Paul's Web Space 2.0

FCC Hearing on Internet Practices – April 17

On Thursday afternoon, all five commissioners from the Federal Communications Commission will be attending a hearing at Stanford University on the future of the Internet, sponsored by the Stanford Law School Center on Internet and Society. This promises to be a very interesting meeting, especially considering the controversy surrounding a similar meeting they held at MIT a couple months ago.

The hearing is scheduled for 12-7 PM PT / 3-10 PM ET, on Thursday, April 17, and will physically take place at:

Stanford University

Dinkelspiel Auditorium

471 Lagunita Drive

Stanford, CA, 94305

United States

See map: Yahoo! Maps

With only 150 seats available to the public, you'd better get there early to get a seat. Luckily, there are a number of other ways that you can follow the event via the very same Internet:

VON TV will host a free video webcast of the entire proceedings.

The FCC Web site will stream live audio of the hearing as well.

The Free Press Action Network will host live blogging coverage for the duration of the event.

The Cairns blog posted a thoughtful piece explaining the background, with lots of references to the players and the history of this process — Can the FCC Fix the Internet? — so I don't need to repeat it here. I'm hoping to tune in myself, maybe blog some more; I hope you can join me. 
¶ 8:30 PM | Permalink | |
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Job: Online Community Intern at edweek.org

Do you use multiple social networking services, write for a blog, or lead discussions on web forums? How would you like to apply those skills as an intern for an online journalism operation, and gain valuable job experience at the same time?

Edweek.org, a national non-profit news Web site covering K-12 education, seeks an online community intern to help manage our online community and contribute to viral marketing and social networking campaigns on behalf of the organization.

Responsibilities include:

• monitoring comments and forum posts for inappropriate content;
• managing one or more social network profiles or channels;
• performing outreach to bloggers and social bookmarking sites;
• promoting a sense of community through participation and feedback;
• occasional web design or production tasks in support of these activities.

Qualifications: The position requires experience engaging with several social media applications and web communities, good writing and editing ability, basic HTML skill, a strong work ethic, and a highly developed sense of humor. Must be able to meet deadlines and work under pressure. Experience with CSS, graphic or multimedia editing, or blogging or content management system software a plus.

We welcome interns with an interest in social media, journalism/communications, education news and policy, and/or multimedia production. We are metro-accessible, a short walk from the red line in downtown Bethesda.

Please send resume, cover letter and samples/links via e-mail to: WebIntern@epe.org, and tell us where you saw the ad. 
¶ 6:00 AM | Permalink | |
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Spottiswoode Makes More Enemies on NPR

I had the distinct pleasure of listening to my good friend and former band-mate Jonathan Spottiswoode on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning. It was an entertaining and thoughtful interview, conducted by Susan Stamberg, the original host of the weekend edition of the most popular show on radio. He sang and played two of his songs live in the studio, and they played cuts from the two CDs that his band Spottiswoode and his Enemies recently released as part of their 10th anniversary celebration — it was awesome exposure for Jonathan, his band, and his music. (All four songs are available on the NPR Web site.)

Jonathan is truly a gifted songwriter; he wrote all the songs on the first CD by my band, the Oxymorons ("Meet the Morons," which Jonathan also co-produced, was released in 1993). Around that time, he co-founded the Zimmermans, which shared two other members with the Oxymorons, but soon after split off in its own, more serious direction. (The first Zimmermans music video, "Portuguese Woman," also received its premiere at the "Meet the Morons" CD release party.)

The Enemies share most members with the final line-up of the Zimmermans, and have been together now for ten years. In the interview, Jonathan mentioned that he considers himself lucky to have been able to work with such good enemies over the last ten years, and to have been able to make a living writing, recording and performing his music, regardless of his spotty success with the so-called "music industry." To celebrate their ten years of existence, the Enemies recently released not one, but two new CDs: "That's What I Like" and "Salvation." Watch the video of the title track from the first CD, directed by Andrew Blackwell:



When Susan asked Jonathan how he managed to put out two CDs simultaneously – the band recorded 33 tracks in six days in the studio, of which 28 were included on the released CDs – he remarked that five CDs would be too little, were it not so difficult to press, package, and distribute the music once it was recorded. Several years ago, he remarked to me that he had five new fully-formed and sequenced CDs all worked out in his head; all he needed was the money, label, record deal, or whatever it would take to pay for it. The enemies are on a bit of a media roll these days: Paste Magazine gave them a rave review for a recent show in Atlanta as they worked their way back north from South by Southwest, and the New Yorker made their 10th Anniversary show last weekend at Joe's Pub the lead pick in last weeks listings. 
¶ 11:58 AM | Permalink | |
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F2C: Freedom to Connect

I'm looking forward to attending F2C: Freedom to Connect 2008, next Monday and Tuesday, March 31 and April 1, 2008, at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD (where I just happen to live). F2C always brings together the most interesting people and projects, all with one goal in mind, making the Internet more useful and powerful for everyone, making it a tool that people can use for whatever purpose, with the maximum capability, while not being limited by business rules set by telecommunications providers nor short-sighted government regulation.

I just received the last pitch email for this conference, so I want to pass along that after tonight, registration cost goes way up. So if you want to experience this stimulating and thought-provoking event in person, sign up today. They will have major WiFi capability, and a live chat online and on screen powered by 37 Signals CamfireNow.com, as well as a webcast for those who wish to simply watch remotely. (But then you also miss out on the truly killer networking that happens there as well.)

The names of the speakers this year are as good as ever, including Susan Crawford, Brad Templeton, Micah Sifry, Tim Wu, Bruce Schneier, Danny O'Brien, Gigi Sohn, Clay Shirky, and many others. As was the case last year, Howard Levy will provide the musical background to program breaks, this year accompanied by Chris Siebold. Should be fun AND informative. 
¶ 1:07 PM | Permalink | |
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