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July 27, 2006
Introducing DOPA Watch
In light of the US House of Representative's overwhelming vote in support of the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), I've set up an online news digest called DOPA Watch. The page automatically aggregates the latest blog entries and news stories referencing DOPA, courtesy of the blog search engine Technorati and Google News. It also includes legislative updates generated by GovTrack. You can also subscribe to the news feed via email, or via RSS. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:56 PM
House Overwhelmingly Passes DOPA
Last night, the US House of Representatives passed the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) with an overwhelming majority - so overwhelming, in fact, that only 15 members voted against it. This means that 435 members voted in favor of it - in favor of hysteria, panic, misinformation, while against media literacy, local control, Web 2.0 and common sense. Assuming the Senate passes the act and it gets signed by the president, DOPA would force schools to filter out all interactive websites if they wish to receive federal Internet subsidies. There's a loophole for interactive sites that are educational in nature, but we know how that works - teachers usually don't have control over the Internet filters so they can't unblock sites that are legitimately educational. So every blog, bulletin board, e-list and online community that you currently value in the classroom, be prepared to say bye-bye to it.
I had a feeling the bill would pass the House, but I'm stunned by the overwhelming nature of the majority. It just goes to show you that if you allow news outlets to whip up hysteria over a problem that's actually a small fraction of what it appears to be, Congress is going to find a way to capitalize on it. And our students and teachers will suffer because of it. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:24 AM
July 26, 2006
Baghdad Video Blogger Released!
Good news from Brian Conley of the Alive in Baghdad video blog. His Baghdad team member has been released after being kidnapped three days ago. Brian writes:
It is with great happiness that I can tell you our correspondent was released this afternoon in Baghdad, after approximately 72 hours in detention.We still cannot provide his name or any more specific information, as we have not been able to reach him for permission and the specific details baout his detention.
His brother contacted our correspondent, Omar Abdullah, to tell him the good news.
As soon as we have more information, we will update the site immediately.
I would like to thank all of you who made an effort to send the word out about our correspondent and for all the support we've been provided in the last 24 hours.
Alive in Baghdad will continue producing media from Iraq, despite these recent events, and we hope to say the same about our recently released colleague, but only time will tell.
Such a relief... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:30 PM
July 25, 2006
9,000 and Counting
This is my 9,000th photo I've uploaded to Flickr.
Posted by acarvin at 9:49 PM
Video Blogger Apparently Kidnapped in Baghdad
I've just received some disturbing news from Brian Conley, coordinator of the video blog Alive in Baghdad. One of his team members has been kidnapped in Baghdad while taping footage for the blog. Because of concerns from his family, Brian hasn't published the individual's name yet, but I hope this will occur soon so we can start mobilizing a campaign for his release.
Here's the text of Brian's post:
It is with deep regret that I type some of the words I hoped would never come.It is foolish to have thought we might somehow be safe from the violence and chaos of Baghdad's streets. However, I somehow believed we had a kind of special defense or protection against the ordinary violence of Baghdad in 2006.
On Sunday morning, between 11am and 12pm, one of our newest correspondents disappeared from the al-Amal Neighborhood. He was there with his brother, gathering B-roll of the security in place around Baghdad's gas stations, as well as the long refueling lines that continue to insult the residents of one of the world's most oil-rich countries.
At the request of his family, we can only reveal certain information at this time. We hope their perspective will change soon, because we believe that, in this case, publicity is one of our most important tools to ensure our colleague's safe return.
Before he began filming our correspondent confirmed permission with the Iraqi National Guard in the area who were maintaining security around the station. After they agreed to allow him to film, he took some footage of the National Guard's security position and then moved on to shoot nearby the gas station.
While his brother waited in their car across the street, he approached the station and began gathering footage. This correspondent was hired primarily to gather footage around the city of Baghdad to provide our viewers insight into the day-to-day life on Baghdad's streets.
Within ten to fifteen minutes of his approaching the gas station, gathering photos and video of the pumps, the long lines, etc. a civilian vehicle approached. Several men left this vehicle, they were not uniformed, but carried pistols, what appeared to be "police handcuffs" according to his brother, and other guns.
