Chris Boese's Weblog

I'm on a Social Computing and Information Visualization kick right now

May be thinking about some new categories of stuff to follow.

I did use Colin Ware's Information Visualization text last time I taught my 800-level Visual Communication course, to try to push my students to the next level, but had the usual problem of some students being beyond it and some unable to open and close windows, let alone master Photoshop. I also had them looking at VR and various types of graphical visualizations of space and data, like the Smart Money site's Map of the Market.

So anyway, I just subscribed to Corante's Many-to-Many Social Software feed. I'm just wanting to get my head back in this stuff, so here's some other links I'm picking up on the site.

Chat Circles (visualization)

MIT Media Lab Sociable Media Group

Which is cool, because of all the stuff I've been playing with with the TypePad beta stuff, and the Tribe beta. Thinking about trust networks, things this stuff allows one to visualize socially. Especially because of what spam seems to be doing to email, in some ways destroying the killer app.

In some ways, the impending diminuition (is that a word?) of email is like a death of Push. Not that email is Push, because it seems to be the most interactive of forms, but because the pushers have taken it the same way trolls can kill a Usenet group. Email listservs had greater power because they required commitment, so participants were more vested in the virtual conversation space. If RSS and feed readers implement a higher level of filtering (or discerning "pull"), then we could see the decline of email as a further indictment of "Push." But then the move to RSS filtering is like a move away from listserv-land and toward the recreation of Usenet-land. I am more of a creature of listserv-land.

Chris

Al Franken Thanks Fox News

Franken thanks Fox for filing "one of the stupidest briefs I've ever seen in my life."

I have to agree. This is the most entertained by Fox News I think I have ever been. It is as if what I've always believed about the sheer stupidity of that network has been writ large for all to see, lest anyone fail to notice. I am laughing my ass off.

Chris

Judge denies Fox News attempt to block Franken book over title 'fair and balanced'

By ERIN McCLAM
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday denied Fox News Channel's request for an injunction to block humorist Al Franken's new book, whose title mocks the Fox slogan "fair and balanced."

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said Fox's claim was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally."

The network had argued the subtitle to Franken's book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" could trick some consumers into believing the book is associated with Fox. The book's subtitle is "A fair and balanced look at the Right." Fox trademarked "fair and balanced" in 1998.

Franken called the ruling a victory for the First Amendment and satirists everywhere -- "even bad satirists."

"In addition to thanking my own lawyers," Franken said, "I'd like to thank Fox's lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I've ever seen in my life."

[...]

Franken's book went on sale nationally Thursday, moved up from its September rollout date because of publicity from the lawsuit. Publisher Penguin Group added 50,000 copies to the original run of 270,000 after the suit was filed.

On Friday, the book was listed at No. 2 on Amazon.com's bestseller list, behind "The South Beach Diet."

In another report, the federal judge is quoted as saying "This is an easy case" after listening to about a half hour of arguments. He also added that "fair and balanced" is "unlikely a valid trademark... The mark is a weak one, as trademarks go."

New York Times Obituary for Jim Whitehead

James Whitehead, 67, Author of 'Joiner,' Novel of Deep South, Dies

August 19,2003

James Whitehead, 67, Author of 'Joiner,' Novel of Deep South, Dies
By ROY REED

AYETTEVILLE, Ark., Aug. 18 —James T. Whitehead, whose only published novel, "Joiner," a coming-of-age novel about segregationist Mississippi, received critical acclaim, died here on Friday. He was 67 and lived in Fayetteville.

The cause was a ruptured aortic aneurysm, his family said.

In 1971 Mr. Whitehead, a poet and teacher, published the story of Sonny Joiner, an oversize former football player and a man of excesses, intellectual and otherwise, passionate about history, theological discourse, painting, politics, quarreling, literature and sports. So was his creator.

The novelist R. V. Cassill, reviewing the book for The New York Times, wrote: "What Whitehead has achieved is to sound the full range of the Deep South's exultation and lament. Once again, we are told that Mississippi is our Ireland, in literature and politics. His tirade makes an awesome, fearful and glorious impact on the mind and ear."

Mr. Whitehead was born on March 15, 1936, in St. Louis. He grew up in Jackson, Miss. He stood 6 feet 5 inches by the time he went to Vanderbilt University on a football scholarship. There he met William Harrison, the budding writer who became his lifelong friend and associate. Mr. Harrison remembered that as a student Mr. Whitehead had a keen intellect, a firm sense of justice on the race issue that was roiling the South at the time and a fully formed ferocity on a broad range of thought from the painting of Vermeer to the theology of St. Augustine.

