b.cognosco
Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Human Filtering with RSS
Internet News Research
Printing's Top 5
Odd Google Searches
Graphic Arts Trends
Bill Campbell to Leave Atlanta
Mainstream RSS
PDF for Lawyers
Radio and liveTopics
Freakin' Cold in Atlanta
Bob Frankston on Spectrum Policy
Scalable Vector Graphics Roadmap
ReaderWare and AllConsuming
Eric Benson on Life
Boxes and Arrows Book LIst
Sunday, January 26, 2003
e-Learning Overview for Management
Be sure to read the comments here -- the discussion and reader comments around the development of this presentation are excellent. Learning Circuits Blog is a group weblog and the contributors use the comments to carry on detailed discussions. There are useful discussions on e-Learning vendors, learning styles, and other topics.
Overview presentation on e-Learning from Jay Cross.Presentation to Management. This evening I had a 90-minute dialogue about eLearning with 36 members of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association of... [Learning Circuits Blog]
A very nice overview presentation on learning and e-learning by Jay Cross. Targeted toward senior executives. [McGee's Musings]
Human Filtering with RSS
The combination of Weblogs and RSS create a global network of subject matter experts (SMEs) that bring analysis, insight, and useful opinion to a range of everyday topics and current events, but there is no easy, efficient way of finding, defining, or distributing the metadata about these sources of information. Without such a metadata tool, how do we communicate the real value of the weblog/SME network to new users?
I've been encouraging friends and colleagues to explore RSS -- either by trying Radio Userland or by using one of the stand alone aggregators such as NewzCrawler. Without fail, there are always two questions asked as soon as they begin to experiment:
1) Where can I find RSS feeds for subscribing?
2) Can I filter feeds so I don't have to read all the headlines?
For the first question I typically send them off to Syndic8, Moreover, and NewsIsFree to explore what is available, knowing full well they're likely to be overwhelmed. But I can't think of any better answer. Until they explore a bit they can't begin to understand what RSS is about. Also, since my friends and colleagues generally work in the same field as I do, I point them to a couple of custom feeds I scrape from industry sources.
The second question is tougher. My usual answer goes like this:
"Everyone asks this. The answer is sort of; maybe; not really. RSS aggregators are fairly new and only just gaining sophisticated features like filtering and grouping. There are a few ways to do some of it. Still, it's like spam-filtering -- brain-dead and lots of false readings." This is not very satisfying to new users. Filters are our default defense mechanism against overload, and they have trouble seeing past the filter paradigm to grasp the world of SMEs that the weblog/RSS combination creates.
Filters -- even good ones -- are brute force, blunt-edged tools. The most sophisticated filters we have today are the spam filters, and they are woefully inadequate. Filtering news items on keywords just isn't very efficient because it lacks context sensitivity and intelligence, especially when applied to news headlines. Filters mean I will miss items I should see while being forced to scan items that are irrelevant. Filters are still useful, they just aren't that useful.
More useful is the RSS feed from an SME. Take Jim McGee. His recent post on Murphy's Law and Design used work from another SME -- James Vornov. James discusses decision theory and associated topics. But a post titled Sod's Law?, or The Origin of Murphy's Law isn't likely to draw my attention, or the attention of my colleagues, if it arrives as one news headline among many. Jim's post, however, is titled "Murphy's Law and Design", and if you are at all interested in design -- of anything -- this will catch your attention.
Jim accomplished two things: He caught my attention with his title, and he added a broader strategic character to James' work. Because I know Jim watches key strategic issues I lent attention to his post (I also read James' work, but that's not relevant to this point.) And when I read his analysis of James' ideas they became more relevant to me. I could then go back and investigate further as needed. I would never have gotten any this had I been using a filter system to throw out all irrelevant headlines.
This act is repeated many times a day. John Robb and many others have written reams about the value of human filters. They are right. I have found a great web of SMEs and trusted sources that tell me what is important, relevant, and useful. Less and less I depend on news headlines and instead depend on my SMEs to tell me what matters and why. But it's taken me seven months to build my web of SMEs, and I find more every day. I find them through reference from existing sources, link-surfing, and blind luck.
It sure would be nice if we could shortcut this process for new users. And it would be great if I had a shorter, simpler, more useful answer for friends who ask me the filter question.
Internet News Research
A librarian site covering topics of interest to Internet researchers.