The correspondent was grabbed, blindfolded, and placed in the vehicle which then left the scene.
During this entire time, the Iraqi National Guard were nearby, within sight, and did nothing.
It is unclear who kidnapped him, but it is believed to be one of the militias that is connected to the current Iraqi government. The inaction of the Iraqi National Guard suggests it was either a militia or plain-clothed unit operating in the area.
It has now been over 48 hours since our colleague went missing. We are calling on press freedom outlets as well as other bloggers, vloggers, journalists, and governments to take a stance against this.
Alive in Baghdad has endeavored to be a non-partisan source of news about life in Iraq with Iraqis themselves producing content and telling stories about their lives.If you have information or wish to offer support in the safe return of our colleague, please send an email to aliveinbaghdad at gmail.com.
I'll post updates as soon as I learn more information. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:09 PM
Call Your Representative TODAY and Say No to DOPA
The American Library Association's Washington office is reporting that the House of Representatives will likely vote on the so-called DOPA Act tomorrow. DOPA, the Deleting Online Predators Act, would force schools and libraries receiving federal Internet subsidies to block all interactive websites, including blogs, bulletin boards, email lists and online social network. It's an absurd reaction to the anti-MySpace hype that's been dominating the media in recent months, and threatens to make the Internet completely useless as an educational tool. Schools already have the ability to block inappropriate websites, and they should be the ones determining which sites are educationally relevant.
Please call your congressional representative today and tell them that you are against HR 5319, as it's officially known. The House switchboard is 202-224-3121 - just give them the name of your representative. If you don't know your representative, you can contact them online - just supply your address and it will be directed to your representative. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:02 PM
July 24, 2006
When the Saints Go Marching Into Dupont Circle
Yesterday I had the chance to spend a few hours walking through Washington DC, visiting some of my old haunts. Dupont Circle is as wonderful as ever, particularly since the local brass band was out in force. On weekends during the summer, these dozen or so jazz musicians perform an impromptu concert on the northern side of the circle. You never know who will stop and listen, but typically it's a combination of tourists, locals, embassy officials and the occasional homeless person. Yesterday was no different. I've probably seen these guys perform dozens of times over the years, but I think this was the first time I sat down to listen. They're not the best brass band in the world, but they sure are a lot of fun. Have a listen. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:46 AM
July 22, 2006
I'm On A Mexican.... Gamelan?
In my never-ending quest to find more gamelan degung music for my growing collection of music from Indonesia, I stumbled upon perhaps the funniest recording I've heard in ages. It's a gamelan version of the Wall of Voodoo song, "Mexican Radio."
I'm serious.
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A bizarre twist on one of the great songs of the 1980s, this version, by a gamelan band called Monkey C, sounds as if Tom Waits had quit Los Angeles and high-tailed it to Bali. Perhaps you have to be a fan of both Wall of Voodoo and gamelan music, but I sure got a kick out of it. It's an instrumental, probably because they couldn't replace the line, "I wish I was in Tijuana/Eating barbequed iguana" with an appropriate Indonesian city to rhyme with "gecko."
Anyway, Check it out. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:10 PM
Lebanon's Daily Star: Stop Linking "Piles of Rubble" to Hemorrhoids Ads
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Screen shot from the Daily Star showing a hyperlink to a hemorrhoids ad when referring to "piles of rubble." |
ContentLink is a form of "in-text" advertising. Rather than placing traditional ads adjacent to an online article, it embeds hyperlinks into words found within an article, pointing to an advertiser based on what it believes to be the meaning of that word. For example, if an article contained the sentence "Prosecutors declined to indict San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds this week," the phrase "San Francisco" would link to a website about San Francisco tourism. Using this system, an online newspaper like the Daily Star would receive income every time a person clicked a link to one of these advertisers.
For starters, I'm not thrilled with the idea, because when I click on a link in a news article or blog entry, I expect it to link to more information about that topic, not to an advertisement. Rather than adding to the value of the content contained in the news source by linking to relevant information, as is the norm with most hyperlinks, in-text advertising devalues it, sending the reader to an unexpected sales pitch. If I were David Ignatius, Rami Khouri or an other regular contributor to the Daily Star, I'd be troubled to see my writings link to these ads, because it gives the appearance of the author's endorsement, just like a blogger would link to pages he or she wanted readers to visit for one reason or another.
