Archive for the 'open source' Category

Ogg Theora (browser support)

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seth.keen
on August 12, 2008
in online video, open source and tools
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from nettime breakthrough for open video on the web

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/31/1752206&from=rss

Ogg Theora support for the HTML5 tag is in the Firefox 3.1 nightlies.

http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=492

I suspect that the effects of this will take a long while to be felt but it’s a great first step in bringing open video to the web by delivering it to a couple hundred million people around the world.

http://v2v.cc/~j/ffmpeg2theora/ A simple converter to create Ogg Theora files.

Google Summer of Code

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seth.keen
on July 26, 2008
in open source and videodefunct
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Google Summer of Code

Over the past three years, the program has brought together over 1500 students and 2000 mentors from 90 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. This year, we’re welcoming 1125 student contributors and 175 Free and Open Source projects into the program.

http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/

The Cathedral and the Baazar

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seth.keen
on April 16, 2008
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Previous research into open source led to this article ‘The Cathedral and the Baazar by Eric Steven Raymond, Nov 2006. I like many others it seems who are involved in open-source software development have been influenced by some of the ideas that Raymond presents. A quote from the introduction:

Linus Torvalds’s style of development—release early and often, delegate everything you can, be open to the point of promiscuity— came as a surprise. No quiet, reverent cathedral-building here—rather, the Linux community seemed to resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches (aptly symbolized by the Linux archive sites, who’d take submissions from anyoneanyone) out of which a coherent and stable system could seemingly emerge only by a succession of miracles.

drupal and signaling

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seth.keen
on March 27, 2008
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From Markus Sandy’s blog a post tilted ‘Drupal as a framework for a social context engine’, a video record of Richard Schave’ s presentation at the Los Angeles Drupal Camp 2007. Some quick overview notes of the presentation. He looks at the goal of locating “an engine that tells you what you are looking for without having to look for it.” Two ways to locate information 1. a news reader (filter) 2. signaling The signaling option is about tracking interests, argues that this needs to be incorporated into CMS. He refers to webjay which has been pulled down as an example of a social context engine (also Flickr, del.ici.ous). Explains that signaling goes beyond browsers. Maps (Google maps) can be created out of syndication. He points towards signaling being formed around social groups. “Syndication; Serendipity; Civic Action” - “Maximise the diffusion of ideas throughout society and thereby affect social change.

References:

CiviCRM - CiviCRM is an open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is web-based, open source, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups.

organic groups - niche communities

http://2or3things.org/andyhook - social context follow up

tipping point wikipedia summaries reference

freetagging

open book example

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seth.keen
on March 27, 2008
in open source, participatory, sharing, P2P and references
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Lisa Gye posted this open book example ‘The Googlization of Everything’ by Siva Vaidhyanathanto to the fc list. The author Siva Vaidhyanathan uses the open book process (Institute for the Future of the Book) to critique Google. The book is a “book blog” and Vaidhyanathanto lays out some major research questions in the summary:

This blog, the result of a collaboration between myself and the Institute for the Future of the Book, is dedicated to exploring the process of writing a critical interpretation of the actions and intentions behind the cultural behemoth that is Google, Inc. The book will answer three key questions: What does the world look like through the lens of Google?; How is Google’s ubiquity affecting the production and dissemination of knowledge?; and how has the corporation altered the rules and practices that govern other companies, institutions, and states?

Vaidhyanathanto’s other books - Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press, 2001) and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System (Basic Books, 2004). The about on the Institute for the Future of the Book:

We’re a small think-and-do tank investigating the evolution of intellectual discourse as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens.

EngageMedia updates

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seth.keen
on January 13, 2008
in independent media, online video and open source
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EngageMedia emailed out some updates to the FOSS video codecs they are working on.

It is a review of available tools for the creation, playback and embedding of online video using FOSS codecs, and a look at the most pressing areas for development to enhance their adoption by social change video projects on the web.

PDF version.
Summary of Recommendations
wiki feedback
Report licensed under the GNU FDL.

They have also revamped their site with a tagging and call outs feature amongst others.

VX:mission gathering

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seth.keen
on January 13, 2008
in independent media, online video, open source and video vortex
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The transmission network put out their final publicity for their event VX:transmission that coincides with the VV conference.

VX:mission will look at how distribution of Social Justice Video is happening using Free and Open Source technology. It is a chance to find out about existing distribution projects, get feedback for your own projects or ideas, find collaborators and scheme about how best to distribute your video.

Associated organisations are FlossManuals.net and clearerchannel.org. Included is a demonstration of http://if iwatch.tv

Community Media - presentation

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seth.keen
on September 18, 2007
in PhD, copyright, IP and open source
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What type of associations does my research have with the principles of ‘community media’?

With my project, which examines in a broad context online video practice, I did not intend to make a direct link with the notion of community media. Unlike, Leo and Bruce I do not make a reference to ‘community media’ in my research summary or proposal.

