March 30, 2007
Talking Cyberbullying On The Brian Lehrer Show This Monday
Just wanted to pass along a head's up that I will be a guest on The Brian Lehrer Show on Monday, April 2. It airs on WNYC in New York City, and can be heard online if you click the previous link. I'll be talking about cyberbullying. The segment is expected to air around 11:40am eastern, 8:40am Pacific. -andy
Tags: cyberbullying | public radio | radio | stopcyberbullying | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC
Posted by acarvin at 5:13 PM
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March 29, 2007
On Air with the BBC Today
Looks like I'm going to be on the BBC this afternoon as part of their World Have Your Say program, talking about cyberbullying. I believe Beth Kanter will be on air as well. It'll air live at 1800 GMT - that's 1pm ET, 10am Pacific here in the US. I think I'll be popping into the conversation somewhere around 40 minutes into the show. Wish me luck! -andy
Tags: anonymity | BBC | blogging | cyberbullying | Kathy Sierra | radio | stopcyberbullying | World Have Your Say
Posted by acarvin at 10:43 AM
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March 24, 2007
Springtime is Gadget Time!
Spring is in the air, so I thought I'd celebrate by throwing away lots of money and getting some new toys. Okay, "throwing away" might be a bit misleading, because my mobile phone just died and my digital camera is moribund at best, so it was a matter of time before I had to get replacements anyway.
First, there's my new mobile phone - a Treo 700p. My old Treo 600 gave up the ghost at SXSW a couple of weeks ago, so I needed some kind of replacement. It just came in the mail yesterday. It's working fine as a phone and Web device, but it crashes when I try to use their email client. Can't wait to spend an hour or two on the phone with Palm later this weekend.
Then, there's my new video camera. I decided to take the plunge and buy the brand-new Sanyo Xacti HD2. A lot of my vlogging buddies have sworn by its predecessor, the HD1, which shoots in high-definition and records to digital SD card in MPEG-4 format. Unfortunately, I got scared away by several online reviews that lamented the HD1's ability to shoot video without ample light. From everything I've heard about the new HD2, they've solved this problem. And if they're wrong, well, that's why 30-day warranties exist.
Anyway, I'm really psyched to have some new gadgets to keep me busy for a while. The HD2 should come in really handy for our new Dirty Diaper Diaries videos, which could use some help in the production values department. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:21 PM
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December 29, 2006
Tag, I'm It
In case you haven't seen it yet, the latest blog meme going around is "five things people don't know about you." Ethan Zuckerman just posted his own list (He ran for president once; who knew.) after being tagged by Rebecca MacKinnon. Well, it's my turn now, as I've been tagged by Angela Stuber of Grassroots.org. This is actually a tough exercise, having been journaling online and blogging for the better part of 12 years now, leaving few stones unturned. For example, I would have included random tidbits like Ethan Zuckerman being my distance cousin, but dammit, I've already blogged about that. So here it goes:
1. I've been shot at twice; once intentionally and the other not. Okay, I'm already cheating somewhat because those of you who have been reading my website since the late 1990s know that I was shot at in eastern Turkey by a pair of Turkish military police. But what you may not know is that it happened again in Havana in 2001. I was there visiting an urban telecentre and Susanne was shooting footage for a National Geographic documentary. We'd just finished walking through a neighborhood festival when we strolled down a side street. Ahead of us, two men were having an argument, but it didn't seem serious. Suddenly, one pulled out a machete, the other a gun, and they started chasing each other in circles around the car. The gun went pop pop pop a few times, and I stood there like an idiot, somehow not registering what was going on. Then a nice shopkeep grabbed Susanne and me by our necks and yanked us out of the line of fire. Only then did it sink in that these two guys were really trying to kill each other. A few moments later, unmarked cars zoomed in, and plainclothes policemen had them tossed into the back of the cars faster than you can say "Fidel Castro is recovering nicely."
2. I have achilles tendon problems because I got scared by a rubber snake. When I was three or four, I got freaked out by a rubber snake at a toy store while shopping for a friend's birthday gift. At the birthday party, I then saw a similar toy snake on my friend's carpet, and freaked out yet again. For months I wouldn't walk on carpets, associating all floor coverings with serpents. My grandfather patiently coaxed me back onto carpets by encouraging me to crawl first, then walking on my tip toes. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Turns out I spent the next ten years walking on the balls of my toes subconsciously when I crossed a carpet, and it caused my achilles tendons to grow improperly when I went through puberty. Ever since then, I've had tight achilles tendons that require constant stretching.
3. George W. Bush once gave me a personal cheer. It was early 2001 and I was going for a jog at lunchtime. I was near the Department of Energy and suddenly several policemen came by on motorcycles to block the roads. It was the presidential motorcade. I stood there, the only other person on the city block, and watched the motorcade approach. There were two limos; in the first I thought I saw the president reading a newspaper. But then came the second limo. Bush had his faced pressed against the glass and he was giving me an enthusiastic thumbs up with both hands, mouthing what appeared to be a fratboy-like, "OH YEAH!!!" I waved back, dumbfounded. It was only later back at the gym that I realized he was actually saying "Go Yale!" due to the Yale sweatshirt I was wearing.
4. I was nearly smushed by a drunk driver in high school. My friend Todd Demetriades and I were leaving another friend's house, and we were talking outside. Todd was getting in his car, standing behind his open door, while I was leaning on my car across the street. Suddenly we saw a sports car racing down the street, heading directly for me and my car. It then swerved at the last minute, clipped Todd's car, knocking him into the air. The car then spun out and stopped. Todd, miraculously, wasn't hurt. We ran over to the sports car and yelled at the driver that he nearly killed us. He looked at us blankly, wreaking of beer. "I did?" he said, groggy. "Sorry." He then hit the gas and raced away. But he was so drunk he just went around the corner and parked his car in front of his house, falling asleep, making it easy for the police to find him.
5. I went to a UN summit wearing eyeliner. In December 2003, I went to the annual National Geographic Channel Christmas party with Susanne. Their parties always had a costume theme, and that year happened to be rock stars. For me, there was only one choice; I went as Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. We spent about an hour plying layers of makeup on my face that evening. Unfortunately, the mojitos at the party were much stronger than any previous year, and I got rather smashed, too ferschnickered to remove said makeup when I got home. Complicating matters was the fact that I was leaving for Geneva that next morning for the UN's World Summit on the Information Society, and I couldn't get all the makeup off my face. In particular, the eyeliner was practically tattooed on me, so eventually I had no choice but to give up and get on the plane with traces of Dee still on my face. It didn't fade for about three days. Lesson learned: if you have to dress up like a rock star before going to a UN summit, dress like John Lennon instead.
So that's my list of five things you probably didn't know about me. Now it's your turn, assuming your name is either David Warlick, Jonny Goldstein, Amanda Congdon, Steve Garfield or John Bracken. Tag - you're it. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 6:27 PM
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UPS Has Lost Me as a Customer
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A row of fresh UPS package slips adorn our apartment entrance. |
For the last month, Susanne and I have been fighting with UPS over the behavior of our local driver, who refuses to drop packages at our apartment. Normally, when a package is brought to our building, whether it's UPS, FedEx or the Post Office, they'll try to contact us using the downstairs intercom. If they can't reach us, they'll try again or leave it in front of our door. But for some reason, our local UPS driver doesn't try to contact us. Five times in a row now, when packages have been sent to us via UPS, the driver simply posts a sticker downstairs saying he tried to contact us, couldn't reach us, and delivered the package down the street at our complex's main office. The only problem with this is the sticker always seems to denote a time when we're at home - and the phone never rings.
At first I thought there was a problem with the call box downstairs, since it took a while for them to add our phone to the system. But I tested it and it worked fine. Then I talked to other people in the building who experienced similar problems. It didn't seem to matter that we were home; the driver would just put stickers on the door and dump the packages down the street. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's difficult for Susanne to pick up packages during the day because she's with the baby, and there are also people with disabilities in our building who lack the mobility to walk half a mile to the office and back.
The first few times it happened I called UPS and complained, and they said it would be resolved, but I should check to be sure our call box worked. It worked fine. By the time it happened the fourth time, Susanne called UPS and said she'd like to make a complaint. The woman she talked to said she was more than welcome to file a complaint, but she should know that the UPS driver might decide to retaliate and refuse to deliver packages altogether, forcing us to drive across town to pick it up at the local UPS center. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. While the woman wasn't intentionally trying to make a threat, that's basically what it was - if we complain, the UPS driver would just make life more difficult for us, without being held accountable for it.
At this point, my mom hears about this and gets in on the act - she was one of the people who sent us a package via UPS. She called them and gave them an earful, and the manager she spoke with said they couldn't believe a UPS employee would do this. They also promised we'd receive a personal apology via a phone call. So far, nothing. And meanwhile, we continue to get package slips claiming the driver tried to call us, even though we're home at the time.
From now on, it's either FedEx or the Postal Service - UPS has lost me as a customer. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:29 PM
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November 18, 2006
Dave and Sumner Remembered, Side By Side
The Denver Post ran a featured obituary for my father-in-law Dave Cornwall yesterday. By sheer coincidence, they also ran an obit for my cousin Sumner Shapiro right next to it. What are the odds of that? I wonder if I have a picture of the two of them together at my wedding. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:48 PM
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November 13, 2006
My Father-in-Law's Funeral
Today we buried Dave Cornwall on a hillside facing the Rocky Mountains in Denver. We left the house this morning, resigned to the fact that none of us could get all the dog hair off our clothes. Pulling out of the driveway, we saw that Pike's Peak was enveloped in a skirt of clouds around its base, its snow covered summit shining in the morning sun. We'd never seen it so beautiful. Dave would have loved it.
The funeral service was held at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, where Dave had been baptised, confirmed and married. Several dozen family, friends and colleagues from the Lamont School of Music attended, including his 13 1/2-year-old golden retriever, Beethoven, who was given full rein of the cathedral during the service. It was a beautiful tribute to Dave, with readings by two of his sisters-in-law and his nephew Mike. Susanne and her sister both gave their own eulogies. Fighting back the tears, Susanne said
I must have been about nine years old. My dad and I were walking through the nature preserve near our house, our dog Rosy tugging at the leash. My dad wearing a khaki colored winter coat, me wearing a khaki colored coat that I'd picked because it looked just like his. We'd been walking for a long time and at some point I realized that the paths no longer looked familiar; we were totally lost. I looked up at him and worriedly said, "Are we lost?"But he was smiling. "Why does it matter?" He shrugged. "We're here." At the time I took that to mean, here in the forest - because he loved nature so much. But I think now he meant that and more - we're together, we're on an adventure, we're where we've never been before. To my dad there was nothing better than getting lost in a forest.
He was such a great dad. He could be silly - so many of my friends this week have told me that is what they most remembered about him. But I could also go to him for advice, or even sit quietly with him, just enjoying his company. He was brave - the way he accelerated down mountain roads (to the terror of my mom and her sisters), but also the way he handled the enormous obstacles that life threw at him. But I think I will remember him most for his creativity - the beautiful music that he left us will forever be a reflection of his soul.
And now I miss him so much - I hear his music in my head, I see him in my baby daughter's face. And I imagine he is in heaven's equivalent of a national park. Binoculars in hand, walking over log bridges, followed by all the dogs he loved over the years - Mozart, Rosy and Goldie, Cubby, Tawny and Reddy. Never needing to stop for breath, never running up against a barrier he cannot climb, so happy, so excited to scout every last inch of a boundless forest. He's humming his latest composition, and his footsteps become percussion, the birds his string section, and as the wind carries off the melody, all of heaven is filled with his music....
The organist then performed one of Dave's compositions - a three-minute fugue. Even though the piece had been composed for piano and the organist fumbled a few times, it was an extraordinary moment, feeling the deep bass of the pipe organ resonating through your bones. Dave would have loved it. Susanne's Aunt Ginny recorded it on her video camera; I hope to make a copy of it and extract the audio so friends and family who couldn't attend could experience the performance as well. (UPDATE: I've uploaded the audio of the performance.)
At the end of the funeral, I joined the five other pall bearers as we led Dave's casket out of the church and towards the hearse. Beethoven joined the procession, pacing just behind me near Susanne and her mom. We then made the 30-minute drive to the cemetery, passing Dave's childhood home along the gorgeous Monaco Parkway.
An honor guard was waiting for us at the cemetery, where they and the church canon performed a brief interment ceremony. After performing taps on the bugle, the honor guard folded the flag draped over his coffin with precision and dignity, presenting it to Mary, who sat in the front row with Susanne. The funeral party then concluded the proceedings with a luncheon at a local hotel, reminiscing moments with Dave and agreeing unanimously that he would have thoroughly enjoyed everything that had been done for him on this most difficult of days. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:12 PM
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November 11, 2006
Dave's Obituary
Dave's obituary ran in today's Rocky Mountain News:
CORNWALL, DAVID R. David Randolph Cornwall died November 7, 2006 at Sky Ridge Medical Center. David was born May 18, 1937 in Denver, Colorado. He attended Harvard College and University of Chicago. He joined United Airlines in 1957 as a computer engineer, and retired in 2000 from Covia-Galileo International. A professional trombone player in his youth, David attended classes after retirement at Denver's Lamont School of Music, and developed his natural musical talents. He became an accomplished composer of many beautiful pieces. His music will live on for years to come. Surviving Dave are his wife, Mary of Parker, CO; brother John Michael of Los Angeles, CA; daughter Catherine Swanson and husband Stephen of Brea, CA; daughter Susanne Carvin and husband Andy of Silver Spring, MD; and three grandchildren, Alicia and Alex Swanson, and Kayleigh Carvin. Viewing, Sunday 2-3:30 p.m. at Fairmount Mortuary. Service, Monday, 10:00 a.m., St. John's Cathedral, 1350 Washington St., Denver, followed by burial at Fairmount Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Young Musicians Opportunity of Colorado, 1281 S Akron Way, Denver, CO 80231.
Tags: davecornwall | obituaries
Posted by acarvin at 9:56 AM
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November 8, 2006
Funeral Travel Plans
Susanne and her mom are working out the arrangements for Dave's funeral today. It's probably going to take place this Monday, not far from the house where Dave grew up in Denver. This should give plenty of time for family and friends to assemble in Colorado.
I wrapped up my work at NPR West this afternoon after a productive 12-hour day that began well before dawn. Tomorrow morning, I fly to Houston to participate in the Technology for All conference, pretty much as scheduled, though I'll have to leave an hour or so earlier on Friday to catch a flight to Denver. I'll stay there through the funeral, then hopefully continue to Atlanta to the Georgia Edtech Conference. Once that wraps up on Thursday, November 16 I'll return home, where I'm sure our cats will be relieved to see me. Still don't know when Kayleigh and Susanne will come home. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:01 PM
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November 7, 2006
Dave Looking His Best
This is a picture of Dave and Susanne's mom at our wedding three and a half years ago. Just the way I want to remember him.
Posted by acarvin at 9:29 PM
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Supporting Young Musicians and Preserving a Musical Legacy
For those of you who have asked about sending flowers or making a donation to a charity, we'd like to ask you to consider making a donation in Dave's name to Young Musicians Opportunity of Colorado. The mission of YMOC is to create an environment in which all young individuals and their families have the opportunity and support to obtain music education, develop and polish their musical talents, and contribute acquired skills to the community.
As many of you know, Dave was passionate about music. As a young man in Denver, Dave was a professional trombone player who performed with the Central City Opera. After a long career as a software engineer, Dave retired five years ago and dedicated all his free time to re-embracing his love of music. He audited graduate courses at the Denver University Lamont School of Music, and began what would be an extraordinary period of music composition. He wrote dozens of classical pieces, from short fugues to complex concertos for orchestra. The string quartet he wrote for our wedding was later performed by the Lamont Orchestra. His last work, completed less than two months ago, was a lullaby for Kayleigh.
Following the funeral, I plan to work with his former professors an colleagues at the university to catalogue, record and publish as much of his work as possible. So far I've identified more than 70 different works that he recorded either electronically or with local musicians, along with countless scores. I hope to catalogue any notes he wrote about his work and publish them as part of a podcast that I will create in his honor. It's a legacy, I hope, that I will be able to pass on to my own grandkids some day.
In the meantime, I urge you to support YMOC by making a donation in Dave's name. You can help a new generation of young Colorado musicians develop the same passion for music education that Dave cherished his entire life. -andy
Tags: charity | davecornwall | education | music
Posted by acarvin at 8:33 PM
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Planning a Funeral
So it looks like Dave's funeral will be early next week. Apparently there is a problem arranging a funeral over a holiday weekend. I can understand how this might be a problem on Christmas or something, but am somewhat baffled that Veteran's Day would interfere with the ability of organizing a burial in Colorado.
My parents are flying to Denver on Friday, though they probably won't be able to stay for the funeral if it has to be later than Monday, because of my mom's post-chemo doctor schedule. Susanne's aunts and cousins will probably begin arriving before the weekend; her sister should arrive with her family any moment now, if they haven't already.
Currently I am planning to fly to Denver Friday afternoon after wrapping up my duties at the Technology for All conference. I offered to go there today but Susanne wants some time alone with her mom, which I totally understand. Meanwhile, we've received condolences from friends and strangers alike, for which we are most grateful.
I still feel terrible I could not be there at the end, but am relieved that Susanne and Kayleigh made it in time. Dave was coherent enough to meet Kayleigh, hold her hand and smile for the very last time. I can only imagine how terrified he must have been in those last hours, but Susanne and Mary did everything they could to make him comfortable, telling him that soon he'll be able to get out of his wheelchair to run and play with his dogs Rosie, Goldie, Mozart, Cubby, who would be waiting for him in Heaven. Susanne said that in the end, he died peacefully.
I just wish I could have been there when he needed me most. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 7:51 PM
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In Memorium, David Cornwall
David Cornwall, Susanne's father, passed away approximately 20 minutes ago. At the time of his passing he was with Susanne, my mother-in-law, his dog Beethoven, the ICU nursing staff and our daughter Kayleigh, whom he finally got to meet in the early hours of this morning. The doctors determined that the x-ray contrast liquid that had aspirated into his lungs was terminally toxic, so after performing last rights, they shut off his life-sustaining equipment; he passed several minutes later. I am just devastated I couldn't be with them.
I do not have any information about memorial arrangements, but I imagine they will be some time this weekend to allow the rest of the family to arrive in Denver.
Posted by acarvin at 12:46 PM
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November 6, 2006
In LA, But For How Long?
I arrived in LA about six hours ago. Before I could even check into the hotel I got a call from Susanne informing me her father had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, after making enormous progress over the last month. They were getting ready to move him out of the ICU to a rehabilitation facility later this week, and they had him drink some concoction so they could x-ray his intestines and get a clear contrast. He aspirated the liquid, which is apparently toxic to the lungs, and he nearly died on the spot; he's not expected to survive the night.
Susanne and Kayleigh are en route, hoping to get there in time. I fear they won't. I was going to hitch a ride with Susanne's sister, who lives here in the LA area and is driving overnight to Denver. But Susanne has asked me to stay in LA then go to Houston for my conference.
There's nothing I can do but wait. This is going to be a horrible week.
Posted by acarvin at 9:01 PM
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November 2, 2006
My November Road Show: LA, Houston and Atlanta
For the first time in a long while, I'm about to hit the road for an extended period. Next Monday, I'm off to NPR West in Los Angeles for a few days' worth of meetings before catching a flight to Houston. There, I'll keynote the annual Technology for All conference. If you're in Houston and feel like joining us on November 10, please do; it's not too late to register.
I then head home for a few days before getting on yet another plane to spend a few days in Atlanta at the annual Georgia Education Technology Conference (GaETC). I'll be one of their featured speakers, and I plan to present a whole slew of talks on blogging, podcasting, wikis, video blogging and a few other things that'll undoubtedly fall out of my sleeve.
Anyway, if you're going to either of these conferences, drop me a line; always eager to say hello in person.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:54 PM
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Adopt a Four-Legged War Veteran
The Israeli animal rights group CHAI is organizing a massive airlift of dogs that were abandoned during the July Israel-Lebanon war. Hundreds of pets were separated from their families during the chaos that month, and many of them have not been reunited.
