Tuesday 5 February 2002

Several alternative polling system trials in UK Local Elections. Several trials of alternate polling systems in the UK this spring: voters in Liverpool and Sheffield will be able to vote by sending an SMS message from thier mobiles. In Swindon, voters can use their touch tone phones. Tyneside, Stevenage and Chorley will have a postal-only ballot. [More Like This WebLog] I'm not sure about this. While it may seem superficially appropriate to embrace new technology in this way, somehow it seems to me to amount to trivialisation. I'm no great fan of instant polls in any case, since I'm concerned at the danger of their being spur-of-the-moment affairs, overly influenced by whatever 'expert' analysis or editorial opinion a respondent has recently been exposed to. Somehow it just doesn't seem proper or appropriate that the same system be used for electing a government as for deciding who becomes part of a fabricated pop group ... not even mentioning the likelihood of abuse creeping into the system, no matter how secure its designers might think it to be. No. My vote is for the sticky black pencil and putting my X in a box, thank you. 10:28:34 PM  Your view

John Dvorak: The Blog Phenomenon.  [Scripting News] Mr Dvorak is not normally a favourite of mine, but in this case he's produced a balanced, interesting article. Maybe he deserves another chance in general? 9:34:13 PM  Your view

The Passion for Designing Macs. An entire culture exists in which people's lives are dominated by designing Macintosh computers. But they usually realize the Apple folks do it better. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News] The scariest part of this article is this: 'Some of the most enthusiastic Mac mockup artists are precocious teenagers.' -- and one of them has even been hired by the Omni Group! 8:38:52 PM  Your view

		© Copyright 2002 Jim MacCormaic . Last update: 29/09/2002; 06:01:09 am .