Planet JOMC490.4

September 22, 2006

Songphan Choemprayong

Community Radio Banned: Crisis or Opportunity?

On September 20, the reform council (CDRM) sent a letter to the governors to suspend the operation of community radio stations. It was officially informed as for political reason as the latest constitution endorsed in 1993, supporting the establishment of the community radio, has just been torn out. However, many station owners criticized the [...]

by iTeau at September 22, 2006 11:22 PM

Carolyn Hanks

Facebook PCU (Privacy/Control/Under-Garments)

A little piece from Bruce Schneier (Wired) on the Lessons from the Facebook Riots touches on that ubiquitous touchy subject, privacy. More specifically — control; choice in disclosure. Schnei

by hank at September 22, 2006 10:41 PM

Paul Jones

Edgers on Byrds

Early Byrds

In the Boston Globe today, Geoff Edgers reviews and recaps Roger’s band, the Byrds, on the occassion of the release of a new boxset of their work. Amongst the Edgers work is a great narrated slideshow of the band’s history and an oral history constructed from interviews with the living band members sans David Crosby.

by Paul at September 22, 2006 12:33 PM

Public/Private Powers of 10

David McConville’s office/home/studio in Asheville is a great Power of 10 homage to Buckminster Fuller. Check out this Flickr set of the outside.

by Paul at September 22, 2006 02:43 AM

September 21, 2006

Class Blog for JOMC 490.4

Yahoo! to buy FaceBook for $1 Billion

That’s Billion with a B (as reported by the inaccessible Wall Street Journal). But as TechCrunch and TechCrunch commentors point out: We’ve been there before. Back in March. Negoitiations failed then. Will they continue? Or will we be reading another story along the same line in a few months?

by pjones at September 21, 2006 06:32 PM

Paul Jones

Car-Free Day Tomorrow 9/22

One thing I like about being in Chapel Hill where the bus rides are free, our new Town Manager participates in Car Free Day:

Many Town of Chapel Hill employees, including Town Manager Roger Stancil, will leave their cars

by Paul at September 21, 2006 05:25 PM

Songphan Choemprayong

Information Filtering During Thai Coup

About 10am of September 20, the national TV stations began running their programs as usual. However, obvious, that does not mean it already return back to normal mode. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) called for participation from mainstream journalists, cell phone operators, SMS content providers ISPs, and web administrators to filter and highly [...]

by iTeau at September 21, 2006 03:17 PM

Communication during the first night of the coup: another case study

pawoot.com wrote a short article (in Thai) talking about chat and instant messenger on September 19 night.  This piece also appears on blognone.com.  One of the most interesting points is about his own website, pawoot.com. He was an eyewitness when the military was moving into central point.  He took pictures of what he saw and [...]

by iTeau at September 21, 2006 01:11 PM

Laura

keeping track of the Google News Belgium case

Poynteronline,  SearchEngineWatch and the Editors Weblog post comments, the court order is available from Chilling Effects

I wonder what ever happened to the AFP case in the US and whether the ‘hot news’ angle was picked up on? 

 

by elemeno at September 21, 2006 04:20 AM

Molly Jamison

Shopping +Social Networking = I'm in.

ThisNext Launches Social Shopping

ThisNext.com


ThisNext.com is a "a shopcasting network where you can discover, recommend and share things you love. Everything on ThisNext was recommended by real people."

Now, what is shopcasting might you ask? (since, I was kinda like um..?)

Shopcasting - "a way for a person to tell a bunch of people about things they love. “Shopcast” is a mashed up word that combines shopping and broadcasting. What “podcasting” did for MP3s is what we’re doing for shopping: bringing to your computer information about things in which you, the shopper, are interested. The information here is the product of a tremendous collaborative effort by tons of people you don’t personally know who have interesting opinions they want to share. Where a “podcast” might be

I was always wondering when this would start but I'm glad it did. As a total confessed shop-a-holic, I think that a lot of the features are good. This will not help me wasting my time shopping online (which is surprisingly low, though when I do get a chance I do it shamelessly)

However, I think that there will be some difficulty in getting people to join the site where this is the only real draw but for someone like me and some of my friends it is definitely useful. I think it's only a matter of time before another social networking site with an established number of members adds this feature to their options which will swallow up this website but for now, I'm a member. :)

