Lucida Sans Unicode

a roundup of the nicest figures recently published in scientific journals.

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Livagreen is a design consortium for achitects, urban designers, environmentalists, planners, and citizens intended to: provide information to those interested in land use and transportation planning; and build bridges between academia and professional practice using theoretical and practical frameworks of sustainable, systems-oriented environmental design. Thank you for your interest. Feel free to contact us if you have inquiries, suggestions, thoughts, or creative ideas.

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Moore, Marc. "The Travails of Citizen Journalism. PoliGazette. 19 April 2009

This blog haphazardly covers a number of issues surrounding blogging. The writer, Marc Moore, discusses his laborous efforts in covering the Houston Tea Party, held 4/19/09. He goes into detail what he recorded and how he recorded it, describing his phone and digital camera models. Moore endured the difficult task of managing his various devices, digital camera, "multimedia-capable phone", and a pen and pad. He describes maneuvering all of his "equipment" to capture still images, video and notes of the event, not to mention his communication with editor while covering the event. Moore decides to give credit where it is due. He applauds those who have been able to successfully accomplish citizen-field journalism and attesting to the advantages that "professionals" possess in their equipment and support teams. Towards the end of his post though, Moore says that he worries the "integrity" the public associates with professional journalists may be lost in citizen journalism but then counters his point by denouncing CNN and MSNBC's "shameful" coverage.

How appropriate to sight a blog article while discussing the role and validity of blogging in the newsworld. I believe this blog serves as a perfect introduction to many of the issues I'd like to address in my paper. The popularity, through readership and quantity, of citizen journalism/news blogs is undeniable. Moore account of the "tools" he possessed to enable him the role of "field journalist" even if only for this event speaks volumes to how technology is making this form of communication easier. I'd like to use his account as a introduction to discussing the how and why of citizen journalism. Part of the how is through answered with technology, which Moore makes perfect example of through his description of phone and camera. The layman's ability to create quality products (video, image, and audio) through use of their cell phones and digital cameras is absolutley key to citizen journalism, although skill is still required to be a good citizen journalist. Moore makes example of this in opening the blog by expressing his "new respect for field journalism when practiced well." Although Moore credits the professionals to having a "one up" with their equipment, his very blog entry (which links to his coverage amongst other things) accounts for the citizen's ablity to do the same job.

As for the why of citizen journalism, Moore complaint of a trusted and professional network's coverage, is a true testament to the sentiments of many citizens (not just in the USA) about formerly trusted network. Moore addresses the heat CNN's Susan Roesgen took for biased reporting. So although he admits that professionals are perhaps technologically more capable of news reporting, he also lends opinion to why the citizen journalist was created; our former trusted news sources created the amateur journalist and gave rise to blogging.

Drezner, Daniel W. & Farrell, Henry. "Web of Influence". Foreign Policy 145 (2004): 32-40

Drenzel and Henry focus on the power of the blog medium for citizen journalism. Blogs are increasingly acting as catalysts for the mainstream media content. As many other articles have cited, the blog world's attention to Trent Lott's racist commentary is what forced the mainstream media to take notice and provide coverage. Blogging has become so popular now that even mainstream media sources are employing professional bloggers which may be a bit oxymoronic. Drezner and Farrell express concern over these professional mainstream bloggers overpowering the independent bloggers, suggesting that blogging is something that should belong to the people, not the professional.  Blogging is positioned as an adjunct to transnational networking, allowing foreign news to spread fast and far. With the decrease in international press coverage (especially in the USA), blogs written by foreigners help keep the international community connected.

In some cases, bloggers even have an advantage in matters of international coverage. Drezner and Farrell give North Korea as an example, saying that journalists are not allowed entry and when permitted entry are watched closely. A citizen of NK (although blog sites have been censored) or even a non North Korean's ability to enter and comment on the conditions of the state is essential in international news coverage, especially coverage of a state that does not allow foreign press. Countries like Iran, North Korea and China exercise web censorship to prevent their citizens from accessing foreign blogs or creating their own blogs but there are always ways around these things. The point being that established and familiar news sources are easily blocked but blogging and the internet itself creates a useful alternative.

What i think is most interesting is that Drezner and Farrell position blogs as a watchdog for mainstream media, in opposition to omission of information or misinformation. In addition to being an independent news source, blogs are really presented as a part of the whole field of journalism, participating in a sort of checks and balances. If this is a major role that blogs are expected to occupy, the move of traditional media sources into the blogosphere, potentially displacing independent bloggers, would elimininate those checks and balances which could have dangerous repercussions.

