Purple Polar Bear
Seth's Purple Cow book is sitting in my to read pile and by all accounts its worth getting to soon.
However this example of the 'purple' phenomena is wonderful!
N.B. The original picture an story can be found here.
Interesting terms -- "sensemaking" and "cosmology episode" from elearningpost
Staying with Weick, here’s the definition of another one of his frequently used terms -- cosmology episode.
A slight edit:
A person feels like he has never been here before, has no idea of where he is, and has no idea who can help him. An inevitable state of panic ensues, and the individual becomes more and more anxious until he finds it almost impossible to make sense of what is happening to him.
Can you have variuos levels of this? If so perhaps I'm having an edited episode - I know where I am and have been here before but the rest is about right...
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die ?
and
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye ?
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths
(via It May All End Tomorrow)
'Point-and-connect' links for wireless devices
18:09 29 July 03
NewScientist.com news service
Linking devices via a wireless network could be considerably simplified using a "point-and-connect" technology being developed by Sony.
The camera-based system, developed by researchers at Sony's Interaction Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, lets users instantly transfer data from a laptop or handheld computer to a device in close proximity connected to the same wireless network.
Researcher Ayatsuka Yuji says the prototype system, dubbed Gaze-Link, removes the need to manually configure networked devices for this purpose.
"It is so troublesome, especially when there are many networked devices," Yuji told New Scientist. "When you want to send data in your PDA to a printer, for example, you have to input or to select a correct network address."
Small sticker
A code displayed on a small sticker attached to each device is identified by the laptop's camera. Software running on the laptop then automatically locates the device on the network. "Gaze-Link is one of the challenges to make connecting more 'intuitive'," Yuji says.
Simeon Keates, a computer usability researcher at Cambridge University, UK, says the system could have real benefits if there are a multitude of different devices connected to a network.
"As the home gets more connected, user overload is going to become more of an issue," he says. "It would certainly be helpful for someone who was nervous of the technology."
But Keates adds that this benefit will depend largely on the accuracy and reliability of the system. It must also be able to distinguish between different devices stacked next to each other, he says.
Will Knight
Via SmartMobs.
Good idea in principle. Love to see how it works in practice.
f r e e g o r i f e r o | weblog
Design PDF-athon.
Just discovered that the Design Council in the UK has great overviews on key design disciplines in the About Design section of its website, with more areas to be covered in the near future.
Great discovery by Fabio. While I am a long way from being a designer, I'm fascinated by the processes of creativity and innovation. There are some really interesting points here which I'm going to read at leisure
The structure of the language one habitually uses influences the way he perceives his environment ...
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
Spotted this on the Vygotsky site. It reminded me of passages from 'Awaken the Giant within' by Anthony Robins, where he encourages you to change your life by modifying your language for describing things.
For example using excited instead of nervous, or I'm a tad fed up rather than I've had enough.
My thanks to Graham for helping me to remember that there are alternatives to my current environment. Alter or take another path...
BBC NEWS | Health | Brain scans 'reveal baby thoughts'
Brain scans 'reveal baby thoughts'
Babies were fitted with nets of sensors
A burst of brain activity recorded by scientists could offer clues to a baby's level of understanding of the world around it.
The researchers involved, from Birkbeck College, and University College London, believe their finding could begin to settle a controversial argument on baby brain development.
When an object is shown to six-month-old babies, then hidden, they often behave as if it is no longer present.
It appears to be "out of sight, out of mind", as far as their level of understanding is concerned.
But scientists still suspect the baby, to some extent, does understand the object is still around, just hidden, even if it shows no physical signs of awareness.
I remember doing a lot of this kind of stuff while studying for my PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education or a teacher training course). I think it was Piaget (et al) who went on about this. I was never quite sure as to the relevance for when I was teaching 18 year olds - A level Politics. Probably because his thinking is aimed more at how younger children develop and while I understand the need for children (and adults) to own a solution - reinventing a theory every time doesn't ring true for me.
I was always more interested or convinced by Vygotsky -
Zone of proximal development is the difference between the child's capacity to solve problems on his own, and his capacity to solve them with assistance. In other words, the actual developmental level refers to all the functions and activities that a child can perform on his own, independently without the help of anyone else. On the other hand, the zone of proximal development includes all the functions and activities that a child or a learner can perform only with the assistance of someone else. The person in this scaffolding process, providing non-intrusive intervention, could be an adult (parent, teacher, caretaker, language instructor) or another peer who has already mastered that particular function.
The important point is that:
... the idea that human learning presupposes a specific social nature and is part of a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them (Vygotsky, 1978).
We learn through a social context. We learn by going from what we already know to an area just beyond. We are supported by others, socially, to move into this space and develop our knowledge there.
If that is how Humans learn, and I believe it is, what implications does that have for machine learning. Should the kind of ideas that are espoused in Shelly's post about RDF and the semantic web be viewed through this kind of thinking. Intuitively I think there is more here to explore.
Practical RDF: Semantic Web for Poets: FOAF, Flocking, and the Semantics of Starlings
Elegant rant (?) by Shelley (whom I don't know - read the article) about W3C, the Semantic web and FOAF.
The complexity of human relationships and how we may describe them in the context of the semantic web are examined. Perhaps more importantly the outline of how a virtual community (i.e. bloggers) are seeking to redefine tools to meet a need while the great and the good (W3C) argue about how it should be done. A clash between wanting to get on and exploit practical applications versus a theoretical purity (I exaggerate slightly to make the point).
Essentially semantics are about context. Therefore it is the context which provides meaning. Data on things, on people and presumably ideas can easily be held somewhere on the web e.g. INFP but until you then understand that its my Myers-Briggs classification, and can link to information about MB you won't understand what it refers to. Unless you can read something which outlines data about me, it doesn't mean anything and until you can give all of that some context i.e. the machine searching this out is doing so for an employment opportunity, do you (or does one?) get somewhere.
Even then do you know me? Knowing I have blue eyes or work for a UK cable company, does that help?
I don't know. Perhaps you have learnt that I trail off arguments...
Design Framework - Just the Essentials
Gary Klein, naturalistic decision making expert and author of Intuition at Work and Sources of Power, suggests a three-step process to analyze cognitive tasks. The steps are,
Knowledge Elicitation. Here the intent is to gather first-hand information (observation, interviews, etc.), and not second-hand information (training manuals, PPT slides, etc.).
Analysis. This phase is still a hunt for clarity (inspecting, selecting, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming information, developing explanations, and extracting meaning).
Knowledge Representation. This is interesting. It is the transformation of the findings from step-2 into a more usable representation (process of displaying data and depicting relationships, explanations, and the meaning).
These steps seem to offer a simple design framework, especially for knowledge oriented work. Not because the steps follow the ubiquitous Rule of Three, but because they include just the essentials and thus are easier to communicate to team members and to clients.
Perhaps this oversimplifies but, and its a big but, simple rules lead to complex behaviours (at least complexity theory suggest this e.g. flocking birds). I think this works for me... I'm still cogitating...
From Seb's Open Research
Pointing at "Meta Data Mark 2". Great introduction to this stuff for the 'Idiot Guide' audience i.e. me. Go read.
Having a look at the Tom Peter's Site and reading one of his powerpoint presentations I ran into an old quote that he uses frequently:
If you are not pissing people off, you are not making a difference!
Tomorrow I intend to 'piss' some people off, with the intention of making a difference.
(Especially for my boss, who is on holiday in Arizona)
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Pentagon axes online terror bets
Pentagon axes online terror bets
Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: "I share your shock"
The Pentagon has abandoned plans to set up a controversial online trading market to help predict terrorist attacks.
There was uproar after opposition Democrats in the US Senate highlighted the plan and described it as ridiculous and grotesque.
Under the plan, bets could have been made about future terrorist attacks, conflicts, and assassination attempts.
But the proposal ran into fierce opposition in the US Congress.
Oops! Looks like I was wrong t pedict this lasting. It never even got beyond the starting gate.
You can perhaps see now why I generally don't bet. In some ways I think this is a shame. I think Darpa should be congratualted for their out of the box thinking rather than castigated.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not defendng terrorism or anything that would encourage its outbreak, however innovative ideas on how to gether intelligence, like this shold not be simply brushed aside with knee jerk reactions to misplaced outrage.
Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi confirmed that the PlayStation Portable will come equipped with wireless networking functionality.
According to a report on Bloomberg, Kutaragi-san told the meeting of developers and publishers that the device will be able to access the Internet wirelessly through local area networks - suggesting that the system will use either 802.11 wireless networking technology, or possibly Bluetooth.
Wey hey! I need to start saving for the PSP now. I wasn't aware of the positioning:
the PSP is a Personal Digital Companion - it carries your media, plays your games, connects you to the Internet wirelessly, acts as a communication deck, handles basic organiser functions and may even provide you with a navigation system or a television on the move.
Sony don't always get things right, but they do have vision and this is a superb vision. I was intending to buy a PDA, but I think I will wait now.
I wonder what browsing capability it will have?
Joho the Blog: Odlyzko on Price Discrimination and Privacy
Odlyzko on Price Discrimination and Privacy
Andrew Odlyzko who has the annoying tendency to be right and, worse, fact-based about it has posted a paper called "Privacy, Economics, and Price Discrimination on the Internet." It is to appear in the Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on eCommerce. From the abstract:
The rapid erosion of privacy poses numerous puzzles. Why is it occurring, and why do people care about it? This paper proposes an explanation for many of these puzzles in terms of the increasing importance of price discrimination.
I had never considered this arguement previously. Andrew Odlyzko's paper has given me a lot to think about in terms of my own personal privacy and also strategies that can be used in business.
Generally I am fairly relaxed in terms of revealing information about myself, as generally I believe it enables companies to target me with goods and service I would be interested in. I'm not totally naive. i understand the risks I expose myself to in this instance however I'd much rather have Amazon for example offer me books on science fiction than romantic fiction. Now that's targetting the message NOT discrimination on price. If his arguement does hold water in the real world then as an individual I believe that discrimination , in this way is inherently unfair, and like the consumers cited in Odlyzko's paper I would rebel. In high turnover, low margin markets is it always possible to discriminate in such a way, even online. After all, even if I am willing to pay £20 for a book, it doesn't mean to say that I will also look elsewhere to purchsae it cheaper. If erosion of privacy does lead to price discrimination by some vendors, this may well be counter productive, for while this leads to a clearer understanding of knowledge about the consumer, the Internet also gives consumers to have better knowledge about the marketplace. Consumers can make use of comparison sites, that while not allowing perfect knowledge, do allow for very rational decisions to be made. Price discriminiation is counter productive in this situation and consumer preferences are easily altered.
Looking from the other perspective, the introduction of loyalty schemes seem far more user friendly and may offer an incentive to allow customers to give up privacy in exchange for the benefit of lower prices in some areas but also giving the vendor addtional information to accurately target offers and increase their rate of sales. This type of approach appeals to me because it feels more of a partnership between vendor and seller rather than a competition.
I didn't read the whole of this paper so apologies if I missed some of the points I am making later on. I must finish it though!
BBC NEWS | Health | Tight ties could damage eyesight
And I thought it was something else that led to blindness. Silly me :)
From John's blog and his results I thought I would have a go!
The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers
Paul Goodison's Quiz Results
Your total score is: 53 points, Average Employee (up to 59 points)
Other ranges are 60-89 points (Successful Professional) and 90-100 points (Extraordinary Executive)
Your thoughts and behaviors are consistent with an Average Employee.
You are in a range where numerous professionals fall. Many Average Employees are highly talented, but sometimes experience frustration with their career trajectories, or lack of control over their professional direction. You may have met with some successes in your career, which begs the question how much more successful could you be if you began putting the 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers to work in your own career.
Pattern 1 - Understand the Value of You
Pattern 1 Score: Average Employee (53 points)
Pattern 2 - Practice Benevolent Leadership
Pattern 2 Score: Average Employee (55 points)
Pattern 3 - Overcome the Permission Paradox
Pattern 3 Score: Successful Professional (60 points)
Pattern 4 - Differentiate Using the 20/80 Principle of Performance
Pattern 4 Score: Successful Professional (87 points)
Pattern 5 - Find the Right Fit (Strengths, Passions & People)
Pattern 5 Score: Average Employee (43 points)
The only one that really surprised me here was benevolent leadership and I am a little disappointed by that figure. Perhaps the worst result is actually the worst result i.e. 'Find the Right Fit' and is telling something I think I already know...
I think it will be well worth reading this book.
(I just had another go and improved my scores significantly just by taking a little more time to consider my answers and being more positive about me - I'll let these scores stand though as I feel they are probably a more accurate reflecting of my current career, though not my potential)
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Pentagon plans online terror bets
Research indicates that markets are extremely efficient, effective and timely aggregators of dispersed and even hidden information," it said in a statement.
Risk Services
"Futures markets have proven themselves to be good at predicting such things as election results; they are often better than expert opinions."
The scheme is called the Policy Analysis Market (PAM) and it is run by a Pentagon unit known as the Defence Advanced Research Projects Unit.
This is under the control of retired Admiral John Poindexter who has been involved in another controversy recently in a plan for a sweeping electronic intelligence operation.
I like this because the y have come up with a damn good idea and want to make use of what is in effect an open source model (albeit it involving transactions) of gaining future info. However because of the nature of the topics it is obviously courting controversy -
Markets have done this in economics for some time and the Iowa Electronic Markets does it for US presidential elections, so it is not really novel
Merli Baroudi
Personally I think I will bet on the likelihood of this succeeding - a five year bet should have quite good odds :0
BBC NEWS | Technology | Loss of e-mail 'worse than divorce'
According to Veritas, the survey shows "alarming deficiencies in current e-mail system management and backup and recovery methods, placing businesses at risk and causing undue stress in the workplace."
