From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com






From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com










From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
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	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave

From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona

From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From dave at lab6.com  Tue Feb  5 12:11:47 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:11:47 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>
	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> > Second, most museum object have passed through many
> > hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> > made of the object before they took possession?
>
> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> displayed the photo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave

From P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl  Tue Feb  5 15:48:03 2008
From: P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl (Piet Westendorp - IO)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:48:03 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
Message-ID: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>

Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
figures on restroom doors? 
Oldest examples? 
Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
Piet Westendorp
Delft University of Technology
p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl


From s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:17:16 2008
From: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:17:16 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A9C.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.


http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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From S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:20:24 2008
From: S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:20:24 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A18.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.

 <<image.jpg>> 
http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------




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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:37:30 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:37:30 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> In both actuality and US law,
> however, trademarks are more
> fragile. If I plagiarize a
> from a book, it probably
> won't diminish the value of
> the original. If I misuse a
> trademark, it can very well
> reduce the trust, belief, or
> image that the brand has built.

Yes, I agree.

(Since I've not to my knowledge ever infringed on anyone's
trademark, and I'm not concerned with trademarking any of my own
work, I've never had cause to think/worry about the complicated
rationale at play here. ;-)

> Furthermore, failure
> to rigorously defend
> a trademark can be used
> as evidence to invalidate
> the trademark later.

I suppose this holds for website domains as well?

In other words, if you don't buy up all the alternative
extensions for a domain name, you're at risk of losing it to
whomever goes after it more aggressively?

... As I see it, further evidence that trademarks are more for
the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com





From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:39:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>

Dave wrote:

> First, the NFL can use the
> TV networks as puppets
> because I expect the church
> groups are breaking their
> contract for cable TV
> service. TV is only for
> personal use, not public
> performance, and they are
> basically running cinemas;
> bars have to get different
> "business" contracts for
> private TV.

Similarly, my partner pointed out to me that if I rent a movie on
DVD, I can play it on my personal TV set in my personal space,
but I cannot set up my TV outside and play the DVD for passers-by.

So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
living color, need to have a special license, too?

The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
*broadcast* over the "public airwaves."

One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
"public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
public ownership).

So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
of the NFL's copyright also?

Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com




From dave at lab6.com  Wed Feb  6 01:05:07 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 01:05:07 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802051605j136f233m566544064fbad716@mail.gmail.com>

On 06/02/2008, Deborah Taylor-Pearce <dtp at she-philosopher.com> wrote:
>
> So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
> purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
> to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
> rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
> living color, need to have a special license, too?

I'd expect so, although I don't know for sure either way and IANAL :-)

> The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
> with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
> *broadcast* over the "public airwaves."
>
> One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
> public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
> licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
> "public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

I assumed that sports television is only available on proprietary
encrypted cable/satellite TV channels, like almost all TV sport in the
UK is. I suppose the superbowl is big enough that its carried on
broadcast TV (like soccer games with the England team are on the
non-subscription channels here in the UK) so that contractual aspects
isn't valid.

> And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
> the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
> once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
> I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
> services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
> public ownership).

"Become public property" and "auctioned off to the highest bidder"
seem to be mutually exclusive to me :-)

But yes, "Free spectrum" is the most distant front of the free
software-culture movement - as told by Eben Moglen.
http://understandinglimited.com/2007/12/28/moglen-ownership-of-ideas/
is a shorter speech (transcript + video there) and
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%22Die_Gedanken_sind_frei%22:_Free_Software_and_the_Struggle_for_Free_Thought
is a longer one - and the "mesh" wireless networking in the OLPC
laptops is pushing that front sooner rather than later.

Like the developing countries like south Korea that had never laid
copper wires so put down fresh fiber optics and now have the highest
speed internet access per capita in the world, I wonder if the
countries buying OLPC kit this year will free up their spectrum while
it remains unthinkable in the developed countries...

> So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
> invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
> some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
> of the NFL's copyright also?

Yes, IMO.

Copyright licenses mainly cover (re)distribution of works, including
obvious redistribution of unauthorized copies, and also renting and
lending. But they also public performance.

So I retract my statement that

> > Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

because I forgot copyright extended to public performance rights.

> Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
> the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

For restrictions on things past the scope of copyright - like usage -
contractual "licenses" come into play.

Proprietary software EULAs are a mix of copyright license and
contract, in contrast to the free software community's licenses which
are wholly copyright licenses and zero contractual. People sometimes
misconstrue the GNU GPL as a contract, because this mixing is so
common, apparently.

-- 
Regards,
Dave

From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Wed Feb  6 01:23:53 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:23:53 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F226@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

> evidence that trademarks are more for
> the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah,

Trademarks are for those in trade. Since every(whatever) doesn't sell goods, a trademark is of no use to him/her/them.

> if you don't buy up all the alternative
> extensions for a domain name, you're
> at risk of losing it to whomever goes
> after it more aggressively?

The only way I know that trademark can effect domain ownership is if the domain implies official connection with the trademark owner. (Quite a few years ago I read a hilarious document where TATA, the Indian engineering and manufacturing conglomerate, claimed that people would be confused, believing that they were behind the site bodacioustatas.com.)

Gunnar
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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From dave at lab6.com  Tue Feb  5 12:11:47 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:11:47 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>
	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> > Second, most museum object have passed through many
> > hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> > made of the object before they took possession?
>
> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> displayed the photo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl  Tue Feb  5 15:48:03 2008
From: P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl (Piet Westendorp - IO)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:48:03 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
Message-ID: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>

Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
figures on restroom doors? 
Oldest examples? 
Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
Piet Westendorp
Delft University of Technology
p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl



From s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:17:16 2008
From: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:17:16 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A9C.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.


http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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From S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:20:24 2008
From: S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:20:24 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A18.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.

 <<image.jpg>> 
http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------




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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:37:30 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:37:30 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> In both actuality and US law,
> however, trademarks are more
> fragile. If I plagiarize a
> from a book, it probably
> won't diminish the value of
> the original. If I misuse a
> trademark, it can very well
> reduce the trust, belief, or
> image that the brand has built.

Yes, I agree.

(Since I've not to my knowledge ever infringed on anyone's
trademark, and I'm not concerned with trademarking any of my own
work, I've never had cause to think/worry about the complicated
rationale at play here. ;-)

> Furthermore, failure
> to rigorously defend
> a trademark can be used
> as evidence to invalidate
> the trademark later.

I suppose this holds for website domains as well?

In other words, if you don't buy up all the alternative
extensions for a domain name, you're at risk of losing it to
whomever goes after it more aggressively?

... As I see it, further evidence that trademarks are more for
the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com






From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:39:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>

Dave wrote:

> First, the NFL can use the
> TV networks as puppets
> because I expect the church
> groups are breaking their
> contract for cable TV
> service. TV is only for
> personal use, not public
> performance, and they are
> basically running cinemas;
> bars have to get different
> "business" contracts for
> private TV.

Similarly, my partner pointed out to me that if I rent a movie on
DVD, I can play it on my personal TV set in my personal space,
but I cannot set up my TV outside and play the DVD for passers-by.

So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
living color, need to have a special license, too?

The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
*broadcast* over the "public airwaves."

One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
"public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
public ownership).

So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
of the NFL's copyright also?

Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com





From dave at lab6.com  Wed Feb  6 01:05:07 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 01:05:07 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802051605j136f233m566544064fbad716@mail.gmail.com>

On 06/02/2008, Deborah Taylor-Pearce <dtp at she-philosopher.com> wrote:
>
> So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
> purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
> to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
> rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
> living color, need to have a special license, too?

I'd expect so, although I don't know for sure either way and IANAL :-)

> The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
> with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
> *broadcast* over the "public airwaves."
>
> One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
> public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
> licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
> "public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

I assumed that sports television is only available on proprietary
encrypted cable/satellite TV channels, like almost all TV sport in the
UK is. I suppose the superbowl is big enough that its carried on
broadcast TV (like soccer games with the England team are on the
non-subscription channels here in the UK) so that contractual aspects
isn't valid.

> And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
> the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
> once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
> I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
> services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
> public ownership).

"Become public property" and "auctioned off to the highest bidder"
seem to be mutually exclusive to me :-)

But yes, "Free spectrum" is the most distant front of the free
software-culture movement - as told by Eben Moglen.
http://understandinglimited.com/2007/12/28/moglen-ownership-of-ideas/
is a shorter speech (transcript + video there) and
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%22Die_Gedanken_sind_frei%22:_Free_Software_and_the_Struggle_for_Free_Thought
is a longer one - and the "mesh" wireless networking in the OLPC
laptops is pushing that front sooner rather than later.

Like the developing countries like south Korea that had never laid
copper wires so put down fresh fiber optics and now have the highest
speed internet access per capita in the world, I wonder if the
countries buying OLPC kit this year will free up their spectrum while
it remains unthinkable in the developed countries...

> So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
> invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
> some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
> of the NFL's copyright also?

Yes, IMO.

Copyright licenses mainly cover (re)distribution of works, including
obvious redistribution of unauthorized copies, and also renting and
lending. But they also public performance.

So I retract my statement that

> > Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

because I forgot copyright extended to public performance rights.

> Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
> the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

For restrictions on things past the scope of copyright - like usage -
contractual "licenses" come into play.

