Showing all posts about legacy

What might have happened if the internet was not invented?

1 March 2010

The other week, an article written in 1995 by Clifford Stoll who — in short — could see no future for the internet, resurfaced.

While events obviously took a different course, Stoll’s words started me wondering about a world without an internet, and what our lives in 2010 might be like in the absence of this “most trendy and oversold community”, as Stoll put it.

And faster than Marty McFly and Doc Brown can conjure up an alternative timeline, here we are, a day in my life, in an un-wired, web-less, 2010.

The day begins like this, as always…

I go down to my letter box. There are three letters, a bill, two magazines, and the daily newspaper. A prominently placed front-page article boasts of a circulation increase of 0.1%, according to the latest readership audit.

Over breakfast I continue scanning the paper. The music industry is on the war path. Again. They can’t seem to shut down the groups who are bootlegging albums, by burning them onto DVDs and then selling them for — quite literally — a song on the street.

Before settling into the day’s work I quickly reply to the letters I’ve received, this is a breeze since nowadays people mostly only write letters that are a paragraph or two long. And given they now only cost five cents to send, literally millions are exchanged daily in Australia.

Getting down to work, I need to do some research

I work from home as a freelance writer. I work for a number of what are called street magazines, which are independently produced publications.

Sometimes several people operate them, sometimes they are the work of one person, an editor, who also relies on contributions from freelance writers.

But more on street magazines later.

I work using a computerised pad like device about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. The top section has a screen, while the lower part has a keypad.

I can send output to either a printer, via fax (the Victorian age technology has really stood the test of time), or save it as a text file to a floppy disc, which I can courier to whomever I’m writing for.

I have two article deadlines in two days time, and will need to spend a couple of hours at the local library doing some research for them.

Some of those street magazines are quality rags

Some of the more popular publications do really well, and thanks to their numerous sponsors, turn out top-shelf editions each week.

People like Jason Kottke, Karen Cheng, John Gruber, and Duncan Macleod who runs a zine called The Inspiration Room, are considered some of the big names in street magazine publishing.

What makes one street magazine more popular than another? I have no idea really. Quality content for sure, but I think luck has a lot to do with it also. That hasn’t stopped a large number of hopefuls from publishing street magazines on how to publish street magazines though.

Clearly these sorts of publications don’t bother the established newspapers though, who are after all, boasting of increases in their readership.

Producing your own street magazine is also easy

Self publishing really caught on with the advent of photo-copy print machines, and because they are so cheap and easy to operate, they can be found in most corner stores, newsagents, and supermarkets.

The whole process is incredibly simple. You write content using your computer’s word-processor, and then, when finished, export the file to a floppy disc. Then it’s away to the nearest photo-copy print machine.

You simply insert the floppy disc in the yellow slot, select from a number of print-out (or publishing) options, insert some money, and a few minutes later you are a published author, proudly holding your paperback — which is usually A5 size by the way — in your hands.

Sites that offer photo-copy printing services also allow you to place your publications in vending shelves, for a small fee. Your readers can then come along and pick up your latest work.

Cafes, bars, cinemas, and even public transport services, also have distribution facilities, so publishers with good advertising revenue can afford to widely circulate their magazines.

Instead of Facebook and social networks

The way you meet people in this world is truly weird.

Case in point. I was just over at the supermarket when a girl smiled and waved at me. This puzzled me as she didn’t look familiar, so I asked if I knew her from somewhere. She looked perplexed. “I was just wondering if you wanted to be friends,” she said.

Maybe it was the way I was looking at her, as if she had stepped out of a flying saucer or some such.

“Well, what do you expect me to do? Send you a photo, a bio, and a list of my friends to you, or something? Come on, what sort of world do you think we live in? The Star Trek universe?”

We ended up shrugging at each other and went our separate ways.

Coffee meetings and face to face networking

Today is when the weekly writers coffee group meets. We get together every week to chat, network, and compare notes.

One guy there today was in a very excitable mood though, “you know, this is far more than people sitting in a cafe chatting, exchanging information and tips, it’s a… I don’t know, er, community network, a like, social network, you know?”