And when something goes wrong with e-mail for a week, the experience can be more traumatic that moving home, getting married or divorce, at least for a third of those taking part in the survey.
Really? More stressful? I think perhaps either these people are too up tight or haven't yet been through a marriage or divorce, and perhaps their house moves went well.
Sans email isn't good but its not that bad :)
Of course that's at work. At home my ISP deserves a good seeing to... oh but I work for them... and on this type of stuff too. Perhaps I need a good seeing to?
f r e e g o r i f e r o | weblog
...On the other hand you have no idea how gratifying and motivating it is to see others joining in on the conversation, so if you have anything to rant or rave about please do let me know anyway.
Not sure if it's just me, but running a weblog sometimes feels like Speaker's Corner on the home planet of the invisible man, a fool blabbering away in front of a transparent crowd.
Ok, in my case the term "crowd" hardly applies.
Small group?
Friends and family?
Sometimes it does feel like that for me too - 'a fool blabbering away' but then the pleasure of a good email conversation and the opportunities it brings are worthwhile.
I think I've said it before, I'm certainly quite introverted when it comes to meeting people however in written form I find it easier to be more outgoing. So please do comment - even if its just to say hello! I've been here. (Perhaps a wall and a paint can would encourage you?) You never know, I might be worth knowing... :)
I was extremely interested to read Jon's recent posting on his strengths, as outlined by Gallup's Strength Finder.
As I have come to trust Jon's judgement (through his weblog and correspondence) I thought I would purchase the book, "Now Discover Your Strengths". I luckily found a copy through Amazon UK and have just started reading it.
I am very impressed with what I have read so far. In particular the thought provoking,
Most organizations take their employees strengths for granted and focus on their weaknesses... But this isn't development, its damage control...
Each person's talents are unique and enduring
Each person's greatest room for growth is in the areas of his or her greatest strength these snippets are from page 8.
I intend to work my way through the book and the strength finder application.
And Thanks to Jon
BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'makes the brain learn better'
Music 'makes the brain learn better'
All those hours practising are worthwhile
The hours spent mastering the violin or piano are worthwhile - music lessons boost children's memories.
Researchers from Hong Kong have found children who are given musical training have better verbal memories than those who have not had lessons.
They say their findings could help people recovering from a brain injury as well as healthy children.
I have sen a lot of research say how important music is for increasing various functions of the brain, from memory to creativity. Its why all my children attend music lessons (for children) and I think it helps them and not just with memory but also with confidence and sheer enjoyment of music, by appreciating the craft involved.
I think more music listening in work would help too. Not only would it calm me down but it would drown out the sound of things I don't want to hear :(
The classes my children attend (Len Tyler School of Music) are based on the work of Zoltan Kodaly, whose pedagogy underpins the principles (and methods) taught. Len is a fantastic teacher and accomplished musican. I very very glad my children can benefit from someone such as he.
I wonder whether I should suggest some Management Consultancy opportunities?
BBC NEWS | England | London | Art on demand at National Gallery
Art on demand at National Gallery
The National Gallery has been storing images of its collection
Copies of more than 900 works of art at the National Gallery are being made available at the flick of a switch as new technology is unveiled.
Masterpieces on display at the gallery have been captured on advanced digital cameras.
The images have stored on computer so that visitors can obtain a copy almost instantly.
Until now visitors were only able to get a small proportion of the gallery's treasures on traditional printed copies.
The gallery said it has taken two years to capture all 2,300 works of art.
The "print on demand" technology will allow visitors to browse through and print in reproduction quality A3, A4 and A5 size prints.
Great idea. I'm not a huge lover of art for the sake of itself, but I do enjoy seeing the mastery of the great artists as exhibited at places like the National Gallery. I think its a shame that one can only get hold of this by visiting.
Obviously a trip to the capital is in order.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Virtual humans edge closer
Virtual humans edge closer
By Spencer Kelly
BBC ClickOnline
For years, one of the main goals in computer graphics has been to recreate a totally convincing human being on screen, something that looks and acts so life-like that it is indistinguishable from a real person.
The Dawn demo draws detailed graphics at high speeds
But human beings are hard to recreate, because along with all those tiny details in the way we look, there is the way we move, our expressions.
Now there is a new type of computer graphics card which is bringing virtual humans a lot closer.
Its amazing the computing power needed to do this, but the results are stunning. However, I'm not absolutely convinced that this is the right way to go for everything. Taking Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, there is a long passage which describes how Humans recognise faces more easily if they are characterised or abstract rather than realistic.
Is the intention of programers to confuse or hoodwink people into thinking these graphics are real? Or is it purely for the sake of being able to do it? Whatever the reason perhaps more thought is needed to ascertain what kind of user interface/graphics people prefer, understand and relate to.
BBC NEWS | Health | Unlocking the brain's secrets
The mysteries of how the brain controls everything from language to movement could be explained by a "map" created by scientists.
The international team behind the atlas used thousands of images of the brains of people of all ages, and with a range of conditions.
They hope to create the most comprehensive picture yet of the brain's structures and functions.
So does this mean we will be able to start describing the brain interms of URIs. Could we soon be brain blogging? [I am currently blogging to you using the humour centre of the brain found here (made up URI) seeAlso this resource on sarcasm centres) :)
Anyway, great research.
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
Individual behavior can influence your economy
Dubner, Stephen J. Calculating The Irrational In Economics. (New York Times, Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk, 28 June 2003)
Behavioral economics -- which blends psychology, economics and, increasingly, neuroscience to argue that emotion plays a huge role in how people make economic decisions. [News in Brain and Behavioural Sciences, Issue 101]
Other resources on this topic include: The Society for the Advancement of Behaviorial Economics (includes a list of relevant journals), Russell Sage Foundation Summer Institute on Behavioral Economics (includes agenda of last program and participant list), and should I miss anything MIT presents a Behavioral Economics Bibliography.
Relationships strengthen emotions and establish expectations for individuals. I've pulled heavily from some of the surface discussions in this community. It is key to remember that people are not cogs in a bigger business machine, they are people and will always be people.
When the individuals working for you, or with you, or even served by your product feel you have grouped, categorized, or labeled them, and they will discount your value to them. While these customer segmentation strategies help you select more profitable customers, they should be conducted in a manner that increases the feeling of individualindividualism.
Behavioral sciences can help you understand people in such a way to help you reach them more effectively. The way they respond to what you have to offer will significantly influence your companies economy (flow of goods and services.) Take emotional states into consideration in your marketing communications, customer interactions, and how you treat your employees-- these strategies powerfully build your bottomline.
Fascinating stuff - need to spend time reading this. Really interesting and very valid point above about treating people as individuals.
OK -I admit it. We have a secret weapon. His name is Eric Sigler and he's about to go get married. But when he returns, THEN we'll be able to tell you all about the PeopleAggregator. And let you play with it.
Okay, so I bought into the Meme and Marc's about to use FOAF in the PeopleAggregator - with a little help form his secret weapon :0
I am really excited to see how this application is going to work and what it can be used to do (although I have some ideas).
Its the first time in quiet a while that a release has me desperate to see the results - I think the last time was Big Country's 'The Seer Album'.... and the single releases like "Look Away".
BBC NEWS | Business | EBay profits shoot higher
EBay profits shoot higher
EBay offers millions of items for sale every day
Online auction site eBay has enjoyed a surge in profits, making more than $100m (£61.9m) in just three months.
Ebay, which sells anything from stuffed animals to antique cocktail shakers, has become an internet phenomenon and is one of the few really profitable dot.com firms.
It sold goods worth $509.3m in the three months between April and June, a rise of 91% compared to its sales in the same period a year earlier.
Ebay goes from strength to strength. Could the success of Ebay be repeated today. Yep. Keep going, keep trying and you'll get there.
Wired News: Tired of the Telly? Reprogram It
By Leander Kahney
02:00 AM Jul. 22, 2003 PT
A Colorado startup, Interact-TV, has released a hacker-friendly digital entertainment center that plays, records and archives TV shows, DVDs, music and even digital photo albums.
The Telly MC1000 Digital Entertainment Center, available now from the company's website for $900, can also surf the Web and act as a home media server.
So what's new you say? Well,
Unlike TiVo or ReplayTV, the Telly is designed to be easily upgraded and expanded by the consumer and third-party software developers. Most other set-top boxes are expressly designed not to be hacked, and their warranties are voided if the owner opens them up to tinker.
By contrast, the Telly is expandable like a PC. Consumers can add bigger hard drives, more memory or even swap out the motherboard. In most cases, the machine automatically detects and configures itself to run the new hardware.
So an Open source model versus the Branding model of Tivo (etc). Who will win? I guess it goes back to some points I made in the previous post - who is the target market? Mainstream consumers may want additional functionality but are they prepared to do things like open the box and plug in a new hard drive? I don't think so. Not unless there is a slot I can fit it in and it goes thunk and I'm done.
Personally I like the idea of the Telly, although I doubt we'll see it in the UK but I do think it makes the mistake of attempting to be a PC style device rather than a Consumer Electronics style device.
BBC NEWS | Business | Net sales gather pace
Net newbies and old hands differ in their attitudes, demographics and product interest," said Ms Jennings.
"To get the attention - and cash - of both groups, online retailers' sites must offer a variety of product routes to the same target, with both simplicity and more sophisticated functionality," she said.
A Forrester report, which suggests more and more people in the UK are buying online. It also goes onto suggest that different techniques ae needed to encourage newer Internet users to participate. The key point for me here (so that it get drummed into my thick skull) is that the newer users (one would assume more mainstream people) have different tastes to online veterans.
Companies need to target this new segment (and I use that term loosely) in a different manner and get rid of any jargon.
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
I've edited down this post from Iunctura, which is a delightful piece:
Kristine Kirby Webster's article on the mutual relationship necessary to build trust with your customer base is a great read. Here is the article in abstract with commentary.
Key points to remember:
Trust is a product of a positive association with your company, that not only will your products do what you say they will, but what the customer expects them to do. Inherently customers don't trust companies that sell, the majority of their experiences are negative.
Successful brands engenger strong two-way communications in relationship development. This communications includes information sharing, and listening for customer concerns. I'll add that positive communications contribute more to the relationship than negative ones.
Every buying relationship is a long-term investment.
Relationships are built over time one interaction at a time
ntl so need to understand this stuff it hurts. I remember some considerable time ago producing a dcoument in conjunction with my then boss, called the Moments of Truth. There were so many key points when ntl interatced with the customer and so many possibilities for error, that we spent a considerable period of time streamlining processes. This in itself led him to appoint me to build the intranet interface and content to support customer services. The year in which that launched Cabletel (as ntl then was) won JD Power's award for best Customer Service in the Telcos in the UK. (I won't claim all the credit - I had a good team working for me - but I know it made a considerable difference).
Yesterday I saw a memo praising our work in improving our call centre metrics. This primarily consisted on driving down call waiting times, etc. What I wanted desparately to see was some index, some measurement of customer satisfaction. It was nowhere to be seen. How then, despite a lot of people's hard work do we know we have been successful? Because our MD says so? I have a lot of respect for him but he is a numbers man. I think some of the softer issues get missed.
Somehow I wanted to link this in with ntl being suddenly more risk adverse. Perhaps its something to do with retrenchment that we are still more inwardly looking, when we should be looking outward to solve some problems. After all, that's what I'm trying to do here find answers from elsewhere...
I've not been feeling well over the last few days. Possibly something to do with having some dodgy posture thing going on which ash meant I've had a very sore wrist for some time. Right now my body has decided enough is enough and is inventing painful areas everywhere. This is particularly unpleasant.
It also means I'm behind in my work (but then who cares about newsgroups anyway?), my family aren't particularly feeling loved 'cos I'm so grumpy and the cats aren't even talking to me.
Its a times like these that I wonder why I gave up alcohol, meat and hallucinogenic drugs (in that order).
Anyway blogging may be light for the next few days...
Oh and I still can't get my FOAF file to work properly when I add a friend. Can anyone suggest some idiots guide to building this stuff?
iWire: Ve Have Vays Ov Making You Vork
Ve Have Vays Ov Making You Vork
An interesting article from last week's FT suggesting that in "any technology cycle, innovation-based high-risk economies give way to security-based low-risk economies, once the returns from risk no longer tempt the governing authorities", and in turn suggesting a diverse approach and rejection of the innovation-friendly american model may benefit more consensual stakeholder European models of economic development.
Go read this. Then think about what you are trying to achieve in your work/business/economy. Apply the lesson.
Joi Ito's Web: Thoughts on micro-content, metadata and trends
Thought provoking article by Joi which illustrates a lot of key points about the technology trends within the blogging community right now.
Perhaps even more interesting are the comments on this posting from people such as Marc Canter.
Those building blocks imply innovation, but in fact - the marketplace doesn't pay for innovation and those key technologies is a part of a unified, digital lifestyle kind of product - that no one company or product can deliver. Only Apple and Microsoft can fund, develop and deliver products with that scope. And each of the key technologies Joi mentions can't stand alone as viable models
Does it always take the organisation the size of Microsoft to succeed? I don't think it does but then I'm speaking from observation not experience like Marc.
Probably the most important thing about ALL of what Joi says is that digital identity has to have CONTEXT? Who's gonna pay for JUST their Digital Identity?
Indeed. One of the factors I often get accused of (and rightly so) is that just because the technology is cool doesn't mean people are going to want to use it, or that there is a viable way to make money out of it. I am very interested in trying to understand more about this stuff, partly cos that who I am (an identity and a context), partly because of what I do (another identitiy and context) and partly because I think its an opportunity to make an extremely exciting product(s) that can make people (maybe me) money (another context and identity).
