Month: April 2005

Categories
Stuff

Coasting

I don’t know whether it is the sudden hot weather, or the fact that I’ve been having problems sleeping, but today I’ve been feeling somewhat lethargic and very tired. I expect that it shows in my writing, much less the delay in getting the second release out of Wordform. I wish I could be inspired to finish one of the half-dozen writings I’ve started; but after checking with each one today, they all let me know that they weren’t in the mood to be done, so there you go.

Seeing no hope for productivity in writing or code, I cleaned house this afternoon and made potato salad and fried chicken; I also cleaned up my TiBook by burning close to 10G of photo CDs and removing most of the pictures from my hard drive.

Now all I want to do is sit in my chair and watch old, old movies and sleep. But I’ll be good and try to get out for at least a little walk, and do a little code and post a few more photos out at flickr. Maybe by that time one of my drafts will be ready to ‘come over’ to the light and stop resisting my efforts to finish.

So easy to start, but so hard to finish at times. I’m talking abour writing, of course. All it takes to start a post is to get (enraged, inspired) and write a sentence or two or five; then the intial enthusiasm begins to stall and all of a sudden you wonder if the writing is really any good, or the topic of interest, and why are you writing this, anyway? So you click the ‘Draft’ button and add it to the other pile of good intentions that sit there in your weblogging tool. They don’t even have the decency to be hidden or out of the way with WordPress and Wordform. No they’re all there, at the top of all admin edit pages–like dead fish hanging off a fishing line. Dead fish eyes looking at you every time you start a new post rather than finish one of them.

I think I’ll change Wordform to only allow two drafts at most, and if you try to add a third it brings up a message saying, “Why don’t you finish one of your drafts, first, before starting another work?” Or, “Are you sure you want to start another writing? You don’t have the best record of finishing, you know.” Or even, “Too many unfinished weblog posts is the leading cause of deviant behavior in men and women over 40.”

After all, we’re talking about Web 2.0 here; what better start than to build in a nag mode? Think about the possibilities of a nag mode. If you don’t post at least once every few days, it automatically sends you an email crying out, “Feed me!” Connect it with a telephony backend and it could be programmed to call you, too.

“Hi dear, this is your weblog. I’ve missed you! How come you never write to me any more?”

You know, if I didn’t warn people about this, it could be worth a giggle. In fact, you know what else would be funny? If I were to add….

No, no, no. Never mind.

Hey, how about that. I just finished a post. Miss Energy USA, that’s me.

Categories
Connecting

The power of staying home

After reading about Halley’s and Liz’s reception in Seattle for Search Champs, and in particular the lovely goodies they’ve received and the receptions they’re attending, I had some wistful regrets that I declined my invitation. It would have been nice to be pampered and treated as a respected guest by a software giant like Microsoft. It would also be nice to get a free copy of the Window’s software, as I can’t afford to buy it.

However, in the end, I am not unhappy that I stayed home. This week I’ve been inspired in my own work on Wordform, and also in my writing and though I’ve been recently sidetracked into a discussion that I now regret, for the most part I am content with how I am spending my time. I have a possible job interview tomorrow, I have finished another book proposal to start shopping around, and I think I’ll go out looking for dogwoods later today. Or clean the house, and this act has its own rewards.

I have never been much for traveling to events such as Search Champs. I have been to events at Microsoft in the past, but these were more meeting with a small group of techs and maybe going out for pizza afterwards — their treat. I can understand Microsoft inviting people to see their products, provide feedback, and hopefully both sides benefit from the experience. But for me, in this circumstance, I can contribute just as effectively from home.

It’s somewhat the same for wanting to meet people. There are some folks who I have ‘met’ in weblogging who I want to meet in person someday because they, personally, have become very interesting to me; I would be unhappy at not having the chance to meet with them at least once. Consider it a form of beer truck test, but for meeting people rather than project management: I would regret not having the opportunity to meet these folks before the proverbial and preferred vehicle of blame does its dastardly deed.

