Monday, February 09, 2004

by navigating the cyber waters, i came across the following at the lunatic fringe.

Jogger: Where Jabber meets Weblogs

Jogger is a project which uses the Jabber protocol as a posting mechanism for weblogs. Very interesting as the Jabber protocol is completely XML and extensible.

The project is still in its infancy and things are just coming up somehow. Apart from supporting RSS, there is also something on the wish list called "Jogger Syndicated XML":

Jogger Syndicated XML was created in order to provide users with a way to fully integrate with their stored content. Using this format requires you to write the interface to your stored content by parsing the data that you request in this format. You will have the power to write a complete interface to your stored data in this manner

It will be interesting how this gets together with developments like Atom. I think the whole drive behind Jabber (eventually leading to the XMPP protocol suites) is pretty strong.     [lunatic fringe]

 
the drive behind jabber is very strong indeed. who wouldn't like open source instant messaging? and even more, who wouldn't like his IM client to interoperate with his weblog? the potential is fascinating.

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*orkut rant #1

like every other soul on this planet, i finally joined orkut. usually, i'm not very keen on joining that kind of communities, since closed communities where the server owners own your words is not what i'm usually after,  but on the other hand, the *by invitation only* aspect of orkut, i must admit, is somehow intriguing. so, i gave it a shot. first, thanks to all of you who invited me at the first place. now, lets cut to the chase.

danah boyd has some interesting rants here and here, and Ross Mayfield explains why orkut doesn't work for him in very practical terms here. i haven't yet made my mind about orkut, and whether it's a complete waste of time or not, but one thing i'm sure about, is that unless orkut undergoes a radical change, both in terms of its arguably authoritarian terms of service and in the spectrum of options it offers (ie. what's a friend anyway?, and in what context have one befriended someone? offline friend or online buddy?; i don't want to characterise anyone male as sexy; ranking friends in a 1-5 scale is unethical at its best and against many people's notion of equality; being a fan, to my knowledge, doesn't need to require the pre-existence of a relationship - i'm a fan of people i don't know in person...and so forth). anyways, these are just a few of the flaws, and am sure there're plenty more to come as the system grows larger both technically and socially.

and here's a very important one, one glitch that essentially brings the system to a logical halt:

What's annoying that some people, like this Howard Dean supporter (you need an Orkut account to view the profile page), are going around Orkut's invitation system by actually selling accounts to everybody. This is another interesting way of defining a "friend": somebody who gives me money. [lunatic fringe]

the reason why this is so crucial is because it motivates people to cheat the system and as a consequence such behaviour alters the social dynamics upon which the system, at least vaguely and abstractly, is premised upon. next thing comming up, i can tell, is a flood of spam. and i 've heard that one can't easily exercise their exit options as it is close to impossible to delete ones' profile and unsubscribe (but haven't tried it myself)

tim pritlove aka lunatic fringe has some very thought-provoking posts on orkut, in contrast to some (not all) over-hyped social software networking gurus and zealots who see orkut, or more accuraly put, treat orkut as a beauty contest. however, for the time being, i'm still experimenting with orkut and will thus refrain from explaining myself very forcibly untill i have weighted all the pros and cons of being part of what is the orkut community. my first installment of two eurocents, for all that's worth.

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yet another googlebomb

disgruntled bloggers unleashed their fury by googlebombing the restaurant that kicked them out. he he. funny times ahead.

Smart Mob scorned, exacts revenge.

A number of New York-based bloggers gathered for a Big Apple Blogger Bash at a trendy restaurant, AZ. For unknown or unexplained reasons, the restaurant management got twitchy and ejected the entire group. Don't mess with the Internet-empowered! The mistreated bloggers retaliated by Googlebombing the place. Tell me quick, what's the worst bar in NYC?

Thanks, Howard Sherman!

[Smart Mobs]


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Wolfram's a new kind of science online

wolfram's huge opus is now online. for all the cellular automata we need to self-organise our reading therapy.


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