The iCommons summit brings together several hundred of the major pioneers, big thinkers, activists and developers working for an "open internet." This year’s gathering takes place from June 15-17 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The convocation is full of internet rock-stars like Larry Lessig and Joi Ito of Creative Commons , Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales and CTO…
Category: Information Society
Viral campaign launches Ambassador of Lindy Hop to #7 on Amazon
I am so proud of our swing dance community right now I could burst. What began as a random suggestion by my friend Shorty Dave — “Hey wouldn’t it be great if all the lindy hoppers in America bought Frankie’s book on the same day?” — blossomed into an international campaign that shot Frankie Manning: Ambassador…
New business / non-profit alliance calls for cheaper broadband, net neutrality
The Open Internet Coalition is a new alliance of 54 private companies and non-profits united behind the cause of cheaper broadband internet and the principle of network neutrality in the United States. Yesterday, the coalition issued an open letter to the US Congress and the President to take serious measures to preserve net neutrality and…
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if a million mash-up artists cried out in glee…
The Washington Post sends out news that will thrill sci-fi nuts everywhere. Lucasfilm tomorrow is releasing 250 video clips on their website StarWars.com to encourage fans to mash-up and play with. This very surprising news given how litigious George Lucas has been about fans "borrowing" images and video footage and using it for their own…
SaveNetRadio coalition rejects Sound Exchange “compromise” on webcasting
Save Net Radio, a "national coalition comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists, listeners and labels", yesterday rejected the compromise offered by industry consortium Sound Exchange on the webcasting controversy, which I reported on yesterday. “The proposal made by SoundExchange today would throw ‘large webcasters’ under the bus and end any ‘small’ webcaster’s hopes…
Mitch Kapor speaks on young people of color in science and technology tomorrow
The Electric Sheep Company send out news that Lotus Notes creator and Linden Lab board chair Mitch Kapor will be talking about his work to encourage young people of color to study science and technology this Thursday, May 24 at 8pm PST. Mitch is on the board of the Level Playing Field Institute, a San…
Grassroots net radio saved from going dark by Sound Exchange today
Finally some good news on the net radio front. Just when it seemed like hundreds of net radio stations around the country were about to go dark after July 15, the music industry group Sound Exchange has agreed to stave off execution for a bit. RAIN reports that this morning that Sound Exchange, in response…
Save Internet Radio 10-hour Party this Saturday in SL
I got news of this cool "save Internet radio" party coming up this Saturday in SL! DJ Synn invites all music-loving avatars to come out to a ten-hour marathon protest party from 10AM-10PM PST on Saturday May 12. The all-day event is an effort to raise awareness of the threat to Internet radio (in the…
US military interested in creating “Game World” educational gaming framework
When the US military starts paying attention to educational gaming, you know it has passed a threshold from novelty to necessity. It looks like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the Defense Department is looking for a development platform to test a range of educational games. The call for proposals entitled "Game World"…
Game designers invited to “Game Jam” for One Laptop Per Child Project June 8-10 in Boston
Ben Sawyer sends out news about an "Game Jam" taking place from June 8-10 to bring together programmers to create games for the "One Laptop Per Child" project: One Laptop per Child, a non-profit organization with the goal of enhancing the education of children in developing countries, is going to hold the first OLPC Game…