I just watched a challenging presentation about the dilemma posed by elements of economic growth by Tim Jackson as part of the 2010 Alfred Deakin Lectures.
A fascinating set of ideas with a strong logic - I'll be buying the book."Is there any evidence that we can de-link consumption and economic growth from emissions growth? Must we re-think the very notion of growth and what it means to be genuinely prosperous?"
[By the way, I discovered this lecture through my SlowTV podcast subscription]
Have a look/listen to “After Copenhagen” a SlowTV recording of Tim Flannery in conversation with Robert Manne. It’s wonderful to hear Tim’s realistic optimism in the wake of 6 months of bad news for the world’s climate future. It is also interesting to see how well this format works. We’re blessed with a new medium – recordings of public meetings where interesting people speak, enabled by the new economics of low cost video recording and the Internet. It gives speakers the time to expand on their views without relying on the quick grabs demanded by impatient “Old Media”. Credit to The Monthly for using this new medium, showing that it’s possible for the old media (magazines) to reinvent themselves
Mind you, I still think it is better suited to Radio (Podcast) rather than Television (YouTube, etc). So I was relieved to discover that a podcast version is available. A small criticism: the audio is unnecessarily split into three sections. It manages to reverse the order in which it ends up on my iPod. It would be good to have the podcast as a single file or alternatively reverse the order in which the podcast sections are syndicated.
After Copenhagen Conversation with Tim Flannery on SlowTV.
The Monthly
This morning I listened to the podcast version of Andrew Ford's Music Show. Andrew is a great interviewer, not just a personable guy, but a real musician (a composer, actually) and has a knack of making his guests comfortable. Of course that's made easier with certain guests!
The last Pixar movie (Wall-E) didn’t score highly with me, so I wasn’t really looking forward to hearing about another movie promotion in the recent edition of Fresh Air. Have a listen and see if you can spot whether Terry Gross really saw/liked the movie and whether Pete Doctor is just selling the movie. Oh, and I’m going to see Up as soon as I have the opportunity….
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I've been catching up with podcasts. Something tells me that I've subscribed to more than I can consume. This morning I listened to one of Jon Udell's Innovator interviews with Andrew Rasiej, who calls himself a Social Entrepreneur. The interview hit home on a number of levels. One point which was particularly painful: If you have an opportunity to work with a 20 year old or a 50 year old in a project - work with the 20 year old. Sigh... That's a problem at two levels, first because I'm about to turn 62, and second because the network I'm trying to build has no one below 50. Supposedly if you're lifelong learner, you're an exception and you should look for others. Jon...
The discussion touched on a few positives for me as well, how the abundance social networking contrasts with the scarcity of email communications. I won't bother explaining - just listen.
]]>I use gmail and respect Google’s efforts to build a practical range of defenses against phishing as well as spam and viruses. Here is a screen capture of an email to one of the OpenId mailing lists by a Google Engineer.
Was that the Google’s OpenID April Fools Day operation at work? Or just another case of showing how we really need a digital identity system?
]]>"OzGirl recently announced a global distribution agreement with Koldcast to broadcast the OzGirl series over the Internet, via iTunes and TiVo. Brand integration agency InShot is to help attract brands to OzGirl, which is syndicated to major sites including Bebo and YouTube, allowing advertisers to reach an international youth market."
Mmmm... that's not what I call embedding...
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A friend "innocently" pointed me to this Ars Technica article on e-books, in the full knowledge that it would destroy the rest of my day. He knew that I could not leave some article, which seemed to pretend that the e-book started when the writer joined Palm Media in 2002, alone without reply. The article is more a 5 page rant from a frustrated e-book publisher, rather than a balanced perspective on the history (and challenges) of the e-book. The Voyager Company developed an e-book format (called Expanded Books) in the early 1990's. I read Jurasic Park by Michael Crichton on my Powerbook in 1991. It had no DRM and a superb user interface which did not get in the way of the reader. It came compressed on a floppy disk, which installed on a Macintosh and ran on top of Apple's Hypercard.
