Postings from an edge

Bird Step Sequencer (WN0040)

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Love this one. In Kathy Hind's words:

By observing the resting of birds on telegraph lines, it was soon obvious how much the lines resembled a music score or piano roll. Thus, a computer-vision program was developed in order to scan a video of the birds behaviour to translate it into music, by triggering audio samples of a music box and a prepared piano in the same fashion as a modern step-sequencer.

Going along to see her talk about sound maps in London next month.

Making my mind up on a SoundMap...

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:04:00 +0000

I've not written about anything I've been doing for my MA yet here on this blog. This is partly because since I started the course, back in September 2011 (around the same time as a new job), I've been so busy in trying to keep up with both the job and things like the reading list that it's been very difficult to find the space for it. However, I think I've reached a point where a post has become necessary.

I'm sat here in a Mac suite at Sussex University, running Chrome stuffed with open tabs. My research trails, thoughts and ideas seem to be tripping over themselves as I try to solidify them into something that is going to actually be achievable in the time I have. A plan is needed, and sometimes plans only become clear when they're written down (or in this case typed out).

This term, I am taking a course called 'New Developments in Digital Media'. It's a blend of theory and practical work, and has been quite a fascinating journey so far. The practical side of it involves a couple of projects that utilise existing web technologies to come up with something new - basically, a web mash-up.

The first project was about learning how to do stuff in Google Maps. I put together a map that showed places around the world that I have visited, with a bit of content (mostly pictures) from each visit. The results of that are below:

View Visited Places in a larger map

Now it's come to the second one, which means ramping things up a little. I'm interested in soundmaps. I'm interested in remixes. What I'd really like to do is to offer a track up for remixing, and plot the results on a map.

Trouble is, this is way more difficult that just adding a bit of HTML embed code to a Google Maps placemark (which is essentially all the above is).

I've got an old Shelf Life song which I have all the stems for. It would be fascinating to offer that one up and see what journey it took. Thing is, I'd probably need to dive in to an existing remix community and build up some relationships to get anything out of it, which would also involve putting a 'campaign' together around it along with having a load of extra stuff to write to go with it. That would take time I don't really have, even if the longer term benefits would be great (more engaging content for the project, people to work with on stuff in the future).

I really want to be able to create something like the Edinburgh Fringe map below, where the placemarks are clickable and will play an audio track when clicked. So far, I've not been able to find out how something like this could be done. It seems quite simple for people to contribute their recordings to the map (instructions here), by adding content via SoundCloud that has Fringe in the title and a location in the metadata. I fear though that getting it sorted out via the backend would mean having to get to grips with SoundCloud's API, and I'm not sure I'm ready (or got the headspace) to start getting to grips with deeper programming knowledge.

SoundCloud would be a fantastic platform to work with on this project. It seems that AudioBoo would also work well, and it also has a relatively easy means of getting audio content mapped by pasting an RSS feed URL from a user's account into a Google Maps page and changing the .rss extension to a .kml extension (being a form of geocoding that Google Maps understands), as in the Hong Kong sound map below:

View Larger Map

Trouble with that one is that it doesn't seem to have the audio player element. Setting up some kind of RSS feed that people could submit tracks to a page connected with that feed which populates on the map would be ideal. All my research so far suggests that this would be far more difficult than it initially sounds.

I'll be leaning on Lawrence Lessig's 'Remix' for some of the theory that will be needed to back this project up. Lessig also donated a spoken word piece to the ccMixter community to launch his 'Strike The Root' project, which resulted in something like 100 tracks being created in a month. Mapping where those tracks were made would tie in very nicely with the theory element, but there is quite a bit of digging to find out the locations of a bunch of the contributors, and I still need to figure out how to embed audio in a Google Maps placemark (anyone know how to do this?).

All I know now is that I'll have to come to some decisions soon and start putting the work in, otherwise I'll get overwhelmed with yet another project that I take on which is too big to manage!

Any thoughts, comments, or help on the above will be gratefully received. Anyone interested in more cool sites where maps and sounds meet should check out the British Library's sound maps collections, Tracks On A Map, SoundSeeker or even CitySounds (not strictly a map, but cool all the same).

10 Things About ACTA

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:50:00 +0000

Thought that 'the battle to save the Internet' was won with the defeat or shelving of SOPA? Think again. To paraphrase Clay Shirky from the last video I posted here, the price of a free Internet has to be eternal vigilance, it seems.

What's next? Here are 10 things about ACTA, an international trade agreement now signed by representatives from 31 states.

1. 'Say NO to ACTA' video

View on YouTube

2. From Wikipedia:

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, or the United Nations.

The agreement was signed on 1 October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. In January 2012, the European Union and 22 of its member states signed as well, bringing the total number of signatories to 31. After ratification by 6 states, the convention will come into force.

Supporters have described the agreement as a response to 'the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works'. Large copyright-right based organizations such as the MPAA and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America were active in the treaty's development.

Opponents have lambasted it for its potentially adverse effects on fundamental civil and digital rights, including freedom of expression and communication privacy. Others, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have derided the exclusion of civil society groups, developing countries and the general public from the agreement's negotiation process and have described it as policy laundering. The signature of the EU and many of its member states resulted in the resignation in protest of the European Parliament's appointed rapporteur (Kader Arif), as well as widespread protests across Poland.

Text available under CC-BY-SA licence.

3. Map of involved countries

Above and below images issued under CC-BY-SA licence.