Unfortunately, ever since the conflict with Israel erupted over a week a go, I've noticed that many of the in-text ads contained in the Daily Star have often been surprisingly undignified, apparently based on incorrect or inappropriate interpretation of the keywords contained within the articles. Here are some examples of sentences contained within current Daily Star articles and the in-text ad links connected to them:
The logjam may break up quickly or only after several weeks, and it could produce a major setback for Hizbullah or a symbolic victory. ("Break up" links to "Breakup Advice for Moms: Moms, get divorce advice & connect with other moms. Free to join.")Much of the country over which Siniora's government now presides has been reduced to holes in the ground and piles of rubble. ("Piles" links to "Piles or Hemorrhoids: Western and Eastern remedies for this common malady piles or hemorrhoids.")
At this point, there is little reason to believe that either the mainstream Hamas leadership or the Abbas [government] has any real control over Shalit's fate. ("Abbas" links to "Free Ringtones - Abba: Get your free Abba ringtones here. Works with all Cingular, and T-Mobile phones. US residents only. Subscription services required.")
The challenge for the Bush administration as the Lebanon war explodes into its second week is just that - to keep faith with Siniora and his "Cedar Revolution," even as it stands by its close ally, Israel. ("Bush administration" links to "Bush Administration Shirts and Gear: "W the President" and more - Celebrate Bush and American values with attractive stickers, buttons, T-shirts, mugs, and other gear. Perfect gifts for friends and family.">)
Wrapped in blankets and plastic bags bound tightly with tape, the bodies were lowered from the truck into simple pine-board coffins doused with a chemical spray to mask - without much success - the cloying odor of death. ("Odor" links to "Reduce Pollutants & Improve Indoor Air Quality! Now you can purify the air you breathe by reducing & improving your indoor air quality with these air purification & ozone generators. Odor & mold removal! Please call for quantity discounts. For healthier breathing order today!")
There's no telling where a Daily Star article will link, as ContentLink appears to generate new links each time you reload a page. But each time I check my RSS feeds and see an interesting op-ed or article coming from the newspaper, I cringe at the thought that the ensuing article will link to something wildly inappropriate, particularly in the context of the current violence.
I understand the Daily Star's need to generate revenue. But I would hope they might reconsider using this advertising service, particularly during this conflict. At minimum, they should at least re-tune it so it doesn't produce such absurdly embarrassing results. Seeing hyperlinks to hemorrhoids ads when referring to "piles of rubble" - particularly when innocent civilians are lying under those very piles - is an insult to every family suffering on both sides of the border.
I think I'll just have to stick with reading my friend Mustapha's blog, Beirut Spring - I sincerely doubt I'll see him linking to hemorrhoids ads anytime soon. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:06 PM
July 20, 2006
Embracing Web 2.0 in an Education 1.0 Universe
Yesterday I had the honor of delivering the keynote at the ThinkBright Summer Digital Institute, hosted by WNED public television in Buffalo, New York. The speech, "Embracing Web 2.0 in an Education 1.0 Universe," was a variation of one I've done previously this year, but with a greater emphasis on education. For those of you who are interested, here's a podcast of the speech, along with the accompanying Powerpoint. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 7:25 PM
July 19, 2006
City Voices, City Visions: This is Their World
Right now I'm at the ThinkBright Summer Digital Institute at WNED Television in Buffalo, NY, where I gave a keynote this morning about the role of Web 2.0 in education. (I'll upload a podcast and powerpoint of it later.) One of the highlights of the day was learning about an uber-cool project here in Buffalo called City Voices, City Visions (CVCV). The program teaches secondary school educators how to integrate video production into the curriculum. So far, dozens of educators have received training, and their students are producing videos on a wide range of subjects, from social studies to poetry. They've put together a video FAQ about the project, addressing questions that educators often have about the initiative. There are also several dozen student videos online at the CVCV website.
