Soderbergh Shakes Up Cinema
“When Steven Soderbergh releases his next film on January 27, it will have not only the critics squawking, but Hollywood studio execs, too. Bubble, an all-digital thriller, is set in an Ohio doll factory, and all of the actors are completely unknown. But that’s not even the interesting part. The movie goes out to theaters, DVD, and high-definition cable TV – all on the same day. It’s an experiment that threatens to uproot the film industry’s long-standing ‘release window’ formula, which staggers a picture’s release on various platforms to maximize profits.
“WIRED: Why did you decide to release Bubble in all formats at once?
SODERBERGH: Name any big-title movie that’s come out in the last four years. It has been available in all formats on the day of release. It’s called piracy. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Ocean’s Eleven, and Ocean’s Twelve – I saw them on Canal Street on opening day. Simultaneous release is already here. We’re just trying to gain control over it.”
Xeni Jardin. Thinking Outside the Box Office. Wired. December 2005.
Updates:
Jason Silverman. Bubble Fails to Rock Tinseltown. Wired News. Feb. 13, 2006.
Ronald Grover. Will Bubble Burst a Hollywood Dogma? BusinessWeek Online. Jan. 24, 2006.
John Borland. Soderbergh Does a DVD-Theater Release Combo. News.com. Jan. 12, 2006.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
MICs, The Library Mashup, & The Next Level
Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, executive editor.
This idea is so scalding hot I had to write about it, even though the subject matter is really beyond the normal CopyCense scope.
There are whole generations out there that we want to get //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Perhaps we should be thinking about what ideas we can get OUT OF THE CLUBS. Seriously, though, we need to get more music //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. More gaming //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Social space //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Text messaging. Moblogging. //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. How about equipment and software so more people can start doing their own remixing, their own mashups, their own podcasting? //iNTO THE LIBRARIES (really, not as expensive as you think). Karaoke nights. Poetry slams. //iNTO THE LIBRARIES.
This brilliant stream of consciousness comes from the lbr (Librarians By Request) blog, and it resonates with me because I think of libraries and multimedia information centers (MICs, for all of those who have an eye for marketing), not just places where people can get books.
This post reminds me of a conversation I had with Jessamyn West and Andrea Mercado in October during Internet Librarian 2005. All of us, to some degree, expressed some level of frustration that the things we think will save libraries (perhaps even catapult them into previously unforeseen stratospheres of fully funded community support and success) seem to be beyond the imaginary scope of most information professionals. In contrast, the lbr post really gets it, and gets it all: having libraries do their own mashups so they transform themselves into MICs, the need to get a younger generation into the library, the fact that much of what libraries already have and do makes this mashup relatively easy (just add the water of imagination), and that the library is, in fact, the proper place for this level of creative activity.
Let me give you one example on this mashup theme so you can see where this can go.
MICs, The Library Mashup, & The Next Level
Commentary by K. Matthew Dames, executive editor.
This idea is so scalding hot I had to write about it, even though the subject matter is really beyond the normal CopyCense scope.
There are whole generations out there that we want to get //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Perhaps we should be thinking about what ideas we can get OUT OF THE CLUBS. Seriously, though, we need to get more music //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. More gaming //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Social space //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. Text messaging. Moblogging. //iNTO THE LIBRARIES. How about equipment and software so more people can start doing their own remixing, their own mashups, their own podcasting? //iNTO THE LIBRARIES (really, not as expensive as you think). Karaoke nights. Poetry slams. //iNTO THE LIBRARIES.
This brilliant stream of consciousness comes from the lbr (Librarians By Request) blog, and it resonates with me because I think of libraries and multimedia information centers (MICs, for all of those who have an eye for marketing), not just places where people can get books.
This post reminds me of a conversation I had with Jessamyn West and Andrea Mercado in October during Internet Librarian 2005. All of us, to some degree, expressed some level of frustration that the things we think will save libraries (perhaps even catapult them into previously unforeseen stratospheres of fully funded community support and success) seem to be beyond the imaginary scope of most information professionals. In contrast, the lbr post really gets it, and gets it all: having libraries do their own mashups so they transform themselves into MICs, the need to get a younger generation into the library, the fact that much of what libraries already have and do makes this mashup relatively easy (just add the water of imagination), and that the library is, in fact, the proper place for this level of creative activity.
