It has not been possible to arrange permissions for video at the exhibition by Exeter College currently on Sidwell Streeet opposite the Odeon. This is unfortunate as Life Bytes is so close they might have been persuaded to do some video for Exeter TV. However there may be something ready for next year and there have been some conversations about topics to be included.

Some of the work seems to me to fit with ideas about mass distribution and the potential of digital technology. Tereza Buchlova shows some photos that I think were printed inkjet and also some linocut illustrations for "The Truth", a book by Terry Pratchett. It turns out that two of these have been scaled down to fit the dummy books. The linocuts were scanned, resized and then printed inkjet. It is not easy to see much of a difference except for the colour of the background paper where the inkjet has white edges.

There seems not to be any intention for a limited edition of linocuts. The interest is in the effect as a source for litho printing.

So why not put the digital source of the photos online? The next question is how could this be sustained? This is a discussion to be continued.

Show closes at the end of this week. So you don't have to accept my opinion that the linocut looks much like the inkjet.

Also on Sidwell Street, signs of an art exhibit starting Monday. Looks like work completed during study at Exeter College. I may persuade someone from Exeter TV to visit. Based almost next door at Life Bytes. I could not persuade anyone to visit Spacex during the North. But there is still a possible connection.

Continental food in Sidwell Street is becoming a standard feature of Exeter festivals. this blog is written late Saturday and the market will still be there tomorrow. But if you happen to find this later you may be in time for the Autumn festival which may be much the same, though probably not as wet.

The rain has hardly stopped but I did get out as far as Sidwell Street for some food.
Via Belmont Park, where it was still raining but the museum tent was full. Not sure how this connects with their exhibits but more later.

It seems to me that broadband in Exeter is ok.

There is enough of a base for possibilities to be imagined.

I have put more about this on my MySpace blog

My Space is getting more interesting. Vibraphonic are on there and do send messages about performances, even during the main festival.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum is also on MySpace, with photos from the Beyond the Frame exhibit. I think they could go further. Put some high res scans on the Web, that sort of thing. But maybe something will develop from discussion on MySpace.

I am not really Bobby Womack by the way. My own name was not available and I thought I was just searching to see who else was there when it turned out that was who I was. I can understand it.

Back to the Beyond the Frame show. It is much better than I gathered yesterday.

Round the corner from the wonderful frame are some actual photos. Not clearly signed. In the gap on the way out. There are a few sent in by phone or email. But none in the frame as advertised.

If you just invent something in photoshop, email to you@exeter.gov.uk

Should turn up at Myspace/beyondtheframe

Personally, I am still mostly interested in the landscapes. Spacex showed photos from camera phones as if they were watercolours. Now we are allowed to send user generated content to the Royal Albert. But why is the art archive not on show over the web? And what is the value of gthe photos that do not turn up in a gallery frame?

Couple of finds through a bit of Googling.

Worcester City Museums have a painting, Summer Sea, Newquay by Julius Olsson.

Compares with one in the show.

And the Artfund have a version of a Devonshire valley.

The Artfund is a charity raising money to buy art for the public. So making a reasonably sized scan available online makes a lot of sense.

Not sure what the "Outside the Frame" show is about.

More later. But I still think the museums should put their own stuff on the web as well as expecting new work from the public.

I was not allowed to photograph anything at the Royal Albert during Animated Exeter although the landscape theme would have fitted in to the Tim Brennan events at Spacex. I was allowed to photograph the Blind Ditch occasion at the Phoenix.

So I'm not sure how much can be photographed before August although there is plenty of time.

It seems there could be something on YouTube ahead of most events.

This for Varttina. The Corn Exchange is previously St George's Hall.




There is a search result for Wistman's Wood but this has not much to do with the support act.

They will be at the Globe on 4th July. Maybe video will appear. Not sure many people read this blog anyway but there is a model here for promoting live performance.

Wistman's wood do have sound on Myspace.

Wizz Jones sang Song for Woody at the Globe last night. There may be video later for the people scared away by the rain. Meanwhile here is a version on YouTube. There was some spare space so further publicity needed ahead of Wistman's Wood on 4th July. More on this later.

Moebius Surfing now has some stills from the Second Life version of the Venn Festival in Bristol. According to the Xstream page there will be more on Second Life in November. Archive of Venn will turn up soon.

Meanwhile in Exeter live acoustic guitar is still very popular. Wizz Jones is at the Globe on Friday with Spin2, see YouTube for recent performance.

Another video from the Globe, Spin 2



Coming soon, two or three cameras and a lighting techie.

What a difference a "Z" makes.

I have spent a good twenty minutes searching to no avail based on the spelling from the Globe website- Wiz Jones. I am now pretty sure there are two "Z"s, based on the official site

WizzJones.com

Note the date 15th June. Promoted by the Exeter Newtown Performance Appreciation Society (ENPAS). It is not enough just to drink beer. You have to buy a ticket. £5 on the door.

Through the miracle of YouTube it is possible to sample Wizz Jones before the event.



Meanwhile in Bristol, there is use of wifi in real time. Bristol Wireless and Psand are involved in the Xtream project to stream performances from the Venn Festival. This is on tonight and tomorrow. In Exeter things move a little bit slower.

Full disclosure, I am on the ENPAS committee and often suggest there should be some more video. The existing YouTube selection for Wizz Jones is pretty good though so not easy to improve on.

Not off topic for a blog about wi-fi. One aim is to link up media and performance and audiences. Using stuff that someone else has already done is one way to start.

There is an update in the AnimX blog. Bandwidth is definitely enough for YouTube at least at home or somewhere like LifeBytes. And now there is a short video from Exeter TV .com on the Games Day during Animated Exeter. Wifi bandwidth may not be enough for a lot of video but in principle there can now be connections. The actual use of web access during festivals seeme to be more about linking to somewhere else or some other time rather than intensifying a specific occasion. So the AnimX blog may have more links to other animation festivals.

There is a sign outside the Royal Oak, Heavitree for the Gadge Band. Thursday is tomorrow. This may be the same Gadge Band that has a video on YouTube from the Globe, Newtown.



So if anybody finds this blog over the next 24 hours this could be an indication of what would be possible with wifi.

The screen is still showing entirely adverts at LifeBytes. Could there be some sort of content? Apparently at some stage there could be a sound option if you bring your own headphones and some wifi kit. In theory there could be samples and promotion for a network of events.

Plasma screens have started to appear in Exeter. I have seena couple, at Life Bytes and the Phoenix. They currently show nothing but advertising, most of it local. Based on information from LifeBytes, it seems there may be more content later. But not much. Adverts will probably always be at least three quarters of what is happening. The screens are connected to web access so can be updated frequently. There may be some wifi access but this has not been tested. (No upload at LifeBytes, they have an obvious concern) Possibly sound could be provided if a suitable device was available with headphones.

By the way, I notice that the tables closest to the screen at the Tesco restaurant have the fewest people on them. at least, that is my impression. The sound of advertising is not an attraction. In my opinion some non-advertising content would be an advantage.

Meanwhile, here is an inspiring link to a website for Philadelphis. Notice the Youtube link is for a band that is appearing soon. This is a way to sell tickets. So far in Exeter there has been very little by way of performance video for YouTube and in each case long after the event.

