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Saturday, July 06, 2002 |
Small is beautiful.
Andy Swarbs writes a powerfull testimony on the Groove forums:
I have recently been privilidged to partake of very serious intense, productive dialogue over Groove between some UK and US groovers. The efficacy of the activity in the space is truly awesome. Such "events" show how short Groove Networks sell themselves completely when they claim that "Groove is 10 times better than email" (even though I appreciate the under-selling). This is not the first time I have experienced such delights - but it is by far and away a most exemplary example. And I hope others have such experiences themselves, or will do soon.
The point of this thread is though to explore and express where groove is good and to look at it in light of recent exposes that are rocking the financial world - Enron, Xerox in the US and Vodafone, ITV Digital in the UK. My point is that when things get big they will inevitably tent to topple. As sure as eggs is eggs.
Enter Groove, an application which like no other can enable new small organisations to spring forth so much more effectively than any existing organisation. I hypothesise that orgnaisations that successfully deploy Groove from the ground up are far more likely to be the successful orgs of the future. Let me be conservative and use Groove Network's ratio and say they are "10 times more likely".
So why does groove help? Most groovers partaking of these forums will not be surprised to find on the list
a) groove is 10x better than email
b) groove builds strong very trusting powerful relationships
c) groove interactions closely mimic human interactions (well as close as computer-wise as is possible)
d) groove is a secure foundation on which to build and grow a business
e) groove is a reliable platform, eg does not require IT staff to do so much IT work so instead they can concentrate on the business
f) groove works from a company size of 1 - to 100 - to 1000 - and beyond - with no change of IT strategy
This adds up to a unique opportunity for us all. Most people who contribute to these forums, whether they express anguish and frustration or joy and benevolence are here and stay here because we see where we are heading. Not just "we" in the limited sense, but we in the global sense.
Here is the opportunity for the third world to get a hold on IT and be productive and compete on a much more level playing field. Here is the opportunity for new businesses to spring up and prosper like never before.
Think of what websites did for small companies. A small company can create a powerful visual message on their website making a small company look big and powerful to the outside world. But it does nothing for the company inside. That's where Groove comes in.
Yes sure, both the application and company both have growing pains, and some of them very unique as goes with the new world of P2P territory. Some of those pains have affected me at times such that I have said that "I will switch my computers off forever". But I have not. I am staying the course and we are all staying the course. And we will win. Groove 2.0 is better, 2.1 may be out sometime soon and I have heard that even version 3 has a timescale to whet the appetite. And a truth almost as universal as Moore's Law is that version 3 of any computer application is the one to watch for as reaching widespread acceptability (Dos 3, Windows 3 are just two). [Jeroen Bekkers' Groove Weblog]
3:43:30 PM 
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He said, he said.. Nick says: "Most importantly, big media, corporations and marketers are only now *beginning* to discover the new web publishing. So let's not write off weblogs just yet." [evhead]
3:40:37 PM
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Weblogs as lab notebooks.
The Chronicle: 7/5/2002: 'Superarchives' Could Hold All Scholarly Output. Quote: "Several colleges are now looking to share more of that work by building "institutional repositories" online and inviting their professors to upload copies of their research papers, data sets, and other work. The idea is to gather as much of the intellectual output of an institution as possible in an easy-to-search online collection."
Comment:The final solution will be distributed, but some interesting links in this piece. MIT again leading the way. If you go to most university home pages, it's usually quite a challenge to find their current research in any kind of systematic way. [Serious Instructional Technology]
A key observation from the article:
"The whole power of science is the power of shared ideas, not the power of hidden ideas," says Paul Jones, associate professor of information and library science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Science advances when there's a free exchange of ideas. We move faster by being open. We know this, but we have disincentives right now to openness."
So, here's a gedanken experiment for you. Setup each incoming Ph.D. or Master's candidate with a weblog at the beginning of their program. Coach them to use the weblog as a lab notebook of their developing intellectual capital. Use your own weblog to comment on their work and their thinking. Where do you think these students will be after several years of sustained and steady writing? How many will have already started to establish reputations as serious thinkers?
