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Piercing Curtains

StephenK — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:42:29 -0400

Click on the "Read More" link below to see the column.

Piercing Curtains
By Stephen Michael Kellat, MSLS
Head Writer, Erie Looking Productions

The news as of late does not bode well for any sort of Global Information Infrastructure. While that may be the more formal term previously used for the Internet, it is hardly what we have today. Whether it is an ally of the United States, a member of the Axis of Evil, or firmly planted in the squishy middle the nation-states of this planet are creating challenges for the Internet. For sites like LISNews, this gives just cause for worrying.

The Digital Economy Bill proposed by the United Kingdom's First Secretary of State, Lord Mandelson, as most recently amended protects online communication far less than more traditional communications like newspapers and radio programs. The People's Republic of China has made it clear that Google's presence is incompatible with its laws and ideals. This is currently pushing towards a likely withdrawal by Google regardless of the economic damage done to local partners. The Islamic Republic of Iran is taking a page from the playbook of Communist China by attempting to squeeze out Google's Gmail in favor of a locally operated service that the Iranian government could monitor and control. In Australia efforts by Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy, continue toward creating an Internet filter covering the entire Australian continent. Word has leaked out that a national filter was created in New Zealand by their Department of Internal Affairs but it is not certain which Internet Service Providers there are participating in its use. The Venezeulan leader Hugo Chavez has called for outright regulation of the Internet and has advocated for the suppression of free expression online.

Instead of having a global architecture for the exchange of information that might otherwise be converted into knowledge and/or wisdom, we see perhaps a divided virtual realm that looks less cohesive than the FIDONET sharing network between dial-up bulletin boards of old. It should be remembered that while the concept of the dial-up bulletin board is on the decline in the United States, FIDONET remains alive in the Russian Federation of all places. Whether or not the Internet moves in that direction is something hardly predictable at this point, though.

With the Internet experiencing such a period of storm and stress, the question does not go away relative to what action should be taken. If anything it must be remembered that major action cannot be taken in a time of crisis as it most likely takes time to implement a solution after you determine what the solution is. Preventive, prepared action is how you handle such events.

From the LISNews perspective, there is some debate in play. While the site tries to serve more than just the local North American world of librarianship, censorship efforts in the other lead nations of the RDA world leave the site vulnerable. Since LISNews is not a massive media conglomerate like News Corporation under Rupert Murdoch, getting slapped with a shut-down injunction in the United Kingdom would likely go uncontested as there simply are not financial means for the site to defend itself. Under a previous version of the Digital Economy Bill there would have been notice to LISNews of court proceedings but due to recent amendments concentrating power in Lord Mandelson's hands we would now only know if something were wrong just as in Australia and New Zealand if an astute reader noticed we suddenly dropped off the planet. Saying LISNews is vulnerable now is an understatement.

There have been at least two streams of preventive action that have been discussed. The first would be to get the LISNews Netcast Network relayed via one or more shortwave stations to blanket parts of the planet. Such would remove the need for all those other layers of the OSI networking model for people accessing that content through the Internet and replace such with simpler tools. We know stations are out there that we can hire to do this but we have to shell out cash we do not have to make such happen. Strangely enough, conveying audio content through such a primitive and antiquated form of communication would have greater protection as of late than Internet-based transmission would.

The other stream of preventive action is something that has only been hinted at so far. Efforts are presently underway at creating a one-off test issue of what is being called "The LISNews Bulletin". This small test issue is going to have a mix of content in it and is going to be distributed through fairly unique means. If we manage to successfully print these up, make sure you see Blake at Computers in Libraries 2010 to get a copy as the plan currently says that he will be the main distribution channel there for this test issue. Strangely enough, conveying textual content through such a primitive and antiquated form of communication would have greater protection as of late than Internet-based transmission would.

