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May 31, 2004

Zero Cost Computing N.Y. Times apology feels hollow

I just posted something at ZeroCostComputing: N.Y. Times apology feels hollow that links to an article megan did in the Toronto Star. Check it out."

Posted by jason at 08:02 PM

Michael Moore.com

Yuka noticed on CNN.jp that Michael Moore\'s new movie has a distributor in the US. But I can\'t find any reference to it on CNN. WHile looking around I found two interesting sites: Michael Moore Hates America and Moorelies.com | Michael Moore\'s Permanent Record which both want to present a (un)biased view of things. Of course, they\'re objective. And we all know what I think of \'objectivity\'. But they\'re fun to look at. It would be nice if we had an anti-moore. Someone as creative and witty as he is, but from the other chauvinistic camp."

Posted by jason at 03:45 PM

May 30, 2004

Just testing file uploads.... and my camera...

\""Queen I wanna get some good pictures today."

Posted by jason at 03:31 PM

sHuFFle dEMoNs

sHuFFle dEMoNs will attempt to break a world\'s record with the this afternoon: \""Join Toronto\'s famed Shuffle Demons and special celebrity guests as we attempt to shatter the Guiness Book of World Records record for most saxophones playing one song.\"" Yes, I have a sax. I played from 1976-1988, though I never was any good. Luckily, yuka agreed I\'m too busy to do it today though, as we should be preparing to travel, and I can\'t site read the music. Saved.

Success! 930 sax players... beating the old mark by about 400."

Posted by jason at 02:44 PM

May 29, 2004

EyeTap: Humanistic Intelligence Lab

After a brief meeting to discuss research issues for the summer, we were able to rename Steve Mann\'s Humanistic Intelligence Lab to something less, er, problematic... It is now the Personal Imaging Lab. The science folks liked the term because it is the Pi Lab (a la 3.14...). I like it because of John Lydon\'s post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL). "

Posted by jason at 09:50 PM

May 28, 2004

Damn. Now I have to vote NDP

Liberals deny that cutting funding for public housing contributed to homelessness. And the conservatives are talking about disestablishing bilingualism. Unfortunately, I don\'t like Olivia Chow (my local NDP twitt) for the personal reason that she refused to take up the noise complaints against OCAD during its construction. She liked what it did for the facade of the community, but didn\'t care about what it did to the locals. And her leader is a goofball. But they\'re on the right side of the fight, and one cannot always choose one\'s political bedfellows."

Posted by jason at 12:08 AM

May 26, 2004

MOOs: Polysynchronous Collaborative Virtual Environments

Here\'s a final draft copy of our forthcoming book chapter MOOs: Polysynchronous Collaborative Virtual Environments Rhonna J. Robbins-Sponaas and Jason Nolan in In Workplace Internet-Based Communication: Industry and Academic Perspectives. Pavel Zemliansky, and Kirk St. Amant eds. Idea Group. Any thoughts or comments for its improvement?

This chapter defines, describes, and assesses the form of collaborative virtual learning environment known as MOOs. MOOs offer opportunities impossible in any other actively developed online communication tool, but they have remained largely the purview of hackers, coders, and academics. This chapter deals with understanding what a MOO is, what key features make it a valuable collaborative environment, and issues of accessibility, access, and governance. Key aspects include defining and historicizing MOO, exploring the technology\'s current development, discussing issues that presently limit large-scale acceptance, and speculation about the possibilities and the future of MOO. The chapter considers text-based multimedia environments; general features of synchronous and asynchronous technologies; the notion of polysynchrony; tools for rapid prototyping, education, or training of users; application accessibility; costs in hardware, software, and manhours; and whether it?s worth organizations getting involved in MOOs at their present state of development.
"

Posted by jason at 01:59 PM

KMD1002 & 2003

For all you KMDI grad students out there in TV land, you can pick up your papers outside Kelly Rankin\'s office (just down the hall from mine). Her hours this week are: Wednesday noon to 6pm Thursday 10:30am to 5:30pm Friday noon to 6pm"

Posted by jason at 12:42 PM

May 25, 2004

Democratic Dialogue in Education

Megan\'s new book Democratic Dialogue in Education is out! Haven\'t see it yet, but if it is from megan, it has to rock! Troubling Speech, Disturbing Silence By Megan Boler"

Posted by jason at 02:40 PM

Surveillance Poetry

Just got this from David Wood who runs http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/ I am guest-editing an e-zine called furthertxt (an offshoot of the famous and now-defunct \'Rhizome\') http://www.furthertxt.org in the last quarter of this year. The theme of this issue will be Security, Surveillance and Fear. I am approaching a broad spectrum of writers (from sf authors to cultural analysts, from academics to artists) to get submissions. You\'ve obviously written plenty in thus area. We would be interested in any kind of contribution: fiction, poetry, critique, commentary, thought experiments - anything of any length or style that relates to the theme in any way that is provocative, fearless and fun - but certainly not your usual academic stuff. I would also be grateful if you would forward this to any others you think might be interested in contributing. "