The latest development is the arrival of free wifi in Heavitree, so far from the centre of Exeter that it was once thought of as a place to escape for a change of air.

It is now at the centre of the 'Heavitree corridor', a traffic jam connected to the motorway. There is still a collection of shops and buses manage to get there, however slowly. Above Fulfords, opposite the Post Office, there is a new company called Switch Systems. They can work with Open Source such as MySQL but also offer Cisco support. They have 8meg bandwidth so have allocated half a meg to local wifi.

My impression is that although there is wifi at the Phoenix and Central Library, Heavitree now has the most depth in technical support for any wifi access in Exeter.

This post is about "text web" and "video web".

I have put it in other blogs about druoa2008 and learning ( see profile for links) but also put it here as "video web" is also about mobile devices. For some reason a mobile DVD player is arriving faster than an e-book reader. Mobile phones just don't support static graphics. "wifi Exeter" is as suitable a place as any to imagine this. the "text web" will continue for some time.


===================


I have found a couple of links following an article in yesterday's Guardian. Michael Rosenblum has a copy of most of an article by Ian Reeves, who has some video on his own site.

Rosenblum is quoted as distinguishing web 1 as based on text and web 2 as based on video. Personally I find the use of webs 1- n confusing but the idea of a text web and a video web is interesting. The video on Ian Reeves site shows several examplesof newspappers moving to the web. Jeff Jarvis believes that video is suitable for conversation but I don't really expect US candidates to respond in detail to every post on YouTube. Text still has some scope, even if email exchange started in web zero.

Today Adobe announced a new Creative Suite ans I am struck by the low priority for print. My guess is that most people still relate to hard copy. But 'design' seems to be one of three words, the others being web and video. Within 'design' print is hanging on with mobile devices. The most recent figures show sales of Flash to device OEM as about 2% of Adobe revenue. Postscript sales are included with 'other', totalling about 10%. So somebody expects the mobile video aspect to grow fairly rapidly.

"text web" relates back to hard copy. "video web" may not. Except that if flying type is included in the animation I hope knowledge about typography survives somewhere.

I am posting this in learn9, about learning and quality, and in drupa2008, about whatever pre-press is supposed to be doing, and in a Guardian Education Talk comment about QR. I still don't understand the UK academic approach to quality but when a new set of students arrive one day expecting to borrow cameras from the library there must be some way to manage the transition.

Searching on Vibraphonic reveals that there are more videos on Youtube, mostly from the same event at the Lemongrove. The magic of Youtube can take you to alternative recordings on the same songs but I think this format is ok. Should there have been better lighting and a choice of cameras for an edit? Of course. But while we wait for the official quality level to be established at least here is one performance that is web available.

I did make a very short video during the lunchtime lecture by Ann Shenton at the Phoenix yesterday. It is just to test out the "vibe07" tag on Youtube and see if much turns up.



The cover passed round looks like this



It was a proper lecture, not just a workshop but I don't know enough about it to write it up properly. A Google doc may develop later. More on the White Label website. It was advertised as about "analogue" but was mostly about electronic music, starting with the Radiophonic workshop at the BBC.

Meanwhile a couple of photos and a link to a video of performance by a Large Number.





Large Number Live at Bad Timing

Recent research suggests that there are now enough web links to get an idea of most events. Exeter Television may get more active soon but meanwhile it is possible with a bit of time travel to get an idea of Vibraphonic online.

The mystery seems to be the James Morton Jazz Quartet. Usually Bristol has most things together but there is no sign of a web base I can find. Anyone reading this who knows more, please leave a comment.

Animation has not come to an end. This is from Jason Webley, at the Northbridge Inn last night. The Duckworths have a few tracks to download on Myspace. At the Northbridge on Monday. I'm not sure the Minor Planet link in the printed guide is the same group. Arnie Cottrell might be more at home at a folk festival as far as I can tell from the website. "Boots of Spanish Leather" has not got that relentless beat found on the radio.

At Havana, the act missing from print is confirmed as Two Spot Gobi. They turn up on YouTube. There are people who believe that lighting is important and that quick video should wait till more resources are available. Not knocking this video but I think it is evidence that if the sound is ok then any lighting is adequate.



Mark Abis on the Tuesday one week later has some excellent lighting.

And the Radio has started on a Belle and Sebastian version of Whisky in the Jar so I am getting into a more relaxed mood.

Meanwhile at the Globe, which is closest to where I live by the way, the house band Monkey's Uncle has a page of photos. Jon Sterckx has a video on YouTube that is a form of animation. Maybe people on the demoscene should have a look.



It is also on his website.

Panacea have music on Myspace and their website but no video as yet. They often perform in Exeter so maybe someone will get permission to video something soon.

I can't find anything on Dominic Ashford or Craig Milverton. Maybe they are in a jazz tradition of avoiding promotion, like James Morton. Only probing here, this is just a blog after all. Please add comments. Generally this is a very encouraging trawl, limited to just the smaller venues not places like the Phoenix.

Dominic Ashford and Craig Milverton will feature in a tribute to Oscar Peterson on 8 Mar at the Globe. Fortunately Oscar Peterson is represented on YouTube.

My interest in wifi started when people at Psand showed how it could be used as part of an occasion. Since then I have slowed down a bit and there seems not to be much wifi used during an event.

Maybe this is just in Exeter. Another mystery is why there is not more video turning up for Exeter Television. To find out more, search YouTube on "directorjo" or take some recording round to LifeBytes on Sidwell Street. There is one number from Melonious Funk from last year so that is some connection with Vibraphonic.

Maybe it is better just to accept that online is out of space and time. I have found some actual vibraphone music. And it connects with Scarlatti so may get some attention from the archivists. If they don't video in Exeter over the next week or so there will be more links with the YouTube vaults.

Now found the Channel 4 report on Norwich. It claims you can watch the video but Windows Merdia Player fell over. Maybe it will work for you.

During animated Exeter could be a good time to check out wifi in other places.

Channel 4 News had a report about wifi in Norwich the other night. Searching on Google turns up a BBC visit from last year.

It could be that Exeter has lost some edge since the Intel survey showed a lead in wifi. Both Norwich as a city and Norfolk County Council are putting in energy and gaining an advantage. Norwich is not that different to Exeter so some benchmarking might be possible.

There are photos from the Phoenix on the animX blog, clearly demonstrating that wifi is working ok. Animated Exeter happens throughout Feb. Not clear yet what the usefulness is of web connectivity in an arts centre. To be continued.

This is on topic for wifiExeter as it is part of the time travel way of extending an event. (wifi connects space at the same time)



Azymuth are part of Vibraphonic in March.

Support from Melonious Funk. Search Youtube on "directorjo" to find their video and others from Exeter TV. There is now a quality control policy at Exeter TV so lighting is required till the summer when things can move outdoors. Not sure if the musicians want any performance to be on video. But it is not too soon for some planning just in case.

I have now enabled comment moderation. This means that any comments will be checked before appearing.

This may cause a delay but the blog seems to have been found by random posters that have very little to do with the topic concerned.

If you have an interest in the blog you can become a member and then your posts will appear anyway.

