Accept no substitutes

Month: May 2005 (Page 2 of 3)

Confessing poet; poetic wax

Carrboro Poetry Fest Logo
The Chapel Hill News finally put Carrboro Poet Laureate Patrick Herron’s “My View” piece that was published last Sunday online so I can refer to it here. Patrick confesses that he manufactured the poem that won him his Poet Laureateship by looking about some poetic tropes and cliches then incorporating them into his submission. But the joke was on him. He had wanted to use the office of Poet Laureate to create a community of poets and to put together a Festival of very diverse poets and poetics. Now he had to actually do it. No excuses.
And he did. Last year, 40+ poets read in the course of two days to good crowds and good responses. And we had a blast.
This weekend will be the Second Annual Carrboro International Poetry Festival. Many different poets. Some old favorites. And some surprises (I’ve been assured).
Here’s how the Chapel Hill News promotes it in today’s edition.

Service Science?

Out at IBM today for University Day. This is a time when IBMers talk about programs that support the local Universities and for the Universities to talk about their programs — this time mostly Computer Science departments (NCSU, NC A&T, Duke, and UNC especially).
One recurring theme, besides my personally beloved Open Standards, Open Code, and the question of Patents, was the attempt to start a discussion of a new area of study, “Service Science.”
Don’t imagine burger flipping. Instead think that 70% of Americans work in jobs in the Service sector. That means you (most likely).
When we were mostly agricultural, we created and developed Agricultural Science (later agro-science). When we were mostly industrial, we created and developed Industrial Science . Both of these fields further specialized and as they grew our insight into agriculture and industry grew and our practices changed and some would argue became more effecient. (Wendell Berry or authors of “I’ll take my stand” would probably disagee, but history at least in the immediate term is not on their side, but there is still resistance or at least a different tact on Agro-Industry Science).
That said, the IBM take on services is broad, very broad. It includes Grid Computing and social conscience as in the World Community Grid, services to customers like autonomic computing, and technological advances that drive and support services, as well as business and management practices like say remote group work, collaboration, extreme programming and the like.
To some extent, Services Science shows IBM taking a gamble at entering into Social Sciences. And other press is already out on this from Cnet, in an interview with Jim Spoher of IBM’s Almaden Services Research in which he calls Services Science the “coevolution of technology and business innovations”, in a Technology Review article called “Research in Development” featuring SILS Graduation speaker Paul Horn, and even in academic papers such as “The Role of Text Analytics in Managing of Intangible Assets and the Emergence of Service Science” by Dr. Wlodek Zadrozny.
So this is serious here. The question is whether Service Science is the buzzword of the quarter heating up only to fade as the insipid Knowledge Management seems to have or will it usher in a seachange of research and education. NCSU’s Michael Rappa, in a hallway conversation with speaker Lillian Wu and myself, points us to the sociology and history of science studies for clues.

Note: one of my appointments is in a School of Information and Library Science.

Carrboro Poetry: Schedule Released

Folks kept asking “When are you reading at the Carrboro Poetry Festival?” Now I know. Between noon and 1:30 on Sunday May 22. But there are many others reading at other times. Poet’s bios [here] are in alphabetical order by first name. Here’s what we have of the still unofficial schedule so far:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday May 21 12 PM – 9 PM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11:00 SETUP/FOOD

Session A 12 PM – 1:30 PM
A 12:00 OPENING
12:15 Amy King
12:30 Julian Semilian
12:45 Sue Soltis
1:00 Todd Sandvik
1:15 Mel Nichols

1:30 15 MIN BREAK

Session B 1:45 PM – 3:05 PM
B 1:45 INTRO
1:50 Ken Rumble
2:05 Tanya Olson
2:20 Dale Smith
2:35 Mary Margaret Sloan
2:50 Joseph Donahue

3:05 30 MIN BREAK

Session C 3:35 PM – 4:40 PM
C 3:35 INTRO
3:40 Standard Schaefer
3:55 Rod Smith
4:10 Evie Shockley
4:25 Linh Dinh

4:40 15 MIN BREAK
Session D 4:55 PM – 6:00 PM
D 4:55 INTRO
5:00 Heriberto Yepez
5:15 Allyssa Alexandra Wolf
5:30 Gerald Barrax
5:45 Tony Tost

6:00 DINNER BREAK

Session E 7:30 – 9 PM
E 7:30 INTRO
7:45 Carl Martin
8:00 Lee Ann Brown
8:15 Philip Nikolayev
8:30 Harryette Mullen
8:45 Christian Bok

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday May 22 12 PM – 6 PM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

11:00 SETUP/FOOD

Session F 12 PM – 1:30 PM
F 12:00 Introduction
12:15 Mack Ivey
12:30 Joanna Catherine Scott
12:45 Paul Jones
1:00 Chris Vitiello
1:15 TBD

