TechnologogyBETA.png)
I found this link and think it’s fun. It’s a “Web 2.0″ Logo Creator. You just type in a phrase (your name?) and it returns the graphic (copy-abled), html and an image source html. Great for your web pages or blogs, etc., and really easy!
In my case, the y and the g are doing interesting things in the reflection. I wish all the letters butted up to each other to create a more visual experience!
I use to lie awake at night and think, no, panic, about the demise of the Web. How could all this information, data, imagery, audio, etc last forever? Forever being, of course, something tangible such as books (paper) and recordings (CD’s) etc. We all know how volatile cyberspace is. For example, a server goes down and the information it contained is unavailable. Sure there are “Mirrors” and Cached sites (thanks, Google), but even if your own or institutes computer(s) go down, you are left in limbo. Some sites go down permanently. And the WWW is always changing, so the old info falls away forever as the new info becomes the de facto. Yes, I used to really lie on my back and wonder what would happen if it all stopped. Nothing left for the generations. A new Michael Crichton novel on the horizon?
Well, maybe I can get some sleep now. This site, The World Wide Web History Center, is attempting to preserve now to avoid a dark age for historians. It is a bold attempt, and they need financing to do it as well, I wish them all the luck. The WWW is a completely differnt type of media, so taking it for granted can leave us with a huge loss if ever anything goes wrong, or, perhaps more importantly, if the technology changes.
This is an interesting site for many reasons. It seems to take Vlogs (video blogs) to another level with the online interview – meaning that there is more than one player involved. However, the site is a bit politically (US) charged but they do have a science feature, which the link will take you to.
I am warming up to the idea of this, but have a few reservations.
First, the bile-green page colour should be taken down immediately. It is an annoyance, especially on the periphery vision as one tries to concentrate on the video.
Secondly, there are many moments when one person is speaking and that leaves the other person to look awkward. Are they looking interested? Should they stay focused on the computer monitor, or should they allow their eyes (and head) to wander? This would work great if the personalities were interesting in their appearance as well. But then it would become more planned, or not.
What do you think?
This is wonderful and courtesy of the BBC, this Flash-designed site allows you to interact with British History, as though it were a window into the past. Simply move your mouse left or right to navigate, then click to enter that time period.
Marc Abraham (organiser of the Ig Nobel Prize) has an intersting article on cheating in Colleges. A study (PDF) was done on two aspects of cheating. Abraham goes on to say: “One looks at college honour codes, which are popular in the US and are poised to sprout in the UK and elsewhere. Rodney Arnold, of the College of the Ozarks, together with Barbara Martin, Michael Jinks and Linda Bigby, of the University of Central Missouri, surveyed students at six colleges in the American midwest.
The study asks: “Is there a difference in the level of academic dishonesty between colleges and universities that have incorporated an honour-code system and those that have not?”
The answer is no.”
The Gaurdian article can be found here.
This article, The Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Search Engines from The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication out of Indiana, comes up with some interesting observations.
For example, it looks at how we use search engines, what for and what we already know. Also, do we know the difference between a paid search and a free search, etc.
I came upon an interesting article (The New Yorker) about Walter Mossberg, the Tech and Gadget reviewer for the Wall Street Journal. What is especially interesting is that not only can he make or break a product, he reviews a product as the “end user”, or the intended recipient. If he had been living in Silicon Valley, as the article points out, he wouldn’t have the impartiality for a good, solid review, or an honest look at a product intended for the layuser.
An advocate of well designed, easy to use products and interfaces, he is straightforward and can be rather blunt with his reviews.
Useful Void. No, it’s not the name of a new Punk band (although some one should use it for their name) but an intriguing idea. This concept has been going around the discussion circles for awhile now.
In this article, the idea (PDF) put forth by Viktor Mayer- Schönberger, a professor in Harvard’s JFK School of Government is that, like humans, computer technology should allow for the loss of memory, or to “forget” things. Why? Well, he argues that all the stored information of a single person, for example, could come back and haunt him or her, many years down the road. This record of an individual could hinder the creativity or reputation of the person now who is doing, or trying to accomplish something new. Or how about organizations or government having huge storage and data bases of information on individuals 20 or 30 years hence. Good or bad? What about public people, politicians?
He calls it “…escaping-the-data-panopticon”. Great stuff.
Why not start fresh. Is this a concept where a computer would be more human-like?
Here is the first of my new category in Design. Because I am a designer as well as a teacher (as well as an artist and composer and musician…), I felt this area needed a design column.
Going green is all the rage these days, and I am all for it. This news article brings to the forefront the uses for unused shipping containers, specifically in the housing construction industry. I am a huge fan of innovative construction (my house was one and that is a longer story…even a separate blog entirely!) and I have heard of the use of these containers for such things as art galleries, etc. So, bring it on!
Could the local city council bend the rules of construction to allow these to built in my home town? The scrutiny we received from them 10 years ago when we built our cement house was a real turn off for innovative design. Maybe they have softened now due to the Green Effect?
This article is interesting. The Dean of student affairs says that “the old hostel culture of camaraderie and socializing among students is gone.”
The solution they claim, is to turn off the internet from 11pm to 12.30 am.
I wonder what kind of “socializing” they expect at 11 pm? But seriously, this is a country that is embracing technology like wildfire, and free internet access on campus must seem like a gift in a country where electricity and computers are a luxury. So I can see the focused attention on the web once you are in the dorms.
Should the Institute take such draconian measures?