My favorite, video, by far, was a project called In Our World Today. The five-minute video is a montage of images from around the world, with minimalist shots of students staring into the camera. It was produced by the students of Joel Malley, a high school English teacher at Buffalo's P.S. 305 Mckinley Vocational High School. The students offer a homeric list of the world's ills, from animal cruelty to mesothelioma to human rights abuses, and address the fact that these problems are everyone's problems - problems that must be solved together. It's a shattering, unflinching look at social injustice. When talking about girls who practice self-mutilation, you see the scars. When talking about animal cruelty, you see the dead baby seals. It's an ugly portrait of our world today, yet equally bold in its portrayal of students acknowledging that they are the ones who will have to work together to pick up the pieces and build a better future. No, it's not always easy to watch, and the production values could be improved, but that doesn't take away from its power. The main hall at the conference was stunned into silence from watching it. You could hear a few people sniffling and wiping away tears. I've never seen educators react that way to a student media project. -andy
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Posted by acarvin at 4:27 PM
July 15, 2006
The Mideast vs. the Northeast
Posted by acarvin at 9:50 PM
Web 2.0 Reading in the Sky
While I'm not usually a fan of American Airlines, I've got to hand it to them that their July 1 issue was surprisingly Web 2.0 friendly. First there was the in-depth interview with Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales. Then, I stumbled upon a nice piece about the history of machinima, which unfortunately isn't online. If only more airline magazines had articles like this more often, I wouldn't have to spend all my time on board working on Powerpoints or reading fiction. :-) - andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:25 PM
July 13, 2006
A Slice of Second Life
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My Second Life avatar, Abdi Kembla. |
As it turns out, I was interviewed for the article, because my SL avatar, Abdi Kembla, is African. Most SL avatars tend to look like idealized versions of the people who created them, or bizarre fantasy characters straight out of the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars. So I decided to try something different and create an avatar modeled on a former child soldier from Somalia.
Here's my small contribution to the article:
Another real-world person experimenting with an entirely different SL persona is Boston-based blogger Andy Carvin. Last fall he joined SL as Andy Chowderhead, but he got "bored with it" and decided to create Abdi Kembla, an African refugee he modeled after photos he found online of former Somalian child soldiers."Previously, when I used my old Andy Chowderhead avatar, I found people were more likely to come over, say hello, and start a conversation. But with Abdi, people tended to just act as if I just weren't even there," says Carvin, who estimates that he spent between 20 and 30 hours in February and March exploring as Abdi. "The more I traveled through SL, the more I realized I seemed to be the only African-looking character around anywhere." He adds, "I encountered gnomes, floating beams of light, characters that were shaped like boxes, elves, everything you can imagine — but no African-looking characters."
"I think Second Life will be like the Web eventually," says Aimee Weber. "Almost everything cool will need to have a 3-d presence online."
In general, you can lump Second Life avatars into two categories: hot or fantastic. Women are mostly busty, hourglass-figured, and sexy. Men tend to be buff and handsome. "More often than not, people have a picture in their head of what they look like at their best: very few people want to have their avatar look like they just woke up, haven't shaved, [have] bad breath, and gained a few pounds after the wedding," theorizes Andy Carvin. Otherwise, avatars tend to be surreal — think Snoopy, dragons, and "furries."
Anyway, it's a very well-done, well-researched article, so please check it out. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:36 PM
July 11, 2006
Thoughts and Prayers for the People of Mumbai
It's been a terrifying day for the people of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), with a series of bombs ripping through more than half a dozen suburban train stations, killing well over 100 people. I've had a hard time getting much of anything done today, absorbed by the CNN coverage, emailing Indian friends and colleagues, trying to make sense of the situation. Peter Griffen, Dina Mehta and other friends from the Tsunamihelp blog have been working hard to assist people through the MumbaiHelp blog, while Wikipedian's have been doing yeoman's work updating the Wikipedia entry about the attacks.