(The only reason why I’m not out now on a frenzied world tour is that I am convinced of my own immortality. Still, I’m not sanguine about the continued existence of any of you.)

On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to meet people just because they are webloggers, or popular webloggers, or even because we have shared either passion or acrimony on a specific subject. In fact I would find that rather than enrich our shared experiences, personally meeting with those who I have exchanged strong views could actually detract from the exchange.

For instance, I have a strong interest in the lowercase semantic web and folksonomies and have written about Clay Shirky’s work many a time in the past–almost universally in disagreement. However, I have no particular interest in meeting him, and though I wouldn’t run from a meet, I wouldn’t actively seek one out, either.

Some might think this is a mistake, and say perhaps we would be less critical (or indifferent or antagonistic) toward each other if we were to meet. I can’t speak for Mr. Shirky, but I find that my personal detachment from him actually enables me to write, as I will, on a particular subject without worrying about the possible consequences to a ‘relationship’. More importantly though, our detached and somewhat adversarial position with regards to each other forces me to consider every word and every concept I put down in opposition. I know that any slip, incomplete thought, or fuzzy brain storm I put into written word is going to be subject to the intense, and most likely, scathing review; if not by Mr. Shirky, by others who are his supporters.

Some of my best writing has been in disagreement with Mr. Shirky and other supporters of folksonomies and RDF-less semanic web activity; not necessarily because they inspire me to write, but because they inspire me to write well–with a great deal of caution and careful consideration.

The same can be said for attending technology conferences and the like. Though I would enjoy meeting with my peers, and understand the critical need to network at times, not doing so does not negatively impact on my technical creativity; nor does it inhibit my exchange of ideas and concepts with others. (Especially since the better organized conferences provide the presentation material and even audio and video recordings of some, or all, of the sessions.)

I do miss presenting at conferences, as this is something I enjoy. However, I don’t need to present at, or attend conferences or other formal groups, in order to have a rich existence; or to achieve respect for my work, or to feel respect for the work of others. As long as I have access to their work, they have access to mine, and we share an active form of communication, I am content.

The power of the internet is that it gives me the power of staying home.

Categories
Weblogging

Better Bad News on Why Guys don’t Link

Recovered from the Wayback Machine. Unfortunately, Flash

I can’t believe I missed this one: the Better Bad News gang does a Jarvis/Powers dialog on Guys Don’t Link and it is hilarious.

“What’s wrong with being a white male?”

“Belligerance, greed, avarice, intolerance, and force are no longer the winning combination they once were.”

I found a link to this parody in a comment to a post at Misbehaving.

Satire. I love satire.

Is it just me, or does the one guy playing Jarvis sound like Max Headroom?

Speaking of which, Mr. Scoble knows of no geek women or women interested in technology or Longhorn (Microsoft’s next wonderkid) in Silicon Valley. If you match this criteria–female, tech, Silicon Valley–drop by and say Hi. He also doesn’t understand why only guys are asking questions of Jim Allchin, Longhorn architect and O/S VP.

Now that he mentions it, I have some questions on InfoCard and people putting their driver’s license information, passports, credit cards, and other material of this nature into a component integrated into a Windows operating system.

I mean, wouldn’t it be simpler just to lose our wallets on the street, in a really bad neighborhood? And we could save the money of the upgrade.

Anyway, go watch the Bad News broadcast, and meet the real Mags.

“Blogging while old.”

Scoble did respond in comments about the women who I mentioned:

“Dori Smith is a friend and was on my list of 30, but she doesn’t write often enough about technology to make the top 10.

Danah Boyd? Is on my top 30, but her blog doesn’t put her on the top 10, sorry.

This was a press tour. It was a way to meet some of the innovators in the new blogger world and start a conversation with them. It wasn’t a way to win over women.

You saying that Danah has done more for the blogging world than, say, Evan Williams? Or Doug Kaye? Or done more writing about Microsoft technology than Thomas Hawk? Or built a cooler news site than, say, Gabe?