4. La Quadrature du Net

La Quadrature du Net is an 'advocacy group defending the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet' who describe ACTA as 'one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet'. Their main website is in English and French. Check the links to learn more.

5. 'How to act'

This wiki page from La Quadrature du Net details lots of actions that can be taken by those who oppose ACTA.

6. Petitions

A big one from Avaaz.org and a smaller one for HM Government (UK). Another one from Access Now. Click on the screenshot below to go to their page detailing Europe-wide protests against the agreement on February 11th.

7. Rights Groups

We're getting to crunch time. The ball is now very much in the European Parliament's court. The good news is, that gives you a chance to say why we think ACTA is such bad news. Finally, a mechanism to influence the course of this international agreement.

Find out more about what Open Rights Group have to say about ACTA.

European Digital Rights says that ACTA will have 'major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy', and have launched a 'What's Wrong With ACTA Week'. The page linked to also contain briefing documents aimed at presenting the key areas that this agreement aims to cover. Another good booklet of theirs is 'What Makes ACTA So Controversial (and why MEPs should care)' - also available in many other European languages.

EFF talks about ACTA's 'global consequences' and more here.

8. Judgements

Judge: 17,000 illegal downloads don't equal 17,000 lost sales

9. Content Owners

EA Admits Pirated Copies Do Not Equal Lost Sales

Monty Python DVD sales soar thanks to YouTube clips

10. Infographic

+++

OK, so here were my 10 things about ACTA. Some parts of this post are a little sketchy though. What legal decisions have you come across that favoured fewer restrictions on copyright rather than more? Do you know any other good examples of content owners that have benefited from a more open approach to their work, or who have 'gained from sharing'? Add your suggestions in the comments below and I'll update this post with any good ones that come by.

'Time Warner wants us all back on the couch..'

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:05:00 +0000

'...just consuming - not producing, not sharing - and we should say No'.

In the latest video from Globalism Films, Clay Shirky explains why SOPA/PIPA isn't dead yet.

Another TED Talk issued under a Creative Commons license.

Kisumu Mixtape - fines tunes from Kenya (WN0039)

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:02:00 +0000

A mixtape of 17 underground classics from Kisumu, Kenya, ranging from traditional guitar to blunted ass reggae to innovative hip hop.

RawMusicINTL: Raw Music International

Another gem here from the Free Music Archive, this time a delicious selection of tracks from Kenya. No words from me needed, just turn this up loud and shake your thing...

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) License.

SOPA and PIPA - Learn more

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Visited Wikipedia today to find something out, only to discover that it's blacked out? Wondered why? Read on (text reproduced from Wikipedia, under permission)...

Why is Wikipedia blacked-out?

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media.

What are SOPA and PIPA?

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

Why is the blackout happening?

Wikipedians have chosen to black out the English Wikipedia for the first time ever, because we are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will severely inhibit people's access to online information. This is not a problem that will solely affect people in the United States: it will affect everyone around the world.

Why? SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective at their stated goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

Does this mean that Wikipedia itself is violating copyright laws, or hosting pirated content?

No, not at all. Some supporters of SOPA and PIPA characterize everyone who opposes them as cavalier about copyright, but that is not accurate. Wikipedians are knowledgeable about copyright and vigilant in protecting against violations: Wikipedians spend thousands of hours every week reviewing and removing infringing content. We are careful about it because our mission is to share knowledge freely. To that end, all Wikipedians release their contributions under a free license, and all the material we offer is freely licensed. Free licenses are incompatible with copyright infringement, and so infringement is not tolerated.

Isn't SOPA dead? Wasn't the bill shelved, and didn't the White House declare that it won't sign anything that resembles the current bill?

No, neither SOPA nor PIPA is dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor said the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA may be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. In many jurisdictions around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by power players, over the preservation of individual civil liberties.

How could SOPA and PIPA hurt Wikipedia?

SOPA and PIPA are a threat to Wikipedia in many ways. For example, in its current form, SOPA would require Wikipedia to actively monitor every site we link to, to ensure it doesn't host infringing content. Any link to an infringing site could put us in jeopardy of being forced offline.

I live in the United States. What's the best way for me to help?

The most effective action you can take is to call your representatives and tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. Type your zipcode in the locator box to find your representatives' contact information. Text-based communication is okay, but phone calls have the most impact.

I don't live in the United States. How can I help?

Contact your local State Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or similar branch of government. Tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will affect sites outside of the United States, and actions to sites inside the United States (like Wikipedia) will also affect non-American readers -- like you. Calling your own government will also let them know you don't want them to create their own bad anti-Internet legislation.

Is it still possible to access Wikipedia in any way?

Yes. During the blackout, Wikipedia is accessible on mobile devices and smart phones. You can also view Wikipedia normally by disabling JavaScript in your browser, as explained on this Technical FAQ page. Our purpose here isn't to make it completely impossible for people to read Wikipedia, and it's okay for you to circumvent the blackout. We just want to make sure you see our message.

I keep hearing that this is a fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Is that true?

No. Some people are characterizing it that way, probably in an effort to imply all the participants are motivated by commercial self-interest. But it's obviously not that simple. The proof of that is Wikipedia's involvement. Wikipedia has no financial self-interest at play here: we do not benefit from copyright infringement, nor are we trying to monetize traffic or sell ads. We are protesting to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA solely because we think they will hurt the Internet, and your ability to access information online. We are doing this for you, because we're on your side.

