Look what I found in my junk drawer!
Spring cleaning ... Ah, yes. That time of the year when we sort through the junk drawer in the kitchen, organize and file paperwork, and dust the china. I've done a little spring cleaning myself. My "Bookmarks" is like the junk drawer in your kitchen. For 365 days I have been throwing in cool website, useful websites, and the totally unnecessary websites. Here are some that I'm definitely keeping in my bookmarks:
Cool websites:
Blog site filled with software and internet tips. With posts like "1 Awesome Gmail tip You Don't know about. Seriously" to "4 Firefox addons= 6 Solutions to Popular problems" it's difficult not to click on the posts and get lost within the blogsite.
One of our Project Managers came to me with a request to purchase these notebooks and pads designed specifically for creative individuals. After checking them out, and recently adopting the GTD method, I had to have one. They are awesome. And so is the Behance website. Check out the website for cool articles within the creative industry, focusing on graphic design, entrepreneurship, web development, art direction, and lots more.
Useful websites:
Creative Commons is a non-profit org dedicated to helping individuals and small companies protect their work on the web.
"Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control — a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which “all rights reserved” (and then some) is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy — a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise, and moderation — once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally — have become endangered species."
Recently we revisited our BOA and "revamped" (as our attorney likes to call it) our intellectual property clause. There were several issues to who owns what? Is this a work made for hire ... does the client or the consultant own the code ... will there be a license involved ... what are the industry standards!? This site takes you through the set of conditions to take into consideration when thinking about protecting your work. Avoid exploitation -- always think of the worst case scenario and do what you can to protect yourself (or your company) from being taken advantage of. Which leads me to the next site:
"Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) claim by artist who claims her artwork "Reflecting Tips, 2001" was desecrated when grounds crew used weed whackers on the lawn the art was situated on."
Yahoo! had selected artist Sharon Louden to create a work of visual art on the grounds of Yahoo's campus. After the artwork was completed, Yahoo! and Louden signed off on several documents including Copyright agreements in exchange for Yahoo's Art Agreement to actively maintain and protect the artists work. The summary above explains why the two are in court. Louden claims the artwork was intentionally destroyed by some of Yahoo's staff and this is in direct violation of the Art Agreement. According to an article by the Wall Street Journal (It's Yahoo's Lawn, But This Artist Says Keep Off The Grass) regarding prior precedents set, "many courts had ruled that owners were within their rights to repaint or remove public works ... Congress passed the law after the federal government was criticized for using welding torches to remove a 120-foot-long Richard Serra sculpture from Manhattan's Federal Plaza. (The job was done in the middle of the night.)" Yahoo! has filed for stipulation to extend time and the lawsuit is currently pending.
What was this blog about? ... ahhh, yes ... let's move to the totally Unnecessary sites:
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/map-puzzles.htm
Yes, there was a time when I didn't know every capital and city in the Middle East. Thanks to yourchildlearns.com, I can successfully map the country and city using the free interactive maps. It's easy, yet so unnecessary to have bookmarked. (I'm keeping it).
http://www.essortment.com/britishslangw_rcnt.htm
Don't you hate it when your British friend emails you and use phrases like: "I'm going to assume lauren was taking the piss." No worries ... your definition of British slang can be found in alphabetical order on essortment.com.
(By the way, "taking the piss" was not on the list so I had to email my friend for the definition: "...it means "making fun of, taking the mickey, joking, etc").
Of course, there are tons more that I am leaving in my junk drawer. I actually just threw everything into a separate folder and labeled it 2007 bookmarks. Is that not efficient? Your thoughts on how to organize my bookmarks are welcomed and will be appreciated.
