Dear reader: I am co-organizing the International Visual Sociology Association yearly conference. Please redistribute to your departments and friends: Call for papers for the IVSA 2012 international conference “Re-Visualizing the City”, 9th to 11th July 2012, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, New York
link to ivsacall2012 with full details:
This is like saying that becasue on that high street there is someone selling counterfeited goods instead of going after the limited illegal selling of counterfeited goods they shut down the entire street or any other street where “even one” illegal copy of something is sold.
If it were true that data should be compared to real physical commodities or that by that principle they should share the same identical values and economic principles open that “SECOND HAND file exchange website” already, because sure enough if I bought and own it I can TRADE, EXCHANGE or RE SELL IT when I want ….. or not?
One more proof that people does not have yet a sense that virtual and real are forever connected and that common sense and the law should not be able to undo what decades of social struggles and civil rights evolution have accomplished.
I guess you don’t know about SOPA although you should. I guess most do not care about SOPA although they should. There is something fundamentally wrong about the way SOPA is formulated and as we have seen more and more in the past few years there is a profound alteration of the correct balance between the right to protect copyrighted material and the legal consequences faced by individuals who download or exchange such material for non economic purposes. These contradictions are often reflected in the very practices of the same corporations and lobbies that push for this legislation. This video explains some of these contradictions, He might be a big crude in his explanations but he makes a point.
or more seriously “why SOPA is a bed idea” clay shirky
what happens when super stars such as P Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, The Game and Mary J Blige partecipate to one of the most interesting viral videos of a “rogue” upload service Megaupload read more here and here
my new article out now: The Infosphere, the Geosphere and the Mirror: The Geomedia-Based Normative Renegotiations of Body and Place Francesco Lapenta in Mobile Technology and Place<a link Edited by Rowan Wilken, Gerard Goggin in Series: Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture
a new ruling by the European Court of JUstice (ECJ) stated today that Internet service providers cannot be forced to block their users from downloading songs illegally, as such an order would breach EU rules, Europe’s highest court said on Thursday in a ruling welcomed by a consumer group.
The Luxembourg-based EU Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its verdict in a case involving Belgian music royalty collecting society SABAM and Belgian telecom operator Belgacom unit Scarlet.
SABAM asked a Belgian court to order Scarlet to install a device to prevent its users from downloading copyrighted works. The court ruled in SABAM’s favor and order Scarlet to install such a device. However, Scarlet then challenged the ruling, prompting the Belgian court to seek advice from the ECJ.
“EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an internet service provider to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files,” the ECJ said.
“The filtering system would also be liable to infringe the fundamental rights of its (Scarlet’s) customers, namely their right to protection of their personal data and their right to receive or impart information,” the Luxembourg court said.
My lecture at the London School of Economics this 24th of November and forthcoming article in Pink, S. (ed) Advances in Visual Methodology. London: Sage forthcoming March 2012.
Few weeks ago in New York I was interviewed by a New York Times journalist (article here) on a subject for which I have a great deal of passion, and KNowledge, hi end audio reproduction and specifically analogue generation hi-fi, tube amplification and high-efficiency speakers, which I design and build since I was 14. The interview lasted a while and we talked about audio technology evolution, recurrences in technological evolution paths, sound quality of tube vs transistor vs digital amplification, speakers´ designs and audio reproduction goals, and of course tubes (or valves). Apparently that discussion had no place in the article so my contribution has been reduced to one sentence ““Got any Amperex Bugle Boy 12AX7’s?, rather than being disappointed about it, I laughed with a friend of mine whom shares a similar interest, who commented, man if that was a movie, you would be the nerd with the greatest line in the scene, and I am happy with that .
Well the time has come, now let´s all jump boat and move to the new Google SNS … for now
referrer: Maurizio Lapenta
Visual Studies: Volume 26 Issue 1
Special Issue:Locative Media and the Digital Visualisation of Space, Place and Information
This new issue contains the following articles:
Guest Editor’s Introduction
Locative media and the digital visualisation of space, place and information, Pages 1 – 3
Author: Francesco Lapenta ARTICLE HERE
Articles
Sensory digital photography: re-thinking ‘moving’ and the image, Pages 4 – 13
Author: Sarah Pink
Geomedia: on location-based media, the changing status of collective image production and the emergence of social navigation systems, Pages 14 – 24
Author: Francesco Lapenta ARTICLE HERE
The algorithmic turn: photosynth, augmented reality and the changing implications of the image, Pages 25 – 35
Author: William Uricchio
>What is visualisation? Pages 36 – 49
Author: Lev Manovich
Is music becoming more visual? Online video content in the music industry, Pages 50 – 61
Author: Fabian Holt
The lie of the land: Mark Monmonier on maps, technology and social change, Pages 62 – 70
Author: Rob Walker
Finally after over a year in the making with contributions by William Uricchio, Lev Manovich, Sarah Pink, Fabian Holt, Rob Walker and yours truly an exploration of the fast changing scenarios of location based applications and related information and world representations changing ontologies and epistemologies
Well the swedes are at it again, the new service has great potential, and seems to offer alternative economies and channels for digital content consumers and producers.