In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality?

We hope you continue to trust Wikipedia to be a neutral information source. We are staging this blackout because (as Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustee Kat Walsh said recently), although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. For over a decade, Wikipedians have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Wikipedia is a tremendously useful resource, and its existence depends upon a free, open and uncensored Internet. SOPA and PIPA (and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States) will hurt you, because they will make it impossible for sites you enjoy, and benefit from, to continue to exist. That's why we're doing this.

What can I read to get more information?

Try these links:

As of midnight PT, January 18, Google has 3,740 articles about the blackout. Here are a few:

Why is Wikipedia staging a blackout and what is SOPA?, from the National Post
Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves, from the British Broadcasting Corporation
Wikipedia blackout over US anti-piracy bills and FEATURE: Websites blackout over 'SOPA censorship', from Al Jazeera
Wikipedia, Craigslist, other sites go black in SOPA protest, from the Los Angeles Times
Google Rallies Opposition to Murdoch-Backed Anti-Piracy Bill, from BusinessWeek
SOPA protest: The Net strikes back, from Politico
Wikipedia goes dark on piracy bill protest day, from MSNBC
Wikipedia blackout a 'gimmick', MPAA boss claims, from the Guardian
Wikipedia 24-hour blackout: a reader and Why we're taking Wikipedia down for a day, from the New Statesman
Wikipedia, other websites go dark in anti-piracy bill protest, from CNN
Internet-wide protests against SOPA/PIPA are kicking up a storm, by the Hindustan Times
SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know, from CBS News

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.

'This Is Brighton' (WN0038)

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:15:00 +0000

First week back at work after Christmas. Made it to the weekend. Tired, but picked up on a Friday evening with the discovery of this little gem.

When I came across Sam O'Hare's beautiful tilt-shift/time lapse video of New York and a later clip of Tokyo, I thought to myself 'I'd love to do something similar on Brighton someday'. Little did I know that I'd not only get beaten to it by someone else, but that someone else was 13 years when he started making 'This Is Brighton'. Kudos to Caleb Yule - he's got a great future ahead of him.

Behind SOPA: What It Means for Business and Innovation (WN0037)

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:19:00 +0000

Via: Business Insurance Blog

New film: 'In Motion'

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:34:00 +0000

With over 200 exits and used by millions of people daily, Tokyo's Shinjuku station is the world's busiest train station. It serves as the rapidly beating heart of the city's commercial districts, and is the main hub through which commuters pour in from across the Kanto plain and beyond every day. This makes for quite a sense of bustle to the passing observer.

'In Motion' (the film viewable above), which aims to capture a slight flavour of that sense of rush, busy-ness and movement that characterises much of the capital, is the second in a planned trilogy of short films about Japan. The first in this trilogy is 'Makes The World Go Round' (issued in 2010 and now with over 2,000 views on YouTube), with a final film due at some point in 2012 and based on footage taken at Tokyo's Shibuya Crossing.

Shot with a Flip UltraHD pocket camera in late 2010, much of this film centres around a sequence captured by placing the camera on the floor of a station walkway. This had the effect of representing the rhythm of hundreds of shoes as people passed by the eye of the lens. The remainder of the film was assembled from other footage shot in the same station. 'In Motion' was largely produced in iMovie HD, with opening credits put together with PowerPoint 2010 (in the absence of Flash).

The film also makes use of a Creative Commons-licenced song as its soundtrack. The track is called 'Machines and Muscles', an appropriate title for the main factors of motion in the film, and is by a psychedelic drone band from Chicago called Cave. An instrumental number originally featured on the flip side of the 7" single 'Butthash', the song has a certain 'Baba O'Reilly' feel to it which contributes well to the groove of the footage.

Feel free to check out the new commenting system on this blog by dropping by with a word or two about the film.

Save the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:50:00 +0000

There is a bill currently being discussed in the US Congress right now that could fundamentally cripple the Internet as we know it, with significant implications for freedom of speech, innovation and internet integrity.

Known as the 'Protect IP Act', this bill is described by Congress as a 'bill to prevent online threats to economic creativity and theft of intellectual property, and for other purposes.' What this would mean in practice is that the US government would have a very powerful tool in its armory for shutting down websites that were accused of allowing user-generated content that infringed copyright law. In other words, the US government would be able to shut down Facebook, Twitter or YouTube if 'pirated content' was discovered hosted by any of these sites. As so much of our lives are now either lived online or affected by unseen transactions that happen in the online world, the passing of this bill could potentially become the point at which the internet revolution is stopped in its tracks.

It also has a counterpart bill being discussed in the House of Representatives, known as SOPA (or 'Stop Online Piracy Act'). Supporters which line up behind the bill include the likes of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and Microsoft. On the other side, organisations against the bill include the likes of Google, Yahoo! and Human Rights Watch.

Watch the video above for the simple message about this bill. Then (if you are American), visit FightForTheFuture.org and register your opposition.

For a more detailed and far longer piece that gives a great insight into the whole thing, visit this article from O'Reilly Radar.

Don't let this thing get passed.

Portraits from a Zombie Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:02:00 +0000

Brighton held its annual Zombie Walk today, from Victoria Gardens near the Pavilion, through town, and on to Marine Parade. Now in its fifth year and better know as Beach Of The Dead, the parade is one of many that go on around the world.

I didn't end up following the parade, but stayed in one place to get my pictures. It was a sunny day, which resulted in some good lighting on the subjects, and I was able to grab a few fine portraits before I made my way back home.