The purpose of this project is to analyze the recent phenomenon of citizen journalism. The internet has created a new platform for the creation and distribution of information. The layman or amateur is now able to perform professional functions through news websites, blogs, photo sharing sites, etc. Newsworthy material is no longer guarded by a select few people who the general public must depend on to remain informed. With this new power that the layman has yielded comes responsibility though... or does it? Should the layman be held accountable by the same standards as a traditional journalist, if they are in fact performing the same function? Furthermore, is it really possible for an amateur to perform the same function as a professional? This is to say much of what makes a professional is based on the technology they have access to, a journalist is not simply a journalist simply because he writes or even because he has studied journalism but because he is a part of a recognized industry. Other issues surrounding the move of traditional print news sources move to the internet are to be discussed. What threat do citizen journalists pose to traditional papers' websites? Can anyone really compete with the Washington Post or the New York Times? Perhaps most importantly the question of why citizen journalism became so popular will be addressed. I hypothesize that technology has a great deal to do with it. People create blogs and offer their opinion to the digitally connected world simply because they are now able to. High quality camera phones and digital cameras allow us to interact in a way and with an immediacy that was never possible before, so why not indulge. But, beyond egotistical motivations I think cross media market monopolies must be held accountable. The homogenization of news material, amongst other things, has forced the "amateur" to take news gathering into his own hands. With the help of the FCC and deregulation, media conglomerates are now able to own mostly all of the venues of information for entire markets. Television stations, radio stations (i.e. Clear Channel) and newspapers are all owned by the same company in some markets, which begs the question what is being fed to the public? If we depend on these limited resources to inform an ever growing populace, everything from what the local weather will be like to how we will vote for the future of our country, then a lack of diverse opinions threatens democracy. I this very homogenization is part of the reason that the citizen has taken things into his own hands to become an autonomous news source.

Kramer, Joel. "Lessons I’ve learned after a year running MinnPost." Nieman Journalism Lab. March 19, 2009.

This anecdotal article by Joel Kramer provides insight into some of the challenges to professional online journalism. His brief and readable story of running the online news site, MinnStar, addresses issues such as user commentary, video integration, and start-up costs.

Kramer's most important point for my thesis is his process of screening user commentary with volunteer moderators. As he puts it, "We took plenty of heat from web-savvy readers for this decision. But as readers have watched the quality of comment on respected sites that don’t require real names, many are now grateful for our approach. Recently we published our 7,000th comment. Some sites with looser standards appear to be reconsidering their no-holds-barred policies." This MinnStar policy may or may not be forward thinking, but it is an example of one version of user interaction with news sites. MinnStar doesn't use citizen journalism the way, say, TalkingPointsMemo, does, but according to Kramer, they are exploring possibilities. This demonstrates the lack of an industry standard for harnessing citizen journalists, but emphasizes the growing awareness for policies and methods for intertwining professional quality journalism and usergenerated content.

Socialframes is Wyndstorm’s latest product that helps fix a problem in the advertising industry. The problem is withdrawing clickthru charges for online advertising. It can capture customers with user experiences helped put it on the map. Socialframes helps marketers and advertisers with pricing and with their effectiveness. They work with marketing departments in order to “understand the consumer target, develop profiles and then help marketers identify places in the social graph where their targeted customers spend their time equally impress prospects.”

Marketers are worried about their target market and that it is susceptible to theft. Kids join online communities because their friends join them. The same tools kids use to play with dolls, they use on online communities. It requires “applying personality, imagining interactions with others and creating an imaginary world.” Marketers must understand that their ‘target market’ is vulnerable to other marketers who are also targeting a particular market. Social networks allow adult play without the adult having to leave the security of their home. Social networks are here to stay.

I definitely agree that social networks are here to stay. And I don’t just say that because I would be lost without my Facebook. I think social networks have opened up a whole new world for people, a world of open communications and open sharing; it’s personal yet impersonal. As creative as people are, new types of social networking will come but I don’t think it will ever go away. The fact that the President of the United States could use it for his political campaign says a lot about its importance.

This is a blog entry, but it seems to be of high enough quality for use. Its thesis is that the Republican reading of hard times in Three Little Pigs, both the Depression of the 1930s and even today's housing crisis, is "undercut by various elements of subversion." Characterization helps to differentiate between the lazy pigs and the responsible pig, and these personas are echoed not only in the pigs' actions but the objects they use to decorate their houses. But the author argues that the lazy pigs are so likeable that the message is somewhat obscured, and hypothesizes that much of the Wolf's animosity and the pigs' fear may resemble the corporate structure and relationship between Walt Disney and animators. The primitive use of color contributes to the dream-like quality of Disney, a "surreal," sometimes uncanny vibe which contrasts sharply with how Warner Brothers cartoons, especially today, appear "secular, straightforward, unpretentious, urban, and ethnic.”

This resource would be helpful for showing the effective use of characterization. Its specificity in mentioning how characters are differentiated, through their actions, attitudes, and possessions as well as through color, would be useful. A new look at the short film’s allegorical power, namely, its relevance in today's US economy, is also interesting, as is its comparison of the dreaminess of Disney as compared to the reality of Warner Brothers animated shorts.

 

This source happens to be a blog entry written by a visiting professor at Washington College of Law who is also on the board of Creative Commons at the college.  The blog is a response to a Sixth Circuit court interpretation of the Copyright Act in the case of Bridgeport Music vs. Dimension Films which stated that artists must either have a license or abandon their sampling.  Carroll then continues to explain a few stipulations in the Copyright Act and their involvement in this court decision, namely Section 114 and Section 106. 