New York University I, Part I – Fall 2010.
Date: Friday, November 12, 2010
Time: 11:30 am – 13:00 pm
Venue: The Great Room, 19 University Place
Topic: Geomedia, Mapping the World – On the Changing Status of Collective Image Production and the Emergence of Social Navigation Systems
Speaker: Francesco Lapenta, Associate Professor, Roskilde University, Denmark
Geomedia, Mapping the World – On the Changing Status of Collective Image Production, location based media and the Emergence of Social Navigation Systems
The increased computational power of portable devices such as smart phones and laptops, and their integration with widely available global positioning systems are opening the way for a new range of location based applications that integrate and coordinate users´ mediated interactions and data exchanges with other users´ live geographical positions. I call these technologies Geomedia (Lapenta 2008, 2010). Geomedia are not new media per se, but platforms that simply merge existing electronic media + the Internet + location based technologies in a new mode of digital composite imaging, data association and socially maintained data exchange and communication.
This information’ , shared on navigable live virtual maps such as Google Maps or Google Latitude, Foursquare or Gowalla, describes the increasing user’s interest in using the Web to create, assemble, and disseminate personal information (in the form of images- sounds-and text) to create shared experiences of individually and socially relevant spaces and events. This form of geography, and the new virtual maps in which this information is visually blurred and digitally merged, represent the emergence of a new paradigm in the visualization of space. They also create a new economy for the virtual spaces they create and the information that are exchanged in these new spaces. In this lecture I will engage in an elaboration of the fundamental social, economic and perceptual shifts that are being operated today by these new location based technologies and software applications and develop a theoretical analysis of the ontological and epistemological shifts that characterize their contemporary evolution, patterns of production and exchange, and the unique form of geolocational digital re-aggregation of which digital images are now part of.
In the most dramatic tweet of its history wikileaks invisible soldiers have sent a cryptic command to its legions of hackers around the world. Now, it might be a little dramatic (or an onion?) and all, but there is much to reflect about the actions and the outcomes of this one controversial website. Much more is at stake than we can actually superficially see. Four articles move the discussion further showing that both parties have reasons to be worried. It did take some time in history to assert the balance between right to inform and right to protect, this balance is at stake now once again and the outcome will have major effects on our rights and our lives. The problem is that they are both right and wrong at the same time. This really should be part of a more extensive and public debate.
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11578505
Colorado Springs Independent: http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2010/10/20/battleground-internet
ThE GUardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq-war-logs
and this article by Nadim Kobeissi http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/517.
Well I have recently been the victim of my first online fraud/scam. As it happens in these cases you quickly act and learn. Now they found out that the scam originated from Kenya and might still be in possession of personal data. Although all related data have been cancelled and a warning placed on them in case they try to use them, if anybody provides my personal data (credit card, passport, IDs) for any and whatsoever transaction always contact me on the email address provided on this web site.
Well it´s finally out the special issue on creative labour that I edited together with the great Fabian Holt.
link here:
”The reason old films are dying, especially films from after 1923, is because of copyright term extensions. Thousands of films are turning into vinegary dust because the cost of finding the copyright holder exceeds the money likely to be made restoring it. If the old films had been allowed to fall into the public domain, they could be preserved – the only costs involved would be the preservation and the preservationist could sell copies.
It is a crime.” (shelbysuncle on youtube). Very well said.