My ThisNext Account


by Mollster at September 21, 2006 04:15 AM

Laura

simple pleasures: music and metadata

Pandora is a music exploration service that, according to website blurbs, uses larges volumes of metadata to help listeners find “more music like …. (an artist or a song played by an artist)” …  I’ve looked around the website but don’t see that they’ve published much about the schema used, but am still enjoying listening to the music.  A summary of the related Music Genome Project is available on pandora.com, where they write “each song in the Music Genome Project is analyzed using up to 400 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst…”  At any rate, it is enjoyable and attests to some of the many pleasures that can be found through music and metadata.

by elemeno at September 21, 2006 04:07 AM

Songphan Choemprayong

Optimistic Thais and the coup

neophyte posted highlights on jokes and gags about the coup on Pantip.com (Lumpini forum), at least to show how some of Thais think about the situation. Here are some of post title listed in that forum. Most of them are question-based posts. I translated only the one that would make sense to outsiders: I want [...]

by iTeau at September 21, 2006 03:49 AM

September 20, 2006

Songphan Choemprayong

Sense of Virtual Community in Crisis: 2006 Thailand coup d’etat

Two interesting announcements were released during the coup. The fifth announcement commanded the ministry of information and communication technology (ICT) to control, terminate, and destroy the dissemination and distribution of information in network information systems that contain harmful message to the democracy reform. The seventh announcement from the group was about the rule for political gathering. Five [...]

by iTeau at September 20, 2006 04:53 PM

Class Blog for JOMC 490.4

Jay Rosen’s NewAssignement.net funded

This just in at PressThink: Reuters is giving $100K of funding to NewAssignment, which should kick things off there in a good way. Jay writes about the details and the plans for the money on PressThink.

by pjones at September 20, 2006 02:12 PM

Paul Jones

Class Blog for JOMC 490.4

danah boyd questions “social networking”

On her blog, danah boyd notices the frustration amongst sociologists over the term “social networking” — a perfectly good sociological term when they have finally agreed on the definition — being used for web sites whose social use in somewhat dubious at best say LinkedIn or worse as a way for parents and others to express moral panic through their confusion over the new uses of technologies by their kids — as in “little janie was out social networking with strangers on myspace!” when janie gets a note from another greenday fan whose picture looks a little more like billie jo at the age of billy joel.

In the end, danah sticks with “social networking” Should we?

by pjones at September 20, 2006 01:51 PM

Songphan Choemprayong

Social networking on coup d’etat in Thailand

Blogs Thai ปฏิวัติ [Patiwat: Revolution] Keng.com [Reporting blogosphere during the coup d’etat] PRADT [Historical graphic of coup d’etat in Thailand] Pongsin’s Encomium [Some thoughts in Time’s A Festive Coup in Thailand article.  Also, he noted his friend’s reactions from IM screennames.] English 19 SEP Bangkok Pundi 2Bangkok Flickr Coup D’etat a Bangkok by bee Zickr (Thai Digg) Contributing more, if you have….

by iTeau at September 20, 2006 01:05 PM

“Internet answers demand for news” says the Nation

Internet answers demand for news From the Nation (September 20, 2006) With television and radio in military hands after last night’s coup, the Internet newspapers seem the only way to keep abreast of the situation.

by iTeau at September 20, 2006 12:44 PM

Seeking Information in a Critical Situation: 2006 Thailand coup d’état

After I enjoyed having lunch with my fellows in my doctoral program on franklin street, I got a note from a news reporter to contact him back about the attempted coup in Thailand. I was quite shocked because the fact that the group leader was interviewed and told that they would not do this. But [...]

by iTeau at September 20, 2006 05:22 AM

Paul Jones

When in History?

Or better when on History Channel? Inquiring minds (and relatives) have been asking: You did this take with Heather Hesketh for the History Channel a month or so back and we haven’t seen the show yet. When will it air?

by Paul at September 20, 2006 01:06 AM

September 19, 2006

Paul Jones

ConvergeSouth - October 13

Ed Cone writes to remind us of Greensboro’s premier blog/culture/technology gathering, ConvergeSouth, to be held Friday and Saturday October 13 and 14.