The fiction of Arthur C. Clarke remains disturbing as our world today sometimes mirrors his art. In his short story simply titled "Superiority", we hear the tale of an interplanetary war fleet defeated by the inferiority of the weapons of its opponent that also were far more reliable than the protagonist's whiz-bang inventions that never quite worked as intended. As the lights start to go out on Internet-based freedom of expression as we see the erection of virtual curtains of suppression, that story by Clarke keeps coming to mind as the simplest example of a solution to the conundrum of Internet censorship.

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #110

StephenK — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:55:00 -0400

This week's podcast took a different operational stance in recording. Instead of the usual cassette deck, we shifted instead to a reel-to-reel system:

If you click the picture above you can see a larger version of that snapshot. The computer pictured functioned essentially as an overgrown cart machine. This week's episode was recorded on a 1978 TEAC 3340S deck at 7.5 ips on normal bias. The other deck we were working with was intended to give more of a 1970's audio vibe but the recorded results sounded like chipmunks on a methamphetamine binge.

News was slow this week and budget constraints dictated that South by Southwest Interactive was not happening for the air staff. A miscellany is presented as well as a zeitgeist review.

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #109

StephenK — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:28:43 -0500

This week's episode brings word of a developing story relative to the logistics back-end to interlibrary loans in the United States as well as discussion of the digital divide from a practical perspective. The BBC World Service is used as the example in the essay.

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #108

StephenK — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:45:09 -0500

This week Stephen moved away from the microphone as long-time engineer Mike Kellat took charge instead. This episode has a zeitgeist recap and talks briefly about the situation post-earthquake in Chile. Practical suggestions are offered as to worthwhile avenues of action by concerned library personnel.

In addition to the audio program an attempt was made to reformat one of the segments of LISTen 107 as an animation bit.

Blogging By Hand

StephenK — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:57:28 -0500

Power outages during snow storms are not fun. While power has been restored (for now?), the following handwritten bit of blogging is posted as an attached PDF talking about format diversification.

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #107

StephenK — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:53:03 -0500

Technical issues continue to plague us at Erie Looking Productions. LISTen #107 is a lost episode as there will be no recorded audio for this one. The unedited script that has none of the usual handwritten corrections or any ad-libs by the presenter is instead released for consideration. Links to matters referenced are shown as footnotes in the attached PDF file. This peculiar release is made under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

While we plan to release LISTen #108 on March 1st, this is dependent upon us chasing down electrical shorts and other complications. Thank you for your patience and cooperation in this difficult time.

(Mirrored at Internet Archive)

Programming Advisory For LISTen 107

StephenK — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:49:29 -0500

Notice

Due to circumstances beyond our control it appears that LISTen #107 is delayed until further notice. We are trying to excise gremlins from the system but having a tired crew decreases the value of any attempted efforts. Our target is to get the episode out later Monday after some sleeping hours can be had.

Thank you for your patience in this difficult hour.

Dousing Firewalls

StephenK — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:42:12 -0500

Click on "Read More" to see the column as well as to get to the download link for the PDF version.

By Stephen Michael Kellat, MSLS
Head Writer, Erie Looking Productions

Sometimes I miss trends. When it comes to information science and policy, that is not hard to do. While noted in LISTen 106 that we were not sure where trend lines were going, further news since the release of the episode has helped show where things are going.

The notion of a country cutting itself off from what it deems objectionable on the Internet previously was restricted to the People's Republic of China. The efforts of Senator Stephen Conroy in Australia have already shown that even countries outside the Communist sphere can consider the possibility of removing access from the proletariat to things the leadership deems unacceptable. The recent letters by Senator Conroy to Google requesting the removal of access to a few YouTube videos within Australia already show that what was previously deemed dangerous yet fruitless talk can eventually produce action.

Librarians often worry about how to surmount barriers like this. Considering the current paradigms of the profession, solutions are likely not obvious. While new technology and talk of “the cloud” may reign, falling back to older technology may provide the easiest solutions.