This is the schedule of the conference, download: IVSA2010_final_schedule
The genie is “almost” out of the box. This has been in the making for a long time, far from being something technically new (many machines have been able to decode visual information for some time now) it is something phenomenally different and uniquely important. A game controller on the surface, it is under the skin the first huge leap in the uncharted water of next generation interacting “sensing machines”. On the surface an innovative game controller, under the skin a “game changer”, the first baby step of a new generation of interacting devices. Think of the game industry as a huge incubator or training facility in which the machine is using us to learn to interact with us. A two players game in which one tries to outsmart the other reacting to each gamers every move. The potential evolution of this technology is no short of a science fiction scenario. Do not be confused, we are not playing the machine, the machine is learning to play us. It´s the first step, they can now see and interpret the world, much more will soon come.
This is a really interesting evolution. Google has updated his world renowned algorithm to a new version code named “Caffeine”. While the old index generated by the algorithm “had several layers, some of which were refreshed at a faster rate than others; the main layer would update every couple of weeks. To refresh a layer of the old index, we would analyze the entire web, which meant there was a significant delay between when we found a page and made it available to you.
With Caffeine, we analyze the web in small portions and update our search index on a continuous basis, globally. As we find new pages, or new information on existing pages, we can add these straight to the index. That means you can find fresher information than ever before—no matter when or where it was published”.
You can read about it and know more by pointing to the original googleblogpost here
We are getting close. Program of the conference will be released monday the 14th. For the list of Hotels in Bologna and a map to see their location download these files
Hotels Map
Download a list of hotels here :bologna_hotels
Privacy and Jurisdiction in the Network Society Article by Gry Hasselbalch, May 2010 “In the network society, the right to privacy is challenged by new automated methods of collecting data and global information networks used to their full potential by both state actors and non-state actors. New technologies hold a potential for increasingly sophisticated methods of state’s intelligence gathering and police investigations. Moreover, with the introduction of the internet, a space for private parties as data disseminators, collectors and processors has been created. This development has expanded the primarily negative scope of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights to include also positive obligations. In its case law, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has on several occasions addressed the challenges of technological progress to the right to privacy and stipulated the positive obligations of states when securing the appropriate balance between the benefits of technologies and the right to privacy. In some aspects the stipulations are rather clear however, there are some implications of the ECHR’s application of a primarily territorial definition of jurisdiction to the question of global information networks that creates a level of uncertainty as to the essence of state parties’ to the convention obligations….” Gry Hasselbalch, May 2010
link: here
Well I guess you can really tell that I am originally from Italy. I am basically conducting an orchestra with my hands while talking 
well as I have described again and again the evolution of Geomedia is fast paced nowadays. Google is the first to offer services that finetune your research results based on your current location. This, as I repeat once again, is just the tip of the iceberg of what is going to happen once Geomedia get in full swing. stay tuned for more.
Sony has started selling what may be considered the first commercial 360 degrees video camera on the market for only 190 USD! I certainly want one now!
LINK here
Go read and SIGN the Public Domain Manifesto.
“After decades of measures that have drastically reduced the public domain, typically by extending the terms of protection, it is time to strongly reaffirm how much our societies and economies rely on a vibrant and ever expanding public domain. The role of the public domain, in fact, already crucial in the past, it is even more important today, as the Internet and digital technologies enable us to access, use and re-distribute culture with an ease and a power unforeseeable even just a generation ago. The Public Domain Manifesto aims at reminding citizens and policy-makers of a common wealth that, since it belongs to all, it is often defended by no-one. In a time where we for the first time in history have the tools to enable direct access to most of our shared culture and knowledge it is important that policy makers and citizens strengthen the legal concept that enables free and unrestricted access and reuse.” (http://publicdomainmanifesto.org)
As I described a long time ago in the GeoMedia study (hopefully soon to be published in an article) companies that have invested in Geomedia applications, such as google maps and street view will soon see and invest in the commercial potential of their administrated Virtual Space. The question is are we going to see a fight over representations of public space. Landmark monuments would offer great location for virtual ads. Think the statue of Liberty or the Eiffel tower with a big “Apple” or “Coca Cola” ad rotating over them. We are only witnessing the beginning. Things are going to get more interesting real soon when companies institutions and private citizens will realize the potential use of their virtually represented spaces.
LINK to the abstract of my article on Geomedia: here
LINK to articles on this story: here
Well this is major news today! Google has stopped its collaboration with chinese authorities and stopped the self censorship imposed by the chinese government to operate in China. This follows what Google described as vicious hackers´attacks on some of it´s chinese based Gmail accounts (owned by chinese human rights activists). The impact of this decision will be huge. I can only commend their response.
This is the link to the official Google post describing the events and the action taken.
ttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html
A really noteworthy invention from the mind of the young and talented Pranav Mistry closes the gap between real and virtual worlds. Things are really getting interesting.