The Globe has got an IT box so in theory it could connect to wi-fi. Maybe this would help connections, if there was a decent camera for example. At least the video on the previous post was loaded at Google the day after the event. One problem is that few people use the wifi available. Apparently over about eighteen months there have been four people actually trying to use the wifi, of which three got it working. The signal reaches the car park so sensitive documents might stay secure.

There is a pub in Bristol, the Chelsea, where Bristol Wireless support a Linux box with web access and also wifi for any other computers available. They broadcast sometimes on Radio Vague and the music seems in the same range as the Globe. Maybe wifi could assist more contact but maybe real time is not an issue. I had thought of listening to Radio Vague this evening but will probably be back at the Globe. So here is one track from the Chelsea earlier this year, as MP3 and as Ogg. Check here if you need some guidance on Ogg Vorbis.

Visited the Globe last night. Unfortunately the King Lud reading event was cancelled. The bookshop has closed on Fore Street and the staff have moved to Oxfordshire as the word has it. The Globe has something scheduled for most days during the Exeter Autumn Festival. I did a short video of musicians downstairs as there was nothing happening upstairs. The video is very low quality because of the lack of lighting and the unsuitable camera. There is a suggestion that a really good camera could be borrowed from the Phoenix before the festival closes. There will be a link later to any video that turns up.

So before the video, a photo that has been worked on a bit to make it lighter.



Now the video

Embedding not working at the moment so please follow this link.

Apologies about the reference to the DTI in the last post.

The Digital Challenge is actually from the Communities office.

I think there was an e-envoy at some point but I'm not sure what the DTI is doing recently.

Meanwhile KPMG are sponsoring some awards for e-government. I still think the awards and shortlist style of approach will not do much for the digital divide or forms of exclusion.

What is any government doing to support internet cafés? Obviously libraries get some funding but I think that in Exeter for example somewhere like Life Bytes is making a contribution. My intention is to continue a conversation there and connect with other projects when possible.

Checking the Bristol Wireless site it turns out they are part of a bid to become a demo site of some sort.

It seems the DTI idea is to challenge digital exclusion by concentrating resources on a few dramatic sites. Manchester needs a boost obviously. Milton Keynes has only got the Open University to help it understand e-learning etc. Parts of London probably qualify.

Apart from Bristol,

"The other ‘top-ten’ finalists are; Stratford on Avon District Council, Birmingham City Council & Shropshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, Sunderland City Council, Ealing Council, Nottingham City & Nottinghamshire County Council, Kingston Upon Hull City Council, Milton Keynes Council and Manchester City Council, in partnership with Tameside MBC."

Here in 'wi-fi Exeter' I don't think there was any move to join this bid. So the South West effect will be for more energy in Bristol. Nothing wrong with that of course. Suggest we pay careful attention.

Norfolk County Council may be supported by Norwich where there is some energy for free wifi.

Exeter Television now have a video edit on YouTube from Sidmouth Folk Week.



This is a welcome development and confirms my impression that the web is outside of normal time. This is from the summer just as the fog arrives. The saxaphone gets a lot of the time available on this edit. No bad thing in my opinion. However there is nothing from the main performance by Melonious Funk. Maybe this can be released in time for Vibraphonic. This is what I mean about being outside time. Melonious Funk have four tracks on MySpace.

Anyway this summer definitely worked out ok. Last year was frustrating when the wifi failed to work at the Tate during the Thames Festival. See photos. There should have been a sax solo over the web and then nothing happened.

In an attempt to move things closer in time I have loaded a very short video on Google from the Exeter Autumn Festival continental food market on Sunday. There may be more from Exeter Television later. Not sure if television should be in real time now it is on the web. So the original idea of wi-fi as in real time and space during a festival seems to be getting more distant.

These photos show the space between the bar and the Media Centre at the Phoenix. Also the door to the Media Centre. Go through the door if you have a technical problem or some constructive suggestion to make about connecting media and technology such as asking why they don't invest a lot more in wifi kit.

The really good news is that the Phoenix Arts Centre has some new kit to improve the wifi access from the Media Centre. Previously this reached the foyer in the media area but is now reliable in the open space between the media centre and the bar. This is fine while the October sunshine continues. Probably there will be an extension to the bar or an additional resource. To make sure of this, let someone know if you would make use of wifi at the Phoenix.

The main point in my opinion is to work out what the benefit is of wifi for art creation or communication in general. Maybe it is just my slowing down at the end of the summer but I no longer think in terms of festival events where time and space are compressed. There is just as much potential in shifting time and space outside of specific events. So probably this blog will look at previous links through wifi over the next few months. There may be some new examples of wifi in use. The autumn festival looks interesting. Maybe there could be some live broadcasting but then again amybe we should just edit the stuff from Sidmouth in August.

Here is another link to inspire Exeter Television. It is in itself a short documentary that works ok online. The content is about citizen journalism, found through OhmyNews. The location is East Coast USA but presumably the same sort of bandwidth will apply in Exeter at some point.

This one was from the marquee selling magazines and CDs and instruments. Filed under 'English' folk were a selection of what might be called 'classic rock'. More research needed on history of folk as understood by most people visiting Sidmouth, some of whom were just on holiday and came across the music by accident.

Some photos not included in the OhmyNews story. The editors tend to reject those that are not too relevant or strong quality.



This is the rope for holding back the crowds from the Anchor Gardens. Evidence that the event is now well established. The rose was a gift for the security staff from a grateful member of the audience. The queue is never too long as people do leave for other venues.

I have now sent in a revised story for OhmyNews

Not edited yet. Some text has gone missing but should return.

There is a short mp3 copied from a video of Crediton World Music Choir. One really good development from writing about the tech aspects of Sidmouth was the loan of a camera from Exeter Television. This is still being edited but will áppear over the next few months.

I have dropped some opinion into a box. Briefly I have stopped worrying about wifi and immediacy as part of a festival or real time event. Online shifts in time and space so it augments an occasion. Something like that. Not sure how the OhmyNews editors will treat this. I am sending in stories as if it was a blog, there were three last year. And the ideas are not well formed. Still, something else will follow. I hope more people will start sending in stories.

Not off topic yet. Exeter wifi could follow up during Vibraphonic or in the autumn. The Melonious Funk session is included in the Sidmouth video. Not really folk but already a tradition to close the Dukes sequence.

I have now found Sidmouth Internet Access and Repairs, hiding at the back of an arcade. Sidmouth shopping Centre, 91 High Street to be precise. There is also a food hall with vegitarian takeaways.

So this is ok for checking Gmail and adding to a blog. Having said that, there is not much to add. I still have some photos in mind and plan to try for a seat for the Thelonious Funk at the Dukes. It may be a bit more jazzy than Chameleon last year. The version of Misty on the Myspace site is quite slow and extended. Don't remember Chameleon quite like that.

No signs of wifi as such.

Still working on the Sidmouth article for OhmyNews. Talking to Jo Gedrych of exeter Television has resulted in the load of a a video camera. So this is engaged journalism. The video won't be much of a feature of the story as it will take a while to edit. For one thing it has to be reporting, not a series of performances.

Citizen photographer Gary Trembling has now returned to London. There will be links later to some photos. I don't have time to load them up at the moment. Just one above, see Melonious Funk below. Maybe more at the weekend. There is something compelling about Sidmouth Folk Week as a concentration of time and space. It will come to an end gradually but the wind today had a hint of autumn. I think maybe why we write about the uses of IT in support of the event is that we just wqant to be associated with something that works anyway. There is definitely a sense this year that the new model is established. Still, looking at ways to extend it in a parallel digitised world could contribute something.