Amongst those attending and leading sessions will be:
Elizabeth Edwards of OneAmerica Committee
Jim Rosenberg aka Mr. Sun
Lex Alexander - The Greensboro Model
Robert Scoble - 10 Ways to a Killer Blog
Maryam Scoble - Maryamie
John Robinson - Editor, News & Record
Allen Johnson - N&R Editorial Page Editor
Daniel Rubin - Philadelphia Inquirer
Bill Wood - NC A&T Help Desk Manager
And of course Ed hisself.

by Paul at September 19, 2006 03:04 PM

Reid Spivey

The Hockey Band Wagon

With their recent Championship alot of the people in North Carolina have jumped on the band wagon to support the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as hockey in general. As someone who was a Hurricanes fan ever since they came from Hartford, I find it hilarious that people all of a sudden like a team that they didnt pay any attention to when they weren’t so good. Another thing is now you cant find Hockey gear anywhere in the area. I’ve never played in and organized league, but i’ve always played pick up games and when i went looking for a new stick and gloves, they were no where to be found. I had to drive fayetteville to get what i needed. I also notice that when we go to play, there is always that person who just started playing. they come out wearing Hurricanes shirts and dont even know how to skate, but yet feel they “know” enough to play with the big boys. But after one check in the boards, they’re done. People who have been fans, or have played for a long time understand everything abou the sport which i will say has tons of rules. i just hate that there is some ppl who criticize things about the team and trades when they haven’t been paying attention for years.

by sscrzyheel at September 19, 2006 11:21 AM

Roommate #2

He is definatly a story im himself. He is 3 years older than me and my other roommate, and works most of the day. He is as he describes a “Functional Alcoholic” which is what i think some what not true. But if he wants to call himself that im not gonna stop him. He works at and Italia

by sscrzyheel at September 19, 2006 11:07 AM

Molly Jamison

Lawmakers take aim at social-networking sites

Lawmakers take aim at social-networking sites


A proposed federal law, Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA, would soon make many social networking sites such as Myspace, Blogger, and others from being accessible on library and public school computers for minors. This is not the most disturbing part, as there are other programs that would be blocked under this legislation including AOL and Yahoo Instant Messenger.

As always, the idea behind this proposal is that it would protect children from online predators. Ah, yes because online predators unlike those in real life can reach out and grab your children and kidnap them. OH WAIT, the child has to provide personal information and in most cases establish contact with the predator? Hm.

In the talk I saw from danah boyd last Thursday, she discussed how online predators aren't nearly as mysterious and rampant as we might think. Most of the time, the girls that get into trouble with these creepos are fully aware before they meet their "online friend" of their age difference (and through this revelation would be able to ask themselves - "Why would a 40 year old want to hang out with a 15 year old?") and choose to meet them anyhow.

Libraries, schools, and *gasp* parents could provide information about how to protect oneself from predators--both online and otherwise. Instead of blocking these websites and messaging services that are principally used for communication among already established friends (because parents won't let them go out because their baby needs to have 500 extra curriculars to get into ___ University...ok that's really beside the point but whatever.)

Blocking this social outlet for young people is not only destructive and extremely unneccessary. Being under 18 does not make one socially incompetent. Minors haven't forgotten the "dont' talk to strangers" policy and if one worries they have, all they need is a simple reminder.


by Mollster at September 19, 2006 03:41 AM

Paul Jones

McConnville domes in .PT

Id in Dome
Not the PT Cruiser which is cruisin’ fine now thanks, but the country of Portugal. David was there for Fulldome 2006’s Workshop in Immersive Cinema as one of the faculty/speakers for the event/

by Paul at September 19, 2006 02:22 AM

Carolyn Hanks

Casing Online

In the Sunday Styles section of the 17 September NY Times, Stephanie Rosenbloom (A Sense of Belonging among Belongings) writes about a new social network service, zebo.com, describing it as a “MTV Cribs for the masses.” Zebo identifies itself as “the world’s largest repository of what people own.” Here, you can post what you own, what you claim to own, or what you’d like to own. I love it. Why? You can make your virtual friends online (say MySpace), then have them over to check out your place (zebo), providing, in lieu of a floor plan, a detailed list of everything you own. You can even organize your list to reflect the order of how your virtual guest would encounter the items if an “actual” visit — depending on your intention, that could mean a trip from the front door, through the foyer, into the living room, kitchen, etc., or, pardon my raciness, just straight in the door and up to your bedroom (thread count specifications will help those with sensitive, delicate or pampered skin). And, the more detailed, the better one can case your home from on-line and identify items for their local fence.

Oh, and I looked at some profiles — people are also listing pets, in addition to their material goods — e.g., playstations and automobiles and misspelled designer shoes (Blahnik, not Blanik, you zeboites).

Why else do I love it? Because our identity isn’t just our values, beliefs, preferences, political affiliations, relationship status, etc. (boring!) — it is also very much what we own. So, I say thanks zebo.com for giving us all another avenue to show it off. More opportunities to covet what others have (envy for sport) will benefit us all. Not only can you attempt to keep up with the Joneses’ on your street, but you will now have the information to keep up with Joneses’ in Arkansas, Winnipeg, and Nevada.

