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Big-Data to understand touristic and cultural dynamics: a fractal framework.
This paper is a chapter-preview of the book "Big Data for Culture and Tourism" that will be published, by the Rossi Smith Academic Publishing in the second half of 2018.
The Big-Data revolution has been immediately accepted in several industries, in particular the military and defense industries, by various economic and social actors, usually linked to multinational corporations, as a fresh source of innovation. In the cultural sector, these new technologies acceptance has been less common met some oppositions.
These oppositions have been mainly due to a general lack of competences on the new technologies and on advanced data analysis by most of the actors in this sector.
Lacking the needed competences, these actors have often been unable to grasp the opportunities that Big-Data could have opened to them.
In this paper, we propose to highlight the main results and main positive effects coming out from the first stages of Big-Data utilization in the Cultural Heritage sector using a fractal model.
Big-Data is surely one of the modern days' buzz-words based on the idea of a decision making revolution linked to the analysis of very large data sets (Boyd & Crawford, 2011). The modern data set are "big" in all the three dimensions identified by Laney (2001) as the 3 V's: Volume (the quantity of data a company has access to), Velocity (the speed of data gathering processes), and Variety (the multiple types of data stored).
Moreover, modern day Big-Data are mostly based upon the actors' real behaviors and, as such, they are more trustworthy even if nested in complex structures (Ward & Barker, 2013).
Meanwhile, it is becoming manifest that Big-Data analytics are not a fad, but they are more useful the more the new technologies (in terms of data storage, bandwidth, and accessibility) drive human beings to rely on the Internet as a communication media, as a way to find new information, and as a way to easily store and share the memories of each single experience they make (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Aiden & Michel, 2014). The relevance of Big-Data analytics is becoming increasingly apparent in some fields as digital marketing, and business intelligence, where enterprises can leverage the new ICTs to engage their audience more effectively, to foresee the new opportunities, and to create a long-term relationship with consumers (Sashi, 2012).
Big-Data analysis has become common in several industries as the access to new, and richer set of data can help managers to embrace a data-driven decision making process that can increase their choices effectiveness (Lazer et al., 2009; McAfee & Brynjolfsson, 2012; De Mauro et al., 2015).
At the same time, other industries appear to be mostly impervious to the adoption of Big-Data analysis; the Cultural Heritage sector is surely among them.
The general lack of adoption of Big-Data driven decision making processes sounds even stranger when it is considered that Cultural Heritage sector is tightly linked with the Tourism Destination and its management. Cultural Heritage is usually considered among the "core resources and attractors" of a destination (Crouch & Ritchie, 1999, p. 146) – i.e. they are among the reasons tourists travel to a tourism destination. According to Crouch and Ritchie (1999) a destination is able to effectively attract tourists as these resources are coupled with other resources, called support resources, in order to increase their appeal to tourists.
Destination Management Organizations have adopted Big-Data analytics to understand the reasons behind tourist flows in specific locations as parks (Wood et al., 2013) or cities (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2013) leveraging the mass of data that tourists themselves autonomously provide trough social media.
In this paper, we propose a framework to highlight how Big-Data can help the Cultural Heritage sector to become more effective, analyzing the main results and positive effects coming out of the first stages of Big-Data utilization in the Cultural Heritage sector.
Big-Data to create value for the area and for its heritage
Competition in tourism industry is getting fiercer as places become viable as Tourism Destination (Mariani et al., 2014). It appears clear that, in this competitive landscape, the players feel the real value behind getting a better understanding of actual and future tourists' needs, to reach a better competitive position (Wang et al., 2013). In the process to gather tourist needs data, the operators can leverage the many traces that tourists leave on the Internet from the first moment of planning the travel to those they create while they are experiencing the tourism destination (Li & Buhalis, 2006; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010).
Big-Data offers tourism operators the opportunity to get access to a deeper knowledge of tourists, actual and potential ones, and it helps them in engaging all the players, even those external to the destination itself, in creating services with a better value proposition for the tourists (Pike, 2005; Wang et al., 2013).
Analyzing these large data sets can help the tourism operators in creating preferred services that are better aligned to the tourist perspective of their travel as a whole (Franch, 2002; Rossi, 2008). Moreover, having access to these data can help the tourism operators in defining strategically the place's core and support resources (Crouch & Ritchie, 1999) limiting the investments in those services that are not able to increase the value of the destination for its visitors.
Adopting Big-Data analytics, place managers can profile tourists and highlight the various latent opportunities normally not exploited in the local area to create new services attractive to different classes of tourists. In this way, they can increase the effectiveness of the local area in the international market (Palmer & McCole, 2000; Getz, 2008; Buhalis & Law, 2008).
On the other hand, operators can use Big-Data to profile the tourists, to predict, and to understand, their evolution over time. This knowledge can later be used to help in focusing the place development efforts on the more relevant core resources of the area and in creating the needed support resources to make the most out of them (Seddighi & Theocharous, 2002).
At the same time, we have to take into consideration that the area can be considered as a complex system of different variables at different levels so the effect of Big-Data analytics on a place has to be analyzed at various levels (Allen & Sanglier 1979; Warnaby et al. 1998).
At the macro-level, i.e. looking at the relationship between the various destinations, Big-Data analytics can be used to create value from the sharing of the datasets created in the various destinations as a way to define a coopetitive approach (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 1996). Where each destination, as a whole, can get access to the data the tourists have created in their experiences in the other destinations as a source of information to create new, and better, services that will be appealing to tourists that have chosen to visit different destinations in the past. The internet-based nature of most of the data on the tourist behavior (i.e. post and messages on social networks and similar services) reduce the need for a complex coordination at the macro-level. The value of these common data can be increased if they can be combined with those gathered using the device in the so-called Internet of Things – i.e. sensors and devices connected on line – in order to monitor tourists behaviour during their visit and to provide them with personalized services (Solima et al. 2016).
Meanwhile, in order to get the most out of these processes, the local actors must be able to co-ordinate with other actors outside of the local area (for example an Hotel in the local area as to be able to coordinate with a Tour Operator at distance). In order to make their services accessible to a set of tourists as broad as possible, and to win their loyalty to the place (Fyall et al. 2003).
A shared access to Big-Data can be useful at the meso-level, i.e. all those actors operating in the place, as it makes them reach higher level of coordination to create bundles of services, tourism packages, that, being more precisely targeted on the need of the tourist, can lead to better experiences and, therefore, they can more easily satisfy the tourist (Neal & Gursoy, 2008; Bernè et al. 2015).
The ability to coordinate between the various actors in a given tourism destination can be one of the main factors in obtaining the most out of strategic alliances in tourism (Della Corte & Aria, 2014) and of the ability of tourism destination to compete in the global market (Della Corte & Aria, 2016).
The potential of creating new value at the level of the whole tourism destination is greater the more the various players can get access to a diversified set of resources to use as the building blocks of their packages (Andreu et al., 2010).
In this perspective, the operators in the Cultural Heritage sector can become part of a broader coordination attempt as the other players in the local area can create stable relationships with them in order to reach a different set of tourists.
The resources the players in the Cultural Heritage sector can leverage in their services can give the local area several strategic advantages as the cultural resources are, usually, tightly linked to the area, its history and its culture, while, on the other hand, their exploitation is not limited to a specific part of the year (i.e. summer or winter) and/or they can be organized in events (i.e. festivals) that can be used to offer tourism services in all months of the year increasing the efficiency of the investments of the other actors in the area.
Finally, even each single player, i.e. the micro-level of the systemic perspective, in the tourism industry can benefit from a general access to the new knowledge generated by these analyses as being more aware of the needs of the tourists and of their evolution. Tourism operators can decide to change their services in order to become more appealing to some specific niche of tourists using differentiation strategies to make their specific environment a less competitive one.
At the micro-level, the access to Big-Data helps in creating a smart approach to tourism experiences that leverage the idea of creating personalized services (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2015).
