digital

Hi-Tech Trash

Are you old enough to remember asking why you would want or need a mobile phone? How many have you had so far? How many phones will the average person have in a lifetime? And what will the cumulative effect be?

The picture above of discarded mobile phones in a landfill, Orlando, Florida, USA, 2004. (photo by Chris Jordan via I Txt, Therefore I am) click here for a larger image.

This is scary stuff and requires more examination so I am sure that I will get back to this subject soon. In the meantime check out some of these reading tips.

Check out:

Giles Slade “Made to Break – Technology and Obsolescence in America” Harvard UP.

Elizabeth Grossman “High Tech Trash – Digital Devices, Hidden Toxins, and Human Health” Island Press (forthcoming)

Elizabeth Grossman “Where computers go to die — and kill“, Salon.com
Elizabeth Grossman “How to recycle your computer“, Salon.com

(Litterature tips via Question Technology)

Posted on by mklang

This is a pirate

Something that everyone should think about in an age when recording companies are sueing minors for piracy!

The Consumer Electronics Association is taking a brave stand against the entertainment companies’ attacks on the public’s right to record from digital radio. This is brilliant — and maybe it signals that the CEA’s members will stop manufacturing technnoloogy that controls their customers instead of empowering them. (writes Boing Boing)

Posted on by mklang

Election poster

Sweden is moving steadily towards a general election. The Social Democrat Minister of Justice has during this last term been busy diminishing human rights by increasing the rights of the state to eavsdrop. This is a nice spoof poster. The Social Democrats have election posters showing people with the tagline “I build Sweden” The text under the minister is “I bug Sweden”

Posted on by mklang

Chernobyl twenty years later

Its today twenty years since the accident at Chernobyl (Uranium Information Centre briefing paper #22 & IAEA Chernobyl FAQ) an example of how our reliance on technology can go wrong. The accident was brought about by the mixture of over-confidence in technology, fear of criticising the own organisation and the desire to increase production by conducting dangerous of questionable value.

According to the IAEA Chernobyl FAQ the disaster was the equivalent of 400 Hiroshima size bombs but they also add

However, the atomic bomb testing conducted by several countries around the world during the 1960s and 1970s contributed 100 to 1,000 times more radioactive material to the environment than Chernobyl.

Comforting news.

Caesium-137 fallout. Source: J.Smith and N.A. Beresford, “Chernobyl: Catastrophe and Consequences” (Praxis, Chichester, 2005) (via wikipedia).

While Chernobyl is the icon of technological disasters it is important not to forget many â??smallerâ?? disasters that have occurred (and will continue to do so). There is a need to be vigilant of technology rather than to believe the infallibility of technical experts. The failure of Chernobyl did not occur because of a lack of experts but rather through the hubris of the experts in place and the lack of infrastructure available for â??lesserâ?? experts (or laymen if there had been any) to point out the dangers of the actions leading up to the steam explosion that destroyed the reactor core (Chernobyl sequence of events).

Since the disaster a 30km zone around the reactor has been evacuated. A side effect of this has been a resurgence of wildlife in the area (BBC story)

In a macabre form of tourism a motorcyclist has travelled within this zone and put a photojournal online this is part of a growing tourism into the dead zone to visit the abandoned towns.

Posted on by mklang

Word, limit & date

Thesis update

When the document hit 100 000 the word counter at the bottom of Word just disappeared! Microsoft huh! But 100k that must be cause for a celebration? I will take a walk in the sunshine and return tomorrow – would be a longer break if it wasnt for those damn deadlines.
The good news is that the date is now firmly set. I defend on Friday, 15 September!

Posted on by mklang

So where the bloody hell are you?

In an attempt to grab attention the Australian Tourism has created a typical beautiful tourist add but with a twist. The tagline at the end is â??So where the bloody hell are you?â?? (referring to the tourists I guess!) The original ad can be seen here or here.

The tagline has sparked some debate. In Japan it simply does not work so it was changed to the more polite â??So why donâ??t you come?â?? (The Age). The television ad was banned in the UK for the use of â??bloodyâ??, in Canada for the line â??weâ??ve bought you a beerâ?? (Wikipedia).

The media company (Downwind Media) made a parody of the film which has caused lawyers for Tourism Australia (TA) to threatened legal action over the use of the music used in the parody (the music is similar but tune and tempo are different), TA claim that the offending tune still infringed on their copyright regardless of the musical differences. TA demanded the parody be removed from Downwind Media’s website.

See the spoof on You Tube.

The parody of the tourist advert is a legitimate form of cultural remix. It is particularly relevant since the ad sells Australian cultural icons/stereotypes. Therefore there is a great deal of legitimacy in providing alternative images of that which is sold. As in many cases such as these we can see that the supression has only increased the longevity of the spoof.

The main idea of the spoof is to juxtapose the “traditional” tourist images of tourism & Australia (e.g. outback, hospitality, kangaroos, pubs, watersports, nightlife, aborigines and beaches)

with the more negative images of Australia: violence, racism, drugs, immigration detention centers, dingos, human rights violations.

Posted on by mklang

PhD, competition & publicity

This blog lives a quite, laid back existence. But when I wrote a post asking for help to design the cover of my Phd thesis things exploded (original post here). Since I wanted to spread the information and since I thought it might be a fun idea I asked for the information to be posted on BoingBoing â?? it was posted there. It has also been posted on some of my favourite blogs: Lessig Blog, Karl Jonsson, Det perfekta tomrummet, Foreward & Patrik’s Sprawl.

The effect of this publicity? Take a look at my stats. I dont think that this picture needs any comments!

In addition to this I had no idea that I was going to annoy designers so much by asking what I asked. Take a look at the comments to my post and you will see that the one thing you do not ask a designer for is help. Definitely touched a raw nerve there.

Anyway I have received some contributions already and I will present them all on the 10 May so that they can all be seen and maybe arrange some sort of voting procedure.

Posted on by mklang

Phone Tracker

The technology to track via mobile phones has been around for a long time. Despite this, most telecoms have been slow to offer this ‘service’ to a general public. Most probably this delay has its background in the need for more sofisticated administrative and technical solutions rather than ethical questionmarks.

The telecoms company Sprint has now begun to offer its Family Locator service

Sprint Family Locator gives you and your family peace of mind in the palm of your hand.

Locate Your Children in real-time, from either a registered “Parent” mobile handset or from the web.

Safety Checks let you know that your children have arrived at home or school on time.

For Only $9.99 a Month have quick, easy, and secure access to the location of up to 4 Sprint-Nextel handsets.

The emphasis is on paranoid parenting (Furedi 2001) i.e. to scare parents and create insecurity so that a need for a solution. This makes accepting the solution offered (in this case the family locator) is the only sensible thing to do. Never mind the fact that spying (even on your own children) is wrong. That those spied upon will devise creative solutions to avoid being spied upon. And that all systems such as these once implemented will be abused through some form of function creep.

Earlier similar posts: Spying on Cars and Privacy, GPS and Children.

Posted on by mklang

Skansen Kronan

Building on the Skansen Krona fortress began in 1641 its main purpose was to defend the city against from Danish invaders. It was completed in 1695. The name means the Crown Fortress and takes its name from the crown on the top. A second fortress has a lion on top and is therefore called the Lion Fortress.

The Krona is on a central hill in the city and has great views of the city. Its main use is as a park for walking the dog, summer picknicks, views of the city and a place to celebrate new years eve.

Blogkartan.

Posted on by mklang