Meanwhile, Paul Gillard has loaded some short clips from a Country event held for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust back in July. Holsworthy is way north of Sidmouth so there is a gap in space and time. Also Country seems not to be included much in the Folk scope. The Fallen Apples did a couple of Johnny Cash numbers at the Volunteer but mostly stuck to blues. Anyway you can see from the clips that the people near Holsworthy seemed to enjoy it.

The Guardian is still looking at ways to expand online. The Web Editor's Week before last mentions attempts to grab the attention of the festival audience in Edinburgh.

"More people than ever will use the site from Edinburgh itself, not least because the Fringe box office's e-ticket terminals on top of Waverley station will be connected to Guardian Unlimited. Some will follow events avidly from afar. Others - especially our increasing number of overseas users - will have only the faintest of notions what we're all getting so worked up about. Still others are allergic to Edinburgh and won't want to read a word.

This year, we're launching a dedicated version of our Culture Vulture weblog (the imaginatively christened Festival Vulture). It'll host a stream of eyewitness journalism - pictures and sound, as well as text. We're hoping the blog will be a bit like Edinburgh itself, a place where performers, critics and audiences can rub shoulders.

That's not as straightforward as it sounds. Normally, when editing the blog, our main priority is community - the sense that we're connecting with an engaged, vocal audience. If we do well as editors, we draw out from our communities as much as we put in. But when those same communities are dispersed, or fighting their way up the Royal Mile, rather than sitting at a computer, it becomes much harder to pull them in and make them talk."

Now actually, this may not be a sensible idea. Maybe if they are "fighting their way up the Royal Mile" they should be left alone. Program information before the event might have saved them a trip if they are going in the wrong direction. Photos later may be interesting if they don't have enough of their own.

I realise I am criticising a point of view I have tried to promote previously. Why has the Anchor not got a few screens of what is going on at Dukes or on the Esplanade so you can decide whether to move on? Well, obviously there are limits to co-operation and anyway would people reaaly welcome the confusion? My current theory is that online is out of time and space so real life may not be connected in all circumstances.

Melonious Funk are playing at the Dukes tomorrow, Friday. Seems to be a variation on Chameleon who played last year. After a week of folk, a blast of funk and jazz will suit a lot of people, my guess. If only Exeter had some of the Sidmouth atmosphere during Vibraphonic.

Melonious Funk at Myspace, four tracks

I am working on an article for OhmyNews about Sidmouth Folk Week. They want more background on the vent than there is in my first submission.

So the story will be rewritten after the event, maybe next weekend. I am interested in how web tech etc. can be used as part of a festival. Any comments or links welcome, especially about Exeter and/or Sidmouth.

Later today there should be a guide to other blogs that I work on or at least a diagram as part of my learn9 website. This is about learning so one current idea is to make the blogs at least appear more coherent. I have tended to just start another one and then not continue.

I think this is the best blog to use as a base.

For the next couple of days at least. There will be some clarification on what is in which blog.

This weekend coming up could have been the Lost Vagueness main event of the summer and close to Exeter. One benefit would have been that Psand could well have attended and shown the effective use of satellite broadband etc. Obviously they don't tour all summer long just to help techno awareness but the occasion could have been a focus.

I tried to rehearse last weekend, just to get ready. Still in drift mode however. Not sure what it is about the middle of summer. If that is what this is. Lots of daylight anyway. It may be a time for reflection, maybe sudden action when assumptions shift.

Tomorrow is Billy Wilder's birthday. Time to get ready or update the site.

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/vagueness.html

This is the reference site. At least for the next few days. In the USA if you can find TCM on cable then you will get the original and best Lost Weekend.

Photo loads ok

 

This seems to be working ok so far. Just downloaded a new version of Picassa. It seems to offer me a choice of which blog to put a photo into.

This photo is from the Globe. Not off topic for wifi as in theory any sound or image could be anywhere at any time. Actually the wise people you meet at the Globe are convinced that live television is usually a mistake. Why not spend a few days in a studio with an edit suite and get rid of the nonsense? Then again, why don't I just stay home anyway? 

David Tebbutt reports in Information World Review about the 'Innovate Europe' event last month. Load up video from your mobile, attach a projector etc. Not yet ready for distribution, but interesting as a sign of what is possible. Another reason to widen the scope of this blog to mobility in general.

Meanwhile there is already some interest in my attempt at a Swicki on 'ubiquity'. I came across 'swickis' trying to find out more about web 2.0. When you start one you can select a cloud of words and prioritise your own site as well as choosing other ones. So this 'wifi-Exeter' site may turn up as an example of ubiquity. I have included 'Korea' as I found out about 'ubiquity' through OhmyNews and 'Psand' as they are mostly mobile over the summer at least.

Ramblings on the occasion of the Rocket festival, please skip to something interesting.

The conditions are right for a new level sometime soon during the third summer of vagueness.

For instance, Life Bytes exists on Sidwell Street opposite the Odeon. 8 megs on a fixed line with seats and resident support staff. How very sensible.

http://www.life-bytes.co.uk

Wifi for free in the Exeter central library, maybe in the Rougement gardens through the window.

The Rocket festival starts today Friday. Check Radio Vague for details and a stream. If there is a technical hitch just try something from last year or the year before. Maybe not from Spain, from somewhere.

http://www.radiovague.com/

Coming soon, Lost Vagueness near Exeter. The "wifi Exeter" site has been updated showing Powderham Castle on the map. I am still not sure how the map works. I just get lucky now and again. Please update.

http://www.frappr.com/wifiexeter

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/wi-fi-ex/oldindex.html

Meanwhile it remains clear that streaming media is only one option. Paul Gillard has visited Life Bytes with a work in progress on DVD. This year the digital fringe for Animated Exeter was postponed as there was no Life Bytes. Something will resume when Paul is ready with something to show. There is still a lot online.

http://www.podmovies.com/movies.html

Recently a webcam featured in a gallery work at the Phoenix. Webcams are not cutting edge on the web but this was an early example of a web enabled gallery in Exeter. I sent in my own short clip of the river Teign and it showed up a couple of days later. I also took loads of photos, with permission.

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/muse.html

http://www.blindditch.org/

It turns out Blind Ditch also do a Vanland project about web access and mobility. Something may come together to result in greater visibility for these concepts.

What a disaster last summer was. The disappointment of the Thames Festival still lingers in the mind. It was advertised that a sax solo would occur, streamed over the web. Then nothing happened, all because of an admin mixup involving the Tate Modern. Maybe the Exe valley is a rehearsal space and something better will be prepared for the Thames Festival this year.

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/wi-fi-ex/index-tate.html

It is now possible to add contributors to the wifi Exeter blog. Or just send something if you like. 'wifi Exeter' may not be just about Exeter although Powderham for example is not far away.

Alas, it seems the photo bit is not working today either. This blog will now continue as text though there will be pictures at the companion website.