Big-Data and Museum Institutions
According to Nuccio and Bertacchini (2016), Big-Data analytics, in combination with ICT technologies, open the way to a new generation of cultural services that have the potential to enhance greatly visitors' participation in cultural activities from the museum organizations. The access to new market niches is only one of the advantages these organization can obtain from Big-Data, another advantage is to get access to new ways to track and analyse how visitors perceive, and experience, these organization's services directly from their behavior during the visit itself. According to Chun (2016), museum organization can create new services that can use ad-hoc created devices to gather even some bio-feedback from their visitors as the stress levels or the emotions they are experiencing during the visit.
The great potential of these new technologies for museum organizations has been acknowledged by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council that, in 2014, started several projects to leverage Big-Data analytics in the arts. Among them there's "The Unusual Suspects" (funded with a little less than £ 185.000) that has seen the cooperation between nine arts and cultural organisations in Newcastle and Gateshead to pool their audience data in order to profile them and identify their main communities as a way to develop the relevant insights needed to choose the most effective ways to engage them and to design innovative services to re-engage the infrequent attendees and to help their activities of audience development as a way to multiply their impact on the local area. Another interesting project the UK AHRC has funded is the "ArtsAPI" (a little short of £ 300.000); this research project aims to create a web-based service to aggregate, analyse and present data from several cultural organization to help them understanding the real value they create, and to show their real impact on local area; moreover, these new knowledge will help them to redefine their business models and value proposition, if necessary.
The aggregation of the data generated by several cultural organization is needed since, according to Manovich (2012), they are still not able to generate on their own Big-Data sets.
Meanwhile, some other museums are trying to leverage the combination of digital technologies and Big-Data as a way to create richer datasets. An example is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that is using digital beacons to track visitors' behaviour inside its exhibitions. By using these information, the museum has been able to get several advantages: on one hand, it has targeted the merchandise more effectively; on the other hand it has been able to provide customers with more focused information about the exhibited pieces of arts; a third, less obvious, effect has been the opportunity to get a better understanding of the way people use the museum, of their tastes and needs.
Another automatic data gathering experience in a museum has been designed in the Art Institute of Chicago. This museum has installed a network of 300 beacons to collect user data to get heat maps, travel paths and dwell times of the visits. These data have been used to redefine the museum's exhibitions in order to make them more valuable to the visitor (the AIC has been voted as the No.1 museum in the world for TripAdvisor Travelers in the 2014 and the No.2 in the 2016).
These experiences show that museums can get several advantages from the adoption of Big-Data analytics. Their main effects can derive not only from the creation of more valuable services for the existing visitors; they can be used to create new services that can be attractive to the potential visitors as well. However, these advantages can even go beyond the museum organization itself helping to link it with the other actors in the local area as a way to increase its perceived value.
These effects are stronger when the Big-Data pair with new technologies (Solima, 2016) as a way to automate the data gathering processes, leveraging the personal devices and the visitor behavior in the social media. Not only as they help the museum management to use in their strategic decision making a more in-depth knowledge of the tourist (Solima et al. 2015) while they are helping to increase the visitors' engagement in the museum activities. The Louvre is an example of using specific sensors in order to gather data on the visitors, and to create new services. The French Museum has installed multiple Bluetooth sensors, compatible with the iBeacon protocol, to monitor the movement of visitors in the exhibitions, provide them with specific needed information in real-time, gather data on their preferences, and design new services (Yoshimura et al. 2014).
A Fractal model to highlight the opportunity of Big-Data analytics in Cultural Heritage
The existing academic literature, and the first experimentations in the Cultural Heritage sector, show that Big-Data analytics can help creating value for tourists and, indirectly, for the local area as well.
The data gathering processes behind Big-Data at least in part designed to engage the tourist. On one side, they leverage the existing new personal devices (i.e. smartphones, and smart watches) to collect automatically the behavioral data of each user, on the other side they leverage the whole mass of user-generated content published in the Internet by the tourists. The first source help in increasing the trust in the data as they leverage on the actual behavior of the user; the second set of sources help to get a more comprehensive picture of the users and, analyzing the various ties they have in social media, these data can be used to identify the community the tourist are part of.
This whole mass of data, coming out of the combination of the various sources can be used to profile the tourists visiting a given destination, to identify their main segments, and to foresee these segment's potential evolutions.
At the same time, as these data are already on the Internet they can be easily shared as a way to increase their value combining them with those from other organizations.
These positive effects can be used by various actors in the different levels inside the destination to create a continuous process of value enhancement that can be understood using a similar approach.
The literature review has shown that at each different level of the system describing the local area there are similar forces at play that shows how embracing the Big-Data can have similar effect even if at a different scale. In order to highlight the similarities among the various levels of the system we have defined our framework proposals as Fractal. A fractal is a geometric structure where each part as the same characteristics of the whole; they have been already used to model the evolution of complex and chaotic phenomena in physics (i.e. crystal growth), in mathematics (see the field of ERGMs in network theory), organization (Service-oriented communities). A common example of Fractal structure is the Koch Snowflake, shown in the following exhibit 1, where starting from a triangle at each iteration each side of the perimeter get divided in three parts and the middle part get substituted by the other two sides of the equilateral triangle built on it.
We have labelled our model as a Fractal one, since in each of its levels the overall value proposition made more valuable using two main paths. The first one is to identify a more effective set of support-resources to exploit the part of the system (actor or resource) more effectively; the second one is to link various parts of the level (actors and/or resources) that the tourists consider relevant to create new, different services.
In our framework [1] we have identified four main levels: the cultural resources, the organizations, the various industries, and the destinations.
The first level of this framework is the one of the cultural resources (i.e. the specific pieces of art) inside a specific cultural organization.
The value of these resources for the tourist can be increased finding new, different support resources. An example of this potential evolution are the new, real time, services helping visitors to dynamically get information on a specific piece of art when the visitor is near it; in this way, these new services can help in making the museum accessible to a greater number of visitors thus enhancing its value for the local area.
A further way to increase the value of cultural resources that the managers of a museum have is to coordinate the various core resources to link them in new, different, ways that are able to create more value for a relevant segment of visitors.
Even at the second level, the level composed by all the cultural organizations in the local area, there are two main paths to increase the value of heritage using the knowledge generated using Big-Data.
The first opportunity cultural organization have, is to use the knowledge they have access analyzing the Big-Data to re-design their exhibitions to become more attractive to some new audiences; for example, museum could leverage this knowledge using a smartphone app to advise visitors on specific pieces of art that, according to their behavior, can be of their interest.
A second opportunity to create value at this level is to coordinate the activities designed by the various cultural organizations in the local area as a way to create new diffused services that are able to attract more tourists in the area as a whole.
The various industries in the local area are the actors of the third level of this framework. Big-Data analytics can help the Destination Management to identify the local area more relevant attractors, not only the cultural ones, to use them as the focal element in designing new services and to coordinate the efforts of the various local area actors to create new relationships to make a better value proposition of the area as a whole.
This process does not need to be directed from above; for example, a museum organization can create a stable relationship with those local crafts their visitors value the most in order to sell their products in the bookshop so it can differentiate it from those located in other cultural organizations in the local area. The food that visitors can buy in the buvette, is another example linked to the opportunity to leverage the local area traditions, and culture.
Creating these relationships can help in gathering more data on the tourist habits as different actors from different industries will be able to collect different aspects of the tourists behavior that could be pooled in order to get a well-rounded image of their customers.
This more precise definition of the tourists and of their communities can be used by the Destination management organizations as a driver in their decision making processes on the value propositions of the destination in the global market. Leveraging on data about tourists perception of the destination and on the evolution of their needs over time, these operators will be able to create services to answer to new demand bubbles (Cormiani, 2002).