The technologies are the building block; who can come up with the product (note not tool or even idea) that will make this a must have in mainstream markets worldwide?
When Will We See Geeplogs? from "The Merging of GPS and the Web"
Cagle also talks about a new language to be submitted to the W3C, the GPSml markup language, which would be used to describe, routes between two locations. For more information about GPSml, you can visit this Chaeron Corporation webpage.
One means to encode routes is the GPSml markup language, to be submitted as a note to the W3C later this year. In this XML-based system, a GPSml document consists of one or more collections of three principal types: a waypoint, a route (a named collection of waypoints), or a track (which combines locations with a time coordinate).
One component of this waypoint would be an identifier which could be associated with a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
With such a URI, you could effectively assign to that location an application that will run when the location is referenced in some manner (you get within five feet of that node, for instance). This application could be a Web service, retrieving contextual information about the location.
Of course, this kind of information and services could potentially be used by marketers.
Even without knowing anything about you, a marketer could read the identifier being transmitted to Web services giving GPS information for the device and develop a profile showing [your shopping habits.]
Finally, Cagle thinks that we'll soon see geeplogs (short for GPS-logs) through the use of the RSS specification."
[These geeplogs will contain] public GPS contexts that can be queried about a given area. [They] will be the GPS equivalents to blogs, in which a person could narrate a specific tour with his or her relevant commentary, possibly with photographs or video feeds.
This sounds really cool. Being able to provide information tailored to a location or provide information on a route via mark up language.
From a marketing perspective it gives all sorts of possibilities to offer goods and services relevant to that space and person within that space. If you tie this into other web services perhaps you could suggest nearby stores which sell woolly hats when its snowing?
My personal desire for this idea is to be able to provide more detailled information about a locality especially its history (and to a lesser extent tourist type info). It would make some experiences much richer for me. (Not all - real life doesn't always need augmenting!) It could also provide interesting service when you are travelling too.
Charles Feltman's Enemies of Learning (2-page .pdf) is a quick survey of personal factors that make it harder for us to approach the unknown. A few of the "enemies" that George picked out:
Great to see Seb Paquet blogging again after a short hiatus. This article is a great little pointer to the business world to think about organisational learning. I have a background in teaching, so a lot of this makes sense to me. Organisations firmly need to consider people first. If they do, like this article suggests then the business will surely be sound.
Good Experience - Top Sites' User Experience Teams and Their Challenge
Clearly, managing the integrated customer experience isn't something that one user experience practitioner can take on. Customer experience is a strategic issue. Managing it has to be a company-wide effort
Great little article this. While it is about websites, i think it can equally be applied across the gamut of customer experience. CRM is a big industry buzz word that in a technology sense seems to be dying a death because of serious lack of ROI. Why? Good question! I guess, and will no doubt be told by the great and the good that it wasn't evaluated enough, that the change wasn't handled very well, blah, blah blah!
Its a people thing. 'DNA it into the orgnisation' as the article puts it. People are the core of any organisation. Customer expereince begins and ends with them, if they don't belive in helping people to have a good experience of the product or service then forget it.
I've found out that people within the organisation I work in are generally very keen to assist customers despite barriers that get put in their way, like policies that insist on them making their call quota for the day or idiots like me who deliver sub-standard products.
That's what we sometimes forget, even if we are trying to deliver good products its that full lifetime expereince with the company that is the key
BBC NEWS | Business | Amazon seeks book-search boost
Searching for success
The key element in Amazon's plan is the searchability of the database.
The intention is not that customers will read through books online, but use the search engine to target the right books via keywords.
The difficulty of the plan is to secure the agreement of publishers, who are worried by any attempt to post their copyrighted material freely online.
Any agreement will be restricted to non-fiction, and probably only to the sort of narrative non-fiction - history, biography and so on - where extracts are likely to whet a buyer's appetite to purchase.
Amazon gets a new strategy. It feels like the idea for brick book shops where cafes are introduced to get you to spend more time browsing. Its interesting the comparison later in the article about Amazon losing trade through Google, as buyers search for books there and then find cheaper alternate sites.
It reminds me of the phrase 'rational economic man' from my Economics A level. Given perfect knowledge, a person will be rational and seek the lowest price for a similar (or same) good. Google provides that opportunity. So Amazon needs to prvoide a service which makes buying from its site worth more.
I generally do buy from Amazon as I find it easier to search there (never actually considered using Google) and I get other readers opinions of a book, which for non-fiction I find really useful. I've yet to find another site that allows me to do this easily without putting in some effort. Recommendations are also very handy and have given me some good tips of books to read.
Ultimately that's all things that I find useful. However perhaps the one thing that I miss would be some form of loyalty programme. Since I spend a great deal of money on books (far more than I should), anywhere that rewards me for being loyal is going to win the day for my business. Of course cheap books and free delivery help.
Via Seth's Blog
A story worth thinking about
Making your own change. How could it change your business?
To the actual article:
It's also apparent that Ralph trusts his customers, and that they both appreciate and return that sense of trust (I know I do). Trust is one of the most difficult "assets" for companies to acquire, but also one of the most valuable. Many companies take shortcuts in getting their customers to trust them, paying lip service to Trust™ in press releases and marketing brochures. Which works, temporarily and superficially, but when you get down to it, you can't market trust...it needs to be earned. People trust you when you trust them.
When an environment of trust is created, good things start happening. Ralph can serve twice as many customers. People get their coffee in half the time. Due to this time savings, people become regulars. Regulars provide Ralph's business with stability, a good reputation, and with customers who have an interest in making correct change (to keep the line moving and keep Ralph in business). Lots of customers who make correct change increase Ralph's profit margin. Etc. Etc.
And what did Ralph have to pay for all this? A bit of change here and there.
Should I add anything? Probably not much to say... 100% extra efficieny, loyalty from customers. Compare to some of my earlier rants on the subject.
Joi blogs about Netomat
netomat beta [ Social Software (wiki) | Wiki (wiki) ]
I met Kris and Maciej of netomat at Supernova and just got around to downloading and playing with the beta. It looks interesting. It's like an email/wiki/link sharing tool. It's written in Java and runs on Mac and Windows. It's pretty easy to use and is more "rich" than a wiki because it has things like drawing tools that let you annotate pages in a way similar to a white board. You create pages with your netomat client. You can publish it with editing enabled so anyone can modify it. It keeps a history of changes. You can email pages to people. You can include lots of things in pages including audio, images, links, etc.
If anyone else is running the beta, send me netomat mail so that we can mess around. I am jito on netomat. My first netomat page is here.
I have been having a play with this and it looks really good. It could be really useful as a collaboration tool. I'm wondering how I wold make use of this within an organisation. Haven't quite gotten there yet given the existing infrastructure that i work with but I'm going to give it more thought.
Onlineblog.com - Guardian Online's weblog
BusinessWeek Online has a special report on Digital Homes -- what we used to call "home automation".
Great article from Business Week:
What distinguishes today's digital homes from "smart homes" of the past is the modular nature of the technology. Because so many products are designed with Internet standards in mind, consumers can start out with just a few devices and build up slowly. It helps that PCs such as Dell Computer (DELL ) Corp.'s XPS gaming machine and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Media Center PC are becoming entertainment-oriented, while consumer electronics are becoming more PC-like -- with hard drives, screen-based menus, and built-in Net access. Piece by piece, the technology also is getting more user-friendly. That goes a long way toward explaining the explosive popularity of Wi-Fi networks, now in 11 million U.S. households.
Absolutely. I cannot afford to get everything I want either but the modular nature of the equipment is a superb factor in allowing consumers to go for it. more importantly is the understanding that these items really have to be plug and play. Carrying out some extensive configuration in techie level language just won't cut the mustard. Remember most people can't even programme a VCR.
the ultimate goal for almost every room is to deliver what Dutch giant Philips Electronics (PHG ) calls "ambient intelligence." As devices get smarter, they can identify and adapt to individual users in a household, potentially making suggestions on everything from what to eat to how to dress. "Think of it as the electronic equivalent of an English butler," says Emile Aarts, vice-president and scientific program director at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven. Those concepts may seem pie-in-the-sky now, but many are being tested in corporate labs -- and some are nearing commercialization.
I keep telling people abut this concept, some joke, some sneer, some even accept this is around the corner. The question is how soon is it going to get to a place wher eveyone wants one? My current thinking is 2 years before this stuff becomes easy enough and cheap enough for mainstream families to adopt. And that's when it becomes big money.
The last word goes to the Business Week article:
Not surprisingly, we found consumers who say they crave technology, but only if it's no-muss-no-fuss. They should control the technology, not have it control them. It should "just work," make life easier, and even help free up time to do something else.
ZDNet |UK| - Comment - Story - Broadband wireless goes to the max
802.16 is to 802.11 what the M25 motorway is to the Basingstoke one way system. Designed to operate over a number of bands from 2GHz to 66GHz, 802.16 can work over 30 miles and pump data at speeds of up to 70Mbps.
Originally intended for 'last mile' fixed wireless broadband links, the standard has already grown mesh additions to let stations relay data for others, and work is underway for mobile working. This week, Intel announced it would be designing 802.16 silicon: it's not alone, and other standards espoused by the chip giant haven't always taken off, but as a statement of intent it's very significant. If 802.16 takes off, it'll change the face of broadband.
I've heard it before, but there might be something in this. Could this be a way of improving the link over the last mile without major investment of diggin up roads and replacing infrastructure? Okay there has got to be some investment, base stations for one, however it could be that this is significantly less than fixed solutions. If chipsets and the equipment get to be consumer pricing then who knows where this cold lead?
BBC NEWS | Business | BT told to cut internet charges
Britain's telecoms regulator Oftel has ordered BT Group to cut its charges for wholesale internet access.
Oftel said it had told the phone company to reduce its prices by 17% following an investigation into unmetered access.
The investigation had concluded that BT had been charging operators for certain call routing and call management measures which were no longer necessary.
"The action taken today ensures that BT continues to recoup the cost of providing wholesale internet access, and that UK consumers continue to benefit from one of the world's most competitive dial-up internet access markets in the world," said Oftel's director general David Edmonds.
Its good to see Oftel actually find against BT (the UK's largest Teleco and ex-state owned) as they rarely seem to do it these days. Its perhaps not so good news for ntl as it has its own network and therefore can offer lower prices anyway (dial up ntl is £10 per month cf to AOL £17.99 per month), although I believe ntl' offnet service called ntl Freedom does make use of this (not 100% sure though).
Still Oftel's role is to keep the market competitive and remove Monopolistic practices. Sometimes it manages to do this, even if it has taken them 2 years to make a decision.
Seth's Purple Cow book is sitting in my to read pile and by all accounts its worth getting to soon.
However this example of the 'purple' phenomena is wonderful!
N.B. The original picture an story can be found here.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband faces slow future
The core networks routinely run at 10gigabits per second (gbps) and can easily step up to hundreds of gbps.
Relatively slow home broadband could dampen downloads
A speed of 10gbps means a DVD quality film can be transferred approximately every four seconds.
Home networks are speeding up too.
The basic ethernet technology used by many consumers works at 10mbps, has been upgraded to 100mbps and forthcoming wireless networking technologies work at speeds up to 54mbps.
But the technologies used to link homes with the net look like they will be lagging behind these very high speeds for some time. This could mean that downloads of large files, such as films, will always take time.
Yep its true BSPs are a bottleneck, and given the massive downturn in the technology market, ntl, Telewest and to a lesser extent BTs woes regarding finance means you are not going to see Fibre to the home anytime soon. Although ntl do have a demonstration implementation of this somewhere in London (operating with real customers).
Does this need Governement intervention? Probably, but I can't see it happening - infrastructure is enormously expensive and ROI timescales just too long.
Still FTH would be good. Perhaps I can persaude someone to do a trial so I can have it?
Via Marc's Voice (again today!)
Example FOAF website
It links to the specs, the tools, the foaflog, pulls together articles posted on disparate weblogs all to make one big excellent FOAF resource. The design is slightly too garish and the text line-spacing slightly too tight for me, but I can live with this. A few contributed “beginners” articles and this would be excellent. [geek commodity]
This does look like a good site (FOAF example site). I have to admit to using Marc's examples and links to put up a FOAF file. Although I've yet to add any Friends. (I think I'll add Marc later as he's blogged me blogging him).
With any new technology its important to play around with it at a hard techie level, but even more important to start taking it to the masses and explaining to them how this stuff is going to work - and then commoditising it for them so they don't have to know. Education is perhaps the first step in a good marketing campaign?
Via the VoxPolitics blog: Roo's Strengthening Medicine is a link to Forbes magazine article on Korea.
South Korea has gone gaga over broadband. This nation of 46 million people, packed into an area smaller than Virginia, has quickly become the world's most wired nation. Politics, entertainment, sex, mass media, crime and commerce are being reshaped by a population as online as it is offline. Some 11 million homes, or 70% of the total, have broadband accounts, and at peak times just about all of those homes are online. Nearly two-thirds of Korean mobile phone users have shifted to so-called third-generation handsets that offer speeds up to ten times that of mobiles in the U.S. Here [the US], residential broadband isn't expected to enter 50% of homes until late 2004.
This is an astounding article, not for the way it is written but simply what it is reporting. the profound change on Korean society is immense. Ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous Internet connection and astonishing effects.
The UK is not Korea, not even long term. But the power of Broadband networks is far wider than I thought. It boarders on the Science Fiction.
Last year e-commerce moved $150 billion, or 30% of Korea's gross domestic product. Close to 70% of all stock trades are now online, with banking catching up quickly.
Does Korea offer the microcosm of change that can give the rest of the world time to learn of the effects and ameliorate them? Or does it offer the opportunity to expand the world of possibilities...
