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May 31, 2007

Bad Kid, Bad Karma

The next time your child acts up in public, take heart - chances are, their behavior isn't as bad as destroying a sand mandala created painstakenly over a period of days by Buddhist monks. The monks weren't present when the young scofflaw climbed under the rope barrier protecting their artwork and performed a tapdance on top of it; otherwise they might have blown a gasket. I hope this kid got a serious time out. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 1:41 PM

May 30, 2007

Mash This, Lucas

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, the good folks at StarWars.com launched Star Wars Mashups, a tool that lets you remix a select number of scenes from the six Star Wars films. So far, the featured mashups I've looked at have been rather underwhelming, perhaps due to a preponderance of young Anakin Skywalker footage. Frankly, I think the whole exercise would have been a lot more fun if Lucas had cut loose and release the source footage from the Star Wars Holiday Special and let us remix those amazing scenes with Bea Arthur, Art Carney and Jefferson Starship. Yes, I kid you not. Princess Leia even sings a song to the tune of the main Star Wars theme. Just thinking about it is giving me vertigo.

I've never seen all two hours of it, but this five-minute summary on YouTube will you give more than enough to get the gist of it - disturbing, embarrassing, yet deliciously hilarious. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 10:05 PM

May 29, 2007

Toasting Eric and Kim at their Wedding

This weekend, my brother Eric married his fiancee Kim Noble in Philadelphia. I had the honor of being their best man, and their videographer shot footage of my toast at the reception following the wedding ceremony. And no, that's not me at the very beginning; that's the DJ introducing me. -andy


Click To Play

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Posted by acarvin at 1:19 PM

May 22, 2007

My 15,000th Photo on Flickr


Sus and K-Lee, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

I just upload my 15,000th photo to my Flickr account. Not a bad picture if I should say so myself. :-) -andy

Posted by acarvin at 9:41 PM

May 18, 2007

MySpace: Balancing Business with Democracy

Eli Pariser of MoveOn: While it may make sense from a business perspective for MySpace to not allow embedded videos from competitors like Revver, it doesn't make sense from a democracy perspective.

Jeff Berman responds: This is a democratic platform and it needs to be, but democracies have rules. YouTube was built upon MySpace, and we generally don't block them. But Revver monetizes their videos at our expense, though, and that's problematic for MySpace.

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Posted by acarvin at 2:07 PM

Steve Urquhart: The Extremes of Politics are Rotting Our Core

Utah State Representative Steve Urquhart, founder of the political wiki Politicopia, spoke about the reasons he created his site, which allows the public to collaborate on debating and crafting policy. Some notes:

"The extremes dominate the political process and the core is rotting," he said. The extremes have the money and the rock star status. Solutions evade us because this is at odds with democracy. "Democracy requires comprise - and that takes place in the middle, not on the extremes." The bulk of Americans get discouraged and disgusted because they're disenfranchised by the extremes. People of good will enter the system and get eaten alive. Imagine if everyone in this conference took over power in government. Within two years we'd be doing the same thing people in power do today. So it's not a matter of changing people - it's about changing the system.

So at first I launched a blog, then a wiki called Politicopia.com. I put up issues pages, as can anyone else, and we debate issues facing the Utah legislature. On one issue, the argument brought things to the right; on another one, to the left. But in both cases, the discussion moderated the policy outcome. What I want politicopia to become is some networking function, so it's easier for people to talk directly to each other.

"We need to engage the smart mob in the middle, not the fringes."

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Posted by acarvin at 2:00 PM

Squeeze That Tube

"The toothpaste is out of the tube."

-Jeff Berman of Myspace on the need for political candidates to embrace voter-generated content

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Posted by acarvin at 1:55 PM

Andrew Rasiej Throws Down the Digital Divide Gauntlet to Presidential Candidates

Personal Democracy Forum co-founder and digital divide activist Andrew Rasiej made a passionate case to revive the digital divide as a major policy issue. He asked how many people in the audience felt the digital divide was still a problem, and few of us did. Andrew went on to talk about poor Internet access in low-income schools and communities, and how inequitable access is hampering civic participation and democracy.

Rasiej then announced that the Personal Democracy Forum will launch an online petition to elect "the first tech president." He's challenging the public to sign onto the petition and forward it to presidential candidates to get them to sign on to these basic principles:

I'll see if I can dig up more about the initiative. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 12:17 PM

Previewing the Next Edition of Tom Friedman's The World is Flat

Tom Friedman returned to the stage to read excerpts from three new chapters he's adding to the next edition of his runaway best seller, The World is Flat. I took some notes, though struggled a bit to keep up with his fast-paced reading. -andy

Here's a quick sampler of the new chapters I'm adding to the next edition of The World is Flat. The personal computer, the Internet and workflow software is allowing people to create, share and collaborate in ways that have truly made the world flat. I see it wherever I go.

