Culture and Society

Hard to believe it’s already been a year since the last Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit, but it has. The cost is quite reasonable, the topics crucial, and the star power impressive: Now in its fourth year, the FMC Policy Summit is a forum for musicians, lawyers, academics, policymakers …

It’s not free but the Digital Storytelling Festival in Sedona, Ariz this June sounds very worthwhile for the right people: We are once again in the planning stages for the Digital Storytelling Festival being held in June 2004. This will be the second year the Festival will be held in …

Lawrence Lessig has a new book out that is generating a lot of attention and interest, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. We have discussed it here, here, here and here. Yesterday the Wahsington Post conducted a fascinating online …

Bowie invites mashups: If you’ve seen the new Audi commercial, then you’ve already heard a mash-up of the David Bowie classic “Rebel, Rebel” and Bowie’s brand new rocker “Never Grow Old” from his new REALITY album. On April 12th, another mash-up by Mark Vidler will be released as a single. …

Though I still wag my finger in a disapproving manner regarding the NY Times’ policy of charging for access to stories over one week old, I stand up and applaud two new resources they have just made available. The Times now offers over 5,000 movie reviews from its pages, including …

Singer Sophie B Hawkins found her new album available on eBay before its April 20 release date. She went to small claims court: The Grammy-nominated artist won $346 from the eBay seller for offering advance copies of her new CD on the online auction service. The album, called Wilderness, is …

David Fiore has an interesting post about popular culture being our best tool for “conquering” the Middle East. Today the NY Times has a great stroy on what our forces take with them to the far reaches of the globe: American troops arrive for duty in Iraq with a rifle …

On his Freedom to Tinker blog, Princeton computer science professor Edward Felten presents his “Grand Unified Theory of File Sharing,” which attempts to explain discrepancies in various studies comparing file sharing activities with CD sales: First, let’s review the three main results that have to be explained. Survey-based studies, which …

A German computer magazine and software company have created a new program to help consumers take advantage of the “analog hole” to make copies of “copy-protected” CDs, according to New Scientist: Music companies have introduced a range of “copy protection” technologies as part of a drive to stop unauthorised CD …

An entire article from the BBC about empowering individuals to both publish and find local, niche and eccentric information that doesn’t even mention the technology and movement that has been doing just that for several years now – astonishing: By the year 2010, file-sharers could be swapping news rather than …