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
Weblogs will have a greater role in project management
Publishing a project weblog. A couple of years ago I predicted that Weblogs would emerge within the enterprise as a great way to manage project communication. I'm even more bullish on the concept today. [Jon's Radio] [Michael Fioritto: KM]
I strongly support Jon Udell's prediction of project based weblog's. After using the tools for a few years now I'm finding weblogs have significatly reduce my data acquisition time, organization of technical materials, and simplified content management.
This form of centralized project communications would work well for the process described in Web teams as a component of tactical and strategic methods -- each of the "Nine Pillars" would represent a category inside the project weblog. As notes and lessons learned are published, they would be tagged according to the functional area that particular item belonged.
In It is time to bring blogging home in the business world, I provide some tips for making weblogs work in this capacity; including providing the right tools, categorizing discussion by functional units (in this case one weblog per project, and an aggregated feed for a program), encourage participation, and a few other ways to make weblogs useful for internal discussions.
Well I read this and got the request for items for our team meeting next week at the same time. Foolishly I have put an agenda item down on exactly this topic. So I'll present it next Tuesday and see how it goes down. I don't expect instant adoption but its been a while since I evangelised something, so I'll give it a go!
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things
Howard Lovy's NanoBot nano blog
Howard Lovy is the news editor at Small Times, the nanotechnology, MEMS, and microsystems magazine that Mark and I contribute to. Howard recently launched NanoBot, an independent blog for his small tech commentaries. From his deconstruction of the "nanotech media conspiracy" to insights about the environmental fears surrounding nanotechnology, he's off to a great start!
This is certainly worth taking a look at. Nanobot offers a view of nanotechnology that I haven't seen before and is sorely needed. I am a technophile, but generally not that worried if there are critical pieces, however most media does seem to be either hyping or doom and gloom about the world of the small.
BBC NEWS | Technology | US snooping plan blocked
Data-mining tool
The widely criticised programme, which was previous known as Total Information Awareness, was the brainchild of John Poindexter.
He is a key figure from the Iran-Contra scandal, who is now at the military research institute, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, (Darpa).
Critics said the plan would create a Big Brother state
The TIA project would collect as much information about every single aspect of everyone in America as possible, from doctor's records to bank deposits, e-mail to travel tickets, phone conversations to magazine subscriptions.
The aim was to used advanced data-mining tools to look for patterns of terrorist activities in the electronic data trails left behind by everyone.
How can a country be at one time so pro-freedom and yet so paranoid about its own citizens? I'm glad that the Senate actually took a stand against this, it feels exactly like Big Brother and all that Orwell meant by that. Maybe I'm being alarmist but doesn't this feel almost totalitarian in its intent?
Up2Speed: Amazon to Start Payment System
Amazon is going to let you use their payment system on your site to handle payment for other goods besides the one they sell. The news had leaked from a recent Amazon conference for developers, but I hadn't seen an official mention in writing yet. In the just-received Amazon Web Services Newsletter #2, one can read:
"We are almost ready to kick off the beta for our payment system. The payment system will allow visitors to your site to use their Amazon account to pay you for any product or service. You can also offer subscriptions and controlled access to content. You will be able to verify the status of any transaction to make sure that the user has not rescinded it. We will provide you with a base-level API and you can construct your business logic on top."
This is going to be in direct competition with Ebay's Paypal Developer Network.
I was going to get an Amazon key to make use of the API (at a very basic level). I don't think I'll have a need for this payment syetem at least in the short term but its a really clever step by Amazon. A good way of tying customers in further, a new revenue stream and a wider collective of Amazon users...
John Porcaro's Weblog (Note the Permalink doesn't seem to work!)
There are days I think we're not moving far enough fast enough. There are times I'm bummed out about reviews, or projects running late, or high expectations, or lack of overwhelming cross-group collaboration.
But there are days like today when I see the impact I have with the job I'm doing, and I see the passion of my leaders, the vision of the part we can play in changing our world, and the camaraderie of 14,000 of my peers (most of whom I'll never meet), all excited about doing the best they can.
And to be very clear, the message was overwhelming. We must hear the voice of the customer. Then innovate with our own responsibilities. Yes, the product guys need to innovate, but innovation in our jobs as marketing or sales is just as important as the job our developers play. And Steve made it very, very, very clear that he wants happy, happy, happy customers and partners.
The tides are changing. Maybe too slowly for some. And maybe too quickly for others. But they're changing. And I'm happy to be playing a role in it all.
Ahh! John's back! And now he's even more motivated. Do you get the feeling he'd sell the products door to door if he could? Now, that's not a bad way of meeting customers, making them happy and getting feedback. (perhaps not too cost effective however :) )
What a crock of...
Blair: History will vindicate war. The UK prime minister tells the US Congress the invasion of Iraq was right, even if no weapons of mass destruction are found. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]
Oh god. This is all he has left?
"History will vindicate us."
Somebody tell me he bought a one-way ticket.
The last refuge of a scoundrel? Blogging two of Matt's posts in a row 'cos I thought this was an important yet succinct point.
I just hope he is held to account, in the fullest political sense.
Deploying Google Viewer. Greg reports that some of his search results contain a "View results as slide show" link, presumably using Google viewer. Have you seen this?... [Google Weblog]
The interface has an interesting CD player like styling to it. But in IE6 I got a script error that prevented it from doing anything more than look interesting. Bummer.
Google Viewer worked fine for me (also in IE 6) - I searched on Broadband and Me (vain I know) and got a great taster. I actually thought 'Wow!, that's a great idea!'...(that's 3 times this week...)
I've been working out the notion of knowledge work as craft for a while now. Knowledge management approaches fail to the extent that they try to shoehorn knowledge work into an industrial framework.
We're all individuals (I'm not!) and therefore we need to work in an individual manner. An indistrial approach based on ideas of production lines assumes that we are all unform and require the same things. Everyone I know who does the 'same' role as I do, work in their own unique ways, with their own unique style. Although we have framework's for development and even processes, these never work the same way for different people or projects.
I often think of myself as anything but a craftsman but when viewed in this context, I guess I am performing a craft. Its certainly not an industry and much though our bosses would like it to be, its very far from a production line.
iSociety has long believed that there was no money in networks. That is, no money in networking itself, though plenty in its results (and in the chardonnay you might drink in the process).
But were we wrong? Was the money in the links all along? As Friendster hits a million users and people start comparing it to Google, Wired reports the first sightings of Friendster networks for sale on eBay.
'Meet hipsters, musicians', promises sleepnotwork, tongue firmly in cheek. 'By becoming a member of my Friendster network, you will gain access to many of the most fabulous people in Austin, Texas, and around the United States...
Mea culpa time? Perhaps not. This solid gold slice of network capital is going for a fat, er, $4. I suspect the money's in the nodes after all.
I don't think anything needs adding really?
Anyway the Living Directory is an example of how a single sign-on system can be used for activists - who might be members of the same organizations. Separate groups - such as the Identity Commons, Venture Collective or the Planetwork conference - can all share the same directory of people, but maintain separate web sites or portals.
The Chaordic Initiatives is a joint-venture between Socialtext, the Living Directory and Dale McGrew's GoLightly. Each 'initiative' can have its own Wiki and the basic social network allows you to keep track 'who's your friend'.
More posts from Marc on identity or at least the sharing of directories between sites.
I've been trying to research more on social software and am already interested in ideas around complexity and Chaos; so this fits in well. More reading for me...
BBC NEWS | UK | Lure of the chatroom
This BBC article in the wake of the Shavaun Pennington affair, examines Chat room behaviour of children and paedophiles.
"If you click on the right e-mail name and see the e-mail address, you click on it and you can go on profile, and it tells you all the details.
"I go on profiles and see their age and stuff, it's dead popular.
"But half of them they don't even fill in the profiles, you don't know who you're talking to, don't know what they're like."
Paedophile lurking
If he found he was talking to somebody whose profile was empty, he said, "there's no real point in talking to them, so I'd just click off."
There is obviously a need here to validate identity, for the safety and security of minors. While some like the girl quoted by the Beeb obviously make an attempt to discover more aspects of an identity, not all do. Of course there is no reason why someone who wishes to cannot lie in this context.
In the real world (as opposed to the virtual world) its diifuclt to hide aspects of physical identity such as age & gender, online no such issues. Do you therefore want to force people to provide an identitiy and validate it (not sure how)? Can you rely on such methods as FOAF as perhaps you would in other contexts?
Perhaps forcing ISPs to keep better records maybe an answer. Perhaps those of us who are honest wouldn't mind an escrow approach to identity, in this type of context.
Guardian Unlimited | Online | Decorators with keyboards
I would love to see a few web designers thrown in jail. Sadly, the best we can hope for is some small fines and a few marginal improvements to the rubbish that currently masquerades as good web design. It is not enough, but it would be better than nothing.
The reason for optimism is that the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is backing a number of individuals in taking legal action against various as yet unnamed websites that they say do not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Very few government and commercial websites are adequately usable by the partially sighted and blind, or offer an equivalent service to disabled users. That is simply not acceptable on social grounds. It is also, as a matter of fact, a betrayal of the principles of the web.
Can't guarantee that this site complies, however I am slowly attempting to put together the full website for betaroad, so maybe I should look at the RNIB site to get an idea of what is needed.
Windows XP Media Center Edition Demos
Was given a demo of media center PC today. Its the second time I have seen a demo but the first time I've seen it on an actual spec PC (although a beta version on a kit box). It looked good. A powerful way of combining the PC into the Consumer Elecronics side. The marketing in terms of positioning looks good but as a colleague pointed out, Microsoft are insisiting that this is for new PCs only. That means that take up will generally be fairly slow.
Lots of possibilities though...
BBC NEWS | Technology | Flaw exposes internet hardware
Internet companies are scrambling to fix a flaw in equipment by the US firm Cisco which is widely used to keep the net flowing.
The flaw could allow attackers to take control of the hardware and block access to websites.
Oops...
BBC NEWS | Business | Yahoo Japan heads for big list
More on the Search market - Yahoo Japan profits big time...
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
Tom Peters. "Underpromise; overdeliver." [Motivational Quotes of the Day]
This is the one thing you can do to improve business relationships that won't cost you a single penny. Yes, that's right, when you underpromise and overdeliver you earn the right to continue the connection that brought two parties together.
Whether it's a boss and an employee, or a sales representative and a customer, practice this simple philosophy where ever you can.
Underpromise. The act of promising something demonstrates a commitment to perform. A certain level of expectation in established in the promise, but by scaling down this expectation you can more easily create a postive outcome.
Overdeliver. By providing more than what was expected in the areas of interest to the other party, you enhance those good feelings they have about you. Show the other party how important your relationship with them really is by giving a little extra.
How much should you underpromise and overdeliver? If you had to put a number on the amount of underpromise, or overdelivery, use 10%.
Try to provide yourself a 10% spread between what is promised and what you can deliver. If you can delivery a product in 10 days to a customer, offer it in 11 days;
Its almost got to the stage where this is a mantra, said over and over again. The key is setting of expectations and then being able to deliver that little bit more. Maybe some day I will manage it :(
The idea of the OpenIdentity standard is to maintain our own, protected database of people ‘pointers’ – which will in turn point to specific locations throughout the web – which may house an end-user’s resume, medical records or blog/web site. All access to these pointers and information will be strictly controlled, allowing each individual to decide who gets access to what.
So this is not about setting up some centralized database. This is about creating a ‘proxy’ server for people – a redirect server, which will keep track of the smallest amount of information possible about you – and simply point to where all the real data is…. The end-user/human can then completely control who sees what. New kinds of tools, services and applications can be built around this sort of standard.
Having conversed with Marc about tools I know how passionate he is about things and Identity is no exception. I love the ideas being presented here and wish I could help out more, however I'm in one of those big Comps (well not that big), don't have any money and am not technically savvy enough to code to this level.
However sign me up for an account :0
Linksys came in today to demo their newLinksys: WMA11B - Wireless-B Media Adapter
It was pretty impressive and genuinely useful. While it wasn't all singing and dancing, the ability to send Music files via the TV was quite cool. The killer though was being able to display photo albums on the TV. Digital Cameras would suddenly make a lot more sense to the mass market if they can easily view the pictures on their TV using a remote.
Can't wait to get one and show it to my wife. Even created a buzz with one of the PAs (and that's tough I can tell you).
Also seen today was one of the new Gaming adapters. Linksys don't have this on their website yet but it was very neat little box, essentially their Wet 11 adapted for a gaming market. Also I think a winner.
The meeting was also notable for the appearance of Cisco bods... I think they will find mass market a very different ball game from Networks.
Anyway, thanks David and Ivar!
BBC NEWS | Technology | UK beach gets wireless web
...have set up a wireless network in the English seaside town of Brighton so that you can browse the web or read your e-mails while you soak up the sunshine.
The service, called PiertoPier, is being offered free to anyone who has the right gear and relies on volunteers and donations to keep it alive.
"We all live in Brighton and we want to work on the beach," explained Alex Studd of internet provider Moving Edge which is backing the project
Priceless, 'Pier to Pier'!
I have yet to actually take my laptop into my garden and see whether it will connect to the wireless network but then the battery only lasts about ten minutes. Still if I went on the beach I could get sand in it too! Maybe a Handheld device would work better... but would I really want to work on the beach?
Via elearningpost
AIGA: DUX2003 Conference Sessions
The DUX 2003 program featured accepted submissions of real-world design practices, research, and cases from around the globe, creatively combined in sessions moderated by leading design practitioners and theorists. Here are a diverse collection of stories about the experience of designing for user experiences.
The Aiga site has some excellent case studies, which I am not even going to begin to blog. Another action to me, read them! (Agggh! They're PDFs!)
