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« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »
A new search on Google allows users to search through all the works of Shakespeare. The search page categorizes his plays into comedy, tragedy, romance, and history. When searched Google offers results from all editions of the play, which vary by publisher. If the edition is in the public domain, the user is able to access google's full book view.
If Shakespeare was still alive today, do you think he'd be into having his works in the public domain?
The New York Times had an article on Monday about the way new technologies are forcing us to rethink copyright laws and it focused on the Creative Commons license, which I have been hearing about for some time. I read the article looking for an explanation of how Creative Commons works and was rather disappointed.
So I went to the Creative Commons page and looked for myself, and it's really rather fascinating. What they have basically created is a small form that will allow you to quickly generate a license that adheres to your own beliefs about what should be done with your work. Anyone who is remotely interested should go here and try for themselves - note, this is the text version, you can access the other versions from their main site. My favorite part is the way that it delivers the license in three formats: one for people, one for lawyers, and one for computers.
OMMA magazine this month has a really interesting article entitled "Log Off: Fast and Furious Media Changes," which is a nice meditation on the various digital opportunities presented by online marketing. It doesn't provide all the answers, but I think it asks the right questions. Excerpt: "As marketers, we must look at the vast array of digital media choices as we plan and buy media. Each day, it seems, there are many new avenues to explore. The debate rages on about the viability of digital video programming made available to consumers on a variety of platforms. What follows is my stream-of-conscious look at some of the issues swirling around the subject of digital media and advertising."
You can read the whole article here.
I'm going to do something a bit unorthodox; my post concerns something a bit dated (not quite as dated as my last entry on prehistoric technology however). Boris Akunin, pseudonym of translator, editor, intellectual-about-town, Grigory Chkhartashvili, found celebity in his forties as his mystery novels featuring "un-Russian" sleuth, Erast Petrovich Fandorin, became a hit with Russian readers. His formula for success in a $2.2 billion book market (2005 estimate according to RBC, a business consulting firm) with growing book sales charted at a phenomenal 20% per year is (surprise) good, literary writing and well-developed characters. Akunin references such Golden Age titans as Dostoevsky, Turgenev, and Tolstoy in his historical adventures. A number of Akunin's titles from the Fandorin series are available in translation.
The New York Times had an article by John Updike yesterday in which he discussed this article that was published last month in the New York Times Magazine about the Google Print project and how it will impact the way we view books.
Particularly troubling to Updike is the notion that books could be reduced to snippets and compiled into a sort of "favorites bookshelf" by readers:
The book revolution, which, from the Renaissance on, taught men and women to cherish and cultivate their individuality, threatens to end in a sparkling cloud of snippets.
I personally find it unlikely that we're going to see book mash-ups replace books in readers' minds anytime soon - the technology will exist, but I think it will take a very long time for the culture to shift to such an outlook. The phenomenon that Updike seems bothered by seems more likely to become a favorites list where instead of merely linking a books title people are able to get immediate samples of a work.
Ultimately, Google Print is not going to be the end of authorship, it probably will not even change the concept of authorship significantly. But such changes may occur further down the road and everyone from authors to readers will be affected by them.
If you know the next line than this may interest you.
<------Rollins fronting Black Flag.
The Modern Word interviewed Henry Rollins, literature and publishing were discussed. In the interview he: reveals his take on Kerouac (which I wholeheartedly agree with), namedrops, and discusses which modern authors he's into. His company 2.13.61 has published works by Rollins, Nick Cave, many others.
Everytime I've seen Rollins perform either as a musician or on his spoken word tour, I've grown to like him more and more. His spoken word performances are both profound and hilarious, and musically it's hard (but not impossible) to find a singer as intense. I've also heard good things about his show on the Independent Film Channel. Go Rollins!
Saw an interesting article from last week on Media Daily News which talks about how Nielsen is planning to track television ratings across multiple platforms and devices (TV at home, Internet, iPod, etc.), which is an answer to what's being called "the attention economy," i.e. someone wants to watch a TV show from their couch, or their desk at work, or else while riding the subway or in a plane. The plan is being called "Anytime, Anywhere Media Measurement," which reminds of that great song by The Who, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere." It's a little more difficult for the TV stations, since their content is free and they get their revenue from advertising, but for publishers--if we can finally sell the consumer on some kind of versatile electronic format, with the right mix of freedom of use and digital rights management--then they can read the content anyway, anyhow, anywhere they want (er, as long as they pay for it first).
You can read the whole article here.
I get a catalog from Tiffany and Co. regularly. I may have purchased a gift from the company at some point in my life, but, really, I haven't any idea why I'm on their mailing list as the jewelry-obsessed (and the moniker, chick-lit) have always baffled me. I am, on the other hand, a fan of popular science, and news about the results of some of humankind's earliest technologies has recently made the headlines (see the NYT article). Small shells with perforations indicating that they may have been strung together to form decorative and socially significant adornments, dating as far back as 100,000 years ago, have been unearthed in Israel and Algeria.This evidence could potentially revolutionize our understanding of how human behavior patterns came to be. Jewelry was and remains for some a means of defining the self.
On the Wired site I found an article from Forbes.com entitled "Go Ape Over Guerrilla Marketing" which talks about a new book aimed at smaller companies who can use non-traditional marketing in effective ways, and it reminded me of the kinds of things we're trying to do with our Internet marketing efforts here at Holtzbrinck. Excerpt: "Guerrilla marketing isn't just about the medium -- it's about the message. It's not enough to offer people a way to lose weight or stop smoking when your competitors are offering similar services."
You can read the whole article here.
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From Matt: The scriptwriters made quite a few changes from the book, but they were all for the best - and booklover though I am I have to admit that its better to see magic than to read about it.
From Mina: I adore this film. Monsieur Hulot’s very modern sister and brother-in-law don’t know what to do with Tati’s charmingly untidy and bungling protagonist, who inhabits a world where meaning is still more important than appearances.
From Carey: A must see Hayao Miyazaki’s anime is Laputa: Castle in the Sky, originally released in 1986. A fantasy film that explores the altruistic and compassionate nature of humans, aspects lost through repeated exposure to power, technology, and the complexities brought by the combination of the two. 