The last level of this model is the one of the various tourism Destinations. At this level, the actors can increase the value of their services for tourists entering stable relationships with other areas using a co-opetition approach (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 1996).
A coordination between the various Destination can help in creating a common platform for the data gathering furtherly increasing dataset value.
Obstacles to Big-Data Adoption in Cultural Heritage Organizations
The proposed model highlights that embracing the Big-Data can help Cultural Heritage organizations to create in many different ways a better value proposition. Moreover, the more these organizations are able to get access to relevant resources in the various levels of the model, adding them to their endowments or creating stable relationships with the actors owning them, the more their ability to attract new, potential visitors, grows and the more relevant their impact on the tourism destination attractiveness is.
Meanwhile, we have to acknowledge that in order to adopt entirely the Big-Data paradigm these organizations have to overcome five, meaningful, obstacles.
The first limitation to Big-Data adoption is linked to the need to engage most of their visitors in the data gathering processes. These processes, even the automatic ones, asks the visitors to be an active part; for example, they could be asked to install one or more applications on their smartphones to get access to the services. This links the value of these services to the ability of the cultural organizations to increase digital accessibility of their services.
A second set of limitations are linked to the financial resources needed to install the sensors used to monitor the interactions between the visitor and each piece of art in the exhibitions. Moreover, as the Big-Data effectiveness increases the more the various partners are able to monitor the visitors throughout all their travel, an effective data gathering process needs that several local area operators decide to invest in the installation of a network of sensors.
Then there are the limitations linked to the IT competences that are essential to make cultural organization effective in adopting Big-Data. In order to create an effective data gathering system, these organizations have to be able to align the different computer systems that all the various partners use in a coherent set of services. Bypassing this limitation will asks the cultural organizations to deal with ICT professional able to provide them with the needed competences.
The fourth limitation related to the requirement of developing the required competences to analyse the data gathered and make sense out of them, to profile visitors and to identify the various communities they are part of.
Finally, the theoretical model highlights the need for shared processes among the various local area actors in order to create a biggest possible dataset to leverage in the local area players' decision making processes. This coordination requires the presence of a local key player able to persuade actors embedded in different levels to cooperate in increasing the overall value of the destination even when they won't get the related advantages in the short run.
Future opportunities from Big-Data Analysis in Cultural Heritage
This paper has shown that even in their current state the adoption of Big-Data analytics in the Cultural Heritage sector could be able to help the various players in a given local area to cooperate in order to market the destination more effectively and making it develop in a more efficient way.
Meanwhile, we have highlighted that the value of this approach can be reduced by a limited diffusion of the needed technologies among local area operators or amidst tourists.
The modern day evolution of computing appears to help in overcoming both of these factors as people are increasingly active on social media and they frequently use the Internet to share their experiences with their friends.
The increasing adoption of Internet-based services can help to mitigate negative effects of the first and second type of limitations we have highlighted leveraging the diffusion of personal computing devices (i.e. smartphones and smartwatches).
A further relevant factor to consider is the evolution of computing, in particular in the field of Artificial Intelligence. It will help the cultural institutions to analyze in the future these data without having all the advanced data analysis competences necessary today. Considering this evolution in the light of the creation of shared, standard, interfaces, already happening in UK with the development of the ArtsAPI, will help reducing the negative effects related to this limitation (i.e. the lack of IT competences in cultural organizations).
[1] This framework adopts the perspective of the different ways to enhance the value of Cultural Heritage in a destination; a similar approach could be used to describe the relationship starting from the other resources of the destination.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Experts hunting for the missing Malaysian airliner are attempting to define a new search area by studying where in the Indian Ocean the first piece of wreckage recovered from the lost Boeing 777 — a wing flap — most likely drifted from after the disaster that claimed 239 lives, the new leader of the search said.
Officials are planning the next phase of the deep-sea sonar search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in case the current two-year search of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) turns up nothing, said Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood, who took over leadership of the bureau last month.
However, a new search would require a new funding commitment, with Malaysia, Australia and China agreeing in July that the $160 million search will be suspended once the current stretch of ocean southwest of Australia is exhausted unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.
"If it is not in the area which we defined, it's going to be somewhere else in the near vicinity," Hood said in an interview this week.
Further analysis of the wing fragment known as a flaperon found on Reunion Island off the African coast in July last year — 16 months after the plane went missing — will hopefully help narrow a possible next search area outside the current boundary.
Six replicas of the flaperon will be sent to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's oceanography department in the island state of Tasmania where scientists will determine whether it is the wind or the currents that affect how they drift, Hood said. This will enable more accurate drift modeling than is currently available.
If more money becomes available, the Australian bureau, which is conducting the search on Malaysia's behalf, plans to fit the flaperons with satellite beacons and set them adrift at different points in the southern Indian Ocean around March 8 next year — the third anniversary of the disaster — and track their movements.
Meanwhile, barnacles found on the flaperon and an adjacent wing flap that washed up on Tanzania in June are being analyzed for clues to the latitudes they might have come from. The flap is in the Australian bureau's headquarters in Canberra where it has been scoured for clues by accident investigators.
Peter Foley, the bureau's director of Flight 370 search operations since the outset, said the enhanced drift modeling would hopefully narrow the next search area to a band of 5 degrees of latitude, or 550 kilometers (340 miles).
"Even the best drift analysis is not going to narrow it down to X-marks-the-spot," Foley said.
Some critics argue that the international working group that defined the current search area — which includes experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the plane's manufacturer Boeing, Australia's Defense Science and Technology Group, satellite firm Inmarsat and electronics company Thales — made a crucial mistake by concluding that the most likely scenario was that no one was at the controls when the plane hit the ocean after flying more than five hours.
The airliner veered far off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. What happened to the plane has become one of the biggest mysteries in aviation, with a wide range of theories, including that a hijacker could have killed everyone on board early in the flight by depressurizing the plane.
The current search area was defined by analysis of a final satellite signal from the plane that indicated it had run out of fuel. Scientists have determined how far the plane could have travelled from a height of up to 12,200 meters (40,000 feet) after both engines lost power.
But critics who favor the theory that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah hijacked the plane argue that he could have glided the plane beyond the current search area. Some say he could have made a controlled ditch at sea in order to minimize debris and make the plane vanish as completely as possible. Officials say Zaharie flew a similar route on his home flight simulator only weeks before the disaster.
Foley said his bureau's analysts were working on the flap to ascertain whether or not it was deployed when the plane hit the water. They will test their hypothesis with the Boeing accident investigation team to validate their findings.
Recent analysis of the final satellite signals also suggest the plane was descending at a rate of between 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) and 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) a minute before it crashed. A rate of 600 meters (2,000 feet) a minute would be typical of a controlled descent.
"The rate of descent combined with the position of the flap — if it's found that it is not deployed — will almost certainly rule out either a controlled ditch or glide," Foley said.
"If it's not in a deployed state, it validates, if you like, where we've been looking," he said.
Crews have not given up hope of finding the plane in the current search area, which because of bad weather and 20-meter (65-foot) swells could take them until December to finish scanning.
Less than 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 square miles) of seabed, which is outside the original 60,000-square-kilometer (23,000-square-mile) high-priority search zone, remain to be searched.
More than 20 sonar contacts require closer examination by a sonar-equipped underwater drone. These are between 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) and 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the Australian port of Fremantle where the search ships are based.
"We are still hopeful and optimistic," said Hood.
Foley said finding the plane was the only chance of the solving the mystery of what happened aboard Flight 370.
"We will never know what happened to that aircraft until we find it," Foley said.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

subset: commoncrawl


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Xolo Will Release 'Black' on July 10 Exclusively Through Flipkart
Since its launch in 2012, XOLO has tried but never been able to achieve the level of popularity like its rivals Motorola and Xiaomi have. XOLO hopes to change that through its upcoming phone "Black", which will be exclusively sold on Flipkart.