This one particularly caught my eye: Silvia Gabrielli & Jan-Christoph Zoels, Design Strategy as a Way of Creating Imaginable Futures
Feedster now can index your entire weblog if you have an RSS archive of it. I have one for much of 2002, and all of 2003.
Isn't it obvious that either Google or Yahoo will buy Feedster so their search engine can understand RSS. Then the other guy is going to wonder why they missed the boat. After that, they can make their search engines understand OPML and throw out the antiquated centralized directories and let the amateurs compete to create the best directory for a given topic, the same way we compete for page rank. No more one guy controlling a category. That just doesn't work. It's cool that Google has competition from a highly regarded company like Yahoo. Now search is a market. Before it was a company town.
Dave Winer on the new search market. Will Feedster become a target. Part of me hopes so, at least if not in name then at least the development of alternative technology to do the same job. After all are we ever going to get to this semantic web stuff?
Probably but I don't really understand it well enough. Another action to me - understand Semantic web.
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
Stop giving away the store, profitable customers need your attention
Venice: A City Of Commerce. In Venice, they don't even give you a free taste of gelato (ice cream). You pay your money and takes your chances. How much free information do you give away? How much time do you spend educating customers who don't buy from you? [SucceedingInBusiness.com]
I used to wrestle with this every day, I sell solutions and my personal expertise. I'm finding there is a balance between what I can give prospective customers, and what they will have to buy. After all, how will new customers learn about my business if I don't share some of what I know.
How has giving free reports, doing special studies, and other freebies helped my business? The answer will surprise you...
Giving away my expertise does very little to build my business. It costs money to make money, and no business can grow by giving away what it sells. I've learned that if I give you something, I'd better make sure you're worth receiving it.
Can you afford to educate your competitors customers? That's exactly what you do when you don't get anything in exchange for pre-sales technical support, free training events, or lengthy technical reports.
Is it profitable to give away resources that could serve the needs of paying customers? Of course not, if someone is willing to pay for what you offer, then giving something away is like burning money you don't have. Who is more important, a customer or someone who hasn't committed to your company.
I guess, yet again, that it depends on the context. In a consumer facing environment you definitely don't want to give something away for free, at least not without getting that return guaranteed. Negotiation skills are about ensuring that you don't give anything away without receiving something in return and so is selling. The difficulty is when you pitch for a sale in a competitive environment where the buyer has more power. How do you not put in a lot of effort in order to win busines?
Iunctura Daily -- Center for Strategic Relations
Writing job descriptions is a marketing function
Writing Realistic Job Descriptions. Give people half a chance and they will pre-qualify themselves for a job. No one wants to take the time to send resumes and cover letters and never get a response.
I can see the point here. Make job adverts clear concise and try and elicit the response you want. Not always sure that its a marketing function however it is a marketing skill - understanding the requirement, detailling capabilities, clear communication, sell the company.
[Hiring Technical People]
Use strategies for prequalifying customers to hone in on the most qualified job seekers available. Doing this will reduce the number of poorly matched resumes you recieve, and give prospective employees a better idea of what you desire.
In Strong employee relationships start when they are jobseekers I talked about the importance of following up with every jobseeker to demonstrate your care about their interest in your organization. However, this isn't always possible. Companies are flooded with resumes in todays challenging job market and recent layoffs don't help volume any.
Part of building strong relationships is to design communications systems around interactions that enhance the other individuals experience. If you receive fewer resumes, you have more time to follow up with those most likely to benefit your company. By helping jobseekers rule themselves out, you'll get only the most qualified (or those who think they are the best match.)
This is why writing a job listing and description is a marketing function. Every word of the listing must help the reader know if they are right for the criteria desired for the position.
Do marketeers have a monopoly on good communication skills? Is communication solely a marketing function?
Slightly away from the point but I have to translate my 'marketing' colleagues views into requirements that will deliver a quality product. This is not always easy, as they are not always good at communicating in certain contexts. There are of course exceptions however...
Joi Ito's Web: I'm not Joi Ito, that's just my name
There is a lot of talk about identity these days. You MUST remember that identities are like names. You are NOT your identity. Your identity points to you. Everyone has multiple identities
Joi certainly 'gets' the identity thing. I remember clearly in a Sociology class my teacher going through theories of multiple identities, dependent upon context. (Hello Geoff, hope you are well?) It was the first time I had really considered this but of course we do. I have different roles in my life for which I have different identities. Each identities shows different facets, from Father, Husband, Son, employee, manager, direct report, reseracher, blogger. How many of these do I actually need a foraml identity for?
I'd much rather see a link from a blog that I know saying, "this Joe Shmoe and I vouch for him!" Or go to a party and have everyone say, "you should meet Joe Schmoe, I've know him for years and I think he's great." Or if I'm trying to have a financial transaction, have his bank provide my bank with a guarantee. You get the idea. The only people who need access to your "entity" are people who have the power to throw you in jail or need to collect on long term contracts and liabilities. for MOST transactions, your physical location is not relevant or useful.
Absolutely. I suspect that that is truely the power of social and business networks. After all there are a lot of poeple I meet in my role whom I know I'm not going to buy from (suppliers, ideas etc). However I am more than willing to trust people I know and trust their judgement and viewpoints. I think to a certain extent that is why blogs can be so powerful. Not because of the technology but because they portray an identity - even if that is imagined.
So as we think about FOAF, cameras pointing at my face, location moblogging, it is essential not to forget that WE need to be in control of what information we create and how this information is tagged stored and authenticated. Peer-to-peer / end-to-end thinking is essential for privacy as well. Make client software that collects information from catalogs and locally recommends stuff to you, not central servers of user profiles. Empower the people, not the merchants and the governments.
UK law ensures people can view information held on them (I think its part of the Data Protection Act 1998) usually for a small fee, although most don't. However technologies (use of technologes?)such as FOAF and blogging do give you an element of control.
Oh, it occurs to me that Amazon recommend lists gives a good (not perfect) idea of different roles. It is obviously based on past purchases which generally reflect the different roles I highlighted above (father, son etc). Do I worry about this. No. But I do take Joi's point about privacy, and there is no reason why I couldn't have that function run locally right?
Okay- ther's lots more to this but that's enough for now.
The Register tells about Dell's involvement with a great cause to help develop birght children in the US.
...which focuses on "realizing the potential of bright children who learn differently through individualized learning."
"The Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge is an example of how companies can do their part to provide students with 21st century skills that are now required in the 21st century workforce," said John Bailey, director of technology, U.S. Department of Education, in a statement.
It then goes onto criticise Dell for its own lack of R&D. While I am not always a great fan of American sentimentality, I also think the cynical English attitude is over done.
Well done to Dell. When I go to upgrade PC, they are top of the list.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Rural broadband policy under fire
We recommend that the government now commit itself to ensuring that broadband is made available to all areas of the United Kingdom according to a defined timetable."
The MPs say the provision of fast net access to the most rural and remote areas "cannot reasonably be left to the marketplace".
An ex-colleague of mine once pointed out that all major infrastructure programmes, at least in the UK, have been undertaken by Government or at Government behest. The market works well where there is large demand and ease of supply. Rural communities in Britain hae neither, and while there are some really enterprising small firms looking to plug holes in national players coverage, this is neither comprehensive nor will it be swift.
We need thriving rural communities and broadband connectivity can help at the fringes of this. It could even enliven communities, as ther is the possibility of more employment or better opportunities in areas with broadband.
I would like to live in a rural area - however I obviously need employment and I would be lost without a Broadband connection.
BBC NEWS | England | Lancashire | Star honoured at football museum
The exhibition detailing the life and career of Arthur Wharton is due to be opened on Tuesday by Viv Anderson - the first black player to be a full member of the England squad.
Wharton was one of the leading goalkeepers of his time, in a career which spanned 16 years between 1886 and 1902.
I thought I would blog this because it outlines something interesting about Britain. Arthur Wharton played football over 100 years ago. This is the first I've ever heard of him.
And like the article says,
The museum's curator Mark Bushell said: "Many people think black players only began to play the game in this country in the 1960s and 70s.
I didn't but then I happen to have studied some history and sociology. Its amazing that this guy should have played for England given his ability but was denied because of his colour.
We tend to be rather colour blind when it comes to history of Britain and forget that not all major contributions are from those of us with pinkish white skin colour.
Congratulations to the National Football Museum for finally reminding us.
BBC NEWS | Business | Yahoo pays $1.6bn for tech rival
A bold step by Yahoo.
Yahoo last week reported a doubling in profits, saying it was benefiting from the continued popularity of its sponsored web searches, which mention advertisers' names in conjunction with certain search results.
This is the business that Overture specialises in, an area Yahoo said was "the most dynamic and fastest growing segment" of the market.
If sponsored searches are proving so popular then this looks like an excellent move in the long term.
The search arena is a very active one at the moment.
BBC NEWS | Politics | Bloggers take message to MPs
Voxpolitics meeting went ahead and the BBC have reported on it.
The occasion was Parliament's "blogging seminar" - which saw more than a hundred people pack into a timber-roofed committee room in Westminster Hall.
They were here to discuss blogs or weblogs, which are essentially online diaries - personal web pages that can be frequently updated.
An interesting overview ensues and near the end:
Blogs were also being used as a critique of political speeches, policies and, yes, bloggers were pulling apart his articles too.
American e-democracy expert Steven Clift instead argued blogs were best as a political tool for campaigning than as a democratising weapon.
So blogs are seen as a good way for Politiicans to communicate out but not for increasing participation in a democracy.
I can see the point however surely anyone who can publish a political comment is participating? But then when does that participation generate a following and create change in the sense of policy adoption by representative political parties?
Openess by politicians can only be good, so if more blogged maybe we would see more about what is going on behind the mask and maybe then we can start at least to engage in that aspect of democracy.
Creativity Quote of the Day
"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have mastered, you will never grow."
C. R. Lawton
Nathan Skreslet aka The Quotemeister
Vygotsky talks about zones of proximal development but I think this sums it up more succinctly. You only really develop when you go that little bit further, than you can now and perhaps even than you think you can.
Gizmodo : Cisco's Wireless-B Media Adapter
http://www.gizmodo.com/images/linksys_DMA.jpg
It took a while, but that Wireless-B Media Adapter that Linksys has been promising for months is finally out. The Wireless-B Media Adapter is another one of those gadgets designed to connect your stereo system to your PC over 802.11b, so you can stream all of those MP3s trapped on your hard drive on something other than PC speakers or headphones. A version that can stream video should be out later this year.
I'm getting a demo of this on Wednesday (I hope)! Together with a view of Linksys new Gaming Adapters (formally the Wet11 updated for 802.11G). Look forward to blogging the experience then.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Home PCs suffer porn hijack
More Spam stories from the Beeb.
"I set up my computer to enable a friend of mine to download a recording of his daughter and I forgot about it," he told the BBC.
"I came back to the computer two weeks later and everything was running incredibly slowly.
"I had a closer look and found that it was running slowly because about 40 people were uploading and downloading pornography off my computer which I was unaware of," he said.
This is a particularly vile act, even for spammers.
Looks like the spam stuff I've been working on is to be put back. While I'm partly glad of this, as I thought we needed more time to put together a product that users would want to use, I'm also disappointed.
I think ISPs should take more responsibility. Not for user's PCs or for their behaviour but in educating and providing services to help users protect themselves. The more we can help, and help effectively the better.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bloggers take on politicians
Voxpolitics meeting makes BBCI news.
"Blogs are an exceptionally good way of talking to people who are interested in what you do," said Voxpolitics director James Crabtree.
"They could provide a place for people to go and see what MPs are doing, what they are thinking about."
And
"A blogging generation will be interested in an MP who blogs, because they themselves run blogs," said Mr Crabtree.
But he admits that not all blogs will be popular, admitting that some politicians will run awful ones.
Anything that allows MPs to connect to the populous must be a good thing. I particularly like Tom Watson's blog. He does come across as human (wow!), intelligent and willing to be (dare I say it) open about what he is doing.
While it may not be a complete solution to getting people to engage in politics, it would sure be a start.
Hope the meeting goes well this evening (disappointed I cannot attend).
Update
Check out the essay from James and Will at Voxpolitics. Its absolutely priceless and somehow charmingly English (don't ask me why read it!)
(Blogs are like flower gardens LOL!)
BBC NEWS | Business | Working life crushes creativity
"With a skill that it is so intangible such as creativity it is critical that it is not forced," said Amanda Bedborough, an executive vice president at Corel.
"Employers need to therefore consider helping their employees structure their day around when they perform tasks most effectively."
I know this is targetted at fleixble working practices however I think people are encouraged to be creative by the atmosphere in which they work, not simply the hours in which they work. I won't dispute the fact that some people are better at dfifferent times of day (something to do with biorhythms?).
If encouraged, nurtured, praised and dare I say it empowered (don't like that word but can't think of a better one) then they will allow their creativity, their ability to innovate, try something new; it will soar. Fear of failure, the desire that some managers have to be 'in charge' vindicative and plain horrible takes that spark away.
The Practical RDF book rolls off the assembly line this week and I need to provide some support for it, including re-awakening the Practical RDF weblog and writing some articles for O'Reilly.
I can actually program a little, when given enough incentive, time and a cool enough project. In fact secretly I enjoy it, although I don't always find it easy.
I think I might invest in this though, despite the fact Moveable type does it all for me. I felt I needed to expand my mind.
The Practical RDF weblog looks good as well - adding it to my blog roll.
Guardian Unlimited | Online | Radio active revolution
Groovy baby. Software radio, give me more gadgets!
BBC NEWS | UK | Boost for off-shore wind power
Excellent to this this type of investment in renewal energy sources. Its a shame and I suppose ironic that an evironmentally friendly form of energy could have an adverse impact on the environment.
a production schedule for the PS3 which would see the console launching in 2005, as anticipated by most pundits
Can't wait!
