http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html
The promise and potential of knowledge mangagement (as suggested by this entry) has exerted considerable force on research and management alike. The indexed URL takes some sharp pins to the rosy balloons of those who think that knowledge can be [or even is being] easily managed, and dismisses most research in this area as buncombe. An article like this, with lots of references, and a clear focus, can be a wonderful tool for stimulating student discussions.
http://reader.rocketinfo.com/desktop/
The importance of RSS as an educational and communications medium is evident by the space devoted to it in this blog. One thing which stays my hand [and probably that of many others] is the fact that to implement an RSS news aggregator on my desktop, I have to install the Microsoft .NET framework, and I am not exactly bursting with desire or gifted with the time to do this.
The RocketInfo reader to the rescue! The indexed URL takes you to a registration page where you can configure a free Web-based aggregator for yourself, without having to download anything at all.
Another indicator of how much water the RSS technology is drawing is the existence of a dedicated newsletter on this and related topics, which you can evaluate and to which you can subscribe by going here:
http://channels.lockergnome.com/rss/
Since it is a Lockergnome product, its quality should be high.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2004/03/14/rss_job_one_managing_the.htm
RSS has been mentioned a time or two in this blog. Here is a solid article [with extensive internal refrerences] on the potential for RSS to manage the torrent of information currently inundating us. A variety of tools are discussed -- even if not all of them are successful, some will be, and the competitive advantage bestowed by effective use of these tools takes some imagining.
http://www.blueoxen.org/papers/0000D/
Meaty article with references, by an author of outstanding discernment [he agrees with me] on the state of collaborative tools. As I have ruminated, passim in this blog, we don't seem to make effective use of the tools we have. The author suggests this may well be because the tools are not very good in the first place.
Certainly, his enumertion of the qualities needed by good collaborative software are dead on, leading to a most poignant question: has the failure hitherto really been in the tools themselves, or in the way these tools are used? Is it a matter of "build it, and they will come" or is it a matter of "I've got to get in front of this crowd -- I'm their leader!"?
Top-down or bottom-up; this manifesto definitely suggests the latter as most appropriate.
Added note: not least among the charms of this article is that it gives another defintion for the acronym 'RSS'.
http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=3622_0_3_0_C
Short editorial, with embedded links to other stories, suggesting that blogs have grown in capability and popularity that they constitute a valuable business tool. Indeed, blogs have evolved from the link-and-comment model followed here [which is itself still valid and useful] to platforms for sharing thoughts, to archives, or as a tool for individual expression in the form of short essays.
Many of these uses are directly transferrable to the organizational world as elements of value. Organizations also see blogs as useful for project management and knowledge management/dissemination. One suspects that if competitive advantage is the result of blog implementation that business will go for this technology in a big way.
Another article looking at the current status and future potential of blogs can be found here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0415/p14s02-stin.html
Given the starkly utilitarian character of this blog, which I do not expect to change in any fundamental way, mentioning this URL, which leads to a online design source for blogs may seem a bit, well, badly-thought-out. And in fact, most of the advice on this site is probably lost on me -- but that does not mean that it is not good advice, well worth taking. In addition to news and links, there is discussion of design and design sites -- if you are seriously into the design end of blogging, thia site is a must -- and in its own appearance displays effective design ["I wouldn't do it that way, but I see why they did what they did, and it certainly works"].
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/81/blog.html
I have created meta-blog entries in this discussion before, and here is another example of how blogs are being used in corporations both for public relations and as a knowledge-management tool internally. One important point made in this article, and exeplified by the very blog you are reading: they can become easily-mined data repositories free from spam or garbage [yes, spam comment attacks on blogs have happened, and indeed this blog has been so treated, but the cure is relatively easy to implement].
