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Saturday, February 09, 2002 |
The Museum of Online Museums "Welcome to the coudal.com Museum of Online Museums (MoOM). Here, you will find links from our archives to online collections and exhibits covering a vast array of interests and obsessions: Start with a review of classic art and architecture, and graduate to the study of mundane (and sometimes bizarre) objects elevated to art by their numbers, juxtaposition, or passion of the collector." [via BoingBoing]
If I had any time, I'd spend it browsing through this site.
8:47:08 PM Permanent link here
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Netsurfer Digest, in an e-mail to subscribers. : " 'Well, at long last, the time has come. We're officially switching to a paid subscription business model. Don't despair - some bits will still be free, but you'll have to pay for others. We've had over seven years of ad-supported, free-to-the-reader publication, but for all the obvious reasons this is no longer possible. If you think it is, keep reading.' The new paid model will cost USD$20 per year. They will continue to offer a few things free. More details here. [The End of Free]
Good luck, NSD. I hope you can make it work.
Addendum 2/12/02: Hey, libraries - you can apply for a NSD account and still offer free access for your patrons within your library! Three cheers for NSD! Hip, hip, hooray!
8:42:14 PM Permanent link here
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Overstated also points us to WordWatch, which I hadn't seen before. I like Cameron's pursuit of "information diffusion," which dovetails nicely with my interests in memes and information connectors. I'll be adding his site to my blogiography.
8:39:17 PM Permanent link here
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The top 25 meme producers are as follows... "The traditional assessment of the dissemination of information assumes that people fall into adopter categories. These classes of innovativeness have become popular parts of our vernacular: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.... I've started using another measure in its place, the number of memes originating with an individual. Instead of biasing originality on consistency, this value relates the propensity of an individual to find and curate powerful ideas." [at Overstated, via Scripting News]
So then what is the Tipping Point for memes on the Net? This list is a who's who of online connectors and mavens. Blake, I'll get back to you about the Shift list, but maybe this is another way of looking at it. Who are the top meme producers in libraryland, and how different is the list between print meme producers and online meme producers? Do the memes cross media and if so, how long does it take?
8:26:29 PM Permanent link here
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Music Sales Down: Is it Napster? Or is it lack of inspiration?. "The latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine (Printed edition) states that the RIAA has reported a 3% decrease in music sales this past year. The RIAA would like you to believe that Napster, and other similar projects are to blame. I tend to believe otherwise. I blame the decrease in sales on the lack of inspiration, and therefore lack of consumer interest, in current music. The point is, RIAA would like to take any evidence they can to stamp out the Napsterites. Contrary to what they believe, I believe that tools such as Napster might actually lend to creativity. It helps obscure artists to get recognition...and it helps other artists to grow. It helps people find other sources for their inspiration. Stamp that out, and you will cut off the inspiration stream for musicians around the world. With no inspiration, we have mediocre music. Most people do not like to buy mediocre music." [Kuro5hin]
I would add that there are a lot of songs out there right now that I like, but I'm not willing to buy whole albums just to get them. I'm also not willing to pay $4 for one song. However, if you let me download the song for $1-$2 and I get to keep it - without paying you an additional subscription fee - and I can listen to it on my MP3 player, then I'll start buying your music again. This isn't rocket science, RIAA. It's capitalism and the marketplace, and you're taking yourselves out of my marketplace.
11:55:53 AM Permanent link here
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Buzz Bruggeman: Blog Rot! or How Not To Play in the NBA.... [via Doc Searls]"One of the incidental benefits of pitching software to smart people is that you have to elevate your game!"
I'm adding this phrase to my canon. At SLS, I think of myself as an "idea" person or Malcolm Gladwell's "information maven." When I get one of my "big ideas," folks roll their eyes but they listen because I'm "elevating my game."
"I read about a dozen different blogs a day, and do so 2-3 times a day depending on how the spirit moves me.... Now for the bad news, some of these really smart people and great writers fall victim to 'Blog Rot', which I define as not staying in the game and offering up great stuff on a daily basis. Perhaps they have day jobs, but if they want to play in the 'NBA' or National Bloggers Association, Blog Rot can't be part of their game."
Sure blog rot is bad, but anyone who posts daily can't possibly "elevate their game" every day. Nobody can be "on" 24/7. There will be days when I do other things and the blog is third or fourth on my list (at best). Them's the breaks, and I do have a life after all. Buzz, do you pitch software at that elevation every day, or just when you're selling?
Buzz would probably enjoy Dan Pink's Just One Thing blog - a "mini-me-zine" of just one thing each day. [also via Doc Searls]
And BTW, the Duke Blue Devils are NOT America's team. :-)
11:38:19 AM Permanent link here
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News.com has a special report about Technology Put to the Olympic Test with two interesting articles in particular.
Biathletes get wireless weapon in Games "Light beams will streak across regular intervals of the cross-country course where the races take place. A transponder on the biathlete's ankle will help send a signal describing the location of the athlete, the athlete's identity, and current time every time he or she passes through a light beam. The information will be sent to the coach's laptop, where software programs will take a second to determine the split time. 'Our coaches can sit on the courses with their laptops and instantly tell their athletes that they are 22 seconds out of first,' said Jerry Kokesh, development director for the U.S. Biathlon Association. 'We used to have to do this all by hand.' "
The article also notes security concerns about the 802.11b network that was installed to implement all of this. Are they afraid that a hacker is going to mess with the times or something?
