Cén áit don chultúr sa ré nua teicneolaíochta?

Ag taifead ag ceolchoirm

In this article for Beo! I write about the place of culture in the technological age. at the very botom you’ll find link to a previous blogpost that covers some of the same ground. I kick off here with a link to a great blog post by Aonghus Ó hAlmhain about developing programmers. I also write a little about the Stop SOPA Ireland campaign.

Críochnaigh mé m’alt deiridh ar thaobh aibhéise de shaghas inar chuir mé tús le ceist mhór i leith oideachas na teicneolaíochta. Bhí roinnt plé ansin idir mé féin agus Aonghus i dtráchtaireachtaí leis an alt féin agus ar Twitter. I ndeireadh báire, scaoil Aonghus leis ar a bhlag féin inar mhínigh sé an scéal ar fad agus a thuras pearsanta isteach i saol an ríomhcláraitheora. Is spéisiúil an léargas é agus is fiú a léamh.

Sa bhlag mhír seo pléann sé na bunclocha atá de dhíth chun ríomhcláraitheoir a thógáil. Táim féin den tuairim gurb iad foighde agus stuacacht na tréithe is mó atá de dhíth ar ríomhchláraitheoir: foighde chun chur suas le cliaint dúra cosúil liomsa agus stuacacht chun leanúint leat i gcoinne constaicí loighice agus dothuisceana a bhíonn, go minic, féinchruthaithe.

Ach in ionad a bheith ag scaoileadh fúm is tharam anseo faoin droch-chaoi ina bhfuil oideachas na teicneolaíochta sa tír seo, tharraing scéal eile mo shúil le mhí anuas: is mise snag breac na teicneolaíochta amach is amach! Is mó constaic a pléadh sa nuacht teicneolaíochta le déanaí ó shocraigh roinnt comhlachtaí idirlín tabhairt faoi lá lándorcha in agóid ar SOPA. Rinne acht rialtas SAM “Stop Online Piracy Act” jab an-cheisteach de reachtaíocht cóipchirt don idirlíon. Fuair an reachtaíocht seo an-chuid tacaíochta ó na foilsitheoirí móra ceoil, scannáin agus téacs ach is beag comhlacht idirlín, ceoltóir, ealaíontóirnó foilsitheoir beag a bhí chomh tógtha leis. Is féidir an scéal ar fad a léamh is a thuiscint trí SOPA a chuardach ar líne. An fhadhb is mó a bhí ag lucht a fhreasúra ina gcoinne ná an tslí gur shocraigh lucht a dhréachta ar chasúr a úsáid in áit an chleite. A luaithe is a bhí ábhar faoi chóipceart scaipthe ar ghréasán bhí sé i gceist an gréasán sin a ghearradh ón idirlíon trí iarraidh ar ISP a chuntas a dhúnadh agus trí stop a chur le suíomhanna eile, beag nó mór, nascadh leo.

In Éirinn

Ag taifead ag ceolchoirmShocraigh brúghrúpa Éireannach StopSOPAIreland úsáid a bhaint as an spéis idirnáisiúinta seo i gcúrsaí dlí, teicneolaíochta agus cearta chunfeachtas tráthúil a sheoladh le haird a tharraingt ar reachtaíocht atá idir láimhe san Oireachtas faoi láthair. De réir mo thuisceana, tá deacracht ag an dream seo leis an mbealach ina bhfuil an reachtaíocht seo á achtú chomh maith le hábhar an achta féin. Is é bun agus barr an scéil ná nach ionann múnla gnó na gcomhlachtaí ceoil, scannáin, bogearraí is leabhair (EMI srl.) atá “ag cosaint a gcóipceart” agus comhshaoil réadúil an chultúir chéanna seo. Níl an t-airgead céanna le déanamh as an gcultúr seo a scaipeadh a thuilleadh agus tá an dinosaur ag fulaingt, ag casacht is ag rith ón scamall dubh atá ag alpadh a dhomhain. N’fheadar céard a bheas fágtha: cúpla puirtleog raithní, crogall agus armadillo? Ach fásfaidh bláthanna agus feilecáin, rud nár mhair faoi ré na ndionosár.

