During some downtime on my recent trip I was watching old skateboarding videos on YouTube and was prompted to check The Pirate Bay to see what albums by fIREHOSE were available. I didn’t get very far.
I was a bit surprised but evidently Danish courts ruled that ISPs must block the site.
If I had to choose between really big bike racks and thepiratebay.org I might choose really big bike racks but not at the expense of being able to access perfectly legal websites.
Yesterday I visited the public library in Hjorring, Denmark. It is part of a civic center that includes a gym, restaurant and library. Here are some photos.
The desk doesn’t say “info.” It says “Welcome.” Big.
One neat thing about the library is this red ribbon that flows throughout the whole building. It transforms into the floor, desks, and shelves. They wanted to get it to extend outside of the building but weren’t able to.
The library is dedicated to play and full body learning. They have a slide in the library as an indication.
This is a video booth in which kids can make small performances…
…and then watch themselves and others on this screen.
Many kid’s departments have trees. I’m fond of this one.
The so-called old fashioned part of the library.
Yes, people use this ladder to retrieve books.
One wall has three nooks with different things inside. This is a display about litter and recycling.
The red thread.
Study rooms.
Eames chairs just outside of the cafe.
Reservation cube and red thread.
Meeting room.
Red thread and popular materials on display. And yes, people use the ladder.
Display and Wii area.
People check in and rough sort their own materials. This saves staff time and allows books to be retrieved right after they’re checked in.
Danger Mouse is a musician perhaps most know for his The Grey Album which is a mashup of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and the Beatles’ The White Album. The album is often used as an example of the tension between remix culture and restrictive copyright law and the DMCA.
Danger Mouse appears to be exploring this tension again by selling fans a blank CD-R on which to burn a peer-to-peer downloaded copy of his new collaboration called Dark Night of Soul. According to the Guardian’s article Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse unveil new album – a blank CD-R!,” an undisclosed legal dispute with EMI prevents them from releasing it through traditional channels. This surely is evidence that the world of content, the web and distribution is in a Wild West phase where what’s right, wrong, and the law are all getting sorted out.
I like that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse are adding value to their music. The official CD-Rs come as part of packages consisting of a poster, or a accompanying book of photographs by David Lynch. Music is copyable. Other things aren’t as easily.
Similarly, in support of his new album, former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker recently put on a five day event in a Parisian art gallery. He had jam sessions, played music for children and yoga classes, etc. His album? Copyable. The experience of that event? Not so much.
This is interesting to me, of course, because I think that libraries would benefit from concentrating as much or more on providing uncopyable experiences as on the logistics of shuffling around copyable content.
An amazing gift! The color scheme matches the site perfectly.
Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think is a favorite of mine. Taking the two hours to read it will give you a bunch of ideas about how to make your website better.
I was happy to see that Krug uploaded a presentation he recently gave to slideshare. The slides are entertaining and informational, I can only imagine how fun it was live.