Let me give you one example on this mashup theme so you can see where this can go.
Cuban’s New Link to Movie Audiences
“Four years ago, flush with cash from the sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo Inc., Internet entrepreneurs Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner decided to try their hand at the movie business. The pair, who sold their company to Yahoo for $5.7 billion at the peak of the technology boom, purchased a medium-size chain of movie theaters and began financing independent films.
“Their goal was to create a showcase for so-called specialty films — typically movies produced on relatively low budgets outside the Hollywood studio system — while profiting from the sales of tickets, DVDs and subscriptions to their high-definition cable-television network, HDNet. Now, as those endeavors finally take shape, the billionaire duo is sending ripples through the fast-growing world of independent film.”
Anthony Kaufman. Will ‘Bubble’ Burst the Movie Business? The Wall Street Journal Online. Nov. 19, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Grateful Dead Cracks Down on Online Archive
“The Grateful Dead–the business–is testing the loyalty of longtime fans of the Grateful Dead–the band–by cracking down on an independently run Web site that made thousands of recordings of its live concerts available for free downloading.
“The band recently asked the operators of the popular Live Music Archive to make the concert recordings, a staple of Grateful Dead fandom, available only for listening online, the band’s spokesman, Dennis McNally, said Tuesday.
“In the meantime, the files that previously had been freely downloaded were taken down from the site last week.”
Jeff Leeds. Deadheads Rebel Against Web Crackdown. News.com. Nov. 30, 2005.
See also:
BoingBoing. Barlow on Death of Grateful Dead Music Sharing, Fans Protest. Nov. 29, 2005.
Internet Archive. Grateful Dead Concert Recordings on the Internet Archive. Nov. 22, 2005.
Updates:
Associated Press. Everyone Is Grateful Again. Wired News. Dec. 1, 2005. (“What a short, strange trip it was. After the Grateful Dead angered some of its biggest fans by asking a nonprofit website to halt the free downloading of its concert recordings, the psychedelic jam band changed its mind Wednesday.”)
Susan B. Shor. Dead Keeps Concert Sharing Alive. TechNewsWorld. Dec. 1, 2005.
Internet Archive. Good News and an Apology: GD on the Internet Archive. Dec. 1, 2005.
Richard B. Simon. Grateful Dead Downloads Likely To Be Restored at Archive.org. Relix News. Nov. 30, 2005.
Attribution: OpenWyre.com first discovered news of this policy change through a posting in Library Stuff, edited by Steven M. Cohen.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Blackberry Service May Go Dark
“Research In Motion on Wednesday lost two rounds in the long-running patent lawsuit that threatens to imperil the company’s BlackBerry service in the United States.
“U.S. District Judge James Spencer denied RIM’s request to halt the proceedings until the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office re-examines whether the patents are valid. Spencer said judges are under no obligation to wait and suggested that the re-examination process could take up to 10 years, if appeals are counted.
“In a second order released Wednesday, the judge also rejected a $450 million settlement reached earlier in the year between RIM and NTP–a small patent-holding company in Arlington, Va., that filed the lawsuit–saying it was not ‘valid and enforceable.’ That settlement fell apart in June.”
Declan McCullagh. Judge to RIM: We’re Not Delaying This Any Longer. News.com. Nov. 30, 2005.
Updates:
Ian Austen. Bye Bye BlackBerry? The New York Times. Dec. 3, 2005.
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
Hurst Assesses Google Book Search, Offers Training
My esteemed colleague, digitization expert Jill Hurst-Wahl, has done a preliminary analysis of Google Book Search, including the quality of the images the service provides. Unfortunately, Jill’s early report is not encouraging. “If you search through the materials, you’ll find items where the images are very crisp and clear, and others that are blurry and (perhaps) sloppily done,” Jill says, suggesting that the image quality is inconsistent. Now, if the page image is the source material — Google is not providing lots of text from the material for fear of fanning the flame of copyright concern more than it has — what good is it if it is blurry?