The proof of this particular pudding is that enterprise editions of blogging tools are under development, with the capacity to link blogs and RSS aggregation capabilities being a major facet of this.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040327/BOOLE27/
Marking thie 150th anniversary of the publication of George Boole's The Laws of Thought, this article and accompanying sidebar describe the man and his work. Since Boolean logic underlies search engines and database queries, as well as being implemented in computer logic circuitry, an easily grasped explanation is a useful thing to have available for students, and that is the focus of this article.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1546441,00.asp
I swear that this blog is not becoming an all-RSS discusion, but as I have already mentioned, I do believe RSS is a major technology with great implications for education and research methods. The indexed URL describes one person's slow conversion into RSS acceptance, and features a wealth of internal links and external references.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2004/03/02/the_rss_newsmaster.htm
The concept of using RSS to create newsmasters [who themselves could become vital gears in the information ecology of any organization] has been discussed in this blog before. The indexed URL provides an excellent summary of the factors underlying this change, the benefits it can bring, and some of the functions of the newsmaster. References and examples underpin this argument, which remains as powerful in potential as ever, in my opinion.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228694,00.asp
While this blog is not devoted solely to RSS, I do feel it is worth mentioning because it has two dimensions:
1) It represents a communications technology which has the potential to be fully on par with e-mail or Web surfing; and
2) There are all sorts of creative ways to use RSS in the pursuit of information technology education goals.
In order to do this, software tools are needed, and the above URL reviews and discusses a number of such tools in detail.
A quick reference primer to what RSS is can be found here:
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/
One example of available feeds can be found here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,821413,00.asp
which also indexes feeds from related IT sources.
The perspective of an individual user on the power of RSS can be found here:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1536902,00.asp
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2004/02/19/the_birth_of_the_newsmaster.htm
One of the few information technology constants is a swing between excess resources and excess capability, and nowhere is this more evident than in the management of news. The InterNet provides us an opportunity to be flooded with information -- the old 'drinking from a firehose' phenomenon. This article looks into the implications of RSS and similar tools to help manage this flow [continuing a previous thread of thought in this blog].
This comprehensive discussion, with loads of internal links, looks at the opportunity to use RSS as a means of filtering and niche creation, in order to manage the plethora of net content. The key point is that these tools enable social self-organization of Net information communities, a process with major implications which is just getting started.
The author offers more than theory -- he sells very reasonably priced toolkit on his site, to allow one to get up and running with this form of content development.
This is one of those technologies which, while of singular importance to site developers, is no less important to people who have relatively limited Web publishing experience -- in a manner analogous to blogs.
http://writingtheweb.com/archives/000020.asp
Like any relatively new technology, Really Simple Syndication is evolving norms of conduct and 'best practices'. It is worth remembering that one of the pearls of automation is how it confers the ability to make a fool of yourself faster to a wider public, and you can do this with RSS also. This article, with copious examples and links, gives six suggestions for better RSS.
The site also has a number of useful links to producing better Web content.
A massive set of annotated, tested, and linked sites for RSS and Weblog submissions can be found here:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2004/02/05/rsstop55_best_blog_directory.htm
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21
The classes of objects the Web can handle is highly restricted [yet even this restricted feature set brings an information deluge with the click of a button], and many researchers consider it capable of useful extension. The result, as explained in this article, is the "semantic Web", which can react helpfully to the meaning of selected words and phrases [as opposed to reacting to the structure of a URL]. The result is a Web which is more precise and responsive to human intention.
Such a development in and of itself is a prospect worth pursuit, but consider this: the more the Web becomes semantic, the more it becomes a form of embedded prosthetic. It is a bromide that tools work on the user even as the user uses the tools to effect some task -- making the Web semantic could carry that reciprocal shaping deep into our secret selves. Like many other maind-stunning prospects, I don't think we can really grip all of the implications of this before deciding whether to do it or not -- we will shoot down Alice's rabbit hole while praying we find an umbrella handly in case of strain.
The components of the semantic Web are discussed in this article:
http://logicerror.com/semanticWeb-long
An introduction to the concepts behind the semantic Web, and the the state of play as of a couple of years ago, with links to further reading, is found here:
http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/
A primer on the semantic Web [which once again emphasizes that this strirring in the reeds has been ongoing for nearly 3 years, which is a century in InterNet time] is available here:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/01/semanticweb/
A more recent account, which discusses the XML programming side of the semantic Web is here; it includes a whole page-load of additional references:
http://www.disobey.com/detergent/2002/sw123/
Anything which involves ontology as part of its description should cause one's skeptical antennae to quiver mightily, but here is the site which not only flaunts the concept, but also provides you with the current news about this whole development:
To paraphrase Mr. Fudd: "This is wery, wery important!"
http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20040205S0013
Article reporting on research at the Sandia Laboratories based on neural networking, which will provide real-time advice to soldiers and government workers in the form of a digital mentor. Now this is a genuine advance in man-machine interfaces, with beneficial potentials at which we can currently only barely guess.
