CORRECTION: Lawrence Lessig will actually be lecturing at Northwestern tonight, not on the 26th like I had heard before.
If you're in Chicago in you are somehow involved with digital communication (and who isn't?) you reall yshould make sure you go and listen to these people at the Digital Genre conference on May 30-31.
In other Digital Influencer conference news, the Chicago webloggers went out and put down $60 worth of PBR.
Two things I've learned from my present project:
New Mexio wins my worst state motor vehicle department website award. I've seen them all. If I had to give a best award it would be one of the Canadian provincal sites.
Hawaii has no state police, which means there was no real Hawaii Five-O.
A pair of interesting sites:
Two interesting articles:
A couple of really good weblogs. Instead of me linking to everything they're linking to, I'll let them do it.
Things I have in my bookmarks for no apparent reason:
Leigh commented on my link to a cease and desist letter shot at a Star trek fan: "Isn't Paramount stricter regarding fan use of "Star Trek" than Lucasfilm is of "Star Wars"? I can recall numerous digital movies actually made using "Star Wars" characters, apparently without the threat of legal action."
Lucasfilms actually sponsors a Fan Film Award and the best in show award is choosen by George lucas himself. Last years films are viewable there.
I'm no laywer, so I'm not going to attempt to figure out what's allowable and why, but I do think it's funny that the StarWars.com Terms of Use states: "Lucasfilm's company policy does not allow it to accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions, or materials other than those it has specifically requested. " And if you do send anything to them they "shall be deemed and shall remain the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. in perpetuity" and they can use it anyway they want.
If you still need more Star Wars fan films Internet Video Mag has lots more including Womb Wars. "It's the Miracle of Life meets 'Star Wars'! "
In a slightly related topic Lawrence Lessig is supposedly coming to Northwestern on April 26 to answer the question: "Is intellectual property copyrightable?" I'll try to track down some more information on this. Hopefully I can finish his book before he gets here.
Worst Manual Contest 2003 winners
Poodle Predictor See how your site looks in the search result field of Google.
A sample cease and desist letter with analysis
Digital Photojournalism During Wartime "Following is a sampling of Web sites where you can view a variety of still photographs and video shot during times of armed conflict."
What's the Department of Defense's position on Iraq?
Some guy built his own bat cave
Of Ants and Earth E. O. Wilson's view of life takes in all things small and great. "As Wilson writes in The Future of Life, "Earth, unlike the other solar planets, is not in physical equilibrium. It depends on its living shell to create the special conditions on which life is sustainable"—an endowment of soil, water, and atmosphere, evolved over eons, about whose creation and maintenance humans remain largely clueless."