links for 2007-04-01
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Nifty tool for adding all sorts of effects (from slideshows to frames, etc.) to Flickr photos and sets.
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Yes, yes, Justin.tv is all Justin, all the time. One man and a bloody camera attached somewere to his person, streaming video 24/7. Supposedly nothing edited out. Reality tv online … just what we needed.
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Yes, older people like videogames, too. (Is this really news?)
Law and Order’s LonelyGirl15 Episode
I’m not a huge Law and Order watcher, and I’ve no idea how far the Australian schedule differs from the US one, but I was fascinated to hear (somewhat after the fact) that in November last year the Criminal Intent version of the tv franchise featured an episode which built directly on hype around LonelyGirl15.
The episode — and the fictional videoblog series — was called ‘Weeping Willow’ (instead of lonelygirl15) and instead of YouTube it was said to feature on ‘YouLenz’. I’d love to see the episode and will hunt it down one day, but what I found really impressive was the fact that the videoblog episodes created for Law and Order (still) appear online; check them out at FreeWillow17.com. These videoblog clips mimic the style and substance of lg15 really well; from the (early) dynamic between Bree and Jonas to the use of a handpuppet and the bedroom set. It was a little odd to see Buffy’s little sister (MichelleTrachtenberg) playing a character called Willow, but these are really well produced clips nevertheless.
If anyone knows when this episode will screen in Australia, please let me know!
links for 2007-03-30
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The Lonelygirl15 Youtube/videblogging sensation has entered the world of product placement, starting with Hershey’s gum.
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Jib Jab return with a funny little animation which – all too accurately – maps the demise of ‘The News’ in the US (and is easily extrapolatable elsewhere…).
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Watch politics through the eyes of participatory culture and collective creativity …
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Georgia Tech, Professor Jim Foleyhas been testing whether students listening to face to face lectures, or reviewing lectures on laptops/iPods learn better. Using class test results, the laptop/iPod group seem to perform 10% better.
links for 2007-03-28
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Death (and other) threats made against blogger Kathy Sierra are just revolting and cruel. (Nor do they appear random, but rather concerted and deliberate, which is all the more disturbing.)
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Ross Mayfield responds to the threats against Kathy Sierra soberly, sharing the concern many of us feel, but also pointing out this isn’t an argument against free speech and anonymity per se.
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Scoble: “I’m physically ill after reading what happened to Kathy Sierra. Maryam and several others here at PodTech asked me about it and are concerned since the same sites that are attacking Kathy also mentioned me and Maryam.”
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danah boyd talks about the threats and hate spech against Kathy Sierra and calls a spade very much a spade. she also (bravely) recounts similar experiences from her past.
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BBC News picks up on the threats: “Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse online. It follows a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog.”
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Frank Paynter’s apology to Kathy Sierra for his part in MeanKids (and Kathy’s responses).
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Doc Searls tries to take a snapshot of the threats against Kathy Sierra, the causes, the people and offers a few words as to why their take anarchy isn’t so useful.
links for 2007-03-27
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Google starts to integrate … everything! It’s totally Epic!
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An excellent three-part essay on comic books and the changing shape of the superhero genre(s).
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“Doctors can greatly improve their stethoscope skills and therefore their ability to diagnose heart problems by listening repeatedly to heartbeats on their iPods.” (Drs accuracy doubles after 5 minutes with iPod recordings! Hmmm.)
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“The arch of an eyebrow or the curve of a lip tells chimps a lot about each other, in a finding that may give scientists new understanding about the evolution of human communication, researchers report.” (Donna Haraway will be pleased!)
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I know Ask A Ninja and OKGo … the rest are new to me. No stats on how many votes, though!
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UK man Kevin Whitrick logged into a chatroom, stated he was going to hang himself, turned on a webcam – was egged on by some, a few tried to talk him out of it – and then he hanged himself with a live webcam showing the whole thing.
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“You’ve heard of iPod – now welcome to iGod. High-tech vicar Reverend Clay Nelson is taking his sermons virtual. The Auckland vicar has been releasing weekly addresses from St Matthew-in-the-city through the internet for almost a year.”