Via Jim McGee - McGee's Musings
Web logs allow for inexpensive, easy creation and storage or publication of information (or knowledge) that is accessible, archivable, and searchable. Also, Web logs are flexible in terms of access and security. They are at first (and second) blush a viable solution to what is a growing problem. But only, and this is the big one, only if people use them. What I need to keep in mind is to grow into the solution instead of implementing it. I can see the end result in my brain, but I need the patience to nurture it into fruition. [weblogged News]
I like to think that this is how I am using this blog: to record useful links and thoughts. Sometimes in terms of research and sometimes in terms of working through an idea by articulating it in blog form.
The more I think about this the more powerful I think a group blog or wiki is when managing projects. If you can encourage all members of the team to report on thier actions in connection with the project on a day, you get a ready made log of work, issues, risk, actions, mitigations and escalations. In addition you can record exactly what happened and leave for others to laern from it.
Its worth a try, at least by myself - Action to me instigate private Blog on current projects.
headmap: time and attention studies
Headmap posting on a variety of ideas about time and grabbing attention. This particular piece caught mine:
on the darker side quantifying attention leads to being paid in attention units rather than hours, and more pay for longer periods of continuous attention ..and variable rates depending on where your attention is focused at any given moment
[call centres pretty much there already]
Are call centres incentivised in that way? Is that effective? I've had numerous conversations about call centres. Some suggesting that hte 'standard' way to run them is to focus on the metrics, hone (bully?) agents to focus on targets, usually number of calls taken and incentivise on productivity defined in terms of quantity. Others suggest alternatives such as letting call centre teams self manage and set their own objectives based on the overall aim of improving customer satisfaction. Attention focused in a different way leading to different results. (i've probably plagarised this from someone but its in long term memory and can't remember who).
Second big idea in this post is:
..see Tangible Media at MIT media lab for trippy ubicomp projects
..including work on plant interfaces
"Plants are very common in our world and and contain a vast amount of information. Although there are open debates about the intelligence of plants, it is undeniable that plants have a great ablity to do low-cost sensing and rudimentary communication."
Headmap quotes (above) from Tangible Media lab project:
Interfacing Electronics to Living Plants by Rich Fletcher and Hiroshi Ishii
We are building novel electronic sensors that "take a peek" inside the biological activity of living plants, and explore their use as sensors and thought-provoking educational tools for children and museum exhibits.
Could we see plants start acting as sensors in buildings to arrange air conditioning? Or would sensing from plants be more aimed at improving agriculture? (I need watering and its a bit cold!)
Paul Resnick's Sabbatical Musings
More on Global Organizing of Local Activity
what are the success criteria for attempts to use the Internet to connect people who live near other and are interested in some topic?
First, there needs to be a critical mass of interest before people will want to sign up. There's no value added if you go to a site and find you're the only one near you interested in the topic. So there are strong network effects: the more people are interested, the more likely you are to have a local match
That's true but it does depend on context and topic. Interests such as blogging can of course be global but someone to play squsah with necessitates proximity. The GeoUrl idea is great for this as it shows blogs from people within a set distance and direction of me. I suppose therefore I could set out to meet them.
Second, because of the need for critical mass, there has to be a focal point; most people need to guess the same web site to go. For some topics, such as a presidential campaign, there is an official site that is the natural focal point. For others, it's not so clear.There may be strong network effects here, yielding a winner-take-all market. If meetup or someone else (YahooGroups if it wanted to get in the game?) gains enough attention, it could become the place that everyone would think to go on any topic. Once that happens, it would be hard for anyone else to get in the game, much as it's hard for any auction site to compete with eBay at this point.
Hmmm... Yes and no. Ebay has localised sites and so in that sense it works on location but there is no guarantee that any given site could necessarily win out globally. I believe the 'laws' (and I use that term loosely) of networking (I probably got this from Linked) suggest that although network effects can produce a dominant player, it can also lead to massive upset in a market place, for example Google based on the fitness of the node (or website).
As we were analyzing and interpreting the results of these tests I noticed a curious trend. From the Affinity exercise, it became clear that providing the categories offered guidance and context, enabling multiple participants (across different job types) to consistently match the cards to the appropriate categories. As an instructive framework, this model influences the participants’ decision-making process by educating them about where the object-groups might be appropriately sorted. Unfortunately, the resulting organization reflects this influence and might not reveal how the users would actually group items.
When we analyzed the results of the Card Sort an entirely different set of relationships was discovered. In the absence of instructive cues, participants organized information without influence, creating groupings that were more reflective of their own individual mental models rather than accepted domain knowledge. The result can be called a natural organizational model.
Earlier in the week I noticed that this was coming and I am not disappointed. I'm not surprised that context is important however its important to note this observed in the real world. I am certain I behave differently in different contexts, and I'm sure I would categorise in alternate ways too. I will eagerly keep an eye out for the additions to these thoughts and wonder whether this can be extrapolated to other contexts :)
Dina appears to be on a roll today (yesterday?) - Conversations with Dina: Conversations with Dina hese two points interest me most (together with the TS Eliot quote)
Creativity, Ideas, Innovation
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
- T.S. Eliot
Since i'm on a linking roll - here come some interesting reads on Creativity, Ideas and Innovation.
1. Ubiquity: Why New Ideas are Both Disruptive and Necessary. Ubiquity: Why New Ideas are Both Disruptive and Necessary " Most people in organizations -- including the executive -- just want to maintain an equilibrium. They'd like to just keep going along doing tomorrow what they did yesterday. But then these Idea Practitioners come in and they disturb the equilibrium. I mean, if someone's telling you about a new idea... [elearningpost]
The concept feels just right - and i like the thought of Idea Practitioners - as opposed to 'consultants' - in nomenclature, role definitions and positioning.
2. Again link via elearningpost - 'Happy Tales : The CEO as Storyteller - If you want to motivate your employees, tell them a story, but not just any story. A Harvard Business Review conversation with screenwriting coach Robert McKee.'
It talks about uniting an idea with an emotion and essentially, a story expresses how and why life changes - makes me think that we need some stories to show how corporate blogging can change lives in organisations !
I'm extremely interested in both ideas here:
1) Complexity theory talks about disruption of existing patterns (status quo) and then chaos ensues. New ideas can create new attractors and create new patterns.
2) Story-telling is an ancient way of passing on knowledge; very powerful and very compelling. Stories communicate fundamental learnings - experience through anecdote and teachings through abstract tales.
I should therefore attempt to practice both ideas more, especially at work.
what would be the use of such self-replicating machines?
Nanometer-scale robots running the JohnnyVon program might be "the key to low-cost manufacturing," environmental cleanup, or any application requiring large quantities of robotic helping hands, Turney told NewsFactor. "Self-replication can make such large quantities economically feasible," he added.
Self-replication "is essential to nano-technology," Ben Gurion University computer science professor Moshe Sipper agreed. "We want to build one tiny machine that will go forth and replicate -- but not multiply ad infinitum."
Nano-technology feels like science fiction made fact. There seem to be astonishing possibilities from all of this, not least the idea of machines self-replicating. It provokes two responses from me - one of fascination and the desire to understand those possibilities and one of apprehension, not over hte technology per se but of what humans will build the technology for...
A six-point plan for online profitability
An excellent article on how to make money online through content - don't think i will be doing so anytime soon but it is worth thinking about. After all Paidcontent shows it can be done!
1 Understand your audience
2 Develop online content
3 Use free content to attract payment
4 Intelligent advertising
5 Market and develop your brand
6 Make the most of online tools
1 Understand your audience
The internet provides a wealth of tools to help you understand more about your audience - use them. Profiles can be built from registration details and a viewer's online history, and incentives such as prizes or fun questionnaires can encourage readers to submit information.
Organisations like Nielsen/NetRatings provide detailed information on user groups. The average time spent online by 18 to 24 year-olds in the UK, for example, is 39.01 hours for men and 6.15 hours for women. Understanding your readership is key to developing appropriate content - and advertising.
2 Develop online content
But be aware of the economics - do you really need a completely separate online team? If you already have a team working on a print version, utilise their specialist areas to produce online columns, for example.
Both quality - unique, compelling and engaging content - and quantity - a diverse range of material to satisfy as many niche interests as possible - are key to a successful site.
Give your readers a greater role. Salon.com offers readers their own blog, and the BBC invites readers to submit photographs.
3 Use free content to attract payment
"Free content is the river on which paid subscriptions arrive," according to Vin Crosbie, managing partner of Digital Deliverance. Take details of readers when they sign up for free and you will be able to provide a better, tailored service when they begin to pay.
The premium provider - the recognised brand leader - can always charge more for content.
When the subscriptions arrive, use automatic payment renewal systems to cut the drop-out rate.
4 Intelligent advertising
Move adverts around a page so that readers do not get used to seeing them in one place and screen them out. Develop tailored advertising so that the right viewer sees the right advert.
Do not use adverts that automatically pop-up when you load a page; they are intrusive. Instead, try using text-sells on the page that open an advert in a new window - that way you can even use traditional graphic adverts similar to those that appear in your print edition.
5 Market and develop your brand
Think how another publisher might plan a competing site. What are you doing? What are you not doing?
Promote your web site address across different media. Encourage print readers to follow through to your web site by including three web teasers on the front page of the print edition.
Existing brand leaders have been the most successful in charging for content - so aim to be the future brand leader online.
6 Make the most of online tools
Use technology to ease the experience of your readers. Concentrate on navigability, and develop pages in a format to read as well as a format to print.
Take advantage of multimedia reporting and publishing tools: digital cameras, video, SMS, mailing lists, audio and web writing formats such as blogs.
Keep up to date with software and new tools. RSS - or Rich Site Summary - will be the next step in the format of the web and many sites, including the BBC, are already using it.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband net speeds ahead
According to the Office of National Statistics 17% of net-using households have a broadband connection.
The market is still growing extremely quickly and I believe that ntl still has the largest market share of a single ISP.
i'm fascinted by the rest of the article, not particularly because of the BB over powerlines (although that's good news) but rather the firm (Wireless Rural Broadband) that will offer 54mbps for £10 per month.
Ahhh - its limited by the amount of data used (see here), still its an extremely good offer. I wonder if their business model can sustain it?
And the product is called Sunshine, with the phrse, bring me sunshine. Well it made me smile :)
Joi Ito's Web: TypePad is a go
I'm considering making TypePad my main blog.
This prompted me to have a look at what is being offered on Typepad. It looks impressive. Of interest to me personally are photo albums, mini-blogs to produce reading lists etc, not to mention mobblogging and Friend of a Friend (FOAF) support. Personally don't want a hosted service though, so I hope there are some options.
Joi's site doesn't show all the features yet. I hope we get to see them soon, and that this kind of functionality comes to Moveable Type. Guess I'll have to pay for it though...
BBC NEWS | Technology | PlayStation turns web browser
I did wonder why Sony didn't produce a browser for the PS2. Somehow it felt like a missed opportunity. As always, if there is agap, and someone can find a way, they will. Might try and give this a go later...
What Customers Want (Abstract)
Selden, Larry and Geoffrey Colvin. What Customers Want (FORTUNE, 23 June 2003), Ideas + Innovations.
Step 1: Figure out the needs of your most profitable customers
Step 2: Get creative
Step 3: Test and verify your hypotheses
Step 4: Tell customers how great your value propositions are
Step 5: Apply the best value propositions on a large scale
Step 6: Begin anew
... it is more important to have experts who understand and study each market segement.
Segmentation would seem to be a good way of approaching the broadband business. Tiers of service being a key example. However, could we be more effective if we segmented in a different way, re-package products for those segments and then applied targetted advertising / communication?
Or would it be better to approach this like a supermarket and offer a number of different propositions from which all customers could choose?
Guess we would need to conduct in depth analysis of the market and our customers...
(BTW full article is in extended entry)
Step 1: Figure out the needs of your most profitable customers
Look across the demographics of your customer base, Are there any customers who regularly spend more, or cost less to serve. Focus on marketing these customers.
Discover the needs of those more profitable customers. Is there anything in particular that makes their buying experience more enjoyable. Do they have special needs that make them more profitable?
Step 2: Get creative
Develop a few hypotheses to test in your marketing and service methods. Look at how you can make it easier for profitable customers to get what they desire out of your service.
What new products could you create to enhance the value of existing services? How can you test market these items, and what is the desired results? Test each of your hypotheses about profitable customers.
Step 3: Test and verify your hypotheses
Find out what is working and what isn't by executing your tests and comparing the results against baseline measures. Do you actions increase customer profitability? Are customers more satisfied with your company?
When you have specific hypotheses you can more easily test them. Use real numbers and always measure a baseline before any implementation efforts.
Step 4: Tell customers how great your value propositions are
Make sure others who haven't tried your product or service know exactly what you're doing to improve their experience. Get the word out, it's not enough to create the best customers experience if noone is enjoying it.
Show what you are providing is synonymous with your company identity. Train your people how to execute the actions that tested well to improve customer profitability.
Step 5: Apply the best value propositions on a large scale
Make the actions that increase value part of your business process. Create means of segementing customers according to the hypotheses and improvements in that segements experience.
Collect customer data that enhances your ability to create more customers who are profitable from those who haven't yet used your service. Make this part of your business process, make people responsible for real results.
Step 6: Begin anew
Over time your profile of a profitable customers will change, it is important to continually gather data about the needs of your customers so your products can adjust to that change.
Follow the process of gathering data, analyzing it, forming hypotheses, testing them, and scaling the winners. Spend some time taking action, then periodically enhance the knowledge you have about the whole cycle.