Posted by jason at 02:11 PM

SYSTEM-77 / CIVIL COUNTER-RECONNAISSANCE

sunir sent me an email about SYSTEM-77 / CIVIL COUNTER-RECONNAISSANCE and their new project:

On Thursday, 13 May 2004, the Vienna-based Net culture platform Public Netbase presented the System-77 Civil Counter Reconnaissance (S-77CCR) installation, accompanied Projekt Atol Pact\'s Signal Server! opening performance. Project Atol Pact, headed by Marko Peljhan, is known for its conversion of military information technology for civilian purposes and has received several awards. S-77CCR represents a globally active consortium whose goal is to promote the use of surveillance technology by civil society, in contrast to the intransparent and anti-democratic employment of such technologies by public and private security agencies. The mobile surveillance unit uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for reconnaissance, giving the public a clear idea of how state-of-the-art control technologies are used. According to Marko Peljhan, \""unmanned systems are a key technology on the path towards civilian space surveillance\"". Inside the counter surveillance unit, electronic remote reconnaissance equipment and data analysis tools compound the UAV, with explanatory displays and on-screen descriptions offering information to the visitor. According to Konrad Becker, director of Public Netbase, \""the project is an attempt to foster an understanding of art as socio political intervention in the public realm\"". The Karlsplatz square, a point of convergence of urban conflict, offers an ideal environment for the installation, allowing it to address real points of reference. \""The installation is under permanent police observation. According to a TV report, it has generated a feeling of insecurity among the security forces.\"" Ever since the projects beginnings, the S-77CCR principle \""Eyes in the skies, democracy in the streets\"" has proved to be highly effective. \""Vienna will be the focus of attention until 28 May. Instead of further curtailing fundamental rights, technologies will be used to strengthen democracy in the streets\"", Becker concluded.
"

Posted by jason at 12:56 PM

May 24, 2004

Big Fat Stinking Software

Big Fat Stinking Software has all you really need to show that you\'re chronic."

Posted by jason at 06:50 PM

May 23, 2004

Vampire Lady

This is a true and accurate photo of Elizabeth Miller when exposed to the flash of a camera. Picture and mods by me..."

Posted by jason at 08:42 PM

"Simone Maurice - Virtual Dance Instructor, Performance Dance Artist, Choreographer, Artist Development"

I did a photo shoot with Simsim yesterday. This is one of the neat ones. "

Posted by jason at 02:28 AM

May 22, 2004

The Harrow: Staff

I\'m back in the helm as poetry editor for The Harrow. If anyone\'s a budding dark poetry writer... send something along. No pay, only fun and glory."

Posted by jason at 11:23 PM

Garage Sale

Joel and I had a collective garage sale today at his place. We moves a major chunk of junk from our place, and a smaller one from his. It is slow nice to have merely a cluttered apartment again, rather than the overburdened monstrosity we previously lived among. Thanks JOEL!"

Posted by jason at 11:05 PM

May 20, 2004

Rochelle Mazar: Ralph Klien\'s a Plagarist!

The ever vigilant R. Mazar has a link to a article on how the Alberta premier Ralphy got busted for plagaring his paper on Cuba... seems he was taking a correspondence course... he\'s an admitted alcholic too..."

Posted by jason at 01:58 PM

Updating myself. Yuka says I have to.

Well, yesterday I had a long (almost 4 hour) lunch with Jocelyn Piercy co-dean of technology at Seneca. Another digital kindred spirit to go along with Megan at OISE and Jennifer Jensen (York U). There does finally seem to be a group of us interested in tech and social issues in Toronto (yes, I\'m sure there are others). It turns out that not only does she know all my old English d00ds, but at one point she turned to me and said, \""You know that one of your students used to work for me?\"" I guessed it was Emma and I won the prise. Emma\'s teaching at Humber now, I think. Unfortunately Tech at Seneca has had declining enrollment. That also means that there\'s no work up there for me, in Tech. Personally, I\'d like to get into doing some more practical teaching, like I did at Ryerson last year. Speaking of which, I just put in my letter of interest to teach there again next fall. If I got two sections of ECE912 (Early Childhood Education and Technology) it would be great. Anyway, while Jocelyn and I were jawing about everything, Hoder (Mr Iranian Weblogs) walked by. (Gale Moore, director of KMDI did too, but she doesn\'t have a web page I can point to.) All this means that I\'ll have to have another pizza night to get everyone together. After lunch, Jocelyn was off learning about MOOs and how cool they are. I hope she gets hooked. Today, I\'m moving all my junk to joel\'s house so that we can have a Garage Sale this Saturday (68 Hogarth Ave.). Drop by if you\'re in the Riverdale area of Toronto. Lots of cool stuff."