Last year, I blogged about riding the Western line into Mumbai with blogger Rohit Gupta. We jumped onto an express train at Andheri Station and headed into Mumbai for coffee with Dina Mehta, playing with the iTalk recorder on my iPod, never giving a thought to our safety. I even recorded a demo with my iPod on the train, which I've never posted publicly. Here's a copy of it.
Looking back on that afternoon, I now realize that the train I rode that day passed through four of the seven stations bombed today. It could have just as easily been that day or any other day; it's the sheer randomness of terror that makes it so horrifying.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Mumbai tonight. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:25 PM
RIP Syd Barrett: Shine On, You Crazy Diamond
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Public domain photo of Syd Barrett, taken in 2002. |
Unfortunately, Syd himself did not get the chance to experience the band's later commercial success. Tormented by the effects of mental illness and drug abuse, Syd had his will to perform sucked out of him just as the band was heading towards greatness. Pink Floyd associate Joe Boyd recounted the summer of 1967, when everything seemed to fall apart for Syd:
He was very lifeless. He'd always been very witty, kind of twinkly, very appealing to girls - a dark-eyed, handsome sort of guy.... By that summer, he would very often spend time on stage with the Floyd, standing with his arms at his side, not playing, not singing. Eventually Dave Gilmour was brought in to provide support for those times when Syd didn't feel like playing, and in the end he took over and replaced Syd, and Syd left the group.
But the stage had been set. Without Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd would have never gone on to create such classics as Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and Wish You Were Here. (And we probably would have never had Robyn Hitchcock either, but that's another story.) I still look back fondly to seeing Pink Floyd live in high school, playing their epic song, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," which was a tribute to Syd. Later in college, I remember the countless evenings where several of us would open the doors to our dorm rooms to perform the song. One of us would slowly turn up the volume and begin playing a recording of it. At the proper moment, I would come in on my guitar, playing the song note-for-note, while a little while later my neighbor Mike Bultman would jump in doing his part with his saxophone. And all the while, Syd lived as a recluse in Cambridge, residing with his mother, refusing interview requests, coming outside only to buy painting supplies and work on his modest garden.
Shine on, you crazy diamond. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:20 PM
Taking Questions at PBS Parents
I've just been invited to answer questions at PBS Parents. The site is soliciting questions for me about the Web, blogging, online social networks and kids, among other related topics. Feel free to ask a question if you'd like. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:45 PM
Hao Wu Released!
Wonderful news coming out of China today. The family of blogger Hao Wu reports that he has been released by the authorities after several months of detention. The entry is written in Chinese, but here's a rough translation:
Just received a phone call from home. Hao is released from detention. Thanks for everybody's concerns but Hao wants to be alone and calm down for a while. Anything new about this matter would be updated on this blog.
This news is a huge relief to his family, friends and all the bloggers around the world who rallied in support of him, particularly his colleagues at Global Voices. He was originally detained in February after shooting documentary footage of a secret Christian group in China, and was held until today. More information is available on the Free Hao Wu blog set up by Ethan Zuckerman. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:40 AM
July 10, 2006
Podcast: Angus King on the Maine Laptop Program
Last month while I was attending the AALF conference here in Boston I mentioned I'd recorded a podcast of Angus King, former governor of Maine, talking about the state's groundbreaking laptop initiative. I didn't want to post it without getting his permission, and earlier today I received an email from him giving me the thumbs up. So here's the podcast. It's about 50 minutes long and around 43 megabytes. As always, sorry about the audio quality but it gets a little crackly when I compress it. For those of you who would prefer a text version, here are my notes from his speech. -andy
Tags: Angus King | digital divide | education technology | laptops | Maine | policy | Seymour Papert | students
Posted by acarvin at 6:30 PM
July 6, 2006
The Rocketboom Saga Overtakes the Blogosphere
It's been a surreal 36 hours since Amanda went public with her departure from Rocketboom. The entire blogosphere seems to be totally absorbed by the saga; as of this afternoon, it was the #1 blogging topic according to both BlogPulse and Technorati. Even mainstream media is following the tit-for-tat exchanges between Amanda and Andrew, from BusinessWeek to the Washington Post.
