On AIs and samurais

My translation (well, mine with help from several other people who provided useful feedback and corrections) of a short story-like interlude of this great book was just published on the official pages of the author in question.

Check it out here.

Polish museums do not like photographers

But this may be changing. I thought I'd just make a brief note in English about a recent development - several Polish blogs and even mainstream media articles have run some recent articles on that subject, criticizing museums who forbid people to take photos. Hopefully change is not far...

Read more (on Polish Wikinews): "Kiedy dowiemy się, dlaczego nie można robić zdjęć w niektórych polskich muzeach?"

For whom the bells toll

Two major print encyclopedias cease production

No suprise there. Back in 2004 in related news I blogged that ex-CEO of Britannica compared dictionaries to dinosaurs. In 2006 Nature dealt a death blow to Britannica. Recently I found out that Alexa graph comparing popularity of Britannica to Wikipedia has lost its usefulness - because Britannica line is now FLAT, so I have to use two graphs. Let them finish the story:

Popularity of Wikipedia vs...

...popularity of Britannica.

Books 2.0

I am quite impressed by a recent (read: I have not checked the website for over a year) face lift of Webscriptions (Wikipedia article, official site). It's a perfect example of how a supposedly 'old' business (in this case, book publisher) can be revamped and succesfully grow in the era of the Internet.

Baen Free Library (Wikipedia article, official site) was of course the start. Bean only gave away samples of each book (close to the first half is usually free), but they actually give free ebooks of dozen of books in their free library; attach cds with even more books to every hardcover - and make them downloadedable online. Long story short, they discovered that they can attract many new readers that way, readers who will be willing to pay for printed books, and even pay extra for special ebooks (one of the most interesting innovations is what they call ARC - Advanced Reader Copies; for the cost of 25$ you can follow the draft of the book as it is being written!). You can find more information following the links above, but Baen revenues (and those of their authors) have been steadily rising. The more stuff they give away for free, the more money they make. A sign of new era, certainly - and of a wise business strategy embracing the new era. Oh, and did I mention that Baen gives you a wide choice of ebook format, including plain txt and html with no copy protection? Yes, they do believe in viral marketing (and you know what? It works, as seen on this very example :D).

But anyway this is a bit off topic, as I was going to write about the interesting twists of the webscription website. So, what can a book publisher do in the era of the Internet?

RSS enabled news. Whenever a new book, special offer or such are available, why not deliver that info to the willing consumers. Easily accessible catalogue, by author, category, publisher. A basic search option for other stuff. And perhaps the most innovative and so obvious in retrospective - ability to rate books and write your own reviews (example). If it works for Amazon, why not for the publisher who wants to sell books and bypass the middleman?

I see great future for Baen Books under such management. Companies who will be able to utilize Internet in such innovative ways will reap great rewards. Others... not so much.

How long will we live?

Recently The Economist has published a very interesting article: Abolishing ageing: How to live forever. Considering that it is not a fringe publication, but a reliable mainstream one, it is certainly worth checking out. If The Economist thinks technologies increasing our life expectancy are worth writing about, they are no longer just a dream of a science-fiction authors.

For a follow up, read the very interesting article by Ray Kurzweil: The Law of Accelerating Returns.


Of course this may not happen. But it looks more and more likely that it will.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind leaving forever. Or at least for a few thousands years :)

And if this seems weird or intimidating, do read Yudkowsky and Anissimov on the concept of shock levels:
* Future Shock Levels
* Future Shock Level Analysis

Lessons for the day:

Don't fear the future just because it's likely to be different.

Don't underestimate the probability of change because change intimidates you personally.

Hear, hear

From Wikipedia Signpost:

Reference books? Give me Wikipedia - In response to a professor calling Internet sources "white bread" (see archived story), the author of this article states that the notion that the Internet is eroding our research skills echoes the past mantra that the lower classes should not be taught to read. He argues that the professor is blaming the messenger and not the message, and the problems that are blamed on the Internet have always plagued students: the way that their work is marked may be reinforcing that using predigested material is acceptable. The author questions the assumption that because something is bound in book format, it is therefore more reliable.

It's nice to see this argument coming not from a wizkid but a seasoned journalist.

