Stuart has been telling me how useful it is to use multiple screens - he uses one for working and one for his communications (IM windows, email etc).  So i was inspired to try and set it up here - i've been lazy about unpacking my old PC - its been lying in a carton since we shifted home in December - and finally today decided to just do it. 

Being a tech-dweeb and perhaps a little spoilt too as all my pc's are under service contracts, i tried the easy way out first.  (The easiest would have been to have Stuart giving me instructions via skype or IM - but it was around 2 am in San Francisco) so i asked the service guys who were here for another task to set it up for me.  They had no clue how to do it.  Then i called Dell support - and was told politely that it is not possible to have different applications running on two screens.  I argued a while with them and then decided that self-help sometimes is the best.

I looked through the Help and Support sections which are iunstalled on my pc and found really easy instructions.  And had it up and running in 5 minutes - all resolutions perfect.  The lady from Dell support was holding on to the line at the other end - and she asked me how i did it - so i gave her step-by-step directions - she thanked me profusely :)

So now i have multiple screens - its really neat - i can work undisturbed on my laptop - with all the chaos of mails and IMs and skype calls happening on the other.  Thanks Stuart - for a great idea ! 

You should try it too. 

6:34:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

Lilia has set off an interesting discussion with her post - Context and Attribution.  She says :

"There are some quotes from my weblog in other places that do not make me happy... So, if you care, I would appreciate the following while quoting from my weblog : ......."

Reading her views and others' comments made me think about what i feel about attribution and context. 

Here are some of my thoughts on this (i started writing these as a comment at her blog - then couldn't resist turning it into a post) :

I feel links are great for building loose ties and sharing your community. Its a symbiotic relationship - they feed, seed, nurture and reward thought for the blogger, his/her community, and for an extended set of readers.  Am not sure i have a problem with number of citations or attributes in a post really - so long as they add to my enjoyment of the post and not detract from it.  Or bore me.

Alex Halavais has made two interesting points through his comment -

"This is, arguably, easy enough with words, but much harder when it comes to ideas. ......................."    and

"I wonder whether a standing set of citations (your "Regular reads/dialogues") constitutes a kind of "thought group"--an indication that your ideas are at least in some part attibutable to the people you communicate with every day?"

A blogroll for instance does a great job of signalling and delivering attribution to the community you have formed.  More ... it can tell your reader - if you enjoy reading me - try some of these blogs too.  That's a great reward isn't it.

There is a learning curve one goes through as a blogger - i tended to be naive and careless initially about attributing quotes and links in my first days.  I learnt through observation - i'd like to believe i'm more careful about linking and quoting - as a mark of integrity and respect.  

And in my experience, most do.

Often too i have observed links that don't necessary link back to a specific post i have made (although the citation is for that specific post), but to my blog home page. I maynot get as many trackbacks as a result - yet i do have Technorati, Sitemeter, Blogstreet and Blogdex showing these up for me.  Does it really matter then - i can still take a look at what is being written about my post.  And again, this feeds, seeds, nurtures and rewards more thought ... and i begin to form ties.   

I wouldn't really worry about it too much :):):).  Each of us has our own particular style of writing and linking - and i'd like to acknowledge and appreciate this diversity.  We blog in a community and network of sorts - if we didn't many of us might have dropped out a long while ago.  Blogging on an island or in a vacuum is not rewarding. We pick up thoughts, expand and extend them, exchange dialogues and play a lot of jazz.  Sometimes with just a nod of the head, a look or a smile, a question playing out of the last note of the trumpet, there is an acknowledgement of the other, and a cue to take a thought higher. At other times, it is the spontaneous play from the other that leads to much greater value.  Ultimately its the combined value of this creative friction that makes the piece soar ... and at the same time, stretches the individual to perform even better. 

In this lies the joy of blogging, and the reward for me is in forging ties that are loosely joined (now i have read this phrase many times over - my memory fails me - so apologies for no link to it ), and in some cases stronger bonds of community.

5:59:39 PM    comment []  trackback []