[DDN] Citizen journalism: Macchiaradio's podcast on Italian elections

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi All,

I just downloaded - by mistake and without being aware of it (1) - a 
podcast: "Macchiaradio (puntata del 10/4/2006: Speciale Elezioni 2006)". 
As the producers write  in  the corresponding blog item 
:


"Now that the live broadcast described below is over, we feel obliged to 
warn you: it lasted exactly 12 hours and 24 minutes, which makes its 
postcast the longest one ever - in Italy at least. The point is that 
people wishing to listen to it must be forewarned: Macchiaradio speakers 
are not answerable for possible saturation by their BS ("cazzate") of 
low-storage iPods" (my trsl.)


In fact, the thing weighs 340.8 Mb, but it can also be listened to in 
streaming from the URL above, and it is anything but BS.


Some contextual info: Macchianera.net is a left-wing multi-author blog, 
started by Gianluca Neri. It has 3 webradio channels of its own: 
RadioNation (= Machiaradio) 1, 2, 3 - and links to other webradio channels.


I listened to parts of the special broadcast on the elections live. It 
was a fascinating experience for several reasons. It covered the changes 
in the forecasts from an easy winning to a defeat to a bare winning  by 
the left - and the corresponding changes of mood of the people doing the 
broadcast. People doing the broadcast were not just the people in the 
studio: listeners could phone in, use skype or a text chat. In the 
studio, they had a television and they zapped from channel to channel, 
commenting the excerpts (2). But on April 10, gales were blowing in 
Milan, so they periodically had to go out to re-orient the parabolic 
antenna.


When it seemed that Berlusconi was going to win, they asked for someone 
who had voted him to explain why. "Robinik", the editor of 2 neocon 
aggregators (B4CDL.com and tocque-ville.it) called. It was a great 
moment. Often, Italian neocons are even more strident and offensive than 
their US models. Robinik isn't. And maybe he is not a neocon either, 
rather a libertarian. He was courteous, and so were the people at 
Macchiaradio.


***

Some time ago, there was a discussion on UGA's ITforum mailing-list 
about the optimum size for a podcast. 340.8 Mb certainly isn't. But 
this one is the exception that confirms the rule: I'm certainly not 
deleting it.


(1) Though I have been co-handwriting the 
 podcast for months, I have 
only recently been able to subscribe to podcasts, i.e. when I started 
using a Bundy Mac with iTunes. So I am not yet very proficient at it and 
I bungled the subscription settings for the Macchiaradio one.


(2) Considering the short length of the excerpts, the fact they were 
arguably "background noise" - and the nature of the comments, this is 
fair use, isn't it?


Best wishes, and happy Easter

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Svizzera
www.adisi.ch
www.digitaldivide.net/blog/Claude
www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Claude

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Re: [DDN] song composed as shoutback to new york times article

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Phil Shapiro wrote:

hi DDN community -

 over the weekend i composed this song (and created this multimedia) as a
shoutback to last month's new york times article on the digital divide.

  
http://digg.com/technology/New_York_Times_Reporter_Tipsy_on_Digital_Divide_Progress


  http://tinyurl.com/gahz5

i uploaded this multimedia to the internet archive, which provides free,
permanent web hosting.
 
- phil





Great song, Phil - but I messed around a bit before I managed to listen 
to it, from  
then 
 
(and methinks this is not the right way to go about it), as you'll see 
from my comments in your digg post. Maybe a line of instruction for 
blonde (or gray in my case) dummies?


But seriously: UNESCO Switzerland has set various NGO's a survey about 
future post-WSIS action re access to information. I'll quote you.


best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch






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[DDN] BSA forbidden to use its acronym alone, and the bsa.ch domain in Switzerland

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Sources:

- "Piratenbekämpfer als Freibeuter" (Pirate fighters as filibusters). 
inside-it.ch, April 21, 2006 



- Judgment by the first civil section of the Swiss Federal Court on BSA 
Business Software Alliance Inc v BSA Bund Schweizer Architekten, Jan. 
12, 2006 (in German) 



BSA Bund Schweizer Architekten, the federation of Swiss architects, was 
created in 1908. In 1998, BSA Business Software opened a branch in 
Switzerland and grabbed the bsa.ch domain name. The architects' BSA 
objected, in particular when the pirate-hunting BSA launched a 
"Schonfrist Kampagne" ("period of grace campaign" for retroactive 
software legalization) aimed at all Swiss architects' studios in 2003.