The original article mentions "customer-segement chiefs", while the concept makes sense, it is more important to have experts who understand and study each market segement. They don't necessarily have to be the same people in charge of producing results with that segement.
Clun Castle, South Shropshire is a magnificant sight (and site). Currently looked after by English heritage, it occupies centre spot in a pictureseque English village, in the Welsh Marches (border) area.
For some reason I remembered the caption that sits below the keep (from where the photo is taken), which outlines how Clun is built to look good. Despite appearing formidable, it wasn't actually very defensible, it was all show.
When I developed the first intranet within the company, I had this kind of argument all the time - "make it look good", "I want flash", "I want art work."
Okay... Why? What is your site for? How does it help the user? What benefit to me is having flash/art work?
Now I'm not saying things shouldn't be aesthetically pleasing but something has got to have the right functionality otherwise it just isn't going to be of use.
Clun Castle, actually would have been useless a century or so before it was built, but it was right for its time. It is still very impressive and beautiful.
Thinking Contextually
I've recently returned from a long two-week journey to customer (user) sites across the country to listen and learn. One thing was made very clear to me during my observations and subsequent thinking: context is king.
I have been jotting down my thoughts and creating some diagrams on the infinitely complex hierarchical world of overlapping and interwoven contexts that we all carry with us and how this jumbled mess of personal contexts relates to designing for experiences.
The result of all of this I am hoping will be a larger and better-formulated entry (essay) I hope to have written before the end of the week. Stay tuned...
Interesting. I look forward to reading...
Okay - I really must stop blogging John so much but his posts generally spark my interest:
Eric.Weblog() - Marketing is not a Post-Processing Step
Excellent article from Eric Sink on positioning a product. It got me thinking, "How do we position our products?", " Do we even have a position?"
In the article Eric's final section is:
Bottom Line
Marketing is not just telling the world about your product. Marketing is also deciding what product to build. You have to design and build your product to fit the market position you want it to have.
We certainly build products (although my manager believes we mostly just enhance these days) but I'm never sure how we position the product or even how we position the company. In the Internet space we are certainly number one in terms of broadband (and midband) access, and we are cheap (though no the cheapest) but we are goegraphically confined. We do offer limited bundles with telco and digital TV but not true bundles. We certainly don't have a brand for quality or innovation (even though we were the first to offer Broadband to consumers in the UK).
I think I should ask my colleagues and report back.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Switch on for powered data networks
Instead of needing adapters, computer networks could soon be supplying the devices they interconnect with both data and power.
Some makers of network equipment are already putting the power via data cable system into their products.
The basic plugs for computer networks are the same all over the world, raising the possibility that powered data cables could become a universal back-up power supply.
If this means less wires, easier charging and more flexibility for pluggin in devices then the quicker the better. This could facilitate home networking and IP / Internet ready Consumer Devices in the Home.
I'm feeling a theme for today's blogs...
Putting Our Money where the, uh, Money is...
For those of you that think this whole "customer connection" thing is a flash in the pan, check out this quote from today's press release about upcoming executive compensation:
"As part of the changes, the company announced that a significant portion of stock-based compensation for more than 600 of Microsoft's senior leaders will depend on growth in the number and satisfaction of Microsoft customers."
John gets to be incentivised for doing what he wants to do. Bliss.
Compare the attitude here:
Gladiator Robot Looks to Join Marine Corps
A new unmanned robot with lots of weapons will be used as soon as 2007 by the Marine Corps to control angry crowds, reports the Honolulu Advertiser from Camp Smith, Hawaii.
It looks like something out of Robocop, a mini tank-treaded terror bristling with so many cannon and guns that only a Hollywood screenwriter could have dreamed it up.
It's designed to be RoboMarine -- technically the Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle -- and proponents say it would have come in handy in trouble spots ranging from Somalia, Kosovo and Bosnia to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The 4-foot-tall, 1,600-pound concept vehicle recently was demonstrated at Camp Smith, launching dozens of smoke rounds downrange that could have been tear gas, or stingball and flashbang grenades.
With the attitude here:
I think Issac Asimov would be turning over in his grave.
Three Laws of Robotics:
A robot may not injure a human, or allow a human to be injured.
A robot must follow any order given by a human that doesn't conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect itself unless that would conflict with the First or Second Laws.
PaidContent.org: July 08, 2003 Archives
Microsoft Joins Home-Networking Alliance: Microsoft said it will announce its membership in the Internet Home Alliance (IHA) on July 22. The IHA brings together companies from a wide variety of sectors--including kitchen appliance makers, software vendors, and hardware companies--to conduct tests of wired rooms involving real consumers.
Microsoft hopes to play a role in helping to connect home devices with its software. The company already has made inroads into the home with products including its Media Center, which connects home entertainment devices; its MSN Internet service; and its Xbox gaming console. [Jul. 8, 03]
Okay maybe I spoke too soon regarding the Sony vs MS battle... Shrewd move.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Hi-tech babble baffles many
"The technology industry must simplify its vocabulary so that consumers around the world can better understand the benefits technology can bring to their lives," said Patrick Moorhead, chairman of AMD's Global Consumer Advisory Board, which commissioned the study.
I'm not sure we needed a survey to tell us this. Consumers generally do not understand Broadband terms like 512k or 1Mb and I have heard that a number go for the former because its bigger number than the latter. We have started getting the correct message across but its not easy given that the numbers are currently the product names.
It showed that many people are delaying buying products such as digital cameras because it is all seen as too complex and difficult to understand.
Instead nearly two-third said they "wish to have things work and not spend time setting up."
Yep, absolutely! Give me something that works straight out of the box. I want an consumer electronics not techie stuff. I guess this is why I think that Sony will win out over Microsoft in the battle for the Home network hub (oops - just used jargon) - understanding the consumer mentality over that of the techie.
However - I am really happy with my digital camera and I managed to install Moveable Type without any assistance maybe I'm half techie? Anyway it brings me back to the heading of the post. We need to keep it simple; explain what it does not how fast it goes. Make it work out of the box not make it ultr-configurable. The mass market doesn't care about Mhz just will it play this year's best selling game.
Yesterday my daughter was awarded her 200metres award in swimming. I feel very proud of her. Today we also received a video of her dancing presentation which was performed at a local theatre.
She is a gem.
This is my friend: Richard T. Vaughan's homepage
I haven't seen him for a while. He does very clever things with Robots or as he puts it:
My research concerns the mechanisms of intelligent behaviour in populations of machines. I am particularly interested in devices that are small, fast, simple and cheap.
My research interests include:
Intelligent networks
Animal Robotics
Tools for network control and simulation of large populations
Minimalist robotics, micro-robots and micro air vehicles
Highly autonomous robots and software agents
Artificial life
Associations
Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
Associate Member, The Free Software Foundation.
Hope to see him soon.
ic Wales - Heinz meanz to can beanz slogan
Now food giant Heinz is planning to can the
slogan after more than 30 years, fearing that it is no longer relevant to the modern British family.
But rather than making the decision behind closed doors and with carefully selected focus groups, the company is running a contest in coming weeks in which people can decide whether they want to
"Save Our Slogan" or "Vote For Change".
The company will be re-running some of its classic beans TV commercials from next week.
Victoria Gregory, senior brand manager at Heinz, said, "There's no doubt Beanz Meanz Heinz is one of the best loved and most widely known advertising slogans of all time.
"But we're looking at creating a new campaign and we have to decide whether to stick with the slogan or come up with something new."
I just watched this on TV. Wow - and I thought the Orange campaign was good. Personally I can't see any reason to change but to give it over to the public is a great way to involve the public and capture their imagination. I wonder how successful it will be?
f r e e g o r i f e r o | weblog
Tools for Tales.
Personas and scenarios can be very powerful design tools, both internally (within a team) and externally (with a client).
The simple reason being, in my humble opinion, that we can all easily relate to a well-written narrative: scenarios allow anyone in product development to use a shared vocabulary, the one we learned hearing our mother's bedside tales, reading comics and books, watching movies.
Great post from Fabio Sergio on use of narrative in design. I've attended a seminar where David Snowden went through this from his perspective but I haven't seen anything else in this area. We currently work from abstracts (well actually the Product Manager and I will susually huddle in a corner and put somethign on a white board) which usually are as simple as flow diagrams or when we want detail we produce UML but this is more at the translating for techies level than actually communicating real world requirements.
Must take time to go through this article and look at all the links.
Gizmodo : Cellphones improve memory - but only for men
Cellphones improve memory - but only for men
Category: Cellphones
So there might actually be some positive benefits to getting exposed to the electromagnetic fields emitted by cellphones. In a study that almost seems like it could have been sponsored by the cellphone industry, researchers at Bradford University discovered that exposure to cellphone radiation actually improved short-term memory function -- but only in men.
You can hear it now, "Hello! Yes, I'm on my mobile. Yes. Trying to improve my memory!".
Shame I can't post using SMS or voicemail - I could do with improving my attention span.
the VoxPolitics blog: NEW - Voxpolitics Seminar
BLOG RULE
Can Weblogs Change Politics?
A VoxPolitics Seminar
14th July, 5:30 - 7.00pm
Committee Room 20, Upper Committee Corridor, Houses of Parliament
Weblogs (‘blogs’) and associated ‘social software’ tools have been this year’s big news online. But can they be used politically, and if so, how and to what end?
In America, blogging politicians are becoming common. Presidential Candidate Howard Dean, the emerging poster-boy of e-Democracy, is pioneering the use of new technologies to raise money, organise supporters, and get his message out. The forthcoming presidential election will be the first election blogged in real time, both by politicians and observers. In other ways bloggers have begun to affect the mainstream of American politics, with a hand in the resignation of Trent Lott, the sacking of Jason Blair, and the prosecution of the war on Iraq.
A couple of British MPs have also started weblogs, along with a handful of councillors and other activists. But will these new tools, and those who use them, make any difference to mainstream politics? Can they be a useful way for elected representatives to communicate to their constituents and supporters? And can citizens use them to be political, either by running campaigns or scrutinising those in power?
This Voxpolitics seminar will examine these issues, and ensure a lively discussion.
An interesting seminar and as it says no doubt a lively discussion. Although I rarely blog (or talk) about politics these days, my degree (B.A. Hons) is in Politics, and so this type of discussion is always of profound interest.
I would love to attend and therefore blog :) - have to see if I can.
I am currently loving the Orange Mobile Phone trainer Adverts on TV and Radio. My particular favourite shows the 'presenter' (a 13-15 year old bou in a suit) training the phone trainers in a lecture theatre. He asks a guy down the front and asks him to say what the competition do:
"Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell"
"And what to we do?"
"Train"
"That's right, well done!" (sic)
Brilliant! Orange's strategy to employ staff to 'help' people get more out of their phone is inspired. i wish its something we could do. Broadband like mobiles have a lot of intangible benefits that can only be seen by showing not telling.
Hats off to Orange.
Just reading through David Gurteen's Quotations, hoping for a little inspiration of a Monday morning.
I came across this quote, which doesn't exactly inspire but does put some of my current frustration in context:
"I think "knowledge management" is a bullshit issue. Let me tell you why. I can give you perfect information, I can give you perfect knowledge and it won't change your behavior one iota. People choose not to change their behavior because the culture and the imperatives of the organization make it too difficult to act upon the knowledge. Knowledge is not the power. Power is power. The ability to act on knowledge is power. Most people in most organizations do not have the ability to act on the knowledge they possess. End of story."
Michael Schrage, Teamwork Consultant
Knowledge Inc. Interview
The phrase, because the culture and the imperatives of the organization make it too difficult to act upon the knowledge is exactly it. I feel constrained NOT empowered, even though I think I have some good knowledge and the ability to distill recommendations from that knowledge.
I refer myself however to the 7 habits by Stephen Covey, which talks about working on your sphere of influence and be positive :0
Not finding it easy this morning.
Joi gets something done!
Sony Image Station with MetaWeblog API.
Hirata just demo'ed an experiment we did with Sony. It's a moblog gateway. It receives email from a cell phone with a photo attached. The Sony team made an XML RPC metaWeblog API interface to Sony Image Station. We take the picture, talk to Sony Image Station using metaWeblog API and post the picture in a photo album. Then the gateway talks to Movable Type using the metaWeblog API to create an entry with the thumbnail from Image Station that clicks thru to the full picture on the Image Station site. The text and the title get entered into Movable Type and the category is pre-set. We are using the metaWeblog.newMediaObject (which Movable Type current supports) to send the images. Please support this standard so photo sites can use the API.
This sounds (I'm guessing mostly) very cool and Marc agrees:
THIS is what I'm talking about! Here are all the reasons this is totally cool:
- It ties in a major digital convergence player - SONY - into the People's Mesh
- It demonstrates the metaWeblog.newMediaObject - and the power of using XML-RPC for media (besides just 'text' and RSS)
- It shows off the power of open standards and a community of tool vendors - all working towards the same goal
My job is to focus on delivering stuff for the mainstream consumer, but at heart I would love to be working on early adopter cutting edge technology. Especially when it combines Sony hardware with blogging software. An important snippet form Joi's commentary however is this:
He said that pictures are attached to email as second class citizens and the text is still the core of the data. I think the idea is to try to get multi-media micro-content to be more important. ;-)
Multi-media micro-content. So I can put up here without resorting to html or ftp or anything else a mainstream consumer would worry about, pictures, audio files, video files? And I can post from my phone as well as my keyboard?
Marc's mantra is thus: Home LANs + Broadband + Devices. He thinks this is the killer app and after this posting from Joi I am more convinced than ever.
BTW check out Marc's outliner here.
there actually is a lot to know about PR, and to be fair, it is a lot of work, but it's about communication--not simply publishing a press release. It's about knowing customers, creating some buzz, being passionate and playful and open and fun. Inspiring instead of cajoling. Leading instead of demanding. Being part of the conversation instead of broadcasting a one-size-fits-all marketing message.
