I still think that coining a new term that only differs by one letter from an existing one is asking for trouble. However, the idea that creating, sharing and discovering the context around content and discussions itself adds value is an interesting one. As a general case of such internet trends as collaborative tagging and social networking it certainly bears some study.
The post below is another example of the way that active (powered) storage is seen as the answer to almost every computing problem. I am concerned, though about the long-term impact of such approaches.
As time progresses, and more digital data accumulates, presumably an ever increasing amount of powered storage will be required. There are essentially tow solutions to this: get more of the same, or upgrade to devices with larger capacities. Both approaches have environmental and sustainability issues. “More of the same” will require an ever increasing amount of power to keep all those discs spinning. “Swap for bigger” will result in increasing quantity of discarded hardware.
So far I don’t see anything from these cloud-storage startups to address such issues. And that’s not even considering what happens to the data if/when these companies go out of business or change priorities.
A nicely focussed blog post which draws on experience of striving for top grades at college and applies the thoughts to a career in software, touching on teamwork, and indirectly on recruiting in the process.
Kris Kemper » Blog Archive » What makes a grade A developer
As an aside, this is my 200th post in this blog. How time flies!
Skype seems to be gently emphasising its messaging abilities at the moment as it squares up against the might of Google’s inter-operable XMPP/Jabber-based system. A recent addition to Skype’s portfolio is persistent public “chat rooms”. Apart from the same stuff that chat rooms have long been used for, the wide adoption of Skype in corporate settings may offer some more interesting uses.
Here’s an article about using Skype chat rooms for a kind of Virtual shared office space to improve communication in distributed teams.
I’m currently mulling around a bunch of thoughts and half-formed opinions on the distribution, ownership and attribution of ideas and information in an age of free-flowing digital media.
One of my current concerns is the tension between perceived needs one the one hand for attribution, academic traceability and ownership of ones own words; and on the other hand for privacy. This is seen in sharpest relief in solicitations for academic surveys. Routinely such instruments come with a disclaimer pointing out that all answers will be anonymous. Well-structured surveys and questionnaires, though, often also contain a section for general comments and feedback. In most cases I do not want this to be anonymous – indeed I would rather it formed part of a dialogue between the researcher and subjects, allowing both to benefit, learn and develop.
I am considering taking up a habit of always adding my contact details to academic survey submissions to deliberately challenge the assumption that I wish to be an anonymous donor of information, and to encourage researchers to participate in a community of interest.
Some things I have read recently on associated topics include:
Mathemagenic » Blogging research: attribution and ownership of ideas
I find this sort of article interesting to read but ultimately more puzzling than directly useful. The difficulty is that so many such articles, presentations, documents etc. apparently confuse US law with some sort of world law, and attempt to apply it to a global concept such as the internet.
While it may seem easy to ignore the existence of people, countries, organizations and laws outside the USA, the internet has no such naivete and will happily serve your content to anyone who asks. This makes anything involving copyright enormously more complex. If you make and distribute something according to the US provisions of “fair use” it is still possible, and even likely, that it contravenes some other law or protocol applicable to some people who choose to view, listen, download or re-mix it.
I don’t know how to solve this problem, but I’m pretty sure that ignoring it and only considering the legal position in the USA is not a solution.
Online Video Resources — Center for Social Media at American University
It’s an intriguing idea, to break beyond the arbitrary distinction between “specialist” and “generalist”. I’m not sure that the idea of a “versatilist” as described in this article is entirely helpful, though. As I read the article it seems to be suggesting that a “versatilist” must be good at everything all the time. This is a claim which is so broad as to make no real sense. As described the “versatilist” is potentially so powerful that everyone would want to be one, and everyone would want to hire only versatilists.
For this discussion to progress, I suggest that a wider set of options (and potentially a wider set of names) are pursued.
As an example consider the “serial specialist” who becomes very good in one specific area but after a while loses interest or fails to keep up and switches to invest in learning a new area in depth. I encounter quite a lot of these, and the trick is to realise what their real, current skills are rather than assuming that what they have done well in past situations is what they can do well now.
Or perhaps the “facilitator chameleon” who can quickly and successfully adopt the appearance, mannerisms, and jargon of a specialist area but not the actual skills. Such people can be invaluable in managing and facilitating interaction with specialists, but but can rapidly become an uncomfortable liability if confused with the folks who actually have the skills.
Could we be looking at it all wrong?: Specialists, Generalists & now Versatilists!
the idea of giving away “free” wireless internet access to generally stimulate business may turn out to have been a bit of a bubble. Up-front costs can be quite high, and the payback is long-term and difficult to measure.
I’m guessing that the initiatives which succeed in this area will be the ones with a sensible business model at the heart of the operation, which supports the whole thing as it grows and becomes popular.
Technology News: Wireless Networking: Bye Bye, WiFi? Local Governments Abandoning Network Plans
It looks like there is still plenty of grumbling about the new model of iPhone. Here’s an article pointing out a group of popular complaints and missing features.
Seven problems with the new iPhone : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech
For years Frank Carver has been paying attention to the strange world of convergent technology. During that time he has discussed and researched broad subject areas, come to some surprising conclusions, produced and distributed digital media, scattered ideas and opinions like sparks from a firework, and above all consulted for businesses both large and small to help develop and deploy successful systems, services, and products in this highly complex arena.
