desirable things

Fame at last!

In December 2009 I wrote a positive text in my Swedish blog about the Norska Forbrukerrådet (Norwegian Consumer Council) and their decision to write a report and demand answers from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority on the role of social networking sites in relation to personal integrity. I ended the post with the words:

Detta är ett härligt exempel på socialt patos från en nationell aktör i en globaliserad nätbaserad värld.

Translated: This is a wonderful example of social pathos from a national actor in a globalized network-based world. Today I received an email from the Norska Forbrukerrådet. Partly they wanted to inform me that there report has been sent in:

Facebook operates in a virtually lawless sphere as far as data protection and terms of use are concerned. The terms and conditions are not made available and are subject to frequent changes by the company. The Consumer Council of Norway is therefore asking the Data Inspectorate to clarify what Facebook and other social networking sites can and cannot do under the law.

The complaint against Facebook/Zynga is here (in Norwegian) and their readable report on integrity & sociala medier is here (in English).

On a more personal note the mail contained some really cool news. The Consumer Council has taken the closing words from my original post and put them on a t-shirt! This must be my best quote ever.

Posted on by mklang

Free Culture Research Conference

The deadline for submissions of extended abstracts for the third Free Culture Research Conference (FCRC) is in 10 days. The conference this year will be in Berlin in October 8-9, 2010.

The Free Culture Research Conference presents a unique opportunity for scholars whose work contributes to the promotion, study or criticism of a Free Culture, to engage with a multidisciplinary group of academic peers and practitioners, identify the most important research opportunities and challenges, and attempt to chart the future of Free Culture. This event builds upon the successful workshop held in 2009 at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, organized and attended by renowned scholars and research institutions from the US, Europe and Asia. The first event was held in Sapporo, Japan, in 2008, in conjunction with the 4th iCommons Summit. This year’s event is larger in ambition and scope, to provide more time for interaction in joint as well as break-out sessions. It is hosted jointly by the Free University of Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and will take place at October 8-9, 2010 at the Free University Campus in Berlin, in collaboration with COMMUNIA, the European Network on the digital public domain. Funding and support is also provided by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Check out the full call for papers here. For the sake of full disclosure I am on the Program Committee but their are many impressive names on the committee.

Posted on by mklang

Cory Doctorow speaking in London

Science fiction author Cory Doctorow will be speaking about technology use from a writers point of view. Go Listen – I wish I could. Cory writes on BoingBoing

A reminder for Londoners: I’m giving a talk tomorrow, May 8 at 7PM at the Nettlefold Hall in West Norwood (SE27). The library there has asked me to come in and talk about how I use technology to write and publish my work. It’s free, but seats are limited, so they’re asking you to RSVP. Hope to see you there!

About Cory (wikipedia excerpt)

Cory Doctorow (pronounced /?k?ri ?d?kt?ro?/; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organisation, using some of their licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.

Posted on by mklang

Polaroid is back, baby!

Polaroid is back! This via Futuramb. Wonderful that certain technologies refuse to die.

The Impossible Project, Made Possible: Polaroid Instant Film Is Back on Sale | Dan’s FC Blog | Fast Company A story about when enthusiasts striving for feel and authenticity are recreating what a company recently decided it would drop. Polaroid film is back!

The Impossible Project, Made Possible: Polaroid Instant Film Is Back on Sale | Dan’s FC Blog | Fast Company

A story about when enthusiasts striving for feel and authenticity are recreating what a company recently decided it would drop. Polaroid film is back! Via Fastcompany:

The Impossible project’s film is actually more expensive than the original Polaroid film available on eBay and Craigslist, but the point is that those stores of original Polaroid film will eventually be used–and the Impossible project is here to stay, at least until people stop caring about Polaroid (probably never).

The film will be available starting this Thursday, March 25, through the company’s site.

