Tag: 03.28.07

The Way We Read Now – Borders Style

“If you doubt that Borders has had a profound effect, not just on the book trade, but on how readers interact with one another and with texts, then keep an eye out for a remarkable new documentary called Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore… Protesters complain that Borders is imposing cultural uniformity across the United States by destroying small businesses. The representatives from Borders respond that the stores are competitive for the simple reason that they are attractive and well-stocked.”

Rethinking The Museum Online

“Now, after spending millions of dollars and years of effort on their virtual homes — which draw many more visitors than their physical ones — museums are rethinking their online collections. They are experimenting with one of the hottest Web 2.0 trends: tagging, the basis for popular sites like Flickr.com. In social tagging, users of a service provide the tags, or labels, that describe the content (of photos, Web links, art), thus creating a user-generated taxonomy, or folksonomy, as it’s called.”

Smithsonian Leadership Scandal Only The Latest

“Not only are these nonprofit leaders undermining the public trust, but they are also using money donated by the public, as well as government funds, to benefit themselves and their friends and relatives. The major culprit in the scandals that have rocked not only the Smithsonian but also American University, the Getty Trust, the Shriners, the Nature Conservancy, and other organizations are the board members of these institutions who have failed to exercise their fiduciary and oversight responsibilities.”

Questioning David Sedaris’ Truthiness

“Sedaris has always freely acknowledged that he exaggerates. He came to fame talking on NPR in 1992 about his stint as a Santa’s elf at Macy’s (a true story, The New Republic asserts). But did he lie about his experiences working at a mental hospital or taking guitar lessons from a midget? In an article in the New Republic Alex Heard says Sedaris wildly and willfully mischaracterized what went on.”

The Failure At Ground Zero

“The original proposal to bring the arts to ground zero wasn’t merely to give four lucky arts institutions new homes at the center of the city’s attention. It was also to make sure that the redevelopment site wouldn’t be monopolized by grief or commerce. The plan created a temporary sense of good will — but when that collapsed, it showed Gov. George Pataki exactly which way the political winds were blowing and how to take cover. It was an apt reminder of how weak the national appetite for government support of the arts really is.”

And Just In Case This Music Thing Doesn’t Work Out…

“In most areas of higher education, entrepreneurship has long lost its stigma as a career path for those without one. But at the nation’s top music conservatories that stigma is still very much alive, despite the fact that the “traditional” career path for classically trained musicians–one that ends with steady employment in a symphony orchestra–is difficult.” But some schools are slowly starting to embrace the idea that a musical education can be supplemented with a practical back-up business plan.

Books Any Way You Like ‘Em

The Caravan Project is “a fledgling experiment that is designed to help university presses and other small publishers learn to distribute their material in multiple formats quickly and cost-effectively. Good books need to be available where, when, and how the reader chooses. We’ve come to expect music, news, movies, and television to be available in a variety of formats at the time we choose. The same thing needs to be true for serious nonfiction.”

Artist Vs. Mass MoCA

“Because of a dispute between Mass MoCA and Swiss artist Christoph Büchel — over money and the installation of the work — the public may never see what has been touted as Büchel’s first major American museum show. The December opening was postponed, and just before Christmas the artist walked out after being told the museum had spent its $250,000 project budget. So far, Mass MoCA has been unable to lure Büchel back.”