DUBLIN'S SUCCESSFUL BIKE scheme has resulted in 4.8% of people cycling to work. In Paris, 5.3% of workers hit their bikes. But the Dublin Bike Scheme is possibly Europe's most ambitiously expanding capital city bicycle rental scheme. Capital city cycling is stronger in London, where 9.1% cycle. Helsinki comes in at 10%, Berlin at 17.2%, Amsterdam at 45.6% and Copenhagen, where 45.6% of people cycle to work. The numbers come from Eurobarometer 2009. The bikes at left are chained to a fence inside Trinity College, Dublin.
MORE THAN A QUARTER of Irish people are now without a fixed-line telephone in their homes, reflecting the almost universal penetration of mobile phone culture, according to the Irish ComReg (the Commission for Communications Regulation). The survey showed 71 per cent of respondents had a fixed line, compared to 96 per cent who owned a mobile. The survey, of more than 1,000 people aged between 15 and 74, also found that some 80 per cent of people had a laptop or personal computer in their homes. Nearly half (46 per cent) use DSL as their main means of connection with the internet. TV ownership was almost universal, with 98 per cent of respondents confirming they owned a TV set of some variety.
Comreg Report 10/62 on Consumer Survey (862 kb PDF)
A CREATIVE AND FINANCIAL tension has developed between the Irish public broadcaster and commercial operators as more Irish citizens try to stay informed on the go. Not long ago, Ireland was an Angelus Nation where the news came to you when you sat and listened to it. People paid their license fees and they got their talking heads. That hierarchical model of information flow has changed dramatically with the opening of the broadcasting spectrum and with the rise of handheld information aggregation. More specifically, 3G over-the-air connectivity means people can tap a screen and often get the news as it breaks--but from a blog, a social network, or a personal newsfeed. You don't have to pay a license fee to get your news on a pocket touchscreen. The Irish Minister for Communications wonders, "How do you apply a licence fee to an iPad or an iPhone?" Then he added, "I'm not saying that you do. But it's one of the questions that needs to be asked." [1] A lot of those handheld screens push advertisements and embedded product placements alongside the information stream.
Continue reading "Now That Everyone Thinks They're Broadcasters" »
IN FIVE YEARS' TIME, I think I'll still have a bookshelf as my favourite late evening reading zone. That isn't what some readers think--they believe Apple's newly launched iPad will save print publishers, cause more people to read on their laps, and actually pay to read books and articles that they download. Will an iPad actually change consumer behaviour so much that people will start to read more because of it? Will an iPad actually change consumer psychology so radically so more people will pay for the digital version of a paper that they don't buy from their newsagents? I wonder how many of my readers would pay to hear Adam Curry streaming his hour-long show. Writing in the Financial Times, John Gapper offers a cautionary notes. He knows publishers can "go to town with words and pictures" but that "it is expensive and hard to make it profitable. The iPad is an alluring vision of the digital future for publishers, but a scary one too." I'm keeping my bookshelves polished. John Gapper -- "The iPad's Scary Counter-Revolution" in the Financial Times, 9 April 2010.
Alan Rusbridger -- "I was shown the media's future 16 years ago: now with the iPad, it's here" in The Sunday Observer, 11 April 2010.
Previously -- "The Daily Source Code is Back, March 20, 2010.