Proprietary software EULAs are a mix of copyright license and
contract, in contrast to the free software community's licenses which
are wholly copyright licenses and zero contractual. People sometimes
misconstrue the GNU GPL as a contract, because this mixing is so
common, apparently.

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Wed Feb  6 01:23:53 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:23:53 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F226@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

> evidence that trademarks are more for
> the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah,

Trademarks are for those in trade. Since every(whatever) doesn't sell goods, a trademark is of no use to him/her/them.

> if you don't buy up all the alternative
> extensions for a domain name, you're
> at risk of losing it to whomever goes
> after it more aggressively?

The only way I know that trademark can effect domain ownership is if the domain implies official connection with the trademark owner. (Quite a few years ago I read a hilarious document where TATA, the Indian engineering and manufacturing conglomerate, claimed that people would be confused, believing that they were behind the site bodacioustatas.com.)

Gunnar
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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 07:52:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 06:52:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>

Piet Westendorp,

I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
Neurath as his visual inspirations.

On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> Piet Westendorp
> Delft University of Technology
> p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 08:03:39 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 07:03:39 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052303t42288c90s3c322a859aa9755a@mail.gmail.com>

Piet,

Stick figures at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/081.jpg

and

Egyptian silhouettes at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/03.jpg

both from http://www.fulltable.com/iso/is03.htm

Many Thanks to Chris Mullen for making this article available for all of us.

Jose'.

On 06/02/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Piet Westendorp,
>
> I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
> and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
> Neurath as his visual inspirations.
>
> On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> > Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> > figures on restroom doors?
> > Oldest examples?
> > Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> > for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> > Piet Westendorp
> > Delft University of Technology
> > p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
> > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> >  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
> >
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> >  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
> >
> > For all Information Design matters:
> >  http://InformationDesign.org
> >
> > Problems? Write to:
> >  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
>
>
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From rk at hyphenpress.co.uk  Wed Feb  6 11:05:27 2008
From: rk at hyphenpress.co.uk (Robin Kinross)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 10:05:27 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <A261739E-7F8D-4C6B-897B-6ED6DECD5EA4@hyphenpress.co.uk>

Piet Westendorp:

> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?

No idea about the origin of the toilet symbols.

If you mention the Isotype symbols, it must be worth making these  
points:

that these symbols were designed to be repeated, also occasionally  
cut in half, and still work or 'read' visually in this repetition and  
halving. And also that they were designed to work *together*, so that  
a symbol for (let's say) wheat, made a visual equivalence -- and yet  
remain visually distinct from -- a symbol for (let's say) oil.

In this respect the Isotype symbols needed different visual qualities  
from a symbol for (let's say) a women's toilet, or a 'slippery  
surface ahead' sign. Such informative and warning symbols only need  
to exist on their own -- one of them in one location at a time -- and  
in a looser visual relation to any other symbols that might  
constitute the set to which they belong.

Look closely at the Isotype symbols with repeatability and  
halvability in mind --

Another thing to say is that the Isotype symbols (from 1928 to 1940)  
were designed by Gerd Arntz in critical dialogue with Otto Neurath. A  
full account would recognize Neurath's role in their design. I think  
he was one of those design bosses who was never quite happy, and  
wanted to go on suggesting changes up to the last moment. There were  
times (for example, in the advisory work they did in the Soviet  
Union) when Arntz was quite glad to be free of his demanding colleague!

Robin Kinross

From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 13:19:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:19:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802060419o20539f00nab1add1cf83c5d75@mail.gmail.com>

Isabel,

Thanks for the links about the "In-flight Safety Instruction video for
Virgin America" and
"Cooks Illustrated" magazine.
Virgin Atlantic has also come up with a very interesting video too,
you can check at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4dxPISegY
This animation was exhibited at the Information Design Exhibition (12
February 2005 ? 15 May 2005, "You Are Here ? The Design of
Information", Design Museum in London).

In relation to cooking related skills, I am sure that you all will
enjoy this site:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/
Besides providing samples of beautiful instructional drawings, this
site gives access to some live action demonstrations:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/pages/index.php?pg=media

Finally,

> I imagine that you probably have already come across the studies
> conducted by Barbara Tversky at Stanford University.

Yes, I have been consulting Tversky's researches quite a lot.
Lozano and Tversky have conducted a very interesting experiment on the
communicative power of gestures:
"Communicative gestures facilitate problem solving for both
communicators and recipients".
( http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/gesture/papers/lozano%20&%20tversky%202006.pdf
)
This is one of the few articles (that I know) that explores the
effectiveness of wordless demonstrations (live action, not printed) to
communicate assembly instructions.


What do you all think about the video mentioned above?
Is there space for sense of humor in video instructions?
or, this is NOT AT ALL a job for information designers.

Can instructions be effectively communicated through wordless
demonstrations only?

Thanks.

Jose'.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From dave at lab6.com  Tue Feb  5 12:11:47 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:11:47 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>
	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> > Second, most museum object have passed through many
> > hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> > made of the object before they took possession?
>
> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> displayed the photo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl  Tue Feb  5 15:48:03 2008
From: P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl (Piet Westendorp - IO)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:48:03 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
Message-ID: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>

Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
figures on restroom doors? 
Oldest examples? 
Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
Piet Westendorp
Delft University of Technology
p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl



From s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:17:16 2008
From: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:17:16 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A9C.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.


http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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From S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:20:24 2008
From: S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:20:24 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A18.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.

 <<image.jpg>> 
http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------




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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:37:30 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:37:30 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> In both actuality and US law,
> however, trademarks are more
> fragile. If I plagiarize a
> from a book, it probably
> won't diminish the value of
> the original. If I misuse a
> trademark, it can very well
> reduce the trust, belief, or
> image that the brand has built.

Yes, I agree.

(Since I've not to my knowledge ever infringed on anyone's
trademark, and I'm not concerned with trademarking any of my own
work, I've never had cause to think/worry about the complicated
rationale at play here. ;-)

> Furthermore, failure
> to rigorously defend
> a trademark can be used
> as evidence to invalidate
> the trademark later.

I suppose this holds for website domains as well?

In other words, if you don't buy up all the alternative
extensions for a domain name, you're at risk of losing it to
whomever goes after it more aggressively?

... As I see it, further evidence that trademarks are more for
the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com






From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:39:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>

Dave wrote:

> First, the NFL can use the
> TV networks as puppets
> because I expect the church
> groups are breaking their
> contract for cable TV
> service. TV is only for
> personal use, not public
> performance, and they are
> basically running cinemas;
> bars have to get different
> "business" contracts for
> private TV.

Similarly, my partner pointed out to me that if I rent a movie on
DVD, I can play it on my personal TV set in my personal space,
but I cannot set up my TV outside and play the DVD for passers-by.

So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
living color, need to have a special license, too?

The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
*broadcast* over the "public airwaves."

One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
"public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
public ownership).

So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
of the NFL's copyright also?

Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com





From dave at lab6.com  Wed Feb  6 01:05:07 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 01:05:07 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802051605j136f233m566544064fbad716@mail.gmail.com>

On 06/02/2008, Deborah Taylor-Pearce <dtp at she-philosopher.com> wrote:
>
> So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
> purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
> to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
> rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
> living color, need to have a special license, too?

I'd expect so, although I don't know for sure either way and IANAL :-)

> The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
> with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
> *broadcast* over the "public airwaves."
>
> One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
> public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
> licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
> "public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

I assumed that sports television is only available on proprietary
encrypted cable/satellite TV channels, like almost all TV sport in the
UK is. I suppose the superbowl is big enough that its carried on
broadcast TV (like soccer games with the England team are on the
non-subscription channels here in the UK) so that contractual aspects
isn't valid.

> And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
> the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
> once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
> I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
> services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
> public ownership).

"Become public property" and "auctioned off to the highest bidder"
seem to be mutually exclusive to me :-)

But yes, "Free spectrum" is the most distant front of the free
software-culture movement - as told by Eben Moglen.
http://understandinglimited.com/2007/12/28/moglen-ownership-of-ideas/
is a shorter speech (transcript + video there) and
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%22Die_Gedanken_sind_frei%22:_Free_Software_and_the_Struggle_for_Free_Thought
is a longer one - and the "mesh" wireless networking in the OLPC
laptops is pushing that front sooner rather than later.

Like the developing countries like south Korea that had never laid
copper wires so put down fresh fiber optics and now have the highest
speed internet access per capita in the world, I wonder if the
countries buying OLPC kit this year will free up their spectrum while
it remains unthinkable in the developed countries...

> So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
> invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
> some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
> of the NFL's copyright also?

Yes, IMO.

Copyright licenses mainly cover (re)distribution of works, including
obvious redistribution of unauthorized copies, and also renting and
lending. But they also public performance.

So I retract my statement that

> > Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

because I forgot copyright extended to public performance rights.

> Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
> the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

For restrictions on things past the scope of copyright - like usage -
contractual "licenses" come into play.

Proprietary software EULAs are a mix of copyright license and
contract, in contrast to the free software community's licenses which
are wholly copyright licenses and zero contractual. People sometimes
misconstrue the GNU GPL as a contract, because this mixing is so
common, apparently.

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Wed Feb  6 01:23:53 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:23:53 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F226@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

> evidence that trademarks are more for
> the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah,

Trademarks are for those in trade. Since every(whatever) doesn't sell goods, a trademark is of no use to him/her/them.