            Carroll analyzes the courts assessment of de minimus in the Copyright Act and how it was originally interpreted in the local Bridgeport court.  In the appellate court, however, Carroll finds fault with the way the court approached its decision, moving straight to Section 114 instead of focusing on Section 106.  He disagrees with their reading of the Act and consequently, their decision to remove de minimus from the realm of sound recordings, stating that he does not believe there is a “statutory basis for the rule announced by the court in this case.”

            Carroll’s stance in the Creative Commons forum at a prominent law school in the United States, as well as his origins in, and knowledge of, international copyright law once again present the material in a newly-cast light.  The case he references is one of much importance to the focus of this final paper and his commentary on the subject is clear and well-formed.  This source provides a very narrow view into one single court decision that acts as a useful spotlight among other more general sources. 

I chose this fashion web site blog, for the simple reason that the website itself has a unique twinge to it.  It addresses various issues affecting the fashion world, mainly from a retail business point of view. It  is the brain child of Harvard MBA and former consultant, Imran Amed and was started in 2006. In this particular article, the author is talking about fashion copyright and is giving us direct examples of fashion design items that seem to have been copied. The author has two main points, the first one being that sometimes it is very easy to see who is copying whom and to actually identify that piracy is taking place. The blog states an example of  Steve Madden copying a particular show by Fashion House Balenciaga. In this case, it is fairly evident that Madden copied Balenciaga's shoe although they did incorporate some minor changes. Steve Madden is much lower prices than the luxury fashion house Balenciaga. Madden is known to imitate high end style at more affordable prices. The second case that is pointed out in the blog is that of a higher end brand copying another item of clothing by another designer. The blog shows images of the two shirts from both the designers. One of the designers has been identified as top luxury fashion designer Diane Von Furstenburg. The item on show is form her Spring Summer 2008 collection. According to the blog the other shirt (which Von Furstenburg is believed to have imitated) was in stores a whole year and a half before the Spring Summer collection 2008. This example brings up the issue of the public domain. All designers are inspired by something, be it nature, art or other style around. The blog asks whether Gucci came out with their flat shoes with big medallions before or after the very successful Tory Burch did? The blog goes onto to question whether these happenings are copying or coincidence? What really lies in the public domain and who really came up with what first?

This source is useful to my paper as it clearly depicts two examples of copying. I will use the second example to further my argument in my paper and say even the most reputed of fashion designers can be accused of copying. Are they really copying or is this a mere coincidence of creativity?

Freedom to Tinker is a blog run by David Robinson, the Associate Director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy.  The blog was started by Professor Felten of Princeton, who is quite prominent to my topic as he was the professor who was forced to terminate his research on the vulnerabilities of the Secure Digital Music Initiative becasue of provisions of the DMCA.  The post that I am using as a source for my paper was written on October 27, 2008, in light of the ten year anniversary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  Robinson, clearly opposed to the anti-circumvention provisions, recalls with condemnation that just ten years ago, "the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, which became 17 USC Section 1201, made it a crime under most circumstances to 'circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to' a copyrighted work."

Robinson discusses that companies could protect the content that they 'own' by placing arbitrary limitations on one's access to them, and that the federal government made it illegal to circumvent these technologies.  Even if it wasn't an infringement of the copyright per se, it still became a felony to access the content, regardless of how easy it may be. In this blog post, Robinson chronicles the procedure of passing the DMCA, and shows that its creators claimed to make the "information superhighway" more appealing to those who might have been hesitant of sharing their intellectual property.  Robinson maintains that even ten years after its pass in Congress, the DMCA's anti-circumvention clauses haven't reduced the ability to bypass DRMs.

An argument that Robinson points out, which is often ignored by proponents of the DMCA, is that although the DMCA was intended to meet standards set by the WIPO, those involved in the Clinton administration's efforts to create the DMCA were also essential in creating the WIPO standards.  This particular post focuses primarily on the problems with the passing of the legislation, and secondarily on the functions of the act itself.

This blog post is a great supplementary source because it is written by a respected professor who has been in the mix of the debate on the DMCA since its inception.  Furthermore, it is important for me to consider the political context in which this bill was passed; this has been lacking in a lot of the scholarly work at which I have looked.

            This source is a blog which highlights several opinions on the decision.  Some agree with my thesis while others disagree.  I will use the supporters as examples to prove my thesis and will rebut the opinions of the dissenters.  William Patry offers the opinions in the first two blog entries on the page.  Both are highly critical of the Court's decision in favor of Google.  First he points out that if you tally up the factors, Google received none and Perfect 10 received three, according to him.  This argument is highly flawed because it was actually 2-1 in favor of Google according to the case.  The second argument stated that the Court erred in its assessment of Google as "consumptive."  The case has a good explanation for why this is their opinion and it seems valid.

            John Ottaviani argues that using Copyright Law from the 1970s is not very relevant for this type of technologically-based case.  He fails to realize that it is the concept of what is copyright that has carried over for that long of a time.  Copyright law would have changed had it not been working.  They also used contemporary examples in the decision. C.E. Petit argued against the first and fourth factors of Fair Use.  She argues that they are very similar and will almost always favor the same side.  According to her, the judge used the same facts for each factor and that they are likely being double counted.  She is probably right that these factors overlap and more than they should.  They should, however count for more because of how important they are to Fair Use.  The similarity was likely on purpose.