Recently I witnessed several people being highly critical of sources like Google Print. They rant about "selective quoting" and how people will not read books but just tiny paragraphs or sentences.

So what? I have read many books. And in 90% of cases (non-fiction wise), the traditional rule that 'most of everything is useless' holds true quite well. Most of books have some useful arguments or facts - but much more filler. Being able to Google through hundreds of books in few dozen minutes, and find what I am looking for is extremly useful. Sure, I may miss some useful random snippets I'd otherwise find, but you know what - I will find them anyway, reading other books in the free time generated by the fact I am not reading others :)

The increase in research productivity that is being generated by easy access to searcheable databases is only just begining. With more and more sources being accessible full text through open licences, the revolution, not much smaller than the invention of writing, printing or the Internet is upon us. It was one thing to have the theoretical means to access lots of information. It's quite another to be actually able to do so.

And for those who want to preserve their ivory towers... "The avalanche has already begun. It's too late for pebbles to vote."

Amusing

Time to share some fun.

First: the Church Sign Generator


Second. Bureau of Communciation forms.

LOL!

And Merry XMAS!

Life for life: a wasted effort

Wasting one's time is bad. Wasting's public money is worse. How often do we see that? Yes, a rhetorical question. Here's one of the most recent examples, this time, from Poland.

Polish Ministry of Culture and the Institute of National Remembrance have sponsored a new documentary. "A Life for a Life" (Polish: "Życie za życie"), is a 33-minute film that recounts the heroic efforts of Poles who helped Jews during the Holocaust premiered Wednesday; efforts that often ended in death (Poland was the only country where helping Jews was punishable by death). Notably, more Poles than any other nationality have been honored by the Yad Vashem institution in Israel as "Righteous Among the Nations" for rescuing Jews.

Such documentary is certainly a commendable action. Yet... there are no immediate plans to show the film abroad, reports the press. Ummm... so what's the point of making the documentary? To show it in Poland, where most people are quite aware of those facts?

Of course, I hear you say, we live in the age of the Internet. Those who want should be able to download the film from the dedicated website or buy a DVD. Right?

Perhaps if the documentary makers lived in the 21st century. There are no plans to distribute the film online. There are no plans to sell DVDs. There are no plans to show the film anywhere in Poland (at least, no such plans were annouced on the documentary website as of today).

It's a shame Polish taxpayers have to waste their money on such obsolete thinking; if it was made available online - even on youtube - and popularized by bloggers - it could have achieved something. With no extra cost to the makers or the current sponsors. As it is, it is a wasted effort.

I wonder who is at fault. Some government bureaucrat? The producers? Did they not even think of the possibility of free online distribution and reaching millions? Or are they constrained by some idiotic copyright issues? Either way, whatever effort and money went into making this documentary, it's unlikely to be seen by more than few hundred people in Poland (at best), and it certainly will not be remembered by anybody. A footnote in the Polish documentaries, and an item on the CV of people involved in its production. Yes, that's how we want our governments to spend money, right?

Here's hoping somebody will pirate the movie online. This way it may, just may, do some good.

Sigh.

P-blogs revisited once again

Back in 2004, and later in 2005 I wrote why politicians should be blogging.

Indeed, the number of people - and politicians - blogging has been increasing. A month after I blogged about it a second time, Wikipedia got an entry on "political blog" - and not by me (although it would be too much expect that I've coined that term, I am proud to have foreseen that).

Blogs are becoming a force that can 'make or break' people. Consider Dean US presidential campaign, or various politicians that have resigned after blogosphere shined light onto some of their more shady activities. I am sure there are and will be more politicians podcasting and videocasting, too. But the most important thing on the Web 2.0 is the 'human to human' interaction - or in that case, 'human to politician' (pun partially intended).

On Web 2.0 people consider themselves more equal and deserving a reply. A politician that will reply to his blog comments, that will show he is ready to discuss issues with his constituents 24/7, will surely be more popular than his more traditional counterpart (let's not forget the generational change, too - this simply will be expected and normal for the future generations).

Consider, now, how this can impact political decision making. The representatives will be brought closer to the electorate; some may even start polling the readers of their blog on what they should do.

