Posts from — February 2004

OA for cultural heritage archives. Klaus Graf, Open Access fŸr Archivalien, Archivalia, February 17, 2004. Reflections on OA for cultural heritage archives, including reflections on copyright issues. Read the original German or Google's English. [Open Access News]

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Cultural heritage is a significant area of effort that OA can support and should support

Property Tax Windfall. Property Tax Spells Windfall For N.Va. The booming real estate market and skyrocketing home assessments in the Washington area have created a fountain of tax… [Outside the Beltway]

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lots of money in hand, means lots of money wasted, but if they invest in infrastructure, they might actually make a difference.

New Paltz.

As you no doubt know, on Friday, Feb.27, the mayor of the village of New Paltz, New York, conducted marriage ceremonies for 21 gay couples in front of a cheering crowd. (Click here and then click again to enlarge the glorious picture.) He was quoted as saying, “Absolutely, I’ll be doing this again.” (For more on the mayor, look here – tip to Kevin Drum.)

So, today (Saturday, Feb.28), my wife and I packed up our 3-1/2 year old to drive the hour south, hoping to be part of the celebration. We were going to have our daughter pass out flowers. Alas, the village offices were quiet. Still, we had a pleasant day – the town seemed to be buzzing, and we overheard bits of several conversations along the lines of: “Wasn’t it great how everybody turned out together in support.”

The legality of the marriages is not obvious – the New York State Consolidated Laws on Domestic Relations are surprisingly unclear on the issue of gender. I found what I would consider to be an implicit assumption that marriages are between a man and a woman in several places, such as article 4, section 50: “Property, real or personal … owned by a woman at the time of her marriage … shall not be subject to her husband’s control or disposal nor liable for his debts.” I’m no lawyer, but this hardly seems definitive.

Stonewall was over 30 years ago. I don’t know how these particular cases will eventually be decided, but here’s hoping that in 30 more years, we’ll look back at these past few weeks as another turning point.

[Crooked Timber]

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Why does it seem that only minor and local officials are willing to lead this issue? I think they are doing the right thing.

as i was walking home last night, i put two heavy metal covers back into place because someone had removed them and hadn't put in the effort to carry them more than a few feet. so my point of order here is, if you are going to try to steal something and carry it away, either make sure you have the will to carry it away, or better yet, choose something you do have the will to carry. I don't mind putting things back the way they belong, but i find the lack of effort people put into these things highly irritating.

the other thing is, learn what the right of way is for your locale and yield appropriately, of late I've had several people not yield appropriately when driving, and it is just bad form, not to mention illegal, so kindly learn to drive and follow the rules if you are going to drive.

those are my minor points of order today, just had to get them off my chest.

Two new game studies faculty at Tech. I'm happy to announce that two new games studies faculty, Ian Bogost and Michael Nitsche will be joing us at Georgia Tech this Fall. Some of you already know Ian from watercoolergames and as a frequent commentor here. Ian is… [grandtextauto.org]

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Cool, Ian has a job at GT:)

migrating, oh yes, tmttlt is migrating to a new domain, so switch and go to http://www.tmttlt.com for your future reference. there will be no more updates to this , the archival site

You're Catch-22!
by Joseph Heller
Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you
see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense
of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an
ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You
could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of
people.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

On Heterotopias.

Back in October, I promised Chris Locke I would point him to this short essay by Michel Foucault, “Of Other Spaces.” It originally appeared in English in diacritics 16 (Spring 1986), 22-27; Foucault had been tussling with the topic since the time of The Order of Things, where he introduces the utopia-heterotopia distinction. Good thinky thoughts, and now I finally fulfilled my promise.

[AKMA’s Random Thoughts]

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foucault.info has several texts which should still be under copyright….

• Chubin, Daryl E.ÊÊ(1976).ÊÊThe Conceptualization of Scientific Specialties.ÊÊSociological Quarterly 17: 448-476.ÊÊ

• Gardner, H.ÊÊ(1999).ÊÊThe Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand.ÊÊ New York:ÊÊSimon & Schuster.Ê
• Hull, D.L.ÊÊ(2000).ÊÊThe professionalization of science studies: Cutting some slack.ÊÊBiology and Philosophy 15: 61-91.ÊÊ
• Johann GštschlÊÊ(2001).ÊÊTransdisciplinarity: Dynamic interrelations between disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. in: E. Mariani (ed.).ÊÊUnity of Knowing and Doing: A Transdisciplinary Solution.ÊÊ
• Klein. J. & al. (eds)ÊÊ(2000).ÊÊTransdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving among Science, Technology, and Society Society.ÊÊ Basel:ÊÊBirkhŠuserÊ
• Nowotny, H., Scott, P., Gibbons M.ÊÊ(2001).ÊÊRe-Thinking Science. Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty.ÊÊ Cambridge:ÊÊPolity PressÊ

Creative Technology programs and transparency in academia. Geoffrey Rockwell made up a very cool “Creative Technology Curriculum”. I'd have loved to get a degree in that if it had been available when I got into college!

Geoffrey also points to a fascinating (if you're interested in the dynamics of academia) document in which the Faculty of Information Studies of the University of Toronto attempts to redefine itself. As Geoffrey writes,

In the paper the dean, Briank Cantwell Smith raises questions about
what is the subject of information studies (we all study information.)
He argues for an issues oriented, interdisciplinary centre that looks
at documentary practices and performances.

What is exciting about the process is that it is open (I can look at
it) and openness is also one of the issues (as in Open Source as an
issue.)

Perhaps what we need is a clear philosophy of open source research as a practice.

[Seb's Open Research]

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two interesting documents from seb today, well worth thinking about. the first is somewhat like the software arts degree, the latter is somewhat interestingly about the reformation of a major information school.