Categories
RDF

PostCon

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The RDF vocabulary used throughout the examples for Practical RDF is PostCon, example here, a Post Content information dataset. The plan was that I would finish the book and then finish a Java implementation of PostCon, the application, using PostCon, the vocabulary, before the book hit the street.

What I wasn’t counting on was that I wouldn’t have a Tomcat server to run the Java application on when it was finished. I am running my own server, but it’s shared by other folks and at this point in time, a Tomcat server would be too much for it.

I also wasn’t counting on how tired I was once the book was finished. When you’ve worked on a book for two years, through four major rewrites trying to keep up with changing specifications and attitudes and tools, you get tired. I got tired.

However, PostCon the application begs to be created, and PostCon the vocabulary begs to be used.

So, what is PostCon? PostCon is a vocabulary that records information about a web resource, its movement, whether it’s been replaced, and why, and so on. It’s also an application that will maintain a history of your web content in a form that can be used to redirect HTTP requests when a resource is moved; track history of changes without the necessity of a complex change control system; and provide intelligent error handling when a resource is removed permanently. You can see the early prototype in action with this link.

The application has a user interface that allows one to query the PostCon record for a resource, add to it or modify it, and then persist the changes. Additionally, the application has a web services interface that can be utilized from other applications, such as weblog tools like the one I’m using for this page. Since the information about the change is persisted in a file (RDF/XML) rather than a database, other tools could access this information, such as webbots trying to new resources, or checking to see if a resource is still viable.

The vocabulary is based on RDF, and serialized using RDF/XML, so other vocabularies can be plugged in, simply and easily. Information about the creator is maintained in the PostCon vocabulary and this can be tied to the creator’s FOAF file. If the web resource is a weblog page, trackback information can be used to add PostCon related items for the specific page. For that matter, comments can also be added as part of the history of the resource – after all, a commented weblog posting is different than the posting by itself.

The long and short of it is that I’m returning to working on PostCon, but rather than work on it in the background, I’m going to implement the pieces and document them here in this weblog. This will not only give me incentive to get off my butt and get this done, but it should also, I hope, give me some decent feedback if I’m pursuing a less than efficient implementation strategy.

To start, I’m going to review the PostCon vocabulary one more time, to see how I want to modify it considering new efforts with Pie/Echo/Atom (to be called Atom it seems – thanks to Morbus Iff cutting through the crap – yay Morbus). Next, I’ll implement simple pages that can be used to read in and modify the RDF/XML files for a specific resource. I’ll be implementing these in PHP so that they can be accessed from my server. Later I may translate these to Java and JSP.

Next, I’m creating a second RDF vocabulary, this one to be used by an event queue system. When a resource is moved or removed, not only will the front end update the associated RDF/XML file for the document, it will also update an event queue RDF/XML file, which will then track the actions to be performed on the server side. I prefer this rather than having the front end pages implement file destruction or movement because it’s easier to secure a completely server-side application, then one that’s half front-end, half server.

In addition, by separating this layer of activity out, the application that will take the event queue information and do the actual work can be replaced depending on server-side languages supported, OS, that sort of thing.

I’ll create two versions of the application that processes the event queue – one in Java, one in Perl. The Java application won’t need a Tomcat server (no front end), and I don’t want to focus on just one langauge for this component of the entire system.

The final phase of implementing PostCon will be creating web services that can perform all of the functionality of the front-end interface functionality created in PHP. I’d like to implement these in Python and Perl. Perl because I want to try integrating this into a test copy of Movable Type; and Python because I want to improve my Python skills.

The code will be kept simple, and clean, with no frills. In addition, it’s pure open source, and can be copied, modified, and hopefully improved. When I’m finished, I’ll load all of the code to Source Forge.

I have other things to do, so I’m not going to be whipping this out over the next week, but it should be finished within the next month – knock on wood.

Categories
Writing

Truly understanding censorship

Sheila points to a nicely written how-to on newspapers having weblogs. This was spurred, in no small part, from the tempest in a teapost about Dan Weintraub and the Sacramento Bee’s new policy about editorial review of his weblog.

Many of the Blogging world’s illuminati became incensed by this action. Micky Klaus writes in a meandering, confused rant:

Unlike a mistake in a print column (or for that matter, a mistake on radio) a mistake in a “24-7 blog” can be easily and quite effectively corrected in the same place it was made. For this reason, the cost of a blog error is less than the cost of a print error. That means when you are balancing a) the cost of errors versus b) the cost of more procedures and “standards,” you come out in a different place for blogs than you do for print.