Abigail Smith and Sue Rynhart play origial music by Irish composersAn toradh is mó dar liom as an aird seo atá ar SOPA agus reachtaíocht digiteach, idirlín agus cóipcirt ná gur tharraing seo ceist na cruthaitheachta sa ré dhigiteach go lár an aonaigh arís. Ní haon saineolaí dlí mé ach tá deirfiúr agus triúr deartháir agam gur ealaíontóirí is ceoltóirí iad (Is mise caora bán na clainne – iad siúd na cuilthíní). Tá i measc mo chol ceathracha dearthóir faisin, ceoltóir eile, iriseoir, grianghrafadóir (atá pósta le grianghrafadóir): sin an-chuid daoine atá ag brath ar chultúr agus ar a gcearta mar chruthaitheoirí an chultúir sin le snáith a choinneáil faoin bhfiacail. Maith dom mar sin má bhraitheann tú go bhfuilim rud beag claonta ar cheist an chóipchirt sa ré dhigiteach.

Níl aon cheist gur gá le hathbhreathnú ar dhlithe cóipchirt atá de dhíth mar nach n-oireann dlí analógach don ré dhigiteach; dlí a scríobhadh in am an leabhair, na téipe agus an cheirnín. Sa ré úr seo, is féidir cóip dhigiteach fhoirfe a dhéanamh go síoraí. Nuair is féidir é sin a dhéanamh, druideann costas tairgeadh an bhunruda i ngar do neamhní. Conas gur féidir luach a chur leis an mbunrud mar sin? Ach fós tá costais ag baint le cruthú cultúir: go bunúsach, caithfidh ealaíontóir ithe agus ar thaobh eile an scéil, is gá foireann a íoc i dtionscail idirnáisiúnta an cheoil is na scannánaíochta.

Na Duartain in Aisce

Pret a mediatiserIs minic anois go mbíonn sé indéanta cóip a fháil go ‘mídhleathach’ nuair nach féidir aon ní a fháil go dleathach: féach mar shampla an clib TV ar do chuid iTunes: níl faic ann ach is féidir duartan a fháil den tsraith is nuaí ar teilifís áit ar bith ar domhan: ná caill do shobalchlár Filipíneach is ansa leat arís go brách! Nó an raibh tú féin chomh díomach is bhí mé féin faoi raon clár a bhí ar fáil ó Netflix nuair a seoladh iad le rí-rá mór anseo le déanaí? Is cinnte go luíonn bochtanas an rogha seo ag doras na gcomhlachtaí móra foilseacháin agus rialtas na tíre seo mar nach féidir leo réiteach a shocrú le leitheidí iTunes, Netflix, Spotify srl. a ligfeadh dóibh a gcatalóg a roinnt anseo. Céard é an dara rogha mar sin? Fan go dtí go bhfuil an t-ábhar ar fáil ar DD nó ar DVD?

Ach ní ceist teicneolaíochta seo ar fad dar liom. Is gá dúinn, in ionad léimt isteach ar an scéal, smaoineamh ar céard tá uainn. Tá fonn orainn éisteacht le ceol, leabhair a léamh, breathnú ar scannáin agus bogearraí áisiúla a úsáid. Tá a leithéid ann agus tá siad ar fáil go dleathach. Tá roinnt den ábhar seo agus luíonn a gcóipceart leis an duine a chruthaigh é ach tá cuid eile de agus is le comhlacht a luíonn an cóipceart. Is iadsan atá ag seasamh an fhóid i leith a gcóipceart ar son na gcruthaitheoirí agus ar ndóigh, ar maithe le leas a bhaint as an gceart céanna sin.

Tionscal Faoi Stró

Dublin City Jazz OrchestraMar sin is ceist oideachais agus moráltachta atá ann dar liom Má mhúintear go bhfuil luach ag baint le gach píosa ábhair a chruthaítear. Ach an ionann an luach a chuirtear síos do scannán nua Martin Scorsese agus céimí scannáin nó saothar Crash Ensemble agus buaiteoir X Factor? Gach seans nach gcuirfeadh formhór mór na ndaoine luach le haon cheann díobh. Sna argóintí seo freisin, bíonn an iomarca béime ar cheol: píosaí trí noiméad a d’fhéadfadh, ar lá maith, scríobh i maidin amháin, in aon uair amháin. Ach tábradaíl ar siúl ar scannáin, leabhair, bogearraí agus ar chláracha teilifíse, cnapáin chultúir a ghlacann na céadta uair an chloig ar na céadta daoine lena gcruthú. Teipfidh ar an tionscadal seo munar féidir múnla agus bealach nua a chruthú chun idirbheart an chultúir a chur i gcrích.

Conas gur féidir a leitheid a mhúineadh agus cé leis an “curaclam”? Thuig Tim O Reilly an cheist nuair a dúirt “Obscurity is the problem, not piracy”. Má tá saothar á chóipeáil, á íosluchtú, go dleathach nó mídleathach tá agat; is é an fhadhb is mó nuair nach bhfuil tóir ar an saothar; nuair nach bhfuil sé sa bhfaisean. Agus i gcomhthéacs cultúr an X-Factor, nach leor luach teachtaireacht téacs ar do chuid saothar? Nach “leo” siúd a vótáil ar a son buaiteoir an chomórtais?