They say any publicity is good publicity; frankly, we'll just have to see about that. Amanda, clearly, is going to have a very soft landing, with public offers from Jason Calcanis and others for sweet deals that would land her in LA, just where she wants to be. Meanwhile, there's a lot of speculation that this spells the end of Rocketboom, but I wouldn't sell Andrew short. He's working like a maniac to line up an interim host. I just saw the resume and photos of one of the leading candidates. For those people who watch Rocketboom just to see a pretty face, she'd fit the bill, but the big challenge will be to find some who was as witty and entertaining as Amanda. Frankly, I'm worried there's some public pressure to turn this into a quest for the "hottest" replacement. But the key thing will be to find someone who's funny as hell and has a distinct personality that can keep people coming back for more. I'd hate to see an Amanda doppleganger. Heck, I'd almost rather preview the candidates by listening to a podcast of their reel rather than seeing them.
Meanwhile, I've been fascinated by the goings-on over at Wikipedia, where people have been editing the entries for Amanda and Rocketboom. For a while there was an attempt by some Wikipedians to merge the two entries together, but that's pretty much a moot point now. What's most interesting to me is watching the Wikipedians try to figure out just what to post on the entries about the break-up. Given Wikipedia's strong desire to convey a neutral point of view and cite primary sources, it's hard for them to glean the "truth" out of the various public statements made by both Amanda and Andrew. Lots of other websites have struggled with this as well. When it comes down to it, unless someone decides to post the long stream of stressed out, ugly emails that flew around the Rocketboom correspondents list over the last couple weeks, it'll be hard to do that. If that did happen, even if it came directly from Amanda or Andrew, what you'd end up with are two very distinct opinions of what actually happened. This already seems to be happening; Amanda's last blog post was a copy of an email she sent to the correspondents list, in response to a previous message sent to everyone from Andrew. This could turn into an email arms race, with Andrew and Amanda publishing the several dozen emails that went back and forth over the last two weeks. Boy, I hope not.
Which one of their stories is more accurate? You might as well split the difference, since it seems there's truth and sincerity behind each of their perspectives. Even having followed the back-and-forth emails, I feel I'll never really know exactly what happened, because each of them believes very strongly that their explanation is the true explanation. Neither of them are lying as a face-saving public stratagem. It's just what each of them truly believes what happened. But it boils down to high pressure, limited resources, creative differences and personality differences. Like Chuck Olsen wrote on his blog yesterday, "Lack of money certainly doesn't help most relationships."
As I've said already, I'm really sad it came down to this. Watching the fight take place semi-privately was ackward and painful, not unlike a kid watching his parents self-destruct along the downward slope of their marriage. I'd hoped it wouldn't have spilled out so publicly, for both of their sakes. But that's what's happening, and the blogosphere seems riveted, in a rubbernecking-a-car-accident kinda way.
Eventually, all of this will blow over. Amanda's left coast career will skyrocket, and Andrew will continue to be the pioneering entrepreneur he is. Until then, the soap opera continues.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 6:23 PM
July 5, 2006
Amanda Leaves Rocketboom
![Amanda leaves Rocketboom](http://www.amandacongdon.com/pics/unboomed.jpg") |
Amanda Congdon announces her departure from Rocketboom. |
Amanda and Andrew are two of the most creative, hardest working people I've had the pleasure of knowing on the Internet. They turned their low-budget video blog into a force to be reckoned with. And now the future is uncertain. Amanda's moving to LA, while Andrew will push forward with Rocketboom. I know both of them will be successful with whatever endeavor they choose to embrace; I am just saddened they won't be doing it together anymore. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:35 PM
July 4, 2006
Digital Divide Network Reaches 10,000 User Accounts
Earlier today, the Digital Divide Network had its 10,000th user account created. The person in question, Katharina Reinecke of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, probably has no idea she helped us reach this milestone.
Technically, she is probably not the 10,000th _person_ to join DDN, because several DDN admins have multiple accounts. So the actual 10,000th person will probably be someone later today or tomorrow. Nonetheless, it's great to see DDN finally reaching this milestone after six and a half years. Special thanks to all of you in the network for making this milestone possible!
Posted by acarvin at 11:49 AM
