Author Archives: BZ Petroff

Public Domain Day Party in San Francisco! Celebrate 1928

Step into a time capsule of creativity on January 24, 2024, at the Internet Archive, as we celebrate the release of new cultural treasures into the public domain. Join us for an unforgettable evening filled with period tunes, classic cocktails, and a cinematic journey into the past. These works, once bound by copyright restrictions, will be released into the wild, opening up new opportunities for artistic expression, adaptation, and innovation.

REGISTER NOW

Discover the enchantment of animation with a special screening of Steamboat Willie on the large screen. Come together to witness the beloved icon, Mickey Mouse, as he enters the public domain. Let’s rejoice in this moment that commemorates the lasting legacy of a cultural gem that has captivated hearts across generations. Film Historian Eric Smoodin will delve into the history of Steamboat Willie and how a mouse changed the entertainment world.

Be captivated by the cinematic brilliance of our annual short film contest winners. These films, inspired by the vast public domain materials on the Internet Archive, showcase the boundless possibilities of reimagining classic works.

Embrace the spirit of 1928 by dressing in your finest flapper dresses, dapper suits, and don’t forget the feathered headbands. You’re not just attending an event; you’re stepping into a world where every outfit tells a story. Be the “Bee’s Knees” and the “Cat’s Pajamas” as you immerse yourself in the glamour of a bygone era.

No celebration from the Jazz Age is complete without a classic cocktail. Let the clink of glasses echo the liberation of creative works now set free in the public domain.

Come share an evening of revelry, inspiration, and artistic freedom with us. Be part of a celebration where the past becomes the canvas for the future. Let the reimagining begin, and together, let’s toast to a world of boundless creativity in the public domain. See you there in your finest attire!

Where: Internet Archive – 300 Funston
When: 6pm to 8 pm
Cost: $15
Register now!

More ways to celebrate the public domain

In addition to our in-person event on January 24th & our film remix contest, we are also hosting a virtual celebration on January 25th, “Weird Tales from the Public Domain: Freeing Culture from Corporate Captivity”—register now!

Public Domain Day 2024 Remix Contest: The Internet Archive is Looking For Creative Short Films Made By You!

The Cameraman – 1928 – Buster Keaton

We are looking for filmmakers and artists of all levels to create and upload short films of 2–3 minutes to the Internet Archive to help us celebrate Public Domain Day at our celebrations on January 24 (in-person screening & party) & January 25 (virtual celebration), 2024!

Our short film contest serves as a platform for filmmakers to explore, remix, and breathe new life into the timeless gems that have entered the public domain. From classic literature and silent films to musical compositions and visual art, the contest winners draw inspiration from the vast archive of cultural heritage from 1928. We want artists to use this newly available content to create short films using resources from the Internet Archive’s collections from 1928. The uploaded videos will be judged and prizes of up to $1500 awarded!! (see details below)

Winners will be announced and shown at the in-person Public Domain Day Celebration at the Internet Archive headquarters in San Francisco on January 24, 2024, as well as our virtual celebration on January 25. All other participating videos will be added to a Public Domain Day Collection on archive.org and featured in a blog entry in January of 2024.

Here are a few examples of some of the materials that will become public domain on January 1, 2024:

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:  

  • Weird Tales of 1928
  • Sleuthing the Public Domain
  • What can 1928 teach us about 2024?
  • Steamboat Willie re-imagined

Guidelines

  • Make a 2–3 minute movie using at least one work published in 1928 that will become Public Domain on January 1, 2024. This could be a poem, book, film, musical composition, painting, photograph or any other work that will become Public Domain next year. The more different PD materials you use, the better!
    • Note: If you have a resource from 1928 that is not available on archive.org, you may upload it and then use it in your submission. (Here is how to do that). 
  • Your submission must have a soundtrack. It can be your own voiceover or performance of a public domain musical composition, or you may use public domain or CC0 sound recordings from sources like Openverse and the Free Music Archive.
    • Note: Music copyright is TRICKY! Currently sound recordings published up to December 31, 1922 are public domain; on the upcoming January 1 that will change to sound recordings published up to December 31, 1923.  Sound recordings published later than that are NOT public domain, even if the underlying musical composition is, so watch out for this!
  • Mix and Mash content however you like, but note that ALL of your sources must be from the public domain. They do not all have to be from 1928. Remember, U.S. government works are public domain no matter when they are published. So feel free to use those NASA images! You may include your own original work if you put a CC0 license on it.
  • Add a personal touch, make it yours!
  • Keep the videos light hearted and fun! (It is a celebration after all!)