New Internet research blog - Internet News, maintained by Gwen Harris, provides timely and interesting news on the world of Internet research. [via Inter Alia] [Ernie the Attorney]
Printing's Top 5
I did a little quick search this morning (for my own curiosity) on printing revenues. Here's what I found:- Quebecor, Inc. -- $7.3bn
- QuebecorWorld -- $6.3bn (I don't know how/why this differs from Quebecor, Inc. I need to look into it.)
- R.R. Donnelley -- $5.3bn
- Moore Wallace -- $3.6bn
- Vertis -- $1.9bn
- Mail-Well, Inc. -- $1.6bn
- Banta -- $1.5bn
- Standard Register -- $1.2bn
Friday, January 24, 2003
Odd Google Searches
Checking the referer logs for odd Google searches that lead here.- corn huskers lotion ratings
- aunt polly's nude movies
- printable superbowl boxes 2003
- Paige Davis pr0n
Google's propensity to snatch keywords from all over the page and conatentate them without regard to proximity leads to some poor search results.
Graphic Arts Trends
TrendWatch Graphic Arts has released a new study profiling major trends and business statistics in the graphic arts. Among the key findings:- Digital color print is up. Traditional offset print is down -- 38% of design and production firms say their digital color printing jobs are increasing. The same number (38%) say that their traditional offset printing jobs are decreasing
- Number of printing establishments is down -- The number of small commercial and quick printing establishments hit a high point in 1990 at 37,352 U.S. establishments. That number has been declining ever since
- Cross-media is up -- 42 percent of graphic design firms surveyed reported cross-media as being strategic keys to the success of their business.
The report is available for $1,595 from TrendWatch.
Terry Frazier at 9:26 PM
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Bill Campbell to Leave Atlanta
Good riddance to Bill "Where's my bribe?" Campbell, Atlanta's former mayor and the chap who is most responsible for bringing the city to the brink of bankruptcy, while making millions for his buddies. Campbell, still under Federal investigation for corruption in a probe that has seen many of his closest aids plead guilty, is going to begin practicing . . . . . . . law! What a surprise!Campbell will join Florida lawyer Willie Gary, best known for his personal fleet of planes, including a 737 with a multi-million-dollar interior. Campbell was a perennial supporter of professional political clown and global embarrassment Cynthia McKinney. With luck he'll find McKinney a clerkship down there in Palm Beach.
Bill Campbell to join Florida law firm. AccessAtlanta Jan 24 2003 5:22PM ET[...] Campbell will become a partner in the law firm of Willie Gary, one of the most successful African-American litigators in the country, based in Stuart, north of West Palm Beach. Campbell will join the firm on Feb. 3 and will officially become a partner when he passes Florida's bar exam, said Frank Schaeffer, a spokesman for Gary. [...] [Moreover - Atlanta news]
Mainstream RSS
If you don't know what RSS is, how it works, why it matters; or you just think RSS isn't for you -- think again. RSS may ultimately be one of the most important technologies to arise from the swirling chaos of XML and web services. J.D. Lasica has a great introduction and overview at Online Journalism Review. Required reading for anyone who loves news, efficiency, and getting to the point.
News that comes to you? - I've subtly hinted several times that I thought this was actually possible. Who knew that there were already people who are doing it? Well there are, and J.D. Lasica has tracked them down and has the full story.Later: I've now read JD's article closely enough to know that I need to print it out and read it all even more closely. His article has everything that you need to know about News Readers or News Aggregators, and includes opinions from people who use them extensively. [Ernie the Attorney]
PDF for Lawyers
Ernie strives for the less paper (not paperless) office. Note Ernie's use of Radio to create a blog channel, by using Radio's Categories to route content off to another server and domain -- essentially creating a separate web site.Announcing PDF for Lawyers - it is with great hope and little fanfare that I announce my new project: PDF for Lawyers. Right before the blog affliction took me I had been planning to write a book for lawyers on using PDF files. I never was able to write the book (too much blogging no doubt). Well, now that I understand how to use Radio better I have figured out how to host this at a different site and use Radio to post to it. So, that's it. If you are a lawyer interested in using Acrobat to make your office less paperful (going paperless is a dream) then tune in, drop comments, send me emails with tips and let's all learn more about using Adobe Acrobat. Oh, and of course it has an XML/RSS feed. [Ernie the Attorney]
Radio and liveTopics
For the past few days I have been working with Matt Mower to implement liveTopics and convert this weblog from category-based to topic-based organization. If you are not familiar with liveTopics, it is Matt's Radio Tool for adding metadata to weblogs, and I think it's an important and useful addition to the knowledge sharing space.Radio's Category structure replicates HTML data for every Category. This is very useful for creating "blog channels" -- that is, sending weblog content to different servers, web sites, etc. It is less useful for local, topical aggregation because the content gets replicated as HTML data for every topic and takes up a lot of space.