On Juli 11, 2003, Architects' BSA sued  pirate-fighting BSA.

On Jan 24, 2005, the Zurich district court ordered the pirate-fighting 
BSA to stop using its acronym without its full name. Pirate-fighting BSA 
appealed to the Zurich cantonal court.


On Sept. 2, 2005, the cantonal court confirmed the judgment of the 
district court. Pirate-fighting BSA appealed to the Swiss federal court.


On Jan. 12, 2006, the federal court confirmed the judgment of the Zurich 
cantonal court, specifying moreover that pirate-fighting BSA must stop 
using the bsa.ch domain name.


Pirate-fighting BSA did try to argue that BSA is a common acronym ("Boy 
Scouts of America", for instance), and that software and architecture 
being different trades, no confusion could arise that would harm the 
commercial interests of the architects' BSA. But the architects' BSA 
retorted that if people landed by mistake on the pirate-hunters' site 
when they wanted the architects' federation site, this would indeed harm 
the architects' federation good name, due to the aggressive 
pirate-fighters' "Period of grace campaign". And the court found the 
architects' argument valid.


Does anyone know a top-brass at the Boy Scouts of America?

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch
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Re: [DDN] Appeal for supporting/contributing to establishing NEW MEDIA TV FOR HUMANITY

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Fouad Riaz Bajwa wrote:

Appeal to support the establishment of a Non-Profit Internet TV Broadcast
Network enabling and promoting Social Justice and Sustainable Development
deployed on Free and Open Source Software Technologies and Platforms through
the Internet
Appeal by Fouad Riaz Bajwa, FOSS Advocate & ICT4D Activist. (...)


Hi, Fouad and All

This is a great idea, but as to:



The bandwidth cost will not be a big issue as the network will be based on
BitTorrent File Sharing Technology. The network will be made sustainable
through online advertising, training programmes, international best
production awards and in kind donations to support production of movies for
non-profits who cannot afford capturing videos of their projects.  


(...)


Hardware Infrastructure:
The web servers and online infrastructure will be based on the BitTorrent
technology as it is a fast, powerful, and spy ware-free way to download
large files online. Instead of downloading files from a central server,
viewers download from other people who are also downloading the file. The
more popular the file, the faster it is for everyone. Torrent plug-ins for
the browser and download programs are available free all over the internet.
I want the TV to capitalize on this technology.


On BitTorrent: I haven't used it yet. But big content producers (RIAA, 
MPAA, IFPI, BSA etc) are unfortunately strongly lobbying to have P2P 
file-sharing declared illegal per se in many countries. In Switzerland, 
the FAQ of the federal institute for intellectual property about the 
present revision of author's rights law 
 already does so:


"Will peer-to-peer networks be prohibited?
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are already illegal under today’s law. 
Without the permission of the rights holder, protected works may not be 
offered over the internet, even when there is no money or commercial 
gain involved. Nothing will change in this respect.
According to the draft law, downloading works for personal use will 
continue to be legal. The consumer will not be required to distinguish 
between legal and illegal internet offerings. Even content offered very 
cheaply or for free may be licensed, and thus legal"


I asked them (04/20/06) for a reference to a law declaring P2P 
filesharing illegal per se, as ADISI www.adisi.ch did use it to share 
files of interviews we co-edit for our Tam Tam broadcast, because they 
are too big to e-mail.


Dr. Emanuel Meyer, LL.M., Attorney at Law, Legal Advisor [for the] Swiss 
Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, answered me (04/24/06) that


"...Les bourses d’échange de fichiers vivent des téléchargements 
illégaux (je vous renvois aux considérants de la décision du cas 
Grokster). A nos yeux, cela justifie donc leur qualification d’illégaux, 
et ce même si, dans des cas exceptionnels - comme le vôtre - des 
téléchargements peuvent s’avérer licites."


i.e. "P2P networks live from illegal downloads (see the considerations 
of the Grokster judgment[? not sure of the English phrase - CA]). In our 
eyes, this justifies defining them as illegal, even if, in exceptional 
cases - like yours - downloads can prove licit"


He didn't quote any article of the present law or of the bill presently 
worked on in Parliament. But if this is the position of the Swiss 
Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (1), there is reason to fear 
that such an article might be introduced in the new version of the Swiss 
Copyright law.


