The simple difference between an "s" and a "z" is a small but vital representation of the theme for issue 2.1 of Libre Graphics magazine. While the two letters sound the same when used in words like "localisation" and "internationalization," the cultural baggage attached to them differs. They indicate the way small regional differences are played out, the way choices are made on national and regional levels, for reasons of culture, heritage or simply backlash.
In software, localisation and internationalisation go hand in hand, with internationalisation forming the framework into which localisation is slotted. Creating a piece of software representing a notional no-place allows customisation, serving very real some-places. In technology, art, design and everyday life, we see countless examples of artefacts walking the line between localisation and internationalisation. From the no-place, wordless, pictorial instructions for assembling flat-pack furniture to the clothing hang tag written in six languages, we find different tactics for coping with our small world.
We're looking for work, both visual and textual, exploring issues of regionalisation, localisation, internationalisation and globalisation. Whether it's the cultural differences in the significance of colour, or the unique problems of non-latin type, we want to hear about and see it. We invite submissions for articles, showcases, interviews and anything else you might suggest. Proposals for submissions (no need to send us the completed work right away) can be sent to submissions@libregraphicsmag.com. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2012.
Localisation/Internationalization is the first issue in volume two of Libre Graphics magazine. Libre Graphics magazine is a print publication devoted to showcasing and promoting work created with Free/Libre Open Source Software. We accept work about or including artistic practices which integrate Free, Libre and Open software, standards, methods and licenses.
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Today marks the final day of the third CulturaDigital.Br festival. In attending talks and Experience Sharing sessions, two things struck me: hackerspaces are wildly popular and people are still surprised that RFID technology has drawbacks. There's something linking the two together. That something is the degree of techno-optimism still present in the DIY, hacker, maker and digital culture communities.
We see brilliant technologies being used by large organizations, often against us or simply to make a profit, and we want a piece of the technology for ourselves. So we get hold of it, we hack with it, we build our own interventions. And this feels significant. It is significant. It matters deeply that people are able to feel ownership over technologies that will only become more enmeshed in their daily lives. It's brilliant to see such enthusiasm and so much effort being put into social change through technological intervention.
The problem, as briefly highlighted by Mimi Hui of NYC Resistor, who presented on the security risks of RFID (Radio-frequency Identification), is that we don't often enough turn our interest in technology back on itself. We spend so much of our time doing interesting things with technology that we often fail to direct an intelligent, critical eye towards the tools of our production. This has been said before. It has been said by many people. But it continually fails to sink in.
Instead, we leave the job to the popular media, eager to jump on every new development and criticize it with little depth. For our intelligent criticism, we look, most often, to security researchers and academics, if we look anywhere at all. But those researchers are, more often than not, not us. They are not the ones attempting to own technologies, to make change with those technologies, to use them for purposes at turns casual and grand.
We leave the critique of our technologies to outsiders, instead of doing it ourselves. Things like the Maker's Bill of Rights approach the problem. Yet we continue with our techno-utopianism. We build for fun, or we build for change. Both are wonderful. But perhaps, though it's been said before, we need to spend a moment, every time we sit down at the bench to produce something, thinking about the ramifications of our actions. In spending a moment to take a holistic view, we might give ourselves some perspective, and some power. We might take the power to criticize out of the hands of those who do not use our tools. We might put that power into our own hands.
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Here are about as many reindeer as I can fit into a 24"x12" space. Why that size? Because these reindeer are being prepared for laser cutting. Next week, I'll be making a small herd of corrugated cardboard reindeer. If you're in Toronto, you can join me. I'll be leading a holiday laser cutter workshop at ThingTank. We'll be building cool ornaments out of paper and cardboard, with the help of our friendly laser cutter. It's going to be pretty darn fun, and free, too.
On top of the forefinger, I've sewn a patch of conductive fabric. 
The thumb has conductive fabric as well. When they touch, the two patches of conductive fabric close the circuit...
Which makes the LEDs on the knuckles light up. Because my thumb naturally covers my forefinger when I grip the handlebars, assuming my normal riding posture is enough to turn the LEDs on. Which means that, as long as my batteries are charged up, the gloves light up when I'm riding and turn off when I'm not. All with about six dollars of components, a cheap pair of gloves and some time. 
Several months later than anticipated (but good things are worth waiting for), my Libre Graphics magazine colleagues and I have finally released Libre Graphics magazine issue 1.3. And it's pretty great. I think it may well be the nicest one yet. There's some beautiful layout work, the cover is just plain incredible and our guest editors did a brilliant job of finding appropriate people to write on the topic, "Collaboration, collaboratively." Mosey over to libregraphicsmag.com to check it out. (Oh, and we've prettied up the website to match the issue, something we'll be continuing for future issues, too.)