1:30 15 MIN BREAK

Session G 1:45 PM – 2:50 PM
G 1:45 INTRO

1:50 Gabriel Gudding
2:05 Hoa Nguyen
2:20 Murat Nemet-Nejat
2:35 Patrick Herron

2:50 30 MIN BREAK

Session H 3:20 PM – 4:25 PM
H 3:20 INTRO
3:25 Reb Livingston
3:40 Hristo Ivanovski
3:55 Andrea Selch
4:10 Randall Williams

4:25 15 MIN BREAK

Session I 4:40 PM – 6 PM
4:45 Heidi Lynn Staples
5:00 Daniel J. Wideman
5:15 Marcus Slease
5:30 Tessa Joseph
5:45 CLOSING

Carrboro Poetry: One Week Warning!

Next weekend, Saturday May 21 and Sunday May 22, is the Carrboro International Poetry Festival. Carrboro Poet Laureate and alterego to Lester, Patrick Herron sends this alert:

The second annual Carrboro International Poetry Festival, to be held at the Century Center in downtown Carrboro, NC, starts in exactly one week on Saturday May 21. Admission is free.

This year’s festival, like last year’s, will feature 40 poets from the US, Canada, and Mexico. The mix of poets includes renowned poets from outside of North Carolina along with some of North Carolina’s finest poets, including a large contingent from the Triangle. [including moi – pj]

In the coming days the schedule of readers will be posted to the website. (http://carrboropoetryfestival.org/) All of the poets’ biographies are up on the site already. The festival website also contains all the travel information you’ll need, from a comprehensive listing of local accomodations to directions and parking maps. We even have mp3s of readings from last year’s event. [already on the website – pj]

If you are in North Carolina, please keep an eye out for articles about the event in The Chapel Hill News (tomorrow), The Independent (Wednesday), and the Raleigh News & Observer (Friday).

Please come to the festival. The hundreds that turned out to last year’s free event displayed an enthusiasm about poetry in a way I’ve frankly never seen before. I’ve tried my best to make it entertaining, fresh, and surprising. I expect to see more of that same energy and excitement, as I have worked to make the festival better–not bigger–but better.

I hope to see you next Saturday.
Patrick Herron

What: Carrboro International Poetry Festival
Where: Carrboro Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St, Carrboro, NC
When: Saturday May 21, 12 Noon – 9 PM and Sunday May 22, 12 Noon – 6 PM
URL: http://carrboropoetryfestival.org/

Google Accelerator: put on the brakes, stay out of clutches

WebAccelerator logo
The long, heated and open debate about the Google Web Accelerator seems to have slowed down. The Register, in their lovely snippy and witty way, covers the story as “Google puts the brake on Web Accelerator.” The lead: “Google has disabled downloads of its Web Accelerator software less than a week after introducing the service. The suspension follows reports that the software was caching sensitive content, such as user control panels to online forums.”
However Google says:
“Thank you for your interest in Google Web Accelerator. We have currently reached our maximum capacity of users and are actively working to increase the number of users we can support.”
More from the Google side of things at their FAQ. And from the blogosphere via Technorati. Dan Gillmor covered the problems a bit a week or so ago.

Yes Men Update / DowEthics /etc

I’m in a faculty retreat all day today. Whilst I’m out, here are some selections from the latest news letter from the Yes Men with updates on activities around their DowEthics site, how Dow VP for Acceptable Riskâ„¢, Erastus Hamm, explained the value of human life and acceptable risk to the International Payments 2005 Conference in London (includes video), how the State Department uses DowEthics, the Yes Men visit the Dow Shareholders Conference and more.

Bidnez of Music still great for Musicians

James Surowiecki essays in this week’s New Yorker that touring not only pays musicians better and more reliably, but it’s booming. “Hello, Cleveland” has good numbers and good writing.

The most concise observation comes from John Perry Barlow (via Surowiecki):
We are seeing the Music Business being replaced by the Musician Business.
The Music Business (labels etc) used to control the most valuable and expensive assets — production, distribution, costly studios, access to shelf space, promotion — but now the Musicians control the scarcest assets, therefore the most valuable, their performances live, their presence.
All goes to show that ole Walter Benjamin was wrong in his “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” As a work becomes more available the desire to experience the original increases, not decreases. The “aura” is stronger mysteriously to me — and to ole Walt — as the reproduced materials become better and more accessible. Our fetishism of the creator, the original, is growing as we become familiar with the works even in an indirect way.

“It’s funny that, in an era of file-sharing and iPod-stealing, the old troubadour may have the most lucrative gig of all.” (Surowiecki)

Roger McGuinn removes the “may” from Surowiecki’s sentence as he talks to USA Today’s Kevin Manley (in the context of music piracy in China and elsewhere):

While visiting USA TODAY last week, Roger McGuinn, who led the Byrds in the 1960s, said he earned just 0.0007 cents on each early Byrds album sold. He adds that although Arista Records sold 500,000 of his solo album, Back From Rio, McGuinn never got a penny. In other words, thanks to the machinations of the recording industry, McGuinn has never made any real money on even his most popular recorded music.