Early tomorrow morning, 40 of these pups will be arriving in the US for adoption.The puppies, all around 4 months old, will be boarded at shelters throughout the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland area, including the Montgomery County Humane Society, and the Arlington and Alexandria Animal Welfare Leagues, while they make appearances at adoption events.
"We reunited many puppies with their original families, and placed more with new families in Israel, but adoptions go slowly there," says Nina Natelson, CHAI's director. "We want to give them the best opportunity we can to find homes, so we are bringing them here."
If you'd like to see some of these puppies, please visit CHAI's adoption photo album. For more information, contact one of the aforementioned shelters to find out when you can meet the pups in person, or call CHAI at (703) 370-0333.
Meanwhile, I haven't heard of a similar initiative for animals that were abandoned in Lebanon, but if I do I promise I'll pass it along.
Hat tip to Ketzel Levine for passing along this announcement. -andy
UPDATE: Just a few minutes after I posted this, Ketzel chimed in again and alerted me to another organization that's airlifting abandoned pets from Lebanon. Thanks, Ketzel!
Tags: adoption | animalrights | dogs | israel | pets | war | washingtondc
Posted by acarvin at 1:48 PM
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October 5, 2006
Passages: My Tour of Duty with Aubrey and Maturin
This morning while taking the train to work, I completed a journey that began nearly two and a half years ago. I turned the final page of Blue at the Mizzen, the last book in Patrick O'Brian's 20-part naval epic known as the Aubrey-Maturin series. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, you probably know the movie inspired by the series: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. The movie version is loosely based on the 10th book in the series, peppered with scenes and quotes from perhaps a dozen other books. In it, we get to meet the dashing naval captain Jack Aubrey and his best friend, naval surgeon, Stephen Maturin, as they sail around South America chasing a powerful French frigate. (In the book they were actually chasing an American frigate; it was the War of 1812, after all.)
The movie, one of my all-time favorites, inspired me to read Master and Commander, the first book in the series. Little did I know at the time that I'd spend the next 30 months absorbed by it and 19 other books. The books cover a span from 1800 to 1816, beginning with Aubrey and Maturin's first encounter at a concert to the peace following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In the intervening years, I got to know both characters as intimately as any in literature. Even though I always pictured Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany as the characters, in the books they are much more layered and nuanced than those portrayed in the movie. Aubrey is a brave, inspiring sea-captain, yet he constantly mixes metaphors incorrectly and blunders even the simplest of jokes. He is a loving, but unfaithful husband, fumbling over bad business dealings and childhood racial prejudices. Maturin is even more complex - the most brilliant surgeon in the fleet, he's also one of its most accomplished spies, a polyglot with a photographic memory. He's also an aloof misanthrope, uncomfortable in the presence of women and children, weak-minded in the presence of opium and coca leaves. They are personal opposites, yet endlessly loyal to each other.
The books gave me a grand tour of the Napoleonic world, from the shores of the Baltic to the Spice Islands of Indonesia to the mountains of Peru. The geographic breadth of the books is stunning; thankfully there's even an atlas you can buy to follow along for those occasions where you find yourself lost. But it's the immersion in 19th century British naval culture that's most extraordinary about the books. From the moment you begin the series, you are inculcated in their damp, salty world, with all the colorful nautical terms used in the period. It probably took me three or four books to get a hang of it, but after that, I was finally able to navigate the differences between larboard and starboard, sheets and braces, skysails and studdensails, bights and bitter ends, foc'sles and quarterdecks. Early on, I downloaded an archaic naval dictionary for my mobile phone, so I could look up terms on the fly; eventually I read A Sea of Words, the unofficial dictionary for the series, to immerse myself even further in the diction. In the end, I probably mastered just a fraction of the hundreds of nautical terms used throughout the series.
And now I've come to the end. It's a bittersweet moment for me, having gotten to know Aubrey, Maturin and scores of other characters over the last two years, loving many, hating some, but always thoroughly absorbed. It's been the most satisfying literary experience of my life.
So what am I going to read next? The first book in the series, of course. I always felt I missed half of what was going on because I didn't understand the naval lexicon yet. I don't plan to start re-reading the whole series again, but who knows - the Aubrey-Maturin series are as difficult a habit to break as Maturin's love of the poppy. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:33 AM
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October 3, 2006
Keeping a Promise
Sunday evening I left the hospital, in preparation of flying back to DC on Monday. I didn't know how to say goodbye to Dave, even though my goodbye might be my final one. So I told him I'd see him soon, saying that I'd return to Denver at the end of the work week. "I'll see you soon," I repeated, two or three times, not sure how to fill the deafening silence. Then out of nowhere, I added, "I promise."
I hadn't planned on saying that; it just came out. As soon as I said it, though, I started to regret it, knowing that there was no way I could know whether I would see him alive again. Yet saying goodbye - the final Goodbye - seemed out of the question as well. I felt that if Dave thought I was saying Goodbye with a capital G, it would tell him that I didn't expect him to live. I'm still not sure I will, but I knew in my heart he needed that hope. Not just the hope in seeing me again, but seeing all of us again.
Still, my sudden exhortation of "I promise" might have gone too far, since I don't know what will happen between now and Friday. Fortunately, Dave has started to show some small, but important gains. His organs are working stronger. His fever is staying down. They even took him off the ventilator for 90 minutes yesterday - something that would have killed him 24 hours earlier. For the first time all week, the doctors are saying that there is a small chance he may pull through this. It won't be easy, but then again, they didn't expect him to make it through last Friday night. One doctor said he was "astonished" by Dave's improvement, but warns that he's hardly out of the woods yet.
Now I'm home with the cats, back at work for a few days, eagerly awaiting each call from Susanne. So far, so good. And if Dave keeps fighting like hell, perhaps I'll be able to keep my promise after all. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:42 PM
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October 1, 2006
The Wall That Separates Them
One of the most difficult aspects of coping with Dave's illness is the fact that he hasn't met Kayleigh yet. Since Kayleigh was born premature, we dreaded the thought of taking her on an airplane before she was at least six months old. And being wheelchair-band, Dave could not travel very easily, particularly on airplanes. Then came the move to DC, the job.... We always assumed we'd get to see him over the holidays.
Today's been a better day than yesterday for Dave.... His temperature and white count are down, while his lungs and kidneys seem to be working relatively better. He's awake for several hours a day, and can communicate by nodding or blinking his eyes. There is no doubt about his alertness; as long as his strength holds, he doesn't hesitate to respond to yes or no questions. Having said all that, the doctors have made it clear that it will take a miracle for his body to recover from the massive infection that's overtaken him.
I'm sitting here in the ICU waiting room with Kayleigh and Susanne's cousin Mike. The rest of the family is spending time with Dave while he sleeps. The waiting room, by coincidence, is adjacent to Dave's room. Sometimes when it's quiet in here I can hear Dave's music, particularly when his Parade of the Wedding Party - the orchestral version of the string quartet he composed for our wedding ceremony - reaches its crescendo. And sometimes when I'm visiting him, talking about his music, I can hear Kayleigh crying in the waiting room.
Because Kayleigh is so young, the doctors will not allow her in the ICU. And Dave is too weak to leave his room and visit her somewhere safe. Only a wall separates them, but I fear it may be a wall that wall never be breeched.
I would give anything for a sledgehammer. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 7:33 PM
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September 30, 2006
Prayers for David Cornwall
Friday I had to fly out to Denver after finding out that my father-in-law, Dave Cornwall, is gravely ill. Dave has abdominal surgery about a week ago but somehow he got an infection, and it's erupted into full-blown sepsis. His temperature spiked to 104 yesterday and he is on life support, but today his temp has come down to 97. He also woke up for several hours this morning, appearing alert and nodding his head to yes or no questions.
While he was awake, Susanne asked him if he wanted to listen to his music. As many of you know, Dave started composing classical music after his retirement and has written dozens of pieces, including the wedding march for when Susanne and I got married. We're playing a copy of it in his room in the ICU right now. Here's a podcast of it, performed by a string quartet from the Denver University Lamont School of Music.
All in all, the situation is very touch-and-go, and he has an uphill battle ahead of him. Any forms of prayer, good thoughts, karmic energy, etc, would be most appreciated by Susanne and her family during this difficult hour.
Posted by acarvin at 6:37 PM
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September 22, 2006
Rock Hashanah: The Virgin Mobile Festival
Tonight is the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. There's only one way to celebrate. It's time to rock.
Music maniacs from across North America will be converging upon Baltimore's Pimlico Racecourse tomorrow for the Virgin Mobile Festival, one of the biggest concert events of the year. The 10-hour festival features more than two dozen bands on three stages, including The Who, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley, the Flaming Lips and Wolfmother. And I've managed to score a press pass. I haven't been this excited about a concert since the first Lolapalooza.
My plan is to drag around as much equipment as humanly possible, including my laptop, two digital cameras and a minidisc recorder. I honestly don't know how much I'll be able to capture successfully since I also just want to enjoy the show, but I'm definitely going to do my best and record some good stuff. In the small chance that there's Internet access in the press tent, I'll try to liveblog some of it; otherwise stay tuned on Sunday and next week.
Shana tovah, everyone. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 5:12 PM
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August 28, 2006
Moving Sooner Than Expected
Due to an apparent miscommunication with our moving company, it seems we'll be moving a bit sooner than expected - this Wednesday to be exact. The movers are coming tomorrow to help us pack our things, at least, so it's not a total mad dash, but it's pretty darn close. We spent the entire day running errands, sacking our closets and making lists. I think I threw out more industrial-size bags of garbage than I have in the last two years.
Currently we're piling up all the various baby and feline-related sundries that need to accompany us in the car ride to DC. Our dining room table has turned into a mound of diapers, nursing pads, cat medicines, toy mice and the occasional five-megapixel camera. We may have to put yellow police tape around the pile to ward off overzealous packers. I just feel bad for the cats because they see their carriers and clearly think that they're about to go to the vet.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:04 PM
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August 22, 2006
My New Job at NPR
Some of you have commented to me that my blog has been unusually quiet the last couple of weeks. I suppose this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as it's the middle of August, not to mention the fact that I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with Kayleigh watching her learn how to smile.
But the main reason I haven't been posting is because I've just accepted a new job. Starting in just a few weeks, I'll be working at National Public Radio in Washington DC, serving as senior product manager for online communities. In this role, I'll essentially act as a Web 2.0 strategist for NPR, helping them develop new initiatives that encourage greater public involvement in NPR's online activities. These activities could take a variety of forms: online social networks, wikis, blogs, mobcasting, citizen journalism, original content sharing. The NPR digital media team is very excited about the possibilities, and I'm honored that they've turned to me to work with them on this endeavor.
Now some of you may find it a bit odd that I've gone from digital divide work to NPR, but it seems quite natural for me. For many years now, I've argued that one of the main reasons we should bridge the digital divide is to provide the public with new outlets for civic participation, encouraging them to become producers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of it. Just giving people Internet access isn't very profound unless they also have platforms for dialogue and debate - platforms where they can have a voice in the public sphere. This new job at NPR will give me the chance to help develop platforms that I hope will do just that. Additionally, I'll continue to serve as one of PBS Online's three bloggers, focusing on education technology at PBS learning.now. So it seems like I'll be spending my waking hours covering the entire public broadcasting spectrum in one way or another. :-)
In the coming weeks I'll try to write more about the new job. For starters, I'll be spending a lot of time analyzing the Web 2.0 universe, with particular interest towards things like online social networks, citizen journalism and networked journalism. I can't predict where all of this will lead, but I'm very excited that NPR has asked me to help them blaze new trails with them.
Meanwhile, I'll also have to focus on the move itself. We're planning to head to the DC area during the first week of September, living in Silver Spring, MD. I'm really looking forward to being back in the DC area, too. While Boston has been good to us (read: Kayleigh), I feel like we're now getting ready to go back home.
See you soon, Washington. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:05 PM
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June 12, 2006
Fatherhood: 10 Days and Counting
So it's been 10 days since our little Kayleigh was born - life has been a total blur. Susanne and Kayleigh came home from the hospital last Wednesday, and it's been nonstop action ever since. Since she's got to start putting on some weight, her feedings have been almost constant, every two to three hours. Thankfully, Susanne's sister is in town helping out for the week, since I've been rendered useless by a very random case of strep throat.
Kayleigh's doing really great. Like most babies, she lost about 10% of her weight in the days following her birth. She's still not back up to 5 lbs, 12 oz, but hopefully she'll be there sometime later this week. Our biggest concern was a slight case of jaundice and her corresponding bilirubin levels. I'd never even heard of bilirubin until last week. For the first few days I just kept wondering, "Who the heck is Billy Rubin?" - until someone explained to me it was a substance that occurs when red blood cells break down. For a few days, her bilirubin levels were creeping up, to the point that Susanne promised Kayleigh that they'd collectively "kick Billy Rubin's ass." The best way to get Kayleigh's bilirubin level down was to get her to eat more. Unfortunately, preemies don't always know how to breastfeed very well, so it took her a few days to get the hang of it. Combined with a bit of bottle feeding and a lot of sleepless hours on Susanne's part, Kayleigh's gaining weight and Billy Rubin, the sucka he is, is running for the hills. Because of this, we won't have to make any more daily trips back to the NICU ward and the pediatrician's office.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest challenges we had assumed would be waiting for us at home has amounted to nothing. We were worried that our two cats, Winston and Dizzy, would have a hard time adjusting to Kayleigh. Man, we called that one wrong. When we brought her home, we placed her car seat on the floor so the boys could give her a good sniff - with careful supervision on our part, of course. Dizzy approached cautiously, treated her with some suspicion, and left the room. Winston sniffed her foot, shrugged, and sat down on the carpet a few feet away from her. And that's been about it. Occasionally the boys will come over and watch her from across the the room; sometimes they even sit below her crib. They seem to recognize that she's now a member of the family and isn't a threat to their supply of food, water or treats. Winston actually seems almost protective of her, which seems to be a really good sign.
Kayleigh takes a nap as Winston guards over her.
So that's about it for now. Susanne's nursing Kayleigh while I'm nursing my throat. Can't wait to get healthy so I can hold Kayleigh again. As for those diapers, though, they can wait a little longer. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:21 PM
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June 3, 2006
The Story of Kayleigh's Birth
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My first picture with Kayleigh |
Susanne's official due date was July 4 - patriotic, isn't it? - but we knew for a while that the baby would probably come early. (We didn't know the gender until she was born.) Susanne had what's known as a placenta previa, and it meant that she could experience serious bleeding during a natural birth. So, her doctors put her on bedrest in mid-April, and we tentatively planned a c-section birth in late June, a couple weeks early.
Everything was going according to plan until a few days ago, when Susanne experienced some bleeding at 2am. We rushed over the hospital, fully expecting the baby might have to be delivered that night. But we and the doctors decided it would be okay to have her stay at the hospital for about a week, and then shoot for a delivery once the baby was within 36 weeks gestation. So I stocked up Susanne's hospital room with plenty of DVDs and yogurt, ready for a long, but uneventful hospital stay.
There was one logistical complication, though not a serious one - we'd planned on having a virtual baby shower on Saturday, June 3. Susanne's friends are scattered all over the US, so we thought we would make a video blog of Susanne and me opening the presents, mixed with video clips from our friends wishing her well. Just to spread it out a couple of days, I brought some of the smaller presents into the hospital for Susanne to open on Friday, June 2. We spent the afternoon opening the presents and making videos, at which point she suggested I go home and shoot some more video of me opening the biggest boxes, which couldn't be brought to the hospital.
I got back home and enjoyed an hour of opening huge boxes, mugging for the camera and watching our cats get lost in the packing materials. Just as I started to wonder aloud the purpose of one of the gifts we received, Susanne called. I joked on camera that it was Susanne, and maybe she'd know what the gift was for.
"Shut off the camera," she said. "I'm bleeding."
I ran light a bat out of hell to get back to the hospital, which thankfully was less than a mile from our apartment. By the time I got there, I discovered that Susanne was actually doing well, but had experienced a small amount of fresh bleeding. The monitoring devices also suggested that she was having mild contractions. Both of these symptoms could have been early warning signs of the big bleed we'd all feared, so everyone agreed it was time to get the baby out - at 35 weeks, three days - even if our instincts told us to wait a little longer.
Susanne's obstetrician, Dr. Prami Yadav, came in and talked us through the procedure, as did a nurse and anesthesiologist. I'd first assumed we'd be rushed into the surgical theatre, taking out the baby by dinner time, but that was far from the case. Susanne was stable, and there were higher-priority pregnancies ahead of us. In an odd way, the fact that we kept getting pushed back because of other deliveries was reassuring. Susanne received an epidural sometime after 7pm. And then we waited.
Just before 10pm, Dr. Yadav returned and said it was time. Susanne was wheeled into the surgical theatre, while put on my blue surgical overalls, booties, mask and hair net. A nurse then had me wait in the post-operative recovery room, which was totally empty at the time. Soon, a pair of Haitian orderlies came in and started cleaning the beds; I sat there in a zen-like state, a content grin on my face that I hadn't felt since the minutes before I got married, when our friend John Doran had given me a beer and told me to enjoy the moment. I thoroughly did.
Sometime around 10:20, a nurse appeared and said I should follow her to the surgical theatre. The room was brightly lit like a professional photo shoot; the doctors were busily working on Susanne in a way that I successfully avoided viewing directly, lest I pass out from over-squeamishness. Susanne was splayed out on a cross-shaped table, oddly like the table where Mel Gibson's Braveheart met his end; the fact that the docs were tugging on Susanne's insides only added to the surrealness of the situation. Susanne was clearly uncomfortable and anxious, but not in pain. I held her hand and listened to the wonderful anesthesiologist, Dr. Cadogan, as she talked us through each part of the procedure.
We waited for what felt like an eternity, ever worried about the possibility of a sudden bleed.
Then someone said, "There we go! Do you want to see him?"
Him, I heard her say. Or was it 'em, as in "Do you want to see 'em?" For a split second I didn't know if we had a boy or a girl.
"What do we have?" I asked anxiously. Waiting for the answer seemed like an eternity.
"A little girl," someone piped in.
"A little girl?" I repeated, making sure I heard it correctly.
Suddenly, there was a chorus of nurses telling us, "Congratulations!"
"Susanne, you're a mommy," I said, barely able to get the words out. "She's beautiful!"
Of course, she was a bit of a mess, but the nurses were working hard to clean her up. She let out a few cries just to let us know she was here.
"Does she have a name?" someone asked.
"She does have a name," I said, relishing the moment in a way that only a new father can.
"Kayleigh India Carvin."
Susanne got to spend a few tearful, joyful moments with our little girl before it was time to suture up her abdomen and get Kayleigh to the newborn intensive care unit (NICU). One of the nurses told us she'd scored an eight and a nine, on a scale of one to 10, on a newborn vitality test known as an Apgar score, conducted at the first minute and the five-minute mark. We couldn't have asked for a better start.
I stayed at the hospital until almost 2am, visiting with Kayleigh before wheeling down Susanne on the gurney so she could see Kayleigh once she was all cleaned up. She was doing quite well, though with a bit of respiratory distress that I assumed was just a cute little squeak on her part - something that would clear up before the night was over.
Now, mother and baby are doing well, spending copious amounts of time together getting to know each other. After three years of sheer hell dealing with surgeries, countless hormone shots, failed in-vitro fertilizations and inter-utero inseminations, and a tragic miscarriage almost exactly one year ago, we now had our beautiful, glorious little girl.