The cost of an error isn’t the amount of time to edit it, but the amount of damage the ‘error’, backed by a major publication, can do when read by thousands before correction.

Glenn Reynolds writes:

Unthinking political correctness, corporate-mandated dullness, and complete cluelessness, all in one event. If you want to know, in a nutshell, why Old Media is in trouble, this is it.

Taking a look at Weintraub’s statement that caused the uproar:

If [the California Lt. Governor’s] name had been Charles Bustmont rather than Cruz Bustamante, he would have finished his legislative career as an anonymous back-bencher. Thus there is reason to wonder how he would handle ethnic issues as governor.

And while people can debate forever whether MEChA and its more virulent cousins do or do not advocate ethnic separatism, it’s indisputably true that the Legislature’s Latino Caucus advocates policies that are destructive to their own people and to greater California, in the name of ethnic unity.

Making sweeping statements such as ‘…it’s indisputably true that the Legislature’s Latino Caucus advocates policies that are destructive to their own people and to greater California…” is something I would expect to read from a weblogger who is throwing opinions around without due consideration of the impact of the words. Perhaps that’s what Klaus and Reynolds want – more rants, less news and thoughtful commentary.

Doc Searls points to most of the articles on this issue, and seems to agree with Roger Smith:

In the future, in order to demonstrate their integrity, true blogs may have to be completely independent of major media. And maybe that’s for the best. At least that way we will be able to scrutinize the bloggers intentions without having to see through a haze of editing or, worse, the agendas (hidden and not) of media corporations.

I share Sheila’s take:

Weintraub’s comments about Bustamante are the sort of words you might hear in a bar. If Weintraub wants to pop off with unsubstantiated personal slams like that, add a comments capacity to his blog and give his readers equal opportunity to publicly challenge him.

Weintraub’s weblog is not a personal weblog hosted on Blogspot. It’s hosted and paid for by the Sacramento Bee, which has an existing editorial policy for opinions expressed by employees of the newspaper. The only crime the Bee committed is that it’s following through on what webloggers have been asking for – treating Weintraub’s weblog like it was a ‘real’ journalist’s effort.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say weblogs are journalism,and should be treated as ‘real’ publications. and then deny the sometimes stringent requirements of newspapers and other publications. An error in a weblog can embarrass a weblogger; an error in a newspaper can get the paper sued, or unfairly and adversely impact on the events being reported.

It is a given, and known fact, that people who work for a newspaper or other publication are bound by the editorial process for same. Sometimes this results in the suppression of news, but many times, this prevents offhand remarks and ill-thought comments from hitting the streets and causing damage that a retraction just won’t heal. Even a digital retraction.

Of course, the uproar on this event has died since Weintraub himself doesn’t see himself the victim of censorship, or being muzzled.

Perhaps folks upset by Weintraub going through the editorial process need a reminder of what censorship really likes like:

  • This week is the ALA’s Banned Books Week. Books on the list include any of the Harry Potter novels, The Chocolate War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Native Son, To Kill a Mockingbird, and far too many others.
  • Amnesty International lists several authors imprisoned in their countries for speaking their mind, including Zouheir Yahiaoui who was arrested for for expressing his opinions online.
  • Al Jazeera has been banned from access to official sources of news in Iraq for supposedly sedicious reporting.
  • The directors of Zimbabwe’s four private newspapers have been charged with “illegally publishing” their newspapers. (Thanks to Frizzy Logic)
  • Reporters without Borders can also give you an eyeful, including the Defense Department’s clearance of all culpability for the death’s of journalists in Iraq by US soldiers
  • The Patriot Act

If Weintraub wants to start a personal weblog on Blogspot and carefully disassociate what he writes there from his newspaper, I’d be more supportive of him not ‘being censored’. However, the price a writer pays for a steady income from a publication is that the publication usually has some say in what’s written. It’s not just the writer who is credited, or discredited, when they spout off.

Categories
Media

Amazing what you can find online

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Dave Winer mentions a contribution he made to Boston’s NPR affiliate, WBUR. He’s curious, though, about the salaries of the folks, such as the general Manager Jane Christo’s pay:

How do I call in and ask questions on the air? How much salary does Ms Christo draw? How many execs are there at WBUR and what are their salaries? And how about the talent, how much of my money do they get? I suspect that public radio in the US is like most other industries, execs control the money, and get most of it, and don’t do very much for it.