Olympics: A cell phone nirvana? "The carriers' version of utopia for cell phone users is a nationwide network where 98 percent of all calls get through, even if the call is made in a car traveling through a 12,300-foot high mountain pass. This utopia will last for 18 days. Some of the new Utah network is temporary, and will be removed after the Olympics end.... The carriers added 177 more cell phone antenna sites and have 35 temporary antennas on tractor-trailers to mobilize during peak calling times, like the height of the opening ceremonies, Anderson said. She studied cell phone traffic patterns for the Nagano games. The air around the Opening Ceremonies was filled with electricity and with the most cell phone calls made at one time during those games."
Now if they could just cover my route home.... Imagine if the cell phone Sarah Hughes Sasha Cohen handed George Bush hadn't worked. (Doh! Thanks, Shirl.)
Addendum: Hello? Salt Lake City, Hello? "There will be lots of people trying to make calls but they'll be rebuffed by the lack of dial tones or busy signals -- if they're lucky enough just to get on the network. Despite all the work done by mobile operators in Salt Lake City, the cellular networks won't support the tens of thousands of mobile calls made by foreign visitors, analysts say." [at Wired News]
11:22:16 AM Permanent link here
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Deaf go mobile phone crazy "Over the last few years, the mobile phone has emerged as a popular device for what at first may seem an unlikely user group: the deaf and other people who are hard of hearing. Using the Short Messaging Service (SMS) functions on mobiles, people with hearing difficulties can communicate by typing messages into their phones.... By setting their mobile phones to vibrate, they can be alerted when a message comes in. This usage shows how a group of people can take up a technology that was not initially designed or marketed to them, and adapt it to suit their own needs and purposes." [at BBC Sci/Tech, via Meryl]
Another excellent example that illustrates why mobile, wireless access will be pervasive and ubiquitous in the future. Meryl notes that this doesn't really help her right now because her cell phone can't send messages, but that will change.
Is your library prepared to serve deaf users via SMS or IM? You'd better be in the future.
10:58:05 AM Permanent link here
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Creating the Usable Web, One Site at a Time "Although [Lift Onsite] tries to explain everything, understanding and fixing usability violations requires familiarity with both W3C recommendations and current conventional wisdom about usability and accessibility. Also, Lift Onsite can check only static Web sites housed in a hard drive. People who create dynamically generated Web sites must supplement Lift Onsite with a subscription to UsableNet's Web-based service, Lift Online. For professional Web-site developers who need section 508 compliance, this tool is invaluable. For Web developers who also act as their own quality assurance department, Lift Onsite is a handy way to check flaws and learn best-practice guidelines. However, for recreational Web heads, this might be overkill." [via ia/] [at MacWorld]
I wonder if the Illinois State Library can cut a deal with the Lift folks so that all Illinois libraries can test their sites using this service? Even without the subscription, the free 5-page demo of Lift should be in your accessibility toolbox along with Bobby and Wave. BTW, Lift now has software that integrates with Dreamweaver.
10:43:52 AM Permanent link here
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Have Cell Phone, Will Shoot "The carnage occurs with cellular phones, not guns -- courtesy of new technologies that allow cell phone users to locate each other to within several hundred meters.... The games rely on a cell phone technology that allows mobile operators to pinpoint users' positions within "cells" formed by their phones' locations relative to nearby transmitters...."
"The company's signature game is BotFighters, which Hålling says has attracted between 7,000 and 8,000 players in Sweden and Finland. The game will launch shortly in Ireland. In BotFighters, users role-play as robots that they pick from a community website. They can pick all kinds of extras like laser guns and missiles, using play money called 'Robucks.' "
"But once they start firing at each other in the real world, they pay real money -- about 20 cents for each move in the game. (The cell phones can "get" missions from the company's servers, "scan" for nearby enemies and, of course, "fire.") Since intense battles often involve many moves, the games can quickly add up to some big phone bills. Sweden's Taxi31, for instance, has chalked up bills as high as $4,000." [at Wired News]
I'm quoting liberally from this article because most of the adults I know don't believe that kids - let alone other adults - will want to play games on their cell phones. Granted, the U.S. will be a different market, but any kid that's grown up with Gameboys will feel right at home with something like this. I mean heck, it's interactive and you can play against anybody, not just your next door neighbor.
In my Information Shifting presentation, I note that wireless companies plan to target their advertising at kids 10 years old and younger because they are considered to be the first big wave for this market. After all, what 10 year old wouldn't want to collect zombies and play virtual paintball using their PDA/phone combo? They don't know cell phones are supposed to be for calling people. To them, it will be an information appliance, game console, and IM tool all rolled into one.
BTW, you can find out more about BotFighters and other games at the It's Alive site. It's nice to see that it still has the heartbeat along the top and the funky background sounds. The site is perfect for a cellular game company. "Pervasive gaming" is a term you'll hear a lot more of over the next few years.
10:28:52 AM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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