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The Children of Húrin will be released worldwide on 17 April, with Tolkien’s son completing the unfinished work begun by his father more than half a century ago.
‘Ghosts of blogging’?
In light of the recent tragic chatroom/webcam suicide, I wondered what an article “Ghosts of blogging haunt net cemetery” might have to say about the role of blogs after a blogger’s life. Alas, this has to be one of the worst, ignorant, mainstream-media puff pieces in a long time:
In the latest entry on her personal weblog, Lindsay Lohan, the hard-partying Hollywood actress, was in characteristically bubbly form. “Hey guys, I’m soooo sooo sorry I haven’t written in a while!!” she wrote. She was heading off to New York for two days of photo-shoots, then to Toronto in Canada for a week of filming, then back to Los Angeles again. The entry ended: “I just wanted to check in, I’ll try and write more … xx LL.” It has been a long wait for any Lohan fans who may be hoping for an update. That entry was posted on October 15, 2003.
Lohan’s blog has since taken its place in the internet’s fastest-growing graveyard – of an estimated 200 million blogs that have been started, then abandoned.
The extraordinary failure rate of online diaries and claims that interest in blogging will soon begin a precipitous slide are sparking an intriguing debate about the future of self-expression on the internet and whether blogs, once seen as revolutionary, are destined to become a footnote in the history of computing.
To the embarrassment of millions of internet users – from Hollywood celebrities such as Lohan, Melanie Griffith and Barbra Streisand to countless ordinary parents, workers and would-be poets – the evidence of failed diary-keeping cannot be easily erased from search engines that continue to provide links to blogs that have lain dormant for years.
This article clearly commits many of the most juvenile mistakes about writing regarding blogs — no, not all blogs are online diaries; no, celebrities who blog are no more typical of bloggers than they are of people — but even a journalist who has never read a blog should feel a little silly making the leap to describing the ‘extraordinary failure rate’ of blogs. Or are blogs, unlike regular diaries, or pretty much any other form of narrative or writing – the only form which is supposed to be endless? Blogs have been around for a long time and, like most other things, many blogs have had their natural lifespan, dictated by the purpose for which they were originally constructed. Some blogs are used in education – and thus often have a lifespan of a semester or two; some are issue-driven and may end when that issue is resolved; indeed some are diaries, but like hardcopy diaries, they tend to get left behind after a few years.
All of those gripes aside, the article did make two good points: firstly, that the exponential rise of blogging has to slow soon (because exponential means, quite literally, that there would have to be more blogs than people within a few years at recent growth rates); and secondly that citizens of a digital culture may be shifting their focus to other platforms like YouTube and MySpace. That’s not really an argument about the death of blogging, though – it’s more testimony to the maturing of the world of social software in that many more options available for those many networks of interest and friendship which life online can facilitate.
Of course, I wonder why no one writes about how many MySpace profiles are abandoned? (Far be it from me to points out that the same folk that own MySpace own The Australian).
I guess one has to ask The Australian, if blogs are on the decline, why does your blog section keep growing?
links for 2007-03-24
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Rubel notes a new report that suggests 74% of blogspot blogs are spam. That’s pretty huge. I guess Google will have to do something, but as someone who has several inactive blogs I don’t want deleted, I hope it’s a measured response!
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The Daily Show’s take on the ViaCom lawsuit against YouTube. Rather silly, but quite funny.
links for 2007-03-23
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If nothing else the research papers on Second Life have great titles! 🙂
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Want to test out real-time voice in Second Life? You can!
links for 2007-03-22
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Hear Will Wright talking about his new game (in development), SPORE, as well as its inspirations including particular models of teaching and learning!
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Jimmy Wales talks the Wikipedia on Australia’s Radio National. Available as streaming audio or a direct download. [MP3 Link]
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Get Firefox and IE seach bar plugins for the University of Western Australia (UWA) library.
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OurMedia turns two. Happy Birthday! The growth of this social media website and community has been slow but steady. In the long run, using the Internet Archive as its repository will no doubt ensure its longevity.
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Mark Glaser asks about the future of audio podcasting in the face of video podcasting’s meteoric rise in popularity. Lots of good questions, but he aruges there will always be a substantial place for the audio-only versions.