aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Friday, July 07, 2006

New media, old story

J D Lasica quoted in the Times on Amanda’s leaving Rocketboom:

“It’s a classic story of artistic differences with a new twist,” Mr. Lasica said. “Here are the leading pioneers of the new movement with different ideas on how to capitalize on the trend. Andrew sees the Internet as the end goal in itself, rather than the steppingstone to TV or traditional media. Amanda understands that Hollywood is where the money is right now.”

Marriage by any means necessary

I should probably opine a bit on the marriage decisions.

The question is, do we get that right through the legislature or get it through the courts? An emerging consensus is that the legislature is the more legitimate way and that all those rabble rousers pushing it through the courts should have been working through the legislature.

I don’t agree.

I don’t think it matters whether it’s the courts or the legislature. It’s the balance and the interplay of both that moves us forward. The battle is the conversation. Do we suppose we would have been better off without Brown v Board of Ed? (As it happens I’ve come darn close to arguing so.)

In gay rights it’s the old assimilate or agitate question that was with us from before Stonewall through AIDS and ACT-UP and now played out as the legislature (assimilate) or the courts (agitate).

I’m as assimilationist as they come, but it was those couples in Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, D.C. and most notably Hawaii who put this issue on the agenda. It took the mainstream gay activist world - including me - by surprise.

The notion now that it is a favor to us to be tossed back to the legislature misses that it was those court cases that got us here in the first place. We’re going to win, and when we do there are going to be those who find it illegitimate, whether by legislature or by court order.

Developing a Wikipedia research policy

If:book on student guides for using wikipedia:

Alan Liu from the University of California at Santa Barbara, posted on the Humanist Listserv an interesting draft student policy statement on student use of Wikipedia. A copy got reposted to kairosnews. When it is completed, this guide will be a useful tool for teachers who are seeing increasing references to Wikipedia in student work. Liu is providing students (and the public for that matter) with a context for understanding how to use Wikipedia in both their research and daily lives.