20Aug/09
Digital Culture Links: August 20th 2009
Links for August 15th 2009 through August 20th 2009:
- iiNet uses Telecommunications Act to boost copyright case [Australian IT] - "iiNet has put two new lines of legal defence before the Federal Court in its bid to stop a group of entertainment companies suing it for copyright infringement. ... barrister Richard Cobden today ventured a new defence in which he revealed the ISPs intent to argue that bowing to AFACT's demands to disconnect the customers for "unproven allegations of copyright breaches" would itself be in breach of privacy provisions of the Telecommunications Act. Mr Cobden also told the court that the ISP intended to argue that any steps AFACT required it to take could not be considered reasonable unless its rivals in the telecommunications sector were also asked to pursue them. ... iiNet said: "There are very good public policy reasons why ISPs cannot use their customers' information in the manner AFACT has demanded. "The existing law currently provides a process for investigating copyright theft or any other illegal activity using the internet, requiring court orders, warrants and due process."
- Liskula Cohen Forces Google To Reveal Anonymous 'Skank' Blogger's Identity [SMH] - "A former Vogue Australia cover girl has won a landmark court battle to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who called her a "skank" and an "old hag". Model Liskula Cohen sued Google in January in the hope of forcing the company to reveal the person responsible for allegedly defamatory comments on a blog called Skanks in NYC, which was hosted by Google's Blogger service." (While I don't believe anyone is really anonymous online, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with the precedent this sets with Google being forced to release user details.)
- Video gamers 'older than thought' [BBC NEWS | Technology] - "The average age of an adult video game player is 35 - higher than previously thought, a US study suggests."
12Jun/09
Annotated Digital Culture Links: June 12th 2009
Links for June 10th 2009 through June 12th 2009:
- Find Creative Commons Images in Google Image Search [Google OS] - "Google Image Search added the option to restrict the results to images that are licensed using Creative Commons, a list of flexible licenses that allow content creators to share their works with the world. The options aren't yet available in the interface, but you can use the search box below to find images that are licensed using some of the most popular Creative Commons licenses..." (I'm looking forward to this being implemented in the advanced search options, it'll make finding CC images even easier!)
- UK CVN Killer Flu - Killer Flu game; not bad at breaking past the pandemic hype and seeing how different types of flu can and can't spread and mutate: "Killer Flu!! Or, maybe, “non-killer flu” to describe the current outbreak of swine flu! Here is a game that allows you to learn more about how the influenza virus is transmitted and how it changes every year - which explains why you can get more than one dose of the flu over your lifetime and why vaccines need changing every year. We also hope it will be a bit of fun."
- Facebook racial taunts [WA Today] - "A rapidly expanding social networking site has been slammed for its racist taunts against immigrants to Australia. The Facebook Group, F*** Off, We’re Full, has nearly 65,000 members and believes any immigrants coming to Australia must adapt to what it calls the ‘Aussie lifestyle.’ “This idea of Australia being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity,” the site states. “As Australians, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle.” The website is full of debate on its discussion board. The latest topics put up for comment include: Will Indian race-rioters be hunted down? and All foreigners need to be euthanised." (Another disheartening reminder that racism is all too alive in this day and age.)
- Twitterers defy China's firewall [BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific] - "On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen killings, social networking sites such as Twitter and the photo-sharing site Flickr were blocked in China in an attempt by the government to prevent online discussion on the subject. But Chinese twitterers proved that there are ways to get round the great firewall of China. ... Besides the Tiananmen anniversary itself, what seemed to be most important to Chinese twitterers was the blocking of sites. Advice on how to access Twitter - by using a proxy, VPN (virtual private network) or Hotspot shield - spread around quickly. While some were clearly annoyed at this interference, others did not lose their sense of humour. One user congratulated his fellow twitterers with "Happy Chinese Internet Maintenance Day!"."
8Jan/09
Annotated Digital Culture Links: January 8th 2009
Links for January 7th 2009 through January 8th 2009:
- How to Use Twitter for Marketing and PR (Good advice.)
- Apple Drops Anticopying Measures in iTunes [NYTimes.com] - In moves that will help shape the online future of the music business, Apple said Tuesday that it would remove anticopying restrictions on all of the songs in its popular iTunes Store and allow record companies to set a range of prices for them. Beginning this week, three of the four major music labels — Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — will begin selling music through iTunes without digital rights management software, or D.R.M., which controls the copying and use of digital files. The fourth, EMI, was already doing so. In return, Apple, whose dominance in online music sales gives it powerful leverage, agreed to a longstanding demand of the music labels and said it would move away from its insistence on pricing all individual song downloads on iTunes at 99 cents. Instead, the majority of songs will drop to 69 cents beginning in April, while the biggest hits and newest songs will go for $1.29. Others that are moderately popular will remain at 99"
- Raid Gaza! Editorial Games and Timeliness [News Games: Georgia Tech Journalism & Games Project] - "Raid Gaza! is a new editorial game about the Gaza crisis. Like editorial games should, it takes a strong position. But unlike so many, it also offers coherent gameplay that is related to the conflict it critiques. ... The game is headstrong, suffering somewhat from its one-sided treatment of the issue at hand. But as an editorial, it is a fairly effective one both as opinion text and as game. It is playable and requires strategy, the exercise of which carries the payload of commentary. It's release on user-contributed animation and games portal Newgrounds came on 30 December 2008, only three days after the Israeli Defense Forces launched airstrikes as a part of "Operation Cast Lead." The rapidness with which the game was developed, combined with its relatively sophisticated ability to mount commentary through gameplay, underscore one of the biggest issues with editorial games."