The news is that the famous BT phonebox has gone from South Street though it may be back. The reference library now offers wi-fi, free till August. You may pick it up from the gardens at the back. Find the castle and ask the way round to the Phoenix or otherwise find the Phoenix and soforth. The Phoenix also has wifi in the Media Centre but you may need to become a member. The strength of signals has not been recently tested but any reports are welcome. There are seats outside the Media Centre so it would be sensible to boost the system a bit. Positive feedback to the management may be helpful. Or just complain if that is easier.

Rougemont Gardens, may be near wifi from library 

The BT link in South Street is still there 

However the picture seems not to be. I will have to do some further investigation to find out how this is supposed to work.

Not sure how this works. Tried to load four photos through Picassa. Only one seems to have gone. May be able to add text here. Shows South Street without the phone box.



ff 

Well yes that seems to have worked ok

Google maps offers a link you can put in a blog.

Some other links

CECOP , a European organisation for worker co-ops, also connected with many other sorts of activity

O'Reilley Open Source Europe event OSCON

Somehow these things fit together.

I started looking at Google maps following a talk at the Phoenix in Exeter on Saturday about going for a walk. The mis-guide to Exeter has been followed by a mis-guide to anywhere. It seems to be an argument for staying at home but paying attention.

Google Maps - brussels belgium

not sure how this works, could be a link to a map of Brussels, that is the Botanique.

Some years ago I went to a CECOP meeting in Brussels. Memory of a Brussels map is now quite dim but I am pretty sure this looks like the Botanique. there is an Open Source meeting coming up later this year in a hotel not far away. Looks amazingly expensive. Maybe the lucky few who attend could meet up in the Botanique during a break and pass on some hints. Maybe in a world of blogging such moves are no longer needed. Maybe the event will be cheap and easy to attend anyway.

Also not sure if I would understand much of it. someone should explain what it all means in terms of cost and capability for the user if that's an ok term.

recent screenshot 

At Excel for the Book Fair.

It is very bookish. No internet cafe at all but BT are in the central area between the two exhibits. Openzone is free for ten minutes so this may be short.

Guardian Review yesterday included a blast against Google from Bloomsbury publishing. Civilisation is about to end if too much literature is free. Authors will cease to write, apparently. Google is here witha reassuring talk each day and a large stand easy to find. They explain they will put a link through to a publisher site and/or local bookshop.

The 'e-content pavilion' is right at the bak, hard to find, and very few people are looking at it. Content mostly science and reference, aimed at library subs. Almost no e-book promotion other than Google. What do publishers expect to happen?

I have found a recent article by Barry Collins in the Sunday Times, feb 19th. Back page of the Sports section for some reason.

Time to halt the Wifi rip-off

"The sky high prices at most of Britain's wireless internet hotspots is nothing short of scandalous."

Barry wonders if a hotel should charge extra for central heatings or air conditioning or set up different areas for those prepared to pay. He reports that a coffee shop in Brighton is paying £100 a month to Loose Connection for free wifi on offer to all customers.

Maybe five cups of coffee a day extra to cover this cost. Surely this is the future.

Jason Frost said...
I can understand cafés and pubs not making a network completely open to anyone in the area, but you'd think there would be more that would include access with purchases.

see comment on previous post

This is a very good suggestion. I think eventually wi-fi will be free. Many cafes offer a free newspaper, obviously you can't read it through the window.

The Southgate Hotel used to be free for wifi. An experiment showed that the signal was weak outside although there was a stronger securely protected signal from the Barcelona.

At the moment the nearest free wifi hotel is in Dawlish.

Meanwhile Philadelphia is about to seek bids for a free service covering the city, with charges for faster rates. This blog will continue to note what is going on in other places as well as 'wi-fi Exeter'.

Checking out the reality of wifi Exeter ahead of the Animated Exeter events coming up.

The Southgate Hotel still has access in their bar but it is no longer free to non-residents. Pot of coffee for two, £7.50 so you might think there was some margin there.

Wifi £3 for half an hour, so pretty much the BT rate.

Meanwhile the Media Centre at the back of the Phoenix are offering web access for members and are also looking at wifi. It may bot reach the bar but could reach the tables outside. Still very cold in Exeter but this could be worth checking out, say in April.

By April also there might be a case for a trip to the Langstone Cliffs Hotel in Dawlish Warren where the wifi is still free.

Several cafes seen recently offer free newspapers. Sometimes out of date and not always the ones I would choose. but the free newspapers model is well established. I still think free wi-fi is the future.

Getting feedback on security as an issue.

Is anybody risking company data on the wifi networks such as BT phone boxes?

Is it working so far?

Bristol has an advent calendar with a selection of web treasures.

http://www.electricdecember.org/05/calendar

Get ready for Saturday when you can open the Bristol Wireless contribution.

Comment on Ruairi's post about free wifi in a cafe.

As far as I know the Southgate Hotel still offers free wifi. The coffee is not cheap though very good value obviously.

Many places that offer food also offer free newspapers. I don't see why web access won't go the same way eventually.

Not that starting up an internet cafe would not be a very sensible idea. More speed, better kit, excellent advice. There is still a place for all this.

I can't work out how to enable comments, but I have found out how to add extra bloggers. So please let me know if you would like to join the study of wi-fi Exeter.

will.pollard@gmail.com

Not only a new contributor but also a map

http://www.frappr.com/wifiexeter

I am still finding out how this works. I just started it with one spot.

Already someone has added the Cavern dialup. So it must be possible to add all the other wifi spots.

Would the people who understand this stuff please demonstrate?

A new blogger for wifiExeter!

It's been a little while since the last post was made to wifiExeter, and I'm going to be helping Will out with the blog and making it a great resource for Wi-Fi access in Exeter.

So, what's the deal?

I've always been interested in wireless communications, from walkie-talkies, CB's to radio broadcast and of course 802.11x. Only recently I've acquired a PSP (PlayStation Portable), which upon further investigation appears to be a great tool for quickly finding access points.

Are open access points for everyones use?

One sticking point however is the questionable case for using an open unencrypted access point.

Often, unencrypted access points are made publically accessible - it is ascertaining the intention of the configuration which is risky. It could be configured as such out of genorosity, or incompetance with network security.

By all means, I work in computer retail and I understand that a lot of people cut corners with wireless networking security. Personally, I'd only use an unencrypted open access point in any situation to read news because of security issues - any traffic could potentially be sniffed and/or manipulated by another person on the network.

An evil minded access point owner could use the ignorance of a network user to collect personal information and login details. It is with some effort possible also to inject replacement content into network connections - ethically this could be advertising, unethically it could be a trojan or spyware.

Nonetheless, it is fascinating to observe the distribution of such a new technology - and Exeter indeed has many access points, with a variety of security.

Talking Security

• WEP or WPA-PSK Encrypted Networks
  Legally, hacking or attempting to access a WPA or WEP secured network without permission is hacking and almost certainly has legal and moral implications.
  
  The tools are out there, WEP is trivial to hack - but WPA seems to be the more secure solution.
  
  
• Open Access Point: Fee Taking
  BTOpenzone, MyCloud and itbox pub entertainment machines all offer a way of accessing the internet for a paid fee generally involving a short term subscription or top-up method.
  
  Quite often the user enables wireless networking, connects to the access point and all attempts to access the internet forward to a default page until payment is taken.
  
  They are the sure-fire way of legally accessing the internet (however one issue is possible - someone could easily clone an access point and use it to harvest credit card details).
  
