Thursday, July 10, 2003

Is Race Real?. Genetics will increasingly show that most humans are mongrels, and it will make a mockery of racism. By Nicholas D. Kristof. [New York Times: Opinion] 10:26:01 PM    comment []

Google seach on ''semiotic democracy'' 4:04:16 PM    comment []

Last summer, Tooth fairy (on X-Ray Net), noted Xbox hacking. (That day's blog also mentioned Schneier's "The Futility of Digital Copy Prevention" and the Corn Cam. Today, the New York Times has a piece bySeth Schiesel, Some Xbox Fans Microsoft Didn't Aim For, that gives a good overview of where Xbox hacking is today: *nix in your living room for about two hundred bucks. (With a sidebar, Behind a Hacker's Book, a Copyright Law Primer.) 2:03:54 PM    comment []

Reporters Without Borders (reporters sans frontières) report The Internet under Surveillance - Obstacles to the free flow of information online. This report is about attitudes to the Internet by the powerful in 60 countries, between spring 2001 and spring 2003. The preface is by Vinton G. Cerf, who is often called the "father" of the Internet. The report in PDF Home page for the report: http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7280 (seven two eight zero) 1:03:45 PM    comment []

Jimmy and Jewel: A Love(?) Story Produced by Jason Rayles. Jason Rayles . . . did one of our unpredictable artist residencies at the Atlantic Public Media cottage. He made a piece and then, after talking to everyone around here, he made another. We're featuring both of them here on Transom and hope they give you something interesting to think about. Long Version -16:00 MP3: Streaming (96 kbps) | Download (11 mb) REAL AUDIO: Streaming (28-64 kbps) Short Version - 10:52 MP3: Streaming (96 kbps) | Download (7.2 mb) REAL AUDIO: Streaming (28-64 kbps) Which is better? How? 11:03:28 AM    comment []

Is Iran next?. Tehran is a year or two away from acquiring nuclear weapons. Is the Bush administration willing to go to war -- again -- to stop it? [Salon Headlines] 7:25:12 AM    comment []

Scott on semiotic democracy, a concentration of the power of meaning making as a corollary to the concentration of media ownership and the prevalence of broadcast media technology. So if political democracy describes a system in which everyone gets to participate in the exercise of political power, semiotic democracy describes a system in which everyone gets to participate in the creation of cultural meaning. Which sounds like a pretty great ideal to me. However far we may be from ever achieving it, it's a useful yardstick, something new to weigh in the equation of social value. And it is exactly what has attracted me over the years to the phenomenon of digital storytelling. Which leads me to... (I'm such a tease.) Great meme. I'm gonna use it. (And, to be fair, Scott credits Terry Fisher.) 4:02:20 AM    comment []