• Fascinating screenshot of Ren and Stimpy episode coming to life

• Guitar pedals go open source [via CDM]

• What’s a big problem with online guitar tablature? There are no time indications. Songsterr aims to fix that. Finally – cool stuff.

• T-Bone Burnett pushes ΧΟΔΕ, a 24-bit/96kHz DRM-free audio format designed to play on consumer DVD players. The format makes a lot more sense than SACDs, but it’s a bit puzzling why it’s being pushed as a radically different medium.

• Kaufman via Kaufman [via Wired]

Also – I’m in the midst of upgrading my Wordpress installation to 2.5.1, and you’ll notice that the address for the blog now is scratch.echobloom.com – everything should be back to normal in the next few days – thanks for your patience!

Accessibility – This was the session near and dear to my heart. Cesar Gerbasi from the OTI talked about OLPC, focusing on distribution and operation (including its extremely cool mesh networking capabilities). Other presentations from representatives of the EBU and NHK discussed media access for the handicapped and the elderly. I also gave a presentation on the blurring between accessible and usable media (if anybody’s interested, drop me a line and I’ll send you my paper).

Any-Place media – This session featured a presentation by Kristine Pearson on the work of the Freeplay Foundation. Her group has designed, built, and is distributing a lifeline radio aimed at Sub-Saharan Africa, and it’s very slick. The radio has a solar panel and hand crank (as only 10% of sub-Saharan Africa is electrified) and was designed in cooperation with its end users (specifically women and children living in rural areas).

The fracturing of the public sphere – This session was ostensibly about narrowcasting and media relationships within contained ethnic groups, but wasn’t very specifically discussed in many of the presentations – the best summation of this session came from a discussion afterwards. The idea of a fracturing public sphere means something wholly different in the US and western Europe than it does in the rest of the world, particularly Africa and Asia. In the developing world the explosion is more of an implosion, an inevitability caused by history catching up with the democratization of media. Or, to put it practically, as tools for the creation of media become cheaper and easier to operate, they will be more widely used. In areas with a higher concentration of ethnic and linguistic diversity, this naturally translates to a fractured public sphere.

Politics, Media, and Agenda Setting – The defining moment in this session came in a passionate speech by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President of the International Movement for a Just World. To him, the tensions between America and the Middle East translated into a class issue. Muzaffar argued that there was a culture of elites in both sections of the world who act in concert, and whose joint actions and inactions cause the problems the lower classes eventually have to clean up.

The forum was a fantastic experience – the only thing I would occasionally change is the overall level of rigor. I find seminars like this can easily cascade into wandering soliloquies, and while the topics covered are noble, divorced of any practical, implementable actions the dialogue can become merely lip service. Or maybe it’s just my impatient Western ears – certainly the perspective gained by events like this cannot be underestimated. Overall, it was a great time.

User Generated Content – This section was actually called The new challenges in broadcasting – Technology, content, regulation, but after the second presentation it was pure user generated content (UGC). UGC’s protagonist was played by Lieven Vermaele, Technical Director of the European Broadcasting Union. After a cogent discussion of the differences between institutionally controlled media (e.g. major news networks) and socially controlled media (e.g. blogs), Vermaele advocated for a merging of the two systems. UGC’s antagonist, Richard Porter, head of news at the BBC, argued that content from users should be held at arm’s length for lack of journalistic integrity and low quality – for Porter, UGC is only an accessory.

Archival – FIAT/AFTA is an organization devoted to rescuing the rapidly decaying video archives of the world. They were formed at the second World Electronic Media Forum in Tunis two years ago, and have been hard at work determining new digital archive standards, defining which physical archives are at risk and offering training programs to assist. Their work seemed pretty Euro-centric (and extremely committee-like) but they’d clearly put in a lot of work over the last few years.

Journalist Safety – Journalist deaths have increased yearly since 2002, and while reporters and cameramen were once considered neutral in conflict situations, they are now targeted in areas like Iraq and Afghanistan. There were some pretty vile stories told, including one about an Al Jazeera cameraman who has been locked in Guantanamo for the last 6 years without trial. Scary, sad stuff.

The UGC session that opened the forum was by far the most interesting. It seemed to me that the two main characters were advocating for similar things, but as always failed to see the new content inside any type of business model other than the one they were in currently. Vermaele described a future where institutional and social media blur (a future which Porter wholly rejected). My money’s on Porter, if solely for the hubris of traditional media sources – while you can currently see institutional groups like Minnesota Public Radio and (oddly enough) the BBC cherrypick the most advantageous parts of social media, those traditional media organizations would never slum it with social media (at least until a few more lean decades pass for newspapers).

All in all, a great day. Tomorrow will focus on accessibility, any-place media, ‘the fracturing of the public sphere’ an the links between politics and media. More then!

Loved ones -

It’s been a while. In the months since we last talked, I’ve been writing, thinking, and recharging for the next project – and as the time has passed, I have found myself ready to begin the next adventure. To that end, it is my most sincere pleasure to welcome you to Echo Bloom, a conversation about process. I hope to form this space into an experiment on the open creation and distribution of new music – there will be new songs, critical thinking, analysis, and discussion, all working towards a better understanding of how and why we do what we do.

It is indeed good to see everyone again – thank you for coming.

Kyle