Moments from a Catalan summer

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:03:00 +0000

It was a three-year wait, and ultimately a short city break. But this summer, my wife and I finally managed to get what we could call our honeymoon. We had a long weekend in Barcelona - her first visit, my second - and it was well worth the wait.

Day One was a Gaudi day, with visits to Sagrada Familia, Park Güell and La Pedrera. I'd been outside the remarkable building that serves as a cathedral before, but this was my first time inside. It was fascinating to gain an understanding of how much Gaudi was inspired by nature and how that informed his work. This was demonstrated even further with the park, where the architecture was fused with the natural environment rather than just inspired by it. The roof of La Pedrera was unlike anything I'd seen before, and was a most striking example of what can be done with a building when the architect's imagination is the only limit.

Day Two took in the ocean and the hill that looks over the city. We started off with the wonders of La Boqueria, Europe's largest food market, then strolled down La Rambla to the sea, taking in an exhibition on Latin peoples at the Museu Marítim, the sights of the marina, then a cable car ride up to Montjuïc. The whole trip ended up being heavily loaded with with museums and galleries - up on the hill, we took in another two. These were Fundació Joan Miró (an artist whom I was intrigued to learn had spent some time in Japan and been greatly influenced by his time there) and Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, a seriously impressive building housing 2,000 years of Catalan art from Roman times to 20th Century photography. The day ended with a fountain show set to lights and music, in the grounds of the museum, which amusingly was also flanked by a Spanish bikers convention.

Day Three saw a longstanding ambition of my wife's realised - a visit to the Picasso Museum. With that one under the belt, we took in the neighbouring Chocolate Museum, where I learned of the role that the cocoa bean has had in the Spanish Empire. On the way out, we were rather shocked to be standing around in the street an witness a police altercation. Two cops appeared from nowhere on bikes, one started shouting at a man with no shirt on, then chased after him and knocked him to the floor - with the motorbike he was riding! The man was still on the floor when things began to flare up with other onlookers, and we decided to slink away.

The photo gallery above contains images from some of the highlights of the trip, plus a few other sights not mentioned above. Really a fantastic city, I could easily go back again and again.

Skies

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 07:30:00 +0000

I left work last night as the sun was setting over Brighton. There were some fantastic colours in the sky.

I'd spent the day locked into a screen, but the explosion of subtle variation was the treat at the end of it all.

The colours and tones reminded me of watercolours, as if somebody had been sky painting.

An old adage from photography is that the best camera is the one you have with you. These were all shot with my iPhone.

In some places, the light was more subtle...

...and in others, more dramatic.

All Things in Moderation

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:34:00 +0000

Gilly Salmon's 5 Stage Model for e-Moderation

I've just completed Week One of a new course I'm taking in E-moderating (kind of like teaching online, but with the differences that would come from all being online rather than in a physical classroom). The course is based on Gilly Salmon's 5 Stage Mode l for running an online course, as depicted in the diagram on the left, which demonstates the balance needed between teaching and technical skills in E-moderation.

The timing on this course is pretty tight. I began it from a hotel room in Sydney and will complete it during the first full week of the MA I'm about to start. Despite that, it's been a very positive first week and I'm looking forward to the next one. Every week is summarised by the participants in a reflection posted in the course forum. My reflections on Week One are below.

***

Before I respond with my particular reflections, I'd just like to mention that Reflective Learning Journals were a major feature of the course I taught on prior to this new job. It was a one term course in core IT skills to prepare non-native speakers of English for life at a British university. Most of them seemed to find the activity to be very effective for consolidating what they had learned and for gaining a useful perspective on their own learning process. It’s good to be able to try such a feature out from the other side (so to speak).

For me, I've found that having an active and experienced moderator can make all the difference in terms of teaching the core principles of how to run an online course plus the encouragement offered to keep going. Ken has been doing a marvellous job here.

I'd come across Gilly Salmon's model before, as part of my research for a qualification I completed last year. For the assignment, I looked at blended learning and designed a course based around it. This model was a vital part of the course design, so it has been really useful to put that theory into practice by taking a course run on the same model.

Although I’ve spent a lot of my teaching life in face-to-face learning contexts with people from many different countries, it’s the first time that I’ve been in one where they are all still actually in those countries. This means that issues such as time zone differences have to be factored in to the momentum of the course, as do other participation constraints (people doing a course such as this are likely to have pretty busy full lives too). However, it does make for a fascinating learning experience.

Major issues that arose from the first week include time and timing. To get the most out of it, it is really worth putting aside the time to give, take and interact with the other participants. Although we all have those busy lives, taking that time is likely to mean getting the most out of it. This can often be challenging, but if done means getting more out of it.

The second issue for me relates to levels of interaction. I also run my own blog and have found that there is always much more activity there when I engage with other people elsewhere on the Web (particularly on their own sites) than when I simply put something of my own out there. The same applies to this course – while it is necessary to post my own messages in the forum, my participation comes alive more when I interact with other people. This can be harder and take more time, but is ultimately more fruitful than just using the forum as a ‘broadcast mechanism’.

I plan to apply the insights gained above by continuing to pay close attention to the moderator’s techniques (including when he takes off the stabilisers to step back from the coaxing), look forward to what I can learn from the Week Two sections on managing timing, and try to continue both posting and interacting with others on their postings.