A quick google search on “wbur” and “salaries” brings up a reference to Dave’s friend, Christopher Lydon, as luck would have it. It seems that when Lydon worked at the station, he was the highest paid talent, at 230,000. And he wanted more:

I like ‘’The Connection,’’ but I was stunned by the size of Lydon’s salary and the fact that he and his producer still weren’t satisfied; they wanted an ownership stake in the show. When Lydon and his cohorts at WBUR ask listeners like me to support the news, I knew salaries were an integral part of the news, but I had no idea they were such a large part.

The article also makes a good point about how we view charities differently from other types of business:

Kate Berseth, who has done fund-raising and fund-raising consulting for more than 10 years, said donors tend to overreact to high salaries. All too often, she said, donors harbor the incorrect assumption that ‘’do-gooder charitable work’’ isn’t worth as much as for-profit work.

Lots of online links about WBUR and salaries, and Lydon no longer being at WBUR. Rather than Dave calling the station and demanding that the station discuss what Jane Christo makes online, perhaps he should ask his friend, Lydon, what she was making when she fired him?

Categories
Places

Moment

Yesterday I went to the Meramec State Park to hike and continue my reaquaintence with my film camera. As I pulled off the freeway to Highway 185, I saw a semi blocking the road in both directions, hit by another semi when it had tried to pull intot the road from the right. I was close enough to see the drivers and the police and was surprised at how good natured everyone was. People were smiling, even laughing, as they worked to get the blocked semi out of the way.

Eventually, they did whatever they were going to do as the semi crawled around on its own power, limping down the road, a perfect word to use because it literally was limping on its right side. Once it was past, I could see why the reason for the humor — it had been hit by a semi who was hauling what was left of another wrecked semi truck.

I arrived at the park later in the afternoon, and pulled into the Visitor Center to get my bearings. Unfortunately, when I pulled in I stopped dead in the middle of the parking lot to look at my map, assuming no one was around. I didn’t see the Sheriff’s car directly behind me. When I realized I was blocking a car I pulled into a slot, but of course, the office pulled next to me and I thought he was going to give me a lecture, deserved, about how not to drive. Instead, he asked, “Ma’am, do you need help with something?”

Assumption of innocence is a wonderous thing.

“Yes, can you advise me which trails around here don’t have tics and chiggers?”

“Well, this time of year, it’s pretty bad walking anywhere in the Ozarks but the this trail over here,” he says, pointing to one off the Visitor Center, “I take my kids on it, and it’s pretty clear.”

Thanking him, and fate for dealing me a patient policeman, I checked out the trail he mentioned, but a criss crossing of webs across the path dissuaded me. I can’t stand walking through web, I just can’t stand it. Instead, I drove to the end of the park to walk the trails near the Meramec River and Fischer Cave.

Along the way I had to crawl down the road because deer were continuously crossing it. I could see movement in the forest around the road from the corners of my eyes and I was both thrilled and a little stressed because I didn’t want to hit a deer, even at 5MPH. What I almost did hit was a teenager who decided to strap on inline skates and hurtle down the hill towards me, assuming no one was around (or not caring). I pulled over to the side to let him past, wondering who was the ‘dumb animal’ on the road that night — the deer or the kid?

I made my way through the campground at the end of the park, nodding my head at the campers out walking because the weather was fine, real fine, warm, and dry, with a nice cool evening breeze. Instead of a trail I found a path down to the Meremac river, it being low enough for me to walk along the sandy bed.

The opposite side of the river is all tall limestone cliffs covered with trees, many of which are just barely beginning to turn colors — scarlet, orange, gold, but primarily still that wonderful brilliant green of the Missouri forests. Sometimes the colors are so sharp here, so clear and pure, especially when you see them in the early morning or late afternoon that you can almost feel them as texture in the air around you — velvet reds, smooth, cool green, and sharp, rough browns and oranges.

Birds were about, diving at insects over the water, many of which found their way to dine on me — my arm is swollen about the elbow by something that bit me, and I picked up a couple of chiggers along the way. However, being part of the food chain is the price you pay to enter heaven on earth, as my little sandy beach along the river was.

