Newsflash: Net Neutrality and Creative Artists

There is a ‘terrific’ article Life in the Fast Lane: Musicians Fight for Network Neutrality at Flagpole.com  which takes a rational look at what Net Neutrality may mean for the independence of creativity.

This is an issue all Creative Artists should be concerned about for it is about the paths and availability of access to the public for your work. It is about you having choices, and not limitations.

It is quite literally an issue of freedom - creative freedom.

Creative News We Exist For! What Can Be ~ New Possibilities for Humanity!

We just received the following announcement through Rockrap a list of musicians and other creatives all over the world who are creative activists in terms of social justice, civilization and the inequities of the art & entertainment industry music sector. What Can Be sounds very promising! If you like the idea show them your support and pass it on to others you know. “A culture of vision” now that’s what we need ~ definitely an idea whose time has come! Check it out. Support ‘em!

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BOOM!Books ISBNs Acquired

They’re little things, numbers in a string that was expanded from 10 to 13 digits in 2007 that one finds on the back of books and which are important to the marketing of those same tomes. Libraries, distributors and retailers utilize them for ordering.

They’re the next step forward to launching another part of the Allforart Network, BOOM!Books has its first ten ISBNs.

These will be applied to books that have been planned for a number of years and their imminent release along with reviews will be published in the Free Articulator as and when.

Having established the company’s Virtual Office, Allforart is now beginning work on the BOOM!Books site, which will also be promoting the authors and works that the company will be publishing. BOOM!Books recently acquired its publishing contracts and is now preparing its publication schedule, and manuscripts.

Creative Independence Day! We should eat cake or crow?

Today is the 4th of July and it’s Creative Independence Day again. Some would like to eat cake. Some would like to offer crow. But we won’t crow until we eat cake! So, as America celebrates her independence we will share in that celebration with her and do a little clock turning. Read more

George Carlin Gone but Never Forgotten

A favorite American stand-up comic, the irreverent George Carlin, who tells it like it is, and not how we think it is, one of the few honest ones has reached the end of an incredible career. I wrote about him during the Hollywood Writer’s strike and I recently introduced one of our contributors to him and then spent about a week playing his shows while I worked as if I was in some sort of prescient state, foreshadowing the man’s heart giving that last beat of a life worth living and worth celebrating. So this is my eulogy to a man I respect, and hopefully in a way he would applaud. Read more

Free Articulator has its ISSN

It’s been a long time coming, but the Free Articulator has finally achieved a new level of professional status and obtained its ISSN. You can see our new ISSN in the Header near the Comments and RSS subscription button in the top right of the homepage.

A small, apparently insignificant, number that is loaded with a great deal more meaning and usefulness than one may at first realize.

So what’s an ISSN?

Wikipedia has an excellent article on this which you can read here. It’s essentially an 8-digit number that provides a unique identifier. It also means that a publication is archived.

What use is it?

Well, the fact that it is archived puts a publication into an historical context meaning that every article published is archived in the national library of the country in which the publication is registered. Articles published are placed into a searchable database. Nice way to backup the hard work that goes into a publication and preserve it for posterity.

These databases are used by universities, institutions, media and scholars for education and research of various types.

Why have one?

A publication with an ISSN achieves another level of professionalism, responsibility, credibility and reputation. More importantly, for Allforart and the Free Articulator, this means we are now helping establish Featured Artists, Movers & Shakers, New Product Releases, and artworks as part of the historical record in national, and potentially international, archives.

In the electronic age this means that what is published in the Free Articulator, having been archived by a national library is now available through research libraries that are interconnected around the world. This increases the potential for legitimate exposure.

What about copyright?

Authors who may be concerned about their intellectual property being archived by a national library should not be concerned. Organizations that utilize such resources are bound by intellectual property laws, conventions and treaties in their use of such materials and this does not affect any author’s copyright in material ways. ISSN registration and publication filing are bound by these laws and treaties too.

Archiving means that publication in the Free Articulator now has the potential to reach a much larger audience. This includes crossing the digital divide for those who use library and other public computers to access the internet.

For more information about ISSN do read the manual provided by the international organization based in France.

There are more actions Allforart and the Free Articulator will be taking in the near (and not-so-near) future to expand our reach and support of the remarkable talents of creative individuals and industry events that have come to our attention around the world. We’ll let you know as they occur.

Apologies for Duplicate Postings

Since upgrading to the new version of WordPress late last month, we have been experiencing some technical glitches resulting in the re-publication of previously published articles. This is most annoying when you’re learning a new interface. Apparently there is “something screwy in the date-a-base.”

Our apologies for any inconvenience, we are looking into why this is occurring, while we’re in the middle of a reorganization, and hope to have it resolved in the next week or two. In the meantime, we trust you’ll continue to enjoy a fresh new series of articles from Branwen, Doc Don Sturgiss, Marie, NDK and other contributors and editors.

Of course if you’re not at all inconvenienced and love reading our posts over again then don’t forget that you don’t have to wait until “we republish” you can access the archives (see the side bar), or use the search function (top of the page) to find something you’d like to read again.

Create Peace, End War, Fix Planet - March 20

On 20 March 2008 it is the 5th anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq. The Free Articulator is marking this day by hosting the Peace March 20 initiative, focusing on artists as social activists during this time of conflict. We’d like to invite all visual artists, writers, and song writers to sign up, participate, and contribute their voice and links.

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Say Hello to Creativity, Culture & News

In the last few months the Free Articulator has grown beyond our expectations. We launched Free Articulator 2.0 on the 1st of January and soon after, introduced our first Feature that explored the mind and work of talented digital artist and model Lena Semenkova. We’re also hard at work on a slew of things you’ll find out about soon. Read more

An Urgent Message from Al Gore

Hi All,

As you may or may not be aware there is a very large and important meeting occurring in Bali on the subject of Climate Change. We just received this message from Al Gore and ask that you click the link and lend your support to moving up the agenda for the global treaty and let others know about this. There really isn’t anything more important than this. Read more