What labor shortage?. Experts at Wharton find that conventional wisdom about the impact of a smaller baby bust and an aging population of boomers is misleading--if not outright wrong. [CNET News.com - Front Door]

We will not have a labor shortage. Productivity increases make it more likely that high unemployment may continue for some time until employers realize that making people work 80 hours a week to maintain that productivity is harmful.  3:29:43 PM    

Here's an example of how weblogs can have influence on corporations.  Plaxo is a start-up with substantial investment capital.  A quick look at Google shows how weblogs are influencing the information flow on the product they sell (both pro and con reviews).  What is the value of a highly ranked review on a product keyword in Google?  A couple years ago, I was talking to PR insiders (off the record) and the consensus estimate was that a positive product mention in the WSJ or NYT would cost $100,000 (what is worth depends on how well the company can monetize it).  Positive mentions in other publications scale down from that.  What is the third and fourth link on a product name in Google worth using this benchmark?  Given that it has a high level of persistance (and that people often use Google as a means to find the company/product site), it could easily be worth $40-$50 k.  Given that, why aren't PR agencies all over webloggers that do product reviews to ensure that the reviewer gets all the relevant information needed to make an objective review?  I guess they are too busy sending out press releases that nobody reads. [John Robb's Weblog]

Hey, I can review almost anything. Make me an offer ;-)  3:10:10 PM    

Simple rules leading to powerful results

Okay, this is not biology but it is a fascinating use of technology and bottom-up approaches that should be of interest, especially for the social software group. My son plays select soccer in Washington State. We have a wonderful online service started by a soccer parent who is also a programmer. He has a site called Standings Plus where we can find scores and standings for all the select leagues in Washington and Oregon.

ANYONE?
But what is neat is the approach he has taken to get the scores up. In the old days, a bunch of stringers from around the state would call in scores from the different games and a newspaper might publish them if it had the space. At this online site, the scores are also updated by reporters across the state. Who are these reporters? ANYONE WHO REGISTERS. Like soccer parents or coaches

So Fast!
And, much like wikis, any reporter can add/change any scores directly to the database. So, the community of parents/coaches can easily update the scores for their child's games. Because almost everyone does this for each game, the scores often get posted before they are actually reported to the official Washington State Youth Soccer League sites.

No Leaders
But, as with a wiki, no one is in charge of posting the correct scores or preventing anyone from alter anyone else's scores. While appearing chaotic, this actually makes the operation quite simple, without the necessary vetting a top-down approach would use.

Bye, Bye Vandals
Like wikis, it relies on the community to notice vandalism or malicious posting. If a reporter (i.e. a rapid soccer parent) notices an incorrect score, they can easily change it to the correct one. A vandal's evidence is quickly corrected. Why go to the effort of posting false information if all evidence of your vandalism can easily be erased? In addition, backups are made all the time and if a particular reporter is constantly causing problems, they can be removed from the community.

Building Communities
How wikis can prevent malicious posting is sometimes hard to understand or explain. But this very nice, community-driven site provides another example of how a committed community (and sports parents are VERY committed) can function to provide rapid, up-to-date information without needing a lot of bureaucracy. The views of the members, coupled with a very strong negative feedback loop, has created a powerful tool that could not have existed 10 years ago. This is a great example of the sorts of self-organizing systems that can easily develop using the new tools of social software. Plus I can see how my son's team is doing compared to other teams faster than ever before.

2:55:39 PM    

YASNSes and Brand. Stuart Henshall takes on the question of brand for social networks services,

Ryze's inelegance is part of it's brand strength. Ryze was clearly created by human hands, the journey of a special person. Its useablity inelegant. Still at Ryze I feel like I own my own page. Ryze's pages often have a chaotic appeal that Tribe in it's current format will never achieve. At Tribe I'm part of a database...

Like danah, he notes that as they have gotten more professional, they increasingly become places where "...play, chaos, individuality, is in my view too restrictive."

We've been down this road before, where the tension between designed order and organic order gives the hosting organization fits, from Apple's disastrous eWorld experiment through the Fakester genocide. I wonder if we'll grope towards an answer or a small class of answers, or if the tension between design and communal growth is fundamental and permanent. [Corante: Social Software]

Online communities will work when they accurately mimic normal human interactions, which are chaotic, non-random and organic. They create the illusion that we are interacting exactly the way we have evolved to interact. Systmes that provide this will prosper because that is how we work. Every time you have a top down design, it destroys the illusion, reminds us that we are just talking to a computer, not a person.

Software the maintains the illusion we are speaking to another human, not a database of bits, allows the millions of years of evolutionary history we carry to be brought to bear. Being reminded that someone or something else is in charge breaks all of the premises.  2:22:35 PM    

Wow.  LCD tech is getting amazing.  Viewsonic VP2290b.  204 dpi.  QUXGA -- 3840x2400.  22.2" wide.  At 18" away, the human eye can't tell the difference between an image on it and the real thing.  Great for aging eyes. ~$6,000.  Not sure I agree that these cards can handle this screen. [John Robb's Weblog]

Wow. Maybe by the time the price of this gets reasonable, my eyesight will still be able to read something 18 inches away. So far my 'old eye syndrome' is progressing rapidly. It is about 12 inches for my left and 20 for my right. Luckily I am left eye dominant. But I used to have better than average vision in both. Now I am having to extend my arms to read. Bummer. But a 22 inch screen would help, right?  2:15:22 PM