Posted by jason at 01:48 PM

UPS Package Tracking

UPS Package Tracking is telling me that my package is on the way. Don\'t click on the link. It isn\'t your package."

Posted by jason at 04:01 AM

May 18, 2004

"O\'Reilly Network: The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy: Nine Reasons Why It\'s Bogus [Apr. 18, 2004]"

The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy: Nine Reasons Why It\'s Bogus [Apr. 18, 2004] Of course most of us were weaned by Tim Oreilly and his books. Well, for me it was Ed Krol\'s \""The Whole Internet\"" back in 1992. Tim\'s got the geek\'s library in his pocket, and somehow you get the feeling that he\'s not making a buck off the \'net, but that he\'s just helping get the information out there, and making many bucks in passing. Anyway, good article on gmail, and the dangers of ignorant paranoia. Well informed paranoia is where it\'s at."

Posted by jason at 12:00 PM

May 16, 2004

Yuka\'s favorite song of the week

Nippa is a giant limestone cave in Tokyo. Nippa is the theme song for the cave, written by Magical Power Mako. And her friend Nemoto-sensei sings it to his kids a lot. (I took the photo of him on his page.) "

Posted by jason at 05:59 PM

Van Helsing

Yuka, Elizabeth, KAT! and I went to see Van Helsing and then had dinner at the Queen Mother. Dinner was good. Can\'t have too much Pin Gai chicken. But the movie? The movie was great. Much better than we thought it would be. I read some negative reviews from people who obviously think that humour begins and ends with Mr Bean and Monty Python. No obvious gags, but this movie does not for a moment take itself seriously. It rips off everyone from Bond films, to Indiana Jones, LoTR, the obvious two Mummy movies, strangely enough Young Frankenstien, and every other Frank, Drac, Wolfman flick. The ending is yawn, but as elizabeth points out it is a totally suitable salute to Dracula. Unless you find Goddard to be a hollywood sellout and hate overly referential films, it should work just fine for you. Did for us."

Posted by jason at 12:39 AM

May 14, 2004

Scamming the Scammer

Scamming the Scammer This is just tooo funny. Download the story and read it all. Jeremy sent it to me, right?"

Posted by jason at 10:25 PM

Anthony Burgess - Cutting A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess - Cutting A Clockwork Orange This article notes the outrage that accompanied its publication, but that\'s not something that impacted on us when we read it 20 years later. Such a generational thing, I guess. I remember reading it in highschool, almost exactly 22 years ago (May 1982) and not finding any glorification of violence at all. Alex and the d00ds were just victims trying to make sense of the world that had no space for or interest in them. It sounded like us, but it wasn\'t anything to emulate. Too late, we were there already looking for ways out. It just reflected the world around us. But then again, we, in Canada, had the full text. :)"

Posted by jason at 12:59 PM

Rochelle Mazar: Aspiring to various things: Our Lady of the InfoApocalypse

Rochelle Mazar blogs about her Early morning communing with Jason."

Posted by jason at 12:34 PM

Van Helsing

As mentioned, when I was in Transylvania last year, I was interviewed for the documentary that accompanies teh Van Helsing DVD. The doc was shown on TV in the US, and Elizabeth Miller got a copy. I made a deal with the film crew that I would be interviewed on the condition that they didn\'t use any footage of me. Anyway, my interest is in the medieval latin vampire stories of walter map and william of newburgh (here\'s a paper on them), so I was not useful to them... or so I thought. Elizabeth says that I make two brief appearances. Concomitant with this request was a threat that I would post compromising photos of the docs\' director. Lucky for her I couldn\'t find them, but here are some from one of my dracula conference pages.


"

Posted by jason at 12:13 AM

Chatting the day away...

Met up with Dale, the boss of Ryerson\'s ECE program, today to talk about teaching there this fall. Must admit I really enjoyed it, so I hope something comes of it. Then I met up with Trevor Owen, founder and prime mover of Writers In Electronic Residence, a very cool program that puts kids in touch with Canadian writers. He\'s been runing it since the early 90s, and we discussed research and development opportunities. In between, I got a DVD of \""Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil\"" for $7 at Sam the Record Man, and Lounge Lizards and Sisters of Mercy CDs. A good day over all."

Posted by jason at 12:05 AM

May 13, 2004

Hotmail banning UofT again...

\""UTORmail is currently having problems sending mail to Hotmail addresses due to blocks put in place by Hotmail\'s anti-spam service. Most of the time we can\'t send any mail to Hotmail. When we can send it\'s only in short spurts. Then we get cut off again.\"" Don\'t expect mail from me, if that\'s where you are, or have your email forwarded there."