> if you don't buy up all the alternative
> extensions for a domain name, you're
> at risk of losing it to whomever goes
> after it more aggressively?

The only way I know that trademark can effect domain ownership is if the domain implies official connection with the trademark owner. (Quite a few years ago I read a hilarious document where TATA, the Indian engineering and manufacturing conglomerate, claimed that people would be confused, believing that they were behind the site bodacioustatas.com.)

Gunnar
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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 07:52:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 06:52:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>

Piet Westendorp,

I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
Neurath as his visual inspirations.

On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> Piet Westendorp
> Delft University of Technology
> p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 08:03:39 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 07:03:39 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052303t42288c90s3c322a859aa9755a@mail.gmail.com>

Piet,

Stick figures at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/081.jpg

and

Egyptian silhouettes at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/03.jpg

both from http://www.fulltable.com/iso/is03.htm

Many Thanks to Chris Mullen for making this article available for all of us.

Jose'.

On 06/02/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Piet Westendorp,
>
> I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
> and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
> Neurath as his visual inspirations.
>
> On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> > Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> > figures on restroom doors?
> > Oldest examples?
> > Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> > for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> > Piet Westendorp
> > Delft University of Technology
> > p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
> > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> >  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
> >
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> >  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
> >
> > For all Information Design matters:
> >  http://InformationDesign.org
> >
> > Problems? Write to:
> >  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
>
>
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From rk at hyphenpress.co.uk  Wed Feb  6 11:05:27 2008
From: rk at hyphenpress.co.uk (Robin Kinross)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 10:05:27 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <A261739E-7F8D-4C6B-897B-6ED6DECD5EA4@hyphenpress.co.uk>

Piet Westendorp:

> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?

No idea about the origin of the toilet symbols.

If you mention the Isotype symbols, it must be worth making these  
points:

that these symbols were designed to be repeated, also occasionally  
cut in half, and still work or 'read' visually in this repetition and  
halving. And also that they were designed to work *together*, so that  
a symbol for (let's say) wheat, made a visual equivalence -- and yet  
remain visually distinct from -- a symbol for (let's say) oil.

In this respect the Isotype symbols needed different visual qualities  
from a symbol for (let's say) a women's toilet, or a 'slippery  
surface ahead' sign. Such informative and warning symbols only need  
to exist on their own -- one of them in one location at a time -- and  
in a looser visual relation to any other symbols that might  
constitute the set to which they belong.

Look closely at the Isotype symbols with repeatability and  
halvability in mind --

Another thing to say is that the Isotype symbols (from 1928 to 1940)  
were designed by Gerd Arntz in critical dialogue with Otto Neurath. A  
full account would recognize Neurath's role in their design. I think  
he was one of those design bosses who was never quite happy, and  
wanted to go on suggesting changes up to the last moment. There were  
times (for example, in the advisory work they did in the Soviet  
Union) when Arntz was quite glad to be free of his demanding colleague!

Robin Kinross


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 13:19:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:19:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802060419o20539f00nab1add1cf83c5d75@mail.gmail.com>

Isabel,

Thanks for the links about the "In-flight Safety Instruction video for
Virgin America" and
"Cooks Illustrated" magazine.
Virgin Atlantic has also come up with a very interesting video too,
you can check at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4dxPISegY
This animation was exhibited at the Information Design Exhibition (12
February 2005 ? 15 May 2005, "You Are Here ? The Design of
Information", Design Museum in London).

In relation to cooking related skills, I am sure that you all will
enjoy this site:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/
Besides providing samples of beautiful instructional drawings, this
site gives access to some live action demonstrations:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/pages/index.php?pg=media

Finally,

> I imagine that you probably have already come across the studies
> conducted by Barbara Tversky at Stanford University.

Yes, I have been consulting Tversky's researches quite a lot.
Lozano and Tversky have conducted a very interesting experiment on the
communicative power of gestures:
"Communicative gestures facilitate problem solving for both
communicators and recipients".
( http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/gesture/papers/lozano%20&%20tversky%202006.pdf
)
This is one of the few articles (that I know) that explores the
effectiveness of wordless demonstrations (live action, not printed) to
communicate assembly instructions.


What do you all think about the video mentioned above?
Is there space for sense of humor in video instructions?
or, this is NOT AT ALL a job for information designers.

Can instructions be effectively communicated through wordless
demonstrations only?

Thanks.

Jose'.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Thu Feb  7 15:50:34 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:50:34 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>

On 2008-02-05 03:11, Dave Crossland wrote:
> On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
>> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
>>> Second, most museum object have passed through many
>>> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
>>> made of the object before they took possession?
>> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
>> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
>> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
>> displayed the photo.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

Sorry, I read the article, but I don't see the connection.

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona

From digitas at panix.com  Thu Feb  7 15:57:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:57:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>,
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
Message-ID: <p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@[10.0.1.2]>

At 2:26 PM -0500 1/30/08, m.meirelles at neu.edu wrote:
>1. Have you seen this in-flight Safety Instruction video for Virgin America? (nice sense of humor)
>url in youtube:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo&eurl=http://motionographer.com/2007/11/29/virgin-america-safety-video/
>
>url of the company who designed it (select from the side menu --third down first row icon):
>http://www.wildbrain.com/comm.html
>

Surprisingly, the Virgin animation for their American service is even better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo

A lovely knock-off of the UPA animation style.


-- Randal

From dave at lab6.com  Thu Feb  7 16:46:28 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:46:28 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
	<47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802070746y2528f034se02b30579e43440f@mail.gmail.com>

On 07/02/2008, Curtis Clark <jcclark-lists at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >> if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> >> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> >> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> >> displayed the photo.
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)
>
> Sorry, I read the article, but I don't see the connection.

Imagine going to a museum, breaking the rules and taking some photos
of some objects, and going to a net cafe across the street and posting
them anonymously on flickr with a "public domain, do anything you
like" license.

Then imagine suggesting to your colleague to try searching on flickr
for public domain images of the object.

But don't do this - that would be bad.

-- 
Regards,
Dave

From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Thu Feb  7 17:03:51 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:03:51 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@10.0.1.2>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
	<p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@10.0.1.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802070803v7bce6817of91012eb6e1656c4@mail.gmail.com>

Randal,

You are absolutely right.
The video is inspired by "UPA" style, which can be termed as "limited"
animation.
In other words, the budget is limited but the creativity is endless.

For more information on UPA and limited animation, see:
http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/2007/09/12/upa-moma-exhibit-1955/

I suggest you to watch this video too:
The Information Machine (1958) Music by Elmer Bernstein and drawing by
Written, produced and directed by Charles and Ray Eames.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFep2Er4xg
I think that they are good in using a technique called "kinestasis" or
making still pictures move. ("Kine" = movement and "Stasis" =
non-moving).

Cheers.





On 07/02/2008, Randal <digitas at panix.com> wrote:
> At 2:26 PM -0500 1/30/08, m.meirelles at neu.edu wrote:
> >1. Have you seen this in-flight Safety Instruction video for Virgin America? (nice sense of humor)
> >url in youtube:
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo&eurl=http://motionographer.com/2007/11/29/virgin-america-safety-video/
> >
> >url of the company who designed it (select from the side menu --third down first row icon):
> >http://www.wildbrain.com/comm.html
> >
>
> Surprisingly, the Virgin animation for their American service is even better:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo
>
> A lovely knock-off of the UPA animation style.
>
>
> -- Randal
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From dave at lab6.com  Tue Feb  5 12:11:47 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:11:47 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>
	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> > Second, most museum object have passed through many
> > hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> > made of the object before they took possession?
>
> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> displayed the photo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl  Tue Feb  5 15:48:03 2008
From: P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl (Piet Westendorp - IO)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:48:03 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
Message-ID: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>

Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
figures on restroom doors? 
Oldest examples? 
Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
Piet Westendorp
Delft University of Technology
p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl



From s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:17:16 2008
From: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:17:16 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A9C.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.


http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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From S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:20:24 2008
From: S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:20:24 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A18.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.

 <<image.jpg>> 
http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------




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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:37:30 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:37:30 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> In both actuality and US law,
> however, trademarks are more
> fragile. If I plagiarize a
> from a book, it probably
> won't diminish the value of
> the original. If I misuse a
> trademark, it can very well
> reduce the trust, belief, or
> image that the brand has built.

Yes, I agree.

(Since I've not to my knowledge ever infringed on anyone's
trademark, and I'm not concerned with trademarking any of my own
work, I've never had cause to think/worry about the complicated
rationale at play here. ;-)

> Furthermore, failure
> to rigorously defend
> a trademark can be used
> as evidence to invalidate
> the trademark later.

I suppose this holds for website domains as well?

In other words, if you don't buy up all the alternative
extensions for a domain name, you're at risk of losing it to
whomever goes after it more aggressively?

... As I see it, further evidence that trademarks are more for
the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com






From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:39:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>

Dave wrote:

> First, the NFL can use the
> TV networks as puppets
> because I expect the church
> groups are breaking their
> contract for cable TV
> service. TV is only for
> personal use, not public
> performance, and they are
> basically running cinemas;
> bars have to get different
> "business" contracts for
> private TV.

Similarly, my partner pointed out to me that if I rent a movie on
DVD, I can play it on my personal TV set in my personal space,
but I cannot set up my TV outside and play the DVD for passers-by.