            Martin Schwimmer wrote, "The thought occurs as I read this section that Google makes this go away by cropping a corner off the thumbnail (or perhaps reproduces thumbs using sepia tone)."  This is amusing, but at the same time, it makes a very good point.  Much of the argument centers on whether or not the thumbnails are the same as the image.  Removing a corner would actually resolve this argument.  It would not change the function of the thumbnails.  This shows me that the argument is being over thought and that thumbnails shouldn't be considered the same.  If such a small alteration can change an opinion that greatly, then it should not even need to be done.

 

A blog whose theme is Disney; every week a Silly Symphony is selected, a link to it is posted, etc.  Interesting.

Fung Wah Is Getting Stuck In Low-Cost Bus Traffic Jam

By DAVID PEPOSE, Special to the Sun | July 15, 2008

 

Ms. Wambaugh added that BoltBus competes with Fung Wah in price because its online ticket purchasing system and its curbside service lowers its maintenance and human resources costs. Furthermore, she said, Greyhound's contracts with fuel companies allow BoltBus to buy diesel fuel at reduced prices.

16th June 2008, 07:09 am Can it be that we focus too much on gas prices? Relative to other increases in expenses, I suspect that we do!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tim Robbins NAB Speech
Renowned actor, director and writer Tim Robbins used his keynote address at the National Association of Broadcasters conference on April 14 to speak out about the "dangerous lack of diversity of opinion" that characterizes the state of broadcasting today. Lambasting the media for their failure to treat the Bush administration's lies about Iraqi WMDs with the scrutiny they had shown former President Bill Clinton's sex scandal, he calls on the nation's broadcasters to do a better job of upholding their responsibilities to the public. The NAB initially refused to make Robbins' speech available (in contrast to other speeches from their 08 convention). Then they released an edited version in which many of Robbins' most critical remarks were cut. This is the full version of the speech! (Approximately 22 minutes.)

Posted by papertiger

 

Banishing buses to L'Enfant

DDOT is planning to force all low-cost bus carriers, like Bolt Bus, DC2NY, and the Chinatown buses to stop loading in Chinatown and at various other spots around the city (a few pick up in Dupont Circle), reports the Examiner (via DCist). Instead, all buses will have to load and unload at a special zone at 10th and D Southwest, right by the L'Enfant Metro.

This seems like a terrible idea. It sounds like it came from the LOS-watchers within DDOT: "Hmm, these buses are causing a lot of pedestrian congestion and taking up some room on our streets which should be used to move commuters in and out of the city as fast as possible. OK, let's put the buses in an empty part of the city, but one that's near Metro."

Intercity trains are much more energy-efficient than buses, but one advantage of buses is their flexibility. It's good that buses can choose to pick up in areas where there are many customers. Also, the service brings more pedestrian activity to those neighborhoods. At L'Enfant, there's nothing, and people will all just hop on the Metro.

If traffic is a problem, take away some curb parking or a traffic lane. Each of those buses carries as many people as a few blocks full of single passenger vehicles. There are some underutilized streets - how about a loading zone on the very wide F Street by Gallery Place?

Our street network is for the use of all, including buses. Buses aren't something we should move out of the way to speed transportation: they are the transportation. Let's move cars out of the way to make room for the buses.

Bus Rules: Let's Call a Time OutThe number of cheap buses from DC to New York (like the Chinatown buses, DC2NY, Bolt Bus, Megabus, and others) has exploded recently. That's great for riders who want to get to New York cheaply, and to bring New Yorkers here to see what a great city we have (and spend money here).

It also causes noise in some neighborhoods. That's a problem, and one we should deal with. But after years and years of these buses operating, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has suddenly imposed "emergency" rules to banish all of these buses to the barren sidewalks of L'Enfant Plaza.

With only one month's notice, suddenly all of the bus companies will have to apply for permits, and can't pick up in more convenient areas. Some will go out of business. Visitors to our city will only see bland, depressing L'Enfant Plaza instead of vibrant, exciting Chinatown, Metro Center, Farragut Square, or Dupont Circle. There won't be anything to eat while waiting for a bus. People will feel less safe. Our businesses will lose revenue. And while private cars can still park for free or almost free on most blocks, we're hurting an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

What's the rush? Can't we take a moment for a public discussion of better alternatives? What about auctioning off a few loading areas around the city? Or creating a bus zone in the huge parking lot that used to be the old convention center, or on one of the wide but mostly empty streets around Gallery Place or Judiciary Square?

Let's find a solution that keeps lively competition among our intercity buses while also fixing the problems. The buses have been operating for years. Let's take a time out on these rules until we can all work out a better solution.

DDOT is accepting comments for a few more days. Please send them a letter below asking them to call a time out on the new bus rules. Feel free to also weigh in with your opinion on what should be done.
Make Your Voice Heard

 

How Hollywood has been trying to disrupt disruptive innovation

Nicki Bennett is an American aid worker who bounces around from one hot spot to the next, working for Oxfam. She has been deployed to Sudan, eastern Congo, Chad, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Guatemala. She is currently in Bangladesh working on post-hurricane reconstruction.