Kayleigh India. I'm in love. -andy
Photos galore: kayleighcarvin.com. What can I say - I'm a geek. :-)
Posted by acarvin at 9:55 PM
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May 25, 2006
The Day the Canons Went Silent
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Photo of me talking to a pair of young women while lost in a Tibetan neighborhood of Kathmandu in November 1996. Note my faithful Canon EOS Rebel G camera hanging around my neck. And check out that hair. |
I suppose I'm partially to blame for the Canon SLR's demise. For years, I was a loyal owner of a Canon EOS Rebel G camera, which accompanied me on my travels to probably 30+ countries on five continents. Between 1995 and 2003, it was the only camera I would use, from first trip to the Middle East to our Bali honeymoon. Then in the fall of 2003 I decided to buy a small Canon digital camera before a trip to Oman and Dubai. I think I've used the Rebel on only two or three occasions since, while shooting at least 20,000 photos on the three digital cameras I've owned since then. For years I swore I'd never abandon the 35mm format; even my first digital camera was a matter of packing lightly rather than making a permanent switch. But the ability to get immediate feedback on the quality of a picture was a siren who couldn't be silenced; I could no longer resist the digital camera's charms, even though I knew in my heart I was being an unfaithful cad to my beloved Rebel.
I hope all of you Canon SLR owners pause for a moment of reflection today. An era has come to an end. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:42 PM
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April 21, 2006
In New Haven for the Yale Access to Knowledge Conference
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Crossing the bridge into New London, Connecticut |
Assuming they have wifi at the conference, I'll try to blog some of the sessions. It should be a lot of fun - at least I hope so, since I'm skipping a Dresden Dolls concert to be here. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:17 PM
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April 5, 2006
Talking About My New Book at the Harvard Berkman Center
On Thursday, April 6, I'm going to be giving a preview of my new book, "From the Ground Up: Evolution of the Telecentre Movement," at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Every Thursday, a group of local bloggers get together to discuss Internet issues, and I'll be talking about the book for this week's meeting.
The book, edited by me and Mark Surman of Telecentre.org, explores the diversity of public computing initiatives around the world, examining the common visions and goals that unite them. It's intended to inspire technology activists to realize that they're part of a worldwide movement to bridge the digital divide, rather than working in isolation. The book will be distributed this spring by IDRC in Canada, but for now you can review a very large PDF version (It's around 10 megabytes - a necessary evil given the hundreds of photographs in the book.)
If you happen to be in the Boston area, please feel free to join us Thursday evening at Berkman. It'll take place at 7 PM at Baker House, 1587 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, north of Harvard Square. Hope to see some of you there!
Here are some screen shots of the book:
The book cover
Opening to the Hungary chapter
Opening to the USA chapter
Photo spread from the Ghana chapter
Page from the Chile chapter
Posted by acarvin at 2:15 PM
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March 31, 2006
Post-Game Summary of My Appearance on Radio Open Source
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Chris Lydon live on Open Source last night |
I arrived at the studio just before 7pm, when the program airs live. I sat in the studio with Chris, who was busily jotting down notes for the show, peppering me with interesting questions about the subject. I'd met Chris once or twice at Harvard Berkman events, but this was the first time we'd ever really chatted. You can tell he's done thousands of interviews in his long career; he really makes you feel comfortable. I think it was particularly helpful that I was with him in person. Sometimes I've done radio interviews in which I'm over the phone or checking in via another studio, and the lack of eye contact can affect the rapport of the conversation. So it was great being able to sit at the same table with Chris, microphones bobbing six inches from our noses; it would make for a very comfortable, casual conversation.
I didn't come on for the first 40 minutes; Chris interviewed Spencer Wells of National Geographic and John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin first. This allowed me to observe his interview style and take notes. During music breaks, Chris would talk simultaneously with the control room as well as with me, taking advantage of every moment to prepare for the next segment.
Eventually, it was my turn to appear on air. Chris opened things up by asking me how I started my own family tree odyssey, and the brick wall I hit in terms of a lack of a genealogical paper trail beyond my great-grandparents. I talked about how I learned about genetic genealogy in early 2000 and tracked down the founder of Family Tree DNA, which was just getting off the ground as one of the first commercial providers of DNA tests for genealogical purposes.
From there, we talked about some of the findings I had, including the connections on both sides of my family with the Middle East and northeast Africa. I also talked a bit about my father-in-law, Dave Cornwall, who got tested last year and ended up connecting with other DNA customers who happened to be named Cornwell and shared a similar story of how their families came to America. Chris wrapped it up by asking me what I plan to tell our first child about our family's history and what we've learned from the DNA testing. I said I hoped that it would give them an appreciation of how we're connected to people from all over the world, and that we're all one large human family, all equally deserving of dignity and respect.
The hour was over quite fast - it's amazing how these things fly by when you're into it. Chris said he'd be getting tested soon; I can't wait to see the follow-up show and learn what he discovered.
In case you didn't catch the show, here's the podcast of the full hour. It's about 24 megabytes, so it may take a while to download. My segment is about 40 minutes into the show - not that you should skip ahead or anything. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:37 AM
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March 30, 2006
Discussing Genetics and Genealogy Tonight on Radio Open Source
Tonight I'm going to be a guest on Christopher Lydon's public radio program, Open Source. The show will focus on genetics and genealogy for the full hour; I'll be talking about my own personal experiences with DNA testing for family tree research. Other guests include "Journey of Man" author Spencer Wells of National Geographic's Genographic Project and anthropology blogger John Hawks.
Open Source is syndicated over public radio international. It airs live at 7pm ET/4pm PT in many communities, though sometimes it's recorded and aired at other times. Check their schedule for station air times near you.
Otherwise, you can go to hear the program streamed live over the Internet. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:01 PM
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March 24, 2006
Turkey Trip Cancelled
I'm no longer going to Turkey. My mom is ill and she's up here in Boston for surgery next week. Some things in life are just more important.
Posted by acarvin at 9:38 AM
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March 21, 2006
Going to Turkey This Weekend
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Istanbul, photographed by me in 1999, distorted via Photoshop in 2001. |
This will be my first overseas trip this year, and my third visit to Turkey. I'm really excited about it - if I were forced to name my favorite country in the world to visit, Turkey would certainly be a finalist. I plan to blog, podcast and vlog as often as possible, so please drop in and follow along... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:55 AM
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February 22, 2006
Now I Can Relax
Wrapped up my hour-long speech at the University of Missouri just a little while ago; sipping some mint tea to rescue my throat as Nancy Davenport of the Council on Library and Information Resources delivers the second keynote. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:40 PM
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February 16, 2006
My Interview with Netsquared
Blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick has just published an in-depth interview with me on the NetSquared blog. The interview, which was conducted a few days ago via instant messaging, covers a whole range of issues, including the debate over mobile phones vs. laptops in the developing world; the Digital Divide Network; blogging and disaster response; video blogging; and my upcoming book on the telecentre movement, among other topics. Check it out when you get a chance.
Posted by acarvin at 6:07 PM
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February 2, 2006
My Debut on Rocketboom; Rocketboom's Debut on CSI
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Rocketboom is getting so popular, young punks are even tagging my neighborhood with its logo. |
My Rocketboom debut couldn't come at a better time, as it will be featured tonight on the hit crime drama CSI. I'm a little unclear about how it fits in the plot line, but from what Rocketboom co-creator Andrew Baron told me, the episode will include scenes from a Rocketboom episode created exclusively for CSI. The show's producers sent Rocketboom the episode's script, which in turn was used to create a Rocketboom newscast for the show. So if all goes according to plan, you'll have a chance to see Rocketboom host (and my fellow Northwestern alum) Amanda Congdon on CBS tonight. Last week's CSI episode attracted 25.9 million viewers and was the third most watched program of the week, only behind two episodes of American Idol. Assuming the show'll generate similar numbers this week (and there's no reason it shouldn't), I can imagine that Rocketboom's traffic should, well, skyrocket.
So tune in to Rocketboom - and CSI - tonight! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:59 AM
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January 27, 2006
Remembering "My Kennedy" - In Memory of the Challenger Astronauts
Tomorrow's the annivesary. January 28, 1986.
I can't believe it's been 20 years.
I was an eighth-grader at Hoover Junior High School in Indialantic, Florida. Like so many other kids in my community, I'd grown up with the space program. The launch pads of Cape Canaveral were only 40 miles north of our town, jutting out of Merritt Island, just north of the barrier island I called home.
I'd probably seen at least 20 of the previous space shuttle launches, going back to STS-1 in April 1981, when John Young and Robert Crippen piloted the Enterprise; the local newspaper even ran a picture of me awaiting that first launch, eagerly scanning the sky with my binoculars.
Growing up along the Space Coast, you couldn't avoid a shuttle launch; if you didn't happen to step outside to follow the contrail racing through the sky, the sonic boom would rattle the neighborhood so loudly it would set off car alarms. Our community was a part of the space program, whether or not our individual families contributed to it. My elementary school had been named after the Gemini program; our rival high school was Satellite High. The outdoor shots for "I Dream of Jeannie" were filmed just north of us at Patrick Air Force Base. My friend Todd Demetriades even had a life-size mockup of a Gemini capsule in his garage, left over from when a NASA engineer lived in the house; playing astronaut in that Gemini capsule was as good as it gets when you're a 10-year-old boy.
Sometime during my lunch period at school that chilly morning in January, the space shuttle Challenger was expected to take off. Normally if a launch were taking place at this time, I'd cram down my lunch and wait outside to catch it from the start. Today, though, I wasn't in a rush. It was ridiculously cold outside, to the point where there had been a frost warning the previous night for the orange crops, and I'd become so acclimatized to Florida weather that I didn't want to be outside in such frigid temperatures. To make matters worse, I had a big test later that day and wasn't particularly prepared, so I kept my head shoved in a text book while scarfing down lunch.
As lunch period wrapped up, I figured I'd poke my head outside just to see if the launch had been delayed. Stepping out the front doors of the school, a small group of people was staring upwards facing due north. I looked up, expecting to see the shuttle barrelling towards space, its contrail tracing gently through the sky.
What I saw, though, didn't make any sense.
The contrail was shaped like a Y, as if two stunt jets had flown up in a tight formation and then parted in two directions. Then the contrails split again and again, a weeping willow-like fractal pattern splitting into hundreds of faint lines, all drifting slowly downward.
I walked back into the school, unable to process what I had just witnessed. Throughout the hallways, students wrapped up the final lunch period and were making their way back into class. There just seemed to be more commotion than usual. I made my way back to Mrs. Deppner's French class when my friend Dave Wallack stopped me and said, "Someone just told me the shuttle blew up."
I shrugged and told him it was crazy. My head still hadn't processed what my eyes had just witnessed.
Sitting down in Mrs. Deppner's class, I half-expected the period to begin as it always did. Instead, the school principal came over the PA system and announced, with great sorrow, that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded about a minute after takeoff. Most of the class sat there, stunned. A few students began to cry; some of them rushed out, no doubt eager to call home and check to see if their parents - NASA employees - were safe. I asked Mrs. Deppner if I could be excused.
I left the classroom and went straight for the small media lab at the school library. It was probably the only place in school outside the principal's office that had a television, and I couldn't sit in class not knowing what had happened. Every channel was covering the disaster non-stop, but it was all chaos - no one knew what caused the explosion or whether the astronauts could have survived. It certainly appeared that it was a fatal accident. I kept thinking of those hundreds of delicate contrails descending to the sea. Which of those weeping willow branches was the astronauts' chamber?
I must have sat in the media lab for two, three, four hours. Who knows. Time became irrelevant that afternoon. At some point, my American history teacher, Mr. Deppner - my French teacher's husband - came into the room. Normally a real jokester, Mr. Deppner was very somber, silently watching the TV with me. It must have been his planning period. I couldn't keep my eyes off the TV. Mr. Deppner then grabbed his things and began to walk out the door. I looked back and we made eye contact.
"This is your Kennedy," he said, closing the door as he left.
Soon enough, the school day had ended. There was no point in staying in the media lab any longer when I could get on my bike and go home. Stepping outside, I looked one more time in the direction of the weeping willow contrails. Incredibly, they were still hanging in the air, as if the explosion had occurred moments earlier. Normally, a shuttle's contrail evaporates within an hour of takeoff, if not sooner. But the air was so cold and calm that particular day, it remained etched in the sky, as if to hammer home what had happened to anyone who had doubted it the first time around.
I've thought about the Challenger disaster many times since then; the events of that day were so formative to my teenage years that I even wrote my college entrance essay about it. The Challenger explosion was indeed My Kennedy. As the Kennedy assasination had been for my parents, the Challenger disaster one of those rare life-altering events for which you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at that particular moment - whether you want to remember it or not.
In Memoriam:
- Commander Francis "Dick" Scobee
- Pilot Michael J. Smith
- Mission Specialist Judith Resnik
- Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka
- Mission Specialist Ronald McNair
- Payload Specialist Gregory Jarvis
- Payload Specialist/Educator Christa McAuliffe
We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.
Posted by acarvin at 12:53 PM
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January 25, 2006
Searching for R2-D2
Remember last November when I spent a week traipsing around southern Tunisia to put together an article about Star Wars tourism? Well, I'm proud to say that it's featured as the lead story on the Associated Press asap website. The story grew from a simple article to a photo gallery and a pair of two-minute videos documenting the night I spent in Luke Skywalker's house. I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out; check it out when you get a chance. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 6:40 PM
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January 4, 2006
New Years Resolution: Become a Dad
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Introducing Peanut, our (currently) gender-neutral child-to-be, coming to a delivery room near you on the Fourth of July, 2006. |
Getting to this point hasn't been easy; Susanne had to go through two rounds of endometriosis surgery over the last two years. And in the end, we needed a bit of a kickstart from science, using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to get to this point. The IVF procedure allowed us to avoid the pitfalls caused by endometriosis; even with two surgeries, there's no way to ever "cure" it per se. The PGD, in my mind at least, was even more important. PGD is basically genetic testing for newly formed embryoes, making it possible to detect whether or not an embryo contains an ill-fated chromosomal flaw that would lead to a miscarriage. Since Susanne had experienced previous miscarriages, PGD was in many ways our last hope; from the good news we've received with each ultrasound and blood test, it seems it was well worth it.
Needless to say, I'm absolutely thrilled about pending fatherhood, and very thankful that everything is going as planned. Not only did I want to share this good news with the world, I felt it was important to talk about the context of Susanne's pregnancy. It's all too common for people to not want to talk about miscarriages or infertility, even though millions of couples have gone through the same hell we've experienced for much of the last three years. It shouldn't be a taboo. I wish I'd been more open to talk about it earlier. Thankfully, my offline and online friends have been tremendously supportive, particularly those on Omidyar.net - they helped us realize we're not alone in the world.
The IVF experience has also made me very, very thankful that we've spent the last two years living in Boston, as Massachusetts is one of the few states that requires insurance companies to cover fertility procedures like IVF. If we'd been living almost anywhere else, we would have wiped out much of our savings paying for multiple IVF procedures, making it impossible for us to explore other options like adoption. I'm grateful that state legislators in Massachusetts were thoughtful enough to make IVF a reality for couples who can't afford to spend $15,000 per attempt. More states should recognize the plight of the millions of couples struggling with infertility and subfertility - they shouldn't have to face bankrupcy just to start a family.
Anyway, enough politics. Time to buy some baby clothes.... -andy
ps - in case you're wondering if it's a boy or a girl, don't ask. We haven't decided if we're going to find out, even though we've got a pretty good guess. For now, we're just calling it the gender-neutral nickname "Peanut," based on the first ultrasound pictures....
Posted by acarvin at 3:23 PM
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January 3, 2006
Testing My New Comment System
For those of you who've had problems getting my blog's comment system to work, I've just scrapped Typekey. Now, I'm experimenting with Haloscan to see if it will make it easier for people to post comments. It's not the most exciting comment tool out there, but at least it works, and that'll be a big step in the right direction... - andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:05 PM
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December 10, 2005
Back in Boston after a Break from Blogging
For those of you wondering why my posts from Tunisia stopped rather abruptly, it's because my hands needed a break from typing. I've been home in Boston for about 10 days now, but haven't posted much of anything except a few videos just to take a break from all the writing I did in Tunisia.
After leaving Tataouine, Marouen and I spent a couple of relaxing days in Djerba, where I got to visit the famous El Ghriba Synagogue. Otherwise, I didn't do too much there, apart from rest and get ready to fly back home. My time since then has been absorbed in preparing the Digital Divide Network to move from EDC to TakingITGlobal.
So in case you were thinking I got thrown in jail in southern Tunisia or something, I didn't. (Not that I wouldn't put it past them give the way we got treated by local authorities.)
Anyway, now back to your regularly scheduled programming... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:52 PM
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November 8, 2005
My Departure from EDC
Hi everyone,
We've recently learned that the primary funding for the activities of the Center for Media & Community will not be continued, including support for the Digital Divide Network. The Center is therefore in the process of closing its doors, and Andrea Taylor and I are preparing to leave EDC at the end of November, following our involvement in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis.
Fortunately, this transition will not mean the end of DDN. Over the last several weeks we've worked out arrangements for DDN to move its operations to TakingITGlobal (TIG). As many of you know, TIG is an online community of nearly 100,000 young activists in more than 200 countries. They've played a major role in getting young people engaged in bridging the digital divide and other aspects of global development. I'll say more about the arrangement when we make an official announcement in Tunis next week.
As for me, I'm just beginning to sort out my options. While I still hope to volunteer with DDN - several people have joked about calling me "editor emeritus," which is kinda funny at my age - I'll have to start searching for a new day job. Susanne has expressed interest in moving back to DC or the Chicago area, either of which would be great, but we'll probably search more broadly as well. Having spent the last few years on the fundraising side of things, I may explore going back to the grantmaking side of the business (I started off as a program officer at the Corp for Public Broadcasting creating Internet-related grant programs back in the day.) Or I may want to focus a bit more on participatory media and citizen journalism - who knows. And I certainly don't want to end my involvement in digital divide work. So if any of you know of anyone looking for a digital divide pundit who spends a lot of time blogging, podcasting and vlogging, please do let me know. :-)
It's been an amazing six years with DDN - four years at Benton, two at EDC. So this is quite a bittersweet moment for me. At least I know, though, that DDN has reached the size and maturity to succeed well after I'm gone; and with TakingITGlobal taking it over, I know it'll be in the best of hands. Thanks to everyone who's made my involvement with DDN a pleasure all these years - I really appreciate it.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:27 AM
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October 14, 2005
Celebrating 11 Years of Blogging - Sort Of
Eleven years ago today, I launched my first website, EdWeb: Exploring Technology and School Reform. The site was the result of a post-graduate fellowship from Northwestern University's Annenberg-Washington Program. I'd spent the summer of 1994 working at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting researching the impact on telecommunications reform on K-12 education. Because I was just a lowly grad student, they weren't willing to publish my findings in an official capacity, so instead I learned HTML, set up a Web server on my old Mac Classic, and launched EdWeb myself. It was one of the very first websites examining the role of the Web in education, and it propelled me into the work on the digital divide that I'm doing 11 years later.
Meanwhile, as part of EdWeb, I set up a personal homepage for myself called Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth. As you can see from this archival copy of my homepage from around eight years ago, the page was organized with my latest news updates at the top, with older information further down the page. Over time, I eventually stopped coding the page by hand and switched to various blogger tools, including Blogger and Movable Type.
Today, of course, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth is my primary way of saying whatever it is I want to say online. So in a way, I'm able to celebrate the 11th anniversary of my blog today. Perhaps not a blog in function that whole time, but certainly a blog in spirit. (grin) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:04 PM
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October 3, 2005
Speaking at NYU, then Blogging from We Media
Tomorrow morning I'm off to NYC for a couple of days jam-packed with new media fun and excitment. Tuesday evening, I'll be meeting with students at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program to talk about the relationship between the digital divide and participatory media. (At least that's what I think I'll talk about; I've got a pleasant four-hour train ride tomorrow to figure it out.) On Wednesday, I'll spend the day at We Media conference, which looks like it'll be one of the most interesting events on this year's conference calendar. The speaker list is quite extraordinary. Among the luminaries presenting are Al Gore, Nicholas Kristof, Rebecca MacKinnon, Craig Newmark of cragslist, Andrew Heyward of CBS and Susan Mernit. Now that I've got my laptop fixed, I'm really looking forward to blogging from there. It should be particularly interesting because my brother Eric will also be there; Eric works for AP's new asap newswire, so this will be the first time the two of us will have intersected professionally. Mom and dad must be so proud... -andy
technorati tag: wemedia
Posted by acarvin at 5:44 PM
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Getting to Meet a Liger
Yesterday Susanne and I went to a Renaissance festival south of Boston for a few hours. Beyondthe usual turkey legs and buxom women, we were pleasantly surprised to get the chance to meet our first liger.