The first chapter I've added is "IF it's not happening, it's because you're not doing it." I came into the office, turned on my PC and got 5000 emails with the same complaint. A group in Canada called A Dog and 10,000 Dollars had organized it. What do I have to do to make them go away?

Okay, this isn't true, but this happens to CEOs every day. The Internet lets even the smallest groups organize their activism and expose multinationals. If it has merit, they can get these companies to change behavior or beg for mercy. And the praise these companies win when they do the right thing has real benefit.

A few years ago, TXU announced they would create some more energy plants, which would pollute the environment, and they'd do it anyway. So stoptxu.com was formed, creating a national constituency against their plans. All of those efforts paid off when a buyout group offered to buy TXU. But they didn't want to fight the environments, so they invited the protestors to work with them and figure out a way to make the deal climate-friendly. The world's biggest buyout rode on the approval of the only two people at the table who had no money at the table - the environmentalists.

I asked a lobbyist about this. She said: "We were operating under the old rules and the rules changed, but no one bothered to put up a sign."

The people changing the world are online activists, environmentalists, biz school students with a green soul. They have a burning desire to make a difference, and that the flattening of the world makes this possible more than ever before. So I would tell today's people, if it's not happening, it's because you're not doing it.

Next chapter: I traveled the world and looked at social entrepreneurship. "What happens when we all have dogs' hearing?" I flew to France and Germany. I was met by a driver, a young guy of African descent, taking to himself in French through a Bluetooth headset phone. He picked me up and kept talking. He had a movie playing while we drove, and he kept talking on his phone. I was trying to write on my laptop and could barely concentrate, so I put on my ipod, while he drove and talked on his phone. We were together for an hour, doing six different things, but we never talked to each other. He probably had a lot to tell me. A friend of mine at Le Monde said, "I guess the era of foreign correspondents quoting taxi drivers is over."

Tech can make the far feel near, but it can make the near feel far. He might have been talking to parents in Africa, but we didn't talk at all just a few feet from each other. We're so accessible we're inaccessible, another friend has told me.

Before going to Paris I was in San Fran, and a guy w/ the ipod almost got hit by a car driven by a women talking on a cell. The first postmodern news story.

These are downsides. No, I don't mean terrorist websites. You and me, our strangers and friends, and how it's affecting our interactions, dividing us. These tools also interrupt us more than ever before, coarsening our language and discourse. What happens when we can all upload our own content and read what everyone is reading about each of us. Suddenly we can all hear everything about us. What happens when we all have dogs' hearing?

Millions of people are producing content. If you're a public figure, chances are someone is blogging about you. Just check google or technorati. In 2003, there were 60 million references to The World is Flat. Some are praiseworthy, others vitriolic. I don't check it anymore. What happens when all of your neighbors or students have blogs? How thick is your skin? We all become public figures, fair game, newsworthy. What if they upload embarrassing pics of you. What if you dropped some dishes, breaking them, and your neighbors blog that you had a fight with your wife?

School officials see myspace as a real problem. An assistant principal is suing a family because their myspace page suggested she was gay. The students set up a page in her name, said she was gay though she wasn't, then had other students commenting abusive things. Now she's suing the kids and the parents because they weren't supervising the kids. The police determined the computers used were in the home. This is just the beginning of what happens when we get another billion people on the Web.

In the old days, you had to be a moviestar to worry about what was said about you in the National Inquirer. Now we all need to be thinking about our own bad press. Though the Inquirer often crossed the line, they were a company that could be held accountable. Now fast forward. We're all potential journalists and paparazzi, yet lacking the lawyers to protect us. Once it hits the web, it goes worldwide. The dialogue is also two-way and multi-dimensional.

I spent a lot of time in the Mideast. There, often the less benign sides of the flat world that get circulated. I did a film for Discovery, and I was in an Indonesian medressah, interviewing students. I asked them who they supported. A woman stood up. "We don't like Bush, we'd like to vote for Gore, but he's Jewish." But he's not Jewish. "Yes, he is. No. "Yes." Where do you get your news? "From Arab websites."

The rumor about Jews being warned about 9-11 isn't taken seriously here but it's considered fact in many parts of the world. The Internet makes rumors more believable to people. "I read it on the Internet." Like that should settle it. I like to warn people about the Net: "Judgment not included."

