Public comments for public access to taxpayer research & watching for SOPA

U.S. friends, some of your tax dollars go towards congressional research.  Public access to that research--especially in the sciences (like health)--is important.  The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is taking insight and recommendations for open access to research. Please participate in making the groundwork for a better informed democracy before January 2nd!

http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action/action_access/11-1117.shtml

Also, the internet may be viewed as a commons--it's worthwhile to note that the currently proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) will have several ramifications for how we may be able to use the internet, and influence the pacing of innovation worldwide.  I'm still trying to grasp the legislation, but the below video and overviews from CNET and International Business Times seem fairly useful and even in addressing the intentions behind the bill.  The video clearly persuades toward anti-SOPA advocacy:

(found: http://tech.pnosker.com/2011/12/26/sopa-pip-explained-godaddy-loses-21000-domains-and-stops-supporting-sopa/ which links to http://fightforthefuture.org/ where people can reach their representatives and make their statements).


http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/272580/20111225/sopa-bill-2012-things-know-controversial-legislation.htm

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/

Update: SOPA to be voted on January 24th  (http://americancensorship.org/)

Logo Progress!

These are preliminary sketches for SEA's new logo and t-shirt.  It's a collaborative adventure between Alanna Punch and I.

Alanna's sketches are excellent, the ginkgo leaf one is a little reminiscent of a sand dollar too (which might be appropriate for an organization whose acronym spells out SEA)!  The bottom one is where we started agreeing.

 

 

Mine are sketchy at best, drawn on 100% recycled paper, with a bic pen I found in the computer lab.  It includes supplemental text to suggest that the viewer see what I meant rather than what I did...

At the bottom is our banner logo, unabashedly Michigan wetland and bird biased.  I've yet to decide the first bird, it'll probably be a heron of sorts because of the neck, but I haven't ruled out old "Galunk! Galunk!"--better known as the American Bittern (which is often seen with beak skyward).  Anyhow, I hope I can get a mix of these designs on a t-shirt soon in combination with the other logos from SEA's history.

Each leaf is to be shaded/filled a little differently (for monocolor printing purposes), with a dark leaf on the bottom left, a veined leaf on the bottom right, and a light leaf on top.  We've settled on (but haven't yet drawn) using three leaves with a Celtic knot (as roots like in Mary Fastiggi's [edit: Sharianne Ziola's] Celtic Knot Tree) inside of a ring to include Roots and Shoots.  Alanna describes it poetically:

"Ordinary roots would be needlessly complex and distracting, but what about symbolically representing the inter-connectivity of the triple bottom line with interwoven loops, like those of Celtic calligraphy? I'll draw up a sketch, but we could scrap the ring and split the leaf-stems, in a way having the stems themselves form the ring and loops for the symbols you speak."

She also assured me that "Describing it makes it sound complicated, but the design itself is quite simple."  I believe it.  Later on, we'll add letters on top of the leaves to spell out SEA.


What are your thoughts?