[AktiviX-discuss] More daft questions from pseudo-troll

[Gareth Coleman]

Just realised that I sent this to dan direct rather than the list - oops!

> I was wondering, first, if anyone had any thoughts they might want to
> share on ICT and empowering the community - genuinely doing so, rather
> than just showing people how to fill in their tax return online.

Hey - I've got lots of thoughts. Far too many of them actually to make more
than 10% happen. So long as the best make it (like
http://www.burngreave.net/mailman/listinfo/cafe) into reality then that's ok
I suppose. 

> I wonder - is there anyone willing to meet with me and WEA, to
> brainstorm what might happen in the next year or two?

Oh man - I'd love to. If we could share a pint while we natter then so much
the better - although we must make sure to get the good stuff written down
before more than a couple go down!

Or we could meet up down at the computer cafe one Saturday - although we've
got an article coming out in the local paper on Fri/Sat so we're expecting
to be a bit busy. Perhaps if Saturday appeals then we could meet up after -
say 4 o'clock or so?

> *Finding out how to spread wireless (e.g. Shefnet, although I can't get
> the link to work just now!) and getting open-source-ready PCs being used
> in the community.

I assume you've come across the burngreave community wireless area network?
We dish (or more accurately aerial) out broadband connectivity to a number
of community groups and individuals. In terms of scaling it up we'll need a
backbone system - which is where the ronja device I'm building might well
come in (http://ronja.twibright.com/)

> Also: someone from the ACLU asked me to find someone willing to talk to
> them about how to upload audio and audio-visual files - what's the best
> format, etc.  (I was talking to them about the ease of uploading AV to
> Indymedia... speaking of which, they're quite happy for me to promote
> Indymedia in the classes...!)

I'm sure I'm not the best person on list to answer - but until someone
better informed chips in - my favourites would be Ogg Vorbis
(http://www.vorbis.com/faq.psp) for audio (open-source, cross platform and
smaller than mp3) - there's a video complement to it called Theora
(http://www.theora.org/theorafaq.html) but it's still in alpha so not quite
ready yet. XviD
(http://www.xvid.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id
_cat=1)is also open-source, cross platform and I think it generally looks
quite fine considering the compression ratios it achieves.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Gareth

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