Mr. Whitehead's hope of a professional football career was dashed by an injury in college. He left Vanderbilt with a bachelor's in philosophy and a master's in English. He graduated from the creative writing program at the University of Iowa, then joined Mr. Harrison to found a similar program at the University of Arkansas. They were shortly joined by their friend Miller Williams, the poet. The master of fine arts program that they established became one of the nation's most acclaimed. Its students have included Barry Hannah, Ellen Gilchrist and others who have made their mark in fiction, poetry, translation, and film.

Mr. Whitehead also published four books of poetry, "Domains," "Local Men," "Actual Size" and "Near at Hand." He was known as a skilled sonneteer. He favored a conversational style that drew on his affection for the country Southerner. A sonnet he titled "A Local Man Doesn't Like the Music" begins:

Those tunes don't recollect one memory
I ever had. Not one could call my name.
And when the music isn't company
It's time to go and time to change your mind.

He is survived by his wife, the former Guendaline Graeber (he died on their 44th wedding anniversary); seven children, including triplets; a brother, Jared, of Marietta, Ga.; and 10 grandchildren.

James Whitehead, 1936-2003

James Whitehead

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - James Tillotson Whitehead, an award-winning poet who was known for his ability to write about the daily lives of ordinary people, died Friday of a ruptured aorta. He was 67.

Whitehead wrote poetry ranging in tone from despair to an account of an injury to his own funny bone, entitled "Humerus."

He also helped found the creative writing program at the University of Arkansas and taught at the university for 35 years until his retirement four years ago.

Whitehead published four books of poetry, "Domains," "Local Men," "Actual Size" and "Near at Hand," as well as a novel, "Joiner."

He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his fiction and a Robert Frost Fellowship for his poetry. His novel was named a Noteworthy Book of the Year by the New York Times in 1971.

A great poet, teacher, and friend. Every student I've ever taught has gotten some of Jim bleeding through. His house was the first place I went in 1987 after finishing my very first teaching job, creative writing, in the woods for 2 weeks with gifted and talented kids. He encouraged me and gave me confidence. He also helped me get my first tenure-track teaching position at Valdosta State in Georgia.

He's one of the main reasons I was ever a poet, and the one who made me memorize nearly the entire Norton Anthology of Poetry, while daring us to create our own canons. He let me work off an incomplete for an entire summer, writing a paper on Emily Dickinson that stretched to 60, then 70 pages while I also tried to memorize as many of those 1,775 poems as I could.

Nobody encounters Jim Whitehead and comes away the same. After I left Fayetteville, I still could drop by any time and we'd go into this intense, vulcan mind meld thing, I don't know what else you would call it. After about an hour of it, you'd go around the rest of the day a bit dazed. The last time I spoke with him was in 1998 or 1999, when I was getting settled in at Clemson.

Damn, I'm going to miss him.

Chris

On his book Joiner:

". . . makes an awesome fearful and glorious impact on the mind and ear. . . ."
—The New York Times

August 17, 2003

James T. Whitehead

Fayetteville, Ark.

James Tillotson Whitehead, 67, died Friday, August 15, 2003, at Washington Regional Medical Center, of a ruptured aortic aneurism. A visitation will be held at Moore's Chapel in Fayetteville, Ark. on Tuesday, from 6-8 p.m. with family present. A memorial service will be held at Giffels Auditorium in Old Main at the University of Arkansas campus on Wednesday, at 2 p.m. A reception will follow.

He was born on March 15, 1936 in St. Louis, Mo., to Dick Bruun Whitehead and Ruth Ann Tillotson. He married Guendaline Graeber on August 15, 1959 and together they raised seven children, including a set of triplets.

Jim grew up in Mississippi, graduating from Jackson's Central High. He attended Vanderbilt University on a football scholarship where he received a BA in Philosophy and an MA in English. He then earned a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa. Together with Miller Williams and William Harrison, Jim founded the nationally acclaimed Creative Writing program at the University of Arkansas where he taught for 35 years.

Jim's literary awards included a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction and a Robert Frost Fellowship in Poetry. His publications include four books of poetry, Domains, Local Men, Actual Size, and Near at Hand; and a novel, Joiner, which was on the New York Time's Noteworthy Books of the Year list for 1971. He gave the Presentation Poem for President Jimmy Carter on his return to Plains, Georgia, in 1981, and later edited President Carter's book of poems. Never less than intense, Big Jim, as he was known to his friends, would in one animated conversation expound upon the poetry of W.B. Yeats, the paintings of Vermeer, the dead lying in Flanders Fields, the theology of St. Augustine, the prospects for the Razorback's upcoming season, and his hopes of the 2004 Democratic contenders. At the time of his death, Jim was completing a screenplay on the life of the First Century Roman soldier Tiberius Julius Abderus Pantera.