2Oct/08
Annotated Links of Interest: October 2nd 2008
Links of interest for October 1st 2008 through October 2nd 2008:
- Google Search 2001 - To celebrate Google's 10th birthday they've gone back in time and worked with the Internet Archive to let you search the 2001 web ... YouTube is a nonsense word, 'blog' only returns 76,400 hits and Facebook has just under 1800 results!
- EA Downplays Spore’s DRM Triggered Piracy Record [TorrentFreak] - Despite credible estimates that Spore has been downloaded over a million times via bittorrent networks, EA are playing down these figures and, in a turnabout for a big media producer, are arguing that not every download would have represented a legitimate sale were bittorrent not around (something many downloaders have been arguing about p2p film and even tv for years). Despite EA's PR spin, it seems likely DRM is one of the big things nudging fans into downloading the Spore (and bypassing the DRM altogether).
- Blizzard wins Warcraft bot payout [BBC NEWS | Technology] - "World of Warcraft creator Blizzard has won $6m (£3.36m) in damages from the makers of a software 'bot'. The damages award comes after Blizzard won the first round of its legal battle against MDY Industries in July 2008. Blizzard embarked on the case against MDY claiming that the World of Warcraft Glider software produced by the small company infringed its copyright. The Glider software lets Warcraft players automate many of the repetitive steps the game involves. ... it helped them automate the many repetitive tasks, such as killing monsters and scavenging loot, required to turn low level characters into more powerful ones."
23Aug/08
Links for August 22nd 2008
Interesting links for August 21st 2008 through August 22nd 2008:
- Monkey Magic - Karen Lury / University of Glasgow [Flow TV, 8.06] - Playful and engaging reading of the BBC Monkey-style BBC Opening for the Olympic Games: "A playful, irreverent choice then: a trailer that reverses a mythic journey (from West to East) and which pays overt homage to a cult TV series that was never - in any coherent sense - an ‘authentic’ reflection or interpretation of Chinese culture or mythology. ... The animation itself reproduces certain static poses and a colour scheme that may have been inspired by Chinese illustration and Japanese Manga; but for Hewlett fans, this is recognisably a Hewlett world – a world that is both menacing and cute (and where ‘cute’ is revealingly close to its roots in the freakish world of the side-show). It is funny and slightly unsettling as Pigsy smirks provocatively or when Monkey opens his mouth to reveal his dirty and surprisingly sharp teeth."
- Tiger Woods Responds to Fan's YouTube Video [Micro Persuasion] - "This video response is brilliant marketing on the part of Electronic Arts and Tiger Woods. A fan posted on YouTube that it's possible for Woods to hit a golf ball in Tiger Woods 08 while walking on water. How does Tiger react? By showing how it's done and promoting Tiger Woods 09 in the process. It shows they listen and bring in the big guns to engage."
- Digital futures report: the internet in Australia [CCI] - "This report provides an overview of our work, presenting results for each of the questions asked. We will also be publishing work that examines relationships between our key variables exploring, for example, differences between users with broadband access at home and those on dial-up connections and the differences that age, gender and education levels make to people’s use and experience of the internet. Analysis we have already conducted shows that broadband does make a substantial difference to peoples’ use of the internet. The internet is more highly valued by those with broadband connections and they use the internet for longer and for a greater variety of purposes. Younger people have been quick to integrate the internet into their lives, they use the internet more and particularly for entertainment." [Full Report PDF]
- Few lives left for Second Life [The Age] - "Separately, figures released by the virtual world's creator Linden Lab in April show there are only 12,245 active Australian Second Life users, down from highs of 16,000 towards the end of last year. ... Australians appear to have lost interest in Second Life and the users still there appear to be shying away from the big corporate brands. Kim MacKenzie, a PhD student at the Queensland University of Technology, centred her honours year thesis around the business applications of Second Life. She studied the Second Life bases of 20 international brands over three months last year, including Dell, Toyota, Coca-Cola, BMW, AOL and Vodafone. "They were like ghost towns," said MacKenzie, adding that many of the users she saw on the company islands appeared to be staff members." (A significant rebuttal of the information and argument in this article can be found at Personalize Media.
