March 30, 2005
Links: 2005-03-30
- Simon Willison: Greasemonkey as a lightweight intermediary
"I'm using this for my final year project, a decentralised web annotation system that lets you annotate pages, storing your annotations locally and then sharing your public annotations as a feed (similar to the way RSS aggregators work). The trick there i
Posted: 2005-03-30T18:03:44Z (categories: annotation collaboration innovation )
March 26, 2005
Links: 2005-03-26
- Will That Be Coordination, Cooperation, or Collaboration?
Dave P takes a stab at putting a little more definition into the elusive term collaboration
Posted: 2005-03-26T00:04:48Z (categories: collaboration innovation )
March 22, 2005
Links: 2005-03-22
- the iCite net - Folksability, part 1: usability findability browsability surprisability knowability
First post in a series discussing a model for evaluating, well, stuff
Posted: 2005-03-22T19:47:31Z (categories: innovation usability )
March 21, 2005
Why Wiki?
A regular unanswered question (for myself and others) of "what do you do?", some conversations with Lee LeFever about social design and community, and recent updates at work have given me a chance to think a bit about the question and stir some ideas. (PG6)
At work I'm primarily a developer, but I tend to think of my vocation as a builder of augmenting, computer-based tools for personal and collaborative work. I go to the trouble of making that mouthful of a statement to distinguish between types of activities that computers do and types of activities that people do. (PG7)
Computers have two types of applications, those that automate and those that augment (21Q, 22J). An augmenting application assists a person in performing some activity which cannot or is not automated. Only activities which can be formally described in theory can be automated. As such there are many tasks, especially those related to human discourse, which cannot be automated; they can, however, be augmented. (PG8)
At a fundamental level computers are tools for creating representations (22L). An augmenting application supporting discourse is engaged in representing and transmitting information. The application is used as tool to evaluate, craft and remodel information (22K). (PG9)
Most of my development effort in the last few years has been with wikis (first PurpleWiki, and now Kwiki and Socialtext) and purple numbers. Purple numbers may eventually change the universe of information handling, but that's a discussion for another day. (PGB)
Wikis are a type of augmenting discourse tool optimized for a particular set of behaviors. Under ideal(tm) conditions they provide an easy path to participation in evolving communication. They do this by being straightforward to learn, quick to respond, and accessible in a distributed fashion. They support changing content and provide an easy way to create and explore connections between things. How something fits in to the larger picture is a large part of how we infer meaning. (PGC)
I think there are three primary audiences for wikis: the individual who hopes to use the wiki as an outboard brain or memory; the nascent group that hopes to discover and solidify the community that lies as potential in their loose connections; and the existing community that hopes to support a shared goal or perform some action. (PGD)
Those three categories could be used to describe any set of people, but a wiki is not the perfect tool for every task. There are multiple types of discourse and multiple tools to support them. Some are better at certain aspects than others, none are really good enough (we have a long long way to go, but each day and in every way we are becoming better and better). (PGE)
Blogs have become a central tool in the distribution of narrative discourse. With a blog there is usually a single author or small group expressing outwardly in a gesture that leads, over time, to the distribution of language and understanding outside the immediate clan. Very often the initial discourse is not fully refined but is rather some author's speculation: a seed that may lead to more knowledge later, as a separate piece of content. As has been said many times, the connections in the network of blogs is often loose and distributed. (PGF)
Email continues to be a primary tool for discussion within a clan. The members of an email group have already discovered some bit of shared language or understanding that has brought them together. Email discussion can reinforce and solidify language, providing stability from which action can be performed. (PGG)
With both blogs and email, content tends to be relatively static. Typos may be corrected in a blog entry and email threads may carry on forever but there is little in the way of refinement of the content. This is where wikis step in: they are good tools for summarizing, annotating and connecting information. These are the actions of a knowledge enhancement system. (PGH)
Wikis do not match all the requirements for a knowledge enhancement system, but experience has demonstrated that this is good. Wikis are here now, today, helping people to do good work generating and supporting communities, developing and creating shared language, and refining information into new knowledge. Their simplicity makes them available. (PGI)
When I chose to join up with Socialtext back in September, it was an attractive choice because the people there believe in two things: people matter more than tools; and tools should help people do what they want to do, not get in the way. (PGK)
Socialtext, in its various incarnations, is based on wiki but integrates concepts from email and blogs to allow the action and narration those systems support. The latest release is a fine improvement: it enhances email integration, adds support for backlinks (placing information in context, leading to deeper understanding) and for PC Forum 2005 we've created a special prototype of Eventspace, running under mod perl for improved response time. (PGL)
Architecting these sorts of tools may not solve poverty and hunger, or alleviate suffering in the aftermath of a ? disaster, but the tools can augment people actively doing that work. I happen to be good at making the tools go, so that's where I look to fit myself into the puzzle. (PGM)