PS. Why is Maes presenting the “SIxthsense” and not the designer himself?
The other day the BBC reported on a new start up company that since March 2009 offers 3D imaging technology and 3D videos of live events for users to interactively enjoy. The company called Yellowbird touts this new technology that will change the way we experience events and videos. Almost two yeas ago I already reported on another company Immersivemedia the first to offer this same technology (pictured on the left) and 3D videos. Despite Yellowbird being still in development and rather rudimentary in comparison to Immersivemedia technologies (long available to the military and the public) both companies and the new found public and media attention are a sign of the new momentum that 3D imaging is gaining. Once again I still think that the best of these new technologies and applications has still to come. The technology to support these applications is already here, they just need to be refined and rethought outside the box. Watch demos here (Immersivevideo) and here (Yellowbird). My original 2008 article is here
A good article on incoming 3D technology here at endgadget. I know we tried it before and it did not work. But I am confident that things will be different this time, so look out for 3D technologies coming home soon.
“U.S. Senator John McCain has introduced legislation that would block the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from creating new net neutrality rules, on the same day that the FCC took the first step toward doing so.” Reuters full article here
Needless to say, Net Neutrality is the biggest battle we are facing today to maintain a free internet. It is amazing how the rhetorics of McCain´s proposal totally twist the reality of the facts.
If you do not know enough about it, DO read about it here
PS. I cannot find info regarding the author of the image, if you do know who made it please let me know and I will credit.
I have set up a live stream of the Cumbria conference with the hosts in Carlile this is the direct link:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cumbria-ivsa-2009
started at 10 am GMT 22d of july look for program on visualsociology.org
Another one going down in history with the likes of Mosaic (many will wonder what that is/was right???) and what about the first peep to peer file exchange software? name it in less then 2 seconds if you can. The name is more catchy but its faith equally predictable. Naturally the game is not over neither the debate.
This is the link to the Phd course on “Audiovisuality in the Era of Digital Convergence” that I organized in collaboration with Professor Taisto Hujanen. Selected contributions will be published in the forthcoming special issue of “Visual Studies” that I am editing for publication at the end of the year. Stay tuned for more details.
A lawyer representing one of the men convicted in the Pirate Bay trial has called for a retrial after reports that the judge was a member of the same copyright protection organisations as several of the main entertainment industry representatives.
http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/
from the article: “Pirate Party chairman Rickard Falkvinge has called for the verdict to be scrapped.
“The copyright lobby has really managed to bring corruption to Sweden,” he said in a statement.
One of the groups of which Norström is a signed up member is Svenska föreningen för upphovsrätt (‘the Swedish Copyright Association’), where he is joined by Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted, all of whom represented the entertainment industry in the case against file sharing site The Pirate Bay.
The judge also sits on the board of Svenska föreningen för industriellt rättsskydd (Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property), a group actively advocating for more stringent copyright laws.
Norström argues that he was not however swayed in his judgement by involvement with copyright protection groups.
“My view has been that these activities do not constitute a conflict of interest,” Norström told Sveriges Radio.” REALLY!!!!!!!!????
Excerpt from the same article: www.thelocal.se
I have been using this relatively new search engine www.searchme.com for a while and it seems to have matured enough for you to try. The search engine seems to have taken the hint from the Leopard OS and iTune´s interface to adapt the rendition of its results. Although not perfect it has become one of my favorite search engines to use for a quick glimpse at basic search results and their contexts. A very simple, and powerful, yet strangely unexplored change in direction in a mostly text based endeavor. The new Safari browser (4 Beta) seems to move also in an interesting direction in exploring new ways of visualizing the desktop environment. All a little bit rough at the moment but worth exploring. I wonder if Google inc is paying attention?
Access to thepiratebay.org has been blocked here in Denmark. Soon also Google, Yahoo, Youtube and other prominent search engines will be blocked, the court´s ruling suggests, because they are also linking to copyright infringing materials.
Well it is actually only thepiratebay.org. My point is that although the issue of indexing and distribution of copyrighted content might well be the issue of the decade in some circles the decision to ban a website based on an indexing service is very very controversial. The problem is complex and a one web site ban will not solve the problem.
And so it seems that the day Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th president of the United States CNN decided to use a spectacular new technology to show a 3D image of the moment he was sworn in (Photosynth anybody?). The image promises to mix and merge pictures taken by people attending the event (Photosynth for sure!), and also show an image taken by a satellite. Lets see what they will do exactly, but clearly new Social Navigation Systems are moving fast.