(PS Managed to get the writing down a point on the Fog Index, but still on 13.45 – gonna have to work on getting that one down!)

Free music: Shelf Life - 'Best Before End'

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:58:00 +0000

Best Before End by Shelf-Life

This is the second of two free albums offered on this blog as part of the promotion of my recently launched new website. As with the Control K album, feel free to download the tracks, pass them around, remix them or whatever, with two simple conditions:

Give an Attribution if you choose to republish (in whole or in part). The simplest one is to Shelf Life. For enhanced attribution, you can add songwriter credits ('Pates/Cheryo'). A linkback would also be appreciated (currently to www.myspace.com/shelflifetokyo)
If you want to use the tracks commercially, please come back and ask.

'Best Before End' was written, recorded and released over a 12-18 month period, with the collection finally being issued in December 2007. The band is a four-piece, with me on vocals, Cheryo on guitars (and much more), his brother Chisato on drums, and Jun on bass. The sound is traditional guitar rock - think Beatles, think Clash, think Who, etc - with the occasional Japanese twist. The album was conceived as a concept album, intended to be listened to in one sitting, and covered themes like the Iraq War, the city of Tokyo and global warming.

It was first made available on CD, then given an iTunes digital release, and now released for free under a Creative Commons license. Although you can download the tracks for free, if you wish to buy them from iTunes, that's still possible and all proceeds go towards the recording of the next album.

We have begun the slow task of writing the next album, made that much harder because I no longer live in Tokyo. Once the writing has been completed, the intention is to record the album. This will be a big challenge as we'll be trying to do it with no budget, significant language challenges and again not being in the same physical space. Whether Shelf Life makes it to album number two remains to be seen, but the intention is definitely there!

Go to the Shelf Life page at PatesOnline to find out more about the band.

Miniature ski resort

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:07:00 +0000

A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.

Been meaning to put this one up for ages.

This weekend in the UK is the August Bank Holiday weekend, often thought of here as the end of summer. The seasons are shifting, parts of Britain are bracing themselves for another wet weekend (although it's beautifully sunny here in Brighton, at the time of writing), the US East Coast is getting ready for another huge storm - winter's going to start creeping around again soon.

In preparation, the above video will give you a taste of the good side of winter. All in miniature too. I do love tilt-shifted and time-lapsed video!

Free music: Control K - 'The Front Line (Redux)'

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:13:00 +0000

The Front Line (Redux) by controlk

As a part of the promotion for my recently launched new website, I am highlighting different features on this blog that are available in more detail over there. This post contains free downloads and an album player for the 2005 release of 'The Front Line (Redux)' - my most recent collection of work issued as Control K.

The album itself was originally available on CafePress.com as a press-on-demand order and sold mildly well (double figures at least). CafePress seem to have now removed the original files and thus the collection is as out-of-print as you can get in the press-on-demand age! Given my enthusiasm for Creative Commons, I've since taken the decision to issue the album online for free.

Feel free to download the tracks, comment on them, pass them around to others, and remix them if you want - just give me give an Attribution as Control K (preferably linked to www.controlk.co.uk if published) if you do decide to use them. Oh yes, and if you want to use them commercially, please come back to me and ask before doing so.

Yes, there are plans for future Control K releases, but there's also a massive backlog of other projects and works to get through first!

Go to the Control K page at PatesOnline to find out more...

'Globalism - a declaration of intent' (or 'New website launched')

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:34:00 +0000

(Broad generalisation alert) Anyone who's spent any amount of time interacting with others online is likely to have come up with a pseudonym that might allow them perhaps to express themselves a little more freely than if posting or commenting under their own name. That pseudonym sometimes even comes with its own avatar, so that an image is also associated with the name used. Like many others, I have done the same thing and often tend to leave my own digital trails under the guise of globalism.

This has not stopped at the odd comment on someone else's blog or forum, but has also become an identity that I have nurtured to try and encapsulate a few of my ideas and my outlook on life. It has infused, for example, the pictures I take (Globalism Pictures) and the films I make or issue (Globalism Films).

Having also crafted a website to act as a portal to me online, it seemed logical to include a little more about globalism there too, to act as some kind of an explanation. The first half of that text can be found below. For the rest of it, please visit the recently launched http://www.patesonline.net and dig around there. Feel free to come back here and post your comments when you're done too.

***

Unlike globalisation, the economic process that views the planet as one giant market to be dominated and exploited, globalism (as defined here) can offer an alternative and positive outlook on worldwide human culture as a single entity.  

Globalism is connected. The internet enables the peoples, cultures, networks and systems of the world to connect with each other like never before in human history. It provokes endless opportunity for the exchange of ideas, solving of problems and forging of new bonds. Furthermore, it acts as a repository for all human knowledge, a realisation of H.G. Wells' vision of a world brain. While this undoubtedly brings its own set of troubles, our interconnectivity offers an unprecedented platform for resolving problems. Globalism exists because the internet exists.

Globalism is diverse. Our world is the sum of its parts - a bewilderingly vast collection of peoples, cultures, races, faces, customs, languages, ideas and beliefs. Globalism openly embraces that diversity, recognises that different approaches can have equal validity to cherished wisdoms, and believes that there is no 'us and them', only an 'us'. Furthermore, it understands that as our fragile planet comes under increasingly greater threat from ourselves, it becomes ever more important to act in harmony with nature rather than against it. This helps to protect the world's natural diversity and shows we realise how connected we are with our environment.