Half lion and half tiger, the liger we met is actually listed by the Guinness Book folks as the largest cat in the world. His name is Hercules; we weren't allowed to get too close, but we managed to snap a few choices pictures of him. As you can see below, when he stands up on his hind legs, he reaches an astonishing 11 feet high. Here's a pic of him climbing up a ladder to eat some raw chicken. He's not stretched to his full capacity, but you get a feel for how big he is:
Along with Hercules, we got to see a bunch of other big cats, including several white tigers, a golden tabby tiger and a pair of leopards. Despite numerous jokes to the contrary, no children were eaten during the course of the performance. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 5:01 PM
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September 28, 2005
Busted
So here I am at the Cambridgeside Galleria getting the bad news from techs at the Apple Store. The person who kicked my laptop managed to bust its DC inboard, meaning that it can't be recharged without replacing the inboard. They said they need a week to fix it. I plan to get a second opinion.
In the meantime, I'm without a working laptop. I'll do my best to blog and podcast from my phone until my fingers cramp up. Keep your fingers crossed. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:30 PM
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September 14, 2005
Laptopless in Scotland
Despite all the travel I did this summer, I never got to take a proper vacation. So tomorrow, Susanne and I are going to Scotland for 10 days. Technically, you could argue this isn't a proper vacation either - I'm giving a speech at the Scottish Learning Festival next week. But that's just one day out of 10: the rest we plan to divide between wandering the southwestern Scottish coast around Oban and Mull, and visiting our oulde haunts in Edinburgh. Susanne and I both spent part of our junior years of college at the University of Edinburgh, but not at the same time. So this will be the first occasion we'll be in the city together. It should be a lot of fun.
But the biggest news I have to report is that I am leaving my laptop behind. First time in more than half a dozen overseas trips this year I'll be laptopless, as it were. Since my mini digital recorder doubles as a USB key, I'll use that to carry around the powerpoint of my speech; as for email, I'll visit cybercafes when I can or use my phone if absolutely necessary. Not exactly leaving the Internet behind, but at least I can travel with one bag.
I may blog while I'm traveling. I may not. Haven't decided yet. Perhaps it's time to have a trip that's just ours and not the world's. I'll just follow my instincts once I get there. So if you don't see much on my blog, please don't assume I'm dead or kidnapped. I may just be having fun instead. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:53 PM
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September 11, 2005
Seeking Solace from Springsteen
It's been two weeks now since Katrina struck, and a day hasn't gone by where I haven't spent time working on the Katrina Aftermath blog, helping people find loved ones online or doing some activity related to the storm. Yesterday Susanne and I participated in the MSPCA Walk for Animals on Boston Common. It was scheduled well before Katrina, but a lot of people probably participated because of it. And today I was supposed to go to Camp Edwards to help work out a strategy for volunteers at their new computer lab, but they've asked outsiders not to come in today so the evacuees can have a day of rest. More power to them; we'll do a conference call later today instead.
Throughout all of this, I managed to take a few minutes' break at the start of the weekend and buy a couple of Bruce Springsteen tickets for his October 30 show here in Boston. Nice to have something to look forward to around then.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:20 AM
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September 6, 2005
Chaucer Update
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Chaucer: Adopted! |
I've got good news to report. Chaucer was adopted Sunday. He's now with a loving home in the Boston area. I was so relieved to hear he's now got a family to call his own. Meanwhile, St. Meow's has other cats in need of good homes; if you're thinking about adopting a cat, please visit their website or attend one of their adoption events held at the PetCo in Cambridgeside. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:21 PM
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A Proud Member of Technology Review's TR35
Technology Review has just published their annual TR35 list, awarded to 35 high-tech innovators under the age of 35. I'm honored and quite humbled to say that they've selected me as one of the 35. Among the other winners are Bram Cohen, developer of Bit Torrent software; Stewart Butterfield of Flickr.com; and MIT's Regina Barzilay, who's teaching computers how to read and write. In my case, I was given the award because of my work with the Digital Divide Network and promoting the concept of mobcasting - groups of people collectively using mobile phones to post podcasts.
I'd like to thank all of you who nominated me for the award; from what I understand, nominations were submitted by members of DDN, WWWEDU and LM_NET. In particular, I'd like to thank Andrea Taylor, Rebecca MacKinnon, Patsy-Wang Iverson, Brendan Greeley and Taran Rampersad for sending in additional support for my nomination. I'm grateful and honored by their support.
Posted by acarvin at 11:28 AM
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August 31, 2005
Guest Blogging on Blog for America
Earlier this evening I was invited to post a blog entry about my Katrina blog on Blog for America. It's currently on their homepage; the permalink is here. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:35 PM
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August 29, 2005
Fight Animal Cruelty: Join Bloggers for Animals
On September 10, I'll be joining thousands of other animal lovers for the MSPCA's annual Walk for Animals on Boston Common. MSPCA, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is one of the oldest humane societies in the US. This will be the the 25th annual Walk for Animals, and they hope to raise $250,000.
To do my part for the event, I've created a new walking team called Bloggers for Animals. I'm hoping that some of my fellow bloggers in the Boston area will join me for the walk on September 10. Participating costs only $15. You'll get a free t-shirt, and if you've got a pet, you're more than welcome to bring them on the walk. I'm also hoping you'll help me raise $1000 for the walk. (And if we can raise more than that, even better!) Even if it's just a few dollars, every dollar will help animals live, safe and happy lives.
If you'd like to join the Bloggers for Animals team, please visit our team homepage and join our walk team. Or you can make a donation. Like I said, every dollar will help. So whether you're able to join us as a team member, donate to the cause, or both, your participation will be most welcome. Join today! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 12:50 PM
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August 27, 2005
Chaucer the Orange Tabby Needs a Loving Home
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Chaucer needs a place to call home. |
We have actually seen Chaucer twice at the Petco in the last 10 days, but today was the first day we got to know him. He is so sweet and loving, we would do anything to take him home ourselves. But because we already have two cats and our lease won't let us take in a third, our hands our tied. But we were so touched by Chaucer that we decided to post this message today.
We have no affiliation whatsoever with St. Meow's. We're just doing this because we met a beautiful cat in need of a caring family and want to help out in whatever way we can.
To learn more about Chaucer, please visit this web page. You can also contact St. Meow's directly at 617-767-6294 or saintmeows [at] comcast.net.
If you're looking to bring a pet into your life and you live in the Boston area, please pay Chaucer a visit.
Posted by acarvin at 6:03 PM
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August 26, 2005
Alleyway Marine Rescue
Yesterday, Susanne and I were running errands at lunchtime when we walked by a dumpster just off Beacon Street in Boston. The dumpster was full of items recently abandoned by someone who'd probably just moved, including an old mattress, a broken desk and some shattered poster frames. Atop this heap, though, we found an enormous plush toy -- a stuffed shark.
It had to have been six feet long - simply huge. I made some kind of land shark joke, but Susanne's face was overcome with sadness. Always an animist at heart, Susanne hates seeing any kind of object that's been abandoned by its owners. But toys and stuffed animals are the worst.
We continued to run our errands a few blocks down the street, then made our way back to the apartment. The lonely shark was still sitting atop the dumpster. Susanne insisted that we rescue it.
"You can carry it into the grocery store," I said, laughing.
"Go back to the apartment and get the car keys," she replied.
As it happened, the shark was abandoned just a few dozen yards from our parking space, five minute's from our apartment. Susanne suggested we put it in the car, so the next time we took the car to Cambridge, we could give the shark to Goodwill so they could give it a good home. While Susanne guarded the shark, I walked home, said hello to our groggy cats, grabbed the car keys, and backtracked to the car, where I found Susanne waiting, shark in hand.
We had some things in the back seat of the car, so we tried the trunk. At first we worried the shark was too big for the trunk. Indeed, it was a little cramped, but the cute carcharodon seemed perfectly cozy.
Sometime this weekend, we'll probably bring the shark to Goodwill. Unless there are any other takers, of course. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:27 PM
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August 25, 2005
Katrina and Her Waves
Nearly 13 years to the day since Hurricane Andrew smashed into Miami, a new storm named Katrina is about to pay Florida a surprise visit. Right now it looks like it'll hit well south of where my parents live in Indian Harbour Beach, about 45 minutes south of Cape Canaveral. Last year, they had to evacuate three times in a row because of the rash of hurricanes that season. Let's just hope Katrina isn't the opening credits of a long-feared sequel... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:12 PM
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August 1, 2005
The Joy of Platinum Status
This afternoon I logged into my Delta.com account to see if the air miles I'd earned flying to Ghana had made it into my account. When I got to the site, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that they had been credited, and that I'd been upgraded to platinum level frequent flier status. At first I was confused; I'd done a heck of a lot of flying this year, but was well short of the 100,000 miles required to reach that most coveted of frequent flier levels. But there it was, listing me as platinum.
I dug a little deeper in the website and discovered that the threshold for reaching platinum had dropped to 75,000 miles. Aha! I was now just over 78,000 miles, thanks to Ghana, which explains why I got upgraded. What does this mean in practical terms? The best news is that I get free access to any Sky Team business class lounge in the world, including Delta, Air France, KLM and others. Even better, I can get free business class upgrades when seats are available, as well as upgrades for Susanne if she's traveling with me.
Needless to say, this rocks. Ironic that I get the news the first day of the only month this year during which I won't be doing any traveling.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 5:07 PM
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July 31, 2005
Back Home in Boston
It's Sunday morning, and I've been back home in Boston since Wednesday afternoon. My trip to Ghana was truly extraordinary, but it's still good to be back in Boston with Susanne and the cats. And for the first time in a long while, I don't have any other trips breathing down my neck - I'll be home all of August, and for my next overseas business trip (Glasgow in late September), Susanne will come along for the ride, so we'll be able to make a brief holiday out of it.
We've had a really fun weekend; yesterday was my birthday and Susanne planned a surprise dinner with our friend Hallie, my cousin Peter and his husband Tim at Red Fez in Boston. I had no clue what she had planned for the night, so it really was a great surprise.
Today, I'm heading up to Lowell for a few hours to take pictures at the Lowell Folk Festival. It might rain at some point - it's looking pretty gray out right now - but I'm sure it'll be fun nonetheless.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:23 AM
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July 26, 2005
Watching the Space Shuttle Discovery from Accra
Just finished watching a live video stream of the Space Shuttle Discovery launching from the Kennedy Space Center. I'm very envious that my family got to step outside and watch the launch in person, as I did so often as a kid; it's just amazing, though, that I can can watch it live over the Internet from West Africa as well. I'll have to step outside in a few minutes and wave as they pass overhead. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:48 AM
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July 11, 2005
Off To Atlantic City for Documentary Workshop
In just a few minutes I'll be off to the airport to fly down to Philly, where I'll rent a car and head over to Atlantic City. While I'm sure the ocean is really nice this time of year, my main reason for going is to run a two-day workshop on documentary making. I'll be teaching a group of teachers documentary basics, from the role of a producer to production schedules to storytelling mechanics. I'm really looking forward to this - it's not often my work and my hobbies intersect so well.
Depending on how much we're able to accomplish, I'm hoping we might do some video blogging while we're at it. I'll just have to see how comfortable the teachers are with the idea. I'm hoping I'll be able to get them to set up a video blog for the school year, so students can premiere their video shorts online. Stay tuned.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:04 PM | Comments (2)
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June 15, 2005
Off to Cleveland - Then Seoul, Then Philly, Then NYC...
Tomorrow morning, I'll be off to the airport to fly to Cleveland for the CTCNet conference. It's perhaps the best annual conference in the US for community technology activists working to bridge the digital divide. I'll be speaking about the Digital Divide Network and the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place this November in Tunis. I also plan to blog, podcast and video blog from the event, time permitting, so stay tuned for lots of posts from the conference.
After the conference, I fly home to Boston for about 36 hours before boarding yet another plane bound for Seoul, South Korea. I'll spend about 72 hours in South Korea at an ITU forum on multi-stakeholder partnerships to bridge the digital divide (ie, what can we do to get the private sector, governments and civil society to work together on digital divide issues). I'll be giving a keynote on the opening day of the conference, then will chair a session on the second day. I should have some free time on Saturday, June 25 before heading to the airport that night; I may try to do a morning tour of the DMZ or visit some of the old royal palaces.
Departing Seoul, I fly back by way of Tokyo, San Francisco and Atlanta, finally reaching Philadelphia on Sunday, June 26. I'll be in Philly for the National Education Computing Conference (NECC). This will be my 10th NECC; I'll be convening a panel called Celebrating a Decade of the Web in Education. The panel includes a group of pioneering educators who have developed cutting edge activities using the Web. Then on Wednesday morning, I catch a train to NYC for a meeting a the Ford Foundation before heading home to Boston that afternoon. Total miles: approximately 18,500. Thank goodness for frequent flier programs.
If you'd like to visualize the distances traveled, be sure to visit Where in the World is Andy?, which plots my travels on a world map. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:16 AM
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June 4, 2005
Ethan Zuckerman and I: Long Lost Cousins?
As many of you know, I've been actively involved for the last six years in using DNA research to learn more about my genealogy. I was one of the very first customers of FamilyTreeDNA.com, one of the earliest commercial outfits to offer low-cost testing of a person's Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA to learn more about their paternal and maternal lineages respectively. Back in January 2001, US News and World Report did a cover story on my DNA being matched with a guy in Philadelphia, thanks to a Y chromosome test. There was enough similarity between our DNAs to suggest that we had a common ancestor within the last several hundred years.
Since then, my "extended family" of DNA cousins has grown to a pool of around 45 men, each of whom has had their Y chromosome tested and matched with mine. We even set up an email list to share genealogy info with each other. Most of the men's family origins come from eastern Europe - Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus and Russia in particular - though we have few interesting connections to families in Spain, Greece and the Isle of Rhodes.
Because DNA testing for genealogical purposes has become somewhat popular, the number of people using the same company I used has grown significantly in the last year or two. This means that it's become more common for me to get an automatically generated email from them saying that they've made another Y chromosome match between me and another guy. So far they've all been distant strangers, living in places ranging from Seattle to Denmark - until now, that is.
In one of the latest emails from FamilyTreeDNA.com, I was told that I had yet another Y chromosome match. Then I read the name, which appeared as "Ethan Zucherman." What an odd coincidence, I thought; I know a guy named Ethan Zuckerman, spelled with a CK rather than a CH. How funny would it have been if it had been the same guy?
I then looked at his contact information: his email address used the domain name ethanzuckerman.com -- spelled like my colleague Ethan Zuckerman. I couldn't believe it. Apart from the minor spelling mistake by the DNA testing company, they were one in the same. Ethan Zuckerman had been matched as one of my DNA cousins.
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Ethan Zuckerman: see the family resemblance? |
So in an absurd number of ways, I've always seen Ethan as a kindred spirit and looked up to his work as an inspiration to many of the things I'd like to accomplish myself. Needless to say, this whole DNA connection threw me for a loop, and surprised Ethan as well. Does this mean I'll be subjecting him to family barbeques the next time my relatives assemble here in suburban Boston? I think I'll spare him if he'll extend me the same courtesy. But it's certainly given a whole other subject to talk about, and has proven yet again that the world is a small place indeed. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:28 AM | Comments (1)
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May 18, 2005
Andy the Would-Be Photojournalist
I was just perusing Gaspar Mátyás' blog and I noticed a picture he took of me at the telecottage in Sárszentlorinc, Hungary last Friday. The funny thing about the picture is it shows me taking a picture that I featured on the blog last week. Here are the two pictures in case you want to compare them. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:43 PM
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Off to Dubai
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Dubai Creek, photographed during my October 2003 trip to Dubai |
Some people have asked why I bothered to come home for 48 hours when I could have just stayed in Paris for a couple of nights. I'd wanted to do just that, but since both trips were organized by different institutions and different travel agents, we could get them to jive well. Also, even if I'm only home for 48 hours, when you travel a lot, I'll take whatever time I can get with Susanne and the boys.
Anyway, if all goes well I'll arrive in Dubai tomorrow night local time. There should be plenty of Internet access at the hotel and the conference, so I'll post updates whenever I can.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:28 PM
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May 10, 2005
Next Stop, Budapest
I'm just about to head out the door to the airport. This evening, I'll fly to Budapest by way of Paris for a week of fun and frolic visiting Hungary's telecottages. It should be a great trip; I may visit as many as 10 different telecottages if time permits, and still have a smudge of time left over to explore Budapest over the weekend.
So, stay tuned for blog entries, podcasts, photos, vlogs, what have you -- I'll try to post updates whenever I can. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:34 PM
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May 5, 2005
Testing My New Digital Camera
Yesterday, I received my new digital camera in the mail. It's a Minolta DiMage A-200, an 8.0 megapixel camera with an optical zoom of 28-200mm and a digital zoom that goes to 800mm. I'm planning to use it on my upcoming trip to Hungary, as well as on trips to Dubai and elsewhere in the coming months.
It's strange handling a camera again that's shaped like a traditional 35mm SLR camera; for the last couple of years I've been using a small Canon digital camera after having used a 35mm Canon EOS Rebel for many years. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to hold a large camera. On the whole I like the feel of it but it will take some getting used to.
In terms of features, the camera has a cool anti-shake mechanism: the CCD chip that captures the digital image floats on gimbles that automatically adjust to movement. While it's not exactly like having a SteadiCam for your camera, it does reduce image shake and lets you take pics at slower speeds. Last night I took some pics indoors at 1/20th of a second and was amazed they weren't really blurry. The camera has two digital screens: a large one in the back that pops out and rotates 180 degrees so you can take self-portraits easily, and a digital viewfinder that you can see by placing you eye directly up to it.
It also captures video, which is a feature that will be great for video blogging. I love that I can manually zoom in and out while shooting a clip. My last digital camera wouldn't let you zoom while videotaping, so I'm pretty pleased about this new feature.
I've put together a photo gallery of some of my first pictures with the A-200, taken yesterday evening and early this morning. There are a lot of pictures of my two cats, Dizzy and Winston, as well as some shots in my neighborhood, from the tulips and old piano that sit outside my apartment to the shop windows along Beacon Street. For those of you disinclined to click the link to the photo gallery, here are a few examples. I've scaled all the photos from their original 8 megapixel size to 800x600, to keep the bandwidth manageable... -andy
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Winston takes a nap |
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Close-up of Winnie's eyes |
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Old Piano |
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Tulip |
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Water Valve |
Posted by acarvin at 2:15 PM | Comments (1)
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May 3, 2005
Off to Hungary Next Week
Next Tuesday, I'll be off to Hungary for a whirlwind tour of the country's telecottage movement. Telecottages are community technology centers that address a variety of local development needs, from Internet literacy training to e-government services. Hungary's telecottage movement is one of the oldest and best established projects of its kind anywhere in the world, so I'm really looking forward to visiting.
Matyas Gaspar, founder of the telecottage movement, will be my host for the week. We'll visit urban telecottages in and around Budapest, as well as in rural areas. If all goes well I'll get to visit eight or 10 telecottages, spending the night in at least three different cities (Budapest, Gyorkony and Alsomocsolad).
Because I'm visiting Hungary for a book I'm editing on community technology centers around the world, my schedule will be jam-packed with visits to telecottages, as well as interviews with project staff, local users and community leaders. I'll also get to field test my new 8.0 megapixel Konica-Minolta dimage A200 digital camera, which I also plan to use for shooting video blogs.
