The Globe and Mail - Mathew Ingram Columns

The gospel according to Google

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:12 EST

Reviewed by Mathew Ingram

As one experiment ends, a new one begins for Policy Wiki

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00 EST

With the tabling of the federal budget, The Globe and Mail's first experiment in merging public-policy debate and social-media tools - the Public Policy Wiki, a joint venture with the Dominion Institute - comes to a kind of conclusion, although the discussion we helped to start will continue as long as Canadians have ideas they wish to share.

ONLINE DEBATE

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 00:00 EST

The possibility of the defeat of the Harper Conservative government and its replacement by a Liberal-NDP coalition with Bloc Quebecois support has provoked a huge debate across the country.

J&J's Motrin headache just another 'flash flood' in cyberspace

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

What I like to call the ''flash flood'' phenomenon on the Web, in which outraged consumers band together through blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other sites, has become fairly commonplace by now: A TV show gets cancelled, a company's product turns out to be less than advertised, and boom - an instant protest group forms, using blogs and other ''social media'' as a megaphone to make its collective voice heard.

J&J's Motrin headache just another 'flash flood' in cyberspace

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00 EST

Should the vocal minority always be the one to control the debate?

EMPOWERMENT FOR GIRLS NOW ONLINE

Wed, 5 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

Amy Poehler may be a household name for her portrayal of Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live, but she isn't resting on her laurels. The comedienne wants to use her fame to help teenaged girls realize that there is more to life than just being pretty and that they don't have to disguise the fact that they are smart or funny.

WHY SUE WHEN YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF ILLEGAL CONTENT?

Tue, 4 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

It's one thing to turn a blind eye - as some TV networks do - to the uploading of pirated content that occurs daily on YouTube, MySpace and other social networks and services. To use just one potential metaphor, that's a bit like the approach some countries take when it comes to prostitution or marijuana: They know it's out there, but as long as it doesn't cause any real trouble, then they don't bother prosecuting it.

NOTHING IS CERTAIN IN SECOND LIFE, NOT EVEN TAXES

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

If you create a virtual world, odds are that you're going to wind up with everything that occurs in the real world, including crime, sex, economic upheaval and so on. No one knows that better than Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life.

LIMEWIRE AND COMEDY CENTRAL RECORDS MAKE A DEAL

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

The file-sharing network LimeWire - which is currently being sued by several major record labels for allegedly contributing to copyright infringement - has signed a deal with Comedy Central Records that will make it easy for users of the peer-to-peer application to find and buy legal versions of comedy videos from Lewis Black, Mitch Hedberg and others.