See, that’s the judgment I used. Not whether or not they were male or female. ”

-and-

“And none of those are on the blog map.”

But Thomas Hawke — he of the top ten who has had enough impact on weblogging to be considered worthy– posted a photo of why Scoble would want more women, saying he was just joking.

But it wasn’t satire.

Categories
Semantics

Finally, the Poetry Finder

I am having far too much fun working on the metadata extensions to Wordform. So much so that I don’t really want to quit at night. Not only code–after I release the beta next week, I have several writings in the works that are going to be as much fun (at least to me). In fact, April could very well end up being my best month in weblogging.

I’ve finished a couple of the metadata extensions, and now I need to turn my eye and code on the final one I plan on releasing before the end of the month–the Poetry Finder. Yes that long promised and delayed functionality has finally found the place where it can be most easily integrated in every day usage; all that’s needed now, is to define the beginnings of the vocabulary.

 

That’s where you all come in. As I’ve said in the past, I have a limited high school education, only completing all my coursework for the 9th grade, and dropping out in the 10th. No regrets–I lived a life of wonderous adventure. However, a significant impact of this is that I did not have any high school English, including any studies about the form and format of poems.

I’ve learned a great deal, thanks to knowledgable webloggers who have shared both their interest and expertise. I’ve been introduced to both works and writers, as well as intepretations of same. I’ve found my own favorites among those I’ve met through others and on my own.

Still, there is a vast difference between appreciating a poem, and understanding the mechanics of one. In addition, there is much about how a poem or its component parts can be identified and described that I know absolutely nothing about.

I could spend weeks and years learning all about poetry; but then, you all could spend weeks and years learning how to program and work with operating systems so that you can make your own modifications or fixes. Each of us has unique knowledge that we share with each other and that’s, to me, the strength of this environment–even beyond the friendships we make.

Plus when working with technology, those who create the applications are frequently the worst when it comes to defining what’s important, and how the application is to be used. In my previous jobs, when we started to build a picture of the business data and processes, we would search out subject matter experts and get their help. Therefore I’m searching out subject matter experts among you.

You don’t have to be a poet or have taught poetry (though I have my eye on a few individuals) to help. If you know enough about poetry to define a poem and describe it mechanically; to understand the importance of concepts such as metaphors (and whatever else there is comparable); or you have ideas of how you would like to search for specific poems, please lend me a hand.

What I’m asking is for you to grab some poems, perhaps some favorites, and then pretend that you’re describing the poem for a group of tenth graders. What are some of the characteristics you would use in your description?

Now imagine doing the same with a group of friends.

Also, if you were to sit down at the Internet and go looking for a poem, what are your ideal search parameters? Would you look for a type of poem, or the period? Would you want to find poems that focus on a specific topic, or use a particular metaphor? Using a poet’s name or name of the work is a given–it’s for the more subtle searches that I need your help.

I know there are types of poems, such as haiku; poetic constructs such as stanza and meter; poetic imagery such as the use of metaphors; even periods of poetry. But I don’t know which of these is truly meaningful for describing, and most particularly, for searching.

The more responses, both from one person and from many people, the better the vocabulary. Though I need the poets and teachers in the crowd, I also need folks who just love poetry–or language or languages for that matter. I realize I could grab some of these terms and look for tags in de.licio.us and Technorati for relevant material, but I don’t necessarily have time for this particular tree to grow–I want to finish the components of the Poetry Finder this month. (Though I will also be examining these–the more input, the better.)

As I build the vocabulary, I’ll print it online so that you can check my work and my progress. I really do appreciate your help, and hope I can deliver something interesting in return.

Categories
Just Shelley

Point of no bed

We each have a moment in our nights, a point on the clock, where if we’re still awake, we might as well just stay awake. For me it is 4:30.

Good morning, everyone.

At least I managed to finish the metadata plugin. And I didn’t even need to drink the Mountain Dew.