One last point: a third chapter. When the world is flat, whatever can be done, will be done - but will it be done by you or to you? In my travels I've seen amazing business models. We were in Peru in June, and our guide told us about a friend who sold dishware on the Internet near Cusco. But he's thinking about having his dishes made in China. And he needs to do it before his neighbor does it. Then I went to Budapest for an event, and a taxi driver told me, if you ever come back, please tell people about my driving service - just go to my website. It showed his entire fleet, his area covered, and it was in three languages, with music. James Baker once said you know you're no longer in power because your limo is yellow and the driver speaks Farsi. And the world is flat when your taxi driver has a website.

The most competition going forward is gonna be between you and your own imagination. Your ability to act upon it has never been more powerful and important. What people imagine - what individuals imagine - not governments or companies. I'm positive about America today. Washington is brain dead - beeeeeeeeeeeeeep - but the country is really alive, particularly in education and energy. Because we have a free market system in those areas. They say China will own the 21st century. Not so fast. We may not dominate, but we won't lose by default either. Like my grandma told me, "Tommy, remember. Never cede the century to a country that censors Google." Thank you very much.

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Posted by acarvin at 11:29 AM

Thomas L. Friedman Interviews Eric Schmidt of Google

For the last hour or so, Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times has been interviewing Google president Eric Schmidt, and taking questions from the audience. Here are my notes, the vast majority of which are not verbatim quotes, so please don't treat them as such. -andy

Tom: I'm Tom Friedman, from the Flat World. As a newspaper reader, it seems like google is in the news every day. Where are you guys going? What is the new, new thing for google, and what is the macro frame around it?

Eric: The news this week, of course, is that we're integrating our search works into a common set of answers called universal search. People wanted to be able to ask the right question and get the right answer in one place, not in separate search tools.

Tom: Some people say the Net is the dialtone of the 21st century, and that access should be free and a right, that it's essential to how we think and collaborate.

Eric: I don't know if it's as important as healthcare, but it almost is. If you don't have access, you really don't have access to the modern world. There's hope, though. Unlike other industries... we live in a world of rapid tech improvement and deflation in prices, thanks to Moore's law. It's improving by a factor of 10 every five years. A lot of the things we're talking about now, weren't broadly available five years ago. Prices are falling, fiber is spreading, wireless is opening up.

Tom: Is there a Moore's law for search?

Eric: Most people would call it the network effect, with more people putting knowledge in and adding value to it. An easy way to understand it, is that you can use a personal version of google, and we can tailor your results based on your interests. Ten years from now, it might say, good morning, you're like, like you're always late. Like it can mimic the way you think.

Tom: Right now people in the room are searching and creating content.

Eric: It's like a google meeting - no one is paying attention. (laughs)

Tom: My motto is that I want to see all 10 fingers on the table.

Eric: It's a battle we've lost. And it's a permanent change.

Tom: What's the political impact of this instant access, and to author content, and globalize content?

Eric: let's talk negatives first. A very small group can analyze the foibles, mistakes and errors that happen in life and exploit them. I can't imagine you're perfect. Our politicians aren't, and if they make a single make, they get excoriated, because someone is trying to take them down. As for the positives, most people understand it in terms of before and after tv. Once politicians are in front of a camera, their personality changes. The same thing might occur with personalized media. People want a specialized message, so a politician might have to record 50 different greetings so users get personalized responses. As for loftier goals, people who care about truth can use the medium to fact check. We need a truth detector. It's easy to have a compendium of every word and deed. But it could also be used to identify truth and lies. It also means people will be skeptical in believing something the first time they hear it, because they're getting bombarded from so many angles.

Education will have to change, and students will be taught to confirm their biases, learn the truth - learn how to search and navigate.

Tom: A friend of mine has a book coming out about how you live your life. It'll be more important now because life is so transparent. Bush couldn't get elected if he were in Yale now with a profile on MySpace.

Eric: And what of Tom Friedman? (laughs)

Tom: Now, potential bosses can google you, find your facebook site, etc. How do you at google handle it?

Eric: At the age of 21, I think it should be okay to change your name. Anything you do before that can go away unless there's a court order. (laughs)

We're developing a lifetime of memories that not everyone would want to know. As you get older you understand your actions are consequential. My daughter calls this too much sharing at a young age. We're beginning to see a backlash in schools. Kids want friends, and expose themselves too much to fit in... The other consequence is that people are always in the media. Everyone has a phone with a camera. You're all, if you will, digital agents of photography. If there's an accident outside, you'd all be able to document it. It can all be online and searched. So you then have another problem - info that was once hard to get to is now easy to find, and stuff people try to hide gets out there. It's a matter of living with a historical record, and people are going to be more careful of how they talk to each other, and what they offer of themselves.