So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
living color, need to have a special license, too?

The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
*broadcast* over the "public airwaves."

One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
"public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
public ownership).

So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
of the NFL's copyright also?

Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com





From dave at lab6.com  Wed Feb  6 01:05:07 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 01:05:07 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A8F3A1.10903@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802051605j136f233m566544064fbad716@mail.gmail.com>

On 06/02/2008, Deborah Taylor-Pearce <dtp at she-philosopher.com> wrote:
>
> So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
> purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
> to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
> rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
> living color, need to have a special license, too?

I'd expect so, although I don't know for sure either way and IANAL :-)

> The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
> with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
> *broadcast* over the "public airwaves."
>
> One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
> public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
> licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
> "public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

I assumed that sports television is only available on proprietary
encrypted cable/satellite TV channels, like almost all TV sport in the
UK is. I suppose the superbowl is big enough that its carried on
broadcast TV (like soccer games with the England team are on the
non-subscription channels here in the UK) so that contractual aspects
isn't valid.

> And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
> the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
> once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
> I've heard that they're maybe going to be used for emergency
> services ... in which case they really would be reverting to
> public ownership).

"Become public property" and "auctioned off to the highest bidder"
seem to be mutually exclusive to me :-)

But yes, "Free spectrum" is the most distant front of the free
software-culture movement - as told by Eben Moglen.
http://understandinglimited.com/2007/12/28/moglen-ownership-of-ideas/
is a shorter speech (transcript + video there) and
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/%22Die_Gedanken_sind_frei%22:_Free_Software_and_the_Struggle_for_Free_Thought
is a longer one - and the "mesh" wireless networking in the OLPC
laptops is pushing that front sooner rather than later.

Like the developing countries like south Korea that had never laid
copper wires so put down fresh fiber optics and now have the highest
speed internet access per capita in the world, I wonder if the
countries buying OLPC kit this year will free up their spectrum while
it remains unthinkable in the developed countries...

> So, if I want to replace my 19-inch TV with a 70-inch model, and
> invite a couple hundred friends over for a Super Bowl party (as
> some of the glitterati actually do ;-), would I be in violation
> of the NFL's copyright also?

Yes, IMO.

Copyright licenses mainly cover (re)distribution of works, including
obvious redistribution of unauthorized copies, and also renting and
lending. But they also public performance.

So I retract my statement that

> > Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

because I forgot copyright extended to public performance rights.

> Just how far does their right "to control the showing/watching of
> the game" (here quoting Gunnar) extend?

For restrictions on things past the scope of copyright - like usage -
contractual "licenses" come into play.

Proprietary software EULAs are a mix of copyright license and
contract, in contrast to the free software community's licenses which
are wholly copyright licenses and zero contractual. People sometimes
misconstrue the GNU GPL as a contract, because this mixing is so
common, apparently.

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Wed Feb  6 01:23:53 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:23:53 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F226@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

> evidence that trademarks are more for
> the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah,

Trademarks are for those in trade. Since every(whatever) doesn't sell goods, a trademark is of no use to him/her/them.

> if you don't buy up all the alternative
> extensions for a domain name, you're
> at risk of losing it to whomever goes
> after it more aggressively?

The only way I know that trademark can effect domain ownership is if the domain implies official connection with the trademark owner. (Quite a few years ago I read a hilarious document where TATA, the Indian engineering and manufacturing conglomerate, claimed that people would be confused, believing that they were behind the site bodacioustatas.com.)

Gunnar
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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 07:52:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 06:52:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>

Piet Westendorp,

I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
Neurath as his visual inspirations.

On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> Piet Westendorp
> Delft University of Technology
> p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 08:03:39 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 07:03:39 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802052303t42288c90s3c322a859aa9755a@mail.gmail.com>

Piet,

Stick figures at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/081.jpg

and

Egyptian silhouettes at http://www.fulltable.com/iso/03.jpg

both from http://www.fulltable.com/iso/is03.htm

Many Thanks to Chris Mullen for making this article available for all of us.

Jose'.

On 06/02/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Piet Westendorp,
>
> I hope this is not too obvious, but, Egyptian hieroglyphs silhoetes
> and stickfigures (literally made of match box sticks) are mentioned by
> Neurath as his visual inspirations.
>
> On 05/02/2008, Piet Westendorp - IO <P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl> wrote:
> > Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> > figures on restroom doors?
> > Oldest examples?
> > Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> > for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
> > Piet Westendorp
> > Delft University of Technology
> > p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
> > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> >  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
> >
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> >  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
> >
> > For all Information Design matters:
> >  http://InformationDesign.org
> >
> > Problems? Write to:
> >  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> >
>
>
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From rk at hyphenpress.co.uk  Wed Feb  6 11:05:27 2008
From: rk at hyphenpress.co.uk (Robin Kinross)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 10:05:27 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>
	<d14a175a0802052252w2f6ea45exa8a9c42dc210790c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <A261739E-7F8D-4C6B-897B-6ED6DECD5EA4@hyphenpress.co.uk>

Piet Westendorp:

> Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
> figures on restroom doors?
> Oldest examples?
> Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
> for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?

No idea about the origin of the toilet symbols.

If you mention the Isotype symbols, it must be worth making these  
points:

that these symbols were designed to be repeated, also occasionally  
cut in half, and still work or 'read' visually in this repetition and  
halving. And also that they were designed to work *together*, so that  
a symbol for (let's say) wheat, made a visual equivalence -- and yet  
remain visually distinct from -- a symbol for (let's say) oil.

In this respect the Isotype symbols needed different visual qualities  
from a symbol for (let's say) a women's toilet, or a 'slippery  
surface ahead' sign. Such informative and warning symbols only need  
to exist on their own -- one of them in one location at a time -- and  
in a looser visual relation to any other symbols that might  
constitute the set to which they belong.

Look closely at the Isotype symbols with repeatability and  
halvability in mind --

Another thing to say is that the Isotype symbols (from 1928 to 1940)  
were designed by Gerd Arntz in critical dialogue with Otto Neurath. A  
full account would recognize Neurath's role in their design. I think  
he was one of those design bosses who was never quite happy, and  
wanted to go on suggesting changes up to the last moment. There were  
times (for example, in the advisory work they did in the Soviet  
Union) when Arntz was quite glad to be free of his demanding colleague!

Robin Kinross


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Wed Feb  6 13:19:23 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 12:19:23 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802060419o20539f00nab1add1cf83c5d75@mail.gmail.com>

Isabel,

Thanks for the links about the "In-flight Safety Instruction video for
Virgin America" and
"Cooks Illustrated" magazine.
Virgin Atlantic has also come up with a very interesting video too,
you can check at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4dxPISegY
This animation was exhibited at the Information Design Exhibition (12
February 2005 ? 15 May 2005, "You Are Here ? The Design of
Information", Design Museum in London).

In relation to cooking related skills, I am sure that you all will
enjoy this site:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/
Besides providing samples of beautiful instructional drawings, this
site gives access to some live action demonstrations:
http://www.knife-skills-book.com/pages/index.php?pg=media

Finally,

> I imagine that you probably have already come across the studies
> conducted by Barbara Tversky at Stanford University.

Yes, I have been consulting Tversky's researches quite a lot.
Lozano and Tversky have conducted a very interesting experiment on the
communicative power of gestures:
"Communicative gestures facilitate problem solving for both
communicators and recipients".
( http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/gesture/papers/lozano%20&%20tversky%202006.pdf
)
This is one of the few articles (that I know) that explores the
effectiveness of wordless demonstrations (live action, not printed) to
communicate assembly instructions.


What do you all think about the video mentioned above?
Is there space for sense of humor in video instructions?
or, this is NOT AT ALL a job for information designers.

Can instructions be effectively communicated through wordless
demonstrations only?

Thanks.

Jose'.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Thu Feb  7 15:50:34 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:50:34 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>

On 2008-02-05 03:11, Dave Crossland wrote:
> On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
>> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
>>> Second, most museum object have passed through many
>>> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
>>> made of the object before they took possession?
>> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
>> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
>> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
>> displayed the photo.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

Sorry, I read the article, but I don't see the connection.

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From digitas at panix.com  Thu Feb  7 15:57:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:57:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>,
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
Message-ID: <p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@[10.0.1.2]>

At 2:26 PM -0500 1/30/08, m.meirelles at neu.edu wrote:
>1. Have you seen this in-flight Safety Instruction video for Virgin America? (nice sense of humor)
>url in youtube:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo&eurl=http://motionographer.com/2007/11/29/virgin-america-safety-video/
>
>url of the company who designed it (select from the side menu --third down first row icon):
>http://www.wildbrain.com/comm.html
>

Surprisingly, the Virgin animation for their American service is even better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo

A lovely knock-off of the UPA animation style.


-- Randal


From dave at lab6.com  Thu Feb  7 16:46:28 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:46:28 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>
	<47AB1ABA.2050709@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802070746y2528f034se02b30579e43440f@mail.gmail.com>

On 07/02/2008, Curtis Clark <jcclark-lists at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >> if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> >> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> >> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> >> displayed the photo.
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)
>
> Sorry, I read the article, but I don't see the connection.

Imagine going to a museum, breaking the rules and taking some photos
of some objects, and going to a net cafe across the street and posting
them anonymously on flickr with a "public domain, do anything you
like" license.

