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Category: News

Mismatched News

Published by Iris on Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

So much to tell, so little time, so here are the highlights:

That’s the quick stuff. I’ve got more to write about, so I’ll be back with a “feature length” post or two in a bit. (I attended a lecture that gave me some new ideas for library instruction.)

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Google’s Logo Questioned

Published by Iris on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

This post, Digitization 101: Google and copyright (moral rights), and in this one, Diglet: Google Takes Down Miro Logo Art, each reference a Mercury News article that makes me fear for this nation’s ability to do creative work.

Last week Google put up one of their signature logo-morphs that honored the artist Joan Miro, who’s family promptly requested that Google remove the altered logo because:

“There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights,” said Theodore Feder, president of Artists Rights Society. (see the Mercury News article)

Now, I’m not a copyright lawyer by any means, so I may be way off base here, but I find it very hard to believe that this logo infringed on Miro’s family’s rights in any way. First off, this work was transformative more than derivative. It certainly didn’t reduce the market value of the original, and it could even have increased interest in the original. In fact, the use seems to fall squarely within the language of Section 107 (the fair use section) of the US Code. This seems to be comment, or even news reporting, more than anything else.

If this is infringing, creative work over the next decades will be smothered to death.

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Google’s newest product

Published by Iris on Saturday, April 1st, 2006

For all of you that remember last year’s Google drinks, here’s today’s new Google product, the beta version of Google Romance. Here’s the Press Release. The FAQs are … informative, and the Tour is insightful. It has all the features we know and love about regular Google web searching, including “Did you mean…” and “I’m feeling lucky.” My favorite is the line that says:

It’s important to all of us on the Google Romance team that the ads you see during your Contextual Date be useful and enjoyable, not intrusive and annoying.

Seriously, you have to read the fine print on the tour and the FAQs.

Previous innovative projects have included MentalPlex (2000), PigeonRank (2002), and job oportunities on the moon (2004).

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The Croquet Project…. Very Cool

Published by Iris on Friday, March 31st, 2006

I don’t even know what to call it. It’s not a browser, though you can open browsers inside of it. It’s not really like anything else I’ve ever seen… which is part of what makes it so cool, though it takes more than novelty to get me excited about stuff. No, this is more like an environment.

The technical stuff is, quite frankly, so far over my head that it’s in danger of colliding with a planet or two. But here’s what I do understand about the Croquet Project:

  • Users can create and interact with their 3D surroundings, including opening browser windows, spreadsheets, or any other network-deliverable program.
  • Users can collaborate and interact with each other because everything in the environment is viewable by all the users. This means that if I open a browser, my student can watch me navigate, practice while I watch, or work with me to accomplish a task.
  • The Project accomplishes all of this via peer-to-peer networks… NO SERVERS! That’s right, this is server-less interaction, navigation, and collaboration.
  • Oh, and there are video and audio capabilities, too, so you can actually converse with people who are near you in the environment.

Did I mention that this is very cool? If you want to see a demo, here’s a link to a video featuring Preston Austin and Julian Lombardi (two developers of the project). You can also keep up with the project via the project’s several blogs, wikis, and links.

My biggest question: what does the name mean?

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