Sure, there will be lots of resistance to the idea. It threatens many a sacred cow. Make the initial experiments local or semi-private. Long-term you're still likely to kill the existing system by substituting real-time peer review for the current unwieldy system.
[McGee's Musings]
3:30:44 PM
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Klogging 101: What, Why, and How.. Explaining klogging to the gang at the office? To your user group?
Here's a little slide show you can use.
Klogging 101: What, Why, and How.
Talking points for 15-20 minutes.
Not included, but may be useful: a demo session.
- Bring your favorite blogging tools (some of the slides mention UserLand products).
- Write to the web
- Open an edit page.
- Write a post.
- Publish it.
- See the results on the web.
- Comment on incoming news and data
- Look at the news aggregator.
- Comment on one.
- Publish your comment and see the results.
Suggestions?  <A title="Add Phil Wolff to your AIM Buddy List" href="aim:addbuddy?screenname=evanwolff">AIM Y! @Ryze [a klog apart] [McGee's Musings]
3:28:33 PM
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Kick ass!.
BBC: "Benches in public places in Barrow-in-Furness have been fitted with MP3 audio players. Passers-by simply plug in standard headphones to listen to specially written plays and stories relevant to the benches location." [Scripting News] Imagine mp3 travel guides you could carry around on your iPod. THAT would be COOL! [Sample the Web]
3:26:14 PM
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Russian Scientists Out of Work. The Moscow Times -- Hundreds of chemists, biologists and nuclear scientists, desperate to support their families and feeling forgotten by Russia's post-Soviet leadership, crowded at the government's headquarters Thursday to plead for better wages and research funding. Anis Gariyev once enjoyed a generous salary and the respect of his neighbors as a chemical engineer at the Pushchino Research Center in Pushchino outside Moscow. Now his 1,500 ruble ($48) monthly salary leaves him among the community's most destitute. ... The Soviet Union boasted having the largest number of scientists in the world, researchers responsible for the Soviet space program, advances in superconductor research and vaccines -- and its vast nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs. But the generous state support for science withered after 1991, prompting many researchers to seek jobs in the private sector or abroad. More than half a million scientists have left Russia since the Soviet Union collapsed, the chairman of the Russian Academy of Sciences' trade unions said last week. (07/01/02) [Synergic Earth News]
10:57:23 AM
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Russia Given $20 Billion to Dismantle Nukes!. The Moscow Times -- KANANASKIS, Alberta -- The world's seven wealthiest countries agreed Thursday to spend $20 billion to help Russia dismantle stockpiled weapons. President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush sealed the 10-year pact on Russia in one-on-one talks as an economic summit of the world's industrial powers drew to a close. World leaders meeting at a remote Canadian Rockies resort said that the agreement to provide up to $20 billion in support for Russia's efforts to safeguard its weapons stockpiles was driven by concerns that the materials could fall into the hands of terrorists. (07/01/02) [Synergic Earth News]
10:56:45 AM
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TCPA / Palladium Frequently Asked Questions. The protocol that runs the Internet is called TCP/IP. Now some of America's largest corporations are wanting to change things. Last August, Robert X. Cringely wrote of a rumor that Microsoft wanted to replace TCP/IP with a proprietary protocol -- a protocol owned by Microsoft -- that it would tout as being more secure. This week, Microsoft announced Palladium which is the code name for a Microsoft project to make all Internet communication safer by essentially pasting a digital certificate on every application, message, byte, and machine on the Net, then encrypting the data EVEN INSIDE YOUR COMPUTER PROCESSOR. Ross Anderson explains how this changing architecture might effect you. (07/01/02) [Synergic Earth News]
10:55:44 AM
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Better Than a Cell Phone. New York Times -- The new system allows anyone with a wireless network card and a laptop to log on to the Web anywhere in the park. Mr. Eckhaus bought his computer and an AirPort wireless network card a few weeks ago and has since been a park regular. Bryant Park is one of more than 70 wireless access sites in New York City and one of the first to formally span a city park. The wireless high-speed connection funnels into the park via a T-1 line, a high grade of Internet cable, and is sent through the park's airwaves by a radio transmitter. On a recent afternoon, Mr. Eckhaus was sitting near the carousel, reading an Israeli newspaper and downloading music. Directly across the park, Loren Finkelstein, a computer network administrator, was exchanging instant messages in the sun. On the east side of the park, Kingsley Rowe, a recent graduate of New York University, was sitting at a table, reading e-mail messages and checking for more tips in his job search. Mr. Eckhaus said: "The first time you browse the Internet, it was wonderful. It's like that all over again." (07/05/02) [Synergic Earth News]