And of course it is being developed for soldiers and government workers [in the latter case, "some pigs are more equal than others" applies in full force]. This raises a plethora of questions, including disadvangtaging of governed against governors if the former do not have access to a digital buddy [one would think the commercial value of deploying such software widely through organizations would ensure its rapid dispersal, reducing such concerns].
Another, much more serious question is the degree to which cognitive filters are imposed on us without us realizing it, or being able to make any effective critique of the assumptions on which such filters are based. Nor does this exhaust the range of potential questions.
Again, this is something which has been previewed in science fiction, which could be a good 'conceptual playground' allowing us to think about the implications of this research in more scale and detail.
http://www.howdev.com/news/articles/20040210-ReadyforRSS.asp
Most of the discussions of Really Simple Syndication revolve around the technical issues involved. Here is an article about the business issues involved in implementing RSS, with a simple explanation of what the technology is all about, and describing "a practical and easy way" to use it.
In addition, links to other articles about RSS are provided at the bottom of the page.
United Business Media's CMP division has launched a set of tightly focussed searchable Web pages called 'pipelines', which index news, trends, how-to-do-its, products, white papers, webcasts, sponsored links with downloadable software, and a glossary. Those of specific interest to most applied IT teachers are:
http://www.securitypipeline.com/ covering desktop, network, and infrastructure security plus policy & privacy.
http://www.linuxpipeline.com/ covering core Lunux, applications, enterprise open source, and business.
http://www.networkingpipeline.com/ covering security, infrastructure, wireless, and voice/data integration.
http://www.serverpipeline.com/ covering entry-level, mid-range, and high-end servers, plus their supporting technlogies (including operating systems).
http://www.itutilitypipeline.com/ covering utility computing and services, grid computing, and enterprise systems.
http://www.desktoppipeline.com/ covering desktop operating systems, application software, and hardware as these relate to all current desktop OS.
Additional pipelines address small business, mobile computing, and storage issues. These look like excellent information sources to benchmark and revisit, for students and teachers alike.
http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/
OK. I'll 'fess up -- not only do I not understand what is written in this book, I can't even understand the pictures. The link indexes an online version of A New Kind Of Science by Stephen Wolfram, the underlying premise of which [to the extent I grasp it at all] is that computation is giving us the capacity to do science in new and valuable ways outside the realm of material experimentation.
If he's right, this is A Big Deal indeed, and having this book online is the equivalent of having Newton's Principia Mathematica delivered to your doorstep in the 17th century.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5153627.html
Guy Gilpatrick characterized the effect of the extraordinary on one's imagination by saying "it not only staggered, but also reeled, tripped, and fell face-down into the gutter". That's somewhat the appropriate reaction to IBM's WebFountain initiative, a supercomputing project which intends to push current Web searching into data-mining services delivering meaning and content.
A number of competitors are also pursuing the same goal, which in some sense is the inverse of the 'semantic Web' concepts discussed previously in this blog. This article describes the roots of this project, along with the hardware, software, and personnel resources required to support it, and gives a glimpse of potential applications.
I have tin-drummed the concept that those companies which can make effective use of the plethora (if not surfiet) of information on the InterNet can get an immense leg-up on their competitors. IBM seeks to make this a service operation which could, prehaps, actually level this playing field even as it was being sodded and marked.
A number of related stories are covered in links within the indexed article, and another balanced evaluation of this system and its implications can be found here:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jan04/0104comp1.html
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62158,00.html
I have inveighed against the tendency to clip the USA's Defence Advanced Projects Agency in previous comments to this blog, and here we have another example. A DARPA project known as LifeLog, which intended to build a database tracking someone's entire existence, has been cancelled [for no apparent reason, although civil libertarians were up in arms about it].
The concept of a prosthetic memory in the face of the data glut which inundates us today would seem very worth investigating, and even if it did have the negative implications its opponents averred, ignorance is not the solution to this problem. The loss of nerve this seems to betoken in an organization which can only succeed by implementing daring decision is itself dauntingly disquieting.
When one considers that this research is of great interest to the private sector, and may well proceed under the cover of commercial secrecy, one is tempted to award the Phyrrus Palm with Crassus Cluster to the architects of this particular 'victory'.
