‘Free Culture’
June 5th, 2008Lawrence Lessig’s final ‘Free Culture’ speech, which took place on January 31st 2008 in Stanford University, was a stirring ‘call to arms’ for the continuation of the Creative Commons movement he founded 10 years previously. Lessig has decided to shift the emphasis of his energetic input to what he perceives to be a more urgent issue, that of ‘corruption in Washington’. He used the platform to deliver an impassioned communique which succinctly highlighted the essence of what he has selflessly focused on for the last decade. I wish him well.
In this, his ‘resignation’ speech, Lawrence Lessig has offered a very personal view of the state of the World Wide Web as he now sees it. Included within his presentation are clips from various sources to help illustrate his point of view. At one point, images of the Iraq war with dubbed commentary are shown. This highlights the dilemma:
By my inclusion of this video piece, am I also taking a political stance?
Can it be inferred that I also support Lessig’s views on global issues beyond that of web issues?
What ‘risk’ have I just taken for including this material?
Will it have unforeseen consequences for my supervisors who may not know that I have uploaded this and, in turn, my University?
From my perspective, I just wanted to let people know that the web ‘guru’ isn’t at all happy with current developments and that people might be interested in why. The irony is that my University has no knowledge that I have now included this link to my blog. If they did, what might they do? Who within the institution might be asked to ‘deal’ with it? Who might the person be who asks the ‘person’ to deal with it? …and so on.
Views on this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Apture
June 4th, 2008I have discovered an interesting new application called Apture. This free communication tool which is easy to use has the potential to enhance your blog by turning static pages into a rich multimedia experience via links to related videos, articles etc.
Reviews have been mixed with some dismissing it as ‘clutter most suited to teen pages’ while others view it as the way forward for the online integration experience. Apture is the latest evolution of the ‘HyperCard‘ and ‘Snap‘ innovations and I haven’t as yet had much time to explore its potential but I am looking forward to discovering its possibilities. Will keep you informed.
Apture Getting Started Tutorial from Tristan Harris on Vimeo
University of the Arts London
May 22nd, 2008I have been looking at various Art & Design websites for consideration as case studies for my PhD. I would recommend that all interested parties take a look at the University of the Arts London. The website is both informative and visually stimulating, facilitating live webcasts, a media player which incorporates a tagging system, a function which enables students to upload their profile and images to create their online degree show and much much more…
This is an example of how the integration of new technologies can enhance university web design but the big questions for me are:
Who dictates the content?
How is it managed?
How can it be improved?
I will endeavor to find out and keep you posted!
N.B If you just want to feast your eyes on something truly inspirational check out the London College of Fashion Graduate Exhibition 2008
Prosumer
May 19th, 2008I came across the term ‘Prosumer’ during the course of my research. It was coined in 1980 by futurist Alvin Toffler in ‘The Third Wave’, but has increasingly been applied to the Web 2.0 collaborative processes where users unite to create products to meet their demands. Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia, although flawed are all good examples of this concept.
Second Life is perceived as being the ultimate prosumer’s site and the number of residents in this virtual world (13,670,970 million to date) is evidence of its popularity. Philip Rosedale who founded Second Life intended that his online collaborative community would advance the human condition, but unfortunately it is a consequence free world which in turn appears to encourage the negative as well as the positive aspects of the human condition. However Second Life has the potential for excellence as a learning source and with many universities, libraries, galleries etc embracing this technology it is hoped that:
“The web will work for us best when the power of mass collaboration orders the chaos of mass self expression.”
(’We think: Mass innovation not mass production’, Profile Books Limited, London, 2008. p.36)
