The tragedy of the digital commons

In the paper it is argued that bridging the digital divide may cause a new ethical and social dilemma. Using Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons, we show that an improper opening and enlargement of the digital environment (Infosphere) is likely to produce a Tragedy of the Digital Commons (TDC). In the course of the analysis, we explain why Adar and Huberman's previous use of Hardin's Tragedy to interpret certain recent phenomena in the Infosphere (especially peer-to-peer communication) may not be entirely satisfactory. We then seek to provide an improved version of the TDC that avoids the possible shortcomings of their model. Next, we analyse some problems encountered by the application of classical ethics in the resolution of the TDC. In the conclusion, we outline the kind of work that will be required to develop an ethical approach that may bridge the digital divide but avoid the TDC.     

Inclusive sport or institutional discrimination? New FIFA regulations,organized football and migrant youth in Italy

Over the last decade, the international governing body of association football, FIFA, has introduced new regulations for the registration of young players. The regulations are aimed at ‘protecting minors’ at being trafficked from developing countries to clubs based in the majority of cases in Europe. While strengthening control on the status of players as young as ten, the FIFA norms and their intersection with national and European norms have laid the legal basis for forms of institutional discrimination meted out to youth of immigrant background living in Europe. This paper emerges from a study on youth of immigrant background’s participation in Italian football. It uses the theoretical framework of Agamben’s analysis of Western democracies’ citizenship crisis to highlight the contradictions implicit in the Italian FA’s implementation of FIFA regulations in a scenario permeated by nationalistic values, which create different levels of participation according to the legal status of young people.     

Language, Network Centrality, and Response to Crisis in On-Line Life: A Case Study on the Italian cyber punk Computer Conference

The unobtrusive application of some techniques of research (namely, network analysis and content analysis) permits us to quantitatively identify some aspects of the social 'climate' and context which govern a particular group of people interacting with each other through computers: the Italian cyber punk computer conference has been analyzed over a period of 19 months, through a succession of crises and moments of renewal. Monthly variations in the network measurements observed (density, reciprocity of links, etc.) may be taken as a 'barometer' of the social liveliness of the conference. The analysis of the lexicon used in the messages reveals the presence of an underlying 'analogical' linguistic component and of strategies for the construction of one's own social presence despite the seemingly limited possibilities of expression offered by the net. Used together, both techniques describe the expectations related to the roles of newcomer or leader. Conclusions include: a) a proposed framework to explain the relationship between experiences and friendships acquired on-line and in real life b) considerations about the role of small virtual communities (such as the one analyzed here) in the general organization and development of global on-line society c) comments on the possible impact of off-line, real-world society upon the culture developed so far in cyberspace.     

The concurrent validity of a new intelligence test: The kahn intelligence test (KIT)

The concurrent validity of the KIT was evaluated by correlating it with other tests of intellectual, perceptual, social, linguistic and psycholinguistic functioning, using a sample of 106 retardates. Positive correlations between the KIT and these other measures attest to its potential usefulness as a measure of intelligence.     

Mapping the foundationalist debate in computer ethics

The paper provides a critical review of thedebate on the foundations of Computer Ethics(CE). Starting from a discussion of Moor'sclassic interpretation of the need for CEcaused by a policy and conceptual vacuum, fivepositions in the literature are identified anddiscussed: the ``no resolution approach',according to which CE can have no foundation;the professional approach, according to whichCE is solely a professional ethics; the radicalapproach, according to which CE deals withabsolutely unique issues, in need of a uniqueapproach; the conservative approach, accordingto which CE is only a particular appliedethics, discussing new species of traditionalmoral issues; and the innovative approach,according to which theoretical CE can expandthe metaethical discourse with a substantiallynew perspective. In the course of the analysis,it is argued that, although CE issues are notuncontroversially unique, they are sufficientlynovel to render inadequate the adoption ofstandard macroethics, such as Utilitarianismand Deontologism, as the foundation of CE andhence to prompt the search for a robust ethicaltheory. Information Ethics (IE) is proposed forthat theory, as the satisfactory foundation forCE. IE is characterised as a biologicallyunbiased extension of environmental ethics,based on the concepts of information object/infosphere/entropy rather thanlife/ecosystem/pain. In light of the discussionprovided in this paper, it is suggested that CEis worthy of independent study because itrequires its own application-specific knowledgeand is capable of supporting a methodologicalfoundation, IE.     

Morphological variation analysis of the repeatability of soccer offensive schemes

A landmark-based statistical method, morphological variation analysis, for the quantification of the repeatability in the arrangement of body segments during the execution of sport actions has recently been developed. A two-dimensional shape is produced and its morphology is studied. The method was used to measure the within-team variability of the relative positions of players during the execution of offensive schemes in soccer. Two junior soccer teams of different technical abilities (semi-professional vs. amateur), each playing two standardized offensive schemes of different difficulty (easier: throw-in; more difficult: wing attack) were filmed. Each scheme was repeated 25 (semi-professionals) or 10 (amateurs) times. For each repetition, the position of the players in a single significant frame was analysed using morphological variation analysis. The reproducibility of both schemes was higher among the semi-professionals than among the amateurs (two-way analysis of variance, P<0.005). The repeatability of the players' relative positions was related to the difficulty of the scheme and the technical level of the team. Among the amateurs, the throw-in was more reproducible than the wing attack (Student's t-test, P<0.005). The method not only allows the quantification of collective (team) coordination, but also the separation of the influence of individual players.