The Tactical Technology Collective's aim is to advance the use of new technologies as a tactical tool for civil-society in developing and transition countries. We are a not-for-profit stichting (foundation) based in Amsterdam.

Drupal 4.6 was released yesterday and anybody interested in "podcasting" will be happy to note that one of the new features that it provides is native support for RSS 2.0. In other words, the first file that is attached to nodes will be referenced in enclosures included in any/all relevant RSS feeds that are generated.

Another interesting development for the podcasting community is that there has also been a "CreativeCommons" module developed for Drupal recently. While this is still in the CVS tree, I have tried it out and it totally rocks.

Lastly, I'll mention that a new "media" module makes it easy to setup websites that allow users to build and then stream playlists based on uploaded content.

I can't help imagine some of the alternative broadcasting platforms that are made possible by these improvements alone, not to mention all of the other great community-building modules that already exist for Drupal.

En appuie aux étudiants en grève au Québec un carré rouge de 103 pixels représente bien leur cause. Le code à insérer sur votre site :
<img src="http://photos5.flickr.com/7430730_d394009cb0_m.jpg">

Two of the original top three items on my "Drupal Wishlist" have already been tackled by the Drupal community. I can't believe it. Wow!

This time the big news is the release of a Creative Commons module for Drupal. Sure, there may be a few small issues to iron out but I love it! From the module page...

The Creative Commons module allows users to select and assign a Creative Commons license to a node and any attached content. Additionally, the site admin can select a license to assign to the entire site.


This module uses the Creative Commons api (api.creativecommons.org) and can update when new Creative Commons licenses are available (for example, the more recent sampling licenses). Admins can restrict the licenses available to users, as well as require specific metadata be included.

Thanks go out to digibike and whoever else may have helped with this.

Here is an MP3 recording (21Mb - CreativeCommons) of a seminar on Free & Open Source Software that I attended last night at Atwater Library.

Here's the promo that they put out...

What is Free Software? Open Source? It’s email, internet, word processing, spreadsheets, website design, graphic manipulation, presentations, audio, video, operating systems…you can get Free Software for all of these applications. Why don’t you try it? This interactive seminar will introduce the hows and whys, and give a brief overview of some of the most popular free software available for your computer. Presented jointly by FACIL-pour l'appropriation collective de l'information libre, and the Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Monday, February 21st, 2005 from 7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.

What is Free Software? Open Source? It’s email, internet, word processing, spreadsheets, website design, graphic manipulation, presentations, audio, video, operating systems…you can get Free Software for all of these applications. Why don’t you try it? This interactive seminar will introduce the hows and whys, and give a brief overview of some of the most popular free software available for your computer. Presented jointly by FACIL-pour l'appropriation collective de l'information libre, and Atwater Library and Computer Centre.

How might communities draw upon various Information and Communication Technologies to elaborate collaborative development practices, drawing on what we've learned from our experience with ICTs over the previous 10 years?
Guest: Currently we are in conversation with different people to be guests for the evening.

Communities are faced with decisions regarding ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies). This cafe aims to bring together community organisers, technologists and citizens to discuss the related opportunites and difficulties.

This is part of the University of the Streets Cafe series.

The most significant project that I am involved in at the moment is the creation and consolidation of an activist-geek-worker's-coop in Montreal called Koumbit. The ultimate goal is to have two legal entities: a non-profit that allows organisations and individuals to pool resources and influence the development of the communications technologies that we are all increasingly dependent on; and a worker's coop that enables geeks to make a living while working within a technologically sophisticated AND progressive context. So far, we probably have a dozen or so highly skilled geeks involved in the project (a hard core of a half-dozen at any given point in time) and we have legal status in Quebec as a non-profit.

So what is Koumbit? Well, it depends on who you ask, but one thing is for sure, it is a project worth watching.

Most people equate downloadable audio files and portable MP3 players with music. Unfortunately, this entirely misses what I consider to be a much more socially and politically powerful phenomenon, the recording and podcasting of conference sessions and conference calls. If you haven't discovered sites like ITConversations.com yet, then it is time you do.

While it has been both convenient and fun for me to have my music in MP3 format and to listen to it with my portable MP3 player, the effect that this has had on my quality-of-life pales in comparison to the impact that listening to ITConversations has had.

It's essentially like encrypted Hotmail. From their site...

"Hushmail is a Web-based e-mail service that lets you send and receive email in total security. Hushmail messages, and their attachments, are encrypted using Open PGP standard algorithms. These algorithms, combined with Hushmail's unique key management system, offer users unrivalled levels of security. Hushmail's security is end-to-end; messages are encrypted before leaving the sender's computer and remain encrypted until after they arrive on the recipient's machine, where the contents are automatically decrypted.
Hushmail's encryption works automatically, transparently and seamlessly, requiring no specialized computer skills or knowledge.