Firmware Design (our company) published an oral history project on CD in 1993 using the Voyager Expanded Book Toolkit. Long Time Olden Time was an oral history of Aboriginal experiences in the Northern Territory, collected by Peter and Jay Read. Originally published as a book and separate audiotapes, it could be read on screen with its synchronised audio track.
Bob Stein, co-founder of the Voyager Company, is a professional maniac, who deserves (but probably isn't interested in) a lot credit for the first practical e-book. His connections with the Book Publishing Industry convinced Publishers to experiment. He is now the founder and a director of The Institute for the Future of the Book.
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I enjoyed listening to a segment on Gordon Barton on Monday night's Late Night Live. In the seventies I was an avid reader of Nation Review and a member of the Australia Party, both Gordon Barton initiatives. Those were heady days... I'll be putting Sam Everingham's book, Gordon Barton - Australia's Maverick Entrepreneur on my reading list.
Allen & Unwin, the book's publisher have chapter one online
Note to friends at Allen & Unwin, as I'm writing this, the book's information on your website seems unfinished (0 pages in the book according to the blurb).
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I enjoy reading a little Dutch. WIllem, back in "the old country" is a great communicator even under the most difficult circumstances. Whatever goes on inside his head might not be totally revealed, but we can fill in he blanks.... And he has an unerring sense of humour which is motivating. Of course, there is another payback for me, nurturing a long lost love for the "Nederlanse taal"..
]]>The other day, he set me a puzzle (in Dutch): "Die foto's gingen wel, mooie platen maar ook hier en daar een leutertuugje. Als je weet wat dat is Marius, dan stuur ik je een taart." [challenging me to find the meaning of "leutertuugje"].
The obvious solution was to Google it!
That's the equivalent of a blank stare, combined with a useless suggestion from Google.
No fun there either...
Of course any moment now, Willem will be the #1 search result for "Leutertuugje", Although, come to think of it, we might have a competition about that!
Anyway, with a little help from "Kramers Woordenboek", I looks that it might relate to leuterpraatje (meaningless twitter) So I'll take a stab at it meaning "worthless composition" or even " a piece of meaningless eye candy".
So Willem, how did I go? Worth a prize? BTW, Australian customs do not allow the importation of food in the mail. Alternatively, you can use 't Winkeltje" Although a luscious picture of a "taart" (geen leutertuugje) on your website would do...
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is one of our great institutions. The best of its programmes stimulate and challenge. I listen to many of its programmes as Podcasts on my iPhone or iPod, at a time of my choosing, in a place of my choosing.
Robyn Johnston has been a long time favourite presenter with eclectic musical choices. This month,on IntoTheMusic she's been playing a series of performances with Richard Gill, helping "discover" music such as Elgar's Enigma Variations. Next week's program is an interview with Leonard Cohen. Talk about my "sweet spots"...
I understand the disruption of the business model for musicians and the recording industry, brought about by downloads. I still pay for my music. Happily, we're seeing some more flexibility by the music industry, but Podcasts which include music are a challenge, still today. So IntoTheMusic is only available as streaming audio, not as a podcast.
But how many of us sit in front of a computer, listening to Richard Gill explaining Elgar's music? C'mon ABC, you recorded it, you must own the rights to this. Australian tax payers paid for it. Podcast it...
[Update 13 Feb 2009]
Just received an email from the executive producer of "Into the Music" with a template reply."Music copyright issues prevent us from podcasting/offering as download at present....".
Hallo... The Richard Gill series was an ABC Recording, ABC broadcast. Elgar's public performance rights must have expired by now.
I can see that there are programs in the series to which the ABC does not have broadcast rights, but at least allow MP3 downloads for your own recordings!
[update 16 Feb 2009]
Robyn from Into The Music just followed up to point out that it needs permission from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps separating the Sydney Symphony from the ABC some years ago was a bad move...
[MC] In the mean time, there is always the Freecorder alternative to turn the show into the MP3 format
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, drool.... 
Nice interface, great shoes, pity about not shipping to Australia....
endless.com]]>