Thursday, October 2, 2003

Another 'Semantic Refresher' Semantic Blogging. Semantic Blogging for Bibliography Management. From HP Labs , This description of Semantic Blogging gives an idea of the level of thought already being applied to the utilization of "blogs": Extract: Web-logging, typically abbreviated to "blogging", is a very successful paradigm for lightweight publishing which has grow sharply in popularity over the last two years. The notion of semantic blogging builds upon this success and clear network value of blogging by adding additional semantic structure to items shared over the blog channels. In this way we add significant value allowing navigation and search along semantic rather than simply chronological or serendipitous connections. Blogging, as it stands, already offers many compelling values. It provides a very low barrier to entry for personal web publishing and yet these personal publications are automatically syndicated and aggregated via centralized servers (e.g. blogger.com) allowing a wide community to access the blogs. Blogs have a simple to understand structure and yet links between blogs and items (so called blog rolling) supports the decentralized construction of a rich information network. Semantic blogging exploits this same personal publishing, syndication, aggregation and subscription model but applies it to structured items with richer metadata data. The metadata would include classification of the items into one or more topic ontologies, semantic links between items ("supports", "refutes", "extends" etc.) as well as less formal annotations and ratings. There are several ways this more structured data could extend the power of blogging: Discovery. At present is it not easy to discover either a channel of interest (e.g. "I would like to find blog channels about the semantic web") or a collection of specific items of interest (e.g. "Are there any more blog entries describing this application idea?"). Cross-linking. Current blogs support a single link between the channel record and the blogged item. By extending this mechanism to support linking between items (using a property hierarchy) we can create a network of topic interconnections that supports more flexible navigation. These links can themselves form part of the disseminated content - for example to represent the structure or scholarly discourse. Flexible aggregation and selection. The current blog subscription mechanisms are in some ways both too fine (being bounded by the individual blogger's channel of posts) and too coarse (e.g. I might like Ian's technology channel but am only interested in the semantic web bits). The richer categorization and structure of semantic blog channels would make it easier for users to create virtual blog channels which aggregate across multiple bloggers but select from that aggregate according to other criteria such as topic (or community rating). Integration with other sources and applications. The structured nature of semantic blog channels makes it possible to develop automated blog robots that can process and enhance the blogged items. For example, in the bibliography domain transducers would enable import and export via existing bibliography schemas like BibTex and automatic linking to large repositories such as CiteSeer. [Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area] [bLOGical] 11:41:20 PM

Blogging Clay Shirky and W. Blaze The End of Open?. Clay Shirky has some unusually dark thoughts on the future of openness: I also have the same pit in my stomach about email in 2003 that I did in 1997 about usenet. I loved usenet as well, too literally and too well — in the early 90’s, I poured two years of my life into that sink. But by 1997, I could see that the twin pressures plaguing usenet — volume and spam — had no easy solution. That’s how I feel now about email, and what makes it worse is that its starting to be how I feel about openess. ... And the thing that makes me sickest is that I may already have lived to see the high water mark of openess in my lifetime. Email’s loss (and in some ways its already happened, so enormous is its current debasement) is both tragic in and of itself, and possibly a warning about the future. Now I'm certainly not going to argue that he's definitely wrong, unfortunately there are very real risks to the future of open systems. But at the same time I think he's not giving openness enough credit. In essence he's saying that the problems of spammers, free riders and shear volume are going to outstrip our ability to counter these issues within open systems. Here are a few reasons I hope this isn't going to be true: Not all open systems are automatically at risk to these threats. How do you spam my RSS feeds for example. Open systems can be coded to narrow the volume of information, not increase it. As more and more systems fall to these vulnerabilities, more and more effort will be placed in creating solutions. Better spam filters for instance. Imagine a spam filter that ranks your incoming mail by where someone is in your social network. Friends obviously shoot right through to your inbox, as do people fully interwoven in your personal network (ie they are friends with 4 of your friends). Those on periphery of your network or not in it at all get additional scrutiny, perhaps they get crossed referenced with people that appear in your RSS feeds or to directories of company's reputations. The proliferation of human filters. This is key, as the shear volume of information increases there is tremendous value placed in filtering and sorting information. This creates a valuable market niche that people are rushing to fill. DJs filter the massive amount of recorded music. Bloggers filter their niches, while services like the Lycos 50 filter popular culture. In many sense the internet functions like a city with information industry ala Jane Jacobs The Economy of Cities. Specialization begets more specialization, creating a rich meshwork economy. Guess we'll be finding out soon. I'm certainly not writing off email yet, although I'll certainly admit its getting more and more of a chore and less and less of a pleasure. Ultimately I think we'll have something much better and I have hope it will be an open system. [Abstract Dynamics] 8:47:43 PM

Powerbook and Logic John McLaughlin on Tour. Currently touring with his Remember Shakti band, legendary guitarist John McLaughlin appears on stage accompanied by a 17-inch PowerBook. He uses Logic, Logic plug-ins and a MOTU 828 as preamp, equalization and effects processing for his guitar. [Oct 2] [Apple Hot News] 7:48:19 PM

Joe Jones Via Blog Graham BloggerCon update: join the fun. BloggerCon is this Saturday, and its website is going to carry a live webcast of the day's events. I'm going to be sharing the stage with two other campaign blogmasters (Dean's and Clark's), as well as the DNC's blogger-in-chief. You... [Blog Graham] 2:35:05 PM

Howard Dean and Youth Media: Raising The Roots Dean Holds Youth Press Call for Raise the Roots Tour. From the conference room at Burlington HQ, Governor Dean conducted a conference call with representatives of more than 30 youth media outlets from across the country this morning. Michael Whitney writes over at the Generation Dean Blog: Governor Dean told the young reporters that our generation has a stake in the future, and we should help shape it now. He thanked the 12,000 members of Generation Dean for their support and said that he believes young people will make a big difference in the outcome of the election. The Raise the Roots Tour starts tomorrow. [Blog for America] 12:57:39 PM

Music and Recording The Incredible Shrinking Studio. Musicians are no longer tied to the studio when they want to make recordings. Now that laptops are so powerful, music can be made anywhere, freeing musicians and changing the music landscape. By Mark McClusky. [Wired News] 12:39:59 PM

Foil, Epee, Sabre Swordsmanship. Historical Fencing Manuals from the times of the Vikings to the 19th Century. Fantastic. [The Cartoonist] 12:06:32 PM