According to BGR, the Xolo Black will be released on July 10 through Flipkart. Xolo is adopting the online business model considering how it has expanded fanbase for companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Yu and even Motorola, which was struggling until it launched Moto X, in India.
According to reports, the Xolo Black is priced under Rs. 15,000. The phone sports dual-rear cameras, a glass rear panel at the back, supports 4G LTE, and runs on the new Hive 1.5 UI based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Unlike its competitors, Xolo will not sell the phone in a flash sale. The Xolo Black will be sold in an open-sale and will follow the online-only business model. Xolo plans to launch a new handset every quarter under the Brand series. The phones will be priced between Rs 10,000 – Rs 20,000 and all of them would be 4G enabled.
Here's the video used by Xolo to tease the Black:
Source : [tw-button size="small" background="" color="" target="_blank" link="http://www.bgr.in/news/xolo-black-with-dual-camera-setup-to-launch-on-july-10-on-flipkart/"]BGR[/tw-button]


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Goodman Preview from GaryconPosted: March 28, 2011 Filed under: art, Goodman, portfolio, publishing 3 Comments
Jeff has posted some pics and stuff from Garycon (which was this past weekend) on his game blog (check it out here). I wasn't able to attend (damn you poverty!) so I appreciate the peek. He picked up a lot of flyers with art and stuff and was kind enough to scan and post.
Shameless bit of self promotion: the drawing at the bottom of the B&W flyer for Goodman's DCC RPG at right is by me! (it has a wizard translating runes in an ancient ruin while his scribe scribbles notes and a group of mercenaries while away the time with gambling (or maybe they are playing the DCC RPG!)). I'm pleased to see it included (one reason being that I have a couple of pieces in the upcoming game that I would love to show off but feel I should give Goodman the right to show them first). But I am also just overwhelmed with the peek at some of the other art included on the page! WOW! I cannot wait to see this book! And I'm just busting with eagerness to show off some of the drawings that I did for it, so having this flyer go public lets me show off some of the work I did without bigfooting Goodman's publicity.
But as much as I like to boast about what I did, I'm just blown away by the contributions of the other artists as I finally get to see some of them! That drawing in the middle (Lokerimon the Lawful?) is obviously supposed to be a companion piece to D.A.T.'s iconic "Emirkol The Chaotic" drawing in the 1e DMG, and Mullen's picture of a wizard's battle (where one of the participants appears to be giant sized) is just blowing me away… but Peter Mullen is one of my art heroes. I'm not sure I can identify the other artists in this flyer. One of the DCC's previous flyers included a drawing by the late Jim Roslof… so there is that to look forward to as well. Plus there is just so much more to see. I can't wait!
There are also some pictures of the color covers for DCC products on Jeff's blog well worth checking out. I'm not going try to cop all of Jeff's thunder by re- posting every picture from his blog here; I am just excited and eager to see this game come out!


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The NewCo Daily: Today's Top Stories
On Twitter and seemingly everywhere else, the term "late capitalism" has become a shorthand label for products, ideas, and stories that reflect the absurd excesses and ironies of the contemporary marketplace — like Nordstrom's $400 jeans caked with a patina of mud, or the Bahamas music fest that descended into refugee-camp squalor. But where did "late capitalism" come from, and what does it really mean?
In The Atlantic, Annie Lowrey traces an intellectual biography of the term, which first emerged among theorists of the left in the early 20th century. Originally it applied to the postwar era of dominant megacorporations — the age of "what's good for General Motors is good for America." Then the Frankfurt School critics adopted it as a catch-all label for the way modern business co-opts the symbols and ideals of a rebellious culture and recycles them as marketing.
Leftist opponents of Reagan and Thatcher embraced "late capitalism" to describe the excesses of an unfettered free-market ideology. In today's economy, still reeling a decade after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,we've adopted the phrase as a catch-all description for "incidents that capture the tragicomic inanity and inequity of contemporary capitalism," as Lowrey puts it.
Yes, "late capitalism" is a depressing idea. But it does contain one hopeful seed: "Late" implies an end. A more neutral term like "neoliberalism" is open-ended, but "late capitalism" implies a process that builds toward some crisis and, ultimately, a changed world. The phrase opens up a "revolutionary horizon," as one of the scholars Lowery interviews puts it. Beyond that horizon might lie a different kind of capitalism — or something that isn't capitalism at all. Whatever it is, it will be early, with time to evolve and improve.
We're Falling Into the Rich-Poor Gap
Inequality is the most salient characteristic of "late capitalism," and it's only getting more intense over time. Bloomberg ran some new numbers and found that the "rich-poor gap" — the difference in average annual income between households in the top 20 percent and those in the bottom 20 percent — increased by more than $29,000, to $189,000, between 2010 and 2015.
The differences vary among regions and urban areas, with the greatest extremes turning up in "high-tech hubs" like San Francisco, San Jose, Austin and Seattle.
One driver of all this inequality is automation, which cuts into the work available for employees at the low end of the pay scale and adds efficiencies to the businesses owned by those at the high end. Industries most "exposed" to this wave of change include "retail and wholesale trade, transportation and storage, and manufacturing," according to Bloomberg.
The Trump administration has vowed to help middle America's struggling workers, but so far its policies have offered no coherent plan — just complaints about foreign competition and immigrants stealing jobs.
Airbnb Give Up Its Fight With San Francisco
Airbnb announced yesterday that it is settling the lawsuit it had brought against the city of San Francisco and would work with the local government to establish a registry of Airbnb renters and comply with the city's laws (Buzzfeed). The company took San Francisco to court last June, arguing that its rules were too onerous and placed too much of a burden on the platform. Now, Airbnb will arrange with the city for new renters in SF to automatically register with the city when they sign up as Airbnb hosts.
The move eliminates one cloud hanging over Airbnb as it gets ready for an IPO over the next year. It also charts a different course for the so-called sharing economy service than the more aggressive one taken by Uber and Lyft, the ride-hailing companies, which pulled out of doing business in Austin, Texas, rather than comply with new city regulations. Maybe the big platforms are beginning to see local governments as partners, and accept that they have a legitimate role to play protecting consumers and drawing boundaries around acceptable business practices.
Parking Lots Can Be Unpaved, Too
Parking lots take up a lot of room in cities that could be better used for, say, parks. In the long run, as self-driving cars take over, we won't need to devote so much space to lots and garages. But some cities aren't waiting: In Dallas, Chicago, and other cities around the U.S., lots are starting to be "de-paved" and turned into parks, open spaces, and urban farms (FastCoDesign).
The parking-to-park trend isn't just popular among tree-lovers and citizens looking for a fine spot to eat lunch; it's also a good hedge against climate change. The more paved surfaces in town, the more of a "heat island" a city becomes, whereas green spaces help cities cool off and drain excess rainwater, too.
In the past, businesses have often fought to preserve parking, but that's changing, too. Increasingly, small business owners are coming to understand that parks attract the pedestrian traffic that walks in their doors.


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You will be able to buy $10 necklaces, $5-$8 bracelets, $4-$5 earrings
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And this is just necklaces, when you add in earrings, bracelets and lava stones the savings really add up fast. This membership will pay for itself many times over.
We are limiting the number of memberships to 100 and spots are filling up quickly. So, don't miss this opportunity. It may not come around again.
After your order is placed you will receive an email with a login to access the wholesale pricing.


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In my last blog, I talked about Taiwan's history of weak intellectual property protection going back to the days of the "ingenious rascals", the industrial-scale book pirates of Chungking Street in the 1950s and 1960s, but also about the remarkable change that has taken place in recent years as it has climbed the ladder of creativity and innovation. At the same time, I noted concerns expressed by the US copyright industries over a "stalling" of Taiwan's progress in terms of protecting IP, particularly copyright. How serious is this stalling, and what factors are at play? Nothing happens in isolation. The intellectual property situation in Taiwan is affected by broader political developments internally—and has to be viewed in the context of its challenging relations with China.