The indexed page also includes some links to related stories.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/7793099.htm
Every once in a while something comes along which has two contradictory properties:
1) I think it is the greatest thing since individually tubed cigars; and
2) It leaves me completely cold insofar as actually using it is concerned.
This article discusses an example [the Wikipedia] which ought to attract me like a moth to a flame, and also covers wikis [on line collaborative authoring tools] in general. These tools seem to bring both power and transparency to the knowledge display function. It all seems highly useful, and it definitely is generating a major user base.
And I can hardly summon even a flicker of interest -- I wonder why?
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=c6-URl9QMLMgFclu7mdIX6zfm9shRRR
It is worth reminding ourselves that all the whirring fans and blinking lights are not ends in themselves. This white paper: "A Vision for Business Intelligence" attempts to show how we can use a powerful technology which has been under appreciated and not used to its fullest. This is an example of a broader problem with technology and innovation implementation within organizations, a general solution to which would be a most powerful empowering tool.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1404005,00.asp
With the importance of blogs comes the importance of tools used to generate them. Here is a comparative review of the major blog tools, which has as its somewhat paradoxical Editor's Choice a tool which has a lower editor rating than the highest rated tool.
http://www.groxis.com/service/grok/
This is one of those tools that excites great extremes of veneration and vituperation, quite similar to the novel from which the tool's name came. For myself, hewing to the extreme middle, as is my wont, I consider this an interesting way to get a grip on massive amounts of information which would otherwise be impossible to assimilate.
It certainly represents a different way of looking at the InterNet, that is for sure, and deserves evaluation on those grounds alone.
A review of this product with a whole whack of links to other methods of data visualization and control can be found here:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/12/17/desktop_visual_search_engine_extends.htm
http://www.reflectivesurface.com/weblog/archives/2003/12/31/blogs_as_information_spaces
Analytic article which attempts to examine why blogs seem to take the same tired and true approach to interface. Potential alternatives, as well as the existence of inherent barriers, are discussed in a thought-provoking fashion. The concept of 'information space' is evoked as a profitable metaphor.
As the author notes, the role of entropy in this ought not be misunderstood.
As a counterpoint, here are some showcase examples of outstanding blog designs
http://www.cre8d-design.com/journal/archives/cat_blog_design_showcase.php
Seeing some of these almost makes me want to quit blogging -- but I can't -- I just enjoy it so much!
Perhaps, therefore, I should pay attention to time-saving advice for bloggers given here:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2003/12/29.html#a571
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/30/OnSearchTOC
Here is a searching series of articles on, well, searching -- a really deep delve into a topic which may seem simple, but which is not. Solving search issues in the author's opinion is essential for having computers work as real information tools, instead of being barriers to overcome. I quite agree with him -- this is a good example of the way in which the intellectual/theoretical 'plumbing' has to be put in place before any techological solution can really do much good.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1413403,00.asp
The importance of RSS as a content-distribution tool has been mentioned several times in this blog. As the indexed article indicates, however, there is a server bandwidth problem if an aggregator wants to update frequently [and the more frequent the update, the more responsive 'the digital nervous system']. The article also suggests a potential cure: BitTorrent peering which allows the RSS stream to be disaggregated and tossed around by a multitude of servers. Somehow, given the distributed character of the InterNet, this solution sounds right -- producing yet more ripples on a seemingly calm surface.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,3959,1387759,00.asp
Long interview, with references, with John Patrick, a seasoned observer of business and technology, about the utility and future of blogs. The importance of blogs as an alternative form of communication is stressed. One of the powers of the computer is that it can be any tool; one of the powers of the blog is that it can take any one of a multitude of forms.
Because they are bottom-up rather than top-down, blogs can deliver on the promise of knowledge management.
Here comes that big buzzing bee again! In this case, a project under the aegis of James Burke [he of "Connections" fame], aiming to create a collaborative knowledge space on the Web which will foster new ways of thinking and improved means of knowledge management and use. I have been relentless in my crochet that we have a plethora of tools, but we just aren't using them in any way that takes full account of their potential [not least because the complexity of the tools make such potential difficult to grasp in the first place -- which is all the more argument for disciplined experimentation].
Here is the outline of a plan and a methodology which promises to redress this shortcoming; at least it provides a good place to start. If we never start, we may get there anyway, because the tsunami is sweeping towards us, but I suspect strongly we will not like the results if we take that approach.