Tom: You and I knew each other when the world was round. How does life change now that you're a public figure?

Eric: One scenario is that we could all adopt a lifestyle of Paris Hilton. Every hour being completely in the media, and it doesn't matter what people say about you. Most public figures are affected by what's said about them, and sometimes what's said is false. We tend to find stories where there are not, and an isolated incident happens a couple of times, and people conclude those incidents define your entire being, even if the info about those incidents are sketchy. And once biases are set in peoples' minds, they're hard to unset. Once you have a view of Bush or Clinton, you don't change your mind. It's called confirmation bias. Everything you hear gets interpreted to support your pre-existing viewpoint.

Tom: In the Bahrain election, they were using Google Earth to take pictures on what was going on behind the walls of property owned by the ruling family. It became a big issue as people learned about it. What happens if a king somewhere says to google, "Your google earth is a national security threat." How do you handle it?

Eric: On a case by case basis. In Bahrain, we one that one. Kings and other leaders need political support, and they will respond to political pressure. In Bahrain, when they shut google earth, there was such a backlash, they had to turn it on again. And the backlash made it a bigger deal than if they'd just let it be. Unless the censorship has a moral basis, or is a huge invasion of personal privacy, most people will say, Why can we see this pictures? Google earth has brought a third dimension of information to people. Unless you fly a lot, you don't get to see the world from above, and it's pretty phenomenal.

More recently, the Thai govt blocked YouTube because of content that lampooned the king and the government. Google agreed that the content related to the king should be blocked because it was a clear violation of local law, but the other videos were political speech and were kept online.

Tom: And what about China?

Eric: Let me explain a little bit about how the Chinese structure work. There's something that's often called the Great Firewall, and it prevents some info from entering China. To enter the country, we had to be subject to their media laws, and there are a specific set of terms involving political expression. It's perhaps the hardest question we've had to face, the most difficult one. So we decided to enter the country, and if we decide to omit some result - about one out of 10,000 searches - we tell the user that the content was blocked. And you can imagine what they do next- they find away to go around the firewall and access it. So far, that structure hasn't broken yet. The arrival of the Net in China is changing politics - around 140 million Internet users there. You have to believe that the arrival of broad access to info has to be good for the evolution of the eventual state of democratic China.

Tom: should Google be a regulated utility?

Eric: There are plenty of governments globally trying to regulate us, trying to manage access to knowledge, and we certainly wouldn't encourage it. The company faces many of the issues we're talking about now. Two years ago, these weren't top of list. I wasn't as familiar with the legal structures in all of these countries. Now we're trying to do that, trying to be more transparent. And if you don't like what we're doing, you don't have to use it. We then purchased youtube and use it much as we can to document what we're doing. Smart people will try to learn what we're doing and then criticize us, which is healthy.

Tom: What did you learn from youtube:

Eric: We knew what we were getting into, but we're learning the incredible complexity of the media world: rights, production management, etc. It can slow down decisionmaking. People can get much more upset about a video than just words - it has a stronger impact. If I told you presidential candidate spend X to have his hair blown dry, it's one thing, but a video would change it. Or when Senator Allen said Macaca on video, it might have been a component in what happened to him. Youtube is different than what happened in TV. The average person watches a few videos, and curates their own. It's not programmed by professionals. It's user-programmed. Some day mobile phones might have an upload to youtube button so your life gets uploaded there instantly. And highly important info can be delivered to a community quickly.

Tom: So if I wanted to get hired by Google, how do you do it?

Eric: We have hundreds of recruiters globally. Though you and I could just have a direct conversation.

Innovation is the greatest strength of America. The Net is the best platform now for people to innovate. And the cost of innovating has gone down dramatically, so the barrier to becoming an entrepreneur is low. On the Net, all avenues get tried, and the best ones will often succeed.

Jeff Jarvis: I cover the election and YouTube on Prezvid.com. What should candidates be doing?

Eric: We've got YouChoose, where we're highlighting their videos. One of the Democratic presidential debates will also be on youtube, which I'm proud to announce, and I'm hoping we'll do one for the Republicans as well.

Andrew Rasiej: Candidates don't always seem authentic on youtube.

