Landing : Athabascau University

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  • Steve Swettenham published a blog post e-Books September 27, 2011 - 3:58pm
    Everytime I come across a technology that professes to be forward thinking I harken back to the words of the Marshall: "We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future."...
    Comments
    • Eric von Stackelberg September 29, 2011 - 4:38pm

      I try to stay away from DRM protected work whenever possible. The argument that each copy should be purchased doesn't take into account the cost (actually lack thereof) of copying a digital work versus paper work. So I really see it as a cash grab as opposed to a legitimate cost. I realize one less purchase is not much, but it does make me feel better to not contribute to an infrastructure I do not support.

      It seems to me, that if the issue was really piracy, would it not be sufficient to use digitally key the file when a work is purchased? Then if the work is re-distributed for profit a normal copyright investigation (physical or digital) would find it and the current fines would be levied. Otherwise, the purchaser can copy to other media as desired. It would all be traceable under an normal investigation. This of course assumes the current copyright laws work for protecting non-digital works. @Mark can you (or have you) given an opinion on the effectiveness of current copyright law for books?

    • Mark A. McCutcheon September 29, 2011 - 9:37pm

      Your idea sounds interesting but I'm not technically savvy enough actually to reall grok its feasibility. But your question poses a big "if" -- "if the issue was really piracy." Amidst the first industry reactions to Napster, there may have been a real fear of a more traditional form of media piracy, but if so it was misguided (simply because crappy-sounding MP3s just aren't made to compete with professionally mastered CDs), and in any case it was quickly seized on as an effective rhetorical weapon not to combat piracy as such, but to mystify as piracy other copying and reproducing practices that -- if materially suppressed and symbolically demonized -- could spell bigger profits for big media companies.

      Disturbingly, the rhetoric of "piracy" to construct moral panics that are favourable to stricter copyright legislation has given way to much stronger rhetoric of combatting child pornography and terrorism:

      A music-industry speaker at an American Chamber of Commerce event in Stockholm waxed enthusiastic about child porn, because it serves as the perfect excuse for network censorship, and once you've got a child-porn filter, you can censor anything. (See Doctorow's full article, "Music industry spokesman loves child porn")

      As for your last question, it's well worth a more extensive treatment than I can give it here (maybe something for a blog post). The short version is that the ubiquity and versatility of digital media mean traditional copyright can't work for traditional print, anymore. Whole books, libraries are available online, legitimately and illegitimately. It may not be "piracy," but you're really not observing copyright law if you scan and upload a whole book that  isn't yours on Scribd.

      In closing I'll mention that whether I think print works should be copyrighted is a different question than whether I think copyright works for print. Lessig's aforementioned book offers, in its last chapters, some sensible and practical alternative licensing arrangements and public-domain protections (not only Creative Commons) that would drastically transform copyright as it stands but could really reduce a lot of unnecessary barriers to a cultural commons locked up largely by the contingencies of an absurd history.

    • Eric von Stackelberg September 29, 2011 - 10:11pm

      I would see that as a copyright violation and it would have to be taken down if the rights holder so desired. Perhaps I will try and describe what I am thinking on the digital side in a blog after I have had a chance to explore Lessig's book. It seems to me whole legitimate libraries online is a positive, the problem is the illegitmate activity.

  • Steve Swettenham uploaded the file Audacity Portable for PC display (PNG) September 27, 2011 - 10:19am
    Illustration of Audacity as a portable app in action.
  • Steve Swettenham uploaded the file MP3 Setting for Audacity for PC (PNG) September 27, 2011 - 10:12am
    MP3 settings, assuming that LAME has been installed.
  • Steve Swettenham uploaded the file Audacity Portable for PC (ZIP) in the group MCAST September 27, 2011 - 9:48am
    This is the portable (self-containded, stand-alone) executable package (version 1.3.13 Rev 2) that contains the preinstalled LAME and FFMPEG components. Reference: Publisher: PortableApps.com (John T. Haller) and the Audacity team Date updated:...
  • Steve Swettenham published a blog post LANDING 4U ... The Blurb.... September 26, 2011 - 5:07pm
    WHY? Accredited university umbrella Freedom of academic discourse and be 'published' Choice in public or private communication Free to students and staff Non-commercial Automatic Open Educational Resource...
    Comments
  • Steve Swettenham uploaded the file Notepad++ and Web Browser rendered HTML September 26, 2011 - 8:42am
    Notepad++ display of html and Internet Explorer rendering of the HTML file.
  • Steve Swettenham published a blog post In search of open and free PC HTML editor September 23, 2011 - 10:00am
    Problem: An editor at AU wants to make corrections to an HTML file content without destroying the original document structure such as hidden syntax, including hard and soft returns. The existing software options are to stay with Arachnophilia...
  • Steve Swettenham bookmarked Dr. Cindy Ives course introduction in the group MCAST September 21, 2011 - 5:24pm
    This is an in office made production from a webcam.