RSS resources exist in anbundance -- here is a selected list, thanks to Scott Finnie:
Introduction to RSS - Webreference http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/
What Is RSS? - XML.com
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html
RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters - Mark Nottingham http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/
Lockergnome's RSS Resource
http://rss.lockergnome.com/
All About RSS - Fagan Finder
http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.shtml
RSS Feed Reader / News Aggregators Directory - Hebig.org http://www.hebig.org/blogs/archives/main/000877.php
Top Aggregators - UserLand
http://backend.userland.com/directory/167/aggregators
RSS Readers - Weblogs Compendium
http://www.lights.com/weblogs/rss.html
The importance of RSS as a means of communicating between teachers and students [even long after the formal relationship between them no longer exists] is a potential benefit which has not been discussed in the detail I would prefer to see.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/11/21/bloggers_as_independent_news_reporters.htm
Article which makes the interesting point that a major function of bloggers in the information ecosphere will be as independent reporters [effectively the exact opposite of what John Dvorak believes], giving a host of reasons why. For me, the tipping point is this: when I read something misreported in the general media because the reporter simply does not know enough to do a competent job [again, something which has been mentioned in this blog anon].
So it makes perfect sense, if I read something by someone claiming to be an expert, and that person delivers in his written material, then I am going to see that person as someone credible. With the decay of political and institutional credibility, I think that matters a lot more than many commentators have hoisted inboard to this point. In a very minor way, this blog is a point of proof -- I am claiming to some expertise in designating resources and concepts of interest to applied IT teachers -- my entire credibility lies on what use others can make of what I write.
To the tune of "Ghost Busters!" - Who you gonna believe! Good bloggers!
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/11/28/personal_knowledge_mapping_and_the.htm
The deafening buzzing of this particular bee in my hive-like bonnet is simply the result of intense frustration at the organizational barriers to effective knowledge use, when breaking down those barriers is a win/win situation. Here is a richly annotated article on "Personal Knowledge Mapping And The Concept Of Data Emergence" which simply bristles with insights relativeto this isuue, particularly in explaining expensive implementation failures.
There was an old motto of the Whole Earth Catalog: "We are as gods, so be better get good at it" and that applies here in spades. We have the tools, but cannot see how to apply them [nor, in truth, is such application straightforward, cheap, or easy]. But it requires some iron in the nerves, and some appreciation of "Victory, dammit!, Victory".
http://www.blogstreet.com/rssecosystem.html
The place to go to find RSS tools and RSS feeds, with over 24,000 on tap as this entry is written.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1382914,00.asp
The ever-spicy John Dvorak opines that blogs are already fading into the woodwork, citing the number of published blogs which are defunct, and suggesting that co-option by big media will doom blogs as an independent voice. One always warms to Dvorak, even when he is wrong, and I think he is here, for at least two reasons:
1) Filter blogs, like the one you are reading right now, are a useful resource, even if their readership is narrow and there isn't much feedback [Doesn't anyone out there like me?]; and
2) There are some famous and independent blogs which qualify as works of art in their own right, and the dedication their authors bring to them argue strongly for their continued survival.
I am not alone in my dissent, as the following articles indicate:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1393341,00.asp
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1394279,00.asp
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8730-2003Nov23.html
Article discussing the degree to which intellectual works displayed on the InterNet [particularly the WWW] are ephemeral, particularly those which have a Web-only presence. Since the mean lifespan of a Web page is 100 days, we risk serious losses in our institutional collective memory. While librarians have suggested one solution in the form of a permanent URL, this has not caught on. Web archives like the "wayback machine" catalogue 20 TB of data monthly, and just barely keep up; other solutions impose additional complexity.
Of course, there is a lot of evidence that forgetting is beneficial for a culture; perhaps it is for individuals also. For a dark fictional look at some offshoots of InterNet information dependency, real Killing Time, by Caleb Carr.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1078077,00.html
Recounts the research of a professor in the MIT Media Lab, which suggests that we will, in the future, increasingly internalize the network. With pervasive connections in the real world, we get an augmented instead of a virtual reality. This is a prospect with problems as well as promise, but it does suggest a nuanced and convincing view of the future which could be used to underpin future curriculum planning for IT schools.