In hindsight, this is because I come from a background of broadcast media experience in which I often looked for alternatives within that platform. For example, I gravitated to producing content for SBS Television because they offered the room to experiment with both content and form. So, my research interest initially was motivated by the potential to discover and test alternative approaches to the way video is produced and distributed online.

But, another influence that possibly connects me to the notion of ‘community media’ is a focus on an independent documentary practice that examined social and political issues. Within this practice, I was always on the lookout for stories that the mainstream media would not touch. I think that this in combination with exposure to academia and media as a field of study has led to being influenced by the age-old approach to examine the “ideological frameworks” that control media. Which all adds up to making connections with the principles behind community media; alternative media; grassroots media; independent media; citizen media; radical media, hacktivism and activism. In a quick glance across current definitions of these varying areas of media there is distinct similarities and differences. What they all have in common is the motivation to provide a perspective that is different from mainstream media. These “avant-garde or counteractive media” practices offer me the potential to explore and discover new approaches towards the production and dissemination of video on the Internet.

Intuitively, I like the idea of not situating myself within any of these groups. The closest I come to making a commitment is using the word ‘alternative’ and ‘independent media’ in my research summary. Why am I not committing more? Well firstly and I admit it I need to understand more context and history around these media approaches which is part of being here today. But, more importantly through research that focuses on the web, I am becoming more and more aware of a phenomenal shift in the way media is being produced and consumed. New problems and benefits are emerging as part of the potential for individuals with access to computers and the Internet having the potential to produce and distribute media content. For example the question has been raised as to whether many bloggers are merely regurgitating mass media through another platform rather than utilising the potential to provide a diverse and independent perspective. Other questions are being asked about the type of labour that user-generated content is producing around websites like YouTube, when so few enjoy the significant spoils of the sell-off to larger conglomerates.

Always interested in the ‘other’, and prepared to put ideas out that need more research and substantiation - I would like to propose that ‘community media’ now and in the future will draw from movements like open source and more recently from analysis being conducted into peer-to-peer theory. This is the type of community media that I would like to tease out in my research. But, what will not change is as Alessandro Ludovico (the editor of the independent online/offline publication Neural) stated in a recent open source workshop – is that a key element of non-mainstream media is networking and making connections with people who are interested in providing a diversity of perspectives. I was inspired by the way that he has extended this idea into getting like groups together (like in his case independent new media publishers) to discuss and share ideas, issues, and ways to survive. Collaborating in this way and being on the edge of collapse produces interesting responses to traditional approaches. Mute one of these independent publishers to stay afloat came up with a print-on-demand (POD) approach to publishing where one copy rather than the obligatory financed 500 copies can be produced on demand. Also, the consumer can remix articles and self-publish from serial publications into a magazine of their choice and have that printed. All this content is licensed ‘copyleft’ meaning it can be remixed and used for commercial purposes. Radical approaches like this are prime examples of thinking and working differently as part of maintaining independent forms of media and could be called a type of open publishing.

Working from this networking and networked perspective, I see some form of online documentary that somehow provides more of a conversational approach to the way media is produced. Adapted social software is used to create a production where the producer, the people involved in the story and other interested contributors can all participate in an open process. Situated in a location that has developing country issues.

For example, on the weekend in discussion with a colleague from ANU, I was intrigued by his story of a very large group of illiterate workers ‘The Bombay Dabbawalas’, who are coordinated in Mumbai, India on a daily basis to deliver lunches from each of the workers’ partners homes to their offices. Millions of colour-coded containers for each level of the office buildings are collected and delivered daily with a very small percentage of error in the deliveries. This is a fascinating example of ingenuity, communication and a type of networked system that forms part of the fabric of that community. Somehow, I would like to see through the use of online video technologies a similar example of media that operates at this community level. This is not YouTube, it is a type of video sharing that really utilises the potential to provide a valuable and autonomous point-of-view.

Coming back to making connections between my research and the principles behind community media, a connection that I would make is with open source culture. Recently I have been drawn into the debates and inquiries occurring around copyright on the Internet. The theorist Lawrence Lessig provides some interesting insights into the notion of promoting a read-write culture rather than a read-only culture on the Internet. He divides the Internet into four distinct areas Content, Applications, Logical (as in the protocols) and Physical (as in the telecommunication infrastructures). He uses the example of the development of open source applications as a benchmark for opening up these other three areas. Like for example, content being controlled through copyright law by large organisations like Sony, Disney, Viacom and Warner Brothers. Another example, is the issues around the implementation of broadband in Australia as part of controlling the physical developments of the Internet.

His argument is how the same innovative approaches that have made open source platforms like Linux a key part of the Internet fabric could be applied to these other areas. He advocates ‘private’ approaches to make this happen, as governments are not in tune with what is required. Creative Commons is part of accommodating both the read-only and read-write needs of the content area. All of this is about keeping the avenues open for people to not only access content but also produce and distribute content. In a broader sense I think ‘community media’ can be seen as being both local and global, where key issues around accessibility will affect media on all levels.

