Of Hi5 and Orkut (MIT Technology Review)

– interesting graphic.

Arts study a culture shock (Toronto Star) Annotated

I read something about this study last week, can’t recall where, and generally think it’s a bit silly anyway. But what catches my attention in this Toronto Star article by Peter Goddard is how it brings out that visual art is currently at the very bottom of the totem pole. I see that in my own habits, too, and wonder why it’s so. Is it because too much of the art being produced is uninteresting?, can’t compete with other media or arts (like theatre, music, etc.)? Has visual art become somehow irrelevant, and if so, when did this happen and why? Does it have to do with time, with speed? Or simply relevance — and format?

Plan to modernize copyright law could make everyday habits illegal Annotated

Oh, fuck Canada, fuck the CBC, eh?:
“Mr. Geist also noted that in schools or libraries, the U.S. laws would prevent students from making copies of material they use for research purposes.

But he and some industry stakeholders have acknowledged that Canada should adopt some elements of the U.S. legislation that offer flexibility for the “fair use” of intellectual property. They say that under the existing laws in Canada, a person could be sued for producing a parody of a politician based on real images, sound or video, or even for recording a television program.

The restrictions recently prompted the popular on demand Internet video site, YouTube.com, to remove a parody of the former president of the CBC appearing at parliamentary hearings because of a complaint from the speaker of the House of Commons.”

Boo-hoo, a speaker of the House of Commons commonly complained about a parody, and it had to be taken off YouTube? This takes the biscuit.

Canada, land of tutelage and lords, even if they are common as dirt.

Internet Research Conference – CFP

The Internet Research Conference in Copenhagen (October 2008) lays out its call for papers. The theme is ” Rethinking Community, Rethinking Place.”
Synopsis:
In the past few years, new forms of net-based communities are emerging, distributed on various websites and services, and making use of several media platforms and genres to stay connected. Now, as mobile and location-based technologies are reintroducing “place” as an important aspect in the formation of communal and social activities, it is time to consider and rethink the concept of online or virtual communities. Not forgetting the lessons we have learned from studying the early virtual communities, how do we describe, analyse, theorise and design the communities and social formations of the early 21st century? How do we address the blurring of boundaries between places and communities on- and offline.

We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any discipline, methodology, and community, and from conjunctions of multiple disciplines, methodologies and academic communities that address the conference themes.

Sessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference themes, and we welcome innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on those themes. We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or aesthetic aspects of the Internet beyond the conference themes. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members.

Posted: 01|8|08 at 5:39 pm. Filed under: links.

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