Then imagine suggesting to your colleague to try searching on flickr
for public domain images of the object.

But don't do this - that would be bad.

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Thu Feb  7 17:03:51 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:03:51 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@10.0.1.2>
References: <d14a175a0801280749v54e86bebp55f0933168ee29c8@mail.gmail.com>
	<C306D0FC2E2FB441974B596305B9DF2E028D86C9@PENDRAGON.LEC-ADMIN.dmu.ac.uk>
	<d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<85C92D6004D66B4497828A1D76B13F13329C5B@DAYTONA.epcor.ca>
	<d14a175a0801291229t1eef6043wec67f95a872aaaed@mail.gmail.com>
	<OF82276948.88CD092A-ON852573E0.006AC4DC-852573E0.006AC4EB@neu.edu>
	<p06240803c3d0cb50fb0c@10.0.1.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802070803v7bce6817of91012eb6e1656c4@mail.gmail.com>

Randal,

You are absolutely right.
The video is inspired by "UPA" style, which can be termed as "limited"
animation.
In other words, the budget is limited but the creativity is endless.

For more information on UPA and limited animation, see:
http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/2007/09/12/upa-moma-exhibit-1955/

I suggest you to watch this video too:
The Information Machine (1958) Music by Elmer Bernstein and drawing by
Written, produced and directed by Charles and Ray Eames.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFep2Er4xg
I think that they are good in using a technique called "kinestasis" or
making still pictures move. ("Kine" = movement and "Stasis" =
non-moving).

Cheers.





On 07/02/2008, Randal <digitas at panix.com> wrote:
> At 2:26 PM -0500 1/30/08, m.meirelles at neu.edu wrote:
> >1. Have you seen this in-flight Safety Instruction video for Virgin America? (nice sense of humor)
> >url in youtube:
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo&eurl=http://motionographer.com/2007/11/29/virgin-america-safety-video/
> >
> >url of the company who designed it (select from the side menu --third down first row icon):
> >http://www.wildbrain.com/comm.html
> >
>
> Surprisingly, the Virgin animation for their American service is even better:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo
>
> A lovely knock-off of the UPA animation style.
>
>
> -- Randal
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From Bethany.Shepherd at thebrandunion.com  Fri Feb  8 11:55:09 2008
From: Bethany.Shepherd at thebrandunion.com (Bethany Shepherd)
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:55:09 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Job opportunities: information designer and information
	writer
In-Reply-To: <C3D0D3AF.CF1F%Bethany.Shepherd@thebrandunion.com>
Message-ID: <C3D1E58D.CF90%Bethany.Shepherd@thebrandunion.com>

Hello all

I?m emailing to let you know about some info design job opportunities at the
London studio of The Brand Union.

We are looking for an Information designer, and an Information writer to
join the team originally set up by Rob Waller as the Information Design
Unit, and now led by Iain Roe, Judy Delin, and Daniel Lewington.

This is a great opportunity to join an experienced team with the chance to
work with other designers and creatives in a multi-disciplinary environment.
Our clients tend to be in information-intensive service sectors, where many
critical customer touch-points are in the form of complex information. There
is a mix of work for business and public sector clients, and the opportunity
to work on lots of blue chip accounts.

Have a look at our website and blogs for more about The Brand Union ?
www.thebrandunion.com

If you?re interested please email me for more information.

Best,
Bethany Shepherd 


Bethany Shepherd 
Senior Designer
+44 (0) 20 7559 7025 (direct) 


Enterprise IG is now The Brand Union.
A new approach to mastering brand building.


http://www.thebrandunion.com 

http://blogs.thebrandunion.com 

The Brand Union 11-33 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4PJ 

Please consider the environment before printing this email
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From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:00:55 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:00:55 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Looking for an illustrator
In-Reply-To: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2682824a0801311401w130eb4easa3f8b38c60b9b510@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010000v2b3ce86bp7d2293ba52dda5f7@mail.gmail.com>

Hello David,

I am quite busy writing up my thesis.
But I need some extra money.
So, could you provide more details about this work?

Jose'.

On 31/01/2008, David Farbey <david.farbey at googlemail.com> wrote:
> If anyone on this list is, or knows of, an illustrator who would be
> interested in creating a few instructional line drawings for a
> start-up entrepreneur who probably couldn't pay very much, please
> could they get in touch with me.
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> David Farbey - david at farbey.co.uk
> Technical Communication and Information Design
> Mobile  +44-(0)7879-005-946
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 09:02:54 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:02:54 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Sorry for my previous e-mail
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010002u83f2a18l5d42d5e7986d3f4@mail.gmail.com>

Sorry!!!
I should have answered to David's personal e-mail directly.
Thanks.

-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 15:47:38 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:47:38 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedagogical videos
In-Reply-To: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
References: <E314AE6E-2E97-4FF7-B45C-B638E7666CAA@orionac.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010647macde302m11e029f55a8bd95c@mail.gmail.com>

Rita,

I agree that the "watch and learn" video category is a very exciting one.
But, my main interest is related to the "demonstrate and imitate" sub-section.

I really like commoncraft's videos. My opinion is that they are
excellent teachers.
However, it is interesting to consider that their videos are limited
to the English speaking (and listening) audience.  Some people have
already tried to add subtitles to commoncraft's videos lessons, but,
it is simply impossible to read them (they speak too fast).

Thanks.

Jose'.


On 31/01/2008, Rita Amladi <ramladi at orionac.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Sorry to enter this late - but this is a great topic.
>
> I've made several instructional videos on tech topics and also
> conceived and created technical content for different mediums:
> magazine articles, books, PDF papers, HTML articles and podcasts. I'm
> still learning about which medium is best suited for the content and
> audience. I'm excited by the "watch and learn" genre so I'll be
> following this thread with interest.
>
> I've spent a lot of time speccing content that is "just right" for
> the intended audience, using polished and clear graphics and
> examples. Now, when I watch the QT movies I've made in the past?that
> have been praised for their effectiveness, spit and polish?I see them
> as being unnecessarily long, cumbersome and wordy. Like I conceived
> the content for one medium (for the audience to read rather than
> watch), and then simply transfered it to the other medium. I've been
> looking around for examples of instructional movies that were
> conceived and created for this new medium entirely. One movie stands
> out in my research: RSS in Plain English. I found it engaging and
> pedagogically brilliant. Can the experts comment?
> http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english
>
>
> -Rita Amladi
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:03:20 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:03:20 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.123765.1201609000.96723.infodesign-cafe@list.informationdesign.org>
	<000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010703i231f516do4e189a45cac77541@mail.gmail.com>

Colleagues,

Following Roger Sharp's suggestion I have decided to read David
Gillette's articles on how to incorporate motion on presentation of
information.
I think that it is worth reading Gillette's explanation and
demonstration of how Sergei Einsenstein's montages techniques (i.e.,
metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual) can be
appropriated by information designers and technical communicators.

The article "Looking to Cinema for Direction: Incorporating Motion
into On-Screen Presentations of Technical Information" is available
at:
http://cla.calpoly.edu:16080/~dgillett/articles.chapters.html

What do you think?

Thanks.


On 31/01/2008, Jose de Souza <marconi2006 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Karen, Paul and Isabel,
>
> Many thanks for the stimulating suggestions, observations and links.
> I will try to make a brief feedback on some observations.  But,  I
> have to think and read a little a bit more in order to give an equally
> stimulating response. For the moment I will feedback on the following
> subjects:
>
> 1. Ideas on how to compare and learn from the written, graphic and
> cinematographic languages of instructions:
>
> From Karen:
> > You could carry out a features analysis of the linguistic moves of
> > instructional videos. This would give you some ideas about what elements are
> > most effective. I suggest looking at a number of videos that have an
> > equivalent printed version to understand what the video adds or subtracts.
> > It may be that designers of instructional videos could learn  from hardcopy
> > moves, but you'd need to operationalize what works and that would require
> > more than an expert review (i.e., real learner data).
>
> From Paul Linen:
> > I agree. The relationship is like that between a storyboard and a film. The
> > former allows the director to design the separate slices of key information
> > needed to create the narrative (the graphic designer Saul Bass' classic
> > storyboard for Psycho shower scene is a good example of this).
>
> I have been collecting graphic and cinematographic instructions in
> various subjects. I have equivalent instructions for airline safety
> instructions (like the one suggested by Isabel), knitting, origami,
> knots, golf and surgical procedures (just to mention a few).  So, if I
> get some support, my idea for post-doc research is to determine their
> differences and, indeed, test their effectiveness with real users.  I
> am planning to use fashionable video devices such I-pod for this type
> of experiment.
> For example, will illiterate Brazilian crafts women be able to learn
> new techniques from instructional demonstrations that are either
> graphic (wordless), cinematographic or the combination of both?  or
> How cinematographic and graphic instructions help novices in the
> medical domain to learn how to perform surgical knots?
> As you can realize, I feel particularly interested in tasks which
> requires some level of manual dexterity.
>
> 2. Gestalt laws and cinematographic language
> From Karen:
> > I would like to see research on how (and if) good instructional videos make
> > use of principles of visual organization, particularly ideas derived from
> > gestalt psychology (e.g., figure-ground, proximity, good continuation,
> > closure, etc.). It seems that good interfaces (and good hardcopy
> > instructions) do this well but I haven't seen much research about how these
> > principles might apply to moving images.
>
> Very interesting combination: gestalt principles applied to graphic
> language (which I am very much familiarized) with the cinematographic
> language (which I know much less about it). Until now I could NOT find
> any research which makes the link between both subjects.  However, it
> is interesting to research how the principles of montage developed by
> Sergei Eisenstein (i.e., Metric, Rhythmic, Tonal, Overtonal and
> Intellectual montage) can be related to visual narratives techniques
> used in instructional videos (maybe someone can trace the similarities
> between Eisenstein's ideas and gestalt laws).  Another concept
> explored by makers of visual narratives and that is directly inspired
> by gestalt theory is the principle of "closure". McCloud's
> "Understanding Comics" explains this principle magnificently. Another
> inspiring source of ideas are craft-based animation principles (i.e.,
> anticipation, exageration, follow-through, slow-in, slow-out, staging,
> etc.). In my opinion, the best book on the subject is Richard
> Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit".
>
> For the moment that's all folks.
> Very soon I will post further ideas on your suggestions.
> Once again, thanks.
> --
> Jos? de Souza
> PhD Student
> Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
> The University of Reading
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 16:31:57 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 15:31:57 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
References: <000001c86274$f2896c80$1100a8c0@pc123>
	<EE8A0E39-D803-4351-AE49-6106EB311AA3@earthlink.net>
	<d14a175a0801310059l137aeed7u92f63355439078dd@mail.gmail.com>
	<a06200729c3c74e370c46@192.168.0.2>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010731t42fef2b0x549ccec2c95ba842@mail.gmail.com>

