Julianna Yau’s blog

Eli Singer had a great presentation on How is the web transforming the arts?

Here are my notes (Flickr images here):

-memes
-diy culture, share culture
-democracy
-blogs – self publishing
-web breaking down hierarchies
-screen real estate equal for all publishers
-graffiti research lab
-public art and the web
-how to take graffiti to the digital life?
-companies taking grassroots graffiti art and using it for ads
-library of congress
–no histories behind images; put them all on Flickr, and through crowdsourcing, piece together history of the photos
–taking images out of libraries and putting them on the web for everyone
–tags an images
-how to weave yourself into a community or conversation on the web?
–not the same for corporations and arts institutions
–reputation within community
–bringing legitimacy to others by inviting participation
-The Power of the 2×2 Matrix
-casecamp.org –>!!!!!
-focus on the social, not the tool
-how can people connect with each other?
-”the network is the hub”; network can be anything
-strategic use of tools to create experiences for individuals, communities, and brands
-Broadcast model - source: cymfony
-peer to peer model – source: cymfony
-platform ==> community ==> content
-integrate into existing community vs building your own
-when integrating in an existing community, plugging into existing numbers
-who do you want to reach out to and who do
–”head” –> everyone; broadcast
–”tail” –> very specific number of people
–”shoulder” (Eli’s target) –> the mid-ground; not just about broadcast, but dealing with “meaty issues”
-which community are they in?
-word of mouth happening more online (blogs, social networking)
-whippersnapper
-curotatoral podcasting
-whippersnapper also on FB (group)
–art is for dead people show
–whippersnapper also has videos to explain how to participate (feels like Drupal instructional vids)
–uploading photos and tag with gallery name!
-SickKids hospital –> radiothon –> social media
–web is built for storytelling
–radiothon videodiary –> daily video; shot on-site; co-branded; rleased online; drive donations
–content –> how to maximize use of small size of screen and closeness to screen
–syndication!
–SickKids hospital widget; share button, donate button; allows websites to customize look of widget and add their own logo
-MoMA –> everyone else taking photos an videos and posting online… where was MoMA? they joined in when question was posed to them

Questions from audience

-permissions forms for people who were interviewed (esp when children involved)
–with SickKids, they already had an existing process and agreement form; added internet to form; contained location for filming

-what about getting off the internet? (dying communities) how to shut down a FB page?
–data owned by FB/YouTube/etc, not you
–control issues with own vs other community
–recognized of an issue; islands and walled communities are issues; OpenSocial
–whippersnapper –> difference between their own website and their presence on others
–own website is official voice; limited community
–most of the community lives on FB

-how to build a list of bloggers?
–technorati?
–local blog indexes
–flickr –> look for photoblogers in city
–follow linkbacks/trackbacks
–build human relationship first

-street teams for independent music community —> are there incentive-driven activities for online community? offering fans incentive to help? is it happening?
–can happen, but more for companies sending free stuff for reviews
–backstage access for blogging
–TIFF –> blogger for them; site listed on TIFF; on both TIFF website and own
—incentive was the affiliation
—real-time feedback
—connection with related ppl
—community, not volunteers
-incentive without alienation

-performance art; unions; limit of how much can be shared–how to address?
–Andy Warhol show –> no photos allowed; had Cronenberg talk about Warhol
–Shakespeare Theatre, Washington –> backstage access; interiews; gave bloggers access to their own images rather than bloggers’ images
–Stratord’s blog

-authenticity — how to achieve?
–err on the side of community
–flat hierarchy
–don’t just start broadcasting
–PARTICIPATE
–connect with leaders of community

-online prescence overshadowing brick-and-mortar gallery? (whippersnapper)
–their events are always packed
–made it about participation in the real space too

-engagement process, not just advertising
-people helping each other and having conversations with each other
-supporting social networking with staff –> resource intensive –> start small
-change in cultural experience

-some people don’t want to be involved because they don’t want to give away their story; ho to create more content?
–culture of secrecy
–Apple
–mystique
–Steve Job’s product launches!

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Following closely on the heels of CopyCamp is the Technology in the Arts conference, being held at University of Waterloo. And although I find the barcamp model to be very exciting, I must admit that I like knowing ahead of time what the schedule shall be so I can plan my time (I’m a perpetual planner). There’s a fantastic session lineup at the TIA conference, and trying to decide which ones I want to attend was as difficult as it was for CopyCamp. I was surprised by my initial desire to attend sessions which would present familiar topics (like their session on CMSs or session on copyright law, technology and cultural management).