Globalism is peaceful. Throughout human history, violence has been the dominant response for the resolution of conflict. Conflict itself is a natural response to an absence of harmony and can sometimes be necessary, yet violence can never provide a sustainable solution and is only ever likely to beget more violence. Globalism advocates for peaceful solutions to problems, embraces principles of non-violence and encourages the spread of these ideals. The road to peace is longer and harder than the road to war, but it is ultimately more fruitful for all.

A couple of recent outings...

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:59:00 +0000

August has been a pretty funny month so far. I taught my last classes to ESL students, roughly 15 years on from my first ones. I turned 40, with the joy of a surprise party thrown in to the mix. I started a new job today, at the same company that I worked for before but in a different part of it (and now as IT Trainer rather than IT Teacher). Things are going to rapidly run away with themselves before I have a chance to catch up with them.

With that in mind, I'm hoping to be able to get a few short bursts of blog post in over the remainder of month. Next month it's going to get even busier again - I'll be starting an MA at Sussex University too (part time) - so I'll hopefully be able to fit a few of the things I've been meaning to blog about in that time.

Had a visit from my mother too. What do you do when your Mum comes to town, and that town is Brighton? Why take her along to Pride, of course! We did the same thing when my wife's Mum was over a couple of years ago, and that seemed to be a hit.

Once all that was over and there was a day of sunshine to contend with too, we took a short walk over the South Downs. Beautiful weather and great for clearing the head.

'10 things...you can do with a marble'

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 09:13:00 +0000

The original plan, when this feature was launched, was for a guest post a month. But then the summer took over, I got distracted by a number of changes and things I've been trying to finish off for aeons, and blogging fell a little by the wayside. Having made such great efforts earlier on this year at keeping this thing running and upping the ante over previous years...well, you know how it goes.

Anyway, despite my own lackadaisical efforts of the last month or two, I'm proud to announce Guest Post No. Two, and what a huge heap of fun it is too! It's also taken me a while to get this posted as I simply had to watch all the treats that have been sent my way for the post. Having done so, I'd suggest you either make a drink and give yourself half an hour for the fun and games below or come back to them in bursts - each video is a joy in their own right and is the largest number of videos included in one post here.

I'll leave Sarah to introduce herself, but I will add to her introduction that there is so much about blogging that I've learned from her. There's a lot more other stuff I've learned from her too as a colleague and co-teacher on the same course, but blogging's what we're on about here.

So a big thanks to Sarah, and enjoy what you find here!

***

Now, first off, thank you Dom, for inviting me over to your swanky new site, and apologies for the massive fail that was this post happening in July! *ahem*

I’m Sarah, I teach IT (that sounds like 'I know Kung Fu' from The Matrix heh heh) and Dom is both friendly neighbour and supportive colleague …. win win for me.

I have a nerdy/stitching blog called Pings and Needles (I don’t think anyone gets the Pings pun, ho hum) so please come and visit me over there. I’m currently working on a quilt for a competition at that temple to cryptography Bletchley Park ! …

I proudly present my personal Top 10 Rube Goldberg clips. The general idea behind a Rube Goldberg (or Pythagoras Switch) is to have maximum complexity or stages to accomplish a simple task.

Some of these are epic, some are just put together in people’s homes … go get yourself a cup/glass/yard of refreshment and settle in for some genuinely brilliant stuff.

1. 2D Photography - Watch and Gasp. The detail, oh the detail.

2. Baynham & Tyers - edited, but I love the way it travels through a whole house!

3. Honda - TV ad - just beautiful

4. Ramen noodles! The Japanese presenter is soooo dramatic!

5. Falling Water Cocktail - watch for the tape measure - genius!

6. 'Exercise in Fugality' - George Rhoads - Kinetic Sculpture - strictly speaking this isn’t a Rube Goldberg, but it sounds good and I like it.

7. Creme Egg Squasher

8. Toy Factory - lovin all the nailbiting concentration

9. Random selection of Japanese runs

10. OK Go - music video - you’ve probably seen this already, but it’s worth every second. Live a little - go full screen!

That’s my 10 … I hope you enjoyed a little time wasting - nothing like the amount of time these chaps put into the machines though. I feel happy with that thought.

Life is a losing game

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:09:00 +0000

One amazing voice.

Amy Winehouse...RIP.

Joining the copyright dots...

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:22:00 +0000

I've been trying unsuccessfully today and yesterday to upload the above video to YouTube. It's of a 2007 TED Talk by Lawrence Lessig, about the effect of copyright law on creativity. I like it for a few reasons, namely that I've learned a lot about copyright and free culture from Lessig (co-founder of Creative Commons), plus as a teacher of presentation skills, I really like how he presents - both in the way he speaks and in his use of PowerPoint.

One of the things that makes TED so widely known is that they allow people to download their content (in this case videos of their talks) and re-'publish' them. They do this under the Creative Commons licences partly devised by Lessig. I do this with some of their works through my YouTube channel. This benefits both TED and myself - I get people who are interested in some of the same talks to visit my channel and they get yet more free marketing of what they do from the visitors that I bring in.

The TED Talks I have uploaded to my channel so far have had a total of 46,525 views (as of today), of which I can guarantee that I have not made a penny. Under the terms of the CC licence, I am not entitled to make any derivative works - such as producing an edited version - therefore any advertising that is part of the original file I download remains in the copy I upload.