Conrad,

Many thanks for your excellent insights and information. Very stimulating.
Indeed, the so called "academy" is very receptive to the "craft
knowledge" contribution
(at least the "academy" that I know).

> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.

In order to achieve clarity, the traditional graphic language can also
"distort" reality in similar ways. For example, McClouds's five
choices to "distort" reality are: moment (including alteration of time
duration perception), frame (including POV), drawing technique, word
and  flow
(see http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/makingcomics_2p.pdf).
I would add a sixth choice: provision of user (i.e., observer and/or
reader) interaction flexibility.

Thanks again.

Jose'.



On 31/01/2008, Conrad Taylor <conrad at ideograf.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Apologies for coming late to this discussion; and, of course,
> I shall contribute little of any academic value, as is my way...
>   ;-)
>
> I have made a number of videos which could not be described
> as "instructional" -- if by that you mean that you desire people
> to repeat what has been shown -- but "explanatory", which means
> that they are supposed to explain and illustrate complex processes.
> The former is not a perfect subset of the latter, but there must
> be quite an overlap; and there is some overlap of technique, too.
>
> The cinematographic language brings to the art of explanation
> and instruction two useful distortions of reality:
>
>    (a)  the ability to rapidly shift from one Point Of View
>         (hereinafter POV) to another;
>
>    (b)  the ability to distort and in particular to elide
>         passages of time.
>
> That is not the entire toolkit, but they are the two methods that
> are used most routinely.
>
> To illustrate this: quite a few years ago I made a video about
> "How a magazine gets printed", which I have subsequently used
> in training events.  The reason for making this was that many
> people responsible for specifying and ordering print for their
> companies had never seen the processes in action.  Several
> times, I arranged for the course participants to have a
> guided tour of a medium-sized print-plant, but this was
> time-consuming, too dependent on the goodwill of printers,
> and didn't display a wide enough range of processes (e.g.
> could not show both web-fed and sheet-fed presses in action).
>
> Imagine explaining (cinematographically, with narration)
> the operation of a Heidelberg CPC Speedmaster sheet-fed
> press.  We want to show the whole press in wide view.
> We narrate that it is fed with sheets of paper (POV-cut
> to paper feed mechanism, side-view... we see the sheets
> going down the registration slide one by one).  Suction
> feet and compressed air are used to make sure only one
> sheet at a time is fed (POV-cut to rear view, where the
> operation of the suction foot array is most obvious).
> The press has four printing-heads, one for each colour
> (POV-cut to wide view, showing first two heads, angled
> view) and the sheet of paper passes through each in
> turn (not a POV-cut, but a pan with slowly opening zoom
> to follow the course the sheet takes).  Having received
> impressions from all four printing units, the sheet is
> delivered with a full colour image (POV-cut to the
> delivery end of the press, medium shot, and slowly
> zoom in to printed sheets falling one on top of each
> other).
>
> Five different points of view, with instant transitions
> between them, ranging from wide shots to shots that show
> so much detail in close-up (thanks to telephoto lenses)
> that one might be in mortal danger trying to replicate
> them with the naked eye.  All steady-shot on tripod,
> all perfectly focused, and the trickery is perfectly
> accepted by the audience which has become used to the
> convention.
>
> Note that in the scenario described above, we can exploit
> the mass-production, repeated nature of the print process.
> Each part of the press is doing exactly the same repeated
> action at intervals slightly less than a second.  During
> a run of the press, we have plenty of time to move the
> single camera to each required POV and film a segment.
> Edit the segments together guided by the audio, so
> the rhythm of the press doesn't make a jump, and you
> have what you want.  Filming the take-off of an Ariane
> rocket from Kourou from several different POVs could not
> be done with a single camera.
>
> As for the manipulation of time, let's go to an earlier
> part of the print-process: the platemaking.  Remember that
> this movie was made prior to direct-image platemaking.
> So we show the imagesetter, and we describe how this
> machine is using a laser beam to image our pages as
> film positives.  Switch to the film-processor unit,
> and the film is emerging with the page image visible
> on it.  Switch to the film-imposition light table,
> where the films are being attached to carrier foils.
> Switch to several POV-shots of the printing-down
> frame, where the foils are laid onto plates and
> exposed to UV light.  Switch to the rear end of
> the plate processor, where the plates emerge with
> imposed page images on them.  Those, as it happens,
> are all POV-cuts; but they are also understood to be
> a contraction of elapsed time, so that in 90 seconds
> we can explain a process that in truth takes 45 minutes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> My implementation of these two techniques depended in the
> example above on videotape and editing to achieve both
> POV-shifts and time-shifts.  Where do the roots of these
> techniques lie, culturally?  Probably in story-telling,
> and they are well established in the form of the novel.
> The stage-play, of course, is another animal...
>
> Let's take a jump back to instructional television for
> children, and to the early 1960s, a few years after the
> BBC Children's Television programme "Blue Peter" started
> transmission (it is the longest-running children's TV
> show in the world, and will be 50 years old in October).
>
>  From quite early on, the shows featured craft demonstrations
> in which we children (there were no "kids" in Britain at
> that time, other than in herds of goats) were encouraged
> and shown how to make toys and gifts and decorative or
> practical objects out of disused cereals packets and toilet-
> rolls, glue, sticky tape and stick-backed plastic (terms
> invented by the programme makers so as not to use such
> trade names as "Sellotape" and "Fablon") ... and of course
> serious glues that are no longer sold to children due to
> the novel mind-altering uses to which such substances are
> now put.
>
> These programmes went out live (they still usually do),
> though they usually included one segment that had been
> filmed and edited and were transmitted through a telecine
> machine.  There was very little use in the BBC at that
> time of the new-fangled Quadruplex 2" video recording
> system in preparing programmes; though Blue Peter was
> one of the few programmes to have been consistently
> archived from 1964 (and on video from 1970).
>
> Craft demonstrations also required, as in my examples above,
> shifts of POV, particularly from shots showing the presenter
> in wider shot to extreme close-ups showing beads of glue
> being applied to fuzzy-felt, etc.  Given the real-time
> nature of the show, this was achieved by multiple cameras
> well choreographed, and a switcher desk.
>
> Time shifts, however, were impossible with this technology,
> hence the invention by one of Blue Peter's two first presenters,
> Chistopher Trace, of the phrase "Here's one I made earlier" --
> as a version was produced in which the glue had set, paint
> had dried, etc.
>
> I've used Blue Peter as an exemplar, but anyone who wanted
> to make a historical study of the evolution if instructional
> methods on TV might find the archives of the BBC a treasury.
> Sad, then, that in the name of recycling and cost-cutting,
> all the 1970s and early 1980s master videotopes of "Tomorrow's
> World" were erased...
>
> There must also be military training films as another kind
> of resource.  And cookery programmes.  Maybe even military
> cooking programmes.
>
> :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
>
> A supplementary technique which I have also had to use in
> cinematographic explanation is, of course, diagrams and the
> animation thereof.  Generally this is when a diagram can
> reveal processes that would be hidden to a camera or even
> a human observer, or show the action of what could never be
> visible (such as the passage of data through in information
> circuit, or the action of gravity or radiation) -- or, of
> course, where the diagram simplifies what is complicated
> to see in reality.  But that would take the discussion
> into realms which I do not have time to address just now.
>
> Hope some of these ramblings help!
>
> Conrad
>
> --
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
> ___________________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From marconi2006 at googlemail.com  Fri Feb  1 17:02:33 2008
From: marconi2006 at googlemail.com (Jose de Souza)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:02:33 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: The cinematographic language of instructions
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <d14a175a0801290307g7d9674fesa182a27ac3b4e179@mail.gmail.com>
	<C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <d14a175a0802010802h7773757ck7e170ff3ea5d7575@mail.gmail.com>

Paul Linnel,

> My argument would be that whilst an edited graphic sequence works at a
> purely informative/instructional level, the user can be persuaded to believe
> s/he can perform a task if they see someone (to whom there is a social
> relationship) already doing it successfully.

