this is related to the issue of open source & teaching:
>
> For a long time educational courses have been cheap marketing for
> proprietary software companies. Can a student really afford all those
> expensive softwares required by the courses? No. Ever hear of a >
software
> company kicking up a fuss because students are using 'unofficial'
> versions? Well, it does happen but not often. And why not? Because
> proprietary software companies know, as the universities know, that
> once
> the students leave their training they will be indoctrinated with >
those
> tools and simply slipstream into being paid up proprietary software
> citizens. Simply put, unlicensed software used in education is >
tolerated
> because it is cheap marketing.
>
> This is how tools become 'industry standards'.
>
> FLOSS Manuals is fighting this flow by converting textbooks that use
> proprietary software to using free software in their examples.
>
> We call this process "FLOSSify". We convert the book from closed
> software to Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) hence we >
'FLOSSify'
> the book.
>
> Our first text book is the wonderful Digital Foundations book produced
> by Michael Mandiberg and Xtine Burrough
> (http://digital-foundations.net/). Its a text book designed to teach
> software by teaching design. The current toolset it uses is the Adobe
> Creative Suite and we will convert these examples entirely to using
> free
> software.
>
> Not only have the authors given the kind permission to go ahead with
> this, they originated the idea and approached FLOSS Manuals to be
> involved. We are very happy to get behind this initiative and work >
with
> the authors to create a fantastic text book promoting the use of Free
> and Open Source Software within design courses.
>
> FLOSSIFY 1 : Digital Foundations will focus on a fun 3 day event at
> Eyebeam, NYC. Anyone is welcome to attend and some food and beer >
will be
> provided. Come and meet some of your old geek friends, make some new,
> and help make a step towards unshackling education from proprietary
> software.
>
> FLOSSIFY 1 : Digital Foundations
> Eyebeam, New York City
> Feb 6-8
> starts 10ish
> finishes when we are done
> fast connection, a table, some chairs, and beer and food provided
> contact [log in to unmask] for more info
>
>
> -- > Adam Hyde
> Founder FLOSS Manuals
> http://www.flossmanuals.net
>
Alan Sondheim wrote:
> Speaking of open source - I do want to recommend one - the MIT courses
> by Walter Lewin on beginning physics - three courses, on mechanics,
> electro- magnetism, and waves. They're free and amazing - I have them
> downloaded on my Ipod and have gone through the last two, am returning
> for the first. I've learned a tremendous amount about physics - Lewin
> is somewhat of a showman but also tough with math and formulas. I've
> been doing these for the past two months. This is the best thing about
> the Net at the moment - these courses by critical
> researchers/theorists. I also took a course on the inflationary
> universe a while back, also MIT. All of these are video by the way,
> which makes the formula much easier to follow than, say, with the
> audio Feymann lectures which are available on cd.
>
> - Alan
>
>
> On Thu, 15 Jan 2009, Sue Thomas wrote:
>
>> Yet ironically universities are starting to make their own materials
>> open
>> source - first MIT and now in the UK they are obliged to share grant
>> funded
>> work in open repositories. But I agree with you about access to
>> journals -
>> plus they are ludicrously expensive and many unis can't afford the
>> subscriptions. At DMU certainly don't have access to Muse, for example.
>>
>> sue
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan
>> Sondheim
>> Sent: 15 January 2009 10:24
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [WDL] History of WDL
>>
>> I wonder about lists petering out in general; at one point they were
>> replete with discussion. Cybermind years and years ago became an online
>> community (a book-length study by Jon Marshall has been published), but
>> the surface discussion disappeared. Cyberculture was created in relation
>> to that but discussion petered out there as well. In my area of new
>> media
>> / cultural politics, o-o is gone, nettime-l is there but the discussion
>> seems low (it's still the best of these lists), 7-11 is a shell. nn -
>> also
>> known as Integer or antiorp - used to be a regular denizen of these and
>> she's disappeared as well. Poetics used to have a lot of wild poetry and
>> discussion; it's now more academic discussion and the poetry's gone for
>> the most part.
