:: Weblogs and Discourse ::

From one of my favourite soci mailing lists comes a link to a conference paper that was presented at the Blogtalk conference in Vienna last weekend. The paper is called Weblogs and Discourse.

I haven't had time to read it fully yet, but my preliminary scan of it shows a fertile set of possiblities, concepts and possible applications to some of the work I'm doing both personally and academically. I'm going to have to go back and read it through in some depth and see if I can apply any of the ideas to a site I'm putting together with my academic colleagues for the Montreal GameCODE project.

:: Marc Andreessen on open source ::

I like this article that details Marc Andreessen's 12 reasons open source software is better than proprietary closed system software. I just wish you didn't have to be such a code geek to be able to often take full advantage of it.

:: Better cellphone clip ::

According to a Wired magazine ad, the Rivet Shift cellphone clip from RadioShack will do what other clips have failed to do for me -- keep my phone clipped to my belt or the inside of my jeans pocket.

So, with one of these babies on me, my phone won't go flying across the pavement just because I bent down into the trunk? It won't fly off my belt and hit a hapless co-worker because I bent down to plug in the projector?

Cool! I want one!

Wonder if they're available in Canada?

:: Google goes Gaelic ::

I'm disappointed that both Google.ca and Google.com didn't honour St. Patrick's Day today!

In an attempt to see if the British or Irish version of Google did, I stumbled across the gaelic version of Google.

Wow! Tough language!

Oh! and Yes! Both the European sites honoured Clover Day.

:: Flying the Maple Leaf over Turks & Caicos ::

The dream hasn't died, apparently. There are still some influential people in both countries who hope to make the dream a reality. A tropical province? Is it possible?

:: Usable technology ::

I regularly have to fumble with the 600 different remotes that clutter my coffee table, because my hubby, who is a computer integrations specialist with a Bachelor's in Computer Science, hasn't been able to figure out the Harmon-Kardon "universal remote" universal. As a consequence, he hasn't been able to get the single spaceship-sized Harmon-Kardon remote to control these various components in our many-vendor home entertainment system:

• Harmon Kardon Universal Receiver
  
• Sony CD jukebox,
  
• Toshiba DVD player,
  
• Sony Playstation 2,
  
• Panasonic VCR,
  
• Hitachi HDTV
  
• Bell ExpressVu PVR satellite system

Therfore, I really do agree with Jakob Nielsen's take on inferior usability in consumer products.

:: Volvo YCC ::

Volvo decided that women needed to have a say in car design, so it let a bunch of female engineers, designers etc. design a car that is female friendly.

Dubbed the "YCC" for "Your Concept Car" , the car is easy to clean, has tons of storage, looks cool....but has no hood?!?

Not sure what I think of that. While Lisa Fitterman at the Gazette may think its because women don't actually want to drive, I guess I buck that trend. In my teen years, I restored classic cars.

In this case, the form is important and the function of the car is given over completely to the idea of transportation of goods and a few adults. This definitely won't be a car for those who like transparency in their technology.

:: Google as group mind ::

Those of you who read this space regularly know that I have a soft spot for Google. This is partly because of the fact that Google was responsible for bringing pure search back into style in the late 1990s, when it looked like the "portal" a la Yahoo and MSN would dominate everything.

The simplicity of the Google interface, coupled with its awesome power, fascinates me. As a software designer and student of human nature, I'm alternately awed, pleased and tickled at the effect Google has had as a technology, a philosophy and a pastime. Thanks to its citation analysis style method of determining rank relevance of a page to a search, based on how many other pages have linked to it, I agree that Google has evolved into the first semi-intelligent technological group mind of our times.

:: My future ::

If I don't make it to the ivory towers, will I end up working in this kind of environment?

:: Taking on Nielsen ::

While googling wiki usability, I found this article (it's somewhat old yet still relevant) that analyzes the usability mantras and myths of guru Jakob Nielsen. Good stuff.

