“Should we look to the past and replicate the ancient Rome model where the richest pay higher prices so the poorest can come for free? Should we look to the future and create our own bitcoin-like currency? … Can airline pricing in theatre really work?”
Tag: 07.16.14
42,000 People Singing For Freedom In Estonia
With Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict along its Ukrainian border, Estonia’s Laulupidu festival of traditional song and dance took on even more national import than usual (and that’s a lot.
Do We Comprehend Information Differently When We Read It Online Rather Than On A Page?
Researchers are finding that “the physicality of a printed page may matter for those reading experiences when you need a firmer grounding in the material. The text you read on a Kindle or computer simply doesn’t have the same tangibility.”
Study: Interrupting, Multi-tasking Lowers Creativity
“A team of researchers at George Mason University has found that people who are interrupted while writing end up producing lower-quality essays than writers who are allowed to work undisturbed.”
Our Cult Of Spontaneity – Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be
Serendipity is our friend; planning is for losers. “Spontaneity” is rhetorically offered as the reason to celebrate both online social media and last-minute travel bucket shops.
Why Are We So Attracted To The Idea Of A “Great American Novel”?
One of the central claims of “The Dream of the Great American Novel” is that novels are uniquely well suited to the task of representing what is quintessentially American because they are “carriers and definers of evolving ‘national imaginaries’”.
Support For Artist Resale Rights Picks Up Support In US Congress
“The bill has gained six co-sponsors in the past three weeks, including the representatives Sam Farr of California and Janice Schakowsky of Illinois. At a hearing yesterday, 15 July, in Washington, DC, experts including Karyn Temple Claggett, the director of policy and international affairs for the US copyright office, testified in support of the bill.”
How A Decade Of Digital Distribution Has Hurt The Creative Economy
“It’s only common sense that the devaluation creative industries face is having a sustained negative effect on the investment available for sustainable artistic careers. Through new groups like the Content Creators Coalition, artists have begun to advocate for themselves. But forging an internet that takes individual rights (including privacy), cultural diversity and sustainable progress seriously also requires that consumers get on board.”
Music Pollution – Is That What’s Really Devaluing Music
“There’s a lot of blame to spread around for our music appreciation downgrade: illegal downloads, corporate record companies missing the digital curve, overly compressed music resulting in fatigue and “digititus,” and the low-res quality of mp3 files, to name only a few factors. All of these things contribute to the devaluing of music as a distinct primary experience. But I think there’s a single phenomenon that’s working harder than all the others: The constant bombardment of music functioning as an aspect of an environment, in spaces from restaurants to government offices to bars to shopping malls, reducing music to just so much sonic wallpaper.”
Richard Mellon Scaife Leaves Two Small Pa. Museums Big Art Collections
The late billionaire “left nearly half his large art collection, a 900-acre Western Pennsylvania estate, and $15 million to the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Chadds Ford.” The other half goes to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pa.