Pick up the pitchforks

Posted on January 22, 2012 at 8:26 am UK

Powerful stuff from +Clay Shirky who describes the US entertainment and media industry thus in his call to ‘pick up the pitchforks’ re SOPA and PIPA:

“[...] This is an industry that demands payment from summer camps if the kids sing Happy Birthday or God Bless America, an industry that issues takedown notices for a 29-second home movie of a toddler dancing to Prince. Traditional American media firms are implacably opposed to any increase in citizens’ ability to create, copy, save, alter, or share media on our own. They fought against cassette audio tapes, and photocopiers. They swore the VCR would destroy Hollywood. They tried to kill Tivo. They tried to kill MiniDisc. They tried to kill player pianos. They do this whenever a technology increases user freedom over media. Every time. Every single time.And they don’t just want control — they want it at low cost, and high speed.”

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Pick up the pitchforks: David Pogue underestimates Hollywood « Clay Shirky
Writing in his blog on the New York Times yesterday, David Pogue, one of the Times’ tech columnists, advises toning down the alarmist rhetoric over SOPA, suggesting that opponents of the bill (and…

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Hollywood had Chris Dodd and a press release, Silicon Valley had Facebook

Posted on January 19, 2012 at 6:44 am UK

A nice sound bite in a frothy report by US entertainment industry columnist and blogger +Sharon Waxman about yesterday’s online protests against SOPA and PIPA.

If you remember the core of this issue, it’s seen by many as Hollywood and vested interests versus the rest of us. Sort of the 1% against the 99%.

I’m not sure I’d liken it to a war zone – emotional rhetoric isn’t really helpful – yet this assessment looking at the PR aspects isn’t bad at all.

The bottom line:

It seems that Hollywood still does not realize that it is in the information age. Knowledge moves in real time, and events move accordingly. The medium is the message in a fight like this.

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Sunk! How Hollywood Lost the PR Battle Over SOPA | The Wrap Media
Hollywood had Chris Dodd and a press release. Silicon Valley had Facebook

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To extend Waxman ‘s analogy a little further, battle may be won yesterday but a war still wages.

On the matter of the MPAA press release, I like Ike Pigott’s suggested edits that would make the message a little more authentic.

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The SOPA blackout

The SOPA blackout

Posted on January 18, 2012 at 7:02 am UK

From 5am GMT today, January 18, one of the top-ten most visited websites on the internet is unavailable for 24 hours – if you visit English-language Wikipedia, you’ll just get a page with a text concisely explaining why you can’t get the content you came for.

In a press release on January 16, the Wikimedia Foundation – owner of Wikipedia – said:

[...] the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours, in protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PROTECTIP (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. If passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.

(For more about SOPA and PIPA, Google has some easy-to-understand information focused on the US; the BBC looks at SOPA and PIPA from the broader international perspective.) [Later: BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones adds a depth assessment of SOPA and PIPA in his report Wikipedia - what can it tell us about Sopa?]

Wikipedia isn’t the only web resource to go offline today – other high-profile sites include Boing Boing and Reddit (the latter only for 12 hours). It’s notable that the heavyweights on the social web are conspicuous by their absence of action like today’s. So you’ll find business as usual at places like Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

As a way to raise awareness of the twin legislative approaches being addressed by US elected representatives, it will undoubtedly have a big impact, particularly in the US. I wonder, though, what Wikipedia’s (and the others’) measurable goal is. Or is it sufficient to simply get awareness raised around the world and over time we might see some kind of result? After all, SOPA itself is off the legislative agenda for now.

Plenty of opinion on that.

In the meantime, what will you do if you can’t get Wikipedia content today? You could try others from a dozen alternative resources Mashable suggests. If you speak other languages and if you’re looking for explanations of things rather than simply linking to them, try the other language versions of Wikipedia – they’re all up.

Or simply postpone your “what, why, how and where” searching just for a day. It’ll all be there again tomorrow.

[Update 1100 GMT] I discovered that I can access much of Wikiepdia on the mobile website. So far, every page I’ve gone to on my mobile device has shown up.