Pressure in that sense (i.e. to change the presumption of innocence into 
"guilty until proved innocent") has been and is being exercised in 
several countries, at times successfully, unfortunately. And Cory 
Doctorow, in his 02/16/06 talk at Olin College (2), speaking of 
"Notice-and-termination" that content producers want to introduce to 
fight P2P filesharing, said:


"...when I asked the MPAA's representative at the WIPO hearings that I 
was at on this: "How do you expect this will play out in the real 
world?" He said. "Well, I think that ISPs will figure out how to contain 
their liability by doing aggressive filtering of their customers' use of 
the internet...""


and mentioned port blocking and other filtering measures.

So wouldn't syndication through RSS feeds (videocasts, podcasts) be a 
safer option than P2P filesharing? But this begs another question: can 
you have a videocast or podcast with enclosures in a free format? Say, 
.ogg instead of .mp3 for audio?


Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
ADISI Associazione di Diritto Informatico della Svizzera Italiana
www.adisi.ch
Tam Tam broadcast: www.adisi.ch/tamtam

Bcc to Emmanuel Meyer and Cory Doctorow, for their information as I 
quote them.



(1) The statute and tasks/duties of the Swiss Federal Institute of 
Intellectual property are defined in the federal law "172.010.31 
Bundesgesetz über Statut und Aufgaben des Eidgenössischen Instituts für 
Geistiges Eigentum" 

Re: [DDN] Microsoft: Open source 'not reliable or dependable'

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Executive Director wrote:

" That said, I do wish Microsoft luck in releasing anything soon, and I
certainly hope that whatever they release doesn't permit the continued
plague of flaws and vulnerabilities that the general population of the world
has become familiar with. "

This opinion of course ignores the fact that that there are more
vulnerabilities in Linux/Unix than in Windows.

"The US Government has reported that fewer vulnerabilities were found in
Windows than in Linux/Unix operating systems in 2005."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39245873,00.htm


Thanks for the very interesting article, Mike. Quoting from it:

> "In the Windows vs Unix debate, the number of vulnerabilities is less 
relevant than the amount that are turned into successful attacks. We see 
far more successful attacks against Windows, because it's the most 
common environment," Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee, told ZDNet UK.


"As Linux becomes more common, we'll see more attacks against it," Day 
added.


McAfee recommended firms look more at the probability of attack, rather 
than whether an attack is possible. <


The info about the speed with which vulnerabilities are respectively 
patched for Windows and for Linux/Unix is also revealing




Opinions need to be supported to have any value. When you set personal bias
aside, facts are a simple google away.

(...)



Mmm, I'd change that into "... facts are a simple google *and a careful 
reading of what you googled* away.


Besides - but there I'll let the tech-competent people confirm or infirm 
 what follows - one problem with Windows, if I understood correctly, is 
that software applications shoot roots in the system deeper than they do 
with Unix/Linux. Hence the big number of security alerts about Explorer, 
Outlook Express, but even about Word, like this one for instance:


> Microsoft Security Advisory (919637)
Vulnerability in Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published: May 22, 2006


(...) What causes the vulnerability?
When a user opens a specially crafted Word file using a malformed object 
pointer, it may corrupt system memory in such a way that an attacker 
could execute arbitrary code. (...)<


The patch will only be released on June 13. Maybe if Microsoft was a 
mite more thorough in checking software before releasing it as "stable" 
version, and a mite faster in providing patches, they wouldn't have to be


> concerned that this new report of a vulnerability in Word was not 
disclosed responsibly, potentially putting computer users at risk. We 
continue to encourage responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities. We 
believe the commonly accepted practice of reporting vulnerabilities 
directly to a vendor serves everyone's best interests. This practice 
helps to ensure that customers receive comprehensive, high-quality 
updates for security vulnerabilities without exposure to malicious 
attackers while the update is being developed.<


So, warning users when the vulnerability has already been not only 
discovered, but exploited, is what puts users at risk, according to 
Microsoft..



Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch






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[DDN] GEMA (Germany) has announced a tax on music in podcasts as from this summer

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi All

GEMA www.gema.de - the German collecting society for author's rights on 
music -  has announced the levying of a lump tax on music in podcasts as 
from this summer. For those of you who read German, see:


- GEMA Podcasting-Tarif angekündigt - 



- Podcastday 2006 » GEMA gibt Gebührenmodelle für Podcaster bekannt 



While the tarifs (1) may seem reasonable, this levying of a lump tax on 
podcasts means that German podcasters should in theory register with 
GEMA, as if they were traditional radio broadcasters, with a recording 
studio at a physical address.


Podcasts don't work this way. The audio files in them can be hosted on 
servers in various countries, the "podcast envelope" containing these 
audio files  is an XML file that can in turn be hosted on yet other 
servers in yet different countries.


So on the one hand, this means that this tax levying might prove 
difficult to implement - but on the other hand, the attempt to regulate 
podcasting per se is there.  And if GEMA does this in Germany, other 
collecting societies in other countries might well follow suit.


Besides, the GEMA tax project doesn't seem to consider the case of music 
outside its jurisdiction: in podcasts made by composers themselves, or 
using music under a Creative Commons license, for instance.


And in the comments to the Netzpolitik.org post linked above, there is 
one by someone calling himself "GVU Mitarbeiter", "a collaborator of 
GVU", calling for the compulsory introduction of DRM protections in 
podcasts. Now GVU = "Gesellschaft zur Verfolgung von 
Urheberrechtsverletzungen e.V." i.e. Society for the Prosecution of 
Copyright Violations (dunno what the e.V. part means). Other people have 
called this "GVU Mitarbeiter" a troll in their comments, sure. 
Nevertheless, this is even more worrying.



Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch

(1) From 5 to 30 Euros per month, according to how much of a musical 
work is use in the podcast - see the podcastday2006 link above.

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[DDN] "P2P pirate hunting" not so efficient in Sweden and Israel: international relevance

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi All

In Sweden, on May 31st 206, the police seized the servers of The Pirate 
Bay on the basis of an anti-piracy request.
From the home page http://www.thepiratebay.org/ as I copied it in 
 on June 1st:


"SITE DOWN
In the morning of 2006-05-31 the Swedish National Criminal Police showed 
a search warrant to Rix|Port80 personnell. The warrant was valid for all 
datacentres of Rix|Port80 and was directed at The Pirate Bay. The 
allegation was breach of copy-right law, alternatively assisting breach 
of copy-right law.
The police officers were allowed access to the racks where the TPB 
servers and other servers are hosted. All servers in the racks were 
clearly marked as to which sites run on each. The police took down all 
servers in the racks, including the non-commercial site Piratbyrån, the 
mission of which is to defend the rights of TPB via public debate.
According to police officers simultaneously questioning the president of 
Rix|Port80, the purpose of the search warrant is to take down TPB in 
order to secure evidence of the allegations mentioned above.
The necessity for securing technical evidence for the existance of a 
web-service which is fully official, the legality of which has been 
under public debate for years and whose principals are public persons 
giving regular press interviews, could not be explained. Asked for other 
reasoning behind the choice to take down a site, without knowing wether 
it is illegal or not, the officers explained that this is normal.
The TPB can receive compensation from the Swedish state in case that the 
upcoming legal processes show that TPB is indeed legal.
CLICK HERE  OR HERE 
 FOR LATEST NEWS "


On the day of the seizing (May 31st), MPAA hastened to issue a 
triumphant press release:
SWEDISH AUTHORITIES SINK PIRATE BAY (all-caps theirs), 



Yesterday (June 3), a) there was a big demo in Stockholm (see 
 and 
for pics); 
b) the Pirate Bay was back online. With a new "file title" (the thing 
that appears on top of the web page in your browser) saying "The Police 
Bay", and a new logo, with added cannon balls shot at the pirate ship 
from Hollywood. See 


MPAA still link to their triumphant  SWEDISH AUTHORITIES SINK PIRATE BAY 
press release on their home page , though: maybe 
someone should  tell them about The Pirate Bay being back online. 
Fluctuat nec mergitur, as the Parisians said back when the town was 
called  Lutecia.