I reasoned myself into sessions where I would be exposed to information which I don’t already have or can’t get through my contacts. For example, I’m very interested to hear about The Evolution of Technology at the Canadian Music Centre, but I know people who know people at the CMC and can probably get that information outside of the conference. However, I’m not as connected to the museum world or b-boying movement.

This will be an interesting conference to attend following CopyCamp. I’ll be unencumbered by my full-sized laptop, and hopefully be able to take more notes with my Eee. I’m not sure whether I’ll have internet access, actually. I sent the organizers an email about that yesterday, so we’ll see what they come back with when the traditional work-week resumes. Based on what I could gather from the UWaterloo website, I don’t think I could get access to the university network even as an alumna. I don’t expect to be able to connect to the network, which will be a delicious piece of irony. I’ll probably more easily be able to connect at one of the Williams coffee pubs near campus than trying to finagle access from the university itself. Of course, I could always just go home for lunch instead…

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A while ago, I was complaining about internet access to Russell McOrmond, and he mentioned Wireless Nomad to me. They’re an ISP co-op offering broadband/highspeed internet access through your phone line, with no caps, and also shares part of your unused connection as a free WiFi hotspot.

The system is fantastic, but it took me a while to switch from Rogers to Wireless Nomad. The reason? I loathe Bell. Really, really, loathe Bell. They wholesale the internet service to Wireless Nomad, and probably to any other phone company I could use instead of them. For the past four to five years, I have been living with only a cell phone because I rarely get calls (thanks to the internet and, again, because of my dislike of Bell). But supporting Wireless Nomad was really something I wanted to do, so the big B is now getting my money.

Getting setup with Wireless Nomad was painless, and David from Linux Caffe even brought my modem and router to me at CopyCamp! I plugged them into their respective ports, and everything was up and running in a few minutes. It was refreshing to not need to configure anything, and to have the option of wired or wireless access.

The speed of the connection is noticeably better than what I was getting with Rogers at their Express level ($44.95/mo, compared to Wireless Nomad’s $36.95/mo). The only thing which might be an issue for people is needing to log into your account to actually start your session if connecting wirelessly. I’m guessing this wouldn’t be an issue for most users who save their usernames and passwords in their web browsers, but I’m too paranoid to do that and am not bothered by having to log in every time.

Cancelling my service with Rogers was surprisingly painless. The “customer relations” guy asked me why I was cancelling, I said I switched to another provider, and he didn’t even ask who my new provider is. He just made sure I already had the new access setup, asked me whether I could return the modem or whether they should pick it up, and told me what the remaining balance was. When returning the modem, there were no hassles, no questions. It was actually refreshing to see that they knew how to handle cancellations properly.

Timeline:

• requested to be added to their membership list at the beginning of March
• received an email saying that they were ready to start the signup process in early April
• phone line setup with Bell mid-April; signed up with Wireless Nomad; received confirmation the next day
• the modem and customized router was ready for me two weeks later
• I got the modem and router a few days later
• time from first email to using their service (including setting up a phone line and going to get the modem & router): 2 months

Comparison of service prices and speeds:

The following information is accurate as of May 2, 2008 from the providers’ websites.

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I need to clear out some of the dozens of blog postings and websites to which I’ve been meaning to respond. So here they all are for your reading pleasure and my peace of mind. I dearly miss being able to use Ma.gnolia’s blog posting tool, which no longer works now that my website host upgraded to ModSecurity 2. There should be some other tools I can use to get this to work without disabling ModSecurity, but I don’t really have the time to fiddle with those right now.

Note: some of these links are months old…

Copyright clippings

• Copyright Protection and Appropriation Art
• The death of the “author” in scientific papers
• History suggests copyright crusade is a lost cause
• Design Piracy Prohibition Act: Historical Regression
• Annie Get Your Gun
• Universal: You don’t own those promotional CDs we gave you
• Wal-Mart learns a painful copyright lesson
• New Zealand copyright reform law schools US DMCA on fair use
• Fairuse obliteratus: Rowling to testify in Harry Potter case
• White Knight or Snow Job? (ebay & counterfeits)
• Russell McOrmond’s summary of CopyCamp
• Canadian Copyright Bill Likely in the Next Six Weeks

Orphan Works Bill in the US

• Orphan Works Bills have Arrived
• New Orphaned Works Act would limit copyright liability
• Orphan Works Update

Art clippings

• Huntsman faces Great Salt Lake issues
• Utah’s ‘Jetty’ threatened by oil plan
• Culture.ca Shutting Down

Tech clippings

• Adobe gives Photoshop Express EULA a much-needed revamp
• Canadian (RBC) bank hands out free Eee PCs

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Jason has uploaded the video from Wednesday’s talk: One Laptop Per Child - Yaacov Iland. It’s a long video (about an hour and a half), and you may want to adjust the settings so you’re viewing it at the original size (unless you’re curious about how Yaacov looks pixillated). I apologize for the coughing—that was me, fighting the last of a lingering cold.