The China Factor
No discussion of Taiwan can take place without immediately mentioning China; the relationship with its huge mainland cousin is the touchstone of all that happens in Taiwan. China officially regards the regime on Taiwan as a form of renegade state, and considers it a part of China. The recent Taiwan election that brought a new President, Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to power is now making the relationship more complicated. Over the past 8 years of the previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration, Taiwan and China became much more integrated economically, although not politically. This economic dependence has given China a means to influence outcomes in Taiwan, although that influence is now tempered by the current economic slowdown in China.
The Role of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
The new DPP leadership would like to diversify Taiwan's relationships and become less dependent on China. One obvious way to do this would be for Taiwan to be invited to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-country trade bloc that includes the USA, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Brunei, which was signed in February and is currently pending ratification. (Whether it will be approved by the US Congress and supported by whichever candidate becomes President is another question. The current prospects do not look good). China, like Taiwan, is not a member of the TPP trade pact.
While China is unlikely to be willing to take on the high level trade disciplines required of TPP members, Taiwan's situation is different. Among the commitments already agreed to by TPP participating states are several in the area of intellectual property, including the extension of the term of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years. This would require a change in Taiwanese law. Other required changes would include criminal liability for circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) and establishment of ex-officio authority to seize pirated goods. Taiwan has indicated that it is willing to make these changes as part of its TPP commitments, if the TPP comes into force and if it is invited to participate.
China's position on Taiwan's participation has been ambiguous, but it's a pretty good bet that China will discourage the current TPP members from inviting Taiwan to join. What this would mean for strengthened copyright protection in Taiwan is an open question, but if Taiwan does not become a TPP member and consequently fails to update its copyright laws, an opportunity to bring its copyright regime into line with new evolving international standards will have been missed. Taiwan's copyright industries will be the main losers.
Site Blocking
While Taiwan has made considerable progress in the area of IP protection, internet piracy is a recurring major problem, and is a major source of complaint for US copyright industries. But here again, the China factor looms large. Taiwan has an excellent record of "notice and takedown" with respect to domestic websites, with compliance rates of over 95%, but the problem is not created within Taiwan. Instead it comes from websites in China, safely established beyond the reach of the Taiwanese authorities. Site-blocking of such websites would be one solution, and a proposal to introduce a site-blocking mechanism was proposed by the Taiwan IP Office in 2012. This was met with a wave of political opposition in the legislature, driven in part by a political sentiment that blocking content in Taiwan, even copyright-infringing content, was somehow "undemocratic". There was a desire to differentiate Taiwan from China where the "Great Firewall" censors and blocks much content on the internet, including search results and content that the Chinese authorities dislike for political reasons. In the face of this political opposition, the IP Office backed down and withdrew the proposal. There may still be a way to introduce site-blocking for copyright infringement reasons in Taiwan, but the issue is highly political owing largely to Taiwan's unique relationship with China.
Cross-Straits Relations and IP
While relations with China are fraught with potential for rivalry, there is a simultaneous movement to improve relations across the Taiwan Straits in order to dispel misunderstandings. As a result, over 20 bilateral agreements have been signed between China and Taiwan; one of these covers intellectual property cooperation. This agreement provides, among other things, for the copyright accreditation of Taiwanese audio-visual products in the mainland market. Since Taiwan cannot be a signatory to the Berne Convention given its ambiguous legal status, bilateral agreements of this type are the substitute. The agreement also allows the Taiwan authorities to bring to the attention of China the existence of infringing websites targeting consumers in Taiwan, so that remedial action can be taken. To date there has apparently been some limited success in getting the Chinese to tighten surveillance and licensing of such websites, as well as to exert pressure on Chinese set top box (STB) manufacturers producing boxes for the Taiwanese market designed to facilitate infringement. This "Cross-Straits" cooperation is one response offered by the Taiwanese authorities in dealing with complaints from the copyright industries that they are taking insufficient action to attack online piracy.
Other Issues
Taiwan's "three strike policy" with regard to users of infringing content is another area of concern. The government has tried to broker a voluntary system but the sending of notices to violators has broken down and neither the platforms nor the content owners are happy with the situation. There is some hope that as more providers of legitimate content enter the market (Netflix for example, has just launched in Taiwan), there will be less incentive for consumers to seek their content through unlicensed sources, largely based in China.
Copyright Act amendments are another area for discussion. Will Taiwan widen and loosen copyright exceptions, a move that can lead to greater uncertainty and litigation about what is legal use? I was told by Taiwanese officials that they are grappling with the issue of how to differentiate between public transmission and broadcasting, given digital convergence, and how to allow educational institutions to engage legally in distance education. They have also looked at, and discarded, a proposal to introduce a Canadian-style UGC "mash-up" exception, a wise move given the uncertainty that this experimental provision has generated.
Is the copyright glass in Taiwan half-full or half-empty? That depends on your point of view; it's a lot better than it was but not as good as it could be. There is no doubt that there are problems with internet piracy, much of it originating in China, and that the political relationship between Taiwan and China complicates the situation, making enforcement difficult. On the other hand, the degree of economic dependence in its relationship with China provides Taiwan with an incentive to differentiate itself from the mainland, and to seek membership in international trade blocs that require higher standards of IP including copyright protection. Taiwan has come a long way from the bad old days when it was among the global centres of book piracy, but now it has to grapple with new forms of piracy coming from outside its borders, mostly from China, facilitated by the internet.
Taiwan has made remarkable progress over the past half century, most of it in the last 10-15 years, but it cannot afford to rest on its laurels and be complacent. If reforms are "stalled", it is time to make an effort to resume forward momentum. Copyright in the digital era, with new means of infringement and a corresponding need for new forms of protection, is evolving rapidly as technology changes. While Taiwan may not have been placed on USTR's 2016 Special 301 Watch List as recommended by the US copyright industries, if this island of 23 million people wants to continue to be one of Asia's leading knowledge-based innovative and creative economies, it needs to keep up with the emerging challenges (and opportunities) facing the copyright industries.
The prime motivation for Taiwan to effectively deal with new copyright challenges should not be to stay off USTR's Watch List, but rather to improve copyright protection for Taiwan's own benefit and self-interest. In the process it can continue to demonstrate that, as in other areas of public policy, copyright protection in Taiwan is markedly different from what is currently happening in China.
(In 2016, China was once again placed on USTR's Special 301 Priority Watch List).
© Hugh Stephens, 2016. All Rights Reserved.


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There is just one place in South Africa where you can experience the Khomani San culture directly: stay in their guest lodge and hunt with them on foot.
The hunting is not only according to traditional ways, but is practised ethically and sustainably, and accompanied by Bushmen trackers.
READ National parks for all seasons!
Together, the Khomani San and Mier Bushman communities own 50 000ha of land in and around the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape. The land is evenly divided between the two communities and much of it lies inside Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, where it is named the !Ae!Hai Kalahari Heritage Park. They also own a remote bush lodge in the park called !Xaus.
A visionary model
The land owned by the two communities (25 000ha each) is in the south-western section of the iconic Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and managed contractually for the two communities by SANParks.
It's a visionary community conservation model, and so was the proclamation of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in 1999, brokered by Peace Parks Foundation. It's the first transfrontier park in Africa, three million hectares that join together the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and Botswana's Gemsbok National Park into a vast, single conservation area.
Astounding success
Dirk Pienaar, tourism officer for the Khomani San, says something meaningful has been started from nothing by Peace Parks Foundation, which manages the 'Khomani San living in Peace' project, sponsored by Rotary International and the German government, as well as the South African National Lotteries Commission.
There has been capacity-building and job creation, especially around Erin Game Ranch, which is the flagship project of the Khomani San.
Camp staff, hunting guides, trackers and skinners have all been employed in this highly successful hunting farm venture.
