Open access to publicly-funded culture? A Retroflective post #TBLdownunder
Fatima Measham is today credited with the top tweet for the Tim Berners-Lee Down Under Tour (otherwise known on Twitter as #tbldownunder). It reads: Any work that’s been publicly funded should be available for free. #tbldownunder #aaronswartz — Fatima Measham (@foomeister) February 4, 2013 Aside from inventing the world wide web, that’s pretty much the...
Rewind: The Best of 2012
So it’s the end of another big year. With a view to stamping out any creeping amnesia about the year that was, I thought I’d set aside some poolside time in Sanur to reflect on the personal highlights of 2012. Some of my own making, some not so. And soon to follow, some ruminations on...
At the National Digital Forum
NZ National Digital Forum Keynote Presentation from Sarah Barns New Zealand’s National Digital Forum has quite a reputation among cultural heritage & museum types internationally, for the quality of its speakers and the integrity of its focus – and for good reason. This is a place that values speculative thinking, applauds technical prowess as much...
Book Chapter: From Social Butterly to Engaged Citizen (MIT 2011)
A new book on urban informatics hit the bookstores last December: From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen (MIT 2011) edited by Marcus Foth, Laura Forlano, Christine Satchell and Martin Gibbs. Congratulations to everyone involved in the creation of this impressive collection of case studies, reflections and stories from the front lines of the ever-expanding set...
Unguarded Moments – Art & About Sydney 2011
Unguarded Moments is a new project I’m working on as part of Art & About Sydney 2011. The project has been selected as the ‘City Villages’ project and will be based around the wharves of Walsh Bay and up through to Millers Point. For the project’s accompanying website, I’ve been able to set up some...
Remembering the Green Bans
I had the pleasure of attending a great forum at the Institute of Australian Geographers Conference on Tuesday on the topic of the Green Bans. This year we are seeing a number of events and articles on the topic, marking the 40th anniversary of this particularly intense period of urban activism in Australia. Bob and...
James Gleick on the Future of the Book
A little contribution to the reams of type currently circling the skies, relating to the future of the book. Written for creativeinnovation.net.au
The Death and Life of the Real-Time City
My PhD dissertation is now complete, and can be downloaded from this site.
ABC Open Archives on Pool
Through ABC Pool, I’ve been working to publish a number of the archival recordings featured on Sydney Sidetracks through an open access Creative Commons licence. That means they are now available for re-use and remix. The project is starting with the Sydney collection, but will be expanding to include other cities very soon. The project...
Sounding the city’s real times
It was 9am Sydney time on August 15 1945 when British Prime Minister Clement Atlee announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. “The last of our enemies is laid low” he said. “PEACE!” roared The Sun. In downtown Martin Place, massive crowds spontaneously gathered, to dance and make whoopie in celebration of the...
George St gets a makeover: 1906 to 2030
Publishing street level film archives online can lead to some interesting results. While the Powerhouse Museum have been exploring new uses of high-res images published from the Tyrrell Collection, I’ve also spotted a recent montage by Dan Hill which uses some of the film footage published through Sidetracks on Architect. Peering into the flow of...
On making Sidetracks
Apparently it’s not very easy to be offered access to the ABC’s TV and Radio archives. This strikes me as slightly odd – with the broadcaster so happy to lecture the Australian public that it’s ‘Our ABC’, and, increasingly ‘the town square’ of Australian media life, it would seem to me that a system enabling...