>>
>> In the meantime social networking sites and blogs have obviously
>> increased
>> but I think the idea of a commons forum has been lost. I've been
>> increas-
>> ingly frustrated by JSTOR and the like - most of which operate on the
>> presumption that intellectual thought is exclusive, should be paid for
>> with a fairly hefty price, and should be difficult if not impossible to
>> access by the general non-affiliated public. Academia is more and more
>> exclusionary in this regard, I think. Twice recently I had university
>> affiliations and the difference was night and day...
>>
>> - Alan
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 15 Jan 2009, Sue Thomas wrote:
>>
>>> List members might be interested to know a little more about WDL.
>>> The full
>>> description is as follows:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The impact of digital technologies on writing and lived experience
>>>
>>> WRITING AND THE DIGITAL LIFE explores the impact of digital
>>> technologies
>>> upon writing and lived experience within an interdisciplinary
>>> context. We
>>> talk about the relationship of writing and reading in the context of
>>> many
>>> subjects including 'new and old' media; craft, art, process and
>>> practice;
>>> social networks; cooperation and collaboration; narrative and memory;
>> human
>>> computer interaction; imagination; nature; mind; body, and spirit.
>>> Contributions related to research, writing and teaching in the arts,
>>> sciences, and humanities are all welcome.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You can read the archives here
>>> <http://jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html>
>>> http://jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I started WDL in February 2005. I had just moved from the trAce Online
>>> Writing Centre <http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk>
>>> http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk to De Montfort University and everyone
>>> was
>>> asking what I would be doing post-trAce. I wasn't sure myself, so I
>>> set up
>>> WDL to keep the conversation going and find out what people wanted. We
>> then
>>> set up a collaborative blog which ran until 2007
>>> <http://www.hum.dmu.ac.uk/blogs/wdl/>
>>> http://www.hum.dmu.ac.uk/blogs/wdl/
>>> Since the WDL blog closed to new entries, the list has continued but
>>> has
>>> been very quiet. Meanwhile, my attention has moved towards research
>>> into
>>> transliteracy, a bold Theory of Everything http://www.transliteracy.com
>> and
>>> to developing the Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media with Kate
>>> Pullinger http://www.creativewritingandnewmedia.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I've just checked and the list has 250 subscribers in 18 countries:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> * Country Subscribers
>>> * ------- -----------
>>> * Argentina 1
>>> * Australia 8
>>> * Brazil 4
>>> * Canada 9
>>> * Croatia 1
>>> * Czech Republic 1
>>> * France 1
>>> * Greece 1
>>> * Ireland 1
>>> * Italy 2
>>> * Japan 1
>>> * Netherlands 2
>>> * New Zealand 2
>>> * Niue 1
>>> * Spain 1
>>> * United Kingdom 54
>>> * United States 143
>>> * Zimbabwe 1
>>> *
>>> * Total number of "concealed" subscribers: 16
>>> * Total number of users subscribed to the list: 234
>>> (non-"concealed"
>>> only)
>>> * Total number of countries represented: 18
>>> (non-"concealed"
>>> only)
>>> * Total number of local host users on the list: 0
>>> (non-"concealed"
>>> only)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It's interesting to see WDL come back to life, especially since many
>> members
>>> have been on the new media writing scene a long time. I look forward to
>>> seeing what develops!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> Sue
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________
>>>
>>> Sue Thomas
>>> Professor of New Media, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
>>>
>>> Currently Visiting Scholar, English Dept, University of California
>>> Santa
>>> Barbara
>>> <http://www.suethomas.net/> http://www.suethomas.net
>>>
>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> **********
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>>> Subscriber's
>> Corner at
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>>> blank
>> subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF
>> WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> | Alan Sondheim Mail archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/
>> | To access the Odyssey exhibition The Accidental Artist:
>> | http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22
>> | Webpage (directory) at http://www.alansondheim.org
>> | [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], tel US 718-813-3285
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> | Alan Sondheim Mail archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/
> | To access the Odyssey exhibition The Accidental Artist:
> | http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22
> | Webpage (directory) at http://www.alansondheim.org
> | [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], tel US 718-813-3285
>
> **********
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>
--
____________________________________________________________
helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
[log in to unmask]
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
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