Katrina Koper is one of the Erin wildlife rangers and says she has "had lots of other jobs, but this one is by far the best. I have learnt so much here and I keep learning every day."
Manager Charl Page says the game farm of 6 000ha, which lies outside Kgalagadi, is "the success story of the Khomani San". One of eight farms, it totals about 46 000ha, handed over to the Khomani San when they won their historic land claim in 1999, in compensation for being relocated out of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park when it was proclaimed. The other seven farms are still to be developed.
"Sure, there were challenges rehabilitating Erin from a stock farm into a game farm," says Page, "but now it is all going well and the farm is a money-producing project for the Khomani San. It is also sustainable game farming that I think will just keep growing, because we work on a formula to know how many animals to take off each year."
Visitors who return to Erin camp after a hunt laud the camp staff, trackers, skinners and butchers, which include over 50 temporary and permanent staff in total, and say all the staff are brilliantly trained and qualified.
READ How to profit from a small hunting operation
Page explains that Erin is a special experience for hunters. "All hunting is on foot, accompanied by traditional Bushmen trackers, so wildlife is respected and has a fair chance. There is such a demand from hunters that some of the other farms will soon also be developed, and create more employment in the process."
They are considering developing a trophy-hunting farm and a game-breeding farm for which SANParks is willing to donate game. "Wildlife here is a different gene pool, which is highly saleable."
Down the road in the Kgalagadi, manager of the park, Steven Smith, says Peace Parks Foundation has made it easy for them to assist.
The park has been assisting with ranger training and community projects. Capacity- building is important so that the community can run projects themselves. Outside of the winter hunting season, Erin will be used for game-viewing and tourism.
The Khomani San World Heritage Landscape, the ninth in South Africa, was included by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in July 2017. It covers the whole of the South African side of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
"If it weren't for our sponsors and supporters, little would have happened," says Page.
"They picked up the community. Without them it wouldn't have been such a good story. But with their help, we aim to make Erin the best game farm in South Africa and in so doing help the Khomani San to live sustainably."
The Rotary Foundation has made additional funding available for capacity-building and skills development for the next three years.
Teaching tradition
Due to improved rainfall during the past season, the grass is green, tall and thick, which makes tracking and hunting difficult. Tannie (aunt) Lys Kruiper, a respected elder and teacher who works at the Imbewu veld school, which teaches Bushmen children about their heritage and traditions, agrees that the long grass makes it difficult to find tracks in the sand to show the children, and to teach them tracking.
"The grass is just so tall, but we will try again tomorrow. Today I will teach them about bush food and dancing instead."
The veld school is open during school holidays.
Tracking, hunting, storytelling, dancing and traditional bush medicine knowledge is handed down to the children in the oral tradition.
"There's another veld school for elders," explains Oupa (grandfather) Jan Pieterse,
a member of the community. "They get together monthly and head into the veld to refresh their knowledge."
Dreadlocked Pieterse, who is known by the community as Oupa Jan and whose name was bestowed and is no indication of his age, says his great wish is "for the veld school to grow and transfer our Bushmen knowledge to all South Africans, so they can learn from us how to survive and live in nature".
A traditional healer, he has another dream: to make the medicinal garden at Witdraai, where Devil's Claw and Sutherlandia are planted, sustainable, so it can support the veld school and other projects in the area.
"Then, the next thing is to have a shop for our people to display and sell their crafts, so they can make an income," Pieterse says.
Remote escape
To enjoy the Kalahari night skies and perfect desert stillness, visitors can head to !Xaus lodge. Getting there, however, requires traversing 90 sand dunes in a 4×4, but !Xaus guide Koos Visser knows every dune by nature.
He collects guests at the pick-up point and transfers them via 4×4 along the slow roller-coaster ride, dune after dune, to the lodge.
"Do you see the heart shape?" asks Visser as he stands at !Xaus Lodge overlooking the dry red pan below.
"Look at the indentation on the right side of the pan and you'll see it clearly."
!Xaus means 'heart' in Nama, and the pan marks the very place where the vast tracts of land owned by the Khomani San and Mier communities meet. The lodge is jointly theirs too.
Red dune driving
"Everything you need is right here," Visser remarks while driving amongst the Kalahari red dunes. "The Kalahari is an outdoor supermarket if you know where to look. There's a broom bush for sweeping lying over there, you can brush your hair with that spiky Gemsbok melon just next to it in the sand, and when you are finished grooming, you can eat it. Inside is a full meal of food and water."
He points a little further across the dune to a Shepherd Bush.
"The gnarled roots of that make good coffee, but you do need some imagination."
During a slow drive back to !Xaus Lodge, Visser speaks lyrically about life in the desert, his home space.
"Out here, it's open. There are lots of stars and it's quiet, with just the sound of birds and animals calling at night. There's no signal for cell phones or DSTV; nature is your entertainment."
That's exactly what people love most about coming here. It's for true lovers of wilderness and remote places.
Unique offerings
A unique selling point of this Kgalagadi area is that visitors can truly participate in an experience with the community.
It's authentic and there are unusual offerings for non-hunters, like a home stay in a traditional dwelling, seeing and hearing the stories of heritage trees and the old cave jail, and tasting local food.
Conservation firsts
"It's really important to integrate all these elements into the current tourism and hunting operations," says Dr Moscow Marumo, Peace Parks Foundation head of the community development programme.
"This is the only place in South Africa where you can directly experience the Bushmen culture, so it's a truly unique project."
The Khomani San project is also one of numerous firsts in the area, since Kgalagadi Tranfrontier Park was the first transfrontier park to be declared in Africa.
And with the Bushmen being the first inhabitants of South Africa, hunting with them is an unmatched authentic experience.
Visit peaceparks.org. To book a hunting trip at Erin, email [email protected].


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Tree ferns were a firm plant hunter's favourite from Victorian times, a symbol of wealth and travel experiences to Australia. They have maintained this sense of mystique ever since. Now you too can grow these surprisingly easy exotic looking plants too.
Harvested under strict License from woodland clearance in Australia and Tasmania, and in very short supply this season, these astonishing plants really will delight and amaze. They grow under the woodland canopy, in the shade, so grow them here in a sheltered spot too. These '3 foot' (60cm) logs are at least 25 years old, and have been cut back and harvested dormant. When you water them via the top crown, they will burst back into life, like it's the new rainy season!
Because they grow in leaf canopies, most of their food comes from leaves falling into their giant shuttlecock like fronds, funnelling the goodness into the growing crown. Feed and water this crown - rainwater is best if you can collect it.
Even at this size of log, new fronds of 1M in length will unfurl spectacularly within a Month or so of you watering it. The plant is hardy down to -5 in winter, although the fronds will die back. Cutting these off when they die back is what creates the new trunk, which slowly inches up over many, many years.
Keep the crown protected in winter with a layer of straw to keep cold and wet out. When you get it home, plant it in a big pot, or in the garden soil. It takes almost 2 years to root in, so do not be alarmed by this slow growing beauty.
Your tree fern will thrive in a sheltered, humid and shaded position, with plenty of room to spread
For best results, plant in humus-rich, neutral to slightly acid soil.
Planting Advice for Dicksonia antarctica
Aftercare Advice for your Tree Fern
Winter protection


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I'm doing National Novel Writing Month again this year. I started in 2011, where I completed the challenge by rambling 50,000 words of useless nonsense about a reluctant Djinn and … a guy? …Who wishes for his wife's boobs to be bigger? I think? I'm not sure. It got weird.
I skipped 2012 intentionally, as I had a lot of other projects I wanted to work on and didn't want the disappointment of failing. Turns out the disappointment of not even trying wasn't much of an improvement. So I resolved to go for it again last year, and barely squeaked out my 50K on a fantasy/detective hybrid thing. Again, I didn't outline the plot (though I did a ridiculous amount of world building prep) and it turns out writing a mystery/noir thriller without a very clear idea where the plot is going is Not A Good Idea. So I finished—from a NaNo perspective—but, as with the Djinn story, it didn't get any further than that. I may revisit the fantasy/noir later; it's shelved for now.