Article describing weblogs, and their implications (largely negative) for Webmasters. Since the blog puts content publication under individual control, there is no need for a Webmaster. This article contains an extensive list of references to other articles on the subject, and a brisk, invigorating discussion.
http://www.llrx.com/features/rss.htm
A useful article with links to resources and additional discussion on RSS, the (perhaps overhyped but still) useful adjunct to Web site content distribition. One priceless line worth quoting: "RSS is also something that once you have read its description, you know less about it than you did before." The positive and negative aspects of this technology are clearly discussed, as is its future potential.
Additional thoughts from the same author on the future of RSS, with an extensive list of additional links, can be found here:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/10/02/the_future_of_rss.htm
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/10/26/contextual_online_collaboration_tools.htm
A repeated theme in networking is the value of the online collaboration which it enables, and many prognostications of how this will revolutionize the workplace have been on offer. The reality has been somewhat less than overwhelming. While I still consider collaborative tools to have great potential, I have come to realize that technical and organizational barriers continue to prevent them from receiving widespread everyday use. Not least is the fact (inclined to the positive though I may be) that we don't have a convincing demonstration of competitive advantage resulting from implementing these tools.
What is blocked at the door sometimes comes down the chimney, as this article [which has an abundance of direct links and supporting information] suggests. Instead of using explicit tools, implementing collaboration through extension of existing tools in a way which makes it simply 'another menu item' has potential for success which escape more 'architectural' solutions. Were this to be so, it would be another demonstration of how appropriate is the 'bottoms up' model for network activity.
http://www.writeronline.us/guest/schuett-11-3-03.htm
An interesting and clarifying discussion of weblogs from the writer's point of view, making the point that a blog is the easiest way to get online [though unlike the tone of the article, I don't think the traditional Web site is going to become a complete dinosaur any time in the near future]. Also contains links to other sources of infromation about blogging.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/SciTech/FutureTech/RSSWeb031029-1.html
One sign that the technology known as RSS has reached the mainstream is that the acronym is given different interpretations [Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication]. This article explains the basics of RSS and what problems still remain. For my 2 cents, the fact that you have to install the .NET framework before being able to make an on-desk aggregator work is the main stumbling block.
If I can't do it in 5 minutes, it won't get done -- this is my latest computing mantra, and RSS still has to succeed on that account. But if your life involves tapping into news/information services and making sense of them, an agregator is an essential tool. One could concieve of an organization which aggregated at different levels, a form of meta-aggregation, so to speak, which might help people see the InterNet forest in that profusion of trees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/technology/circuits/23diar.html
Article describing the results of a Perseus Development study on blogs indicated that 2/3 of the 4.12 million blogs were abandoned [defined as not updated for at least two months] -- over a million blogs lasted exactly a day. Under 2% of blogs were updated daily, and only 9.9% had a posting linking to national news. What then, are blogs there for?
This does not mean that blogs are useless, only that their development is proceeding apace. In particular, I do not think that a blog necessarily needs daily updating, and in fact do not update this one every day. On the other hand, were I not to update at least weeky, this blog would lose much of its function. Other blogs, on other subjects, may have a longer or shorter update frequency.
Nevertheless, a blog should be updated more than once to really count..
Note there are some other IT articles in this same URL reference.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/102203A.html
Short article with an interesting premise: that the blogs of today serve the same purpose in circumventing what is seen as a smothering authority that CB radio did in its time. In some sense, despite some reservations expressed in other quarters, the InterNet represents a form of anarchic freedom of expression which is both liberating and valuable, and blogs certainly form a part of this.
There never will be a "single viewpoint" -- the only question will be the degree of efficient suppression which is capable of being brought to bear on all but the "authorized version". Given that media and information are the two biggest money-spinners on the planet, there is every reason to be concerned about this, which only makes this prospect of blogging that more cheering.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20031001/strategies.html
Generating new ideas in IT is as important as doing so in any other venue, and the brainstorming technique is an established tood for doing this. The article discusses results of brainstorming research, which suggests, among other things, that solitary brainstorming is the most effective. It also looks at why we so often get great ideas while having a bath.
The thing which arrests me most is the degree to which the modern workplace is actually antithetical to the environment in which brainstorming is most productive. Perhaps there simply is an upper limit to the number of new ideas we wish to generate?
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030922/030922-10.html
Article describing Philips Research's development of an electronic paper which can allow colour movies to display on a single sheet of e-paper. Marry the potential for ubiquity that this represents [can we fold it?] with the capabilities of extended access via wire, and a whole new information ecology could result.