One more thing — as I wrote above, you can also just register “what you want.” I appreciate that, allowing me to let people know what I want rather than having to wait — impatiently — for him or her to ask (and today, that is this).

by hank at September 19, 2006 02:10 AM

September 18, 2006

Paul Jones

Songphan Choemprayong

หญิงหม้ายแห่งเซนต์-ปิแอร์

ช่วงปลายศตวรรษที่ 19 ซึ่งเป็นช่วงเวลาท่ี่แคนาดาปกครองโดยฝรั่งเศส บนหมู่เกาะอันห่างไกลและเงียบสงบที่มีว่า เซนต์-ปิแอร์ (Saint Pierre) Neel ชายหนุ่มรายหนึ่งในเมืองได้ก่ออาชญากรรม (แบบ non-sense มากอ่ะ) และถูกตัดสินประหารชีวิต แล้วถูกควบคุมโดยกัปตัน Jean และภรรยา Pauline (หรือมาดาม La) แต่เนื่องจากความที่เป็นเมืองเล็ก ๆ ไม่มี Guillotine ต้องรอให้ทางการส่ง Guillotine นี้มาให้ อีกทั้งในเมืองก็ไม่มีนักประหารก็ต้องมีการตามหา ซึ่งแน่นอนต้องใช้เวลา ด้วยความเป็นคนใจดี และมีสิเหน่หาแก่ Neel มาดาม La เลยขอ Neel ให้มาช่วยงานและเป็นผู้ติดตาม โดยที่ Neel ไม่ต้องอยู่ในคุกตลอดเวลา  ด้วยความที่สามีผู้มีความรักและรู้ใจภรรยาเป็นอย่างดี กัปตัน Jean ผู้เป็นสามีเลยอนุญาตตามคำขอ มาดาม La พยายามจะพิสูจน์ให้คนทั้งเมืองตระหนักว่า คนเราไม่ได้เลวเสมอไป มันต้องมีความดีอยู่บ้าง และในที่สุด Neel ก็เอาชนะใจคนทั้งเมือง และกระนั้น Guillotine ก็มาถึงเมืองพอดี ส่วนกัปตัน Jean [...]

by iTeau at September 18, 2006 02:15 PM

The most econonic vehicle

I got this from forwarded mail. Don’t know exactly who took this picture and where is it. It looks like somewhere in SE Asia. Maybe it is Thailand, because it forwarded from my Thai friend.

by iTeau at September 18, 2006 01:47 PM

September 17, 2006

Molly Jamison

Eww.

My sister and I had a really funny conversation over dinner last night about how what you dislike really says more about you than what you supposedly 'like'. I mean, almost everyone likes choclate but I'd rather hear about the person that doesn't like it and why.

I googled 'i don't like' and I think it's one of my favorite search results ever.

So, here goes this is what I irrationally dislike:

  • french pedicures - they look like little hands...gross.

  • "The Notebook" - I've seen way too many away messages quoting this movie in pink swirly letters. And no, I still haven't seen it.

  • How Toiletries for Men always have grips on them - I'm sure it comes in handy like "Thank GOD I have these grips on here so I can put on my deodorant while I'm XTREME skiing with my boys!!"

  • Horse People - Sorry if you love horses but I don't...which leads to a big question: Why do people who ride horses have reallllyyyy long hair? It's just a little bit weird.

  • Any sport that requires glitter hairspray - I say sport in a general sense because I really don't think that any sport should require tons of makeup which is later sweated off during physical activity. It's just impractical.

  • Curly Hair With Straightened Bangs - popularized in the 80's. It was a bad idea then and now. Seriously, it just goes against nature and common sense.

There's always distinct reasons for disliking something whereas when you like something (i.e. - how i like Starbucks and polka dots) the best you can say really is, "I dunno, I just like it".

by Mollster at September 17, 2006 03:48 AM

My Hobbies? umm...I dunno...stuff?

http://www.dooce.com/ - "Having Dated Walking Red Flags"

My sister sent me this link (it's the September 15th entry I'm referring to btw) and it mentioned how a blog about relationship dealbreakers is a great way to spice up your material. Now, I won't go into detail about what mine are but this tip is absolutely dead-on (just look at the comments for evidence)

As I wrote before, knowing someone's dislikes are definitely a great way to get to know more about a person. What would be funny and interesting to see is a social networking sites that comes up with more creative categories in the 'about me' section outside of the typical 'interests'. I know I freeze when people just ask me what my 'hobbies' are but if they're like "What's your favorite reality show?" I can pop out my completely embarassing response, "Top Model" just like that.  