This relates to two topics that I've been reading about:  Albert
Bandura's experiments and theory on observation learning, and research
on mirror neurons.
Bandura's "Bobo doll experiment" is a classic in psychology studies
(see the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk&feature=related).
The discovery of "mirror neurons" is considered by important
scientists, such as V.S. Ramachandran, as one of the most important
findings of neuroscience in the last decade. The mirror neurons may be
important to explain how we understand other's action, and how we
learn new skills by imitation
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3204/01.html).


-- 
Jos? de Souza
PhD Student
Department of Typography & Graphic Communication
The University of Reading



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Fri Feb  1 21:17:59 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:17:59 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>

Cafe,

Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!


I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport

on this one.


Ugh. :(

Deborah
(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com







From digitas at panix.com  Fri Feb  1 22:25:49 2008
From: digitas at panix.com (Randal)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 16:25:49 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: New U.S. passport design
In-Reply-To: <47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
References: <C3C62FA1.4641%pagl@dmu.ac.uk>
	<47A37E77.6020901@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <p0624082ec3c93dc3c91a@[10.0.1.2]>

I'm not looking forward to getting a new one in a couple years. Maybe a Democratic president will help get rid of the Reagan quote. The graphics are definitely Republican all the way.

Plus I will have to figure out how to disable the RFID chip:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9

-- Randal

At 12:17 PM -0800 2/1/08, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote:
>Cafe,
>
>Well, somebody in the bowels of the federal government has
>rebranded all USers as "the ugly American" whether we like it or not!
>
>
>I'm with commentator Karrie Jacobs
>
>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/patriotic_passport
>
>on this one.
>
>
>Ugh. :(
>
>Deborah
>(who waited just a little too long to renew her passport)
>_____
>
>Deborah Taylor-Pearce
>dtp at she-philosopher.com
>
>
>
>
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
> infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org
>
>To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
> http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
>For all Information Design matters:
> http://InformationDesign.org
>
>Problems? Write to:
> InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
>___________________________________________________________________



From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 06:46:12 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:46:12 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>

Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com











From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 13:40:50 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 07:40:50 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

A lot of "intellectual property" owners assert property rights that are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)

And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that should be recognized and understood, also.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

-----Original Message-----
From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org on behalf of Deborah Taylor-Pearce
Sent: Sat 2/2/2008 12:46 AM
To: Discussions about information design
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
 
Dave, Gunnar, et al. --

This has drawn attention to copyright law in unexpected quarters:
the NFL's assertion of copyright against churches planning Super
Bowl parties, where they would evangelize fans during half-time.

Not sure what the NFL's objection is ... perhaps that hundreds of
fans would be preoccupied with prayer instead of watching the
half-time commercials advertisers pay such extravagant rates for?

There was a brief story on today's _Marketplace_:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/01/nfl_church/


Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com









___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org
___________________________________________________________________

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From dave at lab6.com  Sat Feb  2 19:23:20 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:23:20 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>
	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>
	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>
	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>
	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> <snip> owners assert <snip> rights that
> are not legally theirs or not clearly legally theirs but become
> theirs because a cease and desist letter scares people off.

This is true.

Deborah: This isn't a copyright case, IMHO IANAL.

But the NFL have a couple of ways to try hurting these communities.

First, the NFL can use the TV networks as puppets because I expect the
church groups are breaking their contract for cable TV service. TV is
only for personal use, not public performance, and they are basically
running cinemas; bars have to get different "business" contracts for
private TV.

Although religions get tax exempt status and otherwise have their
commercial activities viewed as non-commercial, so maybe they could
get away with it, especially in the USA where superstition is still
powerful.

Second, like the Ford car owners club I mentioned a while ago, the NFL
could get at them for trademark infringement if they used the logo of
the "NFL" or perhaps even its name, or the logos or names of the teams
that are playing, to advertise their events. This is less likely to be
successful than the contract angle, I think... The Ford club was
allowed to print their calendar, btw -
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/25/black-mustang-club-c.html

> On a related thread, a week back Dave said:
> > Patent law has nothing to do with this discussion, which is
> > purely about copyright. The term "IP" confuses things and
> > makes patents seems relevant when they are not. IMO :-)
>
> And I agree and disagree. Keeping patent, copyright,
> trademark, trade dress, trade secret, etc. distinct is important
> but they have some legal and philosophical commonality that
> should be recognized and understood, also.

But there are no legal or philosophical commonalities in these laws!
:-) That's the whole point; they were legislated at totally different
times, in totally different ways, for totally different purposes.

It superficially appears they might have something in common today,
because they are all government granted monopolies, and are used in
concerted ways by some people to restrict other people. But as soon as
you try and any anything specific about these things with any umbrella
term, you start babbling because all the details differ wildly.

And its silly to talk about government-granted monopolies being good
or bad in general, because it totally depends on these specifics. Ayn
Rand style libertarians and Jack Valenti style monopolists are both
fruitcakes :-)

Debor

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From jcclark-lists at earthlink.net  Sat Feb  2 21:25:52 2008
From: jcclark-lists at earthlink.net (Curtis Clark)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:25:52 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>

On 2008-01-22 06:59, Swanson, Gunnar wrote:
> Does anyone know the legal basis for such claims? Some museums have
> assured that they own the rights to the only photographs of an object
> in their possession thus any reproduction is an infringement on that
> photograph. Has that been tested in court anywhere? Specifically in
> the US? Is there any other legal theory that gives them control? US
> copyright law wouldn't seem to.

I was amazed by how little I could turn up on Google. Museums call this 
"reproduction rights". Some of them clearly distinguish it from 
copyright (presenting copyright as yet a separate hurdle) and others are 
muddled. As far as I can tell, reproduction rights seem to be based on 
physical control of the object. If someone broke into my house, 
photographed the mess by the sink, and posted it on the web, they would 
have committed both trespass and probably breaking and entering (if I 
had locked the door). A visitor to a museum is there under sufferance; 
part of the implicit or in many cases explicit "license agreement" is 
that they won't make photographs. Take the case of an object that has 
always been under the physical control of a single museum: the only 
photographs of the object that exist are either taken by the museum (and 
protected both by copyright and by whatever additional license 
agreements it imposes) or else they were taken by a trespasser (a museum 
visitor who violated the terms of being allowed to visit).

That part seems clear, but there are a couple of muddy pieces. First, 
the trespasser could be prosecuted, but why would the museum have any 
control over the illicit photo? The trespasser would have copyright. I 
suppose the museum could agree to refrain from prosecuting for trespass 
if the trespasser agreed not to distribute the image, but this seems 
like little leverage.

Second, most museum object have passed through many hands. How can a 
museum control use of photographs made of the object before they took 
possession?

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Director, I&IT Web Development                   +1 909 979 6371
University Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona


From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 22:12:45 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 16:12:45 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk><478459B1.3060606@she-philosopher.com><2285a9d20801120817q3989fa95r9bd1c350ed588987@mail.gmail.com><47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> Second, most museum object have passed through many
> hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> made of the object before they took possession?

And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I displayed the photo.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839

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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Sat Feb  2 23:20:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:20:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> A lot of "intellectual
> property" owners assert
> property rights that are
> not legally theirs or not
> clearly legally theirs but
> become theirs because a
> cease and desist letter
> scares people off.

But in this case, at least, it looks like the churches are going
to court -- although not to battle a false copyright claim, but
in order to obtain the same sort of special legal status that
bars have.


What I'm slowly catching on to here (in what you and Dave keep
telling us) is the frequent misuse of the "copyright" descriptor
... and the rhetorician in me can't help but wonder why. <bg>

Why do corporations etc. keep using the "copyright" frame, even
when it doesn't apply?

Why not send letters of "cease & desist" over trademark
infringement? or breach of contract? or whatever it is that's
really going on here? Why does the NFL automatically assert
"copyright"?

I'm beginning to wonder if they're relying on public approval for
"copyright" as an egalitarian means of protecting private
property (including "intellectual property"), which is pretty
much sacrosanct in the U.S. (except when it comes to recent
controversial implementations of "eminent domain" ;-).

Any of us can assert copyright over something we create, and we
don't need the approval of the state in order to do so. Nor do we
have to engage with the government bureaucracy or pay a fee. (I
hadn't thought of it quite this way before, but I suppose one
could say copyright's a federal entitlement! ;-)

Could it be that there's a reservoir of public goodwill about
"copyright" that we don't feel for patent, trademark, "trade
dress" (??? not heard of this one before), and trade secret law?

So, while we tend to accept and defer to someone's claim of
copyright, we might question the rules of the game when it
comes to trademark law or contract law, since these are perceived
to favor corporations and those with power. (E.g., the Democratic
presidential candidates are even talking of overriding
homeowners' signed contracts with lending institutions, because
the people signing didn't fully grasp the implications of balloon
payments, etc., and as such, were taken advantage of. There's
been no coercion, so to speak, but I think most folks figure
there's something unethical about the sort of rhetorical trickery
so often used to hoodwink the "financially illiterate" among us.)


Then again, maybe there's nothing more going on here than that
we're all -- corporate legal eagles, included -- intellectually
lazy, and "copyright" is the one framing device we all understand
... or think we do.