A social network? That sounds kind of cool. We all nodded meaningfully, and resumed our random chatter.

Instead of Twitter, micro-blogging, and text messaging

On returning home from the coffee group, there are a stack of “slips” in my letter box.

Slips are a micro revolution in what I call — for want of a better term — instant communication. Basically people can send 150 character messages to each other via the postal service.

In Australia for example you pay $100 a month and can send up to 500 slips. To send one you call the Post Office service centre, where a communications consultant transcribes your message, and then faxes it to the post office nearest to where the recipient lives.

Slips are delivered through out the day, though not so often in rural areas, by people who drive around in very distinct red and blue striped vans.

The big advantage of slips is in their brevity. People often can’t be bothered making a phone call or writing a letter, especially if they only want to tell their friends what they had for lunch or where they were at a certain time, so slips really took off.

Designed to be recycled, and printed on fax paper with a special ink that fades after a few days, they have also proved a boon for postal services worldwide as a result of their popularity.

Advertising is also carried on the back of slips, making the concept a veritable gold mine.

The future of the future is still televised

I watch as someone called Steve Jobs walks onto a stage at a trade show with a pad like device very similar to what I use. Except it has what Jobs’ refers to as a dongle attached to it.

The “dongle”, which is about the size of a packet of chewing gum, is a wireless transmitting device that allow computers to talk to each other, and also share information and files. It will change the very essence of our lives, Jobs says.

We’ll be able to buy music and movie files through the dongle somehow, publish street magazines “online”, and even meet people the same way. Yeah, right.

Quite a few people in the audience are clearly excited by what he is saying. But not me. Such a thing will never catch on.

I flick the TV off, and as I take delivery of the day’s last batch of slips, prepare to spend the rest of the evening reading through the growing pile of street magazines that I subscribe to.

An “online” world?

I couldn’t possibly imagine living in such a place. If you disagree though, please send me a slip or letter. Good night.

Originally published Monday 1 March 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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blogs, humour, legacy, self publishing, social media, social networks, technology

Classical recital etiquette protocols? Thought you’d never ask

22 February 2010

Classical, or chamber, music recitals were not events I went along to a whole lot until I was introduced to the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) last year.

Going to see a band, either in concert or at the local pub, seems — to me — like something that requires no thought it’s so natural, but what about a classical music performance, isn’t that, you know, different?

Aren’t there dress codes (top hat and tails?) and other protocols to be observed? Or, you’ve been asked to go along to a show with the company’s CEO, have no idea what happens, and are keen not to distinguish yourself for the wrong reasons?

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person to have ever wondered about such things, so here we go, a guide and some tips to the etiquette and protocols of attending classical music recitals.

What’s the dress code, what should I wear?

This seems to be the main concern of many first time recital-goers, and I’m pleased to report that top hat and tails are generally not necessary.

For me though, someone who only wears a suit once in a Blue Moon, dressing up is part of the fun of going along to a recital. I don’t usually bother with a tie though, I only wear those once every couple of Blue Moons, but at the very least think “smart casual” if wondering what to wear.

Be punctual, there’s nothing worse than being shut out

The best idea is to plan to arrive early.

There’s an important difference between going to a movie and being late, and a recital and being late, the recital is a live performance.

Unlike their big screen counterparts, live performers find it a lot harder to ignore the distraction of latecomers trying to find their seat, which is invariably at the front of the house.

Then there’s the matter of trampling on the toes of audience members sharing your row, and blocking the view of others behind.

In all likelihood though, if you are late, you’ll be barred from entering the auditorium, until there is a significant break in the music, or at intermission.

So, arrive early, have a drink at the bar, and acquaint yourself with the show program, while you wait for curtain up.

Applause, when do I clap?

While pauses during a song or composition are common to all musical genres, classical music is replete with silences and breaks. This can often confuse those unfamiliar with the music being performed, who often think it is complete, and start clapping.

You don’t want to be that person. Unless you are well acquainted with the music, wait until everyone else is applauding before you join in.

Also watch the performers for end-of-play cues, members of the ACO for example usually raise their violin or cello bows above their heads at the conclusion of a piece.