:: Crying real tears ::

I'm shocked. Shocked almost speechless actually, and for those of you who know me, you know that's tough to do. Shocked and I have cried more than a few real tears this morning, because of what I discovered is happening here in Canada.

This morning, as usual, before starting work, I sat down with my cup of coffee in my office to read the morning paper. As a general rule, now that I live near Montreal, I read the Montreal Gazette, a paper not normally known for its treatment of animal rights.

Given what happened in Spain yesterday, the front page portion of this PMU animal issue story was relegated to a small bottom sidebar with a small photo. I noticed it but the copy wasn't compelling so I read it and kept browsing the front section. Then, on page A10, I came across the full story.

It is called "Adopt a Horse, stop its slaughter". I'd link to it here if it were possible but the Gazette only puts the most important news (per their decision of what's important) up on their site. However, here's a related story I found on MSNBC about the same thing in the US, all caused by the same pharmaceutical company, Wyeth.

The gist of the story is this - over 20,000 Canadian horses (with many more in the US), many of them pregnant, risk being sent to slaughterhouses and turned into horse meat for sale overseas because the ranchers that own them no longer need their urine for the pharmaceutical hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) market. All of these horses in Canada and the US were used as the key producers of the key ingredient for the HRT industry, pregnant mare urine (PMU). The HRT industry has undergone a serious downturn in the last year due to new medical information about HRT, with demand for HRT drugs dropping over 40%. This has prompted a severe production cutback by the pharma company, which, in turn, has hit the ranchers who kept these horses in factory situations. These ranchers now want to get rid of these money-losing horses and move on to other financial pursuits.

The woman featured in the story, Barbara Claussen, is trying to get as many of these horses adopted as possible by non-kill buyers. Given that the western Canada market is now reaching an adoption saturation point, she is trying to bring as many as possible to the Maritime provinces or is trying to compensate the ranchers while she tries to get them transported to recreation-oriented horse auctions in Canada and the US.

For more information on her efforts specifically, please visit her site and read through it carefully. Googling the issue shows that Barbara isn't alone in her efforts -- I got over 3000 hits on my initial search.

But I'm not posting just to alleviate my shock. I want to do something.

I grew up out west and spent tons of time on my family's wheat farms. There were always horses about for riding and just watching play in the fields. I was a horse mad little girl, like many girls. I might be all grown up, but I still have a large soft spot for horses. Soft enough that if I had the space, I'd adopt a few of these beautiful tragic animals myself.

Unfortunately, hubby and I didn't buy that large acreage up north like we'd dreamed about. Practical employment concerns forced us into the suburbs. However, I'll be donating whatever dollars I can to the cause, and I will do what I can to raise awareness of the plight of these animals in Canada and the US.

So...if you are reading this and you have a more influential and well-read blog than mine, could you consider doing a post about this issue and the plight of these horses? Tell your friends and family members. Spread the word.

I've sent Barbara an email suggesting she set up a free Paypal account. Thus, perhaps another way to help would be to put up a Paypal button on your blog to request donations to Barbara's non-profit organization.

In the interim, until she decides if she will follow through on my suggestions, if you have some money you want to give to this cause, send Barbara an email or call her.

:: Google bar meets Mozilla ::

Thanks to a heads-up post on Tama's blog, Ponderance, I now have a spiffy Googlebar in my Mozilla!

Whooho! Now I really _can_ almost use Mozilla exclusively. Thanks!

:: Net changes culture consumption ::

A great BBC article that contains concise synopses of the net's effect on popular culture.

:: Geek god ::

Found a book I'd like to check out, given my own interest in geek culture. It's called "Matters of Gravity" Written by Stanford university professor Scott Bukatman who is a self-professed "god of geeks" , the book is a series of essays on superhero comics, theme parks, movies, pop culture and digital culture.

Cool.