Of all his many accomplishments, he was most proud of his family. Survivors include: his wife of 44 years, Gen; seven children and their spouses, Bruun Whitehead and Kim Willis of Annandale, Va., Dr. Kathleen W. Paulson and George P. Paulson of Fayetteville, Ark., Eric T. and Jennifer Whitehead of Overland Park, Kan., Joan and John Threet of Fayetteville, Ark., Ted and Kelley Whitehead of Fayetteville, Ark., Ruth and Kevin Trainor of Fayetteville, Ark., and Philip and Kamron Whitehead of Fayetteville, Ark.; ten grandchildren, Eleni C. and George Bourland Paulson, ages 14 and 19, of Fayetteville, Ark., Jack and Anna Threet, ages 7 and 4, of Fayetteville, Ark., Rayner and Henley Whitehead, ages 3 and 3 months of Fayetteville, Ark., Collin Whitehead, age 3, of Fayetteville, Ark., Nina Whitehead, age 3 of Annandale, Garrett Whitehead, age 2 of Overland Park, and Emma Trainor, age 2 of Fayetteville, Ark.; a brother, Jared Whitehead, of Marietta, Ga., and an aunt, Jean Davis of Wauwatosa, Wis.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to either "Writers in the Schools" or the Creative Writing Program at the University of Arkansas, c/o Molly Giles, English Department, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

Boing Boing pointer to Daily Show clip

Daily Show doing a riff on Al Franken and Fox's fight over who owns "fair and balanced." I just had to pass on the link.

Daily Show on "Fair and Balanced". Lisa Rein has posted a capture of the Daily Show's segment on Al Franken and Fox's fight over "Fair and Balanced."

Best line: "If anyone knows about blurring and tarnishing 'Fair and Balanced,' it's Fox News."

Second best line: "We all know that corporations must be protected from individuals."

6MB Quicktime Link

Discuss

(Thanks, Lisa!) [Boing Boing Blog]

Parody, Fair Comment & Criticism?

Fox News seems to be doing its best to help sell Al Franken's new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Fox is suing Franken & his publisher, as evidently ONLY Fox News is allowed to claim to be "fair and balanced."

My question is this: if Nixon had trademarked "I am not a crook," would that mean NO OTHER accused criminals or liars would be allowed to deny the accusations?

It wouldn't be so funny if Fox News was anything like "fair and balanced." That seems to define the absurdity of the moment.

Brainstorming: what phrases should I consider trademarking? How about "I'm taller than you" at 5'3"? Or perhaps "the best blogger on Earth"? Just by trademarking the claim, I could preclude anyone from ever making that claim again, whether I live up to it or not.

CNN.com - Fox sues Franken over 'fair and balanced' - Aug. 12, 2003

Filed Monday in Manhattan, the trademark infringement lawsuit seeks to force a Penguin publisher, Dutton books, to rename the book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." It also asks for unspecified damages.

Fox News registered "Fair & Balanced" as a trademark in 1995, the lawsuit said.

Franken's "intent is clear -- to exploit Fox News' trademark, confuse the public as to the origins of the book and, accordingly, boost sales of the book," it said.

The bit that is hardest to understand, is how lawyers at Fox News are so unaware of the fact that HUMORISTS engage in PARODY, and PARODY is protected speech, under fair comment and criticism.

You don't actually have to be a humorist to commit random acts of parody, and it doesn't have to be parody to be fair comment and criticism, for that matter.

Meanwhile, might as well let Fox continue to hype sales of Franken's book.

From High Context: JJG's Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams

Thanks for the link tip from here:

High Context

JJG's Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams

Jesse James Garrett has posted an article laying out what he views as the nine major competencies for a web team: The Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams.

This seems like an accurate model to me and maps pretty well to my own experience building a web team. If you are deficient in any one of the areas your overall effort will suffer quite a bit.

(Article spotted via James Robertson.)

Posted by David at 07:14 AM

I like James Garrett's approach a whole lot better than the overly reductive strategies of so many usability people (Jakob Nielsen's Aug 11 Alertbox says the San Jose Airport shouldn't have notices saying it is the San Jose Airport, that such things are "information pollution," when anyone who has flown with more than 2 connections, crossed a time zone and fallen asleep, can hardly tell one airport from the next, especially on the redeye. Nielsen gets more than just a bit out of hand, methinks.)

Good graphic here. While I generally don't like overly prescriptive maxims (the 5 of this, the 8 of that, as if there might not be 6 or 7, who knows?!), these "pillars" are interrelated enough to have some wisdom. In other words, I think the graphic makes sense, although I'd be curious to know which pillar(s) the author would pare off if faced with brick-wall-type budget cuts. THAT would be an interesting discussion, eh?

Chris <---repeating my name here is undoubtedly information pollution

I spent WAY too much time at this site today

Greg's Digital Portfolio

This guy seems to specialize in photo manipulation and photoshop retouching. A nicely designed portfolio with an interesting touch: he uses a screenshot of the Photoshop layers palette to navigate to rollovers of the different iterations of the graphics.