References:
Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: The nature and future of creativity, Penguin: New York, 2004.

Jay David Bolter, ‘Theory and Practice in New Media Studies’, Digital Media Revisted, Eds. Guannar Liestol, Andrew Morrison, Terje Rasmussen, MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass., 2004.

Geert Lovink, Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture, Routledge: NewYork, 2007.

Trebor Scholz - What the MySpace generation should know about working for free, re-public: re.imaginging democracy, 16th April 2007,
http://www.re-public.gr/en/wp-print.php?p=138 (accessed August 5, 2007)

Lawrence Lessig, ‘Free Culture: What we need from you’, LinuxWorld.com, online video presentation, http://www.linuxworld.com/events/keynotes/lwsf06-lessig.html (accessed August 5, 2007)

Free Air

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seth.keen
on September 6, 2007
in open source
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In the AIR project coordinated by Beatriz, I identified a number of what could possibly called open source correlations which are written here as free flow thoughts. Firstly, the documentation is very detailed and informative with links to secondary sources and background processes. This seems to flow across many of Beatriz’s projects. For example a website was prepared in advance for this workshop with categories created for documenting the workshops at each location. I was really interested from a practice perspective on the types of documentation used to record projects like AIR or pigeonblog in detail. An example of how the processes are as important as the outcome, and are key components of the outcome. From an open source perspective documentation is a pivotal aspect of sharing knowledge or in this case providing the directions needed to create open hardware/software tools for collecting scientific data. (As I write Beatriz is recording photographic images of our group crowded around an electronic ‘breadboard’ connecting and disconnecting wires, in what I would call a miniature landscape.) AIR as a project is part of moving a data collection process out from the scientific enclaves into the hands of the broader community as Beatriz states in the summary of the air project:

AIR is a public, social experiment in which people are invited to use Preemptive Media’s portable air monitoring devices to explore their neighborhoods and urban environments for pollution and fossil fuel burning hotspots.

A process that is for example, emblematic of the shift of media production out of the high-end production studio into the hands of the public, who have access to a desktop computer and the Internet. Often we are fed statistics and have no idea of how these figures where collated. Having the opportunity to collect scientific data, like having the potential to produce media content is an empowering way to understand these processes on another level. The access in regards to building the hardware to collect data moves beyond the current social media model of all the work being done for the user. This is where increasingly all that has to be done is to add content to an infrastructure that has been developed. In the air workshop we follow specific stages, experiencing the development of the hardware needed to collect data from a bottom-up approach. Imagine in my own teaching getting students to assemble a weblog content management system, I wonder how that would effect their understanding of blogging. I did have one student who took a blog apart and stuck it back together by playing around with the PHP code, but that is pretty rare. Beatriz spoke of moving the contact with projects like ‘air’ beyond artists out into the community. In pigeonblog I was intrigued by the interest pigeon fanciers showed in becoming involved in the data collection process. These are art projects that engage with the general public in some form or another where people make contributions, and become involved.

Face to Global

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seth.keen
on September 5, 2007
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Notes from the still/open workshop I am attending.

These are the notes I took down from my perspective as we presented our group work in the Alessandro Ludovico workshop. Our group handled the content aspect of hypothetical open source publication. We discussed the group making comments on these notes as there was plenty more discussed in the session that my be quite different form what I write here:

What it is about? Face to global is the title of the publication. The sub-heading for the publication “Source to Openness”. The concept for the idea comes from previous publication examples ‘Factsheet’ and ‘Whole Earth’ that Alessandro mentioned in his presentation. The publication is a directory for all things ‘open source‘ starting at the local level. This is what is happening in your neighbourhood from free wireless, free software development through to community based activities like ‘mothers groups’ who act as type of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. These groups as an example are voluntary brought together to network, socialise and share knowledge about raising a child. This is specialist knowledge that cuts through all the plethora of books and literature on the subject. The conversations in these groups are about editing this knowledge through hands on experience. ‘Face to global’ provides an index and reviews all these activities occurring locally. Activities are mapped and can be viewed electronically via social software. A theoretical influence “Think Global and Act Local”. The publication in hardcopy format or as a softcopy pdf, from front to back, starts local and progresses to global. Working with the ‘mute’ idea of being able to re-edit your own publication from existing content each location has the potential to assemble a publication that starts local and moves to specific global interests. With the editorial there would be differing forms of editorial overview applied to the varying types of publication that emerge from the content. An aspect of this approach would be to facilitate specialist publications like from the mothers group for example. Other publications could be edited from user-generated content that is collected through some type of social software. Each distributed in varying ways using for example print-on-demand for hardcopy output where the idea is to distribute tangible real paper publications back into the community. Like Brewster Kahle with his Internet Bookmobile these could be printed on street corners on demand.