Actually, The Pirate Bay's name is ironic  - a bit like "Il partito dei 
c*glioni" born from Berlusconi calling "c*glioni" (literally, 
"testicules"; figuratively, "d*ckheads") those who would vote for the 
left, just the last elections.


The Pirate Bay is just a search engine for files offered by P2P. MPAA 
call such search engines "piracy facilitators" in their PYRAMID OF 
INTERNET PIRACY (all-caps theirs) 
 (1), even 
though a search engine is obviously unable to tell whether a file 
offered via P2P is legal or not.


***

In Israel, the music industry went one step farther: in September 2005, 
in the wake of the Grokster case, NMC Music et al (2), represented by 
Sarah and Eran Presenti, sued 7 *providers* hosting such P2P search 
engines. 6 went for out-of-court settlements, paying hefty compensation, 
and accepting constant. The 7th, Avi Hirsh, represented by Boaz Guttman 
(3)  refused the settlement. On May 31st, NMC Music et al dropped all 
charges against Hirsh. Info at 4Law, in  
(scroll down to "Big Music ramps up on Israel").


At times, Hirsh was tempted to give in too, out of weariness. But 
Guttman told him that if he did settle, he would be acknowledging guilt 
and thus risk other claims.


Hirsh's standing his ground, and the ensuing dropping of charges against 
him, is also important internationally, because what was at stake in 
this lawsuit was the non liability of hosting providers. Music and film 
industries are attempting to ride the Grokster case to criminalize P2P 
per se at all levels, internationally.


As Guttman puts in in the above-mentioned 4Law page: "While the Israeli 
court is not committed to decisions made in the United States, a verdict 
such as the one which was concluded in the Grokster case, especially 
when it involves the US Supreme Court, can be an affecting element in 
the interpretation of the Israeli courts, as in it's analysis."


And this holds true in other countries. On April 20,  I objected to the 
sentence "Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are already illegal under today’s 
law" in the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property's (IPI's) 
Copyright FAQs 

Re: [DDN] DDN milestone: 10,000 user accounts!

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Andy Carvin wrote:

Hi everyone,

Earlier today, DDN had its 10,000th user account created. The person in 
question, Katharina Reinecke of Switzerland, probably has no idea she 
helped us reach this milestone, because it appears she's just joined the 
website but not the email list.


http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Katharina


That's great, Andy! I send her a message via her profile giving the URL 
of your e-mail, of the RSS feed and of the archive/joining page of the 
mailing-list.


Hey, I'm not particularly patriotic, but I'm really glad that we are now 
23 members from Switzerland: maybe we could organize a mini local DDN 
pow-wow some time (1)


Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch

(1) Meanwhile, for those within reaching range of Zurich:

***
Freitag, 7. Juli 2006, 13.15 bis 17.00 Uhr: Oeffentliches Symposium zum
Thema "Freie Kulturen - freies Internet. Internet Governance und die
Schweiz".

Eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung von SWITCH und ETH Zuerich.
Programm und kostenlose Anmeldung unter http://www.igf-06.ch/index2.html

ETH Zuerich, Raemistrasse 101, 8092 Zuerich, Auditorium Maximum (HG F 30).
***



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Re: [DDN] Carolyn Riddle Wikipedia on low-costs PCs must be live!

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi All,

Here's a granny's attempt to bring some historical context the Wikipedia 
vs academe question raised by Carolyn Riddle , and to which Bob Turner 
and David Rosen already answered.

When I read for my first degree in literature at the University of 
Geneva in the early 70's, the Death of the Author - title of a 1968 book 
by Roland Barthes (1) was all the rage. At best you were allowed to 
mention "narrators", but authors were a no-no. And biographical info 
about the author even more so. I remember a seminar about Baudelaire's 
"Poèmes en prose". A jolly, pear-shaped, mature Syrian student dared 
mention a possible allusion to Jeanne Duval (2), Baudelaire's  (3) 
mistress. We almost all reacted as if the jolly student had farted. 
Except another mature student, Cathy Chiotellis, the most intelligent of 
us lot, who made brilliant fun of the various taboos and distortions of 
the "text-only" approach in 5 minutes.