With the lack of any known criteria for how Senator Conroy's ministry may seek the withdrawal of access to a site, LISNews quite frankly stands at risk even while we have a distinct audience presence in Australasia. Having access to LISNews disappear would remove a chunk of the profession within the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules world from part of the realm of cultural discourse. Without any known appeal procedures, Blake would be left with part of the site's audience irretrievably gone. While our spam filtering and content monitoring is handled by volunteers, conceivably we could miss something objectionable posted by a user that could incur the wrath of Senator Conroy's ministry.

This is partly why there have been the seemingly strange requests for expressions of interest in alternative forms of communication for LISNews content. The solution to censors like Senator Conroy's ministry or the relevant authority in the People's Republic of China may be to simply diversify how communications take place. While it is easy to look at a great firewall as being akin to holes being plugged in a tremendous dike, it must be remembered that the apocryphal boy plugging holes only has two hands and ten fingers. This is why that even though the cloud may seem nice it also can present a single choke point where a communications system may fail. This is what Senator Conroy is looking to capitalize on in addition to human sloth with respect to things he deems bad or otherwise unworthy of being seen by Australians on the Internet.

Again, the little boy plugging holes has only two hands and ten fingers. Adding concurrent communication can help prevent a firewall from holding. With the relative lack of jammers in the world today, purchasing airtime through a broker such as World Radio Network let alone VT Communications or the Transmitter Documentation Project would allow you to punch in a radio signal via shortwave. As even the United States Navy has shown in the past with research projects at speeds of 9.6 kbps and below, data signals can be effectively handled over shortwave just as much as voice broadcasts can.

To decode unencrypted radio data transmissions, typically all that is needed is a decent shortwave radio with antenna plus a stereo audio patch cable with 3.5 millimeter plug ends and a recent model computer using free open source software. With only a minor amount of shopping around, a decent shortwave radio and antenna can be picked up for about USD$100. In this case the cost to receive is far lower than the cost to transmit.

This is where the economics of Internet-based publishing are not as cool as prevailing talking heads want the populace to believe. It may seem mostly free to set up a blog or other sort of site. In a world where a pattern of offending blog comments could help make you disappear to a population, it takes hard currency to solve such through a workaround like print or shortwave bombardment. In a world like this, “da little guy” is hardly in any sort of advantageous situation.

Assaults on computer systems of Australian federal ministries have already taken place. The left-leaning ministry of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shows that the censoring of content is not confined to right-wing conservatives. There is little discrimination on account of politics relative to those who oppose open expression.

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This column is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Reprinting in physical media of this column is greatly encouraged.

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #106

StephenK — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:22:32 -0500

This week's episode brings an extended miscellany where we track down some potential trends that seem to be developing. The essay poses the concept of a print supplement to LISNews and seeks input.

Revenge of the Miscellany

StephenK — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:27:36 -0500

As it was suggested might happen, this is another one of the columns being posted.

Revenge of the Miscellany
By Stephen Michael Kellat

Why Kiwis Get Airtime So Much

It might be an interesting question to ponder why the Library Association of New Zealand, LIANZA, gets so much airtime on LISTen while the American Library Association and its myriad components do not. Was the air staff bribed? Are there agents of New Zealand's intelligence services working on the air staff?

What is going on is a simple point in terms of media relations. Libraries where library staff cannot afford the benefit of having a media relations officer stand to learn something here. When media people make an inquiry about setting up an interview or simply request information there is normally a deadline involved. It is a very grave offense to the media member when you ignore them entirely and act as if they do not exist. Timeliness is also a grave concern as taking over a week to even return a call generally means that not only has the pending story died but the media member likely moved on to the next project.

The main reason why LIANZA gets the airtime they do is that Megan Button, the media relations contact for the association, actually replies to our inquiries. After multiple repeated failed attempts to book guests from the ALA and OCLC since December 2007, we gave up on them. There are often plenty of stories out there and we have a hard upper limit on program length of thirty or so minutes anyhow. If we have to wait well over a week after the launch of a new product to even start discussing an interview, the editorial thought processes kick into high gear questioning whether the release is actually all that interesting if those making the release are so seemingly unenthusiastic spreading the word. If I had to choose between a product release that has no seemingly enthusiastic backing and a feature on Linux in Libraries, I will definitely be choosing Linux in Libraries when I put together the Order of Show.