Posted on by mklang

Effective Copyright

In March this year William Patry presented at the Society for Computers and Law

William Patry went on to surprise many by his emphatic rejection of an approach to copyright which classified it as property. He sees it as a creature of a government programme, and believes that that should bring with it an approach akin to that applied to government housing or educational initiatives. In fact, the copyright debate is dominated by references to moral cases and what is right and just, with scant account taken of the public interest or economic realities.

This is a very refreshing view of where copyright should be from one of the most important copyright figures in law today. Recently I ordered his book Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars which I hope (and believe) is as good as its hype so worth reading. You may want to check out William Patry’s blog.

Posted on by mklang

XKCD book finally out

The long awaited event has finally occurred, xkcd: volume 0 is now available from the XKCD website. Price 18? dollars, rubles, sheep? it doesn’t say. I want!

xkcd: volume 0 is the first xkcd book! It features selections from the first 600 comics, including various author and fan favorites. It was lovingly assembled from high-resolution original scans of the comics (the mouseover text is discreetly included), and features a lot of doodles, notes, and puzzles in the margins.

The book is published by BreadPig, a company founded by my friend Alexis, and their portion of the profits will go to build a school in Laos through the charity Room to Read.

Posted on by mklang

Less is more, or running without shoes

Running today is all about taking the basic and turning it into technology. Technical clothes that breath, technical toys to measure everything from heartbeat to location and, of course, shoes. Running shoes are a mix of fashion, function and technology. But they are based upon the idea that they are necessary in order to make us able to run. We are told we need shoes, the right shoes, in order to run. This is despite the fact that barefoot runners do quite well.

There is a new trend to provide a new set of technology for runners. A technology based on less. The New York Times (Amy Cortese Wiggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants) has a fascinating story on the new trend on barefoot running, including the new technology, equipment and the economics of running.

Check out the cool Vibram Five Fingers

Posted on by mklang

Fifteen minutes

In 1968 Andy Warhol launched the idea that: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Later in 1979 Warhol restated his idea with the words: “…my prediction from the sixties finally came true: In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.”

Yesterday my colleague Dr Dick posted this amazing quote on Facebook:

In the future, everyone will be anonymous for 15 minutes.

With a little googling I found the origins of the quote come from the great street artist Banksy – here is a picture from one of his exhibitions.

This was a brilliant twist on the classic Warhol idea. Today everyone is striving for fame in a way that has never been done before. If we then add the death of privacy both the voluntary and the semi-voluntary. We voluntarily give away our privacy through blogs, twitter and facebook (and tons of other web2.0 applications). Then we semi-voluntarily give away too much information through our dependence upon technology.

Through all this loss of privacy the question is no longer one of fame or recognition. The question is if we in the future can have any privacy at all. So in the same way as Warhol in the sixties surprised (or even shocked?) people by claiming people would have fame the question today is more relevant whether we will have privacy.

Fifteen minutes of privacy is an important question to be thought about considering the way in which or society is moving.

Posted on by mklang

I unbroke my ubuntu

I have a confession to make: IANAP (I am not a programmer) so when my technology breaks I struggle to fix it with a mixture of duct tape and google! Well ok, so no tape. Despite my lack of competence I have made several forrays into the wonderful world of linux, lulled by a mix of political correctness, can-do spirit and a philosophy I believe in. But, none of this helps when technology fails. No amount of feel-good philosophy can help me read my email which is the real reason for me having technology.

So last week when I was practicing with my new toy, a Samsung Notebook with Ubuntu, I came upon a wall of desperation when the menus disappeared. When turned on all I got was a background. Since I had not made any changes to the default it was still the brown boring background – and nothing else.

So I guessed, pushed and prodded the computer but it stubbornly refused to divulge any clues as to how it could be fixed. But never fear, the internet is here! The wonderful post:How to Reset Ubuntu/Gnome Settings to Defaults without Re-installing fixed everything.

Open terminal. Type

mv .config .old_config

hit return, then type

rm -rf .gnome .gnome2 .gconf .gconfd .metacity

restart the computer and it was as good as new. All the menus are back again and I am a happy ubuntu person ready to go out and rebreak my computer – frustration is, after all, a learning experience.

Posted on by mklang