The talk is 19:08 minutes, and my YouTube channel previously didn't permit me to upload files of more than 15 minutes. However, I've recently noticed the below sign on the upload page, so figured it was about time to give it a try:

I figured too that if it was up on the TED channel, then it was possible for me to do the same. This is with the knowledge that YouTube themselves have recently embraced CC licences and allow users to make their videos available for download under an Attribution licence.

Anyway, as soon as the file had finally been successfully uploaded, I got two emails from YouTube, one of which is reproduced below:

WMG I'm pretty sure is Warner Music Group, the world's third largest music company. The other email mentioned UMG, which I'm guessing will be Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company. Oh dear, I thought, I'm usually meticulously careful not to violate copyright laws, no matter how much I agree or disagree with the full extent of them. One of my key reasons for using CC is that I can legally build on others work and allow people to do the same with mine, also within the law. One of the potential problems of these licences however, is that the reuser has to rely on the original producer having cleared all content in order for them to be able to do so under the terms of the licence.

The video (which you can view above, as embedded from the original TED channel) contains extracts from three copyrighted works, which are used to demonstrate examples of remix culture and certainly arguable as an example of 'fair use' (a US-only legal right). These songs are Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive', Lionel Ritchie & Diana Ross's 'Endless Love' and a track that I think comes from The Muppets originally but which has been endlessly parodied elsewhere.

That I received these emails so promptly after a successful upload suggested to me that Google (as the owners of YouTube) have extremely powerful algorithms and processing power to be able to pre-screen a file for copyright violations prior to it 'going live' (no great surprise there - of course Google have tech with that kind of capability). It also suggests that they have an agreement with a broad coalition of copyright holders that would allow them to be able to match the sound waves of a copyright-protected audio file uploaded by a user against a database of protected audio (this is pure and wild speculation of my part, as my guess for how it would happen technically). My understanding was that under the user's terms, suspicion of a copyright violation should be flagged up by the supposed copyright holder first rather than preventing it being uploaded at all.

Below are a couple of things that YouTube says about copyright and violation of it, from their FAQs:

YouTube respects the rights of copyright holders and publishers and requires all users to confirm they own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to upload content. We comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable copyright laws and promptly remove content when properly notified.

Repeat infringers' videos are removed and their accounts are terminated and permanently blocked from using YouTube. Users with suspended or terminated accounts are prohibited from creating new accounts or accessing YouTube's community features.

...

We provide content owners with the ability to control the use of their content on YouTube. Because content owners have the right to change their mind about how their content is displayed on our site, it's possible that content that was once allowed is subsequently blocked. Also, it is possible that multiple parties hold rights to a different components (e.g. audio, video) of a copyrighted work. While one owner may allow the use of their material on YouTube, another may decide to disallow use.

After scratching my head at the emails, bemused at how easy it seems to be to inadvertently break the law these days (plus going to Google to find out who WMG and UMG were), I went back to the file upload page to see the following:

Hooray I thought, it looks like it's gone up at last. A quick check of my video dashboard however, showed this:

The audio track had been disabled and it was described as 'blocked in some countries'. Hmm.

I then went to the URL for the video itself, which YouTube had given me, and found this:

If you're still with me thus far, you'll remember that YouTube had proudly told me that I was entitled to upload files of longer than 15 minutes. More than 15 but less than 20? I doubt it. A bit of a disconnect with what they talk about in terms of copyright violation though.

I'll draw no particular conclusions at the end of this post but have opted to share this experience as I feel it raises a number of curious questions.

I'll leave it up to you, dear readers, to see what questions it raises for you, if any...

10 things...from Brighton in May

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:54:00 +0000

The following images or digital artefacts are ten things that I experienced or took part in in my home town last month.

May is the beginning of festival season in Brighton, a veritable events banquet that runs almost to the end of the year, but particularly throughout the summer. The big beast that kicks things off is the Brighton Festival and its little brother, the Brighton Festival Fringe. As previously mentioned, Aung San Suu Kyi was the (in absentia) guest director which meant that her image was plastered across the city throughout May. The picture above is from a mural on a wall in Vine Street - a really outstanding piece of work.

The Brighton Festival always kicks off with the Children's Parade, organised by local arts organisation Same Sky. I'd never managed to focus on it enough to get a decent photographic record in the past, but this year managed to plant myself on the seafront, DSLR in hand and got some pretty nice shots. The parade goes through the town and involves children (and their parents) from schools across the city and surrounding areas. A really fun way to kick things off.

I went to a talk organised by IDS (where I was once singer in the house band) on 'Can the Media Save the World?', held at the Friends Meeting House. The speakers were good and the audience were eager and attentive, almost disappointed that there wasn't more time to widen the debate.

Some of the points raised included:

media is often a reflection of what's out there rather than an enabler of change
it can be very effective in bearing witness or for exposing wrongdoing
media has often played a vital role in creating public awareness of global poverty
TV should try and engage audiences on important issues through other genres, rather than just news or documentaries
international or development-related content tends to be on niche channels - media providers therefore neglect the wider population
the blogosphere can magnify the impact of an issue
CSR (corporate social responsibility) exists and is widely practiced, why not MSR (media social responsibility)?

Probably the most impressive live event I've been to in at least ten years, DJ Shadow unveiled his 'Shadowsphere' show as part of The Great Escape, at Brighton Dome. Almost the entire show was performed from inside a giant sphere in the middle of the stage, onto which various films and images were projected that seemed to interact with the other projections behind it. One minute a basketball jumping through a hoop, the next the Death Star vanquishing all in its path, and all with a bass so deep that it felt like my internal organs were being regularly rearranged. If you ever get the chance to see this show, go, go go.

