Late last year, Nora interviewed Gabriella Coleman about digital book piracy. One of the reasons Gabriella cited for the increase in book piracy was new software and hardware that makes the book scanning process much easier.

On a related note, our friends at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society are presenting a luncheon event called The Why in DIY Book Scanning with Daniel Reetz. Here’s the blurb:

The DIY Book Scanner community (founded in June 2009) has produced a diverse ecosystem of book scanning hardware and software to address a wide range of human needs, both domestically and internationally. Daniel will motivate these efforts with case studies from the community, and hope to foster discussion on the future of digital books in light of these unmet needs.

Daniel Reetz [...] recently developed a high-speed book scanning system using open source technology, cheap cameras, and garbage. This free and open scanner design won the Epilog Grand Challenge, has been featured in Wired, and is now being improved and instantiated by a group of over 300 DIY’ers who believe that the future of digital books is too important to be decided solely by corporate interests.

The event will be webcast live at 12:30 ET on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, and archived online shortly after.

[Original image by PugnoM]

On this episode of Spark: Bringing Sexy App. Click below to listen or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

• Nora mentions that this year, Oscar winners can give two speeches
• Andy Baio tracks pirated Oscar-nominated films
• danah boyd researches teens, privacy, and social media
• Jessica Leshnoff reports on the trend of boomers sexting
• Ali Rizvi Badshah explains the impact of the internet on the shelf life of jokes
• Dan Gillmor on Apple’s removal of sexy iPhone apps from its App Store
• Peter Nowak writes about the origins of everyday innovations in his book, Sex, Bombs and Burgers: How War, Porn and Fast Food Shaped Technology as We Know It

Music and sound effects used in this episode:

• “Long Road Ahead” by Kevin MacLeod
• Countdown by Corsica_S
• “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
• “Crazy Love – 3-TPBO” by The Paloseco Brazz Orchestra
• “You Oughta Be In Pictures” by Rudy Vallee And His Connecticut Yankees
• “Just A Message” by Hank Penny’s Radio Cowboys
• Music from “Music For The 20 Song Game” by Podington Bear
• “Feral Chase” by Kevin MacLeod
• “Tickle” by fLako
• Clips from Perversion for Profit (Part I)
• Clips from Preparation of Foods: Stone Age to Space Age
• “Victory Stride” by James P Johnson’s Jazz Men

You can receive Spark automatically by subscribing to any of our totally free podcast feeds:

• Free weekly podcast (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast + additional blog-only content (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast (low bandwidth version)

For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting

[Original image byAndYaDontStop]

On this episode of Spark: Pirates, protecting children, and Web 2.0 suicide. Click below to listen or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).

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• Sahara Byrne researches strategies that families can use to best protect children from negative effects of online behaviour
  • CNET: Taser’s phone-monitoring product
• Sharon Duke Estroff spends time as an undercover mom in online virtual worlds
• Rebecca MacKinnon weighs in on Google’s new approach to China (full interview)
• Nora mentions cbc.ca/haiti
• Cliff Harris asks why people pirate his games
• Matt Mason explores how smart businesses deal with piracy (full interview)
  • Matt’s book The Pirate’s Dilemma is also available as a digital download
  • The Real Fake Thing: Counterfeit goods can lead to purchasing the real thing
• Gordan Savicic builds the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine

This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:

• Clips from This Is Your Life Melton Berle
• “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
• “eighteen pieces (soda)” by soda
• “Madly Mechanical Suite: I. Heavy” by Max Erwin
• “Go Inward” by General Fuzz
• “The Squeaky Song” by Podington Bear
• “Atari Teenage Riot” by Windom Earle
• “Proliferate” by Chad Crouch
• “Free” by airtone

You can receive Spark automatically by subscribing to any of our totally free podcast feeds:

• Free weekly podcast (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast + additional blog-only content (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast (low bandwidth version)

For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting

[Original image by Jim Sneddon]

This morning, Nora interviewed Matt Mason, author of The Pirate’s Dilemma. They talked about digital piracy, and how smart businesses are dealing with it. A shorter version of this interview will air on Spark 99, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 26:57]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Note: The beginning of this interview references Cliff Harris, a video game developer who actively sought a discussion with people who were pirating his games.