While LIANZA has had plenty of cool stories come up as of late that have caught my eye, I do not doubt I have probably missed a few throughout the Anglosphere.

Release Frequency

What can I say? Frequency is a matter of concern to librarians. Librarians have such as an every day concern when it comes to serials like magazines and journals. We sometimes forget, though, that online resources fall under the relevant cataloging rules known as continuing resources that happen to be shared with serials.

Just as a serial item has to meet or exceed a minimum publication cycle to be considered an actual serial, so it may need to be with podcasts. At the barest elemental level, all a podcast happens to be is a set of audio or video files with appropriate XML description. The problem with that look at the barest level, though, is that it does not recognize distribution frequency.

What do librarians call a serial publication released only once per year? Our piece of jargon for that is annual. Such continues onward with weeklies, dailies, and more existing. When there is not a normal pattern, we often see coded in the 362 tag in USMARC-based records a notation of irregular frequency which recognizes leniency on the library's end when postal authorities might well decide the publication is not quite a serial.

When it comes to podcasts, though, cycles sometimes are ignored.

CNET's flagship podcast Buzz Out Loud is released weekdays with occasional special episodes. At LISNews you can find LISTen released weekly on Mondays with special episodes released on-demand by the air staff. Far too many library-related podcasts take months or years between making releases and do not follow any conformed release pattern. Podcasts are conventionally considered regular programs on regular schedules that mimic magazines and journals.

How could a cataloging record be best handled for a podcast? How can the library world include teaching not only about the preservation of cultural expression but also how new professionals can best create their own cultural expressions?

Internal Insecurity

In the past couple months we had a post at LISNews about a community in California having to choose between cutting the library budget and cutting the public safety budget. At the time, it was only a hypothetical exercise that led to plenty of hyperventillation. Nobody ever thought such could happen.

Last week, the Board of County Commissioners here in Ashtabula County slashed the budget of Sheriff William Johnson pretty severely. Ashtabula County is the largest county geographically in the state even though the local population is barely above one hundred thousand. Over a county of slightly over seven hundred square miles in size, Sheriff Johnson's staff policed about six hundred to six hundred fifty of those square miles as municipal forces covered their municipalities. With the budget cuts the Sheriff was slapped with, there are now only two deputies on the road covering the county. If you need a police response now for anything less than a fairly drastic felony or an outright capital crime like murder, you will not be getting one. Many crimes will go undetected and potentially unpunished all for the lack of greenbacks.

Due to the byzantine complexity of budgeting for local government in Ohio with a system barely changed from that imposed in the 19th century, the county commissioners could not burgle the library budget to shore up public safety. Ashtabula County District Library will be safe. Kingsville Public Library, a separate library service district in which Erie Looking Productions operates, is also similarly safe as the county would automatically trigger a fiscal emergency situation if they tried to pillage Kingsville Public Library's tax revenue.

This creates a bizarre situation within the continental United States where a community has less of a policing presence than some Third World/Global South nations. That the budget cuts created a drastic enough change to where the fictional Mayberry of The Andy Griffith Show looks like a fascist police state in contrast does not help either. With the question of the county defaulting financially becoming not so much a matter of if but when, a new example for textbooks on failures in local government will soon be created.

Big questions arise from this. What good is it to have a library open when you have no legal way to eject ruffians and others who disrupt the order of the library? Self-help by library staff in kicking out those who might be defacing materials could potentially lead to lawsuits. Assuming good will on the part of all who may come is a nice ideal but as this is a fallen world it must be remembered that there is evil out there. If you like the odds of nothing bad happening to your library in such a degraded policing situation, there are casino owners who would love to take all your cash.

Relocation, Relocation, Relocation

It looks like economic pressures are forcing relocation of Erie Looking Productions by April. There is no plan yet as to what may come. Stay tuned for more.

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Kellat serves as the Head Writer of Erie Looking Productions.