“‘The internet is forever’ has long been the refrain of neurotics who wring their hands over privacy. But, back in the earliest days of online interaction, we couldn’t conceptualise what forever meant for digital experiences. They seemed ephemeral, intimate. … But what we thought were whispers that disappeared into the wind were footprints left behind in soil. That soil was fossilising, preserving a partial archive, hidden until it is not.”
Category: issues
France Tries To Enforce ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ On Google Worldwide, Not Just Google.fr
“On Monday France’s data-privacy agency ordered Google to delist certain links (that is, remove them from search results) everywhere it operates and in every service it offers” whenever anyone asks for them to be removed under French law. “It’s unlikely that even Louis XIV thought French regulatory authority should stretch so far.”
Royal Albert Hall Refuses To Accept Result Of Staff’s Union Vote
“A ballot was held earlier this year over whether or not employees should be recognised by BECTU, with 117 of those who took part in favour and 109 against … RAH chief executive Chris Cotton has now written to staff to inform them that the vote did not have ‘the support of the majority of the employees within the hall’.”
Babies Need The Arts (Yes, Really) – So We Make Art For Babies
“The evidence about the importance of children’s early experiences is pouring out of scientific labs. … If those three years are so fundamental to shaping who we are, then shouldn’t they be filled with experiences which are beautiful, challenging, imaginative, soothing, musical, creative, exciting and calming? We reckon so. And that’s why we’ve been making shows for babies for the last four years.”
As America’s Work Place Becomes More Competitive It Becomes Less Creative
The people who can compete and succeed in this culture are an ever-narrower slice of American society: largely young people who are healthy, and wealthy enough not to have to care for family members. An individual company can of course favor these individuals, as health insurers once did, and then pass them off to other businesses when they become parents or need to tend to their own parents. But this model of winning at all costs reinforces a distinctive American pathology of not making room for caregiving. The result: We hemorrhage talent and hollow out our society.
Italian Gov’t Declares Cultural Sites ‘Essential Services’ After Unions Lock Tourists Out Of Colosseum
“Unionized workers at the Roman amphitheatre held a 2½ meeting in the morning, keeping the gates locked until they had finished their discussions. They said the stoppage was within their rights, but confusion reigned outside the Colosseum.” In response, the Cabinet put cultural sites alongside hospitals and transit on the list of essential services in which work stoppages are restricted.
Authors Ask Chinese President To Free Dissident Jailed Writers
“In an open letter to Xi, published just before the Chinese president’s first US state visit this week, more than 40 authors have come together to express their ‘deepest concern about the deteriorating state of free expression in China.’ The letter highlights four cases of writers who are currently imprisoned in China.”
As The Broad Museum Opens, Teachers Gather To Protest Eli Broad
“Protesters are expected to gather outside Eli Broad’s new $140 million museum that houses his 2,000-piece contemporary art collection Sunday, to call on the billionaire to halt plans to back a charter school plan that could enroll half of the students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.”
Post Millennial – They’re Already Racing To Define “Generation Z”
“With the oldest members of this cohort barely out of high school, these tweens and teens of today are primed to become the dominant youth influencers of tomorrow. Flush with billions in spending power, they promise untold riches to marketers who can find the master key to their psyche.”
Study: There’s A Difference In The “Promiscuity” Of Audiences
“New research drawn from Audience Finder, based mainly on performing arts data, shows that the most highly engaged attenders, those who made six or more bookings per year, account for less than 12% of all bookers in the last three years. This select group is, however, responsible for making more than half (52%) of all the bookings made in the last three years. At the same time, 54% all those who have attended the arts in the last three years have only booked once. At 17.3% these one-time bookers are responsible for making less than a fifth of all bookings made during that time.”