Just by itself this is a development with major implications. Imagine, for example, downloading a book on, say, the campaign in Iraq, which would then update itself as time goes on. Similarly, any intellectual construct could be modified on the fly to take new developments into account.
Or look at it another way -- suppose I download a survey of astronomy, and then after reading it, discover that I am really interested in planetary astronomy -- I could then "expand" the section on planetary astronomy, to discover I am most interested in Mars. In any one case, I would not need or want "the whole book" -- in fact my initial download might take the form of an extended index.
Note this does not displace books -- it simply replaces them in those cases where books are not a particularly good vehicle. In those cases where material has intrinsic value, the book still reigns supreme.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=news.html?id%3D2418
Short article from a most stimulating source [Accelerating-Intelligence News from the Kurzweil organization] about a neural network based on a supercomputer. This will be the most advanced and powerful simulation of the human brain yet devised [and the degree to which it falls short of completeness is arresting], and should be a project well worth watching.
Oh yes, remember we can always pull the plug. Can't we?
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/08/28/blogs_as_instruments_for_effective_pr.htm
Somewhat overheated article discussing what WebLogs are, and for what they are most useful. Concludes they can be valuable sources of PR, but also contains a grab bag of links to articles related to blogging, plus books available for purchace on various aspects of information management.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
An introduction to four tools for creating blogs, the Web's equivalent of desktop publishing. Remember the rule about freedom of the press: "freedom of the press is avalable to anyone rich enough to own one". Blogging brings that freedom a lot closer to home.
Blog on!
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1228952,00.asp
An introduction to four tools for creating blogs, the Web's equivalent of desktop publishing. Remember the rule about freedom of the press: "freedom of the press is avalable to anyone rich enough to own one". Blogging brings that freedom a lot closer to home.
Blog on!
http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065298.html
An absorbing interview with a resident sociologist at Microsoft, which has as its main focus the utility and value of what must be the largest 'niche' operation in the world: news groups. It is a queen bee in my overstocked bonnet that the development of effective tools for managing this buzzing blooming cornucopia of data and extracting information from it could provide a major competitive advantage for the instiution so deploying such tools. This man has some ideas about how to go about it.
Tangentally, the interview also covers a related topic which buzzes boomingly -- "making the world smart" by providing easily read data tags creating a public information metasphere -- a concept explored to some extent in Science Fiction [for a good recent example look at Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell {Roc; (January 2002) ISBN: 0451458648}]. This is a concept simply crawling with festering issues, having the potential to remake the world we experience -- whether for better or worse should be a debatable question, one not receiving sufficient attention for my taste.
However fascinating this all may be, two dark questions circle in the depths of this article, like brooding sharks forever on the feed:
1) If such tools are developed, and demand any sophistication in their use [and I would argue that the sophistication such tools require is so subtile that we may be too sophisticated to see it, though William Gibson has some pointers here], aren't we facing another have/have not gap, with immense implications?
2) Is everyone else in the room really comfortable with the idea that such a powerful, deep line of research is being driven by Microsoft?
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,60053,00.html
Article explaining the benefits of aggregation tools such as RSS. With e-mail becoming more and more about aggravation, the ability of this class of tool to provide a wide and deep self-selected news channel can be highly empowering.
The combination of the Net and powerful tools appears to continually provide paradigm shifts in the way we can and do use information.
Article on how Web logs can get their own International Standard Serial Number, what the advantages, and what the drawbacks are. Despite being both a graduate from library school and a quandam blogger, I don't know how I feel about this....
Some suggestion that ISSN registrars will tighten the rules so as to prevent blogs being given ISSNs.
An easily used and free service allowing you to keep up with your favourite blogs and [somewhat more special] enabling subscription to RSS newsfeds without having to download and install a client-side environment [which is what has been staying my hand from getting into what I think may be a major re-orientation of how we inform ourselves about and by the InterNet].
As of the date of this posting, over 9,000 blogs were listed. The mind indeed bloggles....
http://news.com.com/2009-1032_3-5059006.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed
Extensive article convering a major controversy over RSS, which serves as a form of automated news feed for blogs [among other things] and represents an important extension of the blogging tool. There appears a good possibility that an alternative standard to RSS will be developed in the near future.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59650,00.html
Article describing "Friendster": a social-networking service which now has a million users. In effect, this networking service allows the local grapevine to bear fruit across the whole Net. This is another service having particular attributes which can be defined ab initio while having the potential to morph radically into something else.