Related writings: (PGN)
- The Computer As Tool (PGO)
- Hypertext and Knowledge Enhancement (PGP)
- Collaboration Requires Goals (PGQ)
- Blue Oxen Vision (PGR)
- Anarchic Emergent Collaboration (PGS)
- A Web for Augmentation, not Automation (PGT)
- Community and Collaboratory Tools (PGU)
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March 16, 2005
samsara
Today, while the neighborhood of North Beacon Hill mobilized itself in a game of hide and seek with the suspected thief of laptops belonging to myself and others, a gentleman enjoying some wine (maybe a little too much) in the (highly recommended) Java Love Cafe suggested a plan of action: (PG0)
"I tell you what you should do", he told me, "You should get a gun and find the guy. When you find him stick the gun in his mouth, like this." (PG1)
I lean away while the man leans in towards me and my mouth, brandishing his cocked finger. (PG2)
"Tell him, take me to the guy you sold this stuff to. When you get to that guy, stick the gun in his mouth and tell him to take you to the guy he sold the stuff to and keep on going." (PG3)
From somewhere, I dredge up: "The problem with that is that if you do that you'll eventually be sticking the gun in your own mouth." (PG4)
The perp was not apprehended, but the cops "know who he is and have been watching him". (PG5)
March 10, 2005
Links: 2005-03-10
- Introduction
The Epistemological Lifeboat: Epistemology and Philosophy of Science for Information Scientists
Posted: 2005-03-10T19:36:17Z (categories: philosophy )
March 09, 2005
Making a Date
Dr. Surly the arrival of this flick coincides with the arrival of me. I reckon that means we've got at least one thing we need to do. (PFR)
March 08, 2005
outboard info design goals
From a memorable conversation with Sunir, so I'm memorializing it here: (PFJ)
Norman "feels" (rubs me funny) as if he thinks of learning as a process that is finite. That filling the cache should be quick and complete, and that the cache should be internal. (PFK)
A well groomed wiki is an external cache, personally and organizationally. (PFL)
One way to optimize understanding of the universe is not to cache the understanding of particular bits, but instead to cache references to the (internal or external) compressed or summarized learning event. Or, in other words, to communicate effectively it makes sense to make signs, symbols, words, language that point to concepts at increasingly larger levels of granularity (while never forgetting the importance of small pieces of lego). (PFM)
By shoving some of the cached learning out to externalities there's more room for compare and contrast and new sign discovery. (PFN)
That's very similar to how you describe Norman: speed up access. And that's nice, but it's not how Norman writes. Norman writes with too weak a dissatisfaction with the state of the world and too mundane a criticism of how people think and create. I guess that's why I don't like him: he presents little hope for large change. His most memorable discussions are about the burners on a stove. There's just so much more fun that can be had with discussion of interaction. (PFO)
I don't believe in outboard brains, and I have no expectation that the AI dream will ever succeed, but I do know that if I have memories of handles to larger pieces that exist elsewhere, I can keep the allegories in motion in my head and know a _lot_ of stuff with a fairly high degree of confidence without needing to fully know it. (PFP)
To bring this around to somewhere that might relate to what you're after: I've found that in order for outboard processing to work there's several design and process guidelines that have to be reached. Here are some: interaction must be highly responsive, noise in the interface must be minimized, structural mechanics and metaphors in content need to be consisent, names must have value, it must be there when you want it, when there is a shared brain its context is shared as well (e.g when some members of the company have a discussion about design it it is done in an archivable fashion). (PFQ)
March 06, 2005
Links: 2005-03-06
- The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat
what people do is what they do, and that's important to them
Posted: 2005-03-06T10:06:27Z (categories: collaboration design innovation )
March 05, 2005
Links: 2005-03-05
- Glazblog
method for getting elements by classname in javascript
Posted: 2005-03-05T05:40:25Z (categories: development javascript ) - Duncan's JavaScript Cookies: Final Cookie Code
Posted: 2005-03-05T05:40:04Z (categories: development javascript ) - Albin.Net CSS: Bullet-Proof Rounded Corners
Posted: 2005-03-05T05:39:17Z (categories: css ) - CSS Rounded Corners example - redmelon.net
Posted: 2005-03-05T05:39:44Z (categories: css )
March 02, 2005
Links: 2005-03-02
- maybe you can help (23 February 2005, Interconnected)
Matt Webb quits his job and wonders what to do next. This sounds very familiar.
Posted: 2005-03-02T22:17:02Z (categories: people ) - World Jump Day
wow. jump to save us from global warming
Posted: 2005-03-02T22:25:23Z (categories: system:unfiled )
Kwiki-Yahoo
Ross laid his usual effective bait this morning about how the newly minted Yahoo API needed a Kwiki Plugin: Voila! (PF9)
It's a bit of hack, but following release early and often maybe it will get a change to improve. It should show up on CPAN soon. (PFA)
March 01, 2005
Congrats to Kathryn
Kathryn La Barre, a huge influence and inspiration in the realm of things that I find interesting, has recently had her dissertation proposal accepted without revisions. Her topic? The fantabulously complex The Use of Faceted Analytico-Synthetic Theory as Revealed in the Practice of Website Construction and Design . (PF5)
This ought to be quite interesting as facet analysis gets a fair amount of buzzword play in the web but very few people actually know what it means or how to use it correctly, nevermind effectively. (PF6)
I miss the multi-hour, coffee-infused, rambling, never-too-sure-what-we-are-talking-about conversations at The Uptown with Kathryn. (PF7)
Congratulations Kathryn, good luck, I look forward to the results. (PF8)