- For YouTube videos, a 'fair use' boost [News.com] - "Copyright owners, such as NBC Universal, Warner Bros., and Viacom, were put on notice Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that they must not order video be removed from Web sites indiscriminately. Before taking action against a clip, copyright owners, must form a "good-faith belief " that a video is infringing, according to Corynne McSherry, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "
- Poor earning virtual gaming gold [BBC NEWS | Technology] - "Nearly half a million people are employed in developing countries earning virtual goods in online games to sell to players, a study has found. Research by Manchester University shows that the practice, known as gold-farming, is growing rapidly. Researchers say the industry, which is largely based in China, currently employs about 400,000 young people who earn £80 per month on average." (Good article, but really, "playbourers"?)
- Up, Up, and Away? Separating Fact from Fiction in the Comic Book Business [Alisa Perren / Georgia State University - Flow TV 8.06] - A timely look at the relationship between comic book sales and the blockbuster movies they've been driving so successfully this year: "Myth #1: Comic-Con is all about comics. From its inception in 1970 well into the 1990s, this was largely the case. However, in recent years, the Hollywood studios increasingly have focused their energies on using the annual event as a means of promoting upcoming films and television programs. ... Myth #2: Since movies based on comics are all the rage, comic books must be selling like crazy."
- iTunes blocked in China after protest stunt [WA Today] - "Access to Apple's online iTunes Store has been blocked in China after it emerged that Olympic athletes have been downloading and possibly listening to a pro-Tibetan music album in a subtle act of protest against China's rule over the province. The album, called Songs for Tibet, was produced by an a group called The Art of Peace Foundation, and features 20 tracks from well-known singers and songwriters including Sting, Moby, Suzanne Vega and Alanis Morissette. It was released as a download on the iTunes Store on August 5 - three days before the start of the Olympics - with the physical CD launched on Tuesday this week. The Foundation provided free downloads of the album to Olympic athletes, urging them to play the songs on their iPods during the Games as a show of support."
27Jun/08
Links for June 27th 2008
Interesting links for June 21st 2008 through June 27th 2008:
- Simpsons Map for Quake III Arena [YouTube] - A fantastically detailed mashup, bringing 3D textures from the Simpsons into Quake III. [Via Waxy]
- Is YouTube truly the future? [SMH] - Henry Jenkins and John Hartley give their take on the "pre-history" of YouTube, looking at DIY culture more broadly, including punk, zines and fandom, arguing for a deeper conception of participatory culture than just YouTube.
- Monster mash gives ad boss nightmares [The Age] - "More than 6000 spoof ads made by viewers have been uploaded to the website for an ABC television series about the advertising industry, delivering the state broadcaster the kind of viewer participation that would be the envy of the commercial world."
- Half UK web videos are from YouTube [WatchingTV Online] - Comscore:"During March, 48% of the 3.5 billion web videos watched in the UK came from Google sites, of which 99% were from YouTube.... The BBC only has 1.2% share of the video viewing market despite the launch of the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service. "
- Spore Creature Creator Trial - Download the first tool from Will Wright's next gaming masterpiece ... Spore! Make your creatures now and be ready to unleash them! (Check the specs - this one's resources hungry!)
- Star Wars Crawl - Make a custom Star Wars Intro - Make you own opening crawl, Star Wars style. Come on, who hasn't thought about doing this at some point in their (geeky) life?
- NASA spacecraft finds ice on Mars [ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)] - "The Mars Phoenix Lander has found ice on the surface of the Red Planet, NASA scientists say, in a key discovery for the spacecraft as it searches for water and signs of life on Earth's closet planetary neighbour."
19May/08
Links for May 19th 2008
Interesting links for May 18th 2008 through May 19th 2008:
- Positive or Not - Think you can tell if someone has HIV? - An educational game in the style of 'Hot or Not?' which challenges preconceptions about people with the HIV virus. [Via NY Times]
- Ikea Stuff Pack for Sims 2 Confirmed [Ad Lab] - When an IKEA extension pack is released for The Sims 2, it's hard to tell where the game ends and the advertising begins ... or if that distinction means anything at all at this point!
- Dollhouse - FOX's second trailer - Joss Whedon [Dollverse] - The trailer for Joss Whedon's new TV series, where the best bits of Blade Runner, Minority Report, Dark Angel, The Pretender and Buffy merge and mix in the questionable tales of 'programmable' humans!
6Apr/08
Links for April 6th 2008
Interesting links for April 6th 2008:
- Study: Violent Games Relax Players [Next Generation - Interactive Entertainment Today, Video Game and Industry News - Home of Edge Online] - "People who play violent videogames online generally feel more relaxed and less angry after they have played, according to a new study by psychologists at Middlesex University" (Lets see if this one gets mainstream news coverage!)
- Battlestar Galactica: Join the Fight | Battlestar Galactica Social Network [SCIFI.COM] - The SciFi network have launched the "Battlestar Galactica social gaming experience" ... you can be either human or Cylon (oddly enough). The "game" seems a little clunky in the layout and interface, but I'll have to give it a try...
- The art of the teleprompter [Presentation Zen] - Some interesting thinking about the art of using teleprompters (esp looking at US politicians). John McCain doesn't fare very well!
- How does the new, free online Photoshop match up with its free competition? [OJR] - "In summary, I didn't find any functionality in Photoshop Express that Web users didn't already have available to them in Picasa, Picnik and Splashup."