Photos, recording, and mobile phones

Taking photos and video recording during a recital are generally a big no no. A few snaps of the concert hall, and empty stage, before the performance may be ok though, but the check show program, or ask someone, before you pull your camera out.

Needless to say mobile phones should be switched off or set to silent mode.

Take some time out at intermission

Most recitals have an intermission break after about 45 minutes, which tend to last for about 20 minutes. If you need to go to the bathroom, or return an urgent call from the boss, intermission is the time.

It’s also a good idea to get up and stretch your legs, the show will be a little more enjoyable if you don’t feel restless.

How long does the show usually last?

While it depends on the pieces being performed, recitals tend to run for about 90 minutes with a 20 minute intermission about half way through, so all up, about two hours. The show program should have the exact times of the performances.

Read the show program

I’ve mentioned the show program a few times, and trust me, it’s a good idea to read through it, especially if you are not a regular recital goer. They usually include details of recital and intermission times, and of course information about the music being played.

There’s nothing like looking as if you know what you are doing.

Originally published Monday 22 February 2010.

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legacy, live music, music

How does the Oscar nomination and voting process work?

16 February 2010

NOTE: this is a legacy article published in 2010. Much of the information presented is likely now out of date.

While the movie buff in me takes an avid interest in who wins what in the Academy Awards each year, I’ve never given much thought to how a film reaches the winning list, aside from the fact it must be good — or reasonably good — and was favoured by members of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), who preside over the venerable award.

And as it turns out, after doing a little research into the process, garnering an AMPAS member’s favour is the very first thing a film must do, if it is to set itself along the Oscar winning pathway.

Favour, choices, AMPAS branches, and nominations

The nomination process commences when each of the 5,777 members of AMPAS, or the Academy, are asked to select their favourite eligible ¹ films — usually five — from the preceding year.

The Academy is split into 15 branches, which represent the various aspects of the film production process, and include actors, directors, writers, producers, and visual effects branches, to name a few.

Branch members are only able to nominate “in-house” however. For instance members of the Writers Branch can only nominate film writers for an award, they cannot, for example, choose actors or directors.

Member numbers can vary across branches, and the Academy as a whole, from year to year, and this can have an effect on the overall process, but more on that shortly.

Preferential voting and magic numbers

The choices made by branch members, which are ranked preferentially from one to five, are sent to accounting and auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), who then count the selections — manually — and after much sifting of paper, eventually determine the top five choices — or nominations — in each Oscar category.

To be in the running a film must receive at least one number one ranking from a member, or it is eliminated from the count. PwC go through all the votes, or selections, short-listing the top five number one ranked films in each category.

Taking the Animated Feature Film category as an example, here’s how the nomination selection process might work. This year the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch of the AMPAS has 340 members.

PwC divides this number by 6 ², which equals about 56. To make the grade therefore, a film must secure at least 56 number one votes from members of this branch.

For example 63 members might have selected “Coraline” as their first choice. Another 62 might have chosen “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as their first choice, another 61 “The Princess and the Frog”, 60 “The Secret of Kells”, and finally 57 “Up” ³.

Any other animated features that may have been voted as a top choice by members of the branch are now eliminated, as they did not receive enough votes to make the top five in the category.

It gets complicated — sometimes very complicated — however if five movies do not reach the minimum vote threshold, and this is where the preferential voting system comes into play.

They [the PwC team] then look at the piles still left on the table and get rid of the one with the smallest amount of votes, redistributing them to other piles ranked on the 2nd favourite film on the ballots. If the number 2 choice has already been eliminated then they go to the 3rd choice and so on. Once that’s taken place they count again, if a film hits the magic number it’s taken off the table and is a nominee.

Changes to the number of Best Picture nominations

This year, for the first time since 1943, there are ten movies competing for the Best Picture gong, rather than the usual five, meaning the PwC team would have short-listed the top ten, rather than top five, number one voted films for this category.

The Visual Effects and Make Up categories are the only other exceptions to the five nominations per category rule this year, each sporting three contenders.

Voting and electing the winners

The final voting process is relatively similar to the nomination process.

Once nominations have been finalised, Academy members are sent ballot papers, and again using a preferential voting system, make their selections.

