digital detritus

20031228-21_56_33.edited,
originally uploaded by andreil.

Sure, flickr allows millions of people to post pictures of themselves and their friends drunk in bars all over the world. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

But it also allows photos like this one.

I’ve spent more summers than I can count working at summer camps. It’s good work, and important work, childcare is often ignored, but it is important. So when I came across Flickr I had an interesting a-ha moment.

Anyone who has spent time at a summer camp knows that folks love to take pictures. And I’m sure everyone can imagine that those photos are cherished by folks for a long time. So it hit me, how about we put the pictures on flickr. Before you write me off as someone who is stating the obvious here me out, and I’m not really writing this for folks that already know about flickr. No, this is for the folks that don’t or, who haven’t thought about all that you might do with it.

Now one of the things that summer camps struggle over is how parents communicate with their kids. Parents what to know what’s going on with their kids, and rightly so. But you can’t have kids sitting on the phone everyday talking to their parents. Not only would it mean obscene phone bills, there’s also the problem of some kids getting more calls than others. And you can’t have parents and relatives dropping in all the time to visit the kids because that demolishes program. Some camps have put up webcams so parents can see what their kids are up to, but who wants to go to camp big brother?

So, all summer long the staff at camp are taking pictures for any number of reasons. Maybe they want to save moments that are important. Maybe they use the photos to highlight what as gone on so far at camp. Maybe they have a photography program at the camp. For whatever reason you end up with a great collection of photos cover what has gone on at the camp.

So now you have the staff post the pictures they are taking to flickr. Once the photos are published parents can see what’s going on and keep up with their kids. And the kids could post their photos as well to build the pool. Maybe the kids can’t get their pictures up to flickr until they get home, so what, they can still put them up after camp.

“But what about the campers and staff that don’t have digital cameras?” I hear you ask. Well no excuses, when folks go to get their photos developed they check the little box that says “I’d like a CD please.” Then they have plenty of photos to post.

It all works pretty nicely. Parents can see what’s up with their kids without interrupting program. And everyone gets a great selection of photos to remember their summer by, even if they didn’t bring a camera.

But this isn’t just an idea for summer camps. How about this: A high school yearbook created not by a few people but by every student (and teacher) with a camera. Now anyone who wants to can participate.

Just some food for thought.

Feel free to check out my photos on flickr.

I’m terrified and outraged at the same time. Seems like those pesky activist judges are at it again. Oh, but you won’t hear about these guys from the right wing media and pundits. Nope, this time they’re busy crushing civil rights, and that’s OK with the right wing.

The first story I read was about a judge in Minnesota who has decided that possesion of encryption software is a sign of criminal intent. The particular case isn’t a pretty one and the accused sounds like the worst kind of person. However, none of this is because he had PGP installed on his computer. Thanks to Schneier on Security this one.

Oh, but that’s not all. It seems that a judge in Indiana has decided that some religions are better than others. In a divorce case where both parents are practicers of Wicca the judge has ruled that they may not teach their nine year old son about their religion. Specifically the judge has ruled that the parents may not expose their son to “non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.” And there’s no definition of “non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals” in the divorce decree. Thanks to Synaptic Junction Daily for this one.

Campers, this is some really scary shit!

Back When…,
originally uploaded by argusmaniac.

I love this. The Argus camera was made (well before my time) in my home town and, as it says, was the largest selling 35mm camera in the world.

Fast forward several decades and my first real job working in computing was for the Information Technology Division (ITD) at the Univ. of Michigan. And my office (well cubicle) was in one of the old Argus buildings.

Big thanks to Ed Vielmetti for posting this on his blog as well. Otherwise I’d never have known about it.

I’m probably never going to be a rich man simply because I’m willing to share what might be a good idea with the entire planet. But then, there are more important things than being rich, I just wish I could think of them when I’m paying my bills.

Here’s a little background:

I love social networks and websites that help folks share things. These would include, but aren’t limited to, Friendster, Orkut, del.icio.us, ourmedia and flickr.

I also have a new digital camera so I’ve been having a lot of fun taking pictures and uploading them to flickr.

And I’m a huge fan of the ourmedia project. I love the fact that it’s all about content that is Creative Commons licensed and that it’s all done with open source software. All that said sometimes I think that ourmedia tries to do too many things at once.

Anyway, here’s my idea:

What if someone created a site like flickr only for audio (if you read the terms of service on flickr they actuall mention audio).

• easy to use interface
• open API for access to the data
• freeform tagging (folksonomy)
• searching based on tags
• ability to group files into sets (albums?)
• user groups for sharing
• syndication (rss, atom, etc) based on group, user, set and tags (instant podcasting)
• file download with on the fly bitrate changes
• file download with on the fly format changes (mp3, ogg, flac, etc.)

There is the problem of copyright infringement, but I think that can be handled.

So, does someone want to create {whistl, canticl, minstrl}.com?

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Some mornings when I get up and I just want to call the folks at the ACLU and thank them for all of their work.

Today I learned that the ACLU and the good folks at Jenner & Block LLP are challenging a faith based abstinence only program called the “Silver Ring Thing.” Seems that this program urges teens to bring themselve to christ and it seems that more than one million dollars of federal funds have been given to this program.

All I want to know is “Which part of the first amendment doesn’t George Bush get?”

tennis anyone?,
originally uploaded by colinj.

Yup, it’s more pictures from my digital camera via flickr.

This time it’s actually a pair of pictures. Just for giggles I set my camera on the foosball table and snapped a couple of shots.

I didn’t really think much of the shots until I started playing with the collage function in Picasa 2. I combined two pictures and got what you see here.

Pretty cool if I do say so myself. I really like grid like effect that the crossbars the players are mounted on create.

Anyway, submitted for your enjoyment.

looking east on huntington ave.,
originally uploaded by colinj.

Since I just got a new camera that I am completely smitten with I’ve been trying out all of it’s new functions. One of them is the exposure setting which I can increase up to 15 sec.

What you are looking at is the view east from the building I work in. That’s Huntington ave. and you are looking towards downtown Boston. The picture was taken from the third floor of the building.