  
• Open Access Point: Direct Connection To Internet (Non Encrypted)
  The most interesting wireless networks of all are open directly to the public and gateway directly to the internet. By even connecting to them you could potentially be stepping into a legal grey area if doing so without permission.
  
  Theoretically, assuming such laws did not apply you could possibly ascertain whether the access point is set up hastily or with giving intent. It would make sense to apply this test to your own networks.
  
  The main indicators (with an unencrypted network) are:
  
  1. Upon connection, are other computers available on the network visible in "My Network Places" or equivalent?
     
     
  2. Is the computer / device that provided the IP Address browsable via the web browser, and also - does this device appear to use a default username and password?
  
  If either of those two are applicable, the network is a free for all - whether it be intentional or not - but if it isn't your network, you're probably breaking the law.

Is anyone giving away a free lunch intentionally?

The most interesting point is - does anyone intentionally run a publically accessible wireless gateway intentionally? By all means it would be a great idea for a café to offer free internet access to customers via wireless networking - it'd be a great way to appear modern and entice customers in, but of course you could always have them hanging around too long with their cold cappucino, or even worse having people not even on the premises taking advantage of the gratis access.

Alternatively, you could have an open minded individual who is simply generous with thier resources. I'd certainly consider opening up an access point for free use as long as I could firewall away the evils of the internet effectively. The main point of note is - if you see an open access point that does gateway onto the internet, it's almost always an incompetant installers fault, and unless it's incredibly obvious (advertised in your face) that it's a free for all, tread extremely carefully.

Back to Exeter's Wireless Users

The prevalance of networks was quite astounding upon first inspection. I had sat on the A bus from Alphington into the City Centre, and found a large amount of access points dotted all along the route with various quality and encryption. As the bus was moving and I was uncertain of the legality of using the networks beyond querying their presence, I had opted for just browsing for network names.

My findings were:

• There were a handful of Wanadoo customers with excellently configured (WPA-PSK) routers.
  
  
• myCloud pay-as-you-go connections had very strong signals indeed.
  
  
• Many access points were set up with just WEP encryption, which of course is illegal to attempt to connect to, but easily hackable.
  
  
• Some access points were open, often with very default looking names like NETGEAR.
  
  
• Some networks refused to send a name and these also had a variety of encryption methods.

• The City Centre is a hotpot of hotspots.
  

On my first trip up it was pretty exhilirating seeing all the networks - but shocking to see the mess of network security. It's great to see technology reach maturity quickly, but the responsibility is a major issue. All this from a PSP with an apparant wireless reach of 50m omnidirectional!

Hope you've enjoyed my first post!

Ruairi

This is not wifi really but I have found the New Inn in Wray. Five screens with fairly fast access. I tried the Bridge Tearooms where the screen seems not to be used much. But they sent me here.

There is a poster about wifi somewhere in Wray. Further investigation required. Maybe a benchmarking trip next summer.

Today is the start of the Open Mute visit.

There seems a good chance something will follow on from this by way of an open source base in or near Exeter. The Phoenix seems to be aware of what is possible.

More later


I already have a website for the worksjhop phase

http://test.omweb.org

There is an event coming up at the Phoenix around open source software.

MUTE seems to be an arts magazine with a software interest.

Maybe this will connect with the Psand adventures at the Tate Modern and maybe with scene.org.

--------------

OPENMUTE TOUR ANNOUNCEUSERLAND : FREE LIBRE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE WORKING FOR YOU!OpenMute is an online collaborative software tool initiative, and thelatest in a cadre of projects by Mute Magazine. OpenMute provides 'freeas in beer' web space, tools and services to the non-profit and creativesectors.The OpenMute tour is a varied set of two-day workshops with an aim tofamiliarise audiences, practitioners and interested parties with thecurrent concepts and practices of Free Open Source Software (or FOSS) aswell as practical hands-on help building a website or creating acommunity project using the OpenMute toolset.The workshops are geared towards teaching 'you' how to use the OpenMuteFLOSS software for your cultural or community needs, and these workshopsare geared towards a novice to intermediate user of these systemsPrice : £20 / £10 concessionsDate : 4th and 5th NovemberDuration : Two DaysTimes : Workshops run 10-5pm, artist's talk first day of workshop 6pmVenue : Exeter Phoenix, Bradninch Place, Gandy Street Exeter, Devon EX4 3LSBooking : 01392 667080 fax: 01392 667599

This may get a better link with Technorati

Technorati Profile

Time to find out more about syndication etc.

More later, time to stop for food.

I have been invited to a forum for Citizen Reporters organised by OhmyNews in Seoul.

This blog may be updated over the next few days but more likely will be a short report at Guardian talk

http://mediatalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@ohmynews@.7747ecc2

My hope is that the Guardian reports this event and makes some connections.

Bandwidth is widely available in Seoul, rather like Exeter will be one day soon.

The internet marqee has filled up with kids. I suppose that is only to be expected at an education event.

So I have fallen back on wifi and the laptop I brought with me.Seemed not to be working at first but this was just XPservice pack being extra fussy. Once I found where to tell it Psand #8 is ok, allwas well.

Here in Charmouth for HESFES - Home Education Seaside Festival

Psand and Bristol Wireless are offering an internet marquee. Now working ok. There are about 20 Toshiba Satellites from Bristol. Actually cabled but there is wifi as well.

The web access is through satellite. Definitely working at the moment.

Someone from Exeter should definitely visit Bristol for a bit of benchmarking. For one thing there is jazz being broadcast from the Chelsea pub. Most Fridays apparently. I have seen this on the Radio Vague site but I always seem to have missed it.

Surely the Globe could try something similar. There is an IT Box in the corner so there must be some bandwidth. Further investigations when I'm back in Exeter.

The website version is updated a bit but not the page on the tests in September

http://www.inxpress.co.uk/exwifi.html

Not a lot has changed. There may be wifi at the Phoenix one day soon. The IT boxes are not being used in the pubs.

the Peter Chalk Centre did have wifi during the Alt C conference but apparently the university has decided against this longterm. Halls of residence are budgeted for students to pay so much a month for bandwidth.

So the Southgate seems to be the best bet for wifi at the moment. Still only reaching a small part of the possible user base though.

BT seem to be in retreat with Openzone, at least in 'wi-fi Exeter'.

The phone boxes in South Street and Paris Street are now decorated as 'Coolrooms'

This links to www.coolroom.com where there are endless promotions for Universal product.

The trailers do load quickly so that broadband is shown to work. The sound is dreadful though, better speakers are required.

Not sure how this will work. There is a theory that the internet works best with access to a wide variety of content. Will people interrupt their shopping to just listen to advertising?

The PC World site near Tesco has still not got BT Openworld installed. This is a few months now so I don't think it will happen.

Meanwhile the Southgate Hotel has still got a Freespot offer. Their coffee is not the cheapest available but the model of free wi-fi seems to be working.

Mobile Content Forum will meet at CeBIT on 15th March 1300 - 1700

Almost all the content is in Japanese but they want to meet othere sources. Content may be available in formats for UK and Europe later.

www.mcf.to

Just a quick note. Access is 4 euros for 15 minutes. Still, it works fast.

Yesterday snow, cold, sleet. Today very sunny, still quite cold.

