b.cognosco
Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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MPAA Dead-set to Kill Analog
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I Want My ENT
Monday, April 21, 2003
Weblog Content Architecture for Business
Dave Pollard has a nice, high-level view of one potential architecture using weblogs as part of a larger CM/KM effort within an enterprise. One of the first I've seen to graphically represent the ideas. Good reading and good diagrams.Dave's work focuses on simplifying the concepts, and the message, of enterprise knowledge to a simple, understandable principle:
[...] The knowledge culture change program of the company could be simplied to "Publish Your Filing Cabinet". [...][...] The fundamental difference between this and traditional enterprise-wide content architectures, is that knowledge under this model resides with and is controlled by the individual. Theoretically, depending on the robustness of the company's networks, the Intranet could be slimmed down to nothing more than a set of organized links, with no actual 'content' whatsoever. [...]
Thanks to James Robertson at Column Two for the pointer to Dave and two other interesting articles on diagramming web sites using isometric Z-diagrams -- basically very colorful 3-d pictures using card stacks to represent web pages. It's a helpful analogy since I'm trying to plan my own internet/intranet site.
Web Site Maps from Dynamic Diagrams
"Applications of Isometric Projection for Visualizing Web Sites" (click on the PDF file on the page to see.
Judge Roy Bean on P2P
Not sure how I missed this. Wired Magazine reports on how freshman Congressman, John Carter, R-Texas, thinks carting off paddy wagons full of students is the way to save Big Content and get more campaign contributions.
"What these kids don't realize is that every time they pull up music and movies and make a copy, they are committing a felony under the United States code," Carter said in an interview. "If you were to prosecute someone and give them three years, I think this would act as a deterrent." [...]
Carter said making an example of a few college students could go a long way toward bringing home the message that sharing and duplicating copyrighted materials is wrong. [...] [Wired News]
I agree. Let's lock the students up right alongside Congressmen who bounce checks at the Congressional Post Office. Let's put'em in cells next to Congressmen who use public funds for their personal expenses. Let's send them on expense paid junkets to Tahiti to study international health care.
Carter is a born-and-bred jackass who served for 20 years as a state district judge in Williamson County Texas. Such a career tends to inflate one's self-worth beyond all reason, and lead to the sorts of idiotic, simplistic solutions you'd expect from someone who thinks he's Judge Roy Bean.
Just a couple of thoughts here Congressman, before you run off to lock up all your nieces and nephews. Didn't the US Code used to support the right of one human to own another? Didn't the US Code used to deny women the right to vote? Oh, and about that Texas thing... You do know Texas was settled by a bunch of people who were fleeing debts in other states, right?
I do love Texas, but we really don't need people like this. It gives the state a bad name.
Thanks to Berkeley Intellectual Property Weblog (bIPlog) for the pointer.
Saturday, April 19, 2003
MPAA Dead-set to Kill Analog
Cory Doctorow documents the appalling plans the MPAA has for analog consumer devices in And MPAA Sayeth, Let There Be 5 States for Analog. It seems the MPAA views itself as the only real arbiter of what is, and is not, suitable technology. And they are on a desperate witch-hunt to lock up every conceivable opening where a consumer might actually exercise choice without getting billed for it. This stuff makes no sense for anyone outside the MPAA/RIAA executive suites, and they know it. That's why they continue to exclude the press from all of their public meetings. It must be nice to view yourself as the center of the universe.I can't help but draw a parallel to how the Church persecuted Galileo for teaching that Earth revolved around the Sun, just at the dawning of the Thirty Years War that would be its downfall. The MPAA may be entering its own Thirty Years War. I'll bet it doesn't take that long for the Church to fall this time around.
You have the right to.... ...whatever rights the MPAA grants you. And you'll be damn happy to have them! That essentially sums up the MPAA's attitude toward "consumer" rights to listen/watch/copy/balance on their heads the media they purchase, er, license. [algorhythm]
Friday, April 18, 2003
CryptoHeaven Test Partners
CryptoHeaven is a security services provider with an offering I'd like to test. The Toronto-based company offers a suite of security services -- encrypted e-mail, encrypted backup, encrypted file sharing, encrypted IM -- via both a Web interface and a local client. CryptoHeaven has some interesting aspects, including distributing the source code for its software and using a system with no third-party key holders -- not even the Sysadmins have access to the decryption keys. The company offers both individual and business accounts.Of course, not everything needs to be encrypted. But there are certainly times when secure document delivery and file exchange might be useful, especially when working as an outside consultant for large corporations -- i.e. sensitive M&A documents, financial contracts and audit data, personnel files, etc. There could also be times when companies might want to keep certain internal info -- audits, etc. -- off its own systems. In these cases a secured environment could provide an extra layer of comfort for the client.
But I need some help. To test the CryptoHeaven environment I need some fellow experimenters to sign up for the company's free trial accounts. The nature of the system is such that, IMO, it isn't likely to be used as a substitute for regular collaboration. Rather, it looks like a good option for handling limited, sensitive projects.
If you're interested in testing CryptoHeaven with me download the company's free software and create a trial account. You can ping me via my username of Aristotle5.
Bloglet and Radio
I tried adding Bloglet e-mail to my weblog but don't seem to be able to make it work. I keep getting server errors. I don't know anything about the Blogger API. Is anyone out there using Bloglet with a Radio weblog hosted on a private domain?Update: Rick Klau has pointed to the obvious and simple solution, using Bloglet's RSS-type for my website. Rick explains how it works in his comment. Thanks Rick!
Global Canasta
Hannaford talks about how the big boys play cards. Like Cringe said yesterday, it's all a game.
Pfizer plays gin rummyOligopolies collect brands like gin rummy players collect good cards; they want to put together the right combination of winners in the right categories. But they also discard brands, which get picked up by other players. (Actually, they act more like players in the old-fashioned gin-related game of canasta, where players can hold as many cards as they can pick up.)
The discards come from two reasons: a product doesn't fit into the strategy of the oligopoly, or a merger when regulators demand that brands/products be spun off to maintain some level of competition in specific categories or subcategories. Their discards are usually picked up by another oligopoly. [...] [Oligopoly Watch]
Writing Blurbs
Sometimes it's useful to write short introductions to long essays, rather than blogging an entire essay on the main page of a weblog. A good case might be a weblog-based home page for a small consultancy, where short news items and intros are used to keep content updated, with links to the more detailed stories for those who are interested.Writing useful introductions can sometimes be a challenge. In journalism it's called the "head-deck-story" structure -- you try to inform at each level while successively providing more detail. James Robertson points to a very helpful article on Blurbs that includes explanation, instruction, and examples of both good and bad usage. Additionally, there are links to a blurb gallery and other blurb writing resources.
Blurbs: Writing previews of web pages. Dennis G. Jerz discusses how to write blurbs, the brief descriptions that summarise what readers will find at the other end of links. To quote: A good blurb should inform, not tease. Usability testing will help you determine the best... [Column Two]
I Want My ENT
I've updated Radio.root. I've grabbed the latest version of myRadio. Now I need some topics in my feeds!
As soon as Matt releases lT 1.3.3 I'll have topics in my own feeds (At least in the full version.) I have to check with Mark Paschal to see about the truncated and headline feeds I create using his Stapler product. I suspect Stapler and liveTopics never see each other. Hmm.
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