Kind of like the sort of things I'd like to study, if I can ever finish my BA.

:: Grad school option? ::

I regularly keep my eyes open for potential schools to consider for my grad and post-grad years. There aren't a lot of schools in North America that "get" the idea of digital culture and digital sociology. Also, I'd prefer a school that is well-respected in the field, since I do intend to go on to a life in academia.

So I perked when I read this story about the renaissance of the sociology department at Yale. Given that they're reviving themselves, perhaps they'll be open to someone like moi.

:: Youth culture ::

Found this excellent article in The Weekly Standard about youth culture. Seems a fairly balanced view and it really makes me want to take that 400 level sociology course on youth culture during fall term this year.

:: All in the family? ::

While I'm not claiming to completely believe the stats in this report, it is interesting to note the report's claim that british children seem to regard their PC in higher esteem than they do members of their family.

:: Is it true? ::

Will Google really lose its prominence as the search engine of choice for us "googlers"? Forrester Research thinks so.

:: Ludologist ::

I'm capturing this link to ludologist Jesper Juul's blog so that I don't lose the link. Through him, I finally have a good easy definition of ludology: the study of games.

:: Bush's misuse of science ::

From one of my soci email lists comes this report which states that Bush has been misusuing science to further his own ends and this is endangering science in general.

:: Interesting option ::

Found Squarespace today while looking around other blogs. Given its feature list, it might make a better blogging system for me. I think I may be considering switching.

:: Rationalization of ethics ::

In studying Weber this semester, I'm learning about his concepts of ethics, particularly rationalization and its effects on societies.

Perhaps that's why the whole debate about performance enhancing drugs in sports is interested to follow. And, as Harry Siegel points out in the New Partisan. the hue and cry is often not for the valid ethical and honour issues that have arisen, but rather the rationalized issue of whether or not the record books need to be adjusted.

How very po-mo!

:: Digital games awards ::

I didn't know these existed. Now I do.

:: Lifespan of email ensures honesty? ::

According to a the results of study by a Cornell University researcher, people are more honest in email than on the telephone.

Apparently, this is because emails can be retained and reviewed in the future.

:: IRV ::

I'm not quite sure I get how it works yet (I haven't had the time to truly research it) but apparently, there are many Americans pushing for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) to be used in the federal elections, to make running a third or fourth presidential candidate viable and to ensure that there are no more spoiler elections like those of 2000.

Much of the outcry has come on the heels of Nader's announcement that he will run again as an independant in this year's presidential elections. Nader's left-leaning detractors claim that he could spoil the Democrats chance at regaining the presidency and denying Bush a second term. Those who support both Nader and the Democrats are pushing for IRV to be adopted to avoid this.

If you understand the issue better than I obviously do, please feel free to email me.

:: Supporting gay marriage ::

The American Anthropological Assoication has come out with a statement in response to Bush's support for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as something between a biological man and a biological woman only.

The AAA statement says that "more than century of anthropological research ...provides no support whatsoever" for Bush's view.

I commend them for taking a stand on the issue and supporting the vast numbers of individuals out there who have been excluded from a cultural practice solely because they are in a relationship with a member of their same sex.

[ AAA Statement found via the SASlist as posted there by John Glass, sociologist and director of The Family Place ]

:: Interesting ::

I don't know if I want to join this project but I certainly want to see the real-time map of the Web that is supposed to result from it.

:: Timely quote ::

While reading today from the works of German social philosopher and scientist Max Weber, a few passages from his "Politics as a Vocation" essay lecture stuck with me as being interesting and pertinent, particularly when juxtaposed into today's post-9/11 world.

"Damage to its interests a nation will forgive, but not damage to its honour" (Weber: "Selections in Translation. 1978. p.215)

Weber goes on to talk about the idea that the when a war is over, the vanquished nation should say to the victor:

"We lost the war, you have won it. All that is now over and done with: now let us talk about the conclusions to be drawn...in the light of the responsibility towards the future".