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? You’ll get regular weekly episodes, plus additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

[Original image by peasap]

On this episode of Spark: Too much information, digital pack rats, and Wikipedia’s digital blind spots. Click to listen (runs 54:00):

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

• Gabriella Coleman explains why ebook piracy may be poised to shake up the publishing business (full interview)
• Tim Pridie and Rob Hyndman on digital pack rats
• Daemon Fairless’s iPod changed his relationship with music
• Nora and Sue Foley rock out with ThinkGeek’s Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt (video)
• Nora mentions Ontario’s new green license plates
• Cyrus Farivar surfs the Halal web
  • IMHalal.com
• Mark Graham maps Wikipedia’s digital blind spots (full interview)
• Clay Shirky on how we shape tools and tools shape us (full interview)
• Nora mentions Spark’s holiday remote access toolkit

This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:

• Music from “Music for Air Travel / Long Distance Love” by Podington Bear
• “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
• Music from “Music for a Rainy Day” by Podington Bear
• “The Two Little Squirrels” (1941) by Louis Jordan & His Tympani 5
• “Proliferate,” “Curious Process,” and “Pink Blossoms” by Chad Crouch
• “Eye Heart Knot” by General Fuzz
• “Rest (For A While) (Demo)” by The Orchestral Movement of 1932
• “I Want To Learn To Speak Hawaiian” by Andy Iona’s Novelty Four

You can download this episode as an MP3, or receive Spark automatically by subscribing to any of our totally free podcast feeds:

• Free weekly podcast (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast + additional blog-only content (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast (low bandwidth version)

For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting

[Original image by jblyberg]

Over the past decade or so, digital piracy has been a major headache for the music business, the movie business, and the television business. Less so for the book publishing industry. But that may be about to change.

Yesterday, Nora talked to Gabriella Coleman about online book piracy. Gabriella is an assistant professor in the department of Media, Culture, & Communication at New York University. They talked about why online book piracy is poised to shake up the book biz, and what smart publishers can do to stop it.

A shorter version of this interview will air on  Spark 93, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 21:11]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? You’ll get regular weekly episodes, plus additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

[Original image by mecredis]

On this episode of Spark: Digital forgetting, email salutations, and food pills

• Andrew Feldmar is barred from entering the US after a border guard Googled his name and found his article, “Entheogens and Psychotherapy“
• Viktor Mayer-Schönberger believes that digital technology should forget. Viktor is the author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age (full interview and transcript)
• James Martin receives a vexing Facebook friend request
• Mignon Fogarty (AKA Grammar Girl) talks about email salutations and parentheses (or are they brackets?)
• Nora mentions her interview with Anil Dash and Gina Trapani about Last Year’s Model
• Lynn Glazier explores the culture of sexual harassment among teens in “It’s a Teen’s World: Wired for Sex, Lies and Power Trips.” You can hear Lynn’s 3-part radio series on Ideas starting Wednesday September 30. You can watch the one-hour TV documentary on Monday, October 5 on CBC Newsworld’s The Passionate Eye at 10 PM. Eastern and Pacific time.
• Hannah Classen discovers what ever happened to the food pill
• Nora follows up last week’s item on augmented reality by mentioning Canadian AR project Discover Anywhere Mobile
• Dan Misener looks at the “new old” way to be a pirate: Usenet
  • Gizmodo‘s John Herrman
  • Steven M. Bellovin
• Peter Nowak of cbc.ca/technology drops by for a Net Neutrality update

This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:

• “Baby” by cdk
• “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
• “elevenpithyminutes” by _i (not CC, used with permission)
• “Unforgettable” by Nat ”King” Cole Feat. Nelson Riddle’s Orchestra (1952)
• “A Peek Inside” by General Fuzz
• “Dropping Out of School” by Brad Sucks
• “Second Thoughts” by General Fuzz
• “Scary Yachts for Hire” by Tyler Walker
• “Morning Mist” by Chad Crouch
• “Monkeyball” by Tyler Walker

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

You can download this episode as an MP3, or receive Spark automatically by subscribing to any of our totally free podcast feeds:

• Free weekly podcast (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast + additional blog-only content (Subscribe in iTunes)
• Free weekly podcast (low bandwidth version)

For more information (and instructions) visit cbc.ca/podcasting

[Original image by Dano]

College and university textbooks are notoriously expensive. As a Toronto Star story from earlier this year explains, “engineering and medical textbooks are particularly expensive and can range from $150 to $300 for a single book. It’s not unusual for students in other areas of study to spend more than $1,000 annually on textbooks.”

So how is digital technology affecting on the textbook business? According to a New York Times story from this past weekend:

many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web.

That kind of free courseware may come in the form of “freemium” products, like the textbooks from Flat World Knowledge, a company profiled by Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson in his recent book FREE. Flat World Knowledge publishes “‘open textbooks,’ free works that can be edited, updated, and remixed into custom course materials.” These open textbooks are free to read online, with printed copies and audiobook versions available as paid options.

Another way to get textbooks is to steal them. Like music, movies, and television shows, digital versions of physical textbooks are easy to share online with little regard for copyright. Though the world’s largest textbook BitTorrent site, TextBook Torrents, shut down last fall, you don’t have to look hard to find questionably legal copies of textbooks on various file sharing networks.

What about you? Are you a student (or the parent of a student)? Where do you get your textbooks? Would you consider buying a digital textbook?