I walked along until I found an area shadowed on both sides, where the river water had pooled forming a semi-lake with branches of dead trees sticking out. I was taking photos of the cliff when I heard a splash and turned around just in time to see an eagle or large hawk grabbing a fish from the water and beating its way to the top of the trees and out of sight. Other predator birds were circling about, waiting their turn, and most likely my absence from their feeding ground. Bu I couldn’t leave.

I put my camera away and stood there, breathing in that sharp Missouri Green smell; listening to the orchestra of breeze and insect and bird; watching a hawk circling about as it hovered over the fish jumping in the water, all surrounded by that glorious color.

(This non-photo photographic moment is dedicated to Margaret Adam, who could probably use a pick-me-up about now.)

Categories
Books RDF Writing

A kinder, gentler Slashdot…and friends

Today Practical RDF was reviewed at Slashdot, a fact I found out when some kind souls warned me of the fact so that I might prepare for the hordes marching in. However, Slashdot book reviews usually don’t generate the server stress that other Slashdot articles can, and the server was able to handle the additional load with ease. This now makes the second time I’ve been slashdotted and lived to tell the tale. Thirds the charm, they say.

It was a nice review, and I appreciated the notice and the kind words. In fact, I’ve had very positive reviews across the board for the book, which is very gratifying for me and for Simon St. Laurent, the lead editor. I’ll probably earn ten cents for every hour I spent on the book, but at least I can feel satisfaction that it’s helping folks and the writing is respected and seen as a quality effort. That’s pretty damn important for a writer – worth more than bucks.

Well, bucks are nice, too.

Speaking of Simon and the book, I was reminded that I owe some articles on RDF and Poetry, and a view of RDF from inside the XML clan, and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully this nice little push will energize me again and I can get these written. It’s been a while since I’ve delighted in the act of writing.

I also wanted to thank the folks for the thoughtful comments in the Tin Can Blues posting. I must also admit I lied in the posting – horrors! – but the lie was unintentional. I forgot that when I worked at Express Scripts earlier this summer that one of the people I worked with started weblogging just as I was leaving. I still remember the shock I received coming around a corner and seeing him read my weblog. As to the question whether your writing changes when you meet those who read it, I remember that for two weeks after that incident, I focused almost exclusively on photography and technology.

There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer to the issue of meeting webloggers in the flesh. I think it really is up to the person, and the opportunities, as many of you noted. For myself, several St. Louis webloggers and others passing through the community have invited me to events, cook outs, coffee, and beers, and all of the people are terrific folks, and I know would be a real treat in person. But it’s not easy for me to mix my worlds.

Ultimately for all the chatter I’ve indulged in online, I have become somewhat of a reclusive person; uncomfortable with larger gatherings (i.e. more than three people), quiet at any events other that professional ones. I love to speak at conferences, but I find corners to inhabit when I’m finished. This person in this weblog – assertive, outgoing, and anything but shy – is the real me; but so is the physical person who runs from parties and get togethers, and I just don’t know how to reconcile the two.

I do know that my not meeting people in the flesh doesn’t diminish my genuine affection for the people I’ve met and come to admire, respect, and like through this virtual medium, and maybe that’s all that matters.

(Po-ll-y-a-nn-a!! This sounds good, but I don’t think it’s that simple. I can see a time when friends met online but never in person become less tangible than the ones whom we’ve pressed the flesh with, in one way or another. Our presence will begin to thin as it stretches to meet always and continuously across the void; touching through the mists, our essence flows around the shadows cast by the real, becoming increasingly transparent – true ghosts in the machine.

Or maybe I’m just tired. And maudlin. Time for new topics…)

Speaking of people I’ve not pressed flesh with, Liz writes about Google search hits, mentioning the phrases she now ‘owns’, such as “introvert extrovert”. I checked my stats and find that I own or partially own several phrases including ‘parable’ (number two), Shelley (number one), and ‘love sentences’ (number two).

I thought it was funny that Dorothea, Liz, and I have part ownership of the word ‘frustration’ – Dorothea at sixth, me at eight, and Liz at ninth. See what all of you guys are doing to us?

The most problematic phrase I own is ‘baby squirrels’. Yup, search on baby squirrels and there I am, Kicking the Baby Squirrels, Again. I get a lot of visitors for ‘baby squirrels’.

I also own the number two position for the phrase ‘virtual friends’. I’d rather own ‘real friends’ but that’s owned by cats.

PS Nobody make AKMA laugh for the next week.