Perhaps we will even see a form of direct democracy with representatives reduced to little more than voicing the demands of their blog readers.

Likely it will not happen exactly like this. But one way or another, Web 2.0 will change quite a few things. And our politics will surely be no exception.

Real voice of the Prokonsul

I got interviewed by Wikipedia Weekly!

Among other things, I blabbered about: Is there a cabal? Are Polish Wikipedians different? Is Wikipedia facing a crisis? How to encouraging civility and cooperation? How to use WP in the classroom to benefit both the student and the project?

TTags: Wikipedia

WikiScanner: more good stuff to come?

WikiScanner seems to be the hot wikitopic of the month (read more: Wikipedia Signpost, Wired).

Instead of repeating the things that others have wrote about already, I'd just post you to a slightly more hidden but quite interesting link: this Wired article is a gateway to their "report an edit and sort them by most popular/new/etc."

My personal favorite: NSA removes link to ECHELON

That said, this is all a tip of iceberg. It is still not that easy to just specify an organization and see what it has done. And the concentration on US government and corporations, while not suprising, is probably missing over the "really interesting" stuff. I am waiting to find out what edits have come from such interesting entities as State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, Ministry of State Security or Gazprom...

Unfortunatly, the IP ranges of those organizations are not well known. Or are they...?

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikiscanner, Wikipedia

The conversion of Kniaz Jarema

Translation of Kniazia Jaremy nawrócenie (song by Jacek Kaczmarski, translation by yours truly).

Tremble in fear Cossack masses,
horsers rear high,
Knyaz Jarema is converting,
Discarding Orthodox faith.
Storm is coming, hearts are uneasy,
Peasants - bearded priests and icons,
And him - Lord King of Rus,
Duchy bringing to the Crown.

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
His children will fear his wrath.

Louldy plead Ruthenian folk:
- Look into your soul, lord,
Cause you give up all for nothing!
And forsake us with your politics!
Their pleas powerless,
Knyaz prayed all night,
- Who loves me - will go with me
Or I will see him on stake!

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Blood of Rus' he offers to God.

- You will not reach through piety,
Royal antechambers,
Firestorm will grip Zaporizhia,
Your inheritance will burn!
- Before the inheritance is my homeland,
Before my homeland is salvation,
For Christ's wounds,
Let the generations burn!

Twenty years his soul slept,
Till he saw Rome's cross' light,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
He inflamed the souls of many.

- Blood for you, not the offices,
Hate, not love, for prince of Rus',
We are for Rzeczpospolita,
Like nails to be shortened!
- If he shortens, he will be burnt,
For I will block with my cross,
The Coroniers will yet see,
Wisniowieccy's on their throne.

For hearts content the topic,
Lies in the crypt under glass,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Father of children put on stake,
Knyaz Jarema, Knyaz Jarema,
Neophite, as politician.

TTags: Poetry, Kaczmarski

Wikis and Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool

I've just learned that my article was published by International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. In January, but let's skip this miscommunication technicality - instead, this little delay allows me to review what, if any, impact my work has had.

First, IJoITaDL makes it very easy for others to read its contents. Being open access journal, it belongs to the still rare but growing faction in the academic community, which argues that making academic works available online free of charge to anyone, thus being true to the science mission of educating the public and spreading knowledge is actually a good idea. Such approach is still being opposed by the "tradional" faction, which prefers restricting access to academic works from "unwashed masses" beyond "pay-per-acccess" traditional databases, which until recently did a splendid job of ensuring that unless you are an employee or student at a rich Western university, or go through slow and cumbersome interlibrary loan (again not available in most non-Western countries), you will have to pay few dozen $ for the privilige of reading anything but an abstract. Guess where my sympathies are :)

Therefore I was nicely - but not very - suprised when the editor of the journal told me today that my article has received 2320 page and an even larger number of downloads as part of the entire January issue :) A brief web search on my article led to some interesting findings:
* Google Scholar doesn't see it? :(
* it is mentioned in blog comments and such - so indeed somebody reads it :)
* somebody thinks its "somewhat scholarly" :)
* somebody discusses it in Finnish :)
* it was mentioned in British Council and various databases

I couldn't find any more in-depth reviews or references, but it's a nice start :)


TTags: Wikis, E-learning, Wikipedia

Hilarious reminder

Few months ago I posted 2 photos from Wikimania which had me in it. Now I found a third :)


This is a group of Wikipedians making fun of the semi-serious hate site, Wikitruth.

