Tuesday, September 7, 2010

All the information that was created at the big bang exists, rearranging itself.




Two Rocks

Some thoughts from my Thesis note book...

A rock has it's own presence and purpose as well as a hard drive. I use rocks in the same way that I use hard drives as storage devices for past experiences. I have a unique understanding of the two individual objects, in the hands of another the meaning may change. The uniqueness there for is not a physical attribution of an object but in the meaning an individuals connects to the object. Leading me to the conclusion that the power of knowing is not in the objects themselves but in the mind of the observer that creates new meaning and since we are all uniquely experiencing the objects then our understanding will differ slightly from the next.

The physic experiment where you have a pond and two people with rocks on opposite sides of the pond drop their rocks into the water and wait for the ripples to meet each other in the middle. When they do meet new patterns are formed. Each drop of the rocks will create new patterns each unique. I think the space in the middle of the pond metaphors what I am writing about above, it is the space of the observers mind.

Some sketches...




Sunday, May 16, 2010

4 cords

It is not only the symbols the lyrics project into our minds that attract us to these songs but the four cords that have consistently been a harmony of pleasure for us. Is it formulaic or is the force of information imposing on us? In the case of my thesis I am not interested in the evolution of the symbols but how the symbols have this underlying information that is proliferated by us.





An impressive 38 songs... great job Axis of Awesome!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

COPYRIGHT... what to do, what to do?

The Copyright Act 1790 granted the right to copyright and patent for a limited time to serve a utilitarian function “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for a limited time to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their writings and discoveries.”
Understanding Copyright, citation coming
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html

The impact of emerging technologies (VCRs, Tapes, ect.) lead to congress passing the Copyright Act of 1976 which opened the definition up to a more broad and open-ended interpretation of what materials could be copyrighted. Two requirements for copyrighting material are:

1.the work must be original
2.the work must be fixed in “any tangible medium of expression”

Under these new definitions any thing created can be copyrighted. The doodle you make in the margin of your note book is considered a original fixed work. Materials under copyright would remain outside the public domain for 50 years after the authors death. After that time the works would enter into the public domain and be used by anyone.



In 1998 Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. This was an attempt to update the copyright law for the digital age and extend the term to life of the author plus 70 years and even greater length of time for corporate authorship. The DCMA criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to bypass Digital Rights Management (DRM) software in order to access copyrighted material, whether or not there is actual copyright infringement. DRM software is being used widely by content distributes and is potentially more evasive then current copyright laws. Basically it restricts the user of the content from using technology that they rightfully own. For instance if you own a 5.1 digital surround sound speaker system DRM content can shut off the 5.1 surround sound feature and out put the sound in stereo.



The Pew Internet and american life project found that 74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the internet. In the age range of 18-29 that percentage jumps to 93%. The internet has become our virtual playground where we create our culture instead of passively participate in the culture provided by content distributors. This new playground is still mostly open for interpretation most of our previous laws are not equipped to handle the virtual real and those that have been created are rejected and ignored by the people creating their own culture. This kind of lawlessness is likened to the Wild West. Groups form and support each other using all the social and scholarly advantages the internet has to offer. These groups feeling the limitation created by a broad over reaching copyright law have come up with creative alternatives.

A few for thought:

Open Source the practice of sharing and creating content that is free from copyright and licensing. Widely know in the software industry but is also found in the arts, music and academics.

Connexions
cnx.org is an open source text book website. Watch Richard Baraniuk's presentation on Open Source Learning at TED Talk.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html

Wikipedia is a great example of open source, it is essentially living knowledge that doesn't wait for publishers or special interest groups to approve it's content. Information can be add or removed by scholars who contribute. Each change is recorded with in the page and can be traced to see the evolution of the content. This openness to me allows for a wider understanding in a particular subject regardless of class, religion, sex or race and it is available to all for free. Go and explore and instead of just reading the page click on the tabs at the top and see the process of user generated content.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#Licensing.2C_transfer_and_assignment

Libraries have long been an access point for the public to copyrighted materials. However the new Copyright Laws established in the DCMA have caused considerable difficulties in the process of providing digital copies to their patrons. Once the hurdles of copyright are jumped there is still the problem of digitizing the books. The digitization process serves two purposes to preserve the book in digital form and to grant access to a new generation of technology user who demand digital access. The Google Book project has understood this demand and is currently digitizing a million books in 10 years, of course if the can settle the law suit against them.

"At the University of Michigan, we were digitizing all of our own books faster than any other research library," Bernard said. "But at the rate we were going, it would have taken us about 1,000 years. Google will do it in less than 10 years."
http://www.startribune.com/business/93147534.html


And at last
Creative Commons. A non-profit organization expanding the possible creative licenses that allow the creator to communicate more precisely what others can do with their material. http://creativecommons.org/








Create the copyright that is tailored to you by filling out the form at http://creativecommons.org/choose/

http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/
























Nina Paley is a cartoonist based in San Francisco, she is the creator of feature length animation Sita Sings the Blues, Which she has published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Check out her animations below and visit her blog for more.




Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity at Ted Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

Lessig talks about how we have become a read only culture and how the internet is allowing our children to become a read write culture again. That we should be finding ways to open up content for a generation that doesn't watch content it creates content. The copyright laws have turned information into a commodity that can not be shared or experienced freely. The younger generation is an active participant in their culture and old media sees their acts as an invasion of pirates, whether they create for the fun of it or for money. Freedom of expression and the right to participate in culture should be protected in a democracy, not hindered by corporate goals.

Lessig book Remix: Making Art and commerce thrive in a hybrid economy is available for free download if you want to read more...

Remix Culture

A remix from Lessig's TED talk:






Jonathan McIntosh creator of the blog rebellious pixels and the following remixes.







RiP: A remix manifesto, Brett Gaylor's documentary about remix culture and dealing with copyright in the digital information age. A must watch!!!



For a little fun and just in case you haven't seen it yet...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

My Favorite YouTube Plato's Cave Interpretation

Who is Spider Man?




Robots, Yeah!


Information is free and benefits from re-interpretation.

Artist Sues Photographer for Transformative Photo of Public Artwork, Even though photographer took down the photo.