links for 2007-07-08
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“A young German entrepreneur has won a legal battle against internet behemoth Google on the use of its “Gmail” brand for free electronic mail service. Google The regional court in the northern city of Hamburg ruled that Google may not…”
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Whether business or academia, how could this not be funny? 😉
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“We should have predicted this. Second Life entrepreneur Kevin Alderman has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Second Life resident Volkov Catteneo. This is apparently the first time an avatar has sued another avatar in the virtual world.”
links for 2007-07-06
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“During these “wilderness years”, it was Doctor Who fandom that was engaged in producing new stories for the franchise. I don’t think there’s been another SF TV fandom in history that’s had such an amazing opportunity to take control …”
Facebook and Australian Politics?
Over the past month I’ve suddenly seen Facebook grow from an oddity to something on which the majority of my university-based friends appear. Since I spent some of yesterday pondering the oddities of US politics and digital culture, I thought I’d spend a little of today looking at Australian politics. For those of you not in the know, Australia has what amounts to a two-party political system, divided between Liberal (close to Republican/Tory parties) and Labor (close to the Democrat/UK Labor parties); the Liberal party is led by John Howard, who is our current Prime Minister, while the Labor party, after many years of leadership ambiguity, is led by Kevin Rudd.
Unlike the US (and a lesser extent the UK), mainstream press and politics in Australia really hasn’t embraced either the blogosphere or social networking as a means of promotion or gaining support (and Australian politicians can’t and don’t fund-raise in the explicit way US politicians do). That said, younger voters are clearly looking for some sort of connection with the political sphere, even if its not done through the same rhetoric of civil participation that comes through the US education and advocacy systems. So, that said, is either Australia’s Prime Minster or his Labor rival on Facebook? The answer, initially, appears yes to both, although after some scrutiny, the answer changes to yes for Rudd and no for John Howard – there are, in fact, three Howards, but all are fake.
Of the three Howards, two are obvious fakes, while one is more subtle, but still not authentic. Since this is a fun moment to think about digital literacy, I’ve taken screenshots of the three Howard profiles and circled in red the most obvious indicators that these aren’t authentic pages.
and John Howard #3 …
In contrast, Kevin Rudd’s Facebook page is rather dull, but clearly authentic. (I’ve just made a friend request, so if there’s anything exciting in friends-only land, I’ll write a little more.) It is worth noting that comments which cast John Howard as a sexual or ‘hot’ figure are unambiguously meant to be satirical, in contrast to the clips from the US mentioned yesterday which, while playful, aren’t necessarily ironic (although they might be, especially Hott4Hill).
links for 2007-07-05
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Print this before you start spending time in Second Life, it’ll make your life a lot easier!
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“Researchers are developing methods to dampen or wipe out specific memories.” (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind anyone?)
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“Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip since March, has been handed over by his Islamist captors to ruling Hamas officials…”
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“I’m hoping the scientific community continues to go off like a fire alarm in a hotel, … and that that will do the trick. If they do, the democracies, the political leadership…will all recognize that this is a real threat.”
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Apparently TV advertising is just as effective at ‘fast forward’ speed! (Ahem, but are they deadly … Blipvert!)
Putting the Sex (back) into American Politics?
The process by which different US Democrats and Republicans vie for the right to be their party’s candidate for presidency has always fascinated me (admittedly, from afar, safe in the knowledge I don’t need to vote for any of these people). The race for 2004 bought out some impressive efforts in participatory culture (remember Jib Jab’s ‘This Land’?), and this years’ Hillary 1984 video promised more in the race for 2008. While the creativity is definitely out there, one trend which has been a little unexpected is the “I’ve got a crush on…” videos attached to the Democrat candidates.
First there was the self-styled ‘Obama Girl’ with her “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama” video:
The clip and the Obama Girl herself have gained a fair amount of attention in US media, most of which is linked to from Obama Girl’s website. The girl in the clip – Amber Lee Ettinger – didn’t create the concept (or sing the song; she’s lip-synching) but has become one of the key faces in Obama’s campaign. The story behind Obama Girl is found at the Barely Political website. Now, along similar lines but a little more disturbingly, Chuck Tryon has drawn my attention to the “Hott4Hill featuring Taryn Southern” clip, which runs a fine line between representing Hillary Clinton as a politician or a sexual icon(!):
And, of course, there’s a Hott4Hill blog to emphasise Taryn Southern’s efforts.While I’m still thinking about how all of this works (and wonder if these clips have the potential to damage campaigns as much as make them appealing for younger proto-voters) you might want to have a read of ‘The Power and Playfulness of Parody: Obama, Hip Hop and Misunderstanding’ by Bernie Heidkamp in Pop Politics which gives some context and perspective to the Obama Girl clip.
links for 2007-07-04
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For anyone who loved Dune … He who controls the spice controls the universe … LOLCATS style! 🙂 [Via GardnerC]
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“Blogger Backup is a small open-source Windows tool that, well, backups the posts and comments from a Blogger blog.”
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Funny! By Doug Haslam.[See large view for detail.]
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“iPhone theme for WordPress. Something a bit different! This theme is inspired by the new Apple iPhone, and is built on the infamous K2 structure. The iPhone theme has a single column design with sidebar information presented below the posts.”
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