Well, you went through that in English earlier, with the New Criticism 
school (4), I guess.

The paradox is that the first academic "authoricides" had a very solid 
grounding in traditional criticism. Umberto Eco studied philology, for 
instance. They could afford to brilliantly play at primal scene and 
killing Daddy as it were.

The problem arose with the disciples who aped them mechanically. When I 
was a French lectrice (i.e. in charge of language exercises) at Arezzo 
in Italy in the mid 80's, one day the students arrived in class, 
dismayed, after a lecture: "Is it true that you can't translate "mise en 
abyme"(5)?" - another shibboleth of the text-only folks - they asked. 
"Yep, because it's a magic formula dug up by modern sorcerers to 
frighten freshmen silly, and magic formulas lose power in translation - 
but it's the same thing as a story within a story, and it's been around 
at least since Homer", I answered.

Any rate, it became increasingly clear that the "text-only", no-author, 
no-context approach produced cultural illiteracy. Especially in its 
deconstructionist (6), anything-goes avatar.

And so there was a swing back in the 90's. Literature studies went back 
with a vengeance to the former discipline of analysis, 
contextualisation, proper quotation, etc., which had been preserved in 
other branches of academe.

The devastation wreaked by the prime donne of the text-only approach 
left their mark, though. Academics were scalded and remained very wary 
of anything vaguely looking like an attack against this discipline. And 
in particular of Wikipedia, written by a weird collective hydra.

They'll have to come to terms with it though. They'll have to learn how 
to train students in evaluating it - as well as any other source. In the 
traditional academic culture, reliable sources were the ones mentioned 
in the prof's reading list, at least for undergrads. Not so anymore.

Bob Turner is certainly right in saying:
 > in fact, what is?  Academic
 > argument is a form of protectionism, isn't it?

But maybe the daunting task of teaching students how to evaluate a 
source also plays a part in academics' reluctance to consider new 
sources instead of just the ones they fully master themselves.

Finally a note on the notes: were I writing a web page I would use 
hyperlinks on the words. In a text e-mail, URLs next to the words hamper 
the flow of reading. Of course, the exclusive choice of Wikipedia 
references is - partly - tongue-in-cheek. But hey, it's great to be able 
to mention things readers may not be familiar with, and give them the 
possibility to find out about them in one click.


(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_the_author
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Duval
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Criticism
(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_abyme
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructionist; the Talk page 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Deconstruction about why the article 
should be rewritten is very telling too: "The article in its current 
form is a patchwork of occasionally contradictory points which does not 
attempt general coherence and therefore poorly represents the subject 
matter and utterly fails to provide a general overview for the benefit 
of the vast majority of readers." IMHO the problem is not with the 
article, but with deconstruction per se.

Best,

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
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[DDN] Dropping Knowledge Roundtable tomorrow (Sept 9, 2006)

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi All,

I have removed the PDF attachment in forwarding Mia Garlick's communique 
below. If you wish to have it, please write to me off-list, but 
actually, the same content can be found at 


Best

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch

 Original Message 
Subject: [Cc-icommons] PRESS RELEASE: DROPPING KNOWLEDGE USES CREATIVE 
COMMONS IN ITS KNOWLEDGE-SHARING INITIATIVE
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 02:32:19 -0700
From: Mia Garlick <...>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ibiblio. Org <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Pdf attached; text below; link: 
http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/entry/6049


DROPPING KNOWLEDGE USES CREATIVE COMMONS IN ITS KNOWLEDGE-SHARING INITIATIVE

San Francisco, USA, Berlin, Germany, September 8, 2006

Creative Commons is pleased to announce that dropping knowledge, the 
not-for-profit initiative that offers a global knowledge portal and 
dialogue forum on its website www.droppingknowledge.org will use 
Creative Commons’ licenses for its innovative online resource.

On September 9, 2006, 112 creative thinkers, ranging from artists, 
writers and scientists to philosophers, politicians and activists, will 
gather in Berlin, Germany, around the world’s biggest round-table — “The 
Table of Free Voices” — to simultaneously answer 100 of the most 
pressing questions that have been raised by people from around the 
world. Their digitally recorded answers will provide the foundation of a 
new web platform designed to promote dialogue and social change.