Ní hé seo an chéad uair a scríobh mé faoi luach chultúir agus ealaíne agus táim cinnte go dtiocfaidh mé ar ais chuige.

Wednesday WIP (Crochet & Garden)

It’s Wednesday which means it’s work in progress day. Since my last WIP I have been quite productive relatively speaking. For a change too the work I’ve done has been for me: I don’t want to fall into that trap of never making anything for myself. Lately I’m going to the other extreme.

When you crochet or knit or make things do you find you’re always giving them away too? It seems selfish or vain to make something for yourself but egotistical in equal parts to give it away. It’s like when someone says, “I’m in a band: here, listen to my demo.” But you can’t because your ears are bleeding from the pain of their music and you don’t know what to say. I wonder to people receive my gifts and think “Sweet lord, what am I going to do with this thing!” I think I’m lucky enough to have polite enough friends who will tactfully place the lovingly crafted object in a less-trafficked corner of the house. That said I recall the sting, after spending a few hours creating something that I think the recipient didn’t realise was handmade, when it was just flung to one side without so much as a thank you. But isn’t that rude regardless of the effort put into the gift!

I know I mentioned on the Rosie View when we were talking about The Great British Bake Off that I could completely understand why the contestants got so upset: sure I was at home sniffling for them because I know the pain of putting your heart and soul into something only to have it flop.

However there was a lesson to be learned from the winners of that series: persistence. Malcolm Gladwell would have us believe that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert or a genius at a skill.

But the difficulty is that by the time we realise this or at the very least realise the truth in this we no longer have 10,000 hours to spare. Not in one block anyway. That’s why a hobby that you can try, try again in short snatches allows you to build up those 10,000 hours. So maybe by the time I’m actually a total granny I’ll be amazing at crochet.

So on to the WIP. Below you can see the business card holder I whipped up not last Wednesday but the Wednesday before to match my iPad holder so it would be easy for me to find while I was networking at dotconf the following day. It’s a bit of a joke but I do love the cheerful colours. It and the iPad cover go with nothing at all though!

I also started the top I described in my last WIP post. It’s going well although the tension isn’t quite right probably because I’m not using the specified wool but it’s just too expensive. I’m worried therefore that this central panel will be too wide thus making the whole top too wide. It is pretty though and I love the colour. You’ll see below that there’s a lot of green in my life at the moment!

And Himself has been busy too and we’ve finally been enjoying the fruits of his incremental 10,000 hours. I wonder if we’ll ever have enough strawberries ripe at the same time for a bowlful each? Nipper 2.0 keeps sneaking out into the garden by himself and finding the ripe ones and shnarfing them before anybody else gets a chance. I beat him to this one here and it was delicious. In the second picture you can see Himself planting some cauliflower and turnip seedlings given to us by our neighbour. In the foreground carrot, onions and beetroot can be seen. Our first batch of potatoes should be ready soon as well.I’m really looking forward to more beetroot brownies: my favourite way to make my pee a funny colour!

I”ve already made loads of the rocket into pesto with parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts.

My own private photoblog tour


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Originally uploaded by anmhor

As part of the annual Irish Blog Awards a photo tour is usually organised. I didn’t make the official tour but went for an invigorating walk in glorious sunshine with the Corkonian Architect. It was truly gorgeous and all the photos were taken with my Nokia E51 because I left my camera in the house.

However this walk involved a very strange synchronicity. The architect never told me where we were going and when we arrived, I exclaimed, “I’ve been here before!” But the strangest thing about it is that while I get very few comments on my blog, I got one once about Nohoval Cove which is where she had brought me! Isn’t that an amazing coinkydink?

Flog

You may be wondering what the deal is with the Flog topic below on the left. Well I found out that you can blog from you phone and that there is a site that offers such a service in Ireland. It’s particularly cool if you have a digital camera integrated in your mobile phone.

Now even though I managed to regiser and start a flog on this site it was only when I tried to post from the mobile that I realised you had to be a real 02 customer to avail of it. Fair enough. So I decided to mail Vodafone and ask them if they were planning to develop a similar service. I was mailed back and told by the rep who mailed me that she couldn’t access the site. I have had no problem accessing the site so I can only presume they have no internet access. I’m waiting to hear back from her. I mentioned that I might be persuaded to switch providers if they don’t plan on developing a phone blog service. Or if their customer representatives don’t have internet access…

And don’t get me started on Eircom’s Domestic Broadband Package. Oh holy God!!