Yet he’s done OK and now has a forward-thinking business model. He has a Web site, www.mcguinn.com, where he posts free songs. McGuinn made his most recent solo CD [Limited Edition] by recording it on his laptop and paying to have copies produced and packaged. He sells the CDs online and at concerts and says it’s the first time he’s ever made a profit on an album.

The online music, the CD and a stalwart Byrds fan base all fuel interest in his live performances, which often sell out small venues. That’s where he makes his money. McGuinn is apparently not lavishly rich, but he seems comfortable and is still making music.

Beyond Heroes! (part 2)

Computerworld Honors image
In case we are selected as the top winner out of the five Finalists for the Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Awards on June 6th, we’re supposed to have sent the Computerworld folks some elements (images and video) that represent what ibiblio does (and did as sunsite and metalab). Then they will make a little video montage out of it.
Last year’s winner, the MIT Open Courseware Project, ended up looking like this.

What would you say represents at least part of what we’ve been doing in the past dozen years? Send me links or post here pleeeeeze! Pointers for screen grabs, pictures of folks who’ve been involved, primo collections, other things?
Sunsite folks in 1994

NYTimes blogging and blog reporting

Following the News and Observer which in turn follows the News and Record, the New York Times announced blog inclusive projects in two different announcements. First in the reorganization of their Business Section:

On Mondays, Business Day will focus on media and marketing news, with technology included as it relates to those industries. David Carr will write a column on new media; the world of blogs will be covered as a regular feature. [emphasis added]

Second, in an Editor and Publisher article, we learn:

An internal committee at The New York Times has recommended steps to increase readers’ confidence in the newspaper, including reducing errors, increasing coverage of religion, “rural areas” and “middle America,” making reporters and editors more accessible, and possibly starting a blog. [emphasis added]

and

Recommendation #4 reads: “Consider creating a Times blog that promotes interaction with readers.”

Wicked offer of space

The owners of our town eyesore, the long abandoned Wicked Burrito, have made the Town and offer: Find a suitable not-for-profit tennant that is willing to vacate on 30 days notice and we’ll let them use the space. This in a letter to Town Manager Cal Horton dated April 26, 2005.

Lonestar Steakhouse CEO Jamie Coulter challenges Cal in the letter:
“Put on your thinking cap and let me have your best ideas for a temporary occupant for the Wicked Burrito building. ” [full PDF of the letter]

Who/what would you suggest? Art gallery, rehearsal space, poetry readings?

Wicked wicked wicked

MLK Blvd Dedication

Sally’s hard work on the renaming of Airport Road came to a successful climax on this beautiful Sunday in the Dedication Ceremony, March and Party. Edith Wiggins and Sally were the two Council members on the committees for the renaming and the celebration. It was a long process, but a fruitful one.
Today on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s visit to Chapel Hill, there was a ceremony at Town Hall (live blogged by WillR on OrangePolitics), a sign unveiling (photographed by Ruby), a march to the Hargroves Center (where King spoke in 1960 the night before he spoke at the University), and a great party with music and BBQ. Several hundred folks took part in each of the activities on a beautiful clear Spring day.

Extreme Web Makeover for Chapel Hill

When a house or car is so far gone and so pathetic that it seems unsalvagable, the Extreme Makeover Team shows up and saves the day. The Town of Chapel Hill website, which may be been fine back in the day if that day was pre-1995, just “won” an extreme web Makeover. The extreme team from Civic Plus of Kansas selected the Town site over more than 130 other municipal government entries, according to the Civic Plus website.

As a part of the remake, Civic Plus will also host the Town’s website, provide training, and more.

“We are thrilled to receive this opportunity to better serve our citizens. The new web site will have a lot of features to help users find information quickly and offer more ways to interact with local government.”

Bob Avery
IT Director
Town of Chapel Hill, NC

Note: The Chapel Hill Public Library has already done its own extreme makeover on its own inititiative. There is more to be done to integrate the catalog systems, but it looks great! (I’m on the Library Board of Trustees, but the Library took the lead and managed all the work on the site. We, Trustees, encouraged and suggested only.)

There are questions here though. The award for the Town looks like a two year lock-in to a proprietary technology set hosted in Kansas which could result in a difficult migration to any other system later. Hosting public information off-site and out of state means giving up ownership of the Town’s information and although there is CMS style control, ultimately the Town loses control of their own information flow and presentation.

But potentially the worst part of the deal is that the Town will now be two years away from getting to a more integrated information technology infrastructure with parts of their information in Kansas and parts in various departments. The workflow needed to make the town work well will be difficult to manage and to migrate.

Tell me where I’m wrong or what I’ve left out.

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