UPDATE: and there you go! It was a rather banal application of Photosynth, the special occasion and world wide distribution of the picture will sure make this picture a favorite among the examples of scholars that will flock on the subject. Collective Image Making it is, one more reason to read my article -teaser- and the final article (which is way more juicy then the teaser) about the evolution and the implications of these new forms of Image Making
this is the link to “the moment”
UPDATE 24/1/09
Well there is another picture circulating that is also quite interesting, and actually nicer to navigate. Conceptually is not as interesting as the CNN “The moment” coproduction, but visually quite intriguing and based on a similar digital merge here it is LINK (Photo David Bergman)
Full Essay LINK
Remindfull of a technology that Ridley Scott created for Rick Deckard to use in his 2019 Los Angeles (Ridley Scott, Blade Runner 1982). As it happens reality has exceeded the fantasy allowing us to seamlessly move from one image into another in a virtual continuum of increasingly global spatial representations. As the map of the Empire that the cartographers continued to grow with increasing levels of detail, the virtual map of the world is acquiring a scale and scope that further exceeds their ambition. This virtual map deserves attention, because it is different both in its genetic nature and in its multiple evolution. It combines elements (Image, Text and Sound) that never before could be combined so seamlessly together. The map is built by the cooperation of two entities. On the one hand we have the (soon to be interconnected) platforms that are offered for its growth, we could say this is the equivalent of the kind of “surface” that is offered for the renditions of the map (in our case Google Earth, Google Maps, Photosynth, QuickTime VR, iPhoto 2009 etc, etc). And on the other hand we have the new generation of cartographers comprised by all the individuals around the world that contribute with pieces of representation of the world to the enormous puzzle of the virtual map.
Read the rest of the essay here
Preferred Reference System:
Francesco Lapenta, 2008, “Geomedia, Mapping the World. A Brief Essay on the Changing Staus of Digital Photography. Google maps, Photosynth, Flickr, iPhoto 2009 and the Digital Merging of Collective Image Production.”, www.visualstudies.eu
Finally a rough draft of the Geomedia article for you to browse. As you will see it is in a very rough form but wanted to bring it out to have feed back from you. The article discusses the new generation of location based technologies and the ways in which they will rearticulate our perception of time, commodification of space, digital merging of collaborative pictures, sound, and texts collections using WEB 2.0 tools and logics and available and developing softwares and services, PhotoSynth, Google maps, Flicker. The article also describes the social behaviors that will be favored by these new technologies (which I call Social Navigation Systems). Feed back are appreciated and needed so do write back with comments and ideas, anything suggested and used in the final article will be of course properly credited and accounted for.
geomedia-and-the-rise-of-social-navigation-systems5th (Version 5, 2008 December). The article is set on private, please do e-mail me if you want to read the draft.
New info about the article will be periodically updated here until completion and publication.
This is really an interesting move, and one that is going to give a lot of momentum to the Creative Commons License system. President elect Barack Obama new governmental website www.change.gov is now registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This is interesting news on more then one level, and certainly one that is keeping me interested in what the new administration might do for the power´s balance over the Internet.
A really interesting article written by Gry Hasselbalch about the new found consciousness required for the wise use of the ever present social networking websites/tools:
From the year of ME to the year of OOOPS
excerpt: “Ok, so 2006 was the year of “me”, the year when we the ”I” generation took the media and used it to its very limits to express ourselves. The public debate was rolling over its own borders of excitement over all the new possibilities that we suddenly had to express ourselves with:
Blogging, moblogging, youtube, SecondLife, myspace, Linkedin…uuhh nice….and twitter and jaikuu!!! and and and….
And then came 2008, the hang over year, the year of “OOPS” when ”me” the average person suddenly realise what I actually put out there. Organisations, media and even politicians start talking about the responsible media use and user, about how we should think about what we put out there. Campaigns, regulations, codes of conduct, guidelines, recommendations….”
In what has become an arms races towards the freedom of information and knowledge for all, the European Union has announced the launch of its new universal library project called Europeana. The scope of the project is ambitious, to have 10 million books online for 2010. We can only celebrate and praise all the institutions that in one project or another are attempting to the systematization and free distribution of human knowledge. So long live the Europeana and the legacy of the Universal Digital Library and Google books.
