commons

On the way out

The Washingtonpost.com has a fun list of things and social practices that are dead or at least heading the way of the Dodo. These kinds of lists are usually fun since they reflect many of the ways in which technological changes are driving forward social change which is what my thesis Disruptive Technology was all about.

Remember the Sinclair computer? photo by Barnoid (CC BY-SA)

It is pretty easy to see that tapes are drawing their final breath and with it goes a whole range of social practices like recording from the radio, creating mix tapes, recording spoken tapes and sending them via snail mail and more. With the development of mobile telephones, the way in which we communicate has changed radically but this has also led to the demise of the public phone booth. Some of the predictions may be a bit too futuristic and hard to figure out – why, for example, do they think that shoehorns on their way out?

 

Posted on by mklang

How to listen

It’s good to be back! My absence from this blog has been due to a move. My broadband has not been connected and despite the fact that their are plenty of wifi networks none are open – what is the world coming to? Don’t people agree with this?

Anyway this is not what I was going to write about. While catching up on my reading I came across a list of 11 things that will enhance the lecture experience, the list included some very good tips. Number 8 is my favourite:

Listen. Yes, I know you’re supposed to listen, but engage with your own mind as the lecture moves along. Ask yourself questions, try and evaluate points through what you already know, get involved in the meat of the topic even though you’re just listening to another person speak.

This is really a good reminder even when listening outside the lecture hall. In my case this is especially true if I am on the phone since my mind tends to wander…

Check out the entire list at The University Blog.

Photo: Paulgi (CC BY-NC-ND)

Posted on by mklang

Creative Commons Logo Competition

Creative Commons Sweden goes live and on that occasion we want to ask you how we can best represent you. We are looking for a logo that best represents you, in your surroundings and your culture – a more personalised CC Sweden logo if you will.

So we ask you, as artists, to be creative and make the Creative Commons Sweden your Creative Commons.

Here is the deal:

Take one of the Creative Commons logos (two examples here or/and here) and create something that represents CC Sweden. It can be a variation with the flag, the shape of the Sweden or a cultural sight or something completely unrelated but yet unique. The only condition is, that the logo you use as a basis remains unchanged.

The best 3 designs will be rewarded with a) a price from one of our supporters and b) will represent the CC Sweden from then on, on our website, on T-shirts, hoodies, keychains etc. and wherever the CC Sweden appears.

So, take to you sketch-boards and make the CC Sweden your Creative Commons.

Send your designs including a short mail explaining your thoughts and you idea behind the logo to contest@creativecommons.se (text can be either in English or in Swedish).

More information online here. If you have any questions feel free to contact Mirko.

Posted on by mklang

Encyclopedia of Life

The Encyclopedia of Life, an ambitious project to document all of Earth’s known species, has released its first 30,000 pages of content. Over the next 10 years, the project aims to aggregate, in one place, information on an estimated 1.8 million species. From the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) press release:

Intended as a tool for scientists and policymakers and a fascinating resource for anyone interested in the living world, the EOL is being developed by a unique collaboration between scientists and the general public. By making it easy to compare and contrast information about life on Earth, the resulting compendium has the  potential to provide new insights into many of life’s secrets.

In most cases, Encyclopedia of Life contributing members have made content available using Creative Commons licenses either Att-SA or Att-NC or Att-NC-SA.

Posted on by mklang

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails released Ghosts I-IV, a collection of 36 new instrumental tracks that are available to the world under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

The end result is a wildly varied body of music that we’re able to present to the world in ways the confines of a major record label would never have allowed – from a 100% DRM-free, high-quality download, to the most luxurious physical package we’ve ever created.

Posted on by mklang

The Future of Reputation

Daniel J. Solove has written what seems to be an interesting book The Future of Reputation: Gossip, rumor, and privacy on the Internet. The topic of Internet reputation is fascinating and was one of the earliest discussions. The basic premise is that our reputation is our greatest asset but as an asset it is not our own – it is in the hands of everyone else. So what happens when someone messes up that reputation?

A nice touch is that the book is available online for download and licensed under Creative Commons (BY-NC). Check out the table of contents:

Chapter 1. Introduction: When Poop Goes Primetime

Part I: Rumor and Reputation in a digital world

Chapter 2. How the Free Flow of Information Liberates and Constrains Us

Chapter 3. Gossip and the Virtues of Knowing Less

Chapter 4. Shaming and the Digital Scarlet Letter

Part II: Privacy, Free Speech, and the Law

Chapter 5. The Role of Law

Chapter 6. Free Speech, Anonymity, and Accountability

Chapter 7. Privacy in an Overexposed World

Chapter 8. Conclusion: The Future of Reputation

Posted on by mklang

Top misleading open access myths

Biomedcentral has a list of top misleading Open Access myths

In the evidence presented to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into Scientific Publications, many dubious arguments have been used by traditional publishers to attack the new Open Access publishing model.

Myth 1: The cost of providing Open Access will reduce the availability of funding for research

Myth 2: Access is not a problem – virtually all UK researchers have the access they need

Myth 3 :The public can get any article they want from the public library via interlibrary loan

Myth 4: Patients would be confused if they were to have free access to the peer-reviewed medical literature on the web

Myth 5: It is not fair that industry will benefit from Open Access

Myth 6: Open Access threatens scientific integrity due to a conflict of interest resulting from charging authors

Myth 7: Poor countries already have free access to the biomedical literature

Myth 8: Traditionally published content is more accessible than Open Access content as it is available in printed form

Myth 9: A high quality journal such as Nature would need to charge authors £10,000-£30,000 in order to move to an Open Access model

Myth 10: Publishers need to make huge profits in order to fund innovation

Myth 11: Publishers need to take copyright to protect the integrity of scientific articles

Posted on by mklang

The future of street art

A Banksy murial on Portobello road was sold on ebay for £208,100 (approx. $400,000) the price did not include removal costs. The wall belonged to Luti Fagbenle who felt that he could not “really justify owning a piece of art worth as much as it is.”

The Banksy mural on Portobello road

(Photo by Cactusbones) (CC by-nc-sa)

Street art has been growing for a long time and Banksy must be seen as one of the most widely known artists in the genre. But he is not alone. As Art Threat reports the world’s first Urban Art auction at Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers will be held on February 5th.

What does this mean for the future of Street Art? Art Threat has written an interesting comment on street arts ephemeral nature as an important feature and Banksy has added a comment on the his webpage:

“Aren’t street art auctions a bit lame?
I don’t agree with auction houses selling street art – its undemocratic, it glorifies greed and I never see any of the money.”

So the artists don’t get paid and the artwork is ripped, literally sometimes, out of their context – how will this effect the art? Previously the most exploitative use of graffiti has been street art photo books. These products raise exciting questions about copyright and graffiti (blogged about this issue earlier here and here) but selling the works raises other exciting questions.

The person buying the work will most probably remove it to display it elsewhere. This de-contextualizes of the art but it also adds a disincentive to the artist. Now it is not enough to know that your work will be painted over but it may also be removed and sold to enrich someone else. Your work may become a commodity to be regularly bought and sold without the artists control or permission. Should the artists be concerned?

(Story on BBC & Observer)

Posted on by mklang