FEBRUARY 2010 will go down in my personal journal as the month when I learned how to sip and truly enjoy the company of those sharing through a coffee culture. It's also the month that Emilio Lavazza died aged 78, claiming much of the credit for the universal acceptance of coffee as a cultural drink. Signor Emilio (Mr Espresso) is one reason Italy has no Starbucks. With Lavazza around, how could you be missing out on anything? I've seen photos of Signor Emilio sitting in the Caffe Platti in Turin, stirring his ristretto while talking, planning and dreaming. I first encountered vacuum-packed Lavazza coffee in a New York bistro in the 80s. I didn't think much of the vacuum packaging but I was really impressed with the steampunk contraption that produced a thick espresso serving for myself and a few aircrew members. It was the thickest drink I had ever tried. We were part of an aircrew that flew into Naples where we tried the same brand of espresso a few days later. The New York service was better. Today, Lavazza spews from O'Gorman's in Clonmel where I go for an occasional coffee and scone in the mornings. But the influence of coffee as a creative juice extends far beyond Signor Emilio's enterprise. Today, Open Coffee is synonymous with some of the most innovative people I've met. I can sense Emilio Lavazza smiling from beyond the grave, especially since he probably knows Fred Caballero is in Dublin and is part of the coffee culture I enjoy so much. In the 70s, Caballero and Carmencita were charming and oddball animated characters involved in a complicated, coffee-infused courtship that formed part of a quirky Lavazza marketing campaign.Emilio Lavazza, coffee entrepreneur, born 1932, died 16 February 2010.
WE HAVE A TODDLER who is growing up digital. She knows how to slide through interfaces before she knows how to use the toilet. Because I'm not a big fan of glass cockpits, I'm restricting her use of touchscreens but I don't mind her pushing buttons to make things work. That's what she's doing with a digital dictaphone at right. Like a lot of American families, television is an almost constant presence in her daily life. This means she will watch more television before turning three than I did before turning 13. As a very young child, she has been viewing different kinds of screens and trying to manipulate different sorts of electronic media on a daily basis. Mia is growing up with electronic media as a normative part of her daily life. I wonder what's going to happen when she discovers her primary school is locked in the last century. I also wonder what the impact of daily media use is on very young minds.I thought I wouldn't ever let her watch television on her own but she's able to turn on the main TV set, select a DVD, insert it, and push the play button. If it doesn't appeal, she can eject the platter and start again. The only way I can stop her using the set is by pulling the plug. She can switch on the mains power selector by experimenting with the outlets.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN St Patrick's Day in Ireland 2010 is Adam Curry's resurrection from podfade. The Podfather landed with a thud in my five-year-old iPod (the device I used to listen to Adam since 2005). He's just as hyperized as before with a brand new life, blasting out live on No Agenda Stream but saved as one of the highest bit rate podcasts on the planet. Adam is doing his DSC without weed and without his compressors, distorters, or cowbell. It's Raw Adam Curry and he's as good as he was in the earliest days of podcasting. But I know Adam Curry isn't everyone's taste and the "explicit" warning on his latest episode is fair notice to anyone who doesn't like the rough and tumble world of real rock and roll. DSC 822 doesn't disappoint. It has more top 40 tracks than podsafe selections, a few stories about Adam's manic life, the mind-altering experiences that come with heavy smoking, the life-altering experience of a new love, and a report from a séance. I like what Adam Curry has done for shared musical experiences and I appreciate him sharing some of his life in the theatre of the mind. Few do it as good as himself. Recommended.
Direct link to http://podcasting.ie/best/dsc_822.mp3
IRELAND GOT AN OFFICIAL cultural ambassador on St Patrick's Day 2010 as internationally renowned, award-winning actor Gabriel Byrne started working the crowds with his new appointment. As an American living in Ireland, I'd be enthusiastic about the quality and imagination of Irish artists. Although I'm not a professional art critic, I do feet lucky to be able to find the work of mid-career Irish artists in free venues across the country. I snapped the work of Alissa Kleist (at left) in the Limerick City Gallery of Art (a favourite venue) and I work with creative students who may commandeer a white cube for their own digital expression. There's a vibrant part of the Irish art scene that proves to me the creative nature of the green gene. Young conceptual artists, energetic film makers, people writing who wouldn't have written when I first came ashore in Ireland 15 years ago--I've seen that scene emerge when I worked in Arthouse and through Broadway productions that are Irish. American is a giant English-speaking market for Irish culture. It's a market with good will that extends well beyond Paddy's Day. To a great extent, vibrant Irish culture defines the Republic. I think Irish visual culture makes strong indelible mark on what it means to be Irish. I wish Gabriel Byrne good luck in advancing the cause of Irish culture abroad.
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