Archive for Internet

Steve’s New Gig at GS1, and the Unambiguous Identification of “Things”

2013/01/05 By Steve Bratt, GS1, Internet, Web No comments

BarcodeIt is an honor and a pleasure to announce that I have joined GS1 as the Chief Technology Officer and President of Standards Development.  I’ll be based near beautiful and intersting Princeton, New Jersey, and traveling frequently (as usual).

You may not recognize the name, but you will definitely recognize GS1′s products. GS1 is the international, neutral, non-profit organization that develops and manages the world’s barcodes (40 years old in 2013), RFID tag technology (e.g. electronic tags for vehicles, shipping containers, consumer goods, even running race chips) and other standards for the unambiguous identification of things (entities, assets, products, services) and sharing of data.   All of this is critical for business, health, safety, sustainability and other life-critical activities around the world. Here is what I’ll be doing  …

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Year Up: Preparing Urban, Young Adults to Get Down to Business

2012/07/02 By Steve Bratt, History, Internet, Steve Talks No comments

Following my talk on life and the Web

The Year Up program’s “About” page says that they aim to, “… close the opportunity divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.”  After meeting a number of students and staff at their Boston campus last Friday …  I’m sold. Here’s the short story …

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Web Index Previewed at TED 2012

2012/03/18 By Steve Bratt, Internet, Steve Talks, Web, Web Foundation No comments

 

 

 

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The theme of this year’s TED conference was “Full Spectrum” — “the rich use of multiple technologies, formats and approaches for the most powerful possible impact on an audience”.  Certainly the World Wide Web has greatly expanded the spectrum of people with access to a broad spectrum of information in a broad spectrum of ways.  I proposed a talk entitled, “Measuring the Web’s World Wide Impact”, and was fortunate to one of a couple dozen of talks selected from 250 or so candidates for a talk during the TED-U sessions at TED2012.  Speaking on 28 February, I had 7 mins to explain the Web Foundation’s scheme for the Web Index.  Here are some pics of my talk from the TED Flickr site (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3)

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U.S. Internet Freedom Threatened – Read-Up. Take Action.

2011/11/17 By Steve Bratt, Internet No comments

The World Wide Web Foundation was created to promote the Web as a medium that connects humanity and empowers all people.  Two billion people across the globe are currently using the Web to communicate, collaborate, provide services and address challenges. Unfortunately, proposed legislation in the United States threatens to turn the country’s Internet infrastructure into a mechanism of censorship; not unlike what has happened in other countries of which the US has been critical.

The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA), currently before the United States House Judiciary Committee, would threaten hyperlinked communication without substantially addressing copyright infringement. I, many of my colleagues and most human rights and civil liberties groups believe SOPA is the wrong way to go.  Please review the matter and express your opinion to US legislators.  There is not much time, as Congress is considering this bill now. Useful resources include Rebecca McKinnon’s New York Times OP-Ed “Stop the Great Firewall of America“, PC World’s SOPA Primer, americancensorship.org, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Let’s work to ensure that the United States retains its leadership on matters of free expression and global communication.

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