Matt's product, liveTopics, creates a metadata structure within the weblog that fully supports Radio's Categories and lets you take best advantage of them. At the same time, it creates a topical organization with metadata. liveTopics is being designed to support XML Topic Maps and Phillip Pearson's Internet Topic Exchange.
Using liveTopics you can specify one or more "topics" for any given post. For example: if today you have Categories for Health, BioTech, Wireless, RSS, and Music, Radio will create a page in each Category for any post assigned to them. With liveTopics you assign the post to topic names (likely similar or equal to your Category names) route the post only to your Home page. liveTopics takes care of building a Table of Contents and search structure based on the topics. Very cool. Very efficient.
This leaves the Category structure free to be used for channels -- routing content off to private or special purpose sites -- and makes it easier to find content on any given topic. liveTopics is a another tool that belongs in the Radio power user's toolkit.
Freakin' Cold in Atlanta
Ok all you Chicago badboys, I know we southerners can't take the permafrost, but it's freakin' cold here. 10 degrees F with a wind chill of -2F. Arghhhhh.Thursday, January 23, 2003
Bob Frankston on Spectrum Policy
Bob Frankston's essays are always thoughtful and thought-provoking, providing a rational perspective on the intersection between public and private interests in communication technologies.
Does spectrum policy abridge speech?. Bob "Connectivity" Frankston's latest essay is up. In this, he asks the musical question: if spectrum allocation's inefficiency puts the airwaves into the hands of the moneyed few, does that constitute an abridgement of speech?
It's as if we were having a party and someone came into the room and told everyone to be quiet and gave out pieces of paper with a time and a place telling each person when and where they could talk. If there were a possibility young people would overhear you couldn't use certain words even if there were no other venues and even if you felt the language was appropriate for them.Put that way it seems outrageous. Yet if we communicate using radio waves instead of sound waves that is precisely what the FCC is doing.
Scalable Vector Graphics Roadmap
As an XML language for describing graphics, SVG is a potentially important standard in the future of print -- it is already supported in some Adobe applications. According to the SVG Roadmap the first draft of print specifications is scheduled for March 2003.
Draft Roadmap for SVG announced. The SVG Working Group has released the first public version of the SVG Roadmap. It's a draft which is missing details on some of the expected new work, but should give an indication of the general direction. Also, the Working Group has made a public version of their charter available for informative and historical purposes. [Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)]
Terry Frazier at 2:01 PM
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ReaderWare and AllConsuming
Can ReaderWare's personal library database be connected to AllConsuming and streamline the creation of large book collections? Can the link between the two be such that some additional value is added to the Readerware library?This is one of those ideas that pops up whenever the uninitiated look at something for the first time. I am only beginning to experiment with AllConsuming and and extensions like booktalk, and my grasp of the organizing principles and technology is limited. I've been using Readerware to catalog my personal library since the summer. I don't know if the connection is possible, or makes sense. But it immediately came to mind as a way to get large book collections entered into the AllConsuming system, and expand the possible ways the service could be used.
Eric Benson on Life
Eric Benson, of AllConsuming.net, ponders the meaning of life while stuck in a meeting -- happens to me all the time.
[...] I mean, this is my life, my one and only non-karmic, soul-searching, God-finding, art-making life according to current beliefs... at some point I'm going to have to accept that I've either reached my slot or will never find it, but one hopes that it would come with the reward of achievement and job satisfaction, and that I would not read articles titled What To Do With My Life [b] with any sort of empathy or envy for those who know. I guess I'm still young, by some standards. I feel old. I feel like I've wasted years, that I'm not moving quick enough, that I'm not risking enough or experiencing enough, that the cold grip of death is tangling its fingers with my own. [...]
Boxes and Arrows Book LIst
A lengthy list of recommended reads from the staff at B&A, mostly on information architecture and web design, but also includes books on writing, management, social science, marketing, sales, and careers. Each book gets a paragraph or two on why it's worth reading. Pretty good list. Thanks Paul.There are a few on here I've read, and a few I'd like to know more about. Now if I can figure out how to add those to an AllConsuming and booktalk list so I can watch what others are saying.
Boxes and Arrows Favorite books.I adore book lists, especially ones that are more like annotated bibliographies. The web design journal Boxes and Arrows published a wonderfully eclectic list of their favorite books for 2002.
[Paul Holbrook's Radio Weblog]
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