In a potentially divisive move, several prominent civil rights organizations have agreed to work with Verizon to provide public interest video programming for their new FIOS (fiber optic) video-on-demand service. According to a press release from Verizon, the initial groups who have signed up with the "Community Studio" include the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,…
Beyond Broadcast conference in Harvard next week
Fresh from my Yale "Access to Knowledge" conference a couple of weeks ago, I will be in Harvard next week for the "Beyond Broadcast" conference sponsored by my new favorite institution, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The goal of the conference is: to create an opportunity for interaction between active participants in traditional…
“Mixed Reality” events give me a headache
I just popped into a "mixed reality event" called "Virtual Worlds—The Rules of Engagement" taking place both on Innovation Island in Second Life as well as at the Computer History Museum in San Jose, CA. It was a pretty weird experience. I (as in my avatar pictured right) was sitting in a large auditorium with…
Blogging Beyond Borders: Global Voices Online
For those who are tired of the Ameri-centric nature of lots of the blogosphere (blah, blah, blah, George Bush is an idiot, blah blah blah, Tom Cruise is a freak, blah blah, "wii" is a stupid name…), Global Voices Online should be at the top of your list of aggregators. A project of the Berkman…
Do I need a Second Life?
I have been playing around with the online community gaming platform Second Life, which I know is hardly cutting edge at this point with more than 150,000 members. I’m more interested in the community aspects of Second Life much more than the gaming part. No really. Your first account on Second Life is free, incredibly…
Trashtalk: virtual talk show skewers the world of computer gaming
My buddy Frank (aka Ill Bixby) and some of his creative cronies at Ill Clan productions have put together a hilarious virtual talk show using a 3D-rendering game engine call TrashTalk with ILL Will. The show features Ill Will and his sidekick / missile Mal, a comedy duo that poke fun at the world of…
Response from UN on Scam Emails
I finally heard back from the UN today regarding the scam emails from people posing as representatives of various UN agencies. Here’s what "eStaffing Support" at the United Nations sent me: The email that you have received is a fraudulent email. It does not have anything to do with UN employment. Please ignore this type of email…
Spring has sprung in Brooklyn
Here is a selection of my pictures from my splendid day running around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden shooting the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival). First a little rant. I found myself trying to contain my annoyance with kids and adults who purposely shook the branches to get the delicate petals to rain down on them….
Dancing fountain at Brooklyn Museum (video)
I just had a lovely day at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens for the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom) Festival there. Pictures will be posted as soon as I get a chance to winnow them down to a reasonable amount. For now, here’s a video I took of the dancing fountain in front of the Brooklyn Museum….
On Anonymity and Community on Web Forums
Among my other pursuits, I am a moderator and administrator of a large community-based website devoted to swing dancing and swing music called Yehoodi.com. By far our most popular feature is our discussion boards, which brings together more than 9,000 registered users from around the world. Early on in the development of the site around…