This week I’m back in Dhaka, the world’s undisputed rickshaw capital. With more than 300,000 of these brightly colored bicycle contraptions plying the city’s streets for trade, I rarely walk for more than a block before a rickshaw driver (known as “rickshaw-wallah”) pulls up next to me and urges me to hop on board.

I’ve learned it’s almost impossible to refuse a ride. This is partly because the rickshaw-wallahs are very persistent, partly because I feel I should be supporting people struggling to make a living (one in five of the city’s inhabitants depends on the rickshaw business for their income) and partly because Dhaka is now starting to get unbearably hot and humid (and I’m starting to get horrendously lazy).

Coming back from a meeting near my office this afternoon, I start chatting (well, mainly hand-gesturing) with my rickshaw-wallah and ask him where he’s from. I’ve heard lots of stories about families in the cyclone-affected coastal areas sending sons or brothers to urban centers like Dhaka to make a little bit of cash driving rickshaws (many people have not been able to return to their regular jobs as the cyclone destroyed their fishing boats and nets or washed away their crops). I’m wondering if my rickshaw-wallah is one of them.

Instead, he names a district that I’ve never heard of. We manage to establish that it’s somewhere north of Dhaka, near a river. “Floods,” he tells me. “In my village. Village underwater.” Finally the penny drops – he’s not just an economic migrant, he’s also a “climate migrant.”

 

anne thompson is closely following alternative distribution on the internet in her blog and column for Variety. 

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I used emailaddresses.com translator just to make sure Penn State was really being called our big brother!

There are in library country many Netvibes users. That concludes I on the basis of the small 1000 RSS abonnees of this blog of which appears there more than 500 use netvibes. With Netvibes beautiful things can be done. (Person whose birthday it is!) ZBdigitaal post about that very regular. A complete beautiful example of those Universes is still which of Eenvandaag or the VPRO. For the medical library of the AZG Guus of pine Brekel Netvibes have built universum, but further Netvibes universums for libraries scarce good are. Now the University or Pennsylvania (not to confuse with the large brother Penn State) announce the development of PennVibes. Pennvibes are geinspireerd on Netvibes, iGoogle and Pageflakes. The session of the presentation became geblogd SciLib.PennVibes come of the makers of PennTags. That promises what!

Taxi Driver Update: Video by Philly IMC
Submitted by BradyDale on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 1:12pm.

Public Authorities continue to be one of the best means for taking control out of the hands of voters and putting it in the hands of bureaucrats two or three or four steps removed from anyone elected. I've written about the Taxi Drivers in this space several times now, but now Philly Independent Media Center has a great new video coming out a week or so in advance of a two day taxi strike.

Check the video out here.

I'm really glad IMC is paying attention to this issue. It's a fascinating case. It's one that I'd think the Nutter Butters would be going NUTS over. Closed door decisionmaking. Gouging a group of workers and the public. Capricious rulemaking. Lack of access to decisionmakers and no voter oversite. Everything that should be making them crazy mad. I hope they do pick up on it and take action. It really sucks that nobody is in control of the Parking Authority any more and that it has control of Taxis (isn't that ironic? Taxis hardly ever park, you know?).

As an Organizer, I find it exciting because this is a very diverse group of people who are hardscrabble and refuse to be victimized. If they have even close to the participation in their strike that they anticipate in the video, it's a real coup. A beautiful show of worker solidarity. It's so great to see these guys excited to take action, and any time I've sat down with them they really have been.

Now if the taxi cab drivers could just drive a little nicer...

Bryn Mawr alumna and YA librarian posts.

June 17, 2007, 7:16 pm
Are You Ready to Pay to Park on Your Street?

By Danny Hakim

New York City could start charging residents to park in their own neighborhoods under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. The mayor's proposal, which was introduced in the State Senate this month, would charge most drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 86th Street on weekdays. To mollify people just outside the zone who feared their streets would turn into parking lots, the Senate bill would allow the city to issue permits so that most parking spots would be restricted to neighborhood residents.

But the bill says there would be unspecified fees that residents would have to pay to get those permits. The money would go to the city's general fund.

John Gallagher, a spokesman for the mayor, said "discussion of a fee structure for residential permit parking is very premature." Among other details of the plan, visitors coming into the city could deduct the cost of bridge and tunnel tolls from an $8 fee to enter Manhattan, but only if they use E-ZPass. And the state's environmental review process would be waived to speed up the plan.

We took a dive into the fine print of the mayor's proposal. As one might expect with such a voluminous piece of legislation, a number of notable items emerge from the fine print.

It's not spelled out how visitors driving into New York City would be made aware that they had to pay $8 within 48 hours or face a $115 fine. The mayor and his administration have said most people would likely have heard about the congestion fee, though some lawmakers say many might not. The mayor's staff says there would also be adequate signage. Lawmakers have wondered how this would actually work: The signs, presumably, would have to explain how and where to pay, requiring a lot more words than "toll ahead."

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Expatriate Shanghai Food & Beverage media focus on fashionable restaurants, design, and location.

