is in a point that it will go into a change that should be emphasized, like the turning point that Electronics was once at on 60's, the time the saturation in the need and the theoretical background, resulted in a burst in engineering, an uncontrollable momentum, replication, integration and scaling, such that still even a minuscule amount of enhancement is considered to be an instant realization, even there is a high price to be paid. It didn't stop there, because electronics had this unique property of paving its own way, in other words, it created its own market and design tools by its research and development. Molecular biology seems to be climbing to this peak, once approached its problems with a chemists or a biologist's intuition, and now also with the help of statistical physics and computational advances, is armed with numerical methods and simulations. This saturation of know-how until recetly was encapsulated into the laboratory and reached the public comparably indirectly and under a watchful eye, with generally ethical concerns. But seeing that this breakthrough was achieved by a private institute, if the time of genetic engineering comes with opportunities of easy implementation and integration, the dam is going to fall down. My guess is that we'll see days that the inevitable momentum of engineerable organisms flooding every place the market is in need of, will be overwhelming to every single limiting factor known effective today, religion, ethics, human rights or environmental concerns.

This might seem to be an over-dramatic entry, like those PopSci news, that every small development is presented as great scientific breakthrough, those that make one wonder how come every single day there happens to be one, In fact one should know that I am not presenting this as a huge advance, but It is, in my opinion, a signal for the point that is reached in genetic manipulation, that it is not genetic imitation anymore, it is evolving into a process of encoding, and design, which surely will build its layers of production. There will be ones that will code, ones that will generate blocks of single tasks, ones that will try multitasking, ones that will try to create self-developing and adaptive structures and so on. One should remember that the golden age of Electronics was not the time that the bipolar juction transistor was realized in the lab, it was in contrast, the time that CMOS was perfectly implemented, because it gave the opportunity to divide the workload, segmentize it in a way that one could focus on different parts, the platform that gave the chance for one group to code, one group to write algorithms that the ones that code will use without getting into details of, one group that design the architecture, and others that get into the semiconductor physics. This segmentation did not only gave a chance to divide the labor, but also, speeded up the scaling process, because requirements of every single subunit was evident, which resulted in an environment that the asignee of the problem, remained focused into his expertise.

If molecular biology present similiar circumstances, it will enjoy the benefits of plug'n play, whereas I am still not sure whether we (well, even if we don't want we'll be users of it, it does not seem to be preferential) will enjoy, or will suffer the big step sideways from Darwinian track, exchanging a huge heuristic algorithm with no memory but big sample size, with a combination of scientific methodology and engineering voraciousness.

No matter what, here's something that I will mention years after, when the day will come.

For the ScienceExpress article: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/rapidpdf/science.1190719v1.pdf
For the BBC News Report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8695862.stm