Personally, I'd rather see "favorite meal of the day", "relationship dealbreakers", "favorite childhood tv show", etc. Those are really what make a person unique and lets face it, I'm so tired of people putting in their interests that the like 'having fun'. ("OMG. look! ___ is interested in having fun too?! God, finally someone who isn't interested 'having an absolutely miserable time'!")

And it'd be cool to meet another girl who also can't date a guy who wears gold chains.



by Mollster at September 17, 2006 03:45 AM

Facebook - The #1 Source for Boring Gossip

Let's compare and contrast the complaints shall we?


Let's be honest, everyone's still talking about the facebook "Mini Feed" and "News Feed." It's getting almost as old as people saying they're "bringing sexy back."

(PS- you're not.)

I guess all this can make one sympathize with the celebrities who complain about the poparazzi. Add some pictures, expensive clothes, anorexia, and (maybe) talent and you've got the people.com home page.

If there's gonna be a news feed, I demand details and pictures of the parties at hand looking angry without makeup carrying a coffee and commentary on why that couple that I see everywhere suddenly broke up. If you're gonna provide stalker tools you gotta go all the way. Perhaps message boards where people can discuss the news feeds? or even better, how about we receive an Oscar (or more realistically a Teen Choice award) and millions of dollars from the deal?


by Mollster at September 17, 2006 03:40 AM

Como What?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2422125 - Como What?!

I know I already did my generic facebook complaining post but seriously, why would they do that?! (By that, if you are too lazy to read the article they're going to open up facebook to people not in college or high school who receive invitations from current users)

Facebook's whole appeal is its exclusivity.

  1. Before (When only college students were on facebook): "Yay! I'm going to ___ College! OOh I'm gonna get a facebook now!"
  2. Later (When they introduced high school facebook): "Yay! I'm out of middle school! I'm so awesome that I'm getting a facebook and a myspace!"
  3. Now (Or atleast after they introduce this change): "Wow, this is so convenient! This site was made for stalkers like me! I get first names, last names, all online activity--vital tools necessary to keep up with my creepy lifestyle all in a convenient place!"


Ok maybe that's not always true but anyone with friends who are not in high school or college and are interested in being in a social networking site are already on myspace anyways.

It will be very interesting to see what the effects of all this are since Facebook profiles often contain a lot more personal information than on other sites (i.e. - residence hall, cell phone number, class schedule, etc.).

Either way, I probably won't be creeped out enough to change until I get a message that says "Hot pics" or an equally disturbing message from someone who I really don't even know or could possibly know. Not sure what a message would say that would creep college boys out...but I'm sure I'll hear about an instance of one after this debuts and it will be hilarious. 

by Mollster at September 17, 2006 03:21 AM

September 16, 2006

Reid Spivey

Roommate #1

so i promised in the last posting, that i would give a little insight on my roommates and the crazy things that happen. first of is Mubin, or “Bean” as we call him. Judging by his name he’s from Pakistan, well his parents are atleast. He’s been one of my friends for about 3 years and i drug him to Chapel Hill with me when i transfered. There have been alot of crazy times that we’ve had. for example he was drunk the other night and began to try and arrest our footrest. As well as beat up my friends old bike which he said was talkin bad about him. Anyway there are more good times to come.

by sscrzyheel at September 16, 2006 04:13 PM

Songphan Choemprayong

Myspace: the worst website

An article in PC world, contributed by Dan Tynan, rated myspace as the worst website. The article evaluates the vulnerability of the websites. Here is the excerpt from the article about myspace. The ease with which anyone of any age can create a page, upload photos, share deeply personal details of their lives, and [...]

by iTeau at September 16, 2006 03:19 PM

Carolyn Hanks

Wednesdays at the Center (Duke)

My dear friend Todd (fellow west-side Cleveland native and oldest of twelve siblings; I am only the fourth of a scant six) will be in Durham this week to co-star in an informal talk for the Wednesdays at the Center series at Duke’s John Hope Franklin Center. Another upcoming talk that might be of interest to my classmates in Paul’s JOMC 490 is “Portraying a Social Disaster: How the Media Makes Sense out of Chaos,” by Jon Pessah, Grant Farred, and Angela Jarman on September 27th at noon.

Specifics:
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
John Hope Franklin Center, Room 240
Mood Swings: The Aesthetics of Ambient Emergence
N. Katherine Hayles and Todd Gannon

by hank at September 16, 2006 01:32 PM