Now this year I'm back at it. If you're following along on Twitter you may have noticed me griping late last month about trying to come up with a project idea. I had a few concept seeds that seemed like they might be worth exploring in a longer format, but I had a hard time making them mesh in any cohesive way. I toyed with crime story frameworks, science fiction trappings, angsty YA-lit variants, all sorts of things to make something click. Eventually I settled on a horror/supernatural story and set out trying to outline the thing.


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Binayak Sen urges 'intolerant' Bengal to change policies
In the wake of the forcible eviction of people from slums in eastern Kolkata, human rights activist Binayak Sen Friday accused the West Bengal government of being "intolerant" and urged it to change its policies to provide people a better living.
"The basis of our democracy is that there should be tolerance for dissent. Where there is no tolerance, there is no democracy. The state should be sympathetic to them but on the contrary it is increasing their sorry plight," said Sen who visited the Nonadanga area.
"It is a matter of shame in which the people are being treated. They do not have access to drinking water, distribution of food grains through public distribution system, schools and medical facilities," he said and promised medical facilities to the families living there.
Sen also criticised the government for arresting the slum dwellers who had been protesting against their eviction.
He also rubbished claims by the government of involvement of Maoists in the protests, saying: "Referring to people as Maoists is a shortcut which the state is using against the people."
Sen had earlier also been critical of the government for displacing the dwellers.
"It (eviction) is a great tragedy and a great crime committed. It is really inhumane on the part of the government to displace the people without providing viable alternative and livelihood options," Sen had said Sunday.
The evictees announced they would bring out a rally in the city and meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on May 17 demanding shelter and proper rehabilitation for the families living in the slum.
The activist urged the people from all sections of society to come out and support the residents in their struggle.
The area has witnessed trouble since March 30 after nearly 130 families were evicted from the slum because of an ongoing project of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
Related articles
- On the situation in Nonadanga – Pamphlet by Uchched Pratirodh Committee (kractivist.wordpress.com)
- Joint Statement on Forcible Eviction and Police Brutalities in Kolkata (kractivist.wordpress.com)
- Petition protesting Nonadanga evictions and arrest of activists (kractivist.wordpress.com)


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Posted June, 2012
If you're a fan of adult contemporary, "easy listening", jazz, new age or world music, and are avid listeners of radio stations that play those genres of music, then there's a very good chance that you have heard Steve Oliver.
This jazz guitar phenomenon has to his career credits: eight albums,; eight top 30 singles; named "Debut Artist of 2000"; was the headliner Playboy Jazz Festival – Rose Bowl 2005; top critics picked his album, 3D, as the top jazz album in 2004 and his Radiant album in 2006 and was nominated International Artist of the Year the same year.
More recently, Steve scored two number one Billboard hits from his critically acclaimed CD, Global Kiss, with the title cut and with Fun in the Sun. As if all of that isn't enough to make anyone who loves any kind of music to stand up and take notice, Oliver also collaborated with Carvin Guitar in the manufacturing of a very technologically advanced guitar synthesizer that he designed. The signature line is enjoying success among the more adventurous and talented guitarists.
I was introduced to Steve by our mutual friend, Rob Parissi. Oliver had worked on Rob's last CD, East Coast Vibe, after interviewing Rob about the album, I mentioned that I wanted to chat with Steve whenever he released a new album.
Well, that time has come with Oliver's recent release, World Citizen, which is already enjoying great airplay and sales. I reached Steve at his California recording studio. Before we got down to chatting about World Citizen, I ask the synth guitar wiz why on earth would he associate with such a character as our mutual, good friend, Rob Parissi (all in jest, of course).
"He's a character! I just love him! We get on the phone and chit chat, as you probably know. It's crazy! His manager, Amanda Tilk – who's a doll – I was just talking to her and she said that Rob wants to do an instrumental . He loves contemporary jazz. He always has been a fan of it. It turns out that he's a fan of mine.
"So, I said, 'tell him to call me! Please!' It was that simple. As soon as I said that, I get a phone call ten minutes later from Rob and it's been a lovefest ever since!"
I love Steve's, World Citizen and you can read my review of it here. I wanted to hear more about how the album came together and how long it took.
"Well, you know, you always work on these for a long time. I'm involved in every aspect of it – from the writing to the production. I play a lot of the instruments on the album, too. I always have albums for the next three years mapped out. I'm very prolific. I'm constantly writing and never stop.
"I had the concept from Global Kiss and wanted to continue that same journey because we had two number ones on Billboard. I just loved the theme of world – kind of global world theme. So, I had the concept of World Citizen already mapped out and was writing music from that standpoint. I like to have a theme and then write from there. I'm a diverse artist and I love many styles so I try to do all of that under an umbrella of a world citizen kind of vibe – world music, global themes, try Middle Eastern things.
"The writing process is what it is. It does take time as does the production. Then, you start stripping things away and trying different things. So, it's about a good year and a half of kind of digesting it, living with it and then getting away from it a little bit and then coming back to it. Then, you have 'fresh ears'. It takes time for the songs to be birthed.
"It really stems from passion, really. My whole vibe is a real positive vibe. That's real important to me so whatever song I'm writing, I want to keep that feel good positivity vibe in there with all the songs that I do – or get real 'depthful'. Design – I have a whole other album on the backburner – it's called Sojourn- which is all guitar music of that Design concept. The whole album is that kind of vibe. I was going to put that out before this album but we had such success with Global Kiss, I wanted to keep that going."
As Oliver and I discussed the world music genre, the name of Gary Wright came up. I mentioned to Steve that I thought it would be great to see the two of them work together either on stage or in the studio. Oliver offered that, "I actually put that out there (to Wright's people) because I think it would be a good combination, you know?"
Did you hear that, Mr. Wright?
Then, almost as an afterthought, Steve added, "I've been working with some of the rock guys like Rik Emmett, the guitarist from Triumph. We did a gig this year together. He was a fan of mine and I didn't know that. Again, we're just talking backstage and hanging out and we just really hit it off as people. Then, he wanted to come up and play with me during my set. I was, like, 'Absolutely!' And I've been writing some tunes and sending them to him on maybe doing a future thing together. So, yeah, there's all sorts of that going on, which I love!"
Since we were on the subject, I asked Steve if there was anyone else he would like to work with in some capacity.
"Oh, god! Peter Gabriel because I love Peter's forward thinking with his music. That's kind of how I think. The same thing with Pat Metheny. He's the same way. Very forward thinking. They don't just keep putting out the same thing. They really explore and I've always loved artists like that do music for that reason. John Mayer would be another one. John is so diverse. I love diverse artists. I don't like artists that are just one thing. I think the Beatles are the most diverse band ever. Their music is all over the map. And, what happens, when you grow up with that thinking about all this music coming from one band. That's what I loved about the Beatles because they were diverse. Talking about a benchmark to stand on.
"So, musically, that's what I always strive for when I'm looking for artists I like and artists I want to work with. So, yeah, definitely Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon – those guys who are great songwriters themselves and great artists. Pat Metheny on the jazz side. I'd love to do something with him. God, there's just so many! The sky's the limit."
As we exchanged names of people we really like listening to, Oliver shared that "I buy stuff every day. That's the thing: I'm a big music advocate. I'm buying stuff on iTunes all the time! I'm addicted. I buy probably a couple of things a day."
Reading over the credits of World Citizen, Steve shows an impressive line-up of jazz whiz kids who helped him with the album. I asked him to tell me about them and how he came to know them.
