Online Libraries

Think it’s impossible to find free books online? Think again. There are tons of online libraries that provide fiction, nonfiction and reference books at no charge. Here is a list of the best 25 places to read free books online.

Posted by Chris

Open Source White House Redux

Digital Urban is reporting on White House Redux, a collaborative architecture project that seeks to collectively redesign the White House in Washington, D.C.

From the project website:  Analogously, the concept of Source Code is readily found in the everyday practice of architecture in forms of drawings, agendas, documentations, ideas, specifications, and material libraries. However, none of the above, with the seldom exception of ‘ideas’, are freely redistributable, publicized, or allow for criticism and input akin to what an open-source model offers. The architectural practice, today, is skewed towards personal benefit and gratification of individual architects. Thus, the laws protect creative property, on one hand, but are constricting and oppose collaborative creativity that could contribute more rapidly to architectural theory and practice.

Read about another collaborative architecture project taking place in Second Life here and here.

And for more, see the Open Architecture Network as well as the Library Design Wiki.

Posted by Chris

The Library Café

The Library Café is a weekly program of table talk with scholars, artists, publishers and librarians about books, ideas, and the formation and circulation of knowledge. It is hosted by Thomas Hill, and can be heard on WVKR FM 91.3 Tuesday afternoons between 12:00 Noon and 1:00 p.m. ET (16.00-17.00 GMT) during the academic year.

Posted by Chris

New YUAG Podcast

The Gallery’s Art Podcast, which successfully debuted in 2007, continues this spring with a series called “Art Talk.” Hosted by Yale undergraduate Christina Pryor, Art Talk episodes feature five- to fifteen-minute informal discussions about art.

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A Sound Response: Art and Music
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Following in the footsteps of Alvin Lucier (please see the episode “LeWitt and Lucier”), the student music group IGIGI performed compositions in response to artworks at the Gallery. In this episode, Christina speaks with three of the participants about their music and chosen works: a painting by Richard Diebenkorn, an ancient lion relief, and the monumental “Stacks” by Richard Serra.

http://artgallery.yale.edu/podcast

The Wikipedia Debate

You don’t have to think it’s destroying our culture or that it’s igniting a cultural renaissance to understand that Wikipedia represents a major shift in how information is created and stored. Some opposing views:

Wikipedia and the New Curriculum David Parry Science Progress 2/11/08

The Great Seduction: Cult of the Amateur Andrew Keen 10/15/06

What to Do With Wikipedia William Badke Information Today, Inc. 3/27/08

Posted by Chris

Sloan Foundation to Give Wikipedia $3M

“Doron Weber, a Sloan Foundation representative, said in a statement that Wikipedia ‘represents a quantum leap’ in the collection and organization of knowledge.”

Sloan Foundation to Give Wikipedia $3M Brian Bergstein AP 3/26/08

Read a press release about the president of the Sloan foundation, Paul L. Joskow’s, recent appointment as a trustee to the Yale Corporation, here.

Posted by Chris

New visualization engine for architects

This new architectural visualization engine by Softmirage is super impressive.

Check out many more demo reels at the Digital Urban Blog. And see older engines here and here.

Posted by Chris

Library Design Wiki for Architects

Arcadia University Landman Library, Glenside, PA

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the
Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) have released a
new resource for architects and others planning higher education library
spaces. In response to frequent inquiries for information about planning
academic library buildings, ACRL and LAMA have partnered to develop a
basic framework for architects, planners and librarians embarking on
planning and design of academic libraries.

The wiki-based guide is featured as a resource in the American Institute
of Architects Community of Practice for Architecture Education at
http://www.aia.org/cae_default, as well as on the ACRL Web site at
http://wikis.ala.org/acrl/index.php/ACRL/LAMA_Guide_for_Architects.

Posted by Chris

Shop ultra luxury on craigslist.com

“In Stamford, Conn., the developer of a super-high-end condo tower is eschewing use of free classified-ad listings on craigslist.com to lure buyers, since ‘every mom-and-pop building these days is doing it.’”

Home Searches That Click Antoinette Martin NYT 12/16/07

“The building, set in downtown Stamford, was designed by Yale University’s dean of architecture, Robert A. M. Stern, and will offer fitness facilities, a wine cellar and tasting rooms, and an indoor pool with a retractable roof. “

Check out the Highgrove website here.

Posted by Chris

Database of Virtual Art

VICTORIA VESNA »NANO Mandala« 2004

This resource was recently posted on the ARLIS/NA listserv.

“The Database of Virtual Art documents the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art. This complex, research-oriented overview of immersive, interactive, telematic and genetic art has been developed in cooperation with established media artists, researchers and institutions.”

What’s telematic art? Go here to find out.

Posted by: Ian M.

Princeton Goes Virtual

Becoming the latest academic institution to join in the Second Life craze, Princeton University has begun the construction of a virtual campus from which it plans on offering classroom sessions and writing seminars for the Schools of Architecture and Visual Arts. The campus will open to Second Life residents in September, but you can check out a brief tour and a collection of photos at Ambling in Second Life.

“…Behind you as you arrive is a simulation of Chancellor Green Student Center, which was originally the college library building and dates from the 1870s. It reeks of Victorian Gothic. Inside is a library (surprise!), which the college plans to build into a Second Life-based online resource, together with a couple of informal meeting rooms that would house around 6 people.”

More information on art and architecture in Second Life here and here.

Posted by Chris

“In the Face of Danger”

A recent article in the Harvard Law Review presents several fascinating and potentially scary problems with social tagging and photographic sites like Flickr. The article posits that new facial recognition technologies may pose serious privacy issues on public photo-sharing sites and that our current regime for privacy law is ill-equipped to deal with these emerging technologies. A must read! Download a PDF here.

“In the Face of Danger: Facial Recognition and Limits of Privacy Law,” Harvard Law Review; May2007, Vol. 120 Issue 7, p1870-1891, 22p.