Lots of wifi equipment on show. One BT satellite van parked up sending something off. Not sure what. So all the stuff previously discussed is working somewhere.

I'm on my way to CeBIT at the moment. Could be interesting, there seems to be a lot of forward thinking.

Connected with Exeter animation, there is a stand representing Scene.org.
"
digitale kultur will have a booth at cebit... join us hall 27, booth 01(right at ati). we will have some more information on our webpage soon...
"
www.digitalekultur.org

SVG Zone - Developer Track - Reflections

This is an explanation of an SVG site that includes animation.

To describe the navigation menu as 'slightly mysterious' is to understate things as I found it.

Still, Flash designers will be happy with this I suppose.

Well worth a look, some screens look interesting when you find them.

Can't see it working oin a phone though.

XML.com: Mobile SVG

This article has a link to the W3 standards and other explanation of how SVG can work on a mobile.

During the Careers Day of Animated Exeter there was discussion on how animation could work on mobile phones. Flash seems to be one option but SVG is another. The people from Channel 4 were keen that the same animation could be shown on TV or phone.

Untitled Document

It turns out that at least two of the animations shown at the Phoenix yesterday are on the web.

This link is to one soundtrack from a London Tale. It should work ok on low bandwidth.

www.dogturpie.com

gets to a file that can be downloaded so only patience is required.

Animex, a digital fringe for Animated Exeter, now has a lot of downloads from scene.org.

This could work with wi-fi but actually cable to screen is more likely.

Probably there will be something at Panasonic Harlequin Centre on Tuesday.

And at the Games Day at the Phoenix tomorrow.

Meanwhile, some links. These notes will be expanded later. Not much time at the moment.
A N ew Canvas at 3.


http://www.dam.org/essays/knowlton01.htm

This short essay by Knowlton on his work is published in Ruth
Leavitt's Artist and Computer, Harmony Press, 1976.

Knowlton reflects on art and the role of the computer.

Permission: sought

http://www.dam.org/abe/geolegend.htm

digital art museum

--------------------------------------------------------

http://www.siggraph.org/project-grants/FinalReports/PaulAllenNewell1001.html

permission history

----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/nude/
graphic

-----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artist/eat/biography/
photo

------------------------------------------------------------

http://pub.exeter.gov.uk/asp/animatedexeter/docs/press/7.doc

---------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.avantofestival.com/2003/en/film_lillians_2.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.constantvzw.com/kris_search/000859.php
bulletin board
-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.backspace.org/numinous/filmwaves/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Title Artificial Sentience
Artist / Source Written and Directed by Pete Gomes
Copyright Pete Gomes
File Name C:\DOCUME~1\VITALS~1\LOCALS~1\TEMP\artsen.ram
Send Media Link by E-mail
Length 1:47
File Size 0KB
Format RealVideo
Quality 20Kbps
Audio Channels 1
Rights Summary There are no rights or restrictions associated with
this clip

recent 98

-------------------------------------

http://www.art.buffalo.edu/resources/classnotes/art250/readings/newmedia.html

---------------------------------------

Erkki Huhtamo (SF), B.A., M.F.A. Phil. Lic., University of Turku,
Finland. Associate Professor, UCLA. Researcher, Writer & Curator.
Specialities include media archaeology and the history of media art.
Writings translated in 11 languages. Books (in Finnish) include "The
Archaeology of Virtuality" (1995), "The Archaeology of the Moving
Image" (1996) and "Phantasmagoria" (2000). Curator of many
exhibitions, including Digital Mediations (Art Center, Pasadena 1995),
Unexpected Obstacles - Perry Hoberman (ZKM Karlsruhe, 1998) and Alien
Intelligence (KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki 2000).
Creator of the installation "Ride of Your Life" (SurroGate2, ZKM,
Karlsruhe, 1998). Director and script writer of TV series for YLE (The
Finnish TV). Member of media festival organizing committees and
juries, including Interactive Media Festival (L.A., 1995) and
Portraits in Cyberspace (MIT Media Lab, 1996).

http://www.aec.at/en/archives/festival_archive/festival_catalogs/festival_artikel.asp?iProjectID=12320#

WEB STALKER SEEK AARON
Reflections on Digital Arts, Codes and Coders

----------------------------------------------

http://www.stichting-mai.de/hwg/amb/aai/art_as_inquiry_03.htm

--------------------

http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/timeline2.html

---------------

http://artstream.ucsc.edu/art80f/History%20of%20Electronic%20Art/tsld042.htm
powerpoint slides

------------------
http://artscilab.org/expandedcinema/part4.pdf

http://artscilab.org/expandedcinema/book.pdf

goodstuff

---------------

JOHN STEHURA

http://www.avantofestival.com/avanto2001/2001_screenings/fv_vintage.html
one image

--------------

http://www.kinetica.org/K4/

-----------------------

http://www.uturn.org/Arttech/arttech2.htm
about the net

---------------------

Every fourth Friday of the month at 9 pm the Edith Russ Site For Media
Art broadcasts artists videos on Oldenburg's open access television O
Eins.

Next broadcast on Friday, 25 February 2005, 9.05-11 pm

Video Visions archive

http://www.oldenburg.de/edith-russ-haus/english/visionen.html

-------------------------

http://www.constantvzw.com/vj5/
current web design

------------------------------

http://dbn.media.mit.edu/whatisdbn.html

--------------------------
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-bold-0105/msg00317.html
actually about fimmuseum in brussels

2.- Filmmuseum
Musée du cinéma

Rue Baron Horta 9 Baron Hortastraat
Bruxelles 1000 Brussel
Tel : 02 507 83 70

---------

http://animation.filmtv.ucla.edu/program/anihist.html

----------

www.arteleku.net/secciones/ enred/zehar/zehar2/45/Zehar45Bonet.pdf

----------

http://www.geocities.com/cyberanimation/
http://www.geocities.com/cyberanimation/news.htm

-------------

http://www.cyberneticcinema.com/
graphics

-------------------

Mythical Creature
Quicktime Movie(1.2M)
Download it!

image two

Butterfly Dance
Quicktime Movie(1.4M)
Download it!

image three

Lost Fish
Quicktime Movie(1.3M)
Download it!

These three works were done between 1970-1973. It was an interactive
system. The objects' movement axis of rotation were controlled using
buttons and switches. A light pen device was used to generate a path.

http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/csuri/

---------------------

http://csuri.wmc.ohio-state.edu/dbhome.cfm

-----------------------

http://www.csurivision.com/csuri/index.html

contact@csurivision.com

-----------------------

http://www.csurivision.com/web.html

-----------------

Lillian F. Schwartz

E-mail: lillianschwartz@lillian.com

http://www.lillian.com/contact.html

-------------

http://www.well.com/user/cuba/index.html

------------------------

http://www.scene.org/file.php?file=/demos/compilations/awards/2003/scene.org.awards.2003_hiq_%28divx52%29.zip&fileinfo

Since Acrobat 7 is now out, wifi is not really so crucial. Adobe seemed to assume broadband as a future when designing Acrobat 5 and 6. Not sure of the dates here, but see 'Network Publishing' as an idea. Now with 7 the comment features in Reader can be activated offline. Also forms can be completed offline and the data sent as XML so the files are small. Maybe server software really needs little bandwidth but my previous impression was that Adobe assume people are online all the time, an aspect of broadband.

wifi and satellite have been a possible solution for rural broadband. However in the UK, BT have eventully decided to activate all exchanges anyway. Maybe wifi helped to encourage this.