At this stage though, just two people at PwC are involved in counting the votes, and they remain the only ones to know the final results, until the winners are announced on Oscars night.

Controversy in Best Picture decisions

For all its mathematical precision, there is still no guarantee that the best film will be accorded the Best Picture award. 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, a superbly made movie in my opinion, could be considered a case in point.

Despite winning a slew of other film awards, and five Oscar nominations, it nevertheless missed the Best Picture award. It was suggested the Academy shunned the movie in the final round of voting as members were uncomfortable with a gay love story.

After “Brokeback Mountain” won an unprecedented number of precursor awards for best picture — 26 — it entered the Oscars with the most nominations and was considered a shoo-in to win best picture. That is, until the majority of its members — straight, ole, self-absorbed, guy geezers, as legend has it — refused to embrace the gay movie and so they gave their top prize to “Crash.”

That said, “Crash” was still a very good film.

And, to date, no science fiction or animated films, have received a Best Picture award, suggesting the Academy prefers only certain film genres.

Other factors influencing Oscar nominations

While nominations ultimately boil down to the individual tastes of the Academy’s 5,777 members, certain factors may sway their decision.

For example in 2008 sociologists from Harvard University, and the University of California, found female actors appearing in dramas, rather than comedies, were more likely than their contemporaries to score an Oscar nomination.

Academy Award nominations tend to go to performers in dramas, who are female, who have been nominated in the past and who command a high rank in the movie-credit pecking order.

And finally if I were a member of the Academy…

My ten choices — for Best Picture — this year would be:

• An Education
• Up
• The Road
• Up in the Air
• Watchmen
• Star Trek (a long shot, but…)
• Looking For Eric
• (500) Days of Summer
• Beautiful Kate
• Is Anybody There?

These are not, unfortunately, ranked preferentially (though “An Education” would still be very near the top), plus I’m not 100 per-cent sure that all titles are eligible for this year’s awards.

And just so you know, this year’s Oscar awards take place on Sunday, 7 March, 2010, or Monday afternoon, 8 March, as it will be in this part of the world.

(Sources: Wikipedia, Radio 1 Movies Blog, Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Live Science, Gold Derby.)

Originally published Tuesday 16 February 2010.

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Book launch: Futuretainment by Mike Walsh, Sydney, 1 December 2009

2 December 2009

Last night Mike Walsh launched his new book Futuretainment – which looks at the future of media and marketing – at the Hotel CBD in Sydney. He spoke with technology journalist Brad Howarth, and offered a few of his insights into advertising and marketing, particularly in Asia, together with a couple of trend predictions for 2010.

• People born after 1994 are digital “naturals”. They have never lived in a world without web browsers.
• “Naturals” have never known a time when they cannot access decent content somewhere online.
• Content producers and creators (copy-righters) such as musicians are effectively marketers.
• Musicians, for example, encourage “content theft”… they don\’t make revenue from recorded music, that comes from sales of merchandise, live performances, etc.
• Social networks drive TV programming. People increasingly watch what is forwarded to them (videos, links to videos).
• Viewers are deciding what they will watch, not the TV networks.
• How will content producers make money? Become a celebrity… cue Ashton Kutcher and his declaration to become “the next new-media mogul“.
• Japan excels at producing content for mobile phones.
• The Chinese know how to make money with social networks. QQ, a Chinese variation of Facebook, made US$1 billion last year.
• In Korea people watch more TV shows on mobile phones than a television.
• Digital consumers in Asia are generally very tech savvy, have access to unlimited bandwidth, and have little regard for copyright.
• Ninety per cent of Chinese internet users have broadband, which is considerably faster than that available in Australia.
• Augmented reality will put consumers in control by way of real time product and service reviews and critiques.

Originally published Wednesday 2 December 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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There was once a place called Doggerland in Europe

3 September 2009

A landmass that connected what is now Great Britain to continental Europe, once existed up until about eight and half thousand years ago, and is known as Doggerland… at least by more contemporary geologists and scientists, that is.

Map/illustration by National Geographic Magazine staff.

Originally published Tuesday 3 September 2013.

