Among The Jumbled Heap

PC Magazine has a list of recommended free software. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2271644,00.asp

It’s freeware, but not necessarily Open Source. I would not have picked all the things they pick. I especially hate the Google Toolbar. I’ve found it to be clunky. It takes up too much memory, slows things down, and is always, ALWAYS, collecting information about how you behave online. That’s the part I hate the most about it.

I intend to check out the Maxthon browser right away (I’m downloading it now). I love Firefox, but I’m always looking for a better browser. Disappointing, though, that Maxthon is Windows specific, what’s up with that? I’ll install it on my work machine and see how it flows for me.

Zotero is probably the best app they have listed. In librarian speak, Zotero is a “bibliographic management tool.” A fancy way of saying that it stores your references and builds bibliographies. If you’re doing any kind of research that requires keeping track of references, Zotero is the tool for the job. There are commercial options available (like Endnote and RefWorks), but I’ve found Zotero to be superior (at least to Endnote). The fact that it is open source means that many people have jumped on the Z band wagon and extended it’s functionality. It can, for example, now be used to capture snippets of online video. It is a reference generating tool for the social web. I’m doing a workshop on Zotero in a few weeks, so I need to bone up.

One newer tool that didn’t make the PC list is Omeka (http://omeka.org/). Omeka comes from the Center for History and New Media, the same folks that gave Zotero to the OSS world. In their own words, “Omeka is a web platform for publishing collections and exhibitions online.” It’s currently still in version 0.9, which is probably why PC didn’t write ‘er up, but it looks to have great potential. At my work, there is a group of folks who are working on an online exhibition of our rare books. Omeka is the perfect tool for that kind of project. Check out the list of sites that are using Omeka to get a better idea of the it’s potential, http://omeka.org/showcase/.

Are you the Key Holder or the Gate Master?
–Wilson in Be Kind Rewind

Critics of Be Kind Rewind range from tepid to hostile. Those critics who enjoy the film label it as “cute,”"goofy and endearing,” or “a heart-warming story.” Those who hate it scream “undeveloped,” “ameteurish,” or “a thick stew of awful” (see Rotten Tomatoes).

Many of the critics—-both pro and con—-refer to the story as “fairy tale.” The far-fetched narrative, the flat, nearly caricatured, characters, the simple and quick progression of the story, these things give Be Kind this fairy-tale allure, and they also provide fodder for the critics. Perhaps what most entices me about Be Kind is the way the story never takes the HollyWood turn (that moment in most movies of this genre when the story is absolute and predictable). Alma and Mike don’t fall in love. The potential love triangle that would pit Jerry against Mike with Alma in the middle never develops. Danny Glover’s character Mr. Fletcher does not have a sweet old-person fling with Miss Falewicz, and most surprisingly, despite the positive and uplifting conclusion, the movie does not end with the video shop being save from the wrecking ball.

This cinematic move away from the expected may disappoint the viewer, but it also refocuses the story on what is really happening, namely, a community of people is waking up to its own creative potential. The conflict of the movie is not about love or relationship but between communal creativity and corporate control. As such, Be Kind is a morality play of the Open Source Movement and more precisely of the idea of a Creative Commons.

When Jerry and Mike Swede a film, they enter that gray area of copyright law known as derivative works. Is the Sweded Driving Miss Daisy the same film as the original? Are they plagiarizing? Is the Sweeded Miss Daisy to the original what Disney’s Steam Boat Willie was to Steam Boat Bill Jr, viz. a parody and a stand-alone work of art? Does a community have the right to exercise their creative power in this way? Are they taking money out of the pockets of the actors, directors, and movie personnel (think of those anti-piracy ads featuring the poor, deprived pyrotechnics expert)?

With copyright law as it is today, Sweeding is, in fact, illegal. Even Disney could not get away with a Steamboat Willie, as Lawrence Lessig makes clear in his book Free Culture (a book, btw, that you can download for free). Be Kind puts the lessons of Lawrence Lessig into a visual narrative. The movie shows us what the world, and more specifically what our communities, could be if we were not only unafraid to let our creativity flow but unhindered from doing so.

For a synopsis of the movie visit IMDB.