Couldn't agree more (see previous post / rant).
If it weren't for folks like Frank and James and Diane being at Microsoft, I'd be getting out myself. We're all going to make a difference because we're going to listen more carefully to customer like Paulo. And at the end of it all, we'll actually make products that fulfill our mission of helping folks like Paulo reach his potential. It really is why most of us work at MS
Good luck Jon - make that difference at Microsoft - make us laugh, make us interested, make us reach our potential (if software can ever do that?) and get someone to eat a bit more humble pie. Oh and Happy 4th July... I'm off to drink some tea.
.: ntl community :.
I want to talk to customers officially. Now I can actually go and listen on calls at our call centres however that's not really my skillset and thats not the type of conversation I want to have.
This blog is perhaps a way of having conversations but again not officially and I have to be careful what I say.
However ntl has now created an official site to have conversations with customers. It replaces a 'critical' site http://www.nthellworld.com that was bought from its owner last year (I think). Frank now works for ntl and has built Community.
Now the closure of the nthellwolrd site has led to other customer sites springing up in its place e.g. http://www.nthellworld.co.uk but there are also other help sites such as Chetnet where people can gain support and are not so critical.
Getting to my point though - I want to have conversations about products, about service and about future ideas with customers. I want to be able to review these conversations, use the ideas and where possible act on them and advise customers of the actions. The above site usually work on an individual customer basis although I would like to work more generically.
Some colleagues do do this but usually on a local basis. My manager is involved in most of these site (especially Chetnet) to have support conversations and often falgs back generic issues - technical and support.
What's missing is the marketing element (and I use that in its truest sense of marketing, rather than advertising). I discussed this with one of my Product Management colleagues (I work in Product Development and Enhancements) and he agreed in principle thhat this was an ideal site to try and start conversations but he wanted to make sure he was conversing with a representative sample of ntl customers. The problem he felt with sites like nthellworld was that they are full of very vocal, very opinionated, and often experienced users, rather than a cross spectrum of customers. That is not to criticse those people or to say we don't want to have conversations with them however they can tend to give you a biased view of customers.
His view is wait and see the type of forum that emerges on community (it hasn't opened yet - for one reason or another). I see his point but I'd like to get stuck in and see what happens from the start.
And to those who are disolusioned with this whole affair, please remember there are a lot of ggod, hard working people at ntl, who despite a lot of issues do their best to help customers. They and I know ntl's faults - and its not a conspiracy theory to drain more money from customers. Its the mistake and mismangement scenario.
Its improving and thats why I want to have the conversations. To tell people and to perhaps understand what else I can do.
What they found was that users checking their e-mail through unencrypted POP connections vastly outnumbered those using a VPN or another encrypted tunnel. Only three percent of e-mail downloads were encrypted on the first day of the conference, 12 percent on the second day. (The company says it counted all VPN or tunneled traffic as e-mail).
That means the other 88% could easily be intercepted by eavesdroppers using commonly-available tools, compromising both the e-mail and the user's passwords.
Additionally, 84 out of the 523 users monitored were configured to allow ad hoc networking, and 74 were configured to automatically connect to the access point with the strongest signal strength -- a default mode that could leave a laptop prey to a rogue access point.
This is very worrying. People need to understand the risks they run when they don't encryptusing wireless networks, esepcially if it takes off. We have had some instances of malicous use of wireless networks for bandwidth theft (i.e. leaching off of someone else's broadband connection) and I expect it is relatively easy to access their PCs etc as most access points are configured for networking rather than simply connection sharing.
I hope the new wireless encruption protocols are secure and perhaps more importnaly easy to use for unexperienced consumers than the current batch.
It is certainly a concern for any services I am involved in developing.
BBC NEWS | England | North Yorkshire | Rail back in the Dales
Regular train services are returning to Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales for the first time in almost half a century.
I don't normally blog about this type of thing but railways happen to be a passion, as my father worked on them when I was young. He also happens to come from East Yorkshire so that's my excuse :)
I am really pleased for the Wensleydale Railway to get it up and running. The more we can encourage public transport the better. I am a hypocrite because I use my car but at least I admit it. I would love to use railways but it just isn't convenient to do so. If I had a metro style service then I would certainly be more inclined. Ideally, I suppose, I would work at home however I need to see people face to face, and video conferencing (despite it being relatively easy) isn't an option for ntl. Its a shame really.
Holy Crap......Won it! The News Weblog of the Year, at the 2003 European Online Journalism Awards (the fifth installation of it). Darn, I wish I was in Barcelona to collect it...last minute travel agency mixup...
Anyway, thanks to MT, readers, and advertisers for their support...
Congratulations to Rafat Ali. Paid Content is an extremely useful site, even though I don't do too much work on content, I always find it very informative. Personally think the award is well deserved!
Amazon.com Tech Jobs: Ted's Blog
Cool! Wish I could have the freedom Ted has to blog. Unfortunately I'm not allowed. However I'd like to tell people exactly what we are up to...
As I posted below, here is an example of a good customer story. This is taken from ntl's intranet and posted by an old colleague who works in oe of ntl's regions:
The following information was gained from a customer using the ntl website.
Within the website there is an option to 'Rate our service'.
"When I moved house the whole process was handled great.
I was surprised that the work could be done at such short notice
and that the engineer was waiting at the new door for me."
Usually there is name identified with the praise and quite often above this in the daily brief reminders of good practice and things to remember. Its a good simple way of communicating areas for development and praise and I think it works well. Shame that it doesn't happen in all areas of the business, especially at a corporate level.
I had my first Mini & juniors Committee meeting yesterday, after my decision to coaching the Under 7's at Farnborough Rugby Club. My daughter is currently playing and enjoying. I was advised prior to my coaching course to have a look at
coachingrugby.com where I just read the following:
THE BASIC TENET OF RUGBY UNION IS ENJOYMENT
All players, coaches and officials in their own way should enjoy, and be allowed to enjoy, their participation in the game.
THE SECOND TENET IS EXCITEMENT
All who teach and coach should have a view of the game in its most exciting, dynamic and expansive form. They should strive to improve their ability to instil this view in the players with whom they work, and inspire them to achieve it.
THE THIRD TENET IS ENDEAVOUR
Players must respond to this guidance and aspire to be the best that they can be, always ready to work hard to improve their skills and understanding.
THE FOURTH TENET IS OF EQUITY AND LAW
Referees should positively encourage the skilled dynamic game, assisting endeavour to succeed and punishing illegal disruption. They should apply the Laws of the Game in co-operation with the players' best aspirations
Shouldn't this be anyone's set of tenets in life - enjoment, excitement, endeavour and equity and law (although you may not express them exactly like this)?
I am certainly excited about the prospect of coaching and hopefully I will enjoy it, after all I have just spent one season watching my daughter in rain, wind, sleet and occasional sun. Taking part with seem far more equitable :)
BBC NEWS | Technology | Pupils learn in wi-fi wood
Wi-fi wood
For the project, a wireless network has been set up in a wood in Sussex on the south coast of England.
Back at base they can compare notes
Schoolchildren with PDAs and walkie talkies are encouraged to explore the wood, reporting back about wildlife or plants they see along the way.
In the latest trial in late June, pupils from the Varndean school in Brighton spend three days exploring the worlds in pairs.
"When they found something, they described it to someone back at the den, which means they had to verbally describe very carefully what they found," explained superviser Rowanne Fleck.
"They then got a little message on their screens which gave them a little more information and acted as a record of what they found in the wood," she told the BBC programme, Go Digital.
The feedback from the children has been overwhelming positive, with the students embracing this new way of learning about the environment.
"It is a brilliant way of linking technology with the ecology," said technology analyst Bill Thompson.
"It gets away from the idea that using technology in education is about sitting students in front of a computer and getting them typing on keyboards."
This is superb. I want to go and play! Perhaps they could add a Wifi connected camera? I wonder if there is a webcam?
No there isn't! But there are some good pics here, which is the Ambient Wood website at Sussex University COGS department.
They are undertaking the following project called Equator
The central goal of the Equator IRC is to promote the integration of the physical with the digital. In particular we are concerned with uncovering and supporting the variety of possible relationships between physical and digital worlds. In doing this our objective is to improve the quality of everyday life by building and adapting technologies for a range of user groups and application domains.
Perhaps I should do this sort of stuff for a living?
BBC NEWS | Politics | MPs uncover seedy world of spam
But it was the chilling evidence of Steve Linford head of the Spamhaus Project that really made members of the summit sit up and listen.
He said the project's team of 12 investigators had tracked down 200 of the worst spammers, responsible for 90% of all unsolicited e-mails, and registered them on its ROKSO database of known spam operations.
'Prolific fraudsters'
To be eligible for registration, the guilty have to have been thrown off three consecutive internet service providers (ISPs) for spamming.
"These guys are prolific fraudsters. They have been at it for years. They have been thrown off ISP after ISP," said Mr Linford.
They have got criminal records as long as your arm - they have no intention of stopping whatever the law says
Steve Linford
Spamhaus Project
The investigators' work focuses on identifying the spammers, tracking them back and finding their names and addresses, he says.
"We dredge up everything, including their criminal records, everything that a judge would need for a prosecution.
"We get a lot of threats from them.
"They have got criminal records as long as your arm - they have no intention of stopping whatever the law says."
Threats
The ROKSO operation, obviously upsets the spammers, says Mr Linford.
It beggars belief that these people can get away with such behaviour! Why should anyone have to have spam when they don't want it? More importantly why should someone who tries to do something about it get threatened in such a way?
I've expressed my thanks to Steve before for his help with aspects of work. Now I'm in awe!
Round of applause for Steve and his team.
Dave, When You're Right, You're Right...
Dave Weinberger says, in an article in the Star Tribune:
"If companies allow their employees to blog, [they] have the opportunity of engaging their customer in the sort of genuine conversations that build real customer loyalty," Weinberger said. "There is a risk that a weblogger will criticize a product, but in the post-marketing world of the Internet, being frank even when negative can build a stronger relationship than when they are mindlessly positive."
It's not why I blog, but it's nice to get to know so many of you (Dina, Ton, Charlie, Paul, Bernie, Denise, Thomas, Rob, and a host of others into marketing). I'm learning so much from you all.
And its nice to get to know you too!
As I commented on Jon's post, there is this difference of belief between the old world and the new. The first is still about control and we the company know what you want and are going to sell it to you and no only PR talk to customers. Against, we need to talk with our customers, create trust (there's that word again) and where possible tell them the truth. Is it better to say, 'we got it wrong, sorry! what can we do to make it better?' than 'due to unforseen circumstances your service is broken. We are fixing it.'?
Two books that get me to this point, the wonderful Cluetrain Manifesto on how to do business and communicate with customers (even if it is a bit of a sermon) and The Web of Life. which outlines in everyday language ideas of complexity. (Also my ex-colleague Stuart Smith who opened my mind to this new science thing and its applications to business).
So as the title says if you want to talk - post a comment, start a discussion. I'm willing to listen.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | UK 'needs varied energy sources'
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) says the UK could face power cuts in 20 years' time, because it will depend so heavily on foreign energy sources to produce its electricity.
The institution says 80% of the gas needed to fuel British power stations will come from distant and "politically unstable" countries by then.
This is an extremely worrying state of affairs for a country to be in. I believe very strongly in using renewable energy and I probably should put my money where my mouth is and opt for a renewable source for my electricity...
Stewart Boyle, an energy analyst, told BBC News Online: "Any country that's over-dependent on a single fuel and a small number of suppliers could be in trouble.
"The ICE report is timely, and shows we have to concentrate on renewables. That way we're in control of our own destiny
The Government do have some grants for installing solar power or even wind power in the UK but even though its up to 50% of the cost, these can be quite high and take over 10 years to see return on investment, simply because we don'tget enough Sun. I hope investment in solar generation can improve the efficiency of this technology and make it affordable for consumers, as well as making it a much better option for nationwide power production.
James Crabtree blogs the Spam summit:
The problem is made worse because those who are most likely to be worried by this (those who don't understand why it happens, and are not technically able) are also the least likely to be able to take practical steps (filtering, spam blockers) to fix it. So, given that self-regulation doesn't work, and that filtering technology fights a cat and mouse game with persistent spammers, the issue of citizen and consumer education seems paramount. But, and this is the problem, i have no idea how one might go about up-skilling the average parent to cope better.
My colleagues and I had some great ideas about how to upskill people in this, varying from detailed information in a welcome pack, to walk thru education sites to face to face training programmes. I don't know if any of these would work or whether a company would be prepared to do the latter as its extremely costly. Unfortunately we were not allowed to proceed to do the work, but its still on my secret squirrel list of things I would like to do.
Like Tony said, "Education, Education, Education" and just like him it didn't go a lot further. (A little bit political there) ;)
BBC NEWS | Technology | Spam e-mail costs add up
If you are running a small firm with around 500 staff, you could be losing around £3,000 a month because of junk e-mail.
The figure, compiled by the e-mail filtering company MessageLabs, is based on the amount of time wasted dealing with unsolicited messages.
Spam is a growing issue for both companies and individuals, with junk messages making up more than half of all e-mails.
The problem has become so big that British MPs are holding a 'spam summit' on Tuesday to kick off a public inquiry into stemming the flow of bulk unsolicited e-mail.
More on the Spam front from MessageLabs. he key point here is:
"Dealing with spam is a key issue in helping to make the internet usable for people in the UK," said Richard Allan MP.
"It is essential that we find solutions that the industry can employ to ensure that e-mail use is not severely affected by the continued growth in spam levels."
Love to implement an industry standard - if i am allowed...