Since I'll be spending most of my time in telecottages, Internet access shouldn't be a major dilemma. So I plan to blog as much as possible during my stay, posting photos, audio and video whenever feasible. So stay tuned from May 11-15; hopefully I'll have some interesting stories to share during that time. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 2:26 PM
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April 26, 2005
2005 Boston Marathon Photo Album
I've just posted a photo album of pictures I took during the 2005 Boston Marathon. Here are a few samples:
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Close-up of one of the runners |
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A pack of runners |
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A collapsed runner receives emergency medical care |
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One of the wheelchair racers |
Posted by acarvin at 5:14 PM
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Backyard Animal Adventures
A family of deer grazing behind Susanne's parents' house in Parker, Colorado.
Posted by acarvin at 4:20 PM
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April 25, 2005
A Musical Trip to Denver
We're spending a few days in Denver right now with Susanne's parents. On Tuesday evening, we're going to see a live performance at Gates Concert Hall at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music. Susanne's dad is a composer and two of his works are being performed by the university orchestra, including a wedding march he composed for our wedding. Both pieces will be played by a full orchestra, so I'm really excited to hear them live.... -andy
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April 10, 2005
Yet Another Hand Pic
Trying doing shadow figures with this hand...
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Three Handy Medical Self Portraits
Assorted self portraits during and after my hospital adventure.
thursday:
friday:
today:
doesn't seem like i'm making much progress... -andy
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April 6, 2005
Ottawa Interlude
Left Boston for Ottawa last night; I'm spending a couple of days meeting with colleagues at IDRC. It's about 15 degrees chillier than Boston, but it's very sunny; too bad I'll be spending all my time indoors.... -andy
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March 13, 2005
Quoted in AP Story on Creating a $100 Laptop
There's a new AP story called MIT team bringing $100 laptops to developing world in which I'm quoted. The article explores a new project by Nicholas Negroponte at the MIT Media Lab to create a $100 laptop for use in the developing world.
Andy Carvin, director of the Newton-based nonprofit Digital Divide Network, applauds the project's goals, calling an extremely low-cost, durable laptop "one of the holy grails of bridging the digital divide."But he said increasingly sophisticated and versatile wireless handhelds like high-end "smart" cell phones and Blackberry devices may gain favor over laptops as the developing world's online tools of choice.
"That's not to suggest we should not have an inexpensive laptop," Carvin said. "They're parallel tracks, and it's probably a healthy competition to have both."
Anyway, check it out when you get a chance.... -andy
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March 8, 2005
Helping a Monkey Find His Muse
Today I received an absolutely hiliarous request to use one of my photos on another website. Gerard Heidgerken, who runs a pirate-themed website called BilgeMunky, wanted to use a photo of a monkey I took in Bali on his site. Here's what he wrote:
The mascot of this site is a cartoon purple monkey in a red pirate hat. A short while back I wrote a couple of parady romance novel chapters and illustrated them with photoshoped "live action" images of the mascot. I borrowed images from several sources in the process, including a monkey image from your Bali honeymoon page . As it was a clearly photoshopped joke on an obscure portion of my site, I didn't overly worry about requesting permission from the original owners at that time. However, I'm now experimenting with further versions of this image, one of which is a very dashing picture of him looking all noble in a frock-coat. I'd like to use this new image more prominently - perhaps even as the site's header sometime in the future. But I wouldn't wish to proceed without your permission to do so.
Intrigued, I went to the site to see what exactly he had done with the monkey I'd photographed in Bali. I nearly wet my pants laughing once I saw the site.
First, some context. Here's the original picture I took in Bali:
Now, here's the same monkey, morphed into the BilgeMunky mascot and frolicking with the delightful Keira Knightly:
Last but not least, here is is with the ever-popular Salma Hayek:
Meanwhile, Gerard has used the photos in two chapters from a parody romance novel he's writing about his website's mascot. In chapter three, we learn of the monkey's romance with Keira:
Bilgemunky crawled out of the ocean, waves crashing over his sinewy shoulders. He was exhausted from the battle, yet energized by his victory over the rebel pygmies. But it was the sight of his beloved Keira rushing towards him that truly quickened his blood. The outline of her delicate feminine figure was teasingly visible through the ghostly white layers of her gown as she scampered towards him, and Bilgemunky realized that it was times like this when it was good to be a man, or at least a primate of the male persuasion.
And in chapter five, our intrepid primate romances the "Contessa de Salma":
His once fine clothing was tattered and battle-worn, revealing a savoury view of the body beneath - a bruised and bloody, yet sensitive and masculine body that had been pushed to the limits of endurance, and found worthy in every respect. Yet despite the combat he'd endured, the endless heartache and pain, his face showed only crystal resolve. The Contessa de Salma immediately felt a weakness scurry into her knees like rats into a pantry, but in a sexy way. She knew at once, for she had of course heard the tales - and besides, the purple fur was a dead giveaway - this could only be Bilgemunky.
On days like this, I am grateful of the opportunity I've had to travel the world and capture photographs from countries near and far; otherwise, mascots like the BilgeMunky might have remained a figment of someone's imagination. Now, thanks to my keen photographer's eye, we can all enjoy the noble BilgeMunky as he romances celebrities in a way only a pirate can. So let's let out a big pirate "arrrrrrgh" for Gerard and the BilgeMunky; I can't think of a better way to use photos from my honeymoon.
Look sharp, ye salty lubbers; there be purple monkeys in these waters! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:51 PM
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Possible Cameo on ABC's Nightline Tonight
Tonight's episode of ABC's Nightline program will focus on blogging, and there's a chance I might appear in the episode. I took part in a group discussion on blogging at Harvard last month that was filmed by the Nightline crew, and I also chatted with reporter John Donvan about blogging and the digital divide. I don't know if I made the final cut, but it should be an interesting show either way.
Nightline generally airs at 11:30pm ET; check your local listings for details... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 3:22 PM
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February 20, 2005
How to Pack for Geneva and Mumbai in the Same Suitcase
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Dizzy sleeps on my suit bag |
Packing for this trip has been more stressful than other business trips, since I will experience two temperature extremes on this trip: cold, occasionally wet Geneva and Paris, and hot, steamy India. Additionally, the dress code for India is somewhat more casual than the dress code for Geneva, leaving me with another layer of fashion algorithms to compute while packing. So unless I want to pack two separate suitcase for this trip (which I refuse on principal), I'm compromising and packing a lot of dress shirts and ties, leaving behind the suits I'd typically bring to a United Nations meeting and the lightest clothes I'd usually bring to an India meeting. The result, of course, may run counter to the fashion sense of everyone I meet on this trip, but at least I can still fit it all in one giant suit bag.
So if all goes well, I'll get everything packed (except the cats, who will have to find other places to sleep), catch my flights to Paris and Geneva, and check into the Hotel Bernina before 12pm tomorrow. This should allow me to arrive at the WSIS Prepcom meeting just in time for tomorrow's afternoon sessions. I just hope I manage to get some sleep on the plane; otherwise I will be a zombie tomorrow... -andy
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February 19, 2005
Whirlwind Winter Tour: Geneva, Paris, India
Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to hit the road for a couple of weeks. I'll spend all of next week in Geneva at the planning meeting, or "prepcom," for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). I'll be participating as a civil society delegate, but also plan to blog and podcast as often as I can. Then over the weekend of the 27th, I'll head to Paris briefly before flying to Mumbai for the Baramati conference in Baramati, India. Hopefully the bandwidth in Baramati will be robust enough to upload podcasts; otherwise I'll post blogs and save the multimedia for later.
As always, you'll be able to find my blogs and podcasts here on my Waste of Bandwidth. If you use podcasting software, you can receive the podcasts automatically with this RSS feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/carvin
The RSS feed for my blog remains http://www.andycarvin.com/index.xml, but I've set up the second feed because it's more podcast-friendly than my blog feed, which has had a few problems that make it difficult for people trying to get my podcasts automatically.
Lastly, if you're interested in following everything else going on at the Prepcom, I'm experimenting with a web page that aggregates blogs from half a dozen bloggers attending the event. You can find that page here:
http://www.edwebproject.org/wsisblogs
It's still a work in progress, but hopefully might be useful to some of you.
Meanwhile, if you plan to be in any of the aforementioned cities, please let me know; I'd love to say hello in person if I get a chance...
Posted by acarvin at 11:36 AM
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February 17, 2005
Tonight's DDN Meetup
At 5pm tonight, I'll be hosting a meetup of members of the Digital Divide Network. We're getting together at the Lenox Hotel's city bar here in Boston for drinks and conversation. Please feel free to join us if you're interested... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:53 PM
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February 15, 2005
Going Ga-Ga at The Gates
Susanne and I just returned from a weekend in New York City, where I thoroughly immersed myself in The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Central Park art installation. As some of you know, I set up a community blog called The Gates @ Central Park, which allows anyone to post their own text, photos or mobile phone podcasts to the website. I posted several dozen entries to the site over the weekend, so please visit the site explore them in greater detail. In the meantime, here are some audio, video and photographic highlights from the weekend.
Videos:
- Crowds shouting bravo to Christo and Jeanne-Claude
- The first gate is unfurled
- Billowing Gates
- Exiting a tunnel towards a row of gates
- Walking through the gates, part 1
- Walking through the gates, part 2
- Unfurling, Part 1
- Unfurling, Part 2
Audio:
- Mayor Bloomberg chatting about art
- More from Mayor Bloomberg
- Interviewing three women from Chicago
- Describing the crowd at the grand opening
- Watching a volunteer get injured
- Accompanying Christo & Jeanne-Paul to view gates from the lakeshore
Pictures:
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A gate flutters with Central Park West in the background. |
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Unfurling each gate took most of the morning. |
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You can see them in every direction. |
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A view of some of The Gates from across the lake. |
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The New York skyline in the background. |
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Row after row of gates. |
Posted by acarvin at 3:24 PM
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February 9, 2005
Christo Blog Featured in NY Times, Wired
My new "open blog," The Gates @ Central Park got a nice boost in site traffic today because of references in today's New York Times and Wired magazine. Wired even featured some of the photos posted on the site. Hopefully the press will help send more contributors to the site as well. There are definitely more photos and emails posted to the site, though not much has happened in terms of podcasts. Hopefully that'll change in the coming days.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 5:46 PM
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February 8, 2005
Audio and Video from Last Week's Beercast
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Greg Narain records at "beercast" at Cambridge Common; I'm in the top right corner leaning in a chair with the red jacket. Photo courtesy of Steve Garfield. |
Beercasting update: Video blog pioneer Steve Garfield has just posted a video of our recent beercast in Cambridge. His timing is perfect, because beercaster Greg Narain has also just published the beercast in which I took part. Basically, it's a 15 minute conversation of a small group of us sitting in a pub, drinking samplers of microbrews while swapping travel stories from around the world.
I've never listened to a recording of me made at a bar -- perhaps a good thing -- but it's been fun listening to the conversation again outside the original setting and context. It's also interesting following the arc of the conversation. We started with the topic "cool sounds we've recorded in our travels"; eventually the conversation morphed into a series of adventures we'd all experienced in Turkey, which for some reason all of us at the table had visited at various points over the last 40 years.
I'd definitely do it again if I get a chance; beercasting is quite a cool way to kill time at a bar. :-) -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:45 PM
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February 7, 2005
Helicopters Mark Another Championship
It's just after midnight, and the helicopters are hovering over our apartment. It can mean only one thing - Boston's won another championship.
Though I had my doubts throughout much of the game, the Patriots pulled it off. So now the news helicopters are circling over Kenmore Square, waiting for something interesting to happen, making wide arcs just over our apartment. If it's anything like the Red Sox win, this could go on until the time I go to work Monday. But from what I've seen on the news tonight, it looks like it's going to be a rather subdued celebration tonight... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 12:02 AM
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February 6, 2005
Disappointed So Far with Tom and the Boys...
It's half time in the Super Bowl and Paul McCartney hasn't had a wardrobe malfunction as of yet. It's a tie game but I've got to say my boys from Foxboro are playing really sloppy. Hopefully they got a good talking-to in the locker room. We can only hope. -ac
Posted by acarvin at 8:40 PM
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Rebuilding My Blog, Piece by Piece
After more than two weeks, my blog is finally working again. I had to pay Movable Type tech support to get the site running again, but at least they managed to get it working.
As you can tell from looking at the site, I've upgraded my blog software, including a new template. It'll take me a little while to edit the home page template and include all the bells and whistles I previously had on the site, but I'll get around to it over the coming days. The biggest challenge will be uploading the hundreds of blog entries I've posted over the years. For reasons beyond my understanding, the import feature of Movable Type isn't importing the archive of my blog, so for now I'm having to post the archived entries, one by one. It's not as bad as it sounds; I've gotten into a rhythm and can post them at a pretty good clip. With my luck, though, Movable Type tech support will come up with a solution to my importing problem just as I finish posting my last archived entry manually... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 9:14 AM
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February 5, 2005
Total System Meltdown
In case you're wondering why my blog has been so quiet for the last two weeks, it's because I've experienced a total system failure of my blog. Apparently my web host, Ibiblio.org, upgraded their database software, and in the process mangled my blog's data. You can still read the posts, but I can't post anything new to the site. (I'm editing the HTML by hand to post this message. So I've had to bite the bullet and pay Movable Type to install the latest version of their software and pray that they can save my old blog data. Otherwise, I'll be spending a weekend or two putting humpty dumpty back together again.
Meanwhile, if you want to catch up on my blogs and podcasts from the Berkman blogging conference, check out my mobcasting blog. Also, I've just launched a new website called The Gates @ Central Park, an open blog and mobcast for Christo's upcoming art project in New York's Central Park. If you're going to be in New York from February 12-27, visit Central Park then post something to the blog - the site accepts text and photos by email, as well as voicemails, which get published on the site as podcasts.
So hopefully, this system crash will get solved in the next few days. If not, pray for my blog. Pray hard. I'll need all the help I can get... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:13 PM
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January 19, 2005
Blogging from the Berkman Blogging Conference This Friday and Saturday
This Friday and Saturday, I'll be blogging and podcasting from the Blogging, Journalism & Credibility Conference at Harvard. Rebecca MacKinnon was kind enough to invite me so I could experiment with my new mobcasting tools; several other attendees will also have podcasting privileges on my new mobcasting site, so we'll be able to post podcasts from our mobile phones there. Meanwhile, I'll post blogs and other content to my main blog. Stay tuned.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:15 PM
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January 5, 2005
It's Time for Bloggy Nominations
Step right up and get ready to vote: it's time for the Fifth Annual Weblog Awards. Right now they're accepting nominations for your favorite blogs in a variety of categories. Of course, wink wink nudge nudge, I'd be thrilled if you nominated my blog. From what I could tell, my blog would apply to several categories, including best American blog, best topical blog, best writing, best kept secret and lifetime achievement. And don't forget photo.spotlight in the photo blog category. I'd also recommend a couple of group blogs: WorldChanging and TsunamiHelp.
Anyway, if you think my blog is peachy, vote early and vote often! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:00 PM
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January 2, 2005
Introducing Tsunami-Info.org
Hi everyone,
My tsunami info website now has its own domain name: Tsunami-Info.org.
The site aggregates news feeds and blogs from a variety of sources around the world, and offers machine-generated translations in more than half a dozen languages. If you'd like to see any more feeds added, please let me know.
thanks,
ac
Posted by acarvin at 10:03 PM
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January 1, 2005
Aggregating Tsunami-Related News and Blogs
A couple days ago I created a Kinja digest of news feeds and blogs from tsunami survivors. It was a good idea, but I was never comfortable with the site's advertisements and overall design. To complicate matters, since I shared the login and password so other bloggers could add their own tsunami-related feeds, someone decided to change the password and lock others out. Not very bloggerly if you ask me.
Because of this, I started to experiment with my own aggregator located here on my blog. I've even bought the domain name Tsunami-Info.org, which, surprisingly, was still available on New Year's Eve. The URL isn't up and running yet, but I'll let you know when it's ready.
As you'll see if you look at the page, it's pretty rudimentary, as my coding skills are very, very weak -- so weak I simply tweaked the template for my blog, which certainly isn't very original. But functionally speaking, I've managed to get my blog software to work with a couple of rss-related plugins to pull together what I have so far.
Essentially, it's a collection of the five most recent posts from a dozen or so news feeds and blogs, including Yahoo!/Reuters, the BBC, South-East Asia and Tsunami Blog (SEA EAT), Crossroads Dispatches and Emergency Action Blog. The most poignant feed comes from SEA EAT's Flickr feed: a stream of photos and descriptions of people still missing from the tsunami. It sends chills up my spine every time I see them.
Anyway, it's a start; hopefully the new URL will be ready before the end of the weekend. I'd love to know what people think....
Posted by acarvin at 10:04 PM
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December 31, 2004
Introducing my iTalk Microphone
I just got back from the local Apple Store with my new iTalk microphone. It's a small adapter you plug into the top of your iPod, turning it into a recording device. As you can see from this quick podcast, the recording quality isn't the best in the world; Apple has its iPods configured so it can't record at a high bit rate so you could capture live music.
Fortunately, there's a Sourceforge project working on the problem: they've created a version of Linux you can upload into your iPod and reset the bit rate so the recording quality increases tremendously. The only problem is that I have a new fourth-generation iPod, and they haven't gotten the software to work on the new model yet.
For now, the iTalk device will be great for capturing interviews and random comments on the fly, but otherwise, I'll probably stick to using my laptop for recording higher-quality podcasts... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:05 PM
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December 30, 2004
Tsunami News Digest Now Available, Seeks New Feeds
I've just set up a tsunami news digest using the news aggregator Kinja.com. The page contains latest news feeds and first-person blogs related to the tsunami disaster from around the globe.
I'd like to see others add their own tsunami-related feeds to the site. If you have a news feed or blog that's focusing on the tsunami, or are reading one that you'd like to add to the digest, please visit the website and log on with the following info:
login: tsunami-info
password: southasia
Once you've logged in, you can add a news source to the digest by pasting it into the "Add a Favorite" form field in the right column. Or, you can follow this shortcut.
I hope this digest is useful to those of you eager to follow tsunami relief efforts.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:05 PM
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December 29, 2004
For the Woman With the Green Eyes and the Children of Mahabalipuram
The last several days have been extraordinarily difficult, watching the news coverage of the devestation across South Asia. It seems only yesterday that Susanne and I were in Mahabalipuram, India, along the coast of Tamil Nadu, marveling its amazing Shore Temple.
Walking from the Temple, we met lots of children, eager to show off the latest stone carvings made by local artisans. Here's what I wrote in my journal that day:
It was getting very breezy and the salt spray was strong, so we headed inland past the temple and down a street lined with small restaurants and stalls of stone cutters. Stone carving and masonry is still alive and well in Mahabalipuram, and each shop would show off its artisans' work, from small soapstone paperweights to massive marble shrines of Hindu gods, which were sold to temples around the world. As you walked down the unpaved road, it was impossible to not notice the constant clicking of stonemason's tools patiently pounding on rocks of all sizes. There were so many sculptors chipping granite, the staccato sounds of their work continuously swirled around you like some strange John Cage performance art piece. But such hard work would never get in the way of the hard sell - from within every shop, the carvers would yell out to you, "Mister, please, come and see my statues. Very good work...." Often they would have their children come out and try to bring you inside, but unlike in other cities, these kids would just as soon give up their charge and spend their time playing and running around rather than escorting dumb tourists like us back to father's showroom....
As we strolled along the street, we stopped at a small cafe run by a beautiful young woman with striking green eyes and European facial features, but dark black hair and Tamil coloring. "The Pepsis were cheap and they were playing this odd westernish music that sounding like Prince performing lounge standards," I wrote that day. "The woman who ran the cafe was striking, yet not particularly Indian. She must have a significant amount of Portuguese or French blood, for both cultures dominated parts of the south for many centuries."
Mahabalipuram lies on the shore of the Indian Ocean, just south of Chennai (Madras). Watching the news the last several days, I couldn't stop thinking of the Shore Temple, the children, the stonemasons -- and more than anyone else, the Woman With the Green Eyes. According to an AP wire story about Mahabalipuram, at least 15 townspeople were killed, around 100 total in the surrounding villages. That charming strip of shops, cafes, and stonemason shops were washed completely away. Amazingly, all that is left standing is the 1,200-year-old Shore Temple, thanks to an engineering project initiated by Indira Gandhi.