For today's world, his next words in this passage could be seen as a scathing view of the emptiness of the moral rhetoric we are bombarded with:

"Everything else is undignified. Every new document which comes to light years later leads to the revival of the undignified howls, the hatred and the anger, instead of allowing the war and its outcome to be a least morally buried. This can be done only if we adopt a realistic and chivalrous, but above all a dignified attitude. It cannot be done by insisting on 'morality': that really means no more than a lack of dignity on both sides". (p.215)

Particularly prosaic words, considering they were written and delivered by Weber in 1920, just after one world war and before the next one.

[ All italics are as shown in the original text ]

:: Gates is nuts! ::

So I get spam. So I don't like it. But so what? I have a delete button don't I? And filters that can filter out 90% of it? Why worry anymore about it? It is my opinion that the more visibility we give spammers, the more they will think that spamming works.

So you can imagine my reaction upon reading this story on CNN where the horned one himself, Bill Gates, is proposing that we start buying "stamps" for email which is somehow supposed to stop the proliferation of spam.

Yeah right. Like that will really stop the flow. Does Gates honestly think that spammers won't find a way around something like that? Geez.

:: Boundary erosion ::

I recently wrote a theory paper for my Digital Games indie course that examined the concept of "the virtual" and of "virtual reality". I proposed ditching the term, accepting that everything is real if someone perceives it so. However, given that we are still in the early days of the transition from an industrial age to a technocized age (thanks to my pal Kelly for the terms), I accept that, for now, we still need a term to differentiate the different realms in which we exist and experience life. Thus, I propose the use of the "digital realm" versus the "concrete realm".

One of my central arguments in that paper is that people need to get over the idea that the digital realm isn't real. One of the arguments I've heard used by detractors of the reality of the digital is the concept that the interface or tools used to interact in the digital realm are too artificial and not bio-body centric enough.

However, thanks to a colleague, I read this article about the new PS2 game, "Lifeline" that is completely controlled by voice. You speak commands, ask questions, etc. and the game responds. Unlike in other games, this isn't a gimmick that is added to spice up what would otherwise be a joystick/gamepad mediated experience. For this game, your voice is the controller.

Are the boundaries finally starting to erode in a way obvious enough for others to begin to grasp? Will the supposedly more "natural" mediation and control of this type within digital space make it easier for traditional or conservative individuals to accept the reality of the digital?

:: Shedding light on irrational reality ::

One of my academic email lists sent out this link for a new academic-focused research organization whose goal is to "promote research and discussion on irrational realities that are ubiquitously felt, tacitly accepted, but rarely addressed...The iARC communicates today's irrational reality for tomorrow's hope to facilitate "life with consciousness" rather than "life despite consciousness."

Interesting purpose and goal. Not sure yet how doable it will be, but this group's output will be interesting to monitor.

:: Fallen heroes::


Okay so maybe he wasn't really a hero, but I still don't think Stowe Boyd gets it right in his recent Darwin Mag post on why Wikis are wicked.

In my opinion, any technology that presents a barrier to a task is not good. Wikis break the web paradigm by paradoxically making it tough to post things for non-techie users. Ditto any software that goes against commonly held conventions in an attempt to go backwards in time. Thus, to my eye, Wikis are wicked bad in the true sense of those words.

Give me a graphical interface any day and leave the hard code in the hands of the slingers. Just let me get my words up there on the page without having to learn anything more complicated than how to use formatting buttons.

Yeah maybe I'm missing much of his points today cause I'm cranky. I'll re-read it later when I'm in a better mood. Maybe I'll refute my own position.

And maybe not.

:: Google fumbles social networking ::

Google is the latest company to enter the social networking fray with their Orkut service (dorky name!). Unfortunately, they seemed to have fumbled the ball. I could go into why and analyze it, but Rebecca Blood does a much better job of it. Just go read her take.