technology

D.I.Y is usually something we think of when we look at a zine or a really pretty hand-felted wallet; things that are finished. Things that were Done._.Yourself.

A large part of the enjoyment I get out of other peoples' D.I.Y projects, though, is getting to imagine the process of Doing. As in, how the hell did they do that? Even the simplest stitch has to be learned. Someone has to teach us how to un-jam the copier at Kinkos. And in that process, it's inevitable that things don't always work right the first time. Or the second.

Let's say you wanted to start a library. And you wanted that library to have a website. Let's say that you were neither a librarian nor knew the first thing about web design.

So NewsCorp (that's the Rupert Murdoch-controlled owner of massive numbers of media companies including Fox News and now MySpace) announced today that they were going to begin cracking down on copyright violations of music on MySpace--files found to be in violation would be deleted and the users threatened with banning.

"MySpace is staunchly committed to protecting artists' rights, whether those artists are on major labels or are independent acts," said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive and co-founder.

The company said users who repeatedly attempt to upload copyright music files will be permanently barred from the site.

Just a quick link to a pretty fascinating story looking at MySpace in terms of page views and how its inefficient programming causes it to appear much more popular than it really is (though, there's no denying that it is really fucking popular).

This seems like a very good companion to Paul Davis's blog from a few days back about social networking.

http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2006/04/myspace-click-factory

Click the above for the story.

It's been about three years since my friend sent me an embarrassed invitation to join Friendster, saying something along the lines of "this is the most gross, uncomfortable, addicting and useful thing I've found on the net all year." It was indeed, and though people now take the concept of social networking for granted or completely spurn it (or even worse, embrace it fully, engaging in an orgy of what my editor at the Metro Santa Cruz characterizes as "self-branding,") I think at their core these sites offer a very useful tool. As a expatriate of Santa Cruz, CA, now living in Chicago, there's any number of services that social networking and blogging sites have offered to keep in touch with friends and family who avoid both the phone and any complicated interaction with their computers, whenever possible. I have a few people who engage in real mail correspondence, which is great, but not so practical for a quick note, dick joke or mass update on what’s been going on.