Books

Two Year Shelf Life

This is scary stuff almost on the same level as book-burning – ok so not really that bad but something feels wrong about this. Via the Swedish blog Biblioteksrelaterat I arrived at an article in the Washington Post Hello, Grisham — So Long, Hemingway? The article was about a library in Fairfax which was absolutely ruthless in getting rid of books which were not being read. Books that had not been checked out in 24 months are now removed from the library.

Naturally the library cannot save all books but 24 months? This is the shelf-life of knowledge and literature? The books in my home are not re-read every 24 months but this does not mean that they need to be replaced by the flavor of the day.

Posted on by mklang

More free books

Books that are free (as in beer) are simply irresistible and these two seem particularly relevant to my interests thats a big additional bonus! They are available online for free download or the old fashioned dead-tree version. Actually I shouldn’t be like that – I prefer the dead tree versions…

A collection of essays (edited by Joseph Feller and others) called: Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software some of it is familiar but it is nice to have it all collected in one place. It can be downloaded all at once here or chapter by chapter here.

The second one is John Logieâ??s book Peers, Pirates and Persuasion which is about the rhetoric of the peer-to-peer debates. A good analysis of the rhetorics of file sharing has been missing so I am really looking forward to reading this book. Download if here.

(Via Lex Ferenda)

Posted on by mklang

Back in the office

It’s kind of creepy. Back in the office my Far Side calender is on 23 January, some of the plants are almost dead, there is a pile of snail mail and little tasks which seem to have been ignored under the principle: “since he isn’t here…” Despite the fact that the temperature is -3 and there is an unseemly pile of work to be done – it’s good to be back in the chair.

While unpacking and organising yesterday I discovered that I had managed to buy “only” these books while in India (in part this was due to a book sale we were take to): The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (by Louis Fischer) this was recommended to me as the authoritative biography. The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian Culture, History and Identity (by Amartya Sen) I have not read enough of Senâ??s work but I do like his work. After reading the preface I know that I shall enjoy this work very much. Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (by Amartya Sen) another of Senâ??s works, this one argues for a better understanding of multiculturalism against violent nationalism.

Madness and Civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason by Michel Foucault, I do not have my own copy so when this popped up at an Indian book sale: say no more! Inside the Wire: A military intelligence soldier’s eyewitness account of life at Guantanamo (by Erik Saar & Viveca Novak) not sure about the depth but it is a subject of great importance.

Wars of the 21st Century: New Threats New Fears (by Ignacio Ramonet) the nice thing about ending up buying books in India is that the focus shifts from the usual suspects that populate my local stores. Ramonet seems to be very relevant to my interests. Democracy’s Place (Ian Shapiro) simply could not resist this. War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 24/7 (edited by Daya Kishan Thussu & Des Freedman) a exciting anthology on the subject of war & media. The Art of the Feud: Reconceptualizing International Relations (by Jose V. Ciprut) this is an exciting fresh look which I just happened across at the sale.

Simply from the point of view of new input the trip was very rewarding.

Posted on by mklang

Long Long Day

Too many impressions and a long long day. Walked around and found a bookstore where I bought Amartya Senâ??s Identity and Violence â?? The Illusion of Destiny and an anthology edited by Thussu & Freedman entitled War and the Media – Reporting Conflict 24/7.

Then we went to the Indian Institute of Technology to be present at the Creative Commons India launch â?? Welcome! There were speeches by (among others) Joichi Ito & Lawrence Liang which was followed by dinner and conversation. Now itâ??s late and tomorrow is an early start.

Posted on by mklang

Andrew "Da-Man" Murray

Can you believe that I almost forgot to tell everyone about it? My friend Andrew has just published his first solo work! Too cool. Andrew’s book is called “The Regulation of Cyberspace: Control in the online environment” and is an excellent mix of academia, anecdote, politics, law, raw power and technology.

He cites examples as varied as the online coffee pot at Cambridge to the Live8 ebay scandals of 2005, draws from academic fields of information technology, law, philosophy and physics. His point? Basically the world of Internet regulation is much more complex than we care to accept. Regulation is neither hierarchical nor a question of social practice therefore we must bravely accept this and come to terms with the uncertainty of the situation…

Andrew D. Murray – The Regulation of Cyberspace is going to be influential and long lived. Get it from Amazon here!

Posted on by mklang

The horror, the horror

After a serious review of my library the stark realization that something must be done has finally arrived. Some of the books have been donated to causes, some have actually been thrown away (this post is entitled â??the horrorâ??).

Then to finish the list of things that can be done to books â?? here is a list of books that are being given away. Just add a comment of which books you would prefer and I will send them to you.

Alfred Basil Lubbock â?? The Log of the Cutty Sark

The Memoirs of Field Marshall Kesselring

Karateâ??s History and traditions â?? Bruce A. Haines

Kreuger: Genius & Swindler â?? Robert Shaplen

The Condition of Modernity â?? David Harvey

The Philosophy of Schopenhauer â?? Edited Irwin Edman

The Gay Science â?? Fredrich Neitzsche

The Age of Capital â?? E. J. Hobsbawm

This is a totally odd list. Looking at it now makes me wonder what kind of library I have. Actually have, Since I am getting rid of these books…

Posted on by mklang

Empty holes in my diary

A diary is a frightening thing. It comes all filled out with days and months and other relevant information. All that is empty is the actual content of your own time. This means that the diary in itself demands that you fill it with relevant personal information.