 

My thesis for this project is that artists and copyright holders are finding it beneficial to waive their copyright in some cases of new technology, even though the industry as a whole tries to take the stance that uses of technology should be restricted. The example of this that I focus on is MP3 blogs, which tend to make available for download unauthorized material, and how major labels are beginning to reach out and even provide such blogs with material in the hope that they will benefit from the promotion. At the same time, however, major labels and the RIAA continue to attack peer-to-peer systems which very similarly, although on a much larger scale, allow users to download unauthorized material. This type of case shows that while the industry states that it wants to restrict use of technology, it is actually finding ways to use the same technology to promote its artists. Many new artists are able to gain exposure and there is opportunity that was never before available to the average person. That is the original intent of copyright law, which is to promote progress and encourage creation, something which excessive copyright on songs, and restrictions on technology such as the anti-device provision in the DMCA impede.

            This essay describes what an MP3 blog is, and how record labels want to capitalize on the promotion that they provide while fighting file sharing at the same time. The essay discusses the types of copyright infringement and fair use and how they apply to MP3 blogs, as well as the factors that cause the court to view MP3 blogs more favorably than peer-to-peer networks. It discusses law suits against Napster and also by the RIAA against peer-to-peer users.  The article explains what establishes liability for infringing use, and the different expansions of the Copyright Act which have been brought by copyright owners in addressing new technologies. It then discusses some of these acts and gives some examples of violators. The next section explains the defense used when copyright owners bring suits, which is fair use, and it lists and describes the four factors in deciding fair use on a case by case basis.

 

            This essay incorporates basically every aspect of my research into why copyright holders are willing to waive certain copyright in cases such as MP3 blogs, while they continue to fight against much of new technology such as peer-to-peer services. It describes what MP3 blogs are and how they are used and different sites that can link to the unauthorized music.  It shows what the copyright holder needs to look for in order to bring a suit against infringing users, and also explains how the user of the work can try to use fair use as a defense.

            This article is written by Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA as a response to a speech by Consumer Electronics CEO Gary Shapiro in which Shapiro stated that downloading off the Web is neither illegal nor immoral. Sherman says that statement is wrong and misleading. Shapiro says that legal downloading from record companies and legitimate online music companies is fine but there is a problem with unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material, and sites Title 17 of the United States Code. Sherman writes that the fair use argument employed by Shapiro makes falsely seem as if copyright owners are against fair use, and that the fair use claim is unsupported when it comes to unauthorized use. Sherman argues against Shapiro's claim that downloading is different from taking a tangible property by writing that both owners have been deprived of something of value. Sherman refutes Shapiro's use of the first amendment and also says that companies are in fact aggressively pursuing a more flexible business model that does take advantage of new technology. Shapiro writes that the industry using technology and the internet is beside the point and that the real issue in what Shapiro is saying is that "digital stealing isn't really stealing" and the last thing we need is more polarizing rhetoric.

 

            For my research on why copyright holders are willing to waive copyright in some instances such as MP3 blogs because the new technology has benefits in promotion, this article is a firm example of the view from the record labels about copyright law and internet uses. It is written by the president of the RIAA, Cary Sherman and gives an argument in favor of strong copyright law, and a rebuttal to a speech by the Consumer Electronics CEO Gary Shapiro in favor of weaker copyright law. It provides the viewpoint of the music industry about downloading, but it is interesting in that it does not mention anything about record companies such as Warner who at times chose to solicit certain independent blogs and will send the bloggers music with the hope that the blog will help promote the record label's artist for free.

            This is a speech given by Gary Shapiro, the President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association about growing tension between copyright owners and new technology. Shapiro speaks about how new reproduction technology and transmission technology has increased the fears of the music and motion picture industries. He draws parallels to new technology in the past such as the VCR, and CD and cassette recording. Today with mass availability of copies of music and movies, the content community has used congress, courts, and the media to challenge new technologies. Shapiro says that he believes that hardware and software companies have an interest in working together to see more products,  and that they can misuse source protection and DVD encryption to sell more products while limiting new technologies. Shapiro says that lawsuits have shut down file -sharing services, threaten peer-to-peer networks, challegenged as illegal devices which allow consumers to skip commercials, and has subpoenaed ISPs to identify downloading subscribers. Congress has introduced legislation that will require technology to be shaped by a government-mandated copy protection system. Shapiro comments on the language used by Hollywood and the music industry using words like "piracy" and "stealing" to describe downloading. Shapiro asserts that downloading is neither illegal nor immoral. He says that downloading is not taking away a copy of the product from someone, and in some cases helps promotion. His principles for policymakers to follow ask that a very high amount of evidence be found before restricting technology.

            For my research on MP3 blogs and why copyright holders are willing to waive some of their copyrights and allow the blogs to post their music this speech shows a view which is far to the fair-use and weak copyright law. It is clear support for allowing the new technologies and the internet to be created and exist, and for there to be significant evidence of a negative effect on the copyright holder before the technology is restricted. The key line by Shapiro for my project is when he submits that downloading off the Web is neither illegal nor immoral. He sites fair use as being given on a case by case basis and that in many cases of downloading the use has "been shown to be neutral or beneficial to the copyright owners, and have either been tolerated or accepted as fair use." He also discusses how downloading can even lead to further sales, when people buy the whole CD from the song he or she heard on the internet.