Jill’s preliminary analysis points to something we have discussed often throughout 2005: it is difficult to provide consistently high quality work in a digitization project. Most people equate digitization with scanning. Digitization is not scanning; scanning is scanning. Digitization, on the other hand, is a planned, comprehensive, systematic approach whereby a piece of information that exists in analog or paper form is transformed into a digital form and made accessible in the new, digital form. (I’m sure Jill will correct this definition where it is lacking.) There can be several dozen factors that one must consider within a digitization project or program, including the quality of the source material, pixel count, image format, storage size of captured image, network loads of aggregated captured images, findability, and metadata.
To this end, Jill and I are teaming throughout 2006 to provide training sessions on digitization project management. The schedule below is what we have confirmed as of this writing; I will update this listing as we receive more confirmed dates. If you or your organization are investigating whether to launch a digitization initiative, are in the midst of a digitization initiative, or need digitization training or case studies, please contact me at mail@sesodigital.com or Jill Hurst-Wahl at hurst@hurstassociates.com.
Digitization 101. How is Google’s Digitization Quality? Nov. 30, 2005.
Digitization Project Management Essentials
Computers in Libraries conference, Washington, DC
Saturday, March 25, 2006 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Digitization is much more than converting a physical or analog object into its digital equivalent: It is about efficiently repurposing crucial information resources to improve an organization’s retention and use of information. Yet most digitization projects are doomed from the start because the focus is on the conversion process instead of other, critical pre-scanning issues such
as selection criteria, preservation of original documents, metadata creation, software and hardware concerns; integration into existing systems; and legal issues.
This workshop introduces the critical issues every organization must consider when approaching a digitization project, including the copyright issues inherent in any digitization project, and how copyright can govern whether or not a digitization project is even viable. It provides an update on the status of the world’s most famous digitization project: Google’s proposed
digitization of the holdings of five of the world’s leading research libraries. Participants will leave with a conceptual understanding of the life cycle of a digitization project, allowing them both to investigate their own projects more critically, and move from working on a single project to creating an ongoing digitization program.
Register for Digitization Project Management Essentials (Code W16)
Digitization Project Management in a Nutshell
SLA Virtual Learning Series
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 (time forthcoming)
This session introduces participants to the core project management tools involved in creating, managing, and preserving digital assets, including:
- When should you digitize, and why;
- Overall project management considerations;
- How to decide what materials to select for a digitization project;
- Storing and accessing digital materials; and
- Best practices
Registration information forthcoming for Digitization Project Management in a Nutshell
Managing Intellectual Property Issues Within the Digitization Project
SLA Virtual Learning Series
Wednesday, April 26, 2006 (time forthcoming)
This second session builds on the basics learned in the first session and analyzes how different areas of intellectual property will affect different phases of the project plan, including:
- What “intellectual property” really means (including an introduction to the IP landscape);
- Identifying the copyright issues inherent in digitization projects (including the public domain, the library and archival limitations, and fair use);
- Why licensing agreements and subscriptions may curb your digitization project;
- Why confidential and proprietary information must be handled differently; and
- An update on the IP issues in Google Print’s Library Project.
Registration information forthcoming for Managing Intellectual Property Issues Within the Digitization Project
Digitization Essentials Workshop
SLA Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD
Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11, 2006
Participants in this pre-conference workshop will be introduced to some of the critical issues every organization must consider when they approach a digitization project, and will be engaged with on exercises and simulations that discuss and analyze real-world situations. In particular, these two, half-day morning sessions will provide participants with a firm conceptual understanding of the life cycle of a digitization project, which will allow them both to investigate their own projects more critically, and move from working on a single project to creating an ongoing digitization program. The lecturers also will provide an update on the status of the world’s most famous digitization project: Google Book Search.
Register for Digitization Essentials Workshop (effective Jan. 6, 2006)
CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.
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