In the final section of a three-part interview with Patrick Sharbaugh of Vietmeme,we look at the culture of the internet and how the internet is shifting citizens’ world views. See Part One and Part Two. Tell us a bit about your research into the culture of Vietnam’s internet. Vietnam’s Internet culture differs from… »
Shortly before the end of 2013, we published the first of a three-part interview with Patrick Sharbaugh of Vietmeme, focusing on civic life in Vietnam as seen through and influenced by the web. We continue that discussion with the second in our series, looking at censorship and surveillance within the country. Some… »
Editor’s Note: You might remember Ben Valentine’s take on the “protest selfie”, a look at how the selfie has been used as a form of political expression around the world. We thought it would be great to look more closely at the selfie in context, and why 2013 really has become… »
As we enter the holiday season, we have lots of treats in store. Last week, we summed up our panel on “Arts and Culture Criticism in the Age of Networked Power” at the Yerba Buena Center’s Dissident Futures Art and Ideas Festival. And today, we kicked off our three-part interview with… »
A new publication we’ve been reading, Vietmeme, focuses on civic life in Vietnam as seen through and influenced by the web. After interviewing Anh-Minh Do from the Tech in Asia about the Vietnamese internet, I found that Vietmeme founder Patrick Sharbaugh’s work, expertise, and unique position of having a deep… »
A couple weeks ago, Ben Valentine and I had a chance to speak at the Yerba Buena Center’s Dissident Futures Art and Ideas Festival alongside arts/tech writer and researcher Dorothy Santos. Our topic was, simply, “The Honeymoon’s Over—Arts and Culture Criticism in the Age of Networked Power”, a look at utopian… »
It’s been a happy start to December as we celebrate our strongest month so far, with nearly 4000 followers on Tumblr and rapid readership growth on our main blog. Hope our friends in colder climes in the northern hemisphere are staying warm! And for everyone else, enjoy a nice cool Sundae… »
I’m really proud of #bisexualfacts today. Good day for laughing instead of being angry. — ASSHOLE WIZARD GIRL™ (@verylemonade) December 2, 2013 Point of clarification: #bisexualfacts the HT itself was not my invention, it got used a couple years back — ASSHOLE WIZARD GIRL™ (@verylemonade) December 2, 2013 but I… »
Editor’s Note: Be sure to see our interview with @verylemonade, who tells us she started the hashtag in response to mainstream media commentary on the issue. Olympic diver Tom Daley recently came out on his YouTube channel as being in a relationship with a man. Despite Daley clearly admitting to liking… »
We at the Civic Beat are huge fans (and beneficiaries) of the open source movement. That’s why several weeks ago, we silently set up shop on GitHub, one of the web’s largest repository of open source projects (amongst other things). And now, before we get ready to wind down for… »
January 22, 2014 