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geology, history, legacy

You can travel no further back in time than 1955

18 August 2009

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the latest in a long line of time travel themed movies, and according to physicist Dave Goldberg, makes for a more realistic representation of time travel than most of the (fiction) served to date.

But this is interesting, time travel is (theoretically) only possible to points in time where a time machine already exists, according to Goldberg.

In other words, for Marty McFly to travel from 1985 to back to 1955, as he did in Back to the Future, a DeLorean like time machine would already need to have been in existence in 1955…

According to Einstein’s picture of the universe, space and time are curved and very closely related to each other. This means that traveling through time would be much like traveling through a tunnel in space — in which case you’d need both an entrance and an exit. As a time traveler, you can’t visit an era unless there’s already a time machine when you get there — an off-ramp. This helps explain why we’re not visited by time-traveling tourists from our own future. Futuristic humans don’t drop in for dinner because we haven’t yet invented time travel.

Of course the concept of time travel — in the form of the Flux Capacitor — did exist in 1955, it simply hadn’t taken physical form… does that count?

Originally published Tuesday 18 August 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Colliding galaxies, an insight into Milkomeda’s formation?

12 July 2009

Eventually our galaxy will collide (or, if you prefer, merge) with the Andromeda galaxy forming a new body some are already calling Milkomeda.

But this photo of four galaxies colliding — by the way — at speeds of up to two million miles (or 3.2 million kilometres) an hour, may be an indication of what to expect when Milkomeda does form.

Originally published Sunday 12 July 2009

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Babies’ names are not carried far and wide by the internet

3 July 2009

Interesting premise, the rise of the internet, and even globalisation, has not quite created the global village that many people predicted it would.

At least this is the opinion of two researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, after studying names given to babies since 1995. They found naming trends tended to remain local rather global, despite the rise of email and the ability to spread ideas, and share information, quickly online.

The two researchers’ study of the spread of new names was prompted by their discovery that the relationship between the number of private e-mails sent in America and the distance between sender and recipient falls off far more steeply than they expected. People are overwhelmingly e-mailing others in the same city, rather than those far away.

Originally published Friday 3 July 2009.

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Rebekah Horne of MySpace Australia, talks to Mike Walsh at Fourth Estate Domain

17 June 2009

Rebekah Horne is the Australian head of MySpace, and Vice President of Fox Interactive Media. She also oversees the IGN, Rotten Tomatoes, and Ask Men websites.

Last night she spoke to Mike Walsh as part of the Fourth Estate Domain On the Couch interview series, in Sydney. Here’s some of what we heard.

• Yes, Horne has a MySpace profile, and refers to social networking rival, Facebook, as “the other site”, or “F Book”…
• 78 per cent of the MySpace audience in Australia is 18 or over.
• MySpace memberships grew six per cent in March compared with 3.6 per cent growth for Facebook.
• There are some 40,000 Australian bands on MySpace, both signed and unsigned acts.
• MySpace widget, or application, developers have been guaranteed recompense for their work, being the revenue generated from ads associated with their widget.
• Australia is a great market for creative content producers, but producing a video series for Web TV, such as quarterlife, is still expensive, and it can cost in the order of $200,000 to produce a series of three to five minute “webisodes”.
• The recently launched MySpace TV is interested in hearing from creative content producers who have ideas.
• MySpace Mobile is “going gangbusters” receiving two million page impressions out of a total of one billion impressions for mobile.
• PlayStation Portable is the most popular device used to access MySpace Mobile.

Originally published Wednesday 17 June 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Tastemakers to get a bite of Star Trek at Sydney Opera House

26 March 2009

The Sydney Opera House will host the world premiere of the new Star Trek movie, on Tuesday 7 April 2009, before an audience of 1600 tastemakers (Internet Archive link):

Director JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek movie will have its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House next month, presented by Aussie star Eric Bana. Abrams, Bana and co-stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban will present the blockbuster to 1,600 tastemakers in art, design, entertainment, fashion, media and politics on April 7. It is only the third time a film has debuted at the Sydney Opera House, and the first time a premiere has been held in the concert hall.

I wonder what it takes to become a Star Trek tastemaker then?

Originally published Thursday 26 March 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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