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The October 2004 issue (100th issue!) of First Monday (volume 9, number 10) is now available at http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/ ------- Table of Contents Volume 9, Number 10 - October 4th 2004 Internet time and the reliability of search engines by Paul Wouters, Iina Hellsten, and Loet Leydesdorff http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/wouters/ Abstract: Search engines are unreliable tools for data collection for research that aims to reconstruct the historical record. This unreliability is not caused by sudden instabilities of search engines. On the contrary, their operational stability in systematically updating the Internet is the cause. We show how both Google and Altavista systematically relocate the time stamp of Web documents in their databases from the more distant past into the present and the very recent past. They also delete documents. We show how this erodes the quality of information. The search engines continuously reconstruct competing presents that also extend to their perspectives on the past. This has major consequences for the use of search engine results in scholarly research, but gives us a view on the various presents and pasts living side by side in the Internet. ------- From Paris to Perth: Adopting an Annales perspective on the social history of the Internet in Western Australia by Glenn Pass http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/pass/ Abstract: A new approach may be needed to interpret the history of a new technology, such as the Internet, within a local context. The Annales School, founded in France in 1929, brought a new approach to the study of history in the last century, introducing new methods and sources to the discipline. This paper will consider what this older, modernist perspective can contribute to a postmodern social history of the Internet in Western Australia. Despite apparent differences, it will be argued the integration of Annales style historiography, within a postmodern context, will provide a useful model to explore the history of a new technology, such as the Internet, within a local setting. ------- Protecting ourselves to death: Canada, copyright, and the Internet by Laura J. Murray http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/murray/ Abstract: Canada is at a critical stage in the development of its copyright law: it has not yet ratified the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization "Internet Treaties," but it is poised to do so. This article analyses the rhetoric of "protection" ubiquitous in Canadian discussions of copyright policy, and identifies among the various uses of the term both a problematic assumption that protection is or should be the primary function of copyright, and overblown claims about copyright's power to protect Canadian culture and creators. These "common sense" ideas, fostered by rights-holder lobbies, emerge out of a peculiar Canadian history of cultural nationalism(s), but they may not promote the interests of Canadians. Ironically, while professing fear for their cultural sovereignty, and following the paths of their own internal political, bureaucratic, and rhetorical culture, Canadians appear to be constructing a copyright policy in complete harmony with the needs of American and international capital. I explore a proposal to license educational Internet use, endorsed by parliamentary committee, as one example of the relationship between protection rhetoric and policy development. By casting the Internet as more of a threat than an opportunity, copyright policy developers in Canada are gravely misunderstanding and threatening Canadians' use of this medium. The participation of Canadians in national and global interaction is crucial to the Canadian public interest, and must not be forgotten in the rush to protection. Beyond its analysis of this specific proposal, this paper calls for a copyright policy in line with the Canadian tradition of balancing private and public interests. ------- Grey Tuesday, online cultural activism and the mash-up of music and politics by Sam Howard-Spink http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/howard/ Abstract: In 2003, a little-known DJ by the name of Danger Mouse created a "mash-up" album that remixed the music of the Beatles' White Album and hiphop star Jay-Z's Black Album to produce a new record called The Grey Album. The swift and draconian legal reaction to the online dissemination of this technically illegal but culturally fascinating artifact gave rise to a "day of digital civil disobedience," organized by music activism group Downhill Battle. Grey Tuesday, as the day of action was known, marks a potentially new site for a blend of online political and cultural activism in the highly charged realm of intellectual property expansionism. This paper examines emergent examples of musical and Internet activism including a detailed look at Grey Tuesday itself; considers the cultural significance of the mash-up genre and the value of the musical "amateur;" and concludes with a brief consideration of "semiotic democracy" and the new mix - or, if you will, mash-up - of culture and politics that has emerged as a consequence of the rise of digital networks. ------- AnthroSource: Designing a portal for anthropologists by Bonnie Nardi, Michael Adams, Melody Chu, Shiraz Khan, John Lai, and Elsy Lao http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/nardi/ Abstract: This paper investigates the information needs of anthropologists to inform the design of a portal, AnthroSource. AnthroSource will digitize the publications of the American Anthropological Association and provide services for anthropologists and others who use anthropological materials. ------- Between rhizomes and trees: P2P information systems by Bryn Loban http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/loban/ Abstract: The aim of the first part of this paper is to provide an overview of information retrieval in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) information systems in the file-sharing domain. Starting with a general overview of the concept of P2P information systems, the paper then focuses on five desktop-accessible P2P information systems: Napster with its clones OpenNap and eDonkey, and Gnutella and FastTrack (i.e., Kazaa). A detailed description is given of the attributes and properties of each P2P file-sharing information system, followed by an evaluation of the respective P2P file-sharing applications, taking each in turn and examining their respective strengths and weaknesses. This paper concludes with a critical comparative analysis and gives some suggestions for further investigation. ----------------------------