Yaacov’s insights were fair and well-presented. Although most of the criticisms OLPC endured recently were due to their dispatch problems, Yaacov digs deeper, asking what problems OLPC was trying to address, what engineering challenges had to be overcome, and what other challenges were still unsolved. It seems the biggest issues yet to be overcome are training for teachers, accessibility to related technologies (e.g. an internet connection, electricity), and language and cultural barriers. For an organization which has said it’s an education project, not a laptop project, I find it odd that they have made so little headway with those challenges in comparison to the work they have completed on the XO laptop itself.

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Today, after some bizarre yet unsurprising shipping oddities, I received my exchanged XO laptop. Somehow, Brightstar (or whoever was in charge of shipping XOs as a result of RMA requests) thought it was okay to ship my XO with a street name without a house number. Or maybe they thought I lived on the entire street? In any event, I called FedEx, got the address fixed, and they came back today. Of course, because no signature was required, they left the box on my doorstep. I was luckily planning to intercept the package around the time they delivered it, so I was already on my way homewards and was able to rescue it before a curious passer-by claimed it.

My first impressions of the XO had been near scathing, due mostly to a defective keyboard. The keyboard on this second unit is noticeably better, but also still noticeably more sticky than the one on my Eee or Toshiba. It does force me to type with my wrists up, both because it is the only way I can get close to my standard typing speed and because it doesn’t cause my wrists to accidentally trigger the touch-pad. The space-bar is still unusually difficult to register.

This XO seems to have shipped with an updated version of Sugar. I have not yet browsed the forums and wikis to learn how I can confirm that, but I do notice that the interface is a bit different from the first time. One major improvement is that clicking a “Browse’ button on a website will actually trigger a browse window (which I couldn’t get it to do last time).

Some other noteworthy items:

• the default system time does not match my actual time zone, and seems to be about 16hrs ahead (I will need to figure out how to fix that)
• still no right-click functionality, even with a USB mouse
• the SD slot seems to have more resistance on this machine than my first one
• image browsing is clunky, at best (must go to the journal, view the list of items, then launch each image in a browser)

The keyboard is still the most difficult thing for me to deal with. At Yaacov Iland’s talk yesterday I met Jason Shim, a fellow G1G1 donor who had already received his laptop. I brought my Eee with me, and upon using it, Jason remarked on how much better the Eee’s keyboard is compared to the XO. I’m glad it’s not just me! A summary of the presentation will come in a few days (probably after Jason uploads the video he took).

If it was almost love at first sight with my Eee, my relationship with my XO is definitely one which demonstrates persistence and determination.

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I just found out today that there will be a presentation and discussion, featuring Yaacov Iland, at the Waterloo Public Library Auditorium: One Laptop Per Child: Appropriate Technology?

This will take place tomorrow, March 26, 2008, from 7-8pm. Click the link above for details and to RSVP.

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Registration for the Technology in the Arts Conference is now open. The conference is being held at the University of Waterloo on May 9th and 10th, 2008.

From their website:

Technology in the Arts: the place for you to connect with the entire arts community in collaborative discussion and learning!

The goal of Technology in the Arts is to be a resource for the arts community, sparking dialogue around the role of technology in our planning and programming, discussing best practices as well as lessons learned, and providing hands-on, practical skills where possible.

The Technology in the Arts conference brings together the full spectrum of organizations within arts and heritage, from the local to national levels, to examine the commonalities that exist in useful technologies as well as the opportunities for partnership.

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Jesse Brown asks Mary Lou Jepsen some tough questions about OLPC’s struggles, her departure and her new project, pixel qi. The podcast can be downloaded here, and if you don’t want to hear about Zeitgeist the Movie, skip to 6m 10s.

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The Media Law Resource Center, Stanford Publishing Courses and Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society are hosting Legal Frontiers in Digital Media, a conference on the emerging legal issues surrounding digital publishing and content distribution.

The conference is on May 15 and 16, 2008 at Stanford.

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