What's not so fun is that some find the above photo controversial and demanded - and succeeded - in censoring it out from Wikipedia itself...

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006, Wikiturth

Wales on copyright

Doing some research, I spotted an interesting quote by Jimbo Wales: I am not a thief - I'm the founder of Wikipedia, but bad law treats me like a teen music pirate. The quote comes from Newsweek International (2005-11-28 : 71) - and to much of my suprise, it was not picked up and reffered to anywhere online. With a little effort, I tracked the article - unfortunatly Newsweek's articles are not free. The article can be accessed by subscribers of Newsweek, BL Direct, and Expanded Academic ASAP (via InfoTrac) (sorry, no direct link I could find). The article may be over 2 years old, but what Wales notes is even more applicable today, as the struggle of free culture continoues. Here are a few interesting excerpts from the article:

*"bad copyright laws are increasingly affecting a much more important group of cultural producers"

*"we [Wikipedians] are forced to become copyright experts, because so much of our cultural heritage is being threatened by absurd limits on fair use of information in the public domain. I get two to three threatening lawyergrams each week; one I just received from a famous London museum begins, typically, "We notice you have a number of images on your website which are of portraits in the collection of [our museum]... Unauthorized reproduction of such content may be an infringement..." I now respond with a two-part letter. First, I patiently and tediously explain that museums do not and cannot own the copyrights to paintings that have been in the public domain for hundreds of years. And then I simply say: "You should be ashamed of yourselves." Museums exist to educate the public about our shared cultural heritage. The abuse of copyright to corner that heritage is a moral crime. "

*"The excuse normally given, that producing digital reproductions is costly and time-consuming, and museums need to be able to recoup that cost, is entirely bogus. Just give us permission, and Wikipedians will go to any museum in the world immediately to make high-quality digital images of any artwork. The solution to preserving our heritage and communicating it in a digital form is not to lock it up, but to get out of our way."

*"This issue, public-domain artworks, is about an abuse of existing law. But the law itself is also a problem. Copyrights have been repeatedly extended to absurd lengths for all kinds of works, whether the author aims to protect them or not. Even works that have no economic value are locked away under copyright, preventing Wikipedians from rewriting and updating them."

*"We have the people to do it. We have the technology to do it. And we will do it, bad law or no. But good law, law that recognizes a new paradigm of collaborative creativity, will make our job a lot easier. Copyright reform is not about kids' stealing music. It is about recognizing the astounding possibilities inherent in the honest and intelligent use of new technologies."


TTags: Copyright, Jimbo Wales, Free culture, Wikipedia

A forgotten poem

Long time ago (read: several years), when I was still gamemastering Earthdawn in Kraków (good old times), I found a very nice journal. Around that time, when I was on holiday in some warm southern European country, I stumbled upon a very nice Earthdawn poem. Being unable to save it (era of floppy drives, and don't ask me why I didn't get one, I don't remember); I wrote it down on a paper bag :) And I can tell you why I wrote the poem down instead of the url: it was unfinished, and I liked it so much, that I decided to finish it myself (which, amazingly, I did).

Today, I found the bag. A quick internet search seems to indicate the page is no longer online (I thought it was on that journal page, but it isn't); I can't find it in the Internat Archives... so I decided to rewrtie it from the paper bag here, and help ensure it is immortalized on the web.

The poem is dedicated to the twelve Passions of Earthdawn. As any fan of Earthdawn knows, three of those entities went mad during the Scourge; the poem as I found was the post-Scourge variants, missing three strophes - as it is considered unlucky to mention the names of the Mad Passions. Long story short, I wrote the missing strophes, and I am still happy with that job.

Disclaimers: if the unnamed author ever comes forward, kudos to him! In few places I couldn't read my old scribblings so I had to change his words; and in a oneor two others I replaced his verses with my own when I thought they sounded better. So, without further due, the new Hymn to the Twelve Passions:

The first to enter with this song,
To leave her out would do much wrong
For Astendar comes forth from our art
And by her love burns heart to heart.