An empty diary therefore is a failure. You have been unable to fill the little book with things to do. When I started working at university people would ask me if I was available for a meeting or to give a lecture. I would turn to the relevant page on my diary and see that it was empty. Agree to the appointment and fill in the blank space with a sense of accomplishment. I had done something â?? I had filled a void.

What it took time to realize was that the blank spaces in the diary were not really empty â?? they were (and still are) time for work, time for the craft of research. Reading, writing research takes time and requires empty spaces in a diary. Not just the brief moment between two booked meetings â?? but real time. Time to penetrate a subject and develop ideas, time to record these ideas in the correct format (papers, articles & books).

Despite this understanding, blank pages in the diary still stress me out, and cry to be filled but I must do more to guard my productive time. This will be especially true next term when I am literally going to drown in teaching.

These last two years I tested going completely digital. Maintaining my diary only on my computer and syncing it with my telephone and iPod but this has not really worked well. I like the clarity but there are situations where I would prefer not to pull out a gadget to check my time and to fill in an appointment. So next year will be paper based again.

How do you guard your time? Where are you productive? All tips and tricks appreciatedâ?¦

Posted on by mklang

Anonymous Online

Most people have heard of the Zen koan “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The purpose of the koan is not to have an answer but rather to be a point of departure for deeper reflection. Unfortunately for most of us with a western education we tend to attempt to answer the question with a yes or no – therefore defeating the purpose. My question of the day is a variation of the koan: If a protest is not heard – does it make a sound?

The ability to communicate in particular mass communicate is becoming easier. With all due respect to the numerous digital divides (age, knowledge, access, infrastructure etc) the ability to communicate via the internet is still growing. The question is whether this technology will serve the purpose of those attempting to conduct resistance or protest actions. The drawback with mass communication is that the communicator is all too easily identified and can be punished by those she is protesting or communicating against.

So there is a need to both be able to conduct mass communication via the internet and to remain anonymous. There is (thankfully) a growing number of relatively user friendly methods, in addition to tips and tricks, which the anonymous protester can use.

Many of these are to be found in the following guides:

Posted on by mklang

Poisoning Hearts and Minds

You must have seen the books or heard the complaints about the US trying to figure out why they are so disliked (not only in Iraq). The US believed that they were liberators and were surprised how quickly they lost their liberation status. The operation to win the heats and minds of the people of Iraq has not worked and many wonder why.

But reading about the abuses caused by the military makes it easy to understand why the situation is going so badly. OK, so itâ??s a few bad apples you might argue. But unfortunately the few bad apples theory is wrong.

In a recent video posted to YouTube (watch it here) you can watch a scene where soldiers on a truck make children run for a bottle of water.  The scene is being filmed by one of the soldiers on the truck. Both the cameraman and the soldier holding the water are laughing and commenting on how far the children will run for water. Itâ??s a great joke for them.

The soldiers conduct, while not illegal was most definitely immoral and seemingly oblivious to the reality that these children actually live in, a reality that was largely caused by them.

It also yet another severe contradiction to our so called image as “liberators” of the middle east.

The mainstream media has yet to pick up on the story though the Pentagon is investigating the videos and the evidence is in the videos the soldiers posted themselves online that anyone can see, for the time being.

Not only did the soldiers involved behave in an unacceptable manner they thought their conduct was so acceptable and so humorous that they posted it online for the entire world to see.

(Dreams of Liberty)

OK so you still want to claim that it’s a few bad apples. No it is not. The soldiers thought the scene was so funny and that their prank would be appreciated by so many that they posted it on YouTube themselves. This is not a case of people doing something wrong and attempting to hide it.

The poison that is being spread in the minds of these children will not wash away easily. It makes you wonder what their feelings towards the west will be in thirty years from now.

Posted on by mklang

The Unsuggester

LibraryThing has developed an interesting alternative to the recommender system called the Unsuggester. Common recommender systems show you examples of what everyone else is doing or buying. On LibraryThing it works by comparing your book with books others are reading/buying. This results most often in recommendations to books you already have or do not want in your library. OK so sometimes it recommends a book I have never heard of that I want. But most often it recommends the crap I do not want â?? which is the reason why it is not in my library in the first place. This is the flaw of recommender systems.

So now LibraryThing has changed this. Instead of recommending what most other people (except you) already have they bring out a list of the books the least amount of people have in their library.

Therefore if you choose John Rawls â??Theory of Justiceâ?? the old recommender system will notify you of books such as

Anarchy, state, and utopia by Robert Nozick
Political liberalism by John Rawls
Spheres of justice: a defense of pluralism and equality by Michael Walzer
Critique of pure reason by Immanuel Kant
A treatise of human nature by David Hume

Now if â??Theory of Justiceâ?? is an important book for you then most probably you would have a reason for not including these other books in your library â?? so the recommendations fail…

The new system recommends

Confessions of a shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
The other Boleyn girl: a novel by Philippa Gregory
A million little pieces by James Frey
My sister’s keeper: a novel by Jodi Picoult
Good in bed: a novel by Jennifer Weiner

This at least is a list of recommendations that I have not heard of â?? still useless but definitely more fun!

Posted on by mklang