That is, we're looking for a catch-all umbrella term -- a legal
soundbite -- even if, as Dave notes, there isn't one.


Mick, are you out there? You understand more about this sort of
thing (rhetorical frames) than I do....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com








From SWANSONG at ecu.edu  Sat Feb  2 23:42:51 2008
From: SWANSONG at ecu.edu (Swanson, Gunnar)
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:42:51 -0500
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
Message-ID: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>

Deborah,

In this case they seem to be making a copyright claim. They are saying that they wish to control the showing/watching of the game. A trademark case would be over whether others could describe their Sunday party with "Superbowl" in the name.

Many people are less sympathetic toward trademarks claims than toward copyright. Maybe that's because copyright sounds like someone did something new and creative rather than just asserting the power of big, nasty corporations. In both actuality and US law, however, trademarks are more fragile. If I plagiarize a from a book, it probably won't diminish the value of the original. If I misuse a trademark, it can very well reduce the trust, belief, or image that the brand has built. Furthermore, failure to rigorously defend a trademark can be used as evidence to invalidate the trademark later.

Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
USA

gunnar at gunnarswanson.com
+1 252 258 7006

http://www.gunnarswanson.com

at East Carolina University:
swansong at ecu.edu
+1 252 328 2839


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From dave at lab6.com  Tue Feb  5 12:11:47 2008
From: dave at lab6.com (Dave Crossland)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 12:11:47 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: ReadHowYouWant.com paperback editions
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>
	<47899269.5030505@she-philosopher.com>
	<2285a9d20801130503s19a3205em2d8d1d5ad326c280@mail.gmail.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0C7@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
	<47A4D1D0.4070406@earthlink.net>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F208@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <2285a9d20802050311k35c09301q96ca0beeacdaa803@mail.gmail.com>

On 02/02/2008, Swanson, Gunnar <SWANSONG at ecu.edu> wrote:
> Curtis Clark, Sat 2/2/2008 3:25 PM:
> > Second, most museum object have passed through many
> > hands. How can a museum control use of photographs
> > made of the object before they took possession?
>
> And third, if the person who took the photo when breaking into
> your house sold the photo to someone who gave it to someone
> who gave it to me, I wouldn't be guilty of B&E or trespass if I
> displayed the photo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_sock_puppet ahoy :-)

-- 
Regards,
Dave


From P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl  Tue Feb  5 15:48:03 2008
From: P.H.Westendorp at tudelft.nl (Piet Westendorp - IO)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:48:03 +0100
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Male & Female figures on restroom doors
Message-ID: <DCE3ECFB05070C4484DBEB676590099D32133E@SRV503.tudelft.net>

Does anyone know something about the origin of the male and female
figures on restroom doors? 
Oldest examples? 
Could there be any relation with the figures that Gerd Arntz designed
for Neuraths ISOTYPE figures?
Piet Westendorp
Delft University of Technology
p.h.westendorp at tudelft.nl



From s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:17:16 2008
From: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:17:16 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A9C.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.


http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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From S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk  Tue Feb  5 18:20:24 2008
From: S.Boyd-Davis at mdx.ac.uk (Stephen Boyd Davis)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:20:24 +0000
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Umea,
 Sweden on architecturally situated interaction design - 20 February
 2008 - London
Message-ID: <C3CE4A18.3A871%s.boyd-davis@mdx.ac.uk>

Lansdown Lecture - Mikael Wiberg from Ume?, Sweden on architecturally
situated interaction design - 20 February 2008 - London


This public lecture is free. All welcome.

 <<image.jpg>> 
http://lansdown.mdx.ac.uk/cms/?location_id=85&item=9&itemoffset=1

Summary
+ Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures

+ Mikael Wiberg, Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics, Ume?
University, Sweden 

+ Date: Wednesday 20 February 2008

+ Time: 4:50pm for one hour

+ Location: Middlesex University, London, EN4 8HT
   Cat Hill Campus: Room 137


Enquiries
Stephen Boyd Davis: s.boyd-davis at mdx.ac.uk


Interactive Architecture or Interaction through Textures
Our built environment is undergoing a transformation in terms of
digitalization. Computers are embedded into our physical environment and
small computational devices accompany us as we move about. Mainly installed
for functional purposes, digital technology is now beginning to be seen as a
design material in support of social interaction, play and experiences.
Researchers now address concepts such as ubiquitous computing, interactive
architecture, responsive environments, media places, hybrid spaces, ambient
intelligence, and digital art installations.

Mikael Wiberg will address this development and present Ume??s research in
Interactive Architecture, particularly ArchITechtum, an architecturally
situated interaction design project in the design of digital devices
informed by architectural thinking and environmental psychology; and the
implications of work on embedded public displays at the ICEHOTEL. He will
also present an IT- (?Interaction through Textures?) framework for
interactive architecture built on the notion of the interaction society,
built environments as communicated persistent structures, and ephemeral
interaction, graceful interaction, and interaction landscaping ? important
human elements for understanding interaction through interactive
architecture.


About the speaker
Mikael Wiberg is an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics at
Ume? University, Sweden. His Ph.D. in Informatics at Ume? 2001 was in the
design of mobile CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) for ongoing
interaction.

His current research focuses on the emerging Interaction Society and related
issues of mobile CSCW, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence,
availability management, interactive architecture, and interaction design.
He edited a book on The Interaction Society (2004) and has published in
international journals including ToCHI, BIT, IEEE Network, IEEE Pervasive
Computing, WebNet Journal, International journal of Educational technology &
Society, and international conferences including CHI, GROUP, Mobile HCI,
HCI. His current project is [x]ID ? Interaction Design in eXtreme
environments.


Mikael Wiberg site: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~mwiberg/



Venue
Room 137
Middlesex University
Cat Hill
Barnet
Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=en4+8ht&ie=UTF8&ll=51.644
269,-0.147951&spn=0.007523,0.016308&t=h&z=16&om=1



Date and time
Wednesday 20 February at 4:50pm






----------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Boyd Davis
Reader in Interactive Media
Head, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts
Middlesex University, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT
United Kingdom
Tel 44 (0)20 8411 5072
.............................................................
The Centre's Web Pages are at http://www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------




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From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:37:30 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:37:30 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
References: <C3A81534.7145%andrew@boag.co.uk>	<478BF59E.20600@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F0DB@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<478E825F.3050901@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F157@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47982EC5.1010200@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F174@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<479A3ECC.8080604@she-philosopher.com>	<a0620071cc3c0b68a5268@192.168.0.2>	<2682824a0801280653i2afbdbd9n3b9c8eb98374566d@mail.gmail.com>	<2285a9d20801281129i2cb9016n8cfaaa9d6fc0e609@mail.gmail.com>	<47A403A4.7010502@she-philosopher.com>	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F200@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>	<47A4EC9D.1090807@she-philosopher.com>
	<556BA53FA6DBA14CBD1605F1735C0FEC76F20B@ecufs9.intra.ecu.edu>
Message-ID: <47A8F33A.2060602@she-philosopher.com>

Gunnar,

> In both actuality and US law,
> however, trademarks are more
> fragile. If I plagiarize a
> from a book, it probably
> won't diminish the value of
> the original. If I misuse a
> trademark, it can very well
> reduce the trust, belief, or
> image that the brand has built.

Yes, I agree.

(Since I've not to my knowledge ever infringed on anyone's
trademark, and I'm not concerned with trademarking any of my own
work, I've never had cause to think/worry about the complicated
rationale at play here. ;-)

> Furthermore, failure
> to rigorously defend
> a trademark can be used
> as evidence to invalidate
> the trademark later.

I suppose this holds for website domains as well?

In other words, if you don't buy up all the alternative
extensions for a domain name, you're at risk of losing it to
whomever goes after it more aggressively?

... As I see it, further evidence that trademarks are more for
the wealthy than for every(wom)man....

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
dtp at she-philosopher.com






From dtp at she-philosopher.com  Wed Feb  6 00:39:13 2008
From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce)
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:13 -0800
Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Latest States-side copyright brouhaha
In-Reply-To: <2285a9d20802021023o5a6ccbcagbc9e91623b0ad70e@mail.gmail.com>
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Dave wrote:

> First, the NFL can use the
> TV networks as puppets
> because I expect the church
> groups are breaking their
> contract for cable TV
> service. TV is only for
> personal use, not public
> performance, and they are
> basically running cinemas;
> bars have to get different
> "business" contracts for
> private TV.

Similarly, my partner pointed out to me that if I rent a movie on
DVD, I can play it on my personal TV set in my personal space,
but I cannot set up my TV outside and play the DVD for passers-by.

So does this mean that Costco and Best Buy and other commercial
purveyors of big-screen TVs (and I must say, some of these appear
to be approaching the size of movie screens ;-) who have rows and
rows of TVs, all displaying the SuperBowl for store customers in
living color, need to have a special license, too?

The problem I have with SuperBowl content -- that I don't have
with movies that one buys or rents or licenses -- is that it is
*broadcast* over the "public airwaves."

One can argue that the "public" airwaves are not, in fact, really
public space, but as I understand it, those broadcasters who have
licensed a piece of the commons for a song, still have to make
"public service announcements" etc. that honor the public trust.

And once broadcasters go all-digital within the next few years,
the airwaves they've used up til now will become public property
once again, to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (I believe
I've heard that the