"Well, Tom Schuman from Spyro Gyra, he's the most amazing keyboard player. He's unbelievable. In fact, I just played and sang on five of his songs on his new record. You've got to check it out. He's amazing. Tom has played on all of my albums since my second solo album and I've got eight now. I've been working with Tom for a long time and just love working with him. As a fan, I just contacted him many years ago.
"Some of the other guys I've used like Paul Taylor, the great sax player in contemporary jazz. I played on his new single which is still on the charts right now. It's a really good track called Horizon. I sang and played on that. So, I did a trade. I played on his record and he played on mine.
"I also worked with Billy Sherwood from the band, Yes. He was in the band for about ten years – he's not with them anymore. Billy's the same way. I wanted to get some rock guys that know and understand contemporary jazz. He's a fan of the format. It was perfect timing. I called him. He'd just finished doing the John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) solo album. Billy's a big producer. He's produced all the be prog rock guys. I'm a big prog rocker fan already. I was in prog bands in the eighties. That's what I used to write. I used to always be the lead singer and do prog! Nobody knows that but now they do!"
When I asked Oliver what the response has been so far to World Citizen, he said, "Well, it's been out not even a month yet and we're already in the top sales chart on Amazon. It's been in the top five for almost the whole month. It's been crazy. It's selling really well. The single is already number sixteen on the chart. It's doing the best that it can do. I am not complaining at all! Our radio promoter is doing an amazing job on radio."
Since he mentioned the subject of radio, I asked Steve what his experience has been within the current state of the radio market in general.
"It's definitely changed. There's more places to go for people, which I think is great. There's actually more internet stations, more satellite, which I listen to all the time, too. But, yeah, it's definitely changed but there's still just as much out there as there always was. It's just that people have more choices. They're not stuck to just FM. For the genre, the people that listen to this music, they're pretty much the late thirties to sixties is our age group. They got used to FM. Now, since it's changed, FM's having a hard time. It's just not working like it used to.
"So, now, the internet's creeping up and catering more to the locals. Every city should have an internet station because you can! Then, cater to the locals. That way, you'll get more listeners because it's about the local area. I've been telling radio stations whenever I do radio stuff, 'you've got to cater to your locals - don't just play the music. You've got to be more personable. Radio has gotten so far away from being personable.
"There's still a lot of places for music to be spun and they all have to report now. The internet stations didn't used to have to report what their playlist was. Now, all of that's changed. They have to, by law, you have to turn in what you're playing. With my new single, that's what makes it rise on the charts. The more spins you get, you climb the charts. It's cool to still see that flourishing – that's still with internet and with satellite. They're all kind of merged together now instead of being separate entities. It needed to happen that way. If we had to rely just on FM, we'd be in trouble."
With eight albums now under his belt, I asked Oliver how has this album been different in putting together compared to his other albums – especially the earlier ones.
"I've been blessed because having a producer mind and being an artist that's very involved, they always gave me carte blanche. They let me do what I do which is very rare when you're on a label. They pretty much dictate. That's been great. My whole career that's what's been happening and it's been wonderful!
"Now, it's awesome because you can take as much time as you want and put out as much as you want and there's no limit. I can work with as many people as I want. There's no restrictions now. You can 'sell out of your own car', creating your own vibe. That's what I hope will get more passionate artists again really wanting to do music – not for the money but doing it because they have to do it. That's what's going to make for better music.
"I'm excited about that aspect because, instead of everyone just wanting to be a star, we're going to get, hopefully, more passionate artists because you've got to work hard now. You've got to know a lot more. Kids are starting to figure that out. 'Oh man, I've got to book the shows. I've got to write the tunes.' You've got to kind of be everything now and I think that's a good thing because they're going to put their heart and soul behind it instead of, 'I want to get signed' then they do it all for you and you don't make anything."
This is obviously something that Steve has given a lot of thought to and feels very passionate about because he then chimed in with his thoughts about the plethora of talent shows that have saturated TV.
"That's what I think this American Idol thing and all these talent shows – which, I don't know, I'm not sold on them because, again, without that machine, they're going to be famous for fifteen minutes. Once that 'machine' drops out, they're gone and there's nothing to sustain it. But, if you're doing it 'grass roots' like Phil Keaggy's done and all these guys – they're doing it because they have to do it because it's part of their soul and they're doing it for the right reasons. Whereas a lot of these artists now – young artists are being presented with American Idol thinking – 'I want to be a star' instead of 'I need to do this. It's part of my being'.
I haven't had the privilege of catching a Steve Oliver show yet so I asked him what can audiences expect from one of his shows.
"Innovation. I use a guitar that I helped create with Carvin – the guitar company – that I can play keyboard sounds from the guitar. It's a big part of my show. In fact, I demonstrate it in every show I do so people know what I'm doing. It's so unique and nobody's doing this which is really weird to me because the technology's out there but I don't see a lot of artists using it.
"I create orchestra sounds, pianos, flutes – anything a keyboard player can play I can play on the guitar and I'm playing the guitar at the same time. It's a combination of both – along with my singing and the wordless singing – so it's a real unique kind of show and it has the innovation with guitar technology which I think is real important to put out there. It's part of my mission. In fact, Design – you mentioned that song – all those guitar sounds are from my synth guitar. I create these sounds and then I work on them and then write songs with certain sounds to create the song. It's a big part of what I do live and, so, I like to demonstrate it. It's really, really fun and I think the audience really embraces that because it invites them in to what you're doing."
Our time was up but, since Steve was on the subject of guitars, my last questions to him was if there is a guitar that he considers the 'holy grail" that he either owns or would like to own.
"You know what? I'm kind of playing it – my holy grail – because I helped create it. I always wanted a guitar that can do many things. It has this Les Paul kind of style and it's, basically, three guitars in one. It's an electric, it's an acoustic and it's my synth and I can trigger all three of those things at the same time. So, that's kind of like my holy grail – my Carvin. Carvin's a great company. In fact, I'm doing some show clinics for them next month."
Check out Steve Oliver's synthesizer guitar wizardry on his latest CD, World Citizen. While you're at it, visit his website, SteveOliverMusic.com and see when he's going to be performing in or near your town. He's sure to blow you away!


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By request, we explore the Chrongaming mini-craze
So, I feel that it's really important to preface this post with the disclaimer that this episode is a Kickstarter backer request (one of the last in the slushpile). I mention this because otherwise this episode will seem almost offensive self-indulgent and navel-gazing. While many Kickstarter backers requested we tackle one of a variety of episode topics, Sean Clements had but one demands: Talk about chrongaming.
Chrongaming, of course, would be the practice of exploring a console's entire library in chronological order; the best-known venture out there is Dr. Sparkle's Chrontendo, which catalogs the history of Nintendo's NES/Famicom in exhaustive detail. So of course we asked the good doctor to join us again, following on from his appearance in our very first Kickstarted episode. (Although as we learn here, Dr. Sparkle calls it "chronogaming," not "chrongaming." Live and learn, Sean!) Less famous, but rather closer to home, is my very own Game Boy World project, which aims to do the same thing as Chrontendo, except for the Game Boy platform, which is much less popular as a retrogaming topic than the NES. Even Dr. Sparkle wanted nothing to do with it!
So, needless to say, it's the two of us and Bob jabbering about our own work for 80 minutes. Or airing out our sick personal obsessions, if you prefer. My apologies to all, but the people demanded it. Or at least one person. The tyranny of crowdfunding, eh?
Can a podcast be self-indulgent if the topic was provided by someone else? The famous Dr. Sparkle joins us to fulfill Sean Clements' Kickstarter topic request: Chrongaming. Join us as we psychoanalyze our own obsessive-compulsive behavior!
Listen or download here:
Libsyn (1:52:00 | MP3 Download) | SoundCloud | Subscribe on iTunes | RSS | Support the show on Patreon
Music in the episode comes from NES "brototype" game Shatterhand, which I've never really played... but damn does that soundtrack rock.


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