In order to make the resulting audiovisual footage in its online 
resource free to share for everyone, dropping knowledge decided to 
publish the 11,200 answers under Creative Commons licenses. Users of the 
dropping knowledge web platform will be able to freely access, share and 
remix the recorded answers from participants as diverse as filmmaker Wim 
Wenders, Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu and the Greek 
evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris as well as many more inspiring 
thinkers.

Creative Commons’ licenses offer a way to legally share and remix 
content and, consequently, are a logical solution for and enabler of 
dropping knowledge's philosophy that sharing knowledge is key to a 
global dialogue.

dropping knowledge’s freely accessible web-platform invites the global 
public to ask and answer questions, exchange viewpoints and ideas and 
join in conversation of global social topics. It aims to become a 
knowledge-resource for individuals, schools, universities, NGOs and the 
media, as well as socially minded businesses, foundations and 
organizations the world over.

About dropping knowledge

A non-profit initative with offices in Berlin and San Francisco, 
dropping knowledge operates as an international non-governmental 
organization with 100% stakeholder perspective. A public resource, it 
cannot be owned and is freely accessible to all for all time. dropping 
knowledge's Founding Partner is the Allianz Group. Its Founding 
Supporters are the Mark & Sharon Bloome Fund and the Wallace Global Fund.

For general information, visit http://www.droppingknowledge.org

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that 
promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether 
owned or in the public domain. Creative Commons licences provide a 
flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and 
educators that build upon the "all rights reserved" concept of 
traditional copyright to offer a voluntary "some rights reserved" 
approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various 
organizations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur 
Foundation, Omidyar Network, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller 
Foundation as well as members of the public.

For general information, visit http://creativecommons.org

Contact

Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck
Executive Director, Creative Commons International, Creative Commons
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Press Kit

http://creativecommons.org/presskit





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[DDN] [Fwd: [Cc-icommons] Free Culture presents: Down with DRM Video Contest]

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Hi DDNers

Several of you are gifted video makers: so I thought this might interest 
you. My apologies for possible cross-postings.

Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch

 Original Message 
Subject: [Cc-icommons] Free Culture presents: Down with DRM Video Contest
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:24:37 -0400
From: Elizabeth Stark <...>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],   "tomislav 
medak" <...>, "Paul Keller" <...>
CC: Fred Benenson <...>
References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Hi all,

Freeculture.org is announcing the Down with DRM video contest today in
conjunction with Defective by Design's Oct 3 Day against DRM. Please forward
far and wide, ask your friends and colleagues to participate, and even
create your own submission! (And we hear the Neuros OSDs are very cool...)

Thanks,

Elizabeth + Fred

(oh, and please Digg
this
!)



Enter the Down with DRM
 video contest for a
chance to win a Neuros
OSD- a portable
digital VCR!

Joining in Oct 3rd - Day Against
DRM,
Free Culture will select the 5 best anti-DRM video entries and award a
Neuros OSD to each creator. DefectiveByDesign.org
 is also looking to air selected anti-DRM
videos on their website during the week of October 3rd, and we want to give
them a hand.

Here are the official rules to enter Free Culture's Down with DRM video
contest:

- Deadline for submissions: *Sunday, October 1 at 11:59pm EDT*
- Criteria for video:
- Anti-DRM themed
   - Short
   - Video, animation, or remix
   - Make it catchy — we want these videos to be viral
- Please submit your video to the online video sharing network(s) that
you prefer. Here are some examples:
- http://www.archive.org 
   - http://www.youtube.com
   - http://www.revver.com
   - http://www.blip.tv
- Please tag your video with "downwithdrm" and "dbdoct3" so that
people can search for it.
- Preference will be given to submissions under free content licenses
such as Creative Commons
BY-SA,
BY ,
PD , or
the Free Art  license.
- E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a link to your video by
October 1 at 11:59pm EDT.
- Free Culture will select the top 5 entries and award the winners
with a Neuros OSD (one per video).