By the way, PC World have moved from Exe Bridge to near Tesco and the M5. This is still part of Exeter but not city centre. As of earlier this week BT have still not installed their wifi access, I think it is called Openzone. Lots of home networking including wifi. So Exeter is moving backwards at the moment. PC World was the only site with wifi and technical support.

Plan A is still to work on Animex, a digital fringe for Animated Exeter. Based at Life Bytes, 24 Paris Street. Mostly stuff that has already been downloaded, stored to disc, copied to CD.

This will connect with mobile devices, wifi etc. later

'wi-fi Exeter' is on hold thill Jan or Feb. At Life Bytes there are now a lot of large files for animation. Bandwidth is not really on a scale to cope with animation. The plan is to find and sort a mass of stuff and then look at streaming in Feb.

Last year we just had a laptop at the Phoenix with stored stuff. This is still part of the vision of future wifi though.

http://www.acrobat-services.co.uk/animation

Guy Kewney has been drawn into the world of e-books. He is persuaded that a device for reading e-books will be widely available and cheap within four years. This will have a wireless link to the web obviously. See report at Afaics.

Not exactly on topic for Exeter, but it will reach here eventually.

wi-fi works on trains, so it is thought

Guy Kewney reports that wi-fi has been known to work on trains to Scotland, but he has yet to actually find a train he can travel on.

http://www.guykewney.com/articles/041011-gner.html

My guess is that a lot of wi-fi is like this. It can actually work but for a lot of reasons few people use it.

Exeter is no exception to this.

Freespot is installed at the Peter Chalk Centre. Too soon to judge what effect this will have. Paul Burgess is on the KMS stand in the exhibition part but seems to be spending most of his time on technical support. Configuring laptops and PDAs is still a problem.

Paul Burgess is usually at Broadband in Rural Areas-
http://www.broadbandinruralareas.co.uk/
Exeter benefits from being near rural areas where there is some policy for broadband support.

There will not be an organised visit this week. It is clearly working as there were several people using it earlier today. So I think there is a start on 'wi-fi Exeter' but still a lot to learn from other places.

Tomorrow I will be at an Open Source meeting in London
http://www.lasa.org.uk/it/penguin/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
People from Psand suggested I attend. They actually know about wi-fi and satellite broadband, using open source software.

Until recently I thought of Amsterdam as being more or less at the centre of actual broadband in Europe. The Seybold Seminars have had a basis in reality as if people there actually used the technology they speak about.

Now items like this report suggest the reality of wi-fi might be just as far from the claims as in Exeter

http://www.guykewney.com/articles/040910-wireless.html

The Freespot in the Southgate Hotel is working. So as a conference centre it might be an alternative to the RAI.

John Traxler will talk on "Using Handheld Computers to Support Study Skills" tomorrow during Alt-C. There is a PDF on the web that explains some background.

http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/ltsn5/papers/john%20traxler%2014.pdf

I found this through Google. The Wolverhampton search finds several other things for "handheld", including this about games.

http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~cm1822/ijigsconf.htm

There is an internet cafe as part of Alt-C, part of the library on the right as you go in. It is also confirmed that there will be wi-fi in the Peter Chalk Centre.

Not sure how many people might visit Life Bytes. It seems a more self-contained event than the Science Fest. Still, as the library calls itself an internet cafe for the occasion maybe one with actual coffee is within the scope.

Joke. Man walks into a library
Man "I'd like some fish and chips please"
Librarian " You do realise this is a library."
Man (whispers) "I'd like some fish and chips please."

This is to test if the comments are there.

There was the first actual check during Thursday. Actual visit to Freespot at Southgate Hotel ( working fine) , the BT phone box and an IT Box. Both the latter showed a signal but we did not actually use the web. Our impression was that there is not much use made of these. Full report next week.

Freespot seems a good option that may develop. Should be at the Peter Chalk building next week so we may check this also. If you're in Exeter, call in at Life Bytes or else this blog should be updated.

Photos

Meanwhile the claims for wi-fi continue to escalate-

This from 'Good Morning Silicon Valley' archive

Despite much evidence to the contrary, Intel appears to be hitting at least a few of its deadlines. The company said Tuesday that it has begin sampling its new WiMax chip, Rosedale, and expects that it will be offered as an option on the Centrino platform by 2006. Based on the 802.16 WiMax specifications, Rosedale promises to deliver two-way Internet access at speeds of up to 75 megabits per second over distances as great as 10 miles. It's an emerging standard, and one that promises to transform connectivity. "WiMax will be to DSL what cellular was to landlines: a more convenient, lower cost technology,"
. "We predict the same kind of growth for WiMax as was seen with Wi-Fi. By 2008 we think that 8 percent of all internet connections will be via WiMax." said Intel president Paul Otellini

Intel is the source for the idea that Exeter is a centre of wi-fi hotspots. The phrase 'spurious claims' has been used at The Register. Maybe it is just a matter of timing. There will be some wi-fi in Exeter sometime in the future. Something has started already but things are still on a small scale.

Probably the check of phone boxes and IT boxes in central Exeter will be on Thursday, starting in the afternoon. Check this blog or ask at Liofe Bytes.

The expectation is that Freespot will be available at the Peter Chalk Conference Centre in time for Alt-C next week. If this is the only web access there may be some people who have not brought a laptop so may like to visit Life Bytes.

24 Paris Street, just a bit further than the High Street.

There is an internet cafe as part of the BA Science Festival. Just past the registration desk as you go in to Devonshire House. They have some handouts about our tests for wifi Exeter and they will be kept up to date of any further movements during the week. No wifi as such but the aim is for wifi to be available at the Peter Chalk Centre by next week for Alt-C.

Meanwhile Psand are working on a broadcast from Dorset next Sunday. There is an aim to connect an internet cafe in Exeter with events such as Animated Exeter and/or Vibraphonic. One problem is that Life Bytes may come to an end with the current building in December. So things happen out of time and space. Psand will also be at a conference next week in London-
Lasa's Penguin Day(http://www.lasa.org.uk/it/penguin/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage) withBristol Wireless to talk and listen. A lot has happened in Brstol around wireless. There will be streaming media from Barcelona in October - the D-Form festival (www.deform.org). Suggest this is benchmarked in Exeter to check out how internet stuff could fit with sound and animation.

This blog will be kept fairly up to date during this week. Info also probably at Life Bytes, 24 Paris Street.

Life Bytes is now active. They will get some new kit next week suitable for a Doom event over the bank holiday. They can cope fine with email and browsing. Some people are asking to connect their own laptop computers to the network. No sign of wi-fi or much demand. No feedback so far that people would prefer to use wi-fi somewhere else.

So what is going on? Is 'wi-fi Exeter' unusual or is there actually much less use of wi-fi than is often reported?

I am going to start again assuming general ignorance. The Science Festival comes up in September. There must be a few people who actually understand how wi-fi works. Probably it is fairly easy once you get used to it. The people at Life Bytes seem supportive of more exploration. Times and dates will follow.

Science Fest website