Which is not all that terribly exciting until you look at the retouched images of the female models. Oh yes, and the shoe. Makes you never want to buy anything from a photograph or ad ever again. If that is what the NEW shoe looks like.

And pity, for the women who try to make themselves look like the airbrushed models. You roll over the different images, and they animate. Breasts grow, waists shrink, as I toggle back and forth, getting the visual message that is strongly being communicated throught the iterations.

What a very interesting and perhaps not intended use for a portfolio!

Chris

Always controversial, and always striking

Hitler's Film Maker at 101 Still Seeks Recognition

Wed August 6, 2003 12:14 PM ET

By David Crossland
BERLIN (Reuters) - Leni Riefenstahl, who gained notoriety for the films she made for the Nazis, turns 101 this month still fighting for rehabilitation as an artist and facing an even greater hurdle -- failing health.

Long ostracized yet unrepentant for making films that glorified the Nazi system, Riefenstahl is selling several of her photographs of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and of Sudanese tribespeople at an exhibition in Berlin.

"Frau Riefenstahl has been severely ill for the past weeks and can give no interviews for the time being," said Ulrike Thomann-Japes, her assistant.

I know it is still not politically correct after all these years, but the work of Leni Riefenstahl takes my breath away and always will, even when stricken with horror at the images, even weeping at them, which is what "Triumph of the Will" does to me every time.

I have video copy somewhere of that documentary, "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl." Ray Muller, 1993. Here's the Amazon link, although it says it isn't available yet on DVD.

Anyway, this elderly and unrepenitant woman, fascinated by form, missing the politics, shoots undersea rays, Nubian tribespeople in the same style as the Olympiad.

You can't deny that her sports photography techniques will go down for all time as simply beyond pioneering. My early years as a photojournalist shooting sports, I was influenced by her and didn't know it.

And years as a teacher, showing "Triumph of the Will," often with the French documentary "Night and Fog" back to back with it, some of the most moving experiences for our students in the summer gifted and talented program, Arkansas Governor's School, and for me too, every year.

I don't know how to explain it. I know that we need this woman's art in the world. I know that we can't live without this horrible example of Nazi propaganda. I know that art has politics and there is no excuse for this woman's feeble excuses, that she didn't know.

From the documentary, I'd say she BOTH knew and didn't know. I think she got in deep because she was a power player. We have a lot of people like that in the US right now. They get ahead because they see who has the power and they suck up to those people, apolitically, crassly, in order to get money, connections, etc. This is the name of the game in Hollywood, right?

Sucking up to power usually only leaves you branded as someone who uses connections to get ahead. The techniques have been used since before Shakespeare's time by artists needing patrons.

I'd say it would really suck if you were a terrific artist and the patron you picked, the biggest 800 pound gorilla around, turned out to be a fascist mass murderer engaging in genocide. I can't excuse her, but I bet half of Hollywood today, if a fascist were in power and controlling art, would do exactly as she did.

And I'm wondering, if she passes away soon, what her art will be worth then? Without her live self for people to berate for her lack of political discernment?

Chris

Reporters sans frontires - Iraq

Reporters sans frontires - Iraq

From Reporters Without Borders, notes on US harassment of the press in Iraq, disquieting stuff, if it is true.

I wonder, if the current administration were starting a new government today, from scratch, if there would even be so much as a mention of free speech or freedom of the press.

Reporters Without Borders today deplored the worsening attitude of US troops towards journalists in Iraq and called for US Administrator Paul Bremer to explain exactly why two Iranian newsmen, Said Aboutaleb and Soheil Karimi, of the public TV station IRIB, have been held since 1 July for alleged "security violations."

It said confiscations of equipment, arrests of journalists and incidents between the media and US soldiers had increased in recent days.

"The US-British forces must provide convincing evidence that the Iranians have violated security or else release them at once," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. He expressed concern at worsening conditions for journalists and recent statements by US deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz accusing pan-Arab satellite TV stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya of putting out reports encouraging violence against US troops.

[...]

Kazutaka Sato, of Japan's Nippon Television Network, was beaten on 27 July by US soldiers in Baghdad and detained for an hour until other foreign journalists came to find him. He was thrown on the ground and kicked after filming a US army attack in the city's Al-Mansur district in which five civilians were killed in a raid on a house where former President Saddam Hussein was believed to be. His camera was returned to him. "It seems they had something to hide, perhaps the bodies of civilians," he said.

The newspaper Al-Adala, organ of Iraq's main Shiite party, said its Baghdad offices were recently ransacked by US troops.

Four Turkish journalists -Yalçin Dogan, Özdemir Ince, Faruk Balikiçi and Ferit Aslan - were detained for an hour and a half by US troops on 26 July. Their equipment was returned but the photos they had taken of soldiers with a digital camera were erased.