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Re: [DDN] google's new literacy web site

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

Andy Carvin wrote:
> Hmm... Surprised at how limited it is, both in terms
> of usefulness and in its definition of literacy
> -andy
> 
> --- Phil Shapiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
>>(...) http://www.google.com/literacy/
>>

I think this spartan simplicity is brilliant, Andy: this is just the 
Google part of a project in which the other participants are the 
Literacy Campaign of the Frankfurt Book Fair 
 and the UNESCO Institute for 
Lifelong Learning , 
which will probably produce more elaborate materials.

But as a demonstration of how search tools work, the Google page is 
great. Think of a Luddite teacher, put off by the fact that the internet 
is made of 99%  of rubbish. Showing such teachers that you can safely 
and easily get to the immense quantity of great resources comprised in 
the remaining 1% without having to wade through the rubbish is vital. 
Each of the 6 subpages of results prompt users to use the tool themselves.

I was such a Luddite teacher not that long ago. I walked out of a 
conference where erudite and prolix zealots enthused about the 
magnificent future of the connected world, muttering "The expanse of 
bullsh*t in a waste of sham", when the organizer threatened to repeat 
the videoconference with Edgar Morin from Paris, after the Swisscom 
folks had fixed the bad connexion during the coffee break.

It took me 2 years after that frustrating experience before I tried the 
internet . My initiation: I clicked on Netscape in the school lab, 
stared at it blankly for a while, turned to a student and asked "And now 
how can I find pages on a given subject?" He typed altavista.it in the 
URL window,hit return and showed me there were other search engines in 
the bookmarks.

That's what the Google part of the Literacy project does, and that's 
what is needed if you want to get tech-reluctant educators to use tech 
tools for furthering literacy.

Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch

PS I blogged in Italian about the google literacy site: 
http://adisi.livejournal.com/62384.html - thanks, Phil.
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Re: [DDN] google's new literacy web site

[Claude Almansi (BW)]

judith green wrote:
> I second Andy Carvin's Hmmm and comments.
> 
> This site does not represent state of the art work on literacy.  It 
> would be good to link that site with Google Scholar to support the 
> intellectual basis for current research on literacy and to 
> professional sites of the National Council of Teachers of English and 
> the International Reading Association, whose materials for classrooms 
> are peer reviewed and intellectually sound.  

http://www.google.com/literacy/ *is* linked to Google Scholar: second
link from the top of the left menu is Scholar
. And
 gives  both search results
for the words and phrases "reading skills"  "learning to read"
"phonological awareness" "adult literacy" "dyslexia" "literacy and
technology" in google scholar - and a google scholar search windows.

> There are parallel 
> organizations in other countries that provide conceptually and 
> pragmatically sound programs for teachers and students (NATE in UK 
> and in Australia to name one).
> http://www.ncte.org/  They have an enewsletter 
> http://www.ncte.org/about/over/inbox
> http://www.reading.org/  They have an on-line journal that focuses on 
> technology -- Reading Online  http://www.readingonline.org/

Of course the links you give are very important, Judith. But - sorry if
I repeat myself - http://www.google.com/literacy is *only the Google 
part* of this literacy project, the part about using search tools to 
find materials about literacy. UNESCO Lifelong Learning is another 
partner in this project, and it is likely to offer human- and even 
scholar-gathered/created resources about literacy (I don't know about 
the third partner, the Frankfurt Book Fair's Literacy campaign, except 
for what is on their  site).

Besides, according to 
, 
i.e. the competition:

"...Google has asked literacy groups around the world to upload video 
segments explaining and demonstrating their successful teaching 
programs. Among the first few hundred to be posted is a same-language 
subtitle project from India that uses Bollywood films to teach reading.
A nonprofit group in New York called 826NYC is helping a group of 
six-to-nine-year-olds make a video tutorial for Google, while a set of 
older kids is filming a claymation short.
"When our students see the Web as something they can contribute to -- 
rather than just browse through -- they're inspired to think bigger, 
write more and film more," said Joan Kim, the group's director of education.
The service also uses Google's mapping technology to help literacy 
organizations find each other, and provides links to reading resources. ..."

So the Literacy Project portal is also an incentive for the production 
of more resources on literacy ;-)

Best

Claude

Claude Almansi
Castione, Switzerland
www.adisi.ch





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