Although they are not officially part of the programme, there are often many other great things going on at the same time as the main festival that kind of piggyback onto the bigger one. The above mentioned Great Escape is one of them, and the more genteel St. Anne's Well Gardens festival is another. A real family day out, with lots of face painting, balloons and all that sort of thing, we picnicked in the park in the glorious weather and listened to a brass band as kids ran around us.

For the second year running, I went to see the Brighton Beach Boys. Last year was the show they've been playing for a long time - full live renditions of 'Pet Sounds 'and 'Sgt Pepper'. This year, the first half of the show was a bit tougher to sit through as it was all originals written by one of the core members of the band (and the audience had all come along for Beatles or Beach Boys songs), but the second half was fantastic - a note perfect and highly spirited performance of 'Abbey Road', in its entirety. Great stuff.

A little further out of town (Stanmer Park) and another one of those peripheral events was the Brighton Kite Festival. The weather wasn't so good and most of my pictures came out a little too dark, but there were some pretty cool kites on display, plus it was good to get out of the city for a few hours. I'm due to start studying at the neighbouring university from September, so it also presented a good excuse to have a sniff around the campus again too.

A clash with the Brighton Beach Boys show meant missing the remarkable looking spectacle that was 'Drôles d'Oiseaux', held at The Level. Still, we got off the bus on the way back from the kite festival and took a look at what remained the next day. Yes, they were real cars and no, I have no idea how they stayed up. Damned cool looking though.

I spent a meditative hour or two in the hulk of the Old Municipal Market, the place that was a main fruit and veg wholesaler when I was a student but now lies dormant and empty. Inside, was an installation by Turkish artist Kutluğ Ataman, called 'Mesopotamian Dramaturgies'. This consisted of a series of screens displayed at varying angles, showing close-ups of the flow from waterfalls (including Iguazu), signifying the revolutionary changes happening with the Arab spring and in the region. Although the installations themselves were pretty captivating, the space itself was also rather inspiring and I experimented a little with taking low lit black and white images in an abandoned building. Ended up pretty happy with some of the results too.

Prior to the two hours in an abandoned fruit warehouse, I dropped in to the Fabrica gallery for a sound installation by Janet Cardiff, titled 'Forty Part Motet'. There were forty speakers arranged in a circle, from which individual voices from a choir were played. The recording was on a permanent loop and the installation itself gave the effect of standing in the middle of a choir, hearing the voices as the choir hears them rather than from where the audience does. Click on the field recording below to hear a little of what it sounded like (but not get a feeling of what it was like to be surrounded - can only really do stereo here).

Forty Part Motet (extract) by controlk

Of course, there was so much more to see and do. Some of it I've already mentioned here (such as the Heroes Run and Jardin Flambeau), some of it I had to miss out on for some reason or another. You can find more photos from these events and more at my Brighton Festival 2011 Flickr set.

These ten were some of my highlights. Brightonians and other visitors, what were yours?

Tokyo in Pummelvision

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:55:00 +0000

I was recently introduced to Pummelvision - an online tool for making videos from photo collections - and used the service to make a video of some of my Flickr-held images of Tokyo. The service produces a snappy little clip with a choice of displaying the images 'fast' or 'very fast' (hold on to your hats, I chose 'very fast').

It's very simple to use, taking pictures from places like Facebook, Flickr or Instagram and putting them up at either YouTube or Vimeo. Once a collection of images has been chosen, Pummelvision throws them all together and syncs them with an audio clip that matches the speed of image navigation.

For a 30-second clip, it's quite nice. I'm sure that such a tool could have some effective classroom uses, such as producing a video to showcase steps of a project or something like that, but at the moment it's also fairly limited. There is only one choice of song, for example. Still, a bit of fun all the same with potentially wider uses.

Enjoy the video.

'Winter In America' - a tribute

noreply@blogger.com (Globalism) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:26:00 +0000

I first became aware of Gil Scott-Heron around the early to mid-nineties, while I was at university, although it was a while till I actually got where he was coming from. He was often listed on posters around town as playing at something like that year's Jazz Bop or some festival or other. Regrettably, I never did see him live.

His recorded music, however, became something very special indeed. A combination of deeply soulful and funky tunes, with a killer voice and a unique ability to tell the truth in song - in ways that few others ever came close to matching. His final album came out last year (listen to it in full here) and although he was clearly sounding more frayed than in his earlier years, it was glorious to hear him producing something new and equally up to standard as the rest of his work. Turned out to be his swansong.

I now never will get the chance to see him live, but when I heard that he had died, I immediately wanted to pay some form of tribute to the man. The above video is the result. The audio track is taken from an audience recording of an NYC show from '88, shoved out into the public domain and left on archive.org. The images are largely a combination of Creative Commons images sourced from Flickr and scraps of cutting-room-floor footage from the BBC's 'Digital Revolution' doc, plus a few other bits to pad it out.

The video is probably a little scrappy, both in audio quality and in the state of the editing (both feel free to diss it in the comments), but I hope that it can make for a slight contribution to the range of other content on YouTube that serves to give those that never listened to the man a chance to do so. I also hope that for those that know him or his work well, they'll feel that this humble clip is a worthy tribute, however slight.

RIP Gil.