This is an article from the Wahab & Medenica law firm's media blog which deals with issues of intellectual property. This blog entry explains the significance of emerging laws in response to the growing trend of copying fashion designs. Designers have been trying even harder these days to protect their works and as a result Congress proposes a new method. The Design Piracy Prohibition Act proposes a limited three year term for fashion designs that commences upon whichever is earlier the date of publication of registration or the date the design is first made public.  Under this act the term fashion is defined broadly to include everything from handbags to footwear. The blog goes on to explain the current status of Copyright laws in regards to fashion design.  Two cases are presented in order to challenge the issue of the functionality hurdle which designers face when trying to protect their work.  The most important case is the Kieselstein v. Accessories by Pearl in which the court granted Kieselstein the right to copyright the design of the belt buckle. Even though this is a step in the right direction for fashion protection, there are no cases which deal with the protection of garments of clothing. The United States does not protect fashion designs but France and England do and this article suggest that the United States should follow their lead. The proposed Design Piracy Prohibition Act will follow in the steps of the E.U. regulation which currently protects fashion designs in the form of registered and unregistered community designs. This new act will address the copycat culture which has grown tremendously within the fashion industry. Even though the act will protect the original designer, it will severely restrict a designer's ability to emulate the styles of others.  The importance of this article to my thesis is the proposition of an alternate method of fashion protection, The Design Piracy Prohibition Act.  Even though this act has not been passed yet, the blog explains what might happen if it is passed as well as provides background information about the act itself.  

In this article, the Boston Globe reporter talks to several bloggers and discusses what motivates audiobloggers otherwise known as MP3 bloggers to create sites and post songs. In these blogs, the author finds a song he or she wants to share, and posts it online as an MP3 file along with a commentary or review about the song so that readers can learn about the band and download and listen to the song if they choose. Bloggers will do this for free, as one blogger says "Selfishly, I get validation that people like my music taste... But I want people to find new music that they love." The music industry tends to leave blogs alone because they promote artists for free and are capable of creating "buzz" for an unknown artists and quickly establishing them among a loyal fan base. Litigation is expensive and MP3 blogs are small-scale and some labels have begun supplying blogs with music so there have not been many confrontations between record labels and bloggers. Some bloggers receive "cease and desist" letters from labels and although a code of conduct has not been written, there is a concept of ethical audioblogging. Songs are removed after being posted for typically around one or two weeks, no more than two tracks are posted from each album, and links to sites where readers can buy the albums are provided.

 

            For my research on why copyright owners are willing to waive some of their copyright when it comes to MP3 blogs, this is a useful article in seeing a little bit of the motivation for both bloggers and record labels to coexist. It provides some commentary by the bloggers themselves as to why they put work into blogs and what makes it important for them to exist. It also discusses blog ethics which are part of the reason labels are not against MP3 blogs, and looks at one blogger's idea for a possible future move for the labels which could start their own blogs in order to promote their back catalogues. That provides an interesting comparison between a legal MP3 blog created by a label and an illegal MP3 blog which may have more credibility among the blogging community.

This is a New York Times article about how Warner Brothers Records became the first major record label to ask MP3 blogs to play its music. Robin Bechtel, vice president for new media at Warner Brothers and Reprise Records had the company contact MP3 blog websites and ask the bloggers to post and review songs by the band The Secret Machines. This is an interesting strategy for a major record label to pursue because most MP3 blogs post song files without permission from the copyright holder. According to Bechtel, Warner chose blogs which "were promoting music responsibly" by having permission to the downloadable songs and also linking to stores where the full albums could be bought. The label would benefit by gaining free promotion and establishing a little known artist. Out of at least eight MP3 blogs contacted by Warner, only one blog posted the track, after having it sent. Many bloggers only look to find new music and the Secret Machines were already being played on radio. Two other sites had already posted Secret Machines tracks before Warner had sent them and once several blogs have posted tracks, others are less likely.

            The move backfired for Warner however because after the song was posted on the blog Music for Robots, several comments posted under different names were linked back to computers in the Warner offices. The indie rock song was also sent to a hip-hop blog, Cocaineblunts which was seen by the writer as proof of a disconnect between the major label and blog culture.

 

            This article is central to my project which is to look at how copyright holders are now willing to waive their copyright in certain cases such as MP3 blogs while the RIAA continues to sue peer 2 peer software. Blogs have not upset labels because there is such a strong culture of unwritten rules and basically a code of conduct for bloggers. For example, songs are not left up for long periods of time, only a couple of tracks from an album are posted and links are included to stores where full albums can be bought, and bloggers will take down songs if asked by the copyright holder. In this article we see how a major label is realizing that in order to reach a large portion of album purchasers they need to promote their artists as independents by using the internet and particularly mp3 blogs to break new acts. However, the very reason why MP3 blogs have not particularly bothered the labels is also preventing the labels from being able to use the blogs as they wish.

professor at Columbia Law School

Like reading ad age again...fun.

Guest post by Michael Manville, UCLA on Randal Crane's blog "Planning Research"

-what

-how

-why 

 

bloggers, crazy avocational food folks

... 

