Fabricatorz developer Jon Phillips invaded Austin Texas, with members of StatusNet, for the annual group of interactive art, film, & music festivals known as South by Southwest (SXSW).

During the panel “Can you copyright a tweet?,” Jon, Evan Prodromou, Fred Benenson, and Wendy Seltzer each spoke about aspects of micro-blogging including character limits. Have a look at Jon’s presentation slide show below:

Post-SXSW, LibrePlanet kicked off, in Boston, where Free Network Service advocates converged. Jon said this of his time at the conference:

the hottest topic for StatusNet and myself were the sessions by Luis Villa, Bradley Kuhn, Mako, and Matt Lee on Free Network Services. We at StatusNet are big believers in Free Network Services. Please check out http://autonomo.us if you are interested in this topic.

If all this isn’t enough content to rock an open source/micro-blogging/free software nut’s world, another Fabricatorz developer, Brad Phillips, has created the following StatusNet-related badges for anyone to use and remix!

Any OStatus advocates should feel free to use these additional badges:

Visit the StatusNet Wiki to view and utilize many more related graphics created by members of Fabricatorz and others in the community.

On March 8, The Open Clip Art Library set the scalable vector graphics community ablaze with the announcement of version 2.0. Among the key features implemented in this upgrade: interface aesthetic (new theme, logo redesign) and usability (thumbnail previews, aiki framework) provided the benchmarks for the bulk of the librarian’s work, behind the scenes.

As this new release made it’s way around the internet, page visits shot through the roof and users, new and old, have supercharged the Open Clip Art Library with new content! In 22 days, 574 new clip art submissions equal a whopping 300% increase over last month’s total of 191!

Feedback from the community has proven vital, as Open Clip Art Library has begun settling into it’s new skin. Bug reporting has helped direct the development of OCAL and is still being actively promoted. The librarians, including members of Fabricatorz, have been working hard to add key features, as they are needed. Since the 2.0 release, users are now able to remove files they’ve uploaded. Also, users who have lost their password now have a recovery option. Other important changes, like ‘previous’ and ‘next’ browsing links, are gradually making their way into The Open Clip Art Library’s web experience.

As OCAL closes in on 27,000 total vector graphics, the librarians are aiming to push their artistic community to release even more original and remixed images. Work on Open Clip Art Library 2.1 is hard underway, and it’s architects have set a goal of 30,000 images uploaded by it’s scheduled April 1st release.

Those new to The Open Clip Art Library are encouraged to register and participate in this growing community. If you’d like access to the entire library of clip art on your local PC, download one of the 2.0 packages. Users will have an array of formats to choose from, including: tarball, zip, as well as an NSIS-based Windows Installer. The Librarians at The Open Clip Art Library extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in the continuing success of OCAL!

“Clip Art of the Month” for March 2010 is now up on WorldLabel’s Blog. Drawing inspiration from the new Open Clip Art Library Release, this new blog takes a look at Web 2.0 Design and what it means for clip art users.

The Web 2.0 aesthetic leaves a very distinct calling card on modern websites, and it’s important to examine why these elements can improve the internet landscape. The WorldLabel post fully explores these new features. Readers are encouraged to share their thoughts!

Visit Open Clip Art Library to sign up and learn how you can contribute!