10:52:47 AM
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New Chips Can Keep a Tight Rein on Consumers. [ via Arnold Kling ] Cal Berkeley (by way of Michigan) microeconomics guru Hal Varian reviews some recent uses of DRM, such as phones which won't work unless you buy the right brand of battery, or printers that shut down if you refill the inkjet cartridge, and worries how this will affect us poor saps who have to use these products: Manufacturers invest heavily in research and development to discover new uses for their products. But the users are often better innovators. After all, the users are closer to the problem: they rely on the products every day for a variety of tasks in a variety of environments, so it is not surprising that they come up with uses the manufacturer never thought of. I'm sorry Dave, but that's not an OEM cupholder. I'm going to depressurize the crew compartment as specified in the EULA. [More Like This WebLog]
10:46:37 AM
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Russell Beattie Notebook. BlogAgent Updates
The BlogAgentAOL is up and running. Try it out by sending a AOL Instant Message to ManywhereAgent. Woohoo! This library (JAIM off of SourceForge) looks really well done. Right now it's like this:
Jabber: Doesn't show presence info and may time out.
MSN: Doesn't add newlines (what a pain in the ass) and definitely times out (I think it has something to d [Russell Beattie Notebook]
10:41:49 AM
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Peter Ford's Parent Teacher Night: "Talking with parents tonight at school. It's great to see how many are positive about the effect of weblogs on their child's education. "Weblogs have expanded her horizons," said one. She went on to outline how the whole family across the States have been reading her child's writing and research."
If only he knew how true this is as well! [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]
10:13:12 AM
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I finally had some time to really read the Janis Ian essay. Fucking brilliant. Isn't it amazing, how much money is being spent, legislation written and passed, technology forced to fruition in failed attempt after another to destroy the internet's capability to be exactly what the music industry needs: The Biggest Friggin' Free Radio Station ever. iRock included. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]
10:09:29 AM
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 The Open Source way to fame and fortune: "Imagine this: you are a competitive but not outstanding player of the online game Team Fortress. You decide you are becoming a little too addicted to the game, so you decide to try your hand at a little Open Source coding instead. You write a little intrusion detection program for fun, without expecting many people to be interested in it. Four years later you're head of a well-capitalized, fast-growing company based on your little Open Source project." [NewsForge]
[GranneWeb]
10:08:42 AM
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  You can't install Microsoft's server before it's infected: "To see for ourselves how long a default installation of IIS would last in the wild, eWeek Labs connected a fresh install of Windows 2000 Server to the outside Internet. As an arbitrary deadline, we immediately started downloading the network install of Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 and disconnected from the network when it was done.
The 110MB download took 25 minutes. For the first 15 minutes, we didn't see any HTTP traffic at all; in the last 10 minutes of the download, we were infected with Nimda twice—once from two different servers and several times by our own server reinfecting itself." [ExtremeTech] [GranneWeb]
10:07:56 AM
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Bloggatio Latina. Dorothea asked me to come up with a Latin motto for the Universitas Blogariensis. I suggested "Scripta Legenda" meaning, "written to be read" or literally "those-things-written (which are) things-to-be-read" - indicating that the writings of U. Blog. are open... [Caveat Lector]
10:02:49 AM
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Anger and coping. Quoth Burningbird: If it's angry people that forge a new society, it's the gently melancholic, the intellectually pessimistic, and the complacent and indifferent people that destroy it. Being gently melancholic by nature myself, not to mention intellectually pessimistic, I couldn’t... [Caveat Lector]
10:02:11 AM
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Russell's been busy, there's now an RSS feed (subscribed), Jabber, MSN & AIM versions of BlogAgent, and he has some interesting ideas for connecting people based on the blogs they're watching. [Simon Fell]
9:46:46 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Mark Oeltjenbruns.
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