Monday, January 10, 2005

From Sparta to Nicaragua, disasters alter political history. History suggests that South Asia's tsunami tragedy could engender regional political fallout. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories] 8:23:45 PM    comment []

Siva Vaidhyanathan RFC (Donna Wentworth). The lastest bit of lucid and insightful writing from Siva Vaidhyanathan is Open Source as Culture/Culture as Open Source [PDF], a chapter from the forthcoming "Open Source Annual 2005." Siva observes that open source model for creation is nothing new -- and that its coalescence as a modern "techno-political movement" has both positive and negative consequences. This is a draft-in-progress; Siva invites your comments. [Copyfight] 8:20:22 PM    comment []

Non-profit leadership reading list. This year, I made one big resolution, to become a better non-profit leader. I'm not wasting any time, and am already working on it. I just picked up some books I had special ordered through my local bookstore. Here's my current reading list: The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit, by Ellis M.M. Robinson Improving Leadership In Nonprofit Organizations, eds R.E. Riggio & S.S. Orr Selling Social Change (Without Selling Out): Earned Income Strategies for Nonprofits, by Andy Robinson The Collaboration Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed Through Strategic Alliances, by James E. Austin Boards That Love Fundraising: A How-to Guide For Your Board, by R.M. Zimmerman & A.W. Lehman [GalaxyGoo Blog] 8:20:13 PM    comment []

A natural, low-tech solution to tsunamis: mangroves. The coastal trees and shrubs saved hundreds of lives in India by protecting villages from the waves. [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories] 6:31:56 AM    comment []

Wanna Watch?. The latest nifty thing someone's found in Google is that you can find web surveillance cams, some of them in real-time, and supposedly some of them even allow you to control the camera angle, but I haven't found any of those yet. Try this search, this search, or this search. My favorite so far is this camera, which lets you watch the control room of WMUC 88.1fm, the University of Maryland radio station. Dorky, yes, kind of creepy, yes, but hey - it's fun to watch people do stuff. =) [Andrew Bayer is Dreaming of China] 6:31:45 AM    comment []

Hobbes against blogging. A rather interesting paper by Richard Tuck at the OPT conference on Hobbes and Rousseau contained a longish quote from De Cive (10.9) about the inconveniences of democracy. At the time it seemed to me to contain wise advice about the downsides of blogging, and on chasing it up, that view is reinforced: But perhaps for this very reason some will say, That a Popular State is much to be preferr’d before a Monarchicall; because that, where all men have a hand in publique businesses, there all have an opportunity to shew their wisedome, knowledge, and eloquence, in deliberating matters of the greatest difficulty and moment; which by reason of that desire of praise which is bred in humane nature, is to them who excell in such like faculties, and seeme to themselves to exceed others, the most delightfull of all things. But in a Monarchy, this same way to obtain praise, and honour, is shut up to the greatest part of Subjects; and what is a grievance, if this be none? Ile tell you: To see his opinion whom we scorne, preferr’d before ours; to have our wisedome undervalued before our own faces; by an uncertain tryall of a little vaine glory, to undergoe most certaine enmities (for this cannot be avoided, whether we have the better, or the worse); to hate, and to be hated, by reason of the disagreement of opinions; to lay open our secret Counsells, and advises to all, to no purpose, and without any benefit; to neglect the affaires of our own Family: These, I say, are grievances. But to be absent from a triall of wits, although those trialls are pleasant to the Eloquent, is not therefore a grievance to them, unlesse we will say, that it is a grievance to valiant men to be restrained from fighting, because they delight in it. [Crooked Timber] 6:31:36 AM    comment []

Blogging Behind China's 'Great Firewall'. Read this curious piece about blogging in China. While the Xinhua article deals specifically with Chinese bloggers response to the Tsunami, one can anticipate the profound implications for freedom of expression on the mainland should personal web journals take China's 90 million internet users by storm. Here's an instructive article by Xiao Qiang of the China Internet Project, who states that while China's larger blog hosting companies have become subject to censorship, "smaller companies and individuals do not face the same pressures. Any tech-savvy user can download and install blogging software themselves, bypassing the controls." [unmediated] 6:27:18 AM    comment []

Momentum Is Gaining for Cellphones as Credit Cards. Before long, they may use cellphones in place of their wallets. By embedding in the cellphone a computer chip or other type of memory device, a phone can double as a credit card. By MATT RICHTEL. [NYT > Business] 6:25:26 AM    comment []

TiVo announces new developer tools. The TiVo news just won't stop, and frankly I'm starting to get a little giddy.  The latest bit of information to come out is that TiVo is going to be opening up more to developers.  The three new tools are TiVo Video Publisher, TiVo Multimedia Web Services API and TiVo Service Integration. TiVo Video Publisher will allow video  creators to provide downloadable content for TiVo.  They talk about how content providers will be able to package and protect their video, but I hope that the amateurs won't be left out of the party.  It would be great to be able to pull up my mom's vacation video as easily as a movie from the big studios.  If they play their cards right they could make a killing off of long tail videos. TiVo Multimedia Web Services API is a way for web publishers to put their content on the TiVo, the most exciting for me being support for RSS.  Podcasting and videoblogging are starting to get some attention, the TiVo could become the platform of choice for personal media publishing. TiVo Service Integration is a way for 3rd parties to provide and charge for content on the TiVo.  TiVo users would be able to "purchase/subscribe to" content using their remotes, TiVo would handle billing and customer support.  This opens up a huge market for 3rd party developers to use the TiVo as a platform. TiVo previously opened up their Home Media Option to allow 3rd party developers to publish media to the TiVo over the LAN.  The most successful project for the Home Media Option is JavaHMO, which many users prefer to the official TiVo Desktop. [unmediated] 6:25:19 AM    comment []