“The ABC of Tactical Media”

“The ABC of Tactical Media,” by Garcia and Lovink, give a great inside explanation of what Tactical Media is all about.  It’s about getting your hands dirty, but rising up to become the hunter rather than the hunted.  Bringing new ideas and not afraid to have the power.  Tactical Media seems to me, to be a lot more real than the mainstream media of today.  Challenging and changing this known mainstream media, they take a more forward approach, which gives them that strategic flare that they speak of.  Taking a digital stand, and using the texts ”tactically,” as stated in the reading, may cause a crisis for themselves (depending on the situation), but it’s worth it in the end due to the nature of Tactical Media.  It may just give a look into what was once known as mainstream media and what could become mainstream media (maybe it already has in a sense…the reading was done in 1997).

  http://www.williamlmoore.com/images/advanced/abc%20of%20tactical%20media.pdf

“Free Software as Collaborative Text”

“Free Software as Collaborative Text,” by Florian Cramer, gave a better understanding to what Free Software entailed.  I already had an idea of it due to class discussion about Open Source and all that, but given the history and a well explained definition of Free Software in the article was much more informative.  It’s definitely true that Free Software has helped to spring forth this internet that we have and all the things people can do with the software.  I may not understand code well, but I do know that it’s very big to keep free software open to everyone so that it can keep building and be added on and improved by not just one person, but many.  There’s always the saying “Two heads are better than one,” well millions or however many are contributing to this is definitely better at improving something than just one person working on it.  It may even happen faster because of it, we all have our own way of thinking, and it’s a big help when making corrections or coming up with ideas.  Free Software is definitely a good thing to have regardless of the objections or the ones trying to charge money to use it.  It should remain free, just as the internet was created to begin with.  There’s no reason for everything to become a buisness opportunity for all those money grubbers.

Relax and read for yourself:

 http://www.williamlmoore.com/images/advanced/free_software_as_text.pdf