Actually, the mobile website works on a desktop computer too. Try it for yourself. Not everything will show up – some links redirect to the main website and you’ll get the blackout overlay page. Best bet: use the mobile site on your mobile device if you can’t do without English Wikipedia for a day.

It’s not much of a blackout from what I can see.

Good experience with a mobile Google+ Hangout

Posted on January 15, 2012 at 11:48 am UK

One of the most appealing things about Google+ is the Hangouts video conferencing feature. It lets you conduct impromptu video conversations with up to ten people with just your connected computer and a webcam and microphone. Nothing to install or subscribe to (it’s a free service) and it works very well.

I’ve done more than a dozen of these from a business perspective – including a number as FIR video interviews and panels – and they’re a terrific on-demand and informal communication tool. While there’s no native recording feature (and I can’t imagine that’s something Google isn’t working on), you can record your Hangout session via a third-party program such as Camtasia to create a video, which you can then publish or share via commercial services like YouTube.

On Friday, I took part in a terrific Hangout discussion hosted and recorded by my podcasting partner Shel Holtz together with Stuart Bruce and Phil Gomes. For the first time, I connected and participated in the discussion using my mobile device, a Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone.

I used the latest version of the Google+ app for Android to join the Hangout that Shel had started (you can’t start a hangout yourself from a mobile device).

The screenshot shows what I could see on my phone’s screen – in this case, Phil’s fine features in the large image, and the Google+ avatars of my three co-participants at the top left of the screen. The black-ish rectangle you see on the right beneath Phil’s image is a small video of me as captured by the SII’s front-facing camera which, for some reason, wasn’t captured when I grabbed this screenshot.

I was really impressed at how good the overall experience was in taking part on a mobile device. I had my SII’s earbuds/microphone combo connected so I could hear everything with crystal clarity, and talk hands free as well. I did the Hangout from my office; my desk is very close to the wireless router so the wifi connection to the phone was max strength, something I’m sure helped a lot with the overall smoothness of the network connection.

As you’ll note if you watch the video recording of this Hangout, there’s quite a bit of image movement from me as I was holding the phone in my hand so every time I moved or shifted in my chair, the image suffered a bit. (Note for next time: find some way to prop up the phone.)

The Google+ app for iPhone is also good – check out the experience recounted by Marshall Kirkpatrick in the early stages of the Google+ Hangout rollout for mobile.

So you’re not restricted by location if you want to join in a Google+ Hangout – a supported mobile device and operating system plus a strong network connection and you’re good to go.

Can you really control who says what about the 2012 Olympics?

Posted on January 9, 2012 at 7:56 am UK

Reuters reports that 70,000 unpaid volunteers recruited for the London Olympics this summer have been warned not to give away breaking news about athletes or disclose the location of politicians and celebrities through online comments or pictures posted on social media sites.

Clearly, it makes sense to establish the ground rules on “social communicating,” as you would expect any responsible organization to do. What’s allowed and what isn’t. But also the positive: what’s encouraged, how to do it, from whom and where to get get help, etc.

Yet on the face of it according to the Reuters report, it’s rather black and white. I can’t imagine a more challenging task for the Olympics organizers than policing this blanket restriction. This is the age of mobile devices, point-and-click (or -tap), check in here, instant sharing online. It’s Twitter and Facebook and Google Plus and Foursquare. It’s about freeing up the means of connecting online with free wifi expected across London.

In any case, isn’t this “you must not” attitude somewhat counter to the spirit of inclusiveness and community that embody the Olympic games?

Writing in Forbes magazine, Ewan Spence gets to the heart of the matter:

[..] I wonder if the Olympics have an inkling of just how connected the games are going to be, how much activity there will be online, and how much conversation will be going on. And those most keen on the games have had their voice snuffed out. These rules bring on an image of a digital King Canute trying to hold back the flood of genuine opinion that will flow out of London in July and August this year.

Why not enable people to use their common sense? Seek out leaders within the volunteer community, Help them develop the guidance for their peers. I bet that would be highly effective and foster a far closer community spirit than “you must not.”

Let go the control, Olympics organizers.

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