Compared to so many other villages that lost everything, Mahabalipuram may have gotten off lucky; nonetheless, livelihoods have been ruined, families destroyed. I have no idea what happened to the children we met in Mahabalipuram, to the Woman With the Green Eyes. I suppose I will never know. I can only hope they survived. No matter their fate, I dedicate this blog to them.
I've made my contribution to the Red Cross -- have you? -Andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:14 PM
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December 25, 2004
My First iPod!
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| My new iPod, posing with my laptop and Beethoven the golden retriever |
She got me the 20 gig model, which can hold around 5,000 songs. I'm particularly excited because I want to use it for storing digital photos while I'm traveling, and for recording podcasts. As strange as it sounds, I actually posted my first podcast before owning an iPod, so having one will make podcasting even more productive -- and more fun.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:15 PM
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December 20, 2004
Beginning to Look A Lot Like Moscow
It's only 15 degrees fahrenheit outside, so I decided it was appropriate to break out the faux-fur hat I bought in Russia a couple of years ago. Walking to the Longwood T-stop along the forested Riverway I felt like I was strolling through Moscow's Ismailovo Park in the dead of winter. I even had a plastic bag in hand.
By the time we got on the T, several people on the train were staring at me, including Susanne. She was biting her lip, trying not to laugh.
"Are you sure you're not embarrassed being seen with me in this hat?" I asked her.
"I married you knowing that you owned that hat," she replied, smirking.
Hopefully it won't get this cold too often, so I can go back to wearing my knit cap, in my poor imitation of a Portugeuse fisherman... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:22 PM
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December 17, 2004
Leave My Blog a Voicemail!
I've just spent some time exploring AudioActivism.org and it gave me some great ideas for improving my blog's audio features. For starters, I've set up an voicemail box for my blog. If you're reading my blog and would like to leave an audio comment, simply call 1-206-888-2762 and leave me a message. I'll then receive a voicemail in my inbox, which I can then post to the website if the comments if I want to share them publicly. (I'm using a free voicemail tool called K7.net to make this all happen.)
If you'd like to hear what the quality of these audio comments sound like, check out this voicemail I just left for myself. It introduces the audio comment feature in a brief .wav file message.
Next experiments: seeing if I can use an email-to-blog tool so I can forward audio comments and have them posted automatically to my blog. -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:26 PM
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Vicarious Snowball Fight
This morning I woke up to a pleasant surprise: a sizable dusting of snow had covered the neighborhood during the early morning hours. As beautiful as it was, the dusting wasn't enough to make snowballs, so I'd like to offer up this vicarious snowball fight: a group of kids in Tallinn, Estonia, having a snowball fight outside their school, which I caught on my digital camera last month. Enjoy! -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:27 PM
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December 3, 2004
Lighting Up Boston Common
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| Mayor Mennino gets ready to light the Boston Christmas tree with assorted Red Sox players, the World Series Trophy, and Peter Cetera |
The lighting ceremony was a fascinating throwback to 1970s Christmas specials. A showcase of sub-par musical performances, uninspired caroling and melodramatic appearances by Mrs. Santa Claus, the event struggled to hold the interest of many people in the crowd. Peter Cetera from Chicago even showed up, singing a couple of songs rather ackwardly. Fortunately, there were a few fun moments. Grover from Sesame Street showed up and chatted with Mrs. Claus; for all of her kitschiness, Grover was downright hilarious. A group of Nova Scotian gaelic musicians also ripped through a great set of bagpipes, drums and dancing. A traveling troupe of Radio City Music Hall Rockettes added to the festivities, kicking their way through a couple of numbers. The weirdest performance, though, involved a bunch of people in penguin costumes singing about a penguin who hates the cold and exiles himself on a tropical island.
Eventually, the time came for Mayor Mennino to light the Christmas tree. Perhaps fearing he couldn't incite a critical mass of holiday cheer on his own, the mayor brought along some friends: a bunch of Boston Red Sox players, including Curt Schilling on crutches, and the World Series trophy. Putting up with 90 minutes of mediocre performances became thoroughly worthwhile as they held up that golden trophy and flipped the switch, lighting up the Christmas tree and decorative lights throughout the Common and the Public Garden.
So was it worth it? Sure -- particularly since we got to see the Rockettes, Grover and the Red Sox trophy in a span of 90 minutes. But would I do it again in colder weather? Probably not.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 7:44 AM
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December 2, 2004
Winnie the Pooh: Or, Getting Your Cats into the Holiday Spirit
Last weekend while Susanne and I were at Disney World in Florida, we purchased a medium-sized Winnie the Pooh doll. Unlike the vast majority of people who've bought the same doll, we didn't buy it just for its cute looks or charm. We bought it for its orange sweater, misguided by the hope that it might actually fit our cat Winston. The results, to say the least, were mixed.
The temptation of getting Winston a Winnie the Pooh sweater had been intolerable. I mean, he's a fat orange tabby nicknamed Winnie. If there's any other creature, fictitious or otherwise, besides Winnie the Pooh that deserves to wear an orange sweater with the word "Pooh" emblazoned across the front, it's our boy Winnie.
After we got home from Florida, we waited a couple of days before trying to put it on our chubby orange tabby. Though Winnie is always glad to see us when we return from a trip, sometimes he holds our travels against us; on more than one occasion I've been scratched by him during a surprise attack from behind. He's probably just trying to remind us that he's the boss in our apartment -- either that, or he simply doesn't like us being away from him for extended periods.
ANYWAY, we didn't want to raise his ire by returning from a week-long trip and immediately decorating him with clothing, so we let 48 hours pass before giving it a shot. The first step was waiting for a moment when Winnie was really, really groggy. Winston is a 21-pound (nine kilo) cat, and he's strong as all get-out, so it's best not to put clothes on him when he's very alert. Fortunately, being a cat, he sleeps 18 hours a day, so it didn't take long before we found an opportune moment and stretched the sweater over his head.
As you can see from this picture, the sweater didn't fit. Back in Florida we'd even taken the sweater off the doll to guess whether it would fit him or not, but we misjudged his unusual girth. Of course, the sweater was designed to fit a doll and not a cat, so we shouldn't have been shocked when we discovered the sweater's arm holes weren't in the right place for his front paws. And when he wore the sweater without his paws fitting through, he kinda looked like he'd been in an industrial accident. Not the look we were going for.
Fortunately, our other cat, Dizzy, is much smaller than Winnie, and it was much easier to get the sweater on him. Unlike Winston, he hates wearing anything -- collars, hats, vests, sweaters, you name it. So even though he looked adorable in the sweater, we had to take it off after a few seconds before it'd drive him crazy... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:45 AM
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November 12, 2004
Off to Europe for the Week
This afternoon, Susanne and I are off to Europe for the next week, and you're invited to come along for the ride. I'll be attending the UN ICT Taskforce meeting in Berlin at the end of next week; prior to that, I'll be in Helsinki and in Tallinn, where I plan to have a variety of meetings related to local initiatives on bridging the digital divide and connecting schools to the Internet. I'll have my laptop with me, so I plan to blog throughout the entire week. Please feel free to visit while we're on the road.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:01 AM
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November 10, 2004
Quoted on CNN.com This Week
I just got quoted in a recent AP story that's being featured on CNN.com. The article, Schools Rely on Suspended Tech Money, is about the federal e-rate program which has helped wire schools and libraries to the Internet. Check it out if you get a chance.
Posted by acarvin at 9:02 AM
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November 6, 2004
Susanne's Newest Film on the Discovery Channel This Week
This Tuesday, my wife Susanne's latest documentary will premiere on the Discovery Channel. It's called Extreme Engineering: Off-Shore Oil Platforms. As the name suggests, it's about oil rigs. Susanne served as co-producer for the film, and even got to spend time hanging out on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico during the filming of the documentary.
For those of you who get the Discovery Channel, it's scheduled to premiere this Tuesday, November 9 at 9pm eastern time -- check your local listings, as the voiceovers always say. And if you're one of those lucky folks that has high-definition TV, the show will also air on Discovery HD Theatre, in all its high-def glory.
I haven't seen it yet, so I can't wait to check it out... -Andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:03 AM
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November 2, 2004
East Coast Road Trip
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| Susanne poses with our new Camry, aka Boris the Bullet Dodger |
We flew down to Orlando on Friday and were met at the airport by my parents. From there, we drove back to their condo in Indian Harbour Beach, where I got my first first-hand look at the damage caused by three successive hurricanes this autumn. It was very surreal, to say the least. On the surface, everything looked basically normal, but in a rather disheveled state. Most businesses were operating, but few had signs or marquees any more. Most homes had large piles of trash waiting to be picked up -- tree trunks, twisted gutters, shredded aluminum siding, etc. Enormous piles of sand sat along A1A, the remnance of sand floods that covered the road during the storms. Houses had large blue patches where tiled roofs once rested. And every big hotel on the beach was closed indefinitely, some with significant damage to them.
Somehow, our new car managed to survive the three hurricanes without a scratch. First, it outlasted hurricanes Ivan and Frances in Orlando at my grandmother's condo. Then, after my parents moved the car to their condo in Indian Harbor Beach, it survived a direct hit from Hurricane Frances -- on the last day it was insured under my grandmother's old insurance, no less. So much for three strikes you're out. But at least it's allowing us to boast that our car survived the 2004 Florida hurricane season. And we've even started calling the car Boris the Bullet Dodger (see Guy Ritchie's movie Snatch for the reference) in honor of its Darwinistic integrity.
On Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after arriving in Florida, Susanne and I piled into our new car and started the drive up north. Ideally, we wanted to do the drive in two days, but knew this would be pushing it. If we could just get past New York City by the end of the second day, that would allow us to get home Monday morning in time for me to put in a day's work.
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| The one and only South of the Border |
Somehow we were able to push ourselves to drive to southern Virginia that first night, where we crashed at a motel and ate really good Mexican at a little hole-in-the-wall. Technically, we were more than half-way home, having driven over 700 miles in one day, but the second day would be full of traffic delays and construction hazards, not to mention one less hour of daylight due to the end of daylight savings time. As predicted, we were delayed by terrible traffic south of DC and construction nightmares every 100 miles or so. I was amazed that we were able to get to New York before sunset.
We spent the night in Waterbury, Connecticut, before hitting the road again early Monday morning. Traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike was hellish, but par for the course, so we were home with our new car just after 9am. Now I just need to get it inspected for emissions and insurance purposes.
Lastly, I took a small number of pics with my camera phone during the drive north. You can find them on my camera phone blog if you're interested... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:05 AM
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All Quiet at the Local Polling Place
My apartment, as it happens, is across the street from the local polling precinct here in Brookline, which has given me a bird's eye view of the electoral hustle and bustle. Just after 7am this morning, there was a lot of activity, as people crammed their cars wherever they could so they could vote prior to going to work. The lines mellowed out around 9am, so Susanne and I walked over to do our civic duty just after 10am.
It was a painless process - as painless as any voting I've ever done. We probably spent no more than 30 seconds waiting in line, largely because the guy in front of us just relocated to Brookline from across the street in Boston, and they couldn't find his name on the voter tally. Apart from that, we were in and out faster than a precinct volunteer could finish eating their donut.
The lines are growing again, a combination businessperson lunchtime crowd taking a break from work, alongside the Boston University student slacker crowd, dragging themselves to the polling stations in sweats, probably rolling out of bed for the occasion. Either way, it's getting busy, and that's always good to see. Down in Florida, my dad reported the largest crowd he's ever seen at the local polling station. I'm hoping that's a good sign; Brevard County is generally Bush country, but Floridians still have the 2000 election fiasco stuck in their collective craw, so people are getting in line to make a difference.
Right now if you asked me to guess who'll win, I'd hesitatingly say Bush, but I think the momentum has been on Kerry's side in recent weeks. And given the fact we just drove up from Florida this weekend, I was surprised how many Kerry-Edwards stickers we saw in Florida. There were more Bush signs parked along local real estate, but the highway driver vote seemed to be on Kerry's side. I'm taking that as a cautiously optimistic omen. Let's just hope we find out sometime tonight -- though I wouldn't necessarily bet on that either.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:03 AM
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October 28, 2004
Photos and Videos from the Red Sox Celebration at Kenmore Square
It's less than 24 hours since the Red Sox won their first World Series title in 86 years, and the helicopters continue to hover over our apartment near Fenway Park. I've never seen a city so happy: every is smiling, saying hello to each other, making eye contact -- almost unheard of in Boston!
To commemorate last night's big win, I've created a new website, Cursed No More: Celebrating the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Championship. The website includes my photos from last night's festivities by Fenway Park, as well as a bunch of video clips that capture the excitement felt throughout the evening. Hope you enjoy it!
Posted by acarvin at 9:37 AM
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Red Sox Win!!!!!!
They did it! The curse is reversed, the ghost of Ruth nailed back in his coffin -- the Red Sox have won their first World Series in 86 years. I am truly overwhelmed.
It's just after 1am, and my neighborhood is rumbling: half a dozen helicopters hovering overhead, thousands of people carrying brooms and signs marching towards Kenmore Square.
Once again, Susanne and I watched the game at An Tua Nua, an Irish bar just a few blocks from Fenway Park. The bar was packed with probably 500 people, most of them college students covered in Soxware. For four hours, we parked ourselves in front of a giant projection screen, cheering and yelling and screaming and hooting with the mob. Up until the sixth or seventh inning, I tried to keep my reserve and not get my hopes up, even though everything seemed to be going our way. But as soon as several guys brought out their brooms and started to sweep the floor in unison, we all knew this would indeed be the night. A sweep to end all sweeps, a win to end nine decades of frustration and despair.
The crowd erupted with increasing enthusiasm with each successive out. When the game finally finished, the bar exploded: 500 people simultaneously jumping for joy, awash in beer and tears and hugs and cellphones. I have never seen so many frat boys sob with joy.
We stormed out of the bar and hit the streets. Hundreds of people were already outside the bar, streaming east towards Kenmore Square. We joined the throngs of ecstatic fans, following one tall redhead carrying a broom with pride. Reaching the square, we found ourselves with a bagpiper, playing Scottish jigs and Queen songs as the crowd cheered him on.
The hundreds turned to thousands; the thousands became tens of thousands. Susanne and I soon got split up in the crowd. Within moments there were 20,000 people between the two of us; there was no point in trying to find each other.
I looked up in the sky and was blinded by three, four, five, eight floodlights pouring down from the helicopters. People were climbing the fences along the overpass, yelling into their cell phones, high-fiving everyone who passed by. A young woman thrusts a cigar in my face; I take a puff and smile as it was yanked from me, vanishing into the crowd. Three guys jump from a lamp post on top of us, surfing the crowd until a cop gave one of them a polite warning jab in the thigh.
Cops were everywhere, lining the streets, blocking Yawkey Way and Brookline Ave. I was in a bottleneck, squeezed amongst thousands of cheering people. It was exhilarating, scary, thrilling, the most magical moment. I was in the center of the universe.
Knowing I couldn't go any further down Brookline Ave, I turned around and joined a chain of college students, locked arm in arm like an elephant parade, allowing the momentum of the mob suck them through the crowd. Everywhere else was deadlock, gridlock, a crush of humanity, but somehow I slid through the mass, ducking as a tall man fell from a signpost, having been swatted by another cop. To the left, I heard someone yell "Pepper spray!" and people lurched forward, trying to get out of the way. A young man fell to the ground, clutching his eyes.
Taking advantage of the sudden momentum, I moved towards the Uno's restaurant, which was boarded up with plywood. A group of cops in riot gear guarded the entrance, gingerly pushing the crowd whenever it lurched towards them.
"Thank you for doing your job," a group of students said to them; another group chanted, "Please don't shoot us! Please don't shoot us!"
There might have been 100,000 people in the square by 12:30am; thousands more continued to stream from Brookline. I'd been separated from Susanne for at least 30 minutes, and decided I better rendezvous at home, as had been our plan.
I made my way through the crowd in fits and starts; eventually the crowd thinned, and I was able to walk the three blocks back to our apartment.
Feeding the cats two hours past their dinner time, I watched in amazement as Fox Sports replayed the last moments of the game while showing a small-screen image of the crowds at Kenmore. The helicopters continue to hover overhead, Jimmy Fallon is having an ecstatic breakdown on live TV; Susanne has made her way home.
I can't believe I've been able to type this; my hands are still shaking with excitement. The Red Sox won the World Series. Hell has frozen over, and life is so, so sweet.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:38 AM
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October 21, 2004
A Miracle in the Bronx
"Somebody needs to fire Johnny Damon," I remember saying to Susanne several days ago, after the Red Sox outfielder had whiffed another at-bat. "And Mark Bellhorn while they're at it."
Like so many lifelong Red Sox fans, I was frustrated. Damn Frustrated. Ever since watching that ball go through Buckner's legs nearly two decades ago, I'd questioned whether the Sox would ever get it right. Last year just exacerbated that sense of doubt. My faith had lapsed long ago.
So as the Red Sox fought their way back against the Yankees in game four, I felt very happy for them that they were regaining their dignity, but I refused to let myself believe they really stood a chance of capturing the pennant. The players said they'd take it one day at a time, which seemed like sound advice, but in my heart I knew that Beantown was setting itself up for another heartbreak.
Then I watched game five, just down the street from Fenway at An Tua Nua. When they finally won after nearly six hours of play, we rushed into the streets and joined the throngs of people exiting the park. Like I wrote in my blog that night, it was like Paris for New Years 2000. Sheer joy, sheer revelry. (I even screamed "Bonne annŽe!" in the Red Sox parking lot.) Of course, the Sox had two games to play in the Bronx, so I decided to enjoy the moment and not worry about the potential let-down that lay ahead.
But as game six played itself out, with Curt Schilling pitching a masterful game as blood ran through his sock, I realized that while my faith had been shaken badly over the years, this team's faith had not. Stat for stat, they may not have been the better of the two teams -- I still am in awe by the Yankee's lineup -- but the Sox had a fighting spirit that burned in their souls. It was a spirit that seemed sorely lacking whenever you watched Jeter, A-Rod or Matsui at bat. They may be great players, but their hearts didn't seem in the game. And as Schilling left the mound for the last time, I felt that ray of hope. Is this really the year?
Last night's game was sheer anxiety. It didn't matter they spanked the Yankees from every conceivable angle; even until the bottom of the ninth I wondered exactly what the Yanks would do to pull it off. In retrospect the anxiety made no sense, but 86 years of history tugged at my rationality. I had to spend the rest of the inning standing; I just couldn't sit down knowing what was about to happen. The Red Sox were really going to beat the Yankees and go to the World Series.
My mom called me at midnight from her hospital room in Florida, in the final commercial break before the game ended. She was recovering from surgery and had a bit of a fever, but she sounded on top of the world. The game wasn't over, but for all intents and purposes, we knew it really was.
"Your grandfather is smiling right now," she said. He was a star high school pitcher in Worcester back in the 1930s, and even tried out for the Boston Braves, just before he got drafted - by the army. The Red Sox last won the Series when he was six years old, and he spent the remaining 72 years of his life wondering if they'd ever do it again.
They haven't done it yet, Grandpa. But they beat the Yankees in seven, and that's one hell of a start.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:40 AM
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October 19, 2004
My New URL: www.andycarvin.com
Some of you may have noticed a slight change to my blog. A few weeks ago, I bought the domain name www.andycarvin.com so I could start using it as a new shortcut to my blog. The original address, www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog, still works, but it was always a little hard for people to remember. There's no need to update your bookmarks or anything since both addresses will work, but hopefully www.andycarvin.com will make it easier for people to figure it out. Same bat content, same bat channel; just a different bat URL... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:42 AM
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October 18, 2004
Fenway Chaos!
It's just before midnight on Monday night and Susanne and I just returned from Fenway Park. No, we didn't have tickets to the Red Sox game, but as soon as we realized the game was going into extra innings, we bolted from our apartment and sprinted the four blocks to the Irish pub An Tua Nua. Located as close as you can get to the Fenway parking lot, the bar was a wild mix of Red Sox fanatics and a troupe of black-leather goths, all united in Bostonian team spirit.