Posted by jason at 07:05 PM

More with Norman the Cat

More with Norman the Cat "

Posted by jason at 12:57 PM

May 11, 2004

ITBusiness.ca: Open source of conflict

Open source of conflict 5/10/2004 5:00:00 PM - A conference at the University of Toronto puts together strange bedfellows like the Linux Professional Institute and Microsoft. Is this enterprise big enough for the both of them"

Posted by jason at 11:50 AM

May 10, 2004

Open Source Conference

I\'ve been pretty much offline, working at the Open Source Conference that KMDI is putting on. Felt too tired to stay all day, so I came home to mark. One more day tomorrow. Steve\'s doing the closing keynote, which should be interesting, as the rest of the conference is very focused towards industry and government, imho."

Posted by jason at 10:12 PM

May 07, 2004

Wired Steve

Just when you thought that there was no more room for Tech in Steve Mann\'s life, he now generates his own electricity in downtown Toronto. This week, a pile of us climbed up to the top of his house and erected a wind turbine. As Steve sees it:

Yesterday, we put a windmill on our roof, so that we have our own power source. This is to run the cyborg community, cyborglog servers, etc., and to charge all our wearable computing batteries, etc.. See http://wearcam.org/urbine/ This is alot like Open Source, or like Peer to Peer, power generation. Power to the people! It brought together the cyborg community, and the community as a whole, so perhaps this would be of interest to your \'blog. --Steve
"

Posted by jason at 12:34 PM

May 06, 2004

Ken\'s BLog

Ken has a new blog on emigresearch.com. No content yet, but soon...."

Posted by jason at 04:41 PM

May 05, 2004

Michael Moore.com : Mike\'s Message

Michael Moore.com : Mike\'s Message Disney Has Blocked the Distribution of My New Film... by Michael Moore Friends, I would have hoped by now that I would be able to put my work out to the public without having to experience the profound censorship obstacles I often seem to encounter. Yesterday I was told that Disney, the studio that owns Miramax, has officially decided to prohibit our producer, Miramax, from distributing my new film, \""Fahrenheit 9/11.\"" The reason? According to today\'s (May 5) New York Times, it might \""endanger\"" millions of dollars of tax breaks Disney receives from the state of Florida because the film will \""anger\"" the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. The story is on page one of the Times and you can read it here (Disney Forbidding Distribution of Film That Criticizes Bush)."

Posted by jason at 01:27 PM

May 04, 2004

Garage Sale!

Joel and I are doing a combo garage sale Saturday May 15 at his place, 68 Hogarth St. That\'s just south of Danforth and just east of Broadview. I\'ll try to set up a livecam, and perhaps offer online bidding... not."

Posted by jason at 04:12 PM

JEMAA El FNA : Morocco\'s Rendezvous of the Dead DVD SF005

JEMAA El FNA : Morocco\'s Rendezvous of the Dead DVD SF005 I have no idea what it was about, but it was interesting. Time for a donkey tour."

Posted by jason at 02:52 AM

May 03, 2004

Virtual Bubblewrap

Virtual Bubblewrap: just pop it!!! Of course yuka is freaking out over it."

Posted by jason at 11:52 PM

TheFeature :: Sousveillance by Howard Rhiengold

TheFeature :: \""Inverse Surveillance\"" -- What We Should Do With All Those Phonecams Howard couldn\'t make it out to our workshop last month, so he did the next best thing... wrote it up. Thanks howard!"

Posted by jason at 08:52 PM

Open Source Conference

Today is the last of the Monday meetings for the conference. And there are a few seats left! Open Source Conference OPEN SOURCE AND FREE SOFTWARE CONCEPTS, CONTROVERSIES, AND SOLUTIONS Most Comprehensive Event of its Kind A KNOWLEDGE MEDIA DESIGN INSTITUTE CONFERENCE Sunday, May 9, to Tuesday, May 11, 2004 CONVOCATION HALL -- UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO "

Posted by jason at 01:20 PM

Open Source Conference

Today is the last of the Monday meetings for the conference. And there are a few seats left! Open Source Conference OPEN SOURCE AND FREE SOFTWARE CONCEPTS, CONTROVERSIES, AND SOLUTIONS Most Comprehensive Event of its Kind A KNOWLEDGE MEDIA DESIGN INSTITUTE CONFERENCE Sunday, May 9, to Tuesday, May 11, 2004 CONVOCATION HALL -- UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO "

Posted by jason at 01:19 PM

May 01, 2004

testing

1, 2, 3"

Posted by jason at 01:14 PM

On the long slow road to accommodation...

Yuka and I are up bright and early today so that we can go look at some new condos that are coming on the market today. Don\'t want to say more, as we\'ll jinx it, as yuka says, but one does have to share information on the basics. Oh, and we need coffee beans, and canned tuna for Nomi the cat."

Posted by jason at 01:09 PM