Friendster is the technological equivalent, I think, of yeast working to make wine, and looks strongly analogous to blogging itself. This is something which is just starting, with implications taking some time and analysis to work out. We can nevertheless bet, with some confidence, that the full range of this service's effects will be major, impossible to predict, and productive of further rich "bottoms up" change.
http://news.com.com/2009-1081-898741.html?tag=nl
Blogging represents an activity which, on first blush, seems susceptible of a clear definition circumscribing what it is, does, and means. This article suggests that blogging can provide valuable intellectual resources achieving "goodness" though the ranking of use. If true, this simply represents another instance where the actual implementation of blogs seeps through the definitional boundaries in such a way to manifest previously unrealized potential.
Traditional diaries and documents are invaluable windows into history -- if blogs have utility as the record of experience, it is worth considering what unique properties they bring to this mix.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?Story_id=1841108
"It shouldn't have to be this hard!" is a plaintive cry from the technologically challenged -- and they are entirely right. Moreover, there is a lot of money to be made in realizing more of the potential IT offers. "Sentient computing" expresses the concept that instead of having to register ourselves with the machines, the machines will register themselves for us. The result is more intutitive interaction, which for most is a consummation devoutly to be wished.
Yet again, I can also see second- and n-order effects of this which may be much less congenial for many people [just as the wonderful liberation brought on by the cell-phone has also made many people available for work 24/7 with no private time of their own].
Another of the many straws gently wafting in front of what will become, I am sure, a technological hurricane.
http://www.groxis.com/cgi-bin/grok/aboutus.html
Although the cost of entry appears high for a beta, this is another entry in the information management derby which may wind up in the winner's circle in the race to tame the InterNet. There is no question we need tools to manage this magnificent information beast, and I think it equally unquestionable that at this point we can only throw the tools into the water and see which ones sink and which ones swim [the puzzle, of course, is always those which just float there unmoving].
But this tool certainly looks worth investigation, because it appears to be offering something like a subject catalogue for the Net -- and that, as any librarian can tell you, is a major part of the information battle won.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html
Keynote is an Open Source freeware program which is another in the series of tools which I think help tame the information morass into something our minds can use. I have been using such tools for over a decade, and could no more think of working effectively without one [I use AskSam, but it is not free] than I would think of going hunting in a boat without an accordion -- no, wait! I mean that the ability of this sort of tool to allow us to squirrel things away and call them back with trapeze-like ease is something you have to experience to see if it works for you. As Jerry Pournelle is wont to say: "If you need this, you need it bad".
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,454224,00.html
While the focus on the article is how IBM is employing intellectuals, some of the tools described here are right on target for those interested in harnessing the powers of the Net. This is another situation in which I think we are just in the process of creating/evolving the tools -- when we have them and a body of praxis, the degree to which the Net represents a "revolutionary" phenomenon will be more readily evaluated.
http://haystack.lcs.mit.edu/index.html
One of the needles in my bonnet is how we use tools to organize and manage information. I am convinced [with a stubborness based on a complete lack of theoretical knowledge or much in the way of empirical examples] that we are in the same stage of tools development that auto manufacturers were when they put buggy whip sockets in their original models -- we have not wrapped our minds around the fact that the tool is *new* as thoroughly as we might.
From Vannevar Bush onward, there have been suggestions concerning methods and modalities to amplify our minds through cognition prosthetics in the form of hardware and software ["cognition prosthetic" is simply professor-talk for a devive which aids our minds in doing something -- say a notepad on which you write a 'to do' list] -- none of which are "there yet".
Indeed, I am not sure we are going to get "there" any time soon, if only, in part, because we don't know *where* "there" is [but we will know it when we find it], but to prevent myself from waxing epistimolgical [as contrasted to waxing my car, a genuinely useful and rewarding pursuit], I will merely note that continuous coverage of tools to expand the reach of our mind will be a permanent feature of this blog.
And the above link is an entry about an ongoing research project which is looking into an aspect of such tools, thus worth reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting. This is something which I consider vital and crucial to the teaching/learning enterprise as we continue to drown in the information deluge.