Submission Deadline

All submissions must be in by Midnight, January 19, 2024 (PST) by loading it into this collection on the Internet Archive.

How to Submit

Prizes

  • 1st prize: $1500
  • 2nd prize: $1000
  • 3rd prize: $500

*All prizes sponsored by the Kahle/Austin Foundation

Judges:

Judges will be looking for videos that are fun, interesting and use public domain materials, especially those from 1928. They will be shown at the in-person Public Domain Day party in San Francisco and should highlight the value of having cultural materials that can be reused, remixed, and re-contextualized for a new day. Winners’ pieces will be purchased with the prize money, and viewable  on the Internet Archive under a Creative Commons license.

  • Amir Saber Esfahani (Director of Special Arts Projects, Internet Archive)
  • Rick Prelinger (Board Member, Internet Archive, Founder, Prelinger Archives)
  • BZ Petroff (Director of Admin & HR, Internet Archive)
  • Special guest judges

For reference, check out the 2023 Entrants

No Ethics in Big Tech – Saturday May 20, 2023

Welcome to the No Ethics in Big Tech NSA 10th Annual Comedy Night produced by friend of the Internet Archive, Vahid Rezavi.

The evening will feature the comedy of Will Durst, Mean Dave, Chloe McGovern, and Alicia Dattner, accompanied by talented musician Mike Rufo.

But the real stars of the evening are the speakers from No Ethics in Big Tech, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Media Alliance, Veterans for Peace and Common Dreams. These experts will discuss the ethical implications of technology, the latest developments in the tech world, and the importance of a free and independent press in the age of algorithmic news feeds.

Get Tickets to Virtual Event Here
Saturday, May 20, 2023
6:00-8:00 pm Pacific



Book Signing with Congressman Adam Schiff at the Internet Archive

Please join us for a conversation and book signing sponsored by Booksmith, Berkeley Arts & Letters and the Internet Archive.

Congressman Schiff is celebrating the paperback launch of his #1 New York Times bestselling “Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could”.

Tuesday 8/16/22 7:30 pm

300 Funston Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94118

Adam Schiff is the United States Representative for California’s 28th Congressional District. In his role as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Schiff led the first impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Before he served in Congress, he worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles and as a California State Senator.

RSVP here

Memorial Day BBQ, Live Music and Lost Landscapes at the Internet Archive – Monday May 30, 2022

Calling all SF Cineastes and Archivists!

LOST LANDSCAPES is BACK!! With BBQ and live music too!

Come join the fun this Memorial Day and hang out with us at the Internet Archive.

$1 hotdogs, live music by the Traveling Wilburys Revue then onto a screening of Prelinger Archives’ “Lost Landscapes: Earth, Fire, Air, Water: California Infrastructures“.

Date: Monday, May 30, 2022
When:
5:30 PM BBQ – 6:30 PM Live Music – 8:15 PM Film Screening
Where:
300 Funston Ave., San Francisco, CA
Cost:
$15.00

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE

“Hello (again), World!” SF Party Tuesday June 15 6p – 8:30p

Don’t know how to celebrate the end of your quarantine? Come join us in commemorating the Re-Opening of California with a small-scale outdoor BBQ at the Internet Archive featuring music from the consciousness-expanding San Francisco Airship. FREE!

Let’s dance into a Summer of Love.

The San Francisco Airship – Susan J Weiand

Tuesday June 15 

6p – 8:30p (weather permitting)

300 Funston Side Yard (at Clement)

  • Hot Dogs, Veggie Dogs, Chips 
  • Tours of the Internet Archive
  • The Amazing Kraynork will amaze with walk around magic tricks
  • Masks and hand sanitizer will be provided
  • CDC guidelines can be helpful on mask use (but keep the distance you are comfortable with)

RSVP HERE

7th Annual Aaron Swartz Day at the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is hosting a FOIAPOLOOZA to celebrate Aaron Swartz and to provide a yearly showcase of his many interests. Aaron’s work focused on civic awareness and activism and we will spend Saturday together keeping his prescient vision alive.

