Tag Archive for 'culture'

Why the proposed copyright law is bad for you (and me)

I’m running out the door to sign at Book Expo, but I have to put up this assortment of voices denouncing Bill C-61, the new copyright law proposed by the Conservatives earlier this week. Overall, I agree that it’s bad for Canadians and fantastic for Hollywood and the American record labels. Jesse Hirsh appeared on CBC radio and explains why it’s bad in the video below:

Michael Geist has a barrel full of reasons why it’s bad and what you can do about it.

Digital Copyright Canada is on top of the recent developments and Appropriation Art has even put together 51st State, a comic book explaining the real reasons why the minority Conservative government is so eager to ram this bill through Parliament just weeks before it breaks for summer. The pdf comic is fully linked with sources that will debunk the myths about Canadian copyright that the right are using to frame this issue (like how Canada has weak copyright laws, even though Canada is ranked in the top 10 for the best Intellectual Property laws.)

But mostly, the thing that stinks about this bill is the way it’s being introduced: right at the end of this year’s session and with no consultation with ordinary Canadians.

If you own an ipod, surf the web or plan on accessing culture (ie watching movies) in the future. This bill concerns you.

Gotta run and sign some books.

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Bill Moyers throws it down on media reform

Speaking at the National Conference on Media Reform, Bill Moyers outlines the dismal landscape that is mainstream media today, while encouraging all viewers, listeners and readers to demand that the media tells “what we need to know.”

More at alternet.org

Added: Just got back from stumbling on Antonio Lopez’s Mediacology blog where he’s posted a video of Bill Moyers schooling a Fox reporter on how real journalism is done at the NCMR 2008. Check out the video:

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Doodle 4 Google continues in-school branding campaign

A few months ago, I asked if I was the only one troubled by Doodle 4 Google, the in-school marketing campaign art competition put on by the good folks at Google. Since then, over 16, 000 K – 12 students across the United States have spent valuable class time helping Google redesign their logo, just like Dennis Hwang does for special occasions and holidays. Unlike Mr. Hwang, the thousands of students working to “re-design” Google’s logo aren’t paid employees of the corporation. They’re just unpaid labour in Google’s latest marketing campaign to establish brand loyalty in young students, take over the learning and become the curriculum.

Check out the classroom product placement and unquestioning student/teacher adoration for the Google logo in the video below.

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Infesting wisely tonight, er I mean next week, in Toronto

Reluctant media king, author, blogger and web host of the Liam O’Donnell online empire, Jim Munroe is holding a very special screening of his lo-fi classic-to-be, Infest Wisely, to celebrate the release of the DVD of the movie.

Update: the screening is May 15th, not May 8th as I previously thought due to a severe lack of coffee and posting – always a bad combination.

Check out the trailer below:

Jim is one of those unique writers that is able to distill the hype, horror and humor of our evolving tech-obsessed culture and boil it down to reveal the civil liberty erasing bones beneath the glossy 2.0 surface. And he does it with little or no money and with a completely open source and creative commons powered agenda that makes a creative like me stand back in wonder. The route he’s taken to produce and release Infest Wisely is only the latest example.

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Hello Kitty Online players must sing for their beta

Like many folks following virtual worlds for kids, I was pleasantly surprised when Sanrio announced they were to release a Hello Kitty virtual world, Hello Kitty Online. And probably like many vw folks, I signed up for a beta account. Clearly, I’m not in the Hello Kitty demographic, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from checking out the world. However, the powers that be at SanrioTown have other plans.

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Am I the only one troubled by Doodle 4 Google?

From a search of the web on Doodle 4 Google, it looks like I might be. Is anyone wondering about how elementary students and high schoolers spending valuable, publicly funded, class time helping Google redraw their logo benefits students’ learning? Not that I can find.

Google and all its apps are great learning tools that definitely improve student learning. But tools are meant to be used. Through Doodle 4 Google, it’s the students and schools that are being used.

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Friday night with Y! Live

y02938nd.gifY! Live, Yahoo’s new streaming video service, launched last night and thanks to my resident early adopter, I was there to watch it all unfold. As I watched hundreds of people from around the world broadcast their own live video streams and chat to each other, I realized that something very important was happening.

Y! Live isn’t the first live videostreaming chat site, but with the reach of Yahoo to back it up, it will definitely be the one to grab the Facebook crowd. But first it’s got some serious privacy and user control issues to deal with.

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MinyanLand to sell free-market gospel to kids

In the wake of the sub-prime mortgage disasters in the US, the crashing of stock markets around the world, and the already upon us, I mean, approaching recession, it’s refreshing to know that those kooky free market, pull yourself up from your bootstraps, capitalists over at Minyanville are launching their very own virtual world for children. Did I say refreshing? I meant terrifying.

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