But, as we all know, these numbers regarding China are completely bogus anyways. Because most MPAA member movies can't be sold in China so they have no loss. China only allows 20 foreign films to be imported each year, and usually 14 - 16 of these are from MPAA members. So what the MPA is talking about in this report isn't "profits lost to pirates in China" but "profits lost to closed markets in China".

kaiju shakedown - asian film blog

What's this?

The Hype Machine keeps track of new songs posted on the best blogs about music. Easily listen, discover and buy songs that everyone is talking about!

 

Jay Rosen's media blog

Inga Saffron is the architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Holla Back NYC empowers New Yorkers to Holla Back at street harassers. Whether you're commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some turd's fantasy. So stop walkin' on and Holla Back: Send us pics of street harassers!

TOE is an alt.npr podcast

What is Elbows?

Elbows is a collection of great mp3 blog posts and is meant to provide you a snapshot of what's going on in this new genre of blogging. Please take the time to visit each of the blogs listed on this page to learn more about new artists and buy their albums and, when you're through buying up all the CDs or iTunes tracks, click on some of the blog's sponsors so that they may keep providing us with such great information.

What's this?

The Hype Machine keeps track of new songs posted on the best blogs about music. Easily listen, discover and buy songs that everyone is talking about!

 

blog by Robert Neuwirth

I'm a writer who spent two years living in squatter communities in four continents. These neighborhoods--which dominate most of the cities of the developing world--are vibrant and energetic, but horribly misunderstood. My new book, Shadow Cities, is an attempt to humanize these maligned settlements. My articles on cities, politics, and economic issues have appeared in many publications, including The Nation, The Village Voice, Newsday, The New York Times, Metropolis, and City Limits. Before becoming a reporter, I worked as a community organizer and studied philosophy. I live in New York City.

Riddle me this: what do you get when you combine a nifty little piece of Flash software, some backend mojo, an army of cellphone-toting teens, and one "Lazy Sunday" clip? The answer is, of course, the largest online video streaming service on the planet, YouTube.

...

Ironically enough, however, it's YouTube's philosophy of small, digestible content and their willingness to avoid copyright issues that has positioned them to answer the age-old question of “What is fair use?”

blog published by gawker media.  brian a. japan editor.

This is a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products.

the detailed differences between a message board and a weblog.

 

This website has a decent amount of information about blogs and the internet. Shirky has a varied and long background and has been on the forefront of emerging media. The website is very up to date and is a good place to find out about the different forms of open source media and their influence upon culture.

This is the best resource I have found in the library concerning teh use of blogs in American democracy. It is a short read coming in at about 150 pages and gives tons of information about bloggers and their actual participation in politics. Like most political books about stratifying an electorate, it has tons of data. Great resource.

This recent essay on the importance of blogs in politics is a very informative and compelling work. Denzer's essay has a deep focus upon the origins and the effects of blogs upon the American political structure. It also has a tremendous amount of links that lead to great resources for anyone interested in the internet and American politics. An excellent resource.

This journal article is somewhat boring, but effective. It is written in a classical Political Science style and is more interested in designs, graphs, and diagrams than in the theories behind the data. It is a good primary resource, but speaks very broadly about the varying ways the internet influences politics and vice-versa. Robertson has some great primary resources and could lead to better articles or essays.

This book is a compilation of many articles concerning blogs. After tracking down a copy, it seems to have a huge amount of information about the influences of blogs upon American culture. With a variety of articles, culture and politics come up in varying degrees. A great place to find out some more detailed information about the influence of blogs upon the American populace.

This book is an older version of Davis' later Politics Online. Unlike his later endeavor, Web is a theory based book. It feels as if this book gives Davis' theory for how the internet should work with politics and Politics Online is his research into trying to prove his hypotheses. Still a good earlier work about the potential power of the internet in teh electoral process and delibrative democracy.

Foreword: A Book Design Blog is described as "a weblog community in the service of book design, books, art, photography and design." Updated regularly, it is a useful tool for seeing what interested parties (the site is hosted be OspreyDesign, a book design agency) are currently interested in. There is some dialogue among the posters, often referrals to other sites or suggestions of books, exhibits, etc. a community member thinks the others might enjoy. Also helpful is the extensive list of links on the left-side tool bar. Archives of the blog are easily accessible, and go back to March of 2003.

"The article discusses weblogs that attack companies with libel but whose authors are unidentifiable. Weblogs started as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns. Some companies now use weblogs as a weapon, unleashing swarms of critics on their rivals. The online haters have formidable allies amplifying their tirades to a potential worldwide audience of 900 million: Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, plus a raft of other weblog hosts. Google and other services operate with government-sanctioned impunity, protected from any liability for anything posted on the weblogs they host. The combination of massive reach and legal invulnerability makes corporate character assassination easy to carry out."

a community list of library related blogs with link ranking and stats

blog post and comments about future of library use (google, participation age vs. information age, etc)

PDF version of a presentation given at Loyola University on November 3, 2005...discusses "how and why libraries should use blogs and RSS, especially to create community, encourage conversation, and make their web sites more dynamic."  found through Shifted Librarian.