Of course, we had no idea the game would go on for another five innings, giving us plenty of time to curse Derek Jeter and agonize over David Ortiz getting robbed twice. So it was poetic justice that Ortiz batted in Johnny Damon to wrap up the game after nearly six hours of play.
The bar erupted into joyous pandemonium; we reveled in the moment for a while before grabbing our coats and sprinting yet again for the Fenway parking lot. As soon as we got outside you could here the roar of tens of thousands of people exiting the game; within a matter of moments we were in the thick of the crowd, celebrating like it was Paris for New Years 2000. (Quite seriously, I haven't seen anything like it since that very moment.)
We joined the crowd and followed it down Brookline Ave, enjoying the hordes of fans all the way back to our apartment, about a mile to the west. Along the way I took photos and video clips which I'm uploading at this very moment; so by the time you read this you should be able to click that link and see some of the footage I captured.
Wish I could get some sleep, but I'm still too pumped to relax... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:43 PM
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Battle and Hum
For those of you watching the Red Sox battle the Yankees on TV, have you noticed the industrial hum while listening to the game? It kinda sounds like the background hum of the ship on Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you don't hear it, listen to the game carefully and wait for a commercial break, and you'll notice its absence as soon as they go to a commercial break.
Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that my entire apartment sounds like that at the moment -- and it's not because I'm watching the game. It's coming from outside.
You see, we live less than a mile away from Fenway, and the entire neigborhood sounds like we're all hording electrical generators in our backyards. At first I thought it was just coming from the TV, but then I turned down the volume and noticed that I could hear the same hum in every room of our apartment.
What's causing it, you might ask? I'm not positive, but if I ventured a guess (and I will, since that's what blogging's all about), it's the numerous blimps and helicopters hovering over the neighborhood. The last time I looked outside, there were two blimps and at least one helicopter hovering over Fenway. Since they have to travel in wide arcs over the sky, they're constantly coming into the airspace over our apartment: hence the perpetual hum. I'd noticed a similar phenomenon during previous Sox games, but with the attention of the entire sports universe focused on Fenway, there's more air traffic than usual over Kenmore Square and eastern Brookline.
It's strangely comforting hearing that hum outside; after going to bed last night around 11:30pm I certainly didn't expect a repeat of it. If I were an optimist, I'd say I'd hope to hear it again some time next week. But that would betray the whole ethos of being a Red Sox fan, right? -andy
Posted by acarvin at 8:44 PM
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October 15, 2004
EdWeb and My Blog Turn 10 This Week!
Hi everyone,
This week marks the 10-year anniversary of my educational website, EdWeb: Exploring Technology and School Reform, and my personal website/blog, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth.
For those of you who weren't online then, in the summer of '94 I was on Northwestern's Annenberg-Washington fellowship at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), where I was encouraged to find a research project and self-publish. I decided to look at the confluence of education technology, school reform, attempts to overhaul telecom policy and the birth of the "information highway."
Over the course of that summer, I spent a lot of time emailing people on various listservs and researching gopher servers to collect my data. A handful of very kind people -- Bonnie Bracey of the NII Advisory Council, Patsy Wang-Iverson of Research for Better Schools, Larry Irving at NTIA, Jamie Wilkerson at Kidlink, Larry Anderson at Mississippi State -- all took the time to reply to my questions and help me think through these issues, which as a lowly grad student were still quite new to me.
Based on all the information I collected, I wrote a series of essays about education, telecom reform, this new "World Wide Web" and what it would mean for schools, etc, then broke them down into small blocks of information that would be hyperlinked together, modeling them on "Engines for Education," a hypertext book written by a former Northwestern professor of mine, Roger Schank.
Since CPB didn't have a web server at the time, I learned HTML and converted my rickety old Mac into a server. Along with the collection of essays, I created Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidh, a personal web page to update friends and family about what I was doing at any given time. Every now and then I'd update it with a new blurb: a link to an essay I'd written, a travelogue, conference updates, etc. (After many years I got sick of hand-coding the page, so I converted it to a blog so posting would be more automated.)
Both EdWeb and Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth went online the week of October 12, 1994. I announced it on several education listservs, including edtech and lm_net. A copy of my original announcement can be found in my October 1994 blog archive.
Little did I know it at the time, but EdWeb set me off on a new career path. The response to the site was overwhelming. It was the first website reviewed by Harvard Education Review, and was plugged by Esther Dyson in her writings about the Internet. I began to get so many emails from people wanting to talk about the role of the Web in education, I created an email discussion list, WWWEDU, which will celebrate its 10th anniversry this December 1st.
Soon my fellowship at CPB turned into a full-time job as a program officer developing grant programs to promote constructivist edtech initiatives and community networking grants to fund the development of locally relevant content. That work later led to my five years at the Benton Foundation, before moving up to Boston with Benton's Digital Divide Network to launch the EDC Center for Media & Community last February. Who knew that a crudely designed website would lead me this way... :-)
Over the years, EdWeb and my Waste of Bandwidth moved from a server at CPB, to CNIDR in North Carolina, to Global Schoolhouse in southern California, and finally back to North Carolina as part of the UNC Sunsite/Ibiblio.org project. Ibiblio still hosts all of my content for free, as did the others, and I'm grateful for their assistance over the years.
With all the other projects I do now, EdWeb is largely a snapshot in time, a look at the issue of education technology as it was being examined during the early years of the Internet. Meanwhile, I still use my EdWeb domain to host my blog and a collection of other websites, including travelogues and my history of the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge, From Sideshow to Genocide. I've recently set up andycarvin.com as a shortcut to my blog, but it's still hosted at EdWeb as well.
So if you haven't visited in a while, please come to http://www.edwebproject.org and take a walk through my small contribution to edtech. And if you get a chance, post a comment on my blog and say hello when you get a chance... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:46 AM
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October 14, 2004
Spokes4Votes.com Kicks Into High Gear
My buddies at the Omidyar Network never cease to amaze me. About 24 hours ago, I reported that several forum members were discussing a strategy to mobilize biking enthusiasts to help get out the vote on election day. It seemed like a great idea -- if it only had a cool name and a website to get the campaign going.
Well, I went to bed, woke up this morning and quickly discovered that the idea had quickly evolved into Spokes4Votes.com.
Operating under the slogan, "Get on your bike and ride the streets like Paul Revere," Spokes4Votes wants to encourage as many people as possible to hop on their bikes on election day, ride around to cafes and other hangouts, encouraging people to vote, while swinging by the local bicycle shops to rope in other volunteers. For people who want to do their part but haven't gotten involved in a campaign, it's a great way to promote civic participation -- and get some exercise in the process.
So come November 2, do your civic duty and vote. Then get on your bike and earn some political karma by getting others to do the same -- then ride like the wind, baby.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:46 AM
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October 13, 2004
Election Day Bike Activism
Yesterday on the Omidyar Network, Mickki Langston posted an idea about how to get out the vote on election day. She called her post Election Day Bike Activism. The idea, essentially, is to mobilize young voters by reaching out to coffee houses and bike shops: throughout election day, volunteers would ride around from cafe to cafe and bike shop to bike shop with flyers containing info on local polling places and the need to go out and vote. It sounds like a great low-budget way to mobilize community members -- both the latte crowd and the outdoor enthusiast crowd -- to do their civic duty, particularly in swing states like Florida, Colorado and Arizona, where chances are decent that biking weather might apply in early November. Check out Mickki's discussion thread for the full scoop on the idea.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 8:48 AM
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October 12, 2004
Hometown Boys Not Off to a Good Start
The Ghost of Ruth hangs heavily over the Bronx as the Yankees take a 2-0 lead over the Red Sox in the first inning of the first game of the ALCS. Last year at this time, I managed to avoid the horror of the Red Sox playoff collapse by hunkering down at a meeting in Dubai. Maybe I should have stayed in Quebec this week as well; let's hope I'm wrong.
And for those of you wondering why I'm talking sports on this blog, don't worry, I promise I won't do it often. (Andy? Sports? What? Someone musta snatched my blog admin password, right?) I'll probably bite my tongue and keep quiet -- unless things get interesting.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:49 AM
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September 28, 2004
Feeling Vertigo on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur started about 15 hours ago, and so far, my fast is holding fast. I've managed to make it through these 24 hours of atonement and will power for most of the last 10 years or so, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed this year will be the same. Susanne is being merciful as well, and plans to get lunch outside of the apartment so I won't have to torture myself needlessly.
Meanwhile, today is also my dad's birthday, and he's getting to spend it evacuating from a hurricane for the fourth time in six weeks. They've battened down the hatches, sealed the storm shutters, and left Indialantic for higher ground. The latest NOAA forecast has the storm increasing to a Category 3 hurricane before slamming into southern Brevard County. It's Frances all over again -- except this is a bigger storm. Hold on to your hats.
Despite the dire forecast on a fast day, I'm taking solace in the fact that the local radio stations have finally started playing Vertigo, the new single from the forthcoming U2 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." The song is reminiscent of their Achtung Baby days - a nostalgic era for me, since I was luck enough to be in Dublin the day of its release back in November 1991.
"Vertigo" seems timed to honor the recent passing of Johnny Ramone (not to mention 2/3rds of the rest of the band in recent years). The single has a great four-chord post-punk riff, along with typical U2 ambient guitar noise. This is definitely an Edge-centric song -- The Edge almost sounds like he's striving for Pete Townsend greatness at certain points in the track. More power to him -- it's about time the band got consistently good again.
Happy Yom Kippur, everyone... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:33 AM
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September 19, 2004
Breaking News: Man Stalls Boston Traffic Chasing Squirrel; One Woman Reportedly Injured
File this under "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished": Last night we spent the better part of the evening waiting around in a hospital emergency room because Susanne got bit by a squirrel. How, you may ask?
It all started with me insisting that we spend a cold, rainy afternoon at the movies seeing The Bourne Supremacy, just to see if it was actually better than the first Bourne movie, as many critics had said. (It was.) The movie wrapped up just before 6pm, so we planned to walk home, feed the cats, then walk down to Jamaica Plain to go to an Ethiopian restaurant.
As we walked past the Landmark Center back to Brookline, Susanne and I noticed a young squirrel darting through traffic. We held our breath and cringed as it ran under two cars, clearly about to be smushed, then miraculously emerged unscathed. It reached the curb and tried to climb up, but it was too small, so it turned around, running frantically back into traffic.
Being the animal lovers we are, there was no way we could have kept walking and let the poor creature become another roadkill statistic, so I ran into the oncoming traffic and waved the cars to a stop. I then chased after the squirrel, trying to give it a bit of an instinctive push to jump over the curb. (How arrogant of me -- like the squirrel would be motivated to jump to safety more by me chasing it than a two-ton SUV.)
The squirrel was literally caught in a loop, running towards the curb, then cutting a U-turn to the left back into traffic, until reaching the next curb and making another left-handed turn. Meanwhile, I chased after it as cars honked and screeched to a halt, some ignoring both me and the squirrel and pressing forward down the road. Meanwhile, two other men joined my rescue effort: a middle-aged man who stood on one curb, trying to catch the squirrel each time I chased it his way, and a young Arab man who tossed me his jacket so I could try to trap it and pick it up safely.
I threw down his jacket several times, but the squirrel darted out each time. All of this went on for at least five minutes, as I ran in counterclockwise circles 20 or 30 times across the busy two-lane road, heaving in the cold air, praying I wouldn't pass out and crush the squirrel.
Eventually, the squirrel got as tired as I was, and three of us -- Susanne, the Arab man and I - cornered it. The next thing I knew I saw Susanne lurching upward, while the squirrel flew through the air into the grass in front of me. I chased it further into the grass so it would head away from the street, then turned to Susanne and our rescue partner. Susanne was clutching her hand, with a drop of blood running down her palm.
"He bit me," she said, examining her hand. Apparently, when we cornered the little beast, she grabbed it and tossed it; in the process, the squirrel curled around her hand, gave her a nip and sunk in its claws as a parting gift, leaving three pin-prick holes on her knuckles and a bloody gash on the inside of her hand.
We walked back to our apartment wondering what to do next. The chances of this young squirrel having rabies seemed remote, especially since it did its damnedest to keep away from us, but why take a chance? I called one of the local emergency rooms and asked a nurse if we should come in now, or make an appointment with her doctor for first thing Monday. The nurse suggested we come in immediately.
Susanne washed her hand while I fed the cats, then we walked across the Riverway to the Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. The nurse at the triage desk was expecting us, and examined Susanne without too much of a wait. We then had to wait a little longer before being brought into a private examination room.
We waited in that uncomfortable room, with nothing but a gurney and a rotating stool to sit on, for the next three hours, until another nurse, resident and attending physician were able to see us. As time passed we got to know the guy in the room next to ours -- Keith, an incoming freshman at a local college, who cut his hand opening a can of soup at 3am the previous night, then closed it up with tape so he could go to bed. Poor guy eventually found out he'd have to come back several times over the next week because the wound had become infected and would require IV antibiotics and a hand surgeon. Perhaps it was an omen -- another hand injury, a preventable one at that. I cringed at the possibilities.
The nurse and doctors were all rather cynical about our good deed -- "That'll teach you from doing that again," said the resident. In the meantime, we waited and waited.
"I can't believe this," Susanne said at one point, shaking her head and grimacing.
"This feels like a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode," I replied.
"I can see Larry David's wife yelling at Larry to rescue the poor squirrel off the highway," Susanne replied, laughing.
By 10pm, the attending physician examined Susanne, bringing along a fascinating sheet of Massachusetts rabies data. For example, did you know that of the five alpaca bites reported in the last 10 years, none of them came back rabid, while the one chinchilla bite, sadly, came back with the Old Yeller Syndrome? Or that it's better to get bit by a muskrat, opossum, bison, chipmunk, llama, seal, porcupine, sheep or ferret -- none of which have tested positive for rabies -- than a cow, woodchuck, coyote, otter, pig, raccoon, skunk, bat or fox -- all of which have been linked to rabies cases? Even the four bear bites came back negative for rabies -- though I think if you've gotten bit by a bear, you've got bigger problems than rabies to worry about.
But the most important statistic we learned was this: of the 1,167 squirrels tested after biting humans in Massachusetts over a 10-year period, none had come back positive for rabies. Zero. Zip. Nada. So the attending physician gave us a copy of the data sheet as a consolation prize and sent us on our merry way, without giving Susanne even a bandage, let alone a rabies shot.
By now it was approaching 11pm and we still hadn't had dinner, so we persevered to go to the Ethiopian restaurant, where we enjoyed a small feast as a group of talkative Ethiopian men sat at the bar, drinking Cointreau while watching Florida play Tennessee. Not exactly the evening we'd expected.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:35 AM
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September 17, 2004
Our New Friend, The Roomba
Yesterday afternoon, it finally arrived: our first robot. Having grown up watching the Jetsons, I wondered how old I would be before I'd have my own Rosie the Robot, doing the dishes, cleaning the floors and dusting the china cabinet. For now, of course, I'll have to keep waiting for that particular image of mechanical bliss to enter my life, but my new friend Roomba will tie me over quite well until that time comes.
For those of you who haven't heard about the Roomba, it's a stout, flying saucer-like robot vacuum. Created by a group of Cambridge whiz kids who'd previously contracted with the U.S. military to make mine sweeping robots, the Roomba is the mine sweeper's peaceful, chore-loving cousin. The Roomba first came out at least a year ago, and the reviews were mixed: great idea, but it didn't vacuum very well and had a habit of breaking. But now, several generations later, the latest addition to the Roomba dynasty has gotten hardier for the task, with a bigger dustbin and a stronger vacuum.
Our Roomba arrived yesterday, so we put it to the test. After a few hours' charging, I put it in the center of the room and activated it. The little Roomba came alive, sweeping in a clockwise spiral motion. Our cats, Winston and Dizzy, immediately took notice; Susanne and I poured ourselves a glass of wine and waited to see what would happen next.
The Roomba soon banged into our coffee table -- not a problem. Like a pinball hitting an electric wall, it careened off the table at an angle, heading in another direction. It managed to bang into every piece of furniture in our living room, but all the while it computed the size of the space. Soon, it began sweeping in long strokes across the floor, hugging the walls and the furniture, weaving its way through each room. All the while, our cats stalked our little motorized friend, Winston apparently more suspicious of its intentions than Dizzy. Winnie would maintain a reasonable distance, watching it alertly, while dizzy would occasionally forget it was coming right at him, leading to a couple of humorous, but harmless robot-feline collisions.
Considering the amount of cat hair we seem to have lying around because of the boys, the Roomba did a fine job vacuuming it up. Occasionally it would stumble upon a dust bunny in a corner, then would either drag it until it stuck on the carpet or blow it up in the air, but otherwise it managed to vacuum up what is was supposed to. It even picked up the bits of kibble that the cats had flicked across the kitchen floor. I was most impressed by its ability to go where no man had gone before -- under our sofa and entertainment center, sucking up huge gobs of dust that had accumulated over months on end.
All and all, I think we're going to get along with our Roomba just fine. I just wonder when our cats will get brave enough to pounce it.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:35 AM
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Cleaning Up From Frances
After two weeks in hotels and staying with friends and family, my parents were finally able to move back into their condo in Indian Harbor Beach, Florida. The condo, to everyone's amazement, weathered the storm just fine, but the electricity was knocked out for 14 days. Try staying in Central Florida without any A/C and you'll be running for the closest motor lodge as well...
The area where I grew up took one hell of a hit from Frances; my hometown, Indialantic, suffered at least $7 million in damage, while the town next door, Melbourne Beach, has over $40 million in damage. By the time it's all added up, the county will probably have several hundred million dollars in wrecked homes, gas stations, strip malls, boats, store marquees, lamp posts, boardwalks, beaches, hotels and diners. What a mess. And to think Hurricane Jeanne may be on the way next week.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:26 AM
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September 7, 2004
Frances Photos
The Florida Today newspaper has an amazing collection of photo galleries capturing some of the damage left in Hurricane Frances' wake. There are numerous galleries for my hometown of Indialantic, as well as pictures from my parents' current home, Indian Harbour Beach, just a few miles north of where I grew up. The damage is significant, but not as bad as Charley or Andrew from what I can tell.
Two of the most amazing photos I've seen so far come from Cocoa Beach: church steeple crashed through the roof of the church, followed by an interior shot of the church with the steeple pentetrating the ceiling to the floor.
My parents are working their way east, now staying at a hotel in Orlando. Hopefully they'll get a chance to get home to the beaches today or tomorrow to inspect the damage... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:39 AM
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September 5, 2004
Following Hurricane Frances: Blogs and Bulletin Boards
It's been a nerve-wracking 24 hours watching the news trying to figure out what's going on at home as Hurricane Frances conducts its meteorological smackdown on Central Florida. With CNN's in-depth coverage from Melbourne, just across the Indian River from my hometown of Indialantic, I've managed to get a play-by-play of the damage, which so far looks more superficial than structural. If that's the case, it'll be an enormous relief.
Meanwhile, a couple of the local papers are doing their best to give people who still have power and Internet access a place to post updates. The Orlando Sentinel has set up a
Hurricane Blog; though most of the posts are coming from their staff, at least it has the real-time, quick-and-dirty feel of blogs not published by professional journalists. My favorite entry was a top 10 list of dumb questions called into Seminole County's citizen information line:
# 10 - Is the mall open?
# 9 - What does mandatory mean?
# 8 - Will the curfew let me go to the bar with my friends?
# 7 - Do I leave the sand in the bags?
# 6 - Due to the water, do you put holes in the sandbags?
# 5 - Is Casselberry a county? I live in Seminole County, and it is different there.
# 4 - I heard there is a 9 p.m. curfew for all of Seminole County. Is it different in Sanford?
# 3 - Do the shelters have parking spaces?
# 2 - I'm heading to Alabama and I am in Ocala. I am running out of gas. Should I turn around and go home?
# 1 - I heard the storm is going to Miami. Does that mean it will miss Florida?
Closer to home, the Florida Today has set up a community bulletin board for people to discuss what's going on in the coastal towns. It's a great idea, something that should have been set up days ago if you ask me. But the disturbing thing is that many of the people posting aren't local at the moment, and they're not getting responses to their questions because the power is out for so much of the hurricane zone. There's nothing creepier than seeing one message after another saying, "What's going on in the town of so-and-so?" and not seeing a response. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:40 AM
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September 3, 2004
Florida Battens Down the Hatches
It's been a surreal day watching CNN's coverage of Hurricane Frances as it approaches Florida's Space Coast. On CNN's morning program, Bill Hemmer was reporting from the beach "near Melbourne, Florida," and from the look of the boardwalk and the condos to the north, it was pretty clear they were broadcasting from my hometown of Indialantic. (Melbourne is actually on the mainland, and Indialantic is across the intracoastal waterway on a barrier island, so that's where the beach is.)