Eric: It's a generational shift. Perhaps the next generation of candidates will be more comfortable with it. Online video tends to need more humor, excitement, perkier, for it to be effective. People lose interest when they see a long monotone on their screen.

Q: What about the military's blocking of sites like Youtube and Myspace?

Eric: We would prefer that they not. (laughter) People are pretty good at deciding how to spend their time, so we're not in favor having access limited.

Steve Pederson: About personalized search... You want to provide the most relevant results, but at what point do you worry it could be used to provide info based solely on your political view and doesn't challenge their world view?

Eric: I think that's why we need to invest more in education. As a company we're not going to make a value judgment on how to search. I would hope that people would know not to have a narrow point of view. People who are searching are learning, and learning is always part of a good life.

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Posted by acarvin at 9:59 AM

Google Announces Democratic Presidential Debate on Youtube

Jeff Jarvis asked Google president Eric Schmidt about what the presidential candidates should be doing on YouTube. Schmidt used the opportunity to announce that YouTube will host a presidential debate among the Democratic presidential candidates and hopes to do the same with Republican candidates. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 9:51 AM

Lessig: Fair Use is "The Right to Hire a Lawyer"

Jeff Jarvis just mentioned to Larry Lessig that when he asked Fox News about whether they'd release their debates for public use, he was told they considered the debates under fair use. Jarvis asked if bloggers could feel safe with this.

"Fair use means years of litigation," Lessig replied. "It's nothing more than the right to hire a lawyer." He said he's been a supporter of fair use all his life, but when it comes to the presidential debates, debate organizers should just release it and make the rights known as clearly as possible, whether in the form of Creative Commons or the public domain. "Just make them open.... Not by reforming copyright law. But by saying, "For this [content], we release this." That way, he said, no one has the shadow of copyright litigation hanging over their head. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 9:01 AM

At the Personal Democracy Forum

Right now I'm at the 2007 Personal Democracy Forum in Manhattan. The annual event focuses on the role of Web 2.0 in politics, so it's no surprise it's practically standing room only here at the auditorium at Pace University. Larry Lessig is giving the opening keynote right now, talking about the importance of media outlets releasing recordings of the debates for public use. (Glad NPR went public prior to his speech.) It's an amazing group of people here; Jeff Jarvis and Steve Garfield are obscuring my view of Lessig, and so far I've spotted Danah Boyd, Esther Dyson, Lee Ranie and even Will Richardson, whom oddly I've never met in person before.

This should be a fascinating event. Coming up are Thomas Friedman, Eric Schmidt of Google, Seth Godin, Arianna Huffington and Yochai Benkler - and that's just the morning session. I'll do my best to liveblog what I can. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 8:40 AM

NPR to Release Debate Recordings in the Public Domain

Good news - NPR and Iowa Public Radio have decided to release the recordings of our upcoming presidential primary debates in the public domain, so they may be used by anyone. We're scheduled to co-host a pair of debates in January of next year, and now the public will have full access to the broadcast so they can share it or do mashups with it. Jeff Jarvis has more details on PrezVid. I'm really thrilled that NPR is so supportive of the idea. From my perspective, organizing a presidential debate is an important civic duty, and making the results available to all truly serves the public interest.

I'm all smiles this morning.

-andy

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Posted by acarvin at 8:15 AM

May 16, 2007

UK Judge Handling Internet Terrorism Case Asks, "What's a Website?"

For those of you who feel that U.S. politicians are thoroughly lacking competence when it comes to understanding the Internet, you might be glad to know that online ignorance among decisionmakers is a problem on the other side of the pond as well. Reuters picks up the story from here:

A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.

Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.

"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum." An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."

Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case.

Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony on Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: "Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics."

God forbid if his next case involves online fraud in Second Life or something like that. -andy

Posted by acarvin at 1:44 PM

May 10, 2007

Drained for a Good Cause


Drained, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

I just gave blood. You should do the same. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543)

Posted by acarvin at 12:55 PM

May 6, 2007

Defying the Fire: Rallying Behind Eastern Market


Watch the Video

On April 30, 2007, Washington DC's historic Eastern Market was ravaged by fire, gutting the southen half of the building and displacing businesses located there for decades. Its annual Market Day Festival was scheduled for the following Sunday, but they refused to cancel it. Today, thousands of people visited the market in a massive show of community solidarity.


Though much of the building was closed, that didn't dampen the spirits of the visitors and vendors lined up outside the building. I shot some video of the festivities, as well as the damage to the market's interior. -andy

Formats available: mp4, ipod, mobile, Flash

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Posted by acarvin at 5:20 PM

May 3, 2007

Meanwhile, Back at NPR HQ....

