In a Guardian article by Charles Arthur the recent decision by Natural Resources Canada to release maps and other data free from the Geogratis portal is definately an example the UK should follow. Well done Canada.

The DCMS have decided to opt out of the Pan Goverment Agreement signed with Ordenance Survey, so for the 24 Hour Museum this has meant that we have been unable to go live with maps for all our institutions that were built with a licence granted to us when the DCMS were opted in. Now the facility is dormant and we no longer have access to data that has been collected with public money to use in a charitable context on a website that is funded with public money for the public good. Crazy … but enough ranting.

The Guardian has been following this for a long while with its excellent Free our Data campaign

Just been listening to Matt Adams from Blast Theory talk about their new online SMS game Day of the Figurines.

It is interesting that the technology available to artists now seems to have caught up (almost) with the ideas. I remeber when I was first commissioned any digital art in 1993, what you had was a Mac LC and photoshop and that seemed very cool. But artists always wanted to do more and the ideas were always more interesting that the results. I guess in some ways this is still true but the gap is closing and the technology is becomming less of an issue and more of a tool.

The game they have build warrents attention, it is curious and exploritory and I like the idea of SMS being a cultural space. Where are the new cultural spaces beyond the museums and galleries. Discuss.