Podcamp Perth Wrapup
Last weekend was Australia's first Podcamp, right here in Perth. It was pretty good with an engaging mix of tech, talk and interesting folks. I don't have time to hunt down all the many, many blogposts and photos from Podcamp, but Simone van Hattem links to most of them in her blog, or else you can check Technorati or Flickr. I was intending to add audio to my presentation slides, but the audio didn't quite eventuate. However, Stewart Greenhill did an excellent job capturing video of many of the Podcamp sessions, and so if anyone wants to hear the session on Podcasting in Education which was led by Sue Waters and I, here you go:
(Yes, I do use a lot of gestures!)
For those who prefer a static image, here's one picture of me attempting a 'Presentation 2.0' style of slides mainly because I wanted to try something a bit different (but also to keep my co-presenter Sue happy):
I also rather like this photo, of white and black Macs at play:
(Photos by CW.)
PS Yes, it's October 31st, but, no, most Australian don't celebrate Halloween. However, if we did, I'd definitely give the most candy to anyone who knocked on my door who was geeky enough to be wearing this.
links for 2007-10-31
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I think Dan Gillmor's retort is most appropriate: "But his publications and broadcast outlets have done more to poison the public sphere than any other media empire, by far. This is not heroic..."
links for 2007-10-29
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Young Bill Adama fights one-on-one with an OLD STYLE CYLON CENTURION!
[Better Quality Torrent] -
"I wasn't able to catch the recent CSI:NY / Second Life crossover, but thankfully other bloggers were on the case. Here's a link-dump from around the blogosphere about this TV / virtual-world mashup..."
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"Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded the skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated it. Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz. ..."
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Is the Joss Whedon-helmed Buffy Season 8 comic book a harbinger of the shape of comics to come, with TV names embracing corss-media and drawing more readers to comic books than the usual demographic?
Creative Commons New Zealand
A hearty congratulations to the Aotearoa New Zealand Creative Commons folk who announced yesterday that they've successfully ported the Creative Commons licenses to the Aotearoa New Zealand legal system!
Podcamp Perth
So, as I'm sure you remember, Australia's first Podcamp happens today in Perth. It's a free event and is held at Central TAFE in East Perth, so if you're just remembering now, please still feel free to come along! Sue Waters and I are facilitating a session on Podcasting in/as Education at some point during the day (we sort the actual schedule out first thing in the morning). Here and the few slides I'll be using:
| View | Upload your own
There aren't that many slides, as the whole point of an unconference is that everyone participates, so the sessions should be a lot more like a conversation that just presentations. My understanding is that the short presentation bits are really to help focus the conversation, not dominate it.
To check in on the blogging and podcasting during the day, and afterwards, watch the tag "podcampperth07".
Tale of Mighty Rudd Ascension
As the description tells us, "Short propaganda philosophy tells tale of mighty Rudd ascension" ...
Without a doubt, one of the best political satires, and mashups, of the 2007 Federal Election campaign thus far. And, yes, for those who watch The 7.30 Report, I am getting YouTube pointers from Michael Brissenden these days. After all, he's a keen YouTube watcher himself now; as last night's report said:
The 2007 election will be remembered as the YouTube campaign - the first time the internet became a real force. Both sides are exploiting cyber space relentlessly but as we have seen already, the net is not always such a comfortable place for politicians.
Bring on the political discomfort! 
Update: NineMSN staff writers seem to like this clip, too.
I’m Making Waffles in The United States of Sparta!
I'm entrenched in marking first-year Flash animation projects today, and so have been thinking about creativity in various ways, but without much time to blog. So, I thought I'd share two YouTube clips which have made me laugh this morning, instead.
The first clip is 1776... ... which is what the US War of Independence would look like if produced by the creative team behind 300. Apparently this was created by the Robot Chicken folks. It's very funny. "Tonight we dine in VIR-GIN-I-A!" [Via Cynical-C]
The second is a wonderful mashup of Shrek and The Queen which tells the tale of a most unlikely romance:
Thanks to Gregg Rossen for the link to this Queen and Donkey clip!
links for 2007-10-23
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"MySpace, the website that redefined the meaning of friends in cyberspace, is showing signs of fatigue, with latest figures indicating that Australians - or at least hip ones - are deserting it for rival Facebook."
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"A poll by The Times of 3000 fans who bought the album found the average price paid was £4 ($9.20) ... On those figures, on the first day alone, the band would have collected more than $10 million, and by cutting out the middle man..."
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Jason Mittell ponders how much authority J.K. Rowling.has over the Potterverse now the books are complete. Is outing Dumbledore canon or fanon? Is it more than a little disappointing being gay really wasn't explicitly discussed in the books at all?
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According to Cory Doctorow, Bloodspell is "the first feature-length machinima film, made entirely with a game-engine, and it's a pioneering and important start for a new industry." (Free download, too!)
Australia Bans ‘Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back’ Videogame
As Asher Moses reports in The Age, Australia's censors have banned yet another videogame:
Australia's draconian classification regime for video games has taken yet another scalp, with local retailers banned from selling the upcoming shooter title Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back. The highly anticipated game, which was to be released on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, was refused classification by the Classification Board for being too violent. Aside from Singapore, which is reviewing its classification system, Australia is understood to be the only country in the western world that does not have an R18+ rating for games. As a result, games that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale. This is despite recent figures from the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) showing the average Australian gamer is 28, and over 50 per cent of gamers are over the age of 18.
While Solider of Fortune: Pay Back certain sounds very violent, the decision by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) should, of course, have placed this game in an R18+ category, if only Australia had such a rating for games. Instead, games like this are refused classification altogether, implicitly suggesting that videogames are meant for kids (by having no adult game category) despite, as Moses notes above, the average age for gamers being well over 18 in Australia! Really, it's time for the OFLC (and the Governors General at State and Federal levels, who'd need to push such a plan) to take note of the actual demographics of game players in Australia, and update the ratings system accordingly.
Of course, as comments on The Age's Screen Play Blog suggest, officially banning this game will likely result in it being downloaded illegally or simply purchased overseas - and legally - in pretty much any other English-speaking country.
links for 2007-10-21
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The third minisode/webisode leading up to Battlestar Galactica: Razor. See young Bill Adama dogfighting with original Cylon raiders! [Better Quality Torrent]
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