On this episode of Spark: Argonauts, Creative Hubs, and The War On Computing . Click below to listen to the whole show, or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:40 — 50.2MB)
You can also listen to individual stories below.
The Coming War on Computing
Author and journalist Cory Doctorow believes US anti-piracy legislation like the recently shelved SOPA and PIPA are just the beginning in a long war against all computing. He calls this idea “The Coming War on General Purpose Computation” and has a a lot to say about control over how people use their computers. (Runs 11:38)
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Balancing Act – Copyright Protection and the Open Internet
In the wake of the SOPA protests, we talk to Byron Holland, president and CEO of CIRA, (the Canadian Internet Registration Authority), about protecting Canadians’ online access in a global Internet context, and balancing copyright protection with an open Internet. (Runs 10:26)
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Building Creative Hubs & the Next Silicon Valley
Places all over the world strive to be “the next Silicon Valley”. But what does it take to be a creative hub? Is it something you can design or does it have to happen organically?
We begin with AnnaLee Saxenian, Dean of the School of Information at the University of California and author of The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy. She talks about what happened in Silicon Valley to make it the world’s centre of tech innovation, and how the future of growth and innovation will depend on the new Argonauts, experts who move information fluidly between creative hubs all over the world. (Runs 7:05)
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Spark contributor Jonathan Gifford brings us the story of creative convergence in Berlin, Germany – a place that people have had their eye on for the past while as being “the next Silicon Valley”. (Runs 7:27)
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Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation who has a long history in working to build open, collaborative, creative environments, talks about using the open principles of the web to create truly creative tech communities. (Runs 11:08)
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Additional Links
- Anshuman Iddamsetty’s new tech podcast Bandwidth
- Main page photo by Nathan Beier
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One thing to consider here is that if one ignore the book printing/publishing part of copyright — and that was basically what copyright was set up to protect, the rights of authors of books so that they may spend more time writing books than farm or do other work. And not protect them from joe down the street with a computer, but the guy owning and operating a printing press. This because the printing press of the time was a very labor intensive device to operate. Each page had to be set by hand, and then covered in ink and pressed using a hand driven press. This meant the number of people owning and operating such a device was few and very conspicuous. And it also meant that few did it for their own direct benefit, beyond the benefit of selling copies to recoup the expense in paper, ink and machinery with some profit on top. And so it was easy to create a law that ensured the author got a share of the profits from the sale of those copies. Never mind that the first British copyright law grew out of a earlier ban on printing presses outside of London. This to allow the current Catholic monarch of the time to keep an eye on the increasingly Protestant public's access to translated copies of the bible and such. And so when the new monarch was protestant, the London printers petitioned for a law that basically upheld their monopoly on printing. — the industries covered by copyright today have been around a century and half.
Recorded music may have started with the player piano, but only got into the hands of the public via the phonograph (1877). The printing press in contrast started out in 1440! The still photo camera is not much older than the phonograph (1826), and the movie camera is about on par with the phonograph in age (with the talking movie showing up in 1926-27). Products that could copy any of these in a simple manner only came with the VCR (VHS in 1971) and the cassette tape (1962).
So in historical terms, most of the copyright indistries are flashes in the pan.
[Subject to deletion as irrelevant humour]
As a Canadian, Corry should know — The wheel HAS been redesigned. for "Excellent traction on snow, Fantastic performance over dead-fall trees, Great ridability over muskeg"
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Where is the link to Bandwidth?
I found it at < http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html>:” rel=”nofollow”>;http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html>: < http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/bandwidth.xml>” rel=”nofollow”>;http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/bandwidth.xml>
And — I notice the server side editor is consistantly mis-interpreting my links.
Try: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html
and: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/bandwidth.x…
Yup it's in iTunes.
When I first posted photos on the internet I did not want them to be under US law, but it was difficult to find a free photosharing site that was Canadian. I finally found a website called BraveHost with servers in BC. I then know that my photos are under Canadian law and not some foreign governments control.
The website is advertiser based but does give me the ability to put up a few simple Python scripts and my photo gallery. I have no association with the company and accept no liability for its use. But it has been very good for me.
Your Jan 29 show another sterling fountain of information! 10 stars!
Anyone interested in expanding Mark Surman's comments with some conversation?
I'm currently working a lot with this conversation, specifically in the context of considering the "age wave" of Boomers that have begun to turn 65….and how that will affect ALL of us in the coming years.
Let me know if you want to know more.
Thank you, yet again, Spark!
I live and work in Waterloo, and I'm part of the Commuitech innovation hub here. I've worked for big corporations and small start-ups. I can definitely see the role that local, provincial and federal governments play in encouraging the infrastructure to enable innovation, but with the ebb and flow, start and stop of companies here, the growth certainly seems more organic.