Doors are open for the hackathon and the daytime programming on Saturday at 10 am. The reception will be on Saturday evening at 6:00 pm with the main program starting at 8 pm with a music and dance party afterward.

FOIAPALOOZA:  Aaron filed many FOIA requests and inspired lots of journalists, including the now-legendary Jason Leopold, to use them as a tool for evidence-based journalism. So we decided to focus on FOIA and public records requests at this year’s San Francisco event. We aim to not only teach folks how to file their own requests but also to let them dig into the information we have received back from the 200+ requests we filed this last year with our Police Surveillance Project. FOIAPALOOZA speakers include Tracy Rosenberg & Mike Katz-McCabe from Oakland Privacy — an organization that just won an EFF Pioneer Award! — as well as Freddy Martinez from Lucy Parsons Labs, Ryan Shapiro from Property of the People and Brewster Kahle and Tracey Jaquith from the Internet Archive.

Get Tickets Here

Saturday, November 9, 2019
10:00 am Doors Open for Hackathon and Daytime Programming
11:00 am Programming starts
6:00 pm Reception
8:00 pm Evening Program

Internet Archive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

Ethics In Technology – Community Night and Comedy Show Friday June 21st, 2019 at 6pm

Politics got you down? Looking for a new way to digest ethical quandaries? Feeling like you need some laughter in your life? Have we got the event for you!

Come join us at the Internet Archive for an Ethics In Technology – Community Night and Comedy Show, presented by former Amazon executive and entrepreneur Vahid Razavi, author of “Ethics in Tech, or The Lack There of and Age of Nepotism“.

Enjoy cutting edge performances by a tour de force group of comediennes; Francesca Fiorentini, Chloe McGovern, Annette Mullaney and Abigail See.

In addition, Brett Wilkins will be presenting: Bugsplat: Can Technology Really Make War Less Deadly for Civilians? There will be a showing of the film “Drone” directed by Tonje Hessen and Bob Chandra will give a short talk on the commercialization of military weapons.

Get Tickets Here

$14.00-$25.00

Friday, June 21, 2019

6:00 pm Doors Open – 7:00 pm Program

Internet Archive

300 Funston Avenue San Francisco, CA 94118

Big Tech Comedy Roast at the Internet Archive

Politics got you down? Feeling like you need some laughter in your life? Have we got the event for you!

Come join us at the Internet Archive for a Big Tech Comedy Roast presented by former Amazon executive and entrepreneur Vahid Razavi, author of “Ethics in Tech, or The Lack Thereof and Age of Nepotism“.

The evening is hosted by Will Durst, and also brings us the comedic talents of Francesca Fiorentini, Chloe McGovern, Nichole Spain and Jared Horning.

The New York Times on Will Durst: “Quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today.” The Boston Globe: “A modern day Will Rogers.”

Get Tickets Here $12.00

Friday, December 14, 2018
6:00 pm Doors Open
7:00 pm Program
Internet Archive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

 

Bread and Puppet Theater: The Basic Bye-bye Show

[Now done, some pictures from the event]

The Internet Archive is proud to present a show by the Bread and Puppet Theater on Saturday October 27, 2018 at 7:00 pm.  The Basic Bye-bye Show is a series of quiet object fantasies in black, white, and grey inside a small fabric stage printed with elementary words — “Resist,” “Bread,” “Yes,” “Sky,” “Riot,” “Byebye.”

Bread & Puppet’s director, Peter Schumann, says of the show: “The Basic Bye-bye Show is based on the fact that our culture is saying its basic bye-bye to Mother Earth by continuing the devastating effects of the global economy on our planet.”

Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Their traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces, to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers. The Bread and Puppet Theater is one of the oldest, nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the country.

Get Tickets Here

Saturday, October 27, 2018
6:00 pm Doors Open
7:00 pm Program
Internet Archive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118