position:thesis supervisor

#Book: The Coming Swarm: DDOS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet
by Molly Sauter

http://oddletters.com/files/2014/04/TCS-w-Zuckerman-credit.jpg

(In Europe probably only available at the end of 2014)

It is based on her 2013 thesis at MIT, “Distributed Denial of Service Actions and the Challenge of Civil Disobedience on the Internet” which you can find here:
▻https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3643786/Sauter%20DDOS%20Activism%20Thesis%20May%202013.pdf
and here as backup: ▻http://www.docdroid.net/kmfz/sauter-ddos-activism-thesis-may-2013.pdf.html

Thesis supervisor is digital cosmopolitan Ethan Zuckermann, who also prefaced her book.

ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the history, development, theory, and practice of distributed denial of service actions as a tactic of political activism. DDOS actions have been used in online political activism since the early 1990s, though the tactic has recently attracted significant public attention with the actions of Anonymous and Operation Payback in December 2010. Guiding this work is the overarching question of how civil disobedience and disruptive activism can be practiced in the current online space. The internet acts as a vital arena of communication, self expression, and interpersonal organizing. When there is a message to convey, words to get out, people to organize, many will turn to the internet as the zone of that activity. Online, people sign petitions, investigate stories and rumors, amplify links and videos, donate money, and show their support for causes in a variety of ways. But as familiar and widely accepted activist tools—petitions, fundraisers, mass letter-writing, call-in campaigns and others—find equivalent practices in the online space, is there also room for the tactics of disruption and civil disobedience that are equally familiar from the realm of street marches, occupations, and sit-ins? This thesis grounds activist DDOS historically, focusing on early deployments of the tactic as well as modern instances to trace its development over time, both in theory and in practice. Through that examination, as well as tool design and development, participant identity, and state and corporate responses, this thesis presents an account of the development and current state of activist DDOS actions. It ends by presenting an analytical framework for the analysis of activist DDOS actions.

See also her web site for more information: ▻http://oddletters.com

#hacktivism
#DDoS
#disobedience #désobéissance

C’est à partir de 24 ans que se dégradent les performances motrices et cognitives. La preuve par #Starcraft…

Study says we’re over the hill at 24 - Public Affairs and Media Relations - Simon Fraser University
▻http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media-releases/2014/study-says-we_re-over-the-hill-at-24.html

It’s a hard pill to swallow, but if you’re over 24 years of age you’ve already reached your peak in terms of your cognitive motor performance, according to a new Simon Fraser University study.

SFU’s Joe Thompson, a psychology doctoral student, associate professor Mark Blair, Thompson’s thesis supervisor, and Andrew Henrey, a statistics and actuarial science doctoral student, deliver the news in a just-published PLOS ONE Journal paper.

In one of the first social science experiments to rest on big data, the trio investigates when we start to experience an age-related decline in our cognitive motor skills and how we compensate for that.

The researchers analyzed the digital performance records of 3,305 StarCraft 2 players, aged 16 to 44. StarCraft 2 is a ruthless competitive intergalactic computer war game that players often undertake to win serious money.

Their performance records, which can be readily replayed, constitute big data because they represent 870 hours worth of strategic real-time cognitive-based moves performed at varied skill levels.

Using complex statistical modeling, the researchers distilled meaning from this colossal compilation of information about how players responded to their opponents and more importantly, how long they took to react.

La publication originale est accessible ici ▻http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094215

3305 joueurs (dont 29 de sexe féminin)

Avec incertitude, l’intervalle de confiance pour la dégradation de performance est entre 20 et 30 ans.

Le déclin (inexorable…) ne dépend pas du niveau du joueur.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094215.g005/largerimage#.jpg

(soit, en calculant, de 10 ms de latence en plus par année au delà de 24 ans pour les meilleurs (400 ms, au top) à 25 ms par an pour les moins bons (1000 ms, au top)

Néanmoins, les « vieux » conservent leur niveau global. Il est donc émis l’hypothèse qu’ils compensent la dégradation de performance, sans doute en « diminuant leur charge cognitive » .

Experience nevertheless allows one to compensate for these declines indirectly. In our study, older players appear to hold their own despite their declines, perhaps by decreasing their cognitive load through the use of simplified strategies or improved use of the game interface.

Les données individuelles (par niveau/ligue)

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0094215.g003/largerimage#.jpg