We launched the new NPR news blog today. It's called - wait for it - The NPR News Blog. Before you roll your eyes and ask why we didn't put a bit more effort into selecting a name, I swear we did. We came up with dozens of potential names, but almost none of them passed copyright muster because they were already being used elsewhere. And the ones that were available, well, there was a reason they were still available. So rather than wait for the perfect title, we decided to go live with the blog with the most generic of names, and then in the spirit of NPR Rough Cuts, explore how we can work with the public to come up with a more permanent name. We've also set up a Twitter account for the blog so you can follow the latest posts via text messaging or instant messaging. The blog is hosted by former Christian Science Monitor blogger Tom Regan and edited by Erica Ryan. Pop on over when you get a chance and say howdy. Tom's Canadian, so that means he's really nice. (DId I just say that or think that?)

And over at the Bryant Park Project blog, they've posted a great video by Win Rosenfeld that explores how personal space etiquette in Second Life is uncannily similar to how people manage their personal space in real life. And it turns out my friend Rik Riel - aka Rik Panganiban - shot some of the machinima footage used in the video. Small world. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 2:58 PM

Protests on Demand: The Floating Lab Collective


Watch the Video

Recently I was walking to lunch and I saw a group of people protesting for religious freedom in Vietnam. A little while later, I walked back the same way and saw the protestors again, but now they were protesting on behalf of dental hygienists. So I whipped out the only device I had on hand that could shoot video - my Treo 700p phone - and began interviewing them.

It turns out they're part of a group of performance artists called the Floating Lab Collective. They were offering "protests on demand." People could request a protest topic in person, online or by text messaging them, and the group would commit a certain amount of time to protest on your behalf. They would generate protest slogans for your cause, and even had a large banner with removable letters, so they could reorganize the text of whatever message you wanted the banner to say.

They were a fascinating bunch of people, but I hope I'll never have to use the Treo for recording video ever again. As you'll see, it looks like a distorted acid trip - so unbearably bad, I normally would never subject people to viewing it for several minutes. But it's not every day you get to see protestors on demand, so I figured why not? -andy

Formats available: mp4, iPod, mobile, Flash

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Posted by acarvin at 7:21 AM

May 2, 2007

I'M IN UR STACKZ


I'M IN UR STACKZ, originally uploaded by andycarvin.

The lolcats phenonemon doesn't have to be limited to cats - even librarians are getting in on the act. Jessamyn West twittered about the site lolbrarians, which takes the idea of lolcats and runs with it from a librarian perspective.

I couldn't resist cranking out my own contribution. Unfortuntely I couldn't find a proper photo of a library that I've taken, but this picture from my home library was inspiration enough to get me going.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Anil Dash has a great write-up on lolcats culture.

I'M IN UR INTERNETS, WASTIN UR BANDWIDTHS. -andy

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Posted by acarvin at 11:09 AM

The Digg Revolt

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

The runaway social news site Digg found itself under siege by its own members, as they rose up in revolt against the site owners. A couple of days ago, Kevin Rose and his team had decided to remove a digg story containing the encryption key required to crack HD-DVDs after receiving a take-down notice. The person who posted it originally posted it again, and got booted off of digg. His friends then re-posted the story, and they got booted. Digg's Jay Adelson tried to calm things down with a post on the Digg blog, but that only made things worse:

Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of the intellectual property holders and consortiums, in order for Digg to survive, it must abide by the law. Digg's Terms of Use, and the terms of use of most popular sites, are required by law to include policies against the infringement of intellectual property. This helps protect Digg from claims of infringement and being shut down due to the posting of infringing material by others.

Our goal is always to maintain a purely democratic system for the submission and sharing of information - and we want Digg to continue to be a great resource for finding the best content. However, in order for that to happen, we all need to work together to protect Digg from exposure to lawsuits that could very quickly shut us down.

It was too late. Faster than you can stand and shout, "I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus!," countless digg members were posting stories with the HD-DVD encryption key. Digg simply couldn't keep up with the revolt as it spread like wildfire. Someone even started making the key available on a t-shirt. Eventually, Digg founder Kevin Rose decided to back down in a blog post that actually included the encryption key in its title, despite the potential legal backlash.


In building and shaping the site I've always tried to stay as hands on as possible. We've always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.


The prisoners have stormed the keep. Here's hoping that Digg doesn't get sued into oblivion. Viva la revolucion. -andy

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