With money comes Chorrolis touch,
The glint of gold, the jewels, and such.
And glad for trade he makes your mind,
For beauty's sake, he walks behind.

About the home is Garlen realm,
For any ilness she is a balm.
A gentle touch beyond the view,
A mother stays to comfort you.

Within the woods, the restless wild,
Jaspree galoops, storm and mild.
Outside the city, rules he there,
All things of nature are in his care.

Boundaries forged of stone and brick,
Upandal builds them well to stick.
With thoughtful planning, patent tries,
He's nearby when machines rise.

Thystonius, champion of the brave
Honors war, strife, for valor's sake.
For all who live and die by sword
They may be certain he's their lord.

Freedom's sacred to us all,
Lochost brings change to any soul.
For life is change as all may see
And seeing change we are all free.

The wind blows strong to charge your feet,
Flonranuus in your speed you greet.
He aids the body and helps soul fight,
With blaze of future, always bright.

Mynbruje's law is justice and truth.
Rights and duties live under her roof.
Those left behind or falsly blamed,
Will topple giants with sound of her name.

Feared by many he brings good health,
Vestrial cares not for signs of wealth.
Pride worst enemy, friend of quick wit
His laughter echoes with many a trick.

In every pattern there is her trace,
And laws of man reflect her grace.
Erendis is hard work that brings us peace.
When she is gone, all is amiss.

There is always first and and foremost,
And Rashomon is one behind such post.
Where there is need for wisdom, not speed,
His words should be the ones they heed.




TTags: Earthdawn, Poetry

The cabal

The CABAL



Source: Image at Wikipedia

I am there, too - second from the right, front row :) On a more serious note, this does seem to prove (since we have no stats yet) that Wikipedia is male dominated...

TTags: Wikipedia, Wikimania2006

Movie advert 7 (Kochaj albo rzuć)

Polish Student Alliance
in Pittsburgh, PA

invites you to the
6th POLISH MOVIE NIGHT
(free)
Movie of the week: Kochaj albo rzuć

When? December 8 (Thursday) 7:00PM-9:00PM

Where? 4130 Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh)

Movie genre: comedy

Year: 1977; director: Sylwester Chęciński; length: 116m; color; English subtitles.

Last part of the saga of the two families in "Sami swoi" and "Nie ma mocnych". The seniors of both families with their granddaughter visit relatives in Chicago where the differences in customs, life conditions and habits create many comic situations.

It was one of the most popular Polish comedies of its times and still remains an old favorite. Lubomierz has a museum dedicated to the movies, and Toruń has a statue of the two main heroes, Kargul and Pawlak.

Winner of 1974 Polish Film Festival audience awards. IMdB ranking of 6.9/10.

TTags: University of Pittsburgh, Poland, Movie

Movie advert 6 (Nie ma mocnych)

Polish Student Alliance
in Pittsburgh, PA

invites you to the
6th POLISH MOVIE NIGHT
(free)
Movie of the week: Nie ma mocnych

When? November 2 (Thursday) 7:00PM-9:00PM

Where? 4130 Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh)

Movie genre: comedy

Year: 1974; director: Sylwester Chęciński; length: 84m; color; English subtitles.

The main characters are the same two quarreling pesant families introduced in "Sami swoi" (shown the previous month). The action of the film starts 18 years later. The old quarrels have been forgotten, but new problems keep popping up. They have no adult male successors to inherit the farms. But they have a granddaughter, and a plan…

It was one of the most popular Polish comedies of its times and still remains an old favorite. Lubomierz has a museum dedicated to the movies, and Toruń has a statue of the two main heroes, Kargul and Pawlak.

Winner of 1974 Polish Film Festival audience awards. IMdB ranking of 7.8/10.

TTags: University of Pittsburgh, Poland, Movie

The wheel of history

It is interesting to note that much of the trouble we have today with copyright was foreseen and discussed by people hundreds of years ago. I throughoutly enjoyed reading the 19th century speeches by Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, which you can find here. Also, take note of this essey by Eric Flint, which directed me there in the first place.

TTags: Copyright