My parents evacuated to Tampa yesterday, and I've been giving them updates on the storm's track from the NOAA website. Frances has slowed to around 115 miles per hour, but its track has slowed as well, meaning it could hover over Central Florida for an entire day. As much as 20 inches of rain could fall during that period. And considering that the stretch of the island just north of my parent's condo is only 100 yards wide in some places, a storm surge could create a new inlet. Scary stuff.
As always, it's not a bad idea to donate to the Red Cross -- Floridians would certainly appreciate it.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:40 AM
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August 29, 2004
Coming Soon: Blogging from Technology Review Confab Next Month
I've just received the news that I'll have a press pass to Technology Review magazine's 2nd Annual Emerging Technology Conference at MIT. The conference, to be held in Cambridge on September 29-30, will bring together bleeding-edge technologists and entrepreneurs. They've got quite a roster of speakers, including Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; Ethernet inventor and 3Com founder Bob Metcalfe; and Kari Stefansson, CEO of deCODE Genetics (which is developing new medicines based on DNA samples from half the population of Iceland). Sessions will cover topics including next-generation search engines, nanotechnology and location-aware computing. I'm particularly excited to see "Emerging Technologies that Will Change the World" and the announcement of the TR100, the list of 100 young innovators to watch over the next decade.
Given the fact that the conference is at MIT, I should have no problem blogging live from the conference. So stay tuned and be sure to visit my blog at the end of next month to follow along!
Posted by acarvin at 10:49 AM
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August 12, 2004
Quoted in Chicago Tribune Article on the Digital Divide
In today's issue of the Chicago Tribune I'm quoted in the story Hispanic Market Targeted by AOL. The article talks about a new AOL business endeavor to sell low-cost computers bundled with Internet access, with a particular emphasis on Spanish-speaking households.
The reporter had contacted me to ask if cost was the only barrier for Latinos going online. I said it's often a major factor, but not the only one. In particular, I talked about the challenge of finding culturally- and linguistically-relevant content; while Spanish-language content has increased dramatically in recent years, English is still the dominant lingua franca on the Net. For Latino households with limited English proficiency, this can be a major drawback. I also discussed the broader challenge of improving ICT literacy amongst Latinos and other minority groups; if you don't know how to use a computer, having one available for a few hundred bucks isn't necessarily very enticing.
Unfortunately for me, not much of the conversation made it into the article. That's okay, though; a quote is a quote, as long as it's not a misquote.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 11:08 AM
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July 26, 2004
Clinton: I'm Sorry, Andy; I'm Afraid I Can't Do That
Yesterday morning Susanne and I headed out to the Prudential Center to join the crowd that had gathered to see Bill Clinton at his only Boston-area book signing event. According to the bookstore's website, Clinton would sign books starting at 1pm that day, so we wondered just how early we'd have to get there in order to see him and get a book signed. We decided to leave around 10:30am, which would get us there before 11am -- three hours to stand in line and maybe catch sight of the former prez if we weren't too late in the queue.
After packing ourselves Tokyo-style in a crowded trolley, we rode a couple stops from Brookline to Boston, then walked a few blocks up Newbury before turning right towards the Prudential Center. The Pru was crowded with people, and we weren't sure if they were all going to the book signing or not. The fact that the flow of bodies was heading in the general direction of the Barnes and Noble wasn't a good sign. When we got to the inner courtyard, Susanne noticed a very long queue of people in the outer courtyard - perhaps 500 of them. A bookstore staffer and a security guard were directing people towards the back of the line, tying red bracelets around each person's right wrist. "You will need a red bracelet and a book in order to meet Clinton," the staffer said. "If you get out of the line and no one holds a place for you, you'll have to go to the back of the line."
Fortunately the event was scheduled on the finest day Boston had seen in a couple weeks -- 70 degrees and breezy with low humidity. We were actually somewhat chilly in the line, standing in the shadow of the Pru, but as the sun moved across the southern horizon, we soon found ourselves in a pleasantly warm spot, watching waves of wind stroke the acre of perfectly manicured grass in the center of the courtyard.
Just after 12pm, the line started to move; the Secret Service had finished their security sweep of the book store, and the first 125 people were brought inside. The line grew steadily behind us as we moved forward; well over 1000 people were in the courtyard, though only the first 1000 would be guaranteed the chance to get a book signed. The line stopped hard at 1pm; Clinton was now inside and signing books, and security personnel would only allow groups of people inside 25 at a time. So we spent the next hour sitting somewhat uncomfortably in the sun, the shadow of the Pru too small to protect us now.
Entertainment was provided by a group of Lyndon LaRouche supporters. About 30 of them arrived with posters sporting messages like "Will Cheney postpone the election?" and "Future generations will want an open convention." The LaRouchies then started to sing songs. From a distance, the songs sounded like Russian choral work, actually quite pretty. But as the protesters approached us, the tone of the singing started to remind me of Maoist martial parade songs. "La-Rouche, La-Rouche," they sang, practically stealing the "Marchons, Marchons!" refrain from La Marseillaise.
"It's a little too Red Guard for my taste," Susanne said.
"I almost expect to see little uniformed Chinese girls to appear, dancing with oversized flags."
By 2:20pm we made it inside the building, where we were asked to check our bags and submit to an electronic wand search. The process felt like we were entering an airport, except the secret service agent who waved the wand over us was much friendlier, explaining the do's and don't's of meeting a president. (Example: For the love of God, don't put your hands in your pocket when you approach the president.)
We weaved through the book store, aisle by aisle. At this point we were making a steady walk, as if we'd just climbed aboard a conveyor belt. Bill Clinton was seated on a raised platform, behind a table, next to the cafe. The room was draped in black, with strategically placed lights from above given the former president an oddly angelic look. He was wearing an Italian suit with a perfectly knotted pink tie.
"He's lost weight," Susanne said as we moved closer in the queue.
"You can see it in his neck," I replied. "Look at the extra space in his collar."
Reaching the cafe, we got a quick preview of the literary assembly line. First, a Barnes and Noble staffer made sure your book was open to the proper page. To her left, a Secret Service agent served as traffic cop, deciding when you would step up to the raised platform. Next, an assistant would take your book, pass it to another Secret Service agent, who passed it to the president. Clinton would simultanously shake your hand with his right hand and sign your book with his left; after greeting you and thanking you for coming, he might offer five or six seconds of small talk before you were whisked off the platform and away from Clinton.
As we got closer and closer, I debated whether to ask him to inscribe the book to me and Susanne; my plan had been not to, given the mechanized slaughterhouse precision of the book-signing process, but I noticed Clinton appeared to pause and take special requests from at least two other people ahead of us. What the hell, I thought to myself; the worst thing he'll say is no.
The Secret Service agent gave me the nod to approach the platform. I climbed several steps, handing my book to another agent, who slid it to someone else, who slid it to the president as he finished shaking hands with the person ahead of me. A moment or so later I was standing in front of Clinton, shaking his hand.
"Nice to see you," he said, shaking my hand with somewhat more firmness than you'd expect from someone who had to do this 1000 times in the course of a few hours.
"Nice to see you as well, Mr. President," I replied. "I was wondering if you would inscribe the book to Andy and Susanne -- that's S-U-S-A-"
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't do that," he interrupted, a look of sadness in his eyes as he lifted the pen away from the book. "I'm not allowed."
"To keep the line moving," a Secret Service agent added, tapping me on the shoulder to move along.
"Nice to see you," Clinton repeated, now shaking Susanne's hand behind me.
So that was that. A 200-minute wait to see Bill Clinton, only to hear him give his best imitation of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 12:07 PM
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June 12, 2004
Update from Seattle; then Tunisia, then Mauritius....
It's 7am here in Seattle, on the morning of the second full day of the CTCNet conference. The first day was busy and engaging; nearly 600 people from the US and abroad are here, eagerly talking about the telecenter movement in all its various forms. Yesterday, during the opening session, Paul Lamb of Street Tech gave a very entertaining presentation on what the community technology movement isn't really a movement yet, and what steps we could all take to create that kind of well-organized, creative momentum. Later, I co-hosted a session on online communities with Tony Streit (check out my previous blog entry for a brief description). The day was capped off with a road trip to the Seattle Center, where the conference organizers hosted a reception for all the attendees, many of whom scattered to the winds afterwards to take in the sights and sounds of downtown Seattle for a few hours.
Today will likely be a very interesting day as well. While I no longer have any official sessions in which to participate, I still have three big activities on my plate. First, during the "birds of a feather" sessions this afternoon, I'm co-hosting a forum on the World Summit on the Information Society with Amali DaSilva-Mitchell. Immediately following that, my organization is hosting a wine and cheese reception for the release of our new E-Government for All report -- more on that later. And tomorrow morning, I'll be organizing a virtual chat between North American and European civil society representatives to discuss the upcoming WSIS planning meeting that will take place in Tunisia the week of June 24.
Speaking of which, I've still got a lot of exciting travel plans coming up. I'll be going to Tunisia for the WSIS meeting, so I'll post blogs updating everyong on how things are going there, plus hopefully a bit of personal adventures over the weekend while I have some free time in Tunis. Then, after the July 4 holiday weekend, I'm off to the tiny island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, for an ICT stakeholders forum hosted by the the British Commonwealth Business Council. I'm very excited about going to Mauritius -- an island reminiscent of Maui populated by Indians who speak French Creole -- it should be a wonderful cultural experience.
Lastly, I'm working on a photo gallery for my recent trip to Scandinavia. Hopefully I'll get it done on my flight back home to Boston, assuming my Mac's batteries don't conk out on me too quickly.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 10:31 AM
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June 3, 2004
Reporting from the Telecities Conference
Hi everyone,
After a lengthy train ride yesterday, I arrived in the southern Swedish town of Ronneby, home of this summer's Telecities conference. The first informal gatherings took place yesterday afternoon, as attendees arrived in a very good mood, given the wonderfully warm weather and the beautiful location -- Ronneby is home to a 300-year-old nature reserve that's located literally in the back yard of the hotel and conference center. It's a 20-minute walk from the hotel to the conference, something that might otherwise be annoying if it weren't for the fact that you get to stroll past ponds, waterfalls, and manicured gardens.
My two sessions are coming up later today. First I'm participating in a breakout session on e-inclusion; later I'll take part in a plenary roundtable. As far as I can tell, I'm the only American here, with most representatives coming from over 100 city governments across Europe. So it's already proving to be a fascinating, eye-opening experience for me.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 6:22 AM
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May 27, 2004
Off to Scandinavia
Even though it seems I just got back from Hong Kong a few days ago, I've already had to pack my bags again for a trip to Scandinavia. Next week I'll be speaking at the Telecities conference in Ronneby, Sweden. Since the conference follows the US Memorial Day holiday weekend, Susanne is coming along and we're going to spend a long weekend in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Stockholm before going to the conference. Following the event, we'll have a brief stay in Copenhagen before flying back to Boston that Sunday.
Assuming I've got decent Internet access in Ronneby, I'll be blogging from the conference. I'll also try posting some brief updates from my mobile phone when possible. So please check back periodically to follow our little Scandinavian adventure.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 1:13 PM
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May 24, 2004
Hong Kong Travelogue and Photo Gallery Now Online
This weekend I finished work on an online photo gallery and travelogue for my recent trip to the Hong Kong ICT summit on e-content and e-creativity:
http://www.edwebproject.org/hongkong04/
The site includes eight separate photo galleries, covering various aspects of the event as well as sights around Hong Kong. The galleries include links to individual blog entries related to the photos; you can also choose to read my travel journal in one single document. And because the journal entries are incorporated in my blog, you're able to post comments/responses to blog entries. I've also incorporated several quicktime video clips as well as QTVR files, which give you a 180-degree panaroma of different locations around Hong Kong.
As always, feedback is welcome and most appreciated.... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 9:13 AM
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May 13, 2004
Good Speech, Poor Tech Skills
Yesterday was my turn to give my overview of the digital divide in the United States. I didn't have an enormous amount of time, so I focused on explaining some basic statistics on the digital divide in terms of income, education level, ethnicity and disability. Additionally, I added my usual pitch for factoring the need for improving 21st century skills and a diversity of relevant content in the policy equation, which lead to some interesting discussions with members of the audience.
Unfortunately my own 21st century skills failed me when I tried to record an MP3 file of my presentation, so I could post the audio of my speech on the Internet. For some reason, the software I was using never turned on properly - I might have double clicked and put the recording on pause - so all I ended up with was a few seconds of pre-speech clapping. Oh well. I'll see if I can get the video they made of the speech so I can share that instead... -andy
Posted by acarvin at 4:43 AM
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February 22, 2004
Archiving a Decade of Blogging
Even though I've only been using blogging tools to post Web logs for the last six months, I'd spent the better part of the last decade hand-coding journal entries and posting them on my original personal website. Today, though, it occurred to me that I could use the "Wayback Machine" at the Internet Archive to search their archive for posts I'd made to my website over the years and consolidate them into my current blog.
So now I'm sorting through dozens of dusty webpages in search of ancient journal entries, back from the days when a blog meant, well, basically nothing. What does this mean in practical terms? It means that you'll now be able to go to my blog's homepage and find my journal entries going back to the mid-1990s. Simply go to my blog homepage and skim down the left column until you find the collection of monthly blog archives. Rather than going back only to September 2003 (when I started using my first blogging tool, Blogger), you'll now be able to go back many years before that, all the way back to the announcement of my EdWeb site going live in October 1994. These old journal entries cover everything from digital divide-related grant programs I worked on at the Corporation to Public Broadcasting in the 1990s to trips around the world I took with Susanne well before the two of us got married.
So when you get a chance, check out these archival entries and take a walk down memory lane... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 3:37 PM
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February 12, 2004
Our New Boston Digs
Susanne and I flew up to Boston last Sunday to search for our new apartment. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, we'll be relocating to Boston in early March so I can help launch the new Center for Media & Community at the Education Development Center (EDC). We've been staying in Cambridge at a B&B called the Harding House, using it as our base of operations while we find our new place and get oriented at the EDC office in Newton.
Yesterday, Susanne and I signed a lease for an apartment in Brookline, just one block west of the Brookline-Boston border in the Audubon Circle area. Our new place is a five minute walk to the Fenway T stop and the Landmark Center, 10 minutes from the heart of Coolidge Corner, and a block away from Beacon Street -- just far enough from the street to be in a quiet neighborhood, where the only reoccuring sound is the bell sounding from the belltower of an old church. The apartment is being totally renovated, with new floors, ceilings, kitchen, bath -- everything brand spanking new. So we really lucked out, because a lot of the places we'd looked at had appliances that looked older than us. Perhaps my favorite part of the apartment is the office, with long windows covering three of the four walls -- our cats will love staring out at the trees and the church across the street, I'm sure.
Today, I'm actually in Palo Alto, California for a whirlwhind 48-hour trip to HP, for a meeting of community technology activists and corporate philanthropists. It should be a really interesting gathering. Susanne, meanwhile, is still in Boston, taking care of some local logistics for the move. I'm back to Boston late Friday for a couple more nights to get familiarized with our new surroundings before heading back to DC Sunday morning.
An administrative PS -- as you may have noticed, some spammer has used my blog's comment feature to submit some rather naughty comments (let's just say they allude to Britney Spears) to many of my blog entries. It happened during the night so I wasn't able to block the spammer until he had posted over 130 separate spams. So please bear with me while I go through the site and remove his missives.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 1:11 PM | Comments (1)
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February 5, 2004
Big News: Leaving Benton, Moving to EDC in Boston!
I just wanted to let everyone know about some very exciting news. As of this week, I'm leaving the Benton Foundation along with our foundation president and other staff to launch a new institute at the Education Development Center in Boston called the EDC Center for Media & Community (CMC).
With seed funding from the Benton Foundation, CMC will serve as the new home for Benton's decade-long work on the digital divide and ICT literacy, including our Digital Divide Network (DDN) and the DIGITALDIVIDE discussion group. The center will pay particular attention to the issue of ICT literacy amongst underserved youth populations in the US and abroad, and will conduct its work through researching ICT-related activities in real-world communities while fostering virtual communities of practice like DDN.
Here are links to the press announcements about this transition, released today by EDC and Benton:
http://main.edc.org/newsroom/press_releases/new_center.asp
http://www.benton.org/press/2004/pr0204.html
Susanne and I will be relocating to Boston around the first weekend in March; between now and then I'll be spending most of my time working out of my home office, though I'll be in and out of the Benton and EDC offices as needed. I plan to keep my Benton email address working for a couple more months but will soon transition to my new EDC address, acarvin @ edc.org. I'll continue to use my personal address, andycarvin @ yahoo.com, as well.
I'm really thrilled about this new opportunity, and will send out more details about our new center over the upcoming weeks and months.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 11:43 AM | Comments (1)
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January 25, 2004
Introducing photo.spotlight
With Susanne traveling in Europe with her mom, I've had some free time to experiment with my blog software to see if I could use it for creating a photo blog. After playing around with some templates courtesy of blogstyles.com, I've managed to get a basic site up and running. It still needs some work, particularly its feedback forms and the color contrast in the style sheets, but it seems to be off to a good start.
So without further ado, I'd like to announce the creation of my new photo blog, tentatively titled photo.spotlight: reflections of the global village. The site will feature images that Susanne and I have captured in our trips around the world, as well as pictures we've captured closer to home.
Using a handy little RSS syndication script I found on the Web, I've also added some links on the lefthand column of my blog's homepage that point back to the most recent photos published in the photo.spotlight blog. So whether or not you visit my gallery's homepage directly, you'll be able to click on the latest pics right here on this page as well.
Again, photo.spotlight is a work in process, so please bear with me as I work out the kinks. Hope you like the photos! -ac
Posted by acarvin at 3:33 PM
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January 11, 2004
A Belated Phlog Through the Balkans
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| View of the Megalou Monastery in Meteora, Greece |
Today, I've wrapped up work on my photo blog for the southern Balkans. In March 2001, Susanne and I went to Greece so I could speak at a youth technology conference in Thessaloniki. Somehow we'd managed to forget to take a real vacation in 2000, so we used the conference as an excuse to go to Greece a little early so we could explore the northern part of the country, as well as the medieval Albanian town of Gjirokastra. Once the conference started, Susanne returned to the US; I was supposed to travel onward to Kosovo, but a spate of fighting broke out in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, shutting down my route to Kosovo. So instead I went to Istanbul for a few days and visited a local high school that was one of the first to make the Internet available to its students.
Now that I've got this phlog wrapped up and ready to go, it's time to start work on a bigger project: a photogallery and travelogue of our November 2001 trip to Rajasthan, India. This trip was a much bigger endeavour: we took over 1000 photos over the course of two weeks. I also kept a brief diary that I'd intended to use as the basis for a much larger online travelogue. Unfortunately I never got my act together and I've forgotten much of the details that would have been included in it. Instead, I'm going to do my best and convert my diary notes into something that hopefully will at least be of passing interest to a few of you out there in cyberland. So stay tuned and I'll let you know when the Rajasthan is ready; in the mean time, please visit my Southern Balkans Photo Diary and imagine yourself eating olives and spanikopita.... -ac
Posted by acarvin at 3:22 PM
