Doc Searls on the Net Neutrality Battle
Leave it to the Doc to put us in our places and point out that the Internet we are trying to save is vaguely defined (if really thought about) in the minds of most citizens, even those who are using it. This means that if the telcos and cablecos can push their legislation through legal channels relatively soon, they may be able to change the face of the Internet without Jane and Joe Citizen even knowing what they missed.

See it here. Saving vs. Shaving the Net.



- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:09 AM |

 
The Net Neutrality Issue
The New York Times ran an editorial Sunday regarding net neutrality. It does a good job of explaining the concept of a Web hierarchy and why that hierarchy would be harmful to both the development of the Web and to innovation and business in general. Here's a quote from the piece:

This democratic Web did not just happen. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a platform on which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal basis. But his vision is being threatened by telecommunications and cable companies, and other Internet service providers, that want to impose a new system of fees that could create a hierarchy of Web sites. Major corporate sites would be able to pay the new fees, while little-guy sites could be shut out.

Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End

(Go there soon as it will likely be behind the paywall in a week or so.)

You might want to look at further discussion about the editorial here:





- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:11 AM |

 
The Universe in the Eye of a Fish
This is representative of one of the most stunning photo sets I've ever seen at Flickr.

Created by Deborah Lattimore.





- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:18 PM |

 
Pillow Fight in Minneapois
Pillow fighting in Logan park and massdistraction caught the action.

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 6:22 PM |

 
Monday Humor from CartoonChurch
My life

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:40 AM |

 
I raise you 5ive
I lost track of 5ives somewhere in my feed mess at Bloglines and rediscovered the site today via CultureCat.

Go on and check it out. He makes lists of five things. The list could be about anything. Some get me laughing out loud; in others, I don't get the references; and some I don't think are funny. But overall, he hits lots of bullseyes.

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:01 PM |

 
Cibo Matto
I accidently discovered Cibo Matto - Yuka Honda and Miho - a while back and then bought whatever CDs I could find (two actually). They haven't been active since 2002 although I see at the link above that they have recorded together once again.

Today I found this video of the song Sugar Water.

Enjoy.

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 5:58 PM |

 
Croquet mentioned at Scobleizer
Hmm. Same day as our minnebar demo, Robert Scoble, Microsoft's geek blogger, got a Croquet demo too.

Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger - Wow: 3D operating system, Open Croquet


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:24 PM |

 
Minnebar Wrap
Dateline: Saturday, May 6
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Catalyst Studios

What an event! Over 130 people registered at the minnebar wiki and about 110 of them participated in a very full day of sessions and demos plus good food and drink. It surpassed all my expectations and demonstrated the power of the unconference format. Many of us tend to lurk in hallways at conferences, often finding the conversation outside of the presentation space to be more stimulating than the lecture within. Not at Minnebar. The best sessions were all audience and little of the presenter (in unconference-speak, that would be the Discussion Leader or DL).

I'm really bummed about what I missed, like the Ruby on Rails demo.

The unconference idea didn't always play for the discussion leaders who opted to be presenters. Powerpoint slides and charts are not a good thing in this environment unless you are willing to leave them behind as the participants heat up the discussion. The best unconference session I participated in was Charles Gimon's Disintermediation which became a chaotic din of participant voices at one point. Every session should get there, I think. That's the ideal. Best to leave Powerpoint at home or else do some studying at Presentation Zen.

Best session (of the ones I attended): Disintermediation, DL Charles Gimon; followed closely by the The Internet and the Future of Art, DL Paul Cantrell; and Team Anti-patterns (DLs Nate Schutta and Dan Grigsby). All of these sparked conversation; and the DL let us talk, more or less.

I met so many people and made some connections for my U of MN work, especially OS content management. It was awesome watching people learn about open source and find tools to use that are FLOSS (free libre open source software, love that term).

People I talked to (sorry if I miss your name): Charles, Samir, Aaron, Matt, Sean, Paul, Jesse, Aaron, Ward (bc), Harold, Ben, Margaret, Jesse, Curtis, Luke, Steve, Allie

A shout out to Ben Edwards, of course, the fearless minnebar main organizer who wants you to read his blog. He specializes in cute animal pictures.

Bad Thing: Wi-FI was very uncooperative for most of the afternoon.

Another kind of bad thing: minnebar was only a few blocks from the LRT station but I don't think we told people about that.

Good Thing: Newcastle beer. And pizza for lunch.

Thank you to Catalyst Studios for hosting the event, the sponsors (pajunas interactive, Ayamon, Ripshark, MindTouch, Clockwork Active Media Systems, Dan Grigsby, Dow Jones, Alt Text).

minnebar Technorati search
minnebar tag at flickr (most of the photos are here)
minnebar photo group at flickr
minnebar google group

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 3:19 PM |

 
I Blog. You Blog. WeBlog. Why?
Title is the name of the session I'm moderating at Minnebar today. This being an unconference, I see my job as seeding discussion and maybe steering a bit.

Preparing, I'm reading Rebecca Blood's weblogs: a history and perspective. It's a seminal piece on blogging and reminds me that blogging is really a social phenomena of sharing our thoughts and reflecting. Who and how many read you is not so important.
- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:06 AM |

 
Minnebar Almost Here!
Minnebar is almost here. So far, 132 and counting. For more details, read my previous post.

Join us at Acadia Cafe tonight (8-10, officially) for the opening get-together. Acadia has an excellent choice of tap beers (unless you think Miller Lite is the ultimate in beer).

I finally threw my hat in the ring and will be leading the discussion for one of the unworkshops.

Hope to see you there. Mention the blog if you run into me.

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:00 AM |

 
Apple Does It Again


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:09 PM |

 
ABC Web Broadcasting
[Update: Shows are put on the web site the day after they are broadcast. Don't yet know how long or whether they will archive them.]

ABC is broadcasting Alias, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Commander-in-Chief over the Internet "with limited commercials." (I'm five minutes in with no commercials yet.) Playback quality is excellent but the image window is small (but bigger than my iPod video screen). I'm watching Alias.

The commercials opened a new window. In the lower right corner it says the show will be back in thirty seconds and there is a countdown. Then the commercial appears. After a few seconds, the thirty seconds are up and I can click out of the commercial and back to the show. Commercials were all trailers for movies: Pixar's Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest , and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.

Setup takes almost the full thirty seconds then I can click to return to the show, without watching any more of the commercial. Nice. An opt-out commercial.

There are only three commercials and they all play before the 20-minute mark leaving over twenty minutes with no commercials or pauses.
- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:32 PM |

 
Chickens & Gospel
There's no escaping the Gospel of Judas. Even the chickens are talking about it.


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:33 PM |