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Tuesday, December 30, 2003
dropload
dropload
This is a simple and elegant solution to a problem I have somewhat frequently encountered. Specifically - how to send (or get) a very large file from someone without having a shared network connection. I have solved this personally by setting up one of my corporate servers with a similar (but one-directional) service and with a password protected client/partner login area.
Dropload offers a solution for larger scale and more distributed concerns.
A thought that occurs to me is that this service could be very helpful in distributing large files to a widely dispersed group - i.e. an open network working on a project for example.
It will also be handy when working not on my own servers or when working with shorter term projects/assignments - i.e. a friend asks me to review a file too large to email, this is a way for us to share that file in a quick, rapid fashion.
Very cool.
12/30/2003 07:11:00 PM
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Monday, December 29, 2003
Migration to Lotus Notes
So, this afternoon I have started to seriously migrate my personal email from Outlook to Lotus Notes (6.0).
Lots to learn and lots to do. I will also have to quickly decide if I want to try to get the upgrade to Lotus Notes 6.5 which might make a lot of sense for me to use instead (especially since I am learning it new anyway, might as well be on the most recent version).
Clearly it is a different piece of software than Outlook, in many respects a better one, but there are also negative respects as well, just stuff that I have to learn and relearn.
For example, it looks like (at least at the moment) that I cannot sort in the main view by subject. Something that I have become used to doing frequently. I think I can get the same effect in other ways, but it is a bit annoying nonetheless.
Further, there is a lot that I will have to learn in terms of the language of Lotus Notes, it treats things differently. However, at the moment at least it looks like I have managed to import my Calendar, Contacts (possibly too many times, may have to clean that up asap) and my mail (all of my messages which is quite a feat).
What seems to be missing at the moment is my tasks (todos) and my "notes" neither of which seem to have been imported successfully. I think I can export my "notes" and reimport them into Lotus Notes in a way that will achieve the effect that I need (i.e. keeping track of lots of random pieces of information). My tasks may be another matter, not sure how to do that.
The problem is that I have historically stored a lot of critical information in the tasks that were waiting to be done. So I have to find a way to deal with this in a meaningful manner soon. That said, it shouldn't be a really big deal to replicate what I need to by hand for the moment.
The other important things that I have to figure out quickly are:
1. setting up rules for all of my mail handling, may take a while.
2. setting up rules to deal with "spam" as effectively as possible
3. Setting up access for my non-primary accounts and establishing where to store that email (i.e. my "catchall" as well as non-JigZaw email accounts that I monitor)
4. Setting up alerts/notifications when new mail comes in so that I do not miss the fact that I have gotten something important.
5. Getting used to the look and feel of Lotus Notes and getting comfortable with all of the various settings/features/characteristics.
6. Archiving some of my old mail to reduce the file size of the Lotus Notes archive I have to deal with (currently pushing 1gb).
I'm sure there will be many more tasks for me to deal with, just one of many tasks I have to do...
12/29/2003 04:26:00 PM
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Thursday, December 18, 2003
Technology lets coffeehouse regulars tend to business
Mercury News | 12/16/2003 | Technology lets coffeehouse regulars tend to business
This is me.
Scary somewhat, but cool and enjoyable as well.
12/18/2003 10:48:00 AM
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Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Boxes and Arrows: The Visual Vocabulary Three Years Later: An Interview with Jesse James Garrett
Boxes and Arrows: The Visual Vocabulary Three Years Later: An Interview with Jesse James Garrett
Interesting article/interview with an Information Architect who three years ago came up with a very nice diagraming vocabulary for laying out website architectures. Something I suspect I will find useful in the future, and will certainly be sharing with some clients of mine in the very near future if they are not already aware of it.
12/17/2003 12:09:00 AM
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Tuesday, December 16, 2003
ISERP :: People
ISERP :: People
An organization that I should be aware of, looks likley to be interested in related topics.
12/16/2003 12:17:00 PM
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Frank Dobbin
Frank Dobbin
Possibly someone I should approach in the future, appears to be interested in Economic Socialogy which is pretty close I think to what i want to study.
12/16/2003 12:14:00 PM
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White, H.C.: Markets from Networks: Socioeconomic Models of Production.
White, H.C.: Markets from Networks: Socioeconomic Models of Production.
A book that I should add to my reading list, looks to be related to many thoughts I have been having about underlying Economic theory. Different in some important ways, but very related nonetheless.
12/16/2003 12:06:00 PM
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arXiv.org e-Print archive
arXiv.org e-Print archive
Different than Citeseer, but looks to be a very useful resource for me in the future, this is an automated e-print library of mostly academic publications. Going to take a while to get orientated but worth it.
12/16/2003 11:05:00 AM
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Saturday, December 13, 2003
Q: What will happen when a national political machine can fit on a laptop? A: See below (washingtonpost.com)
Q: What will happen when a national political machine can fit on a laptop? A: See below (washingtonpost.com)
This is a the second half of a really interesting article - about how the Dean campaign is also a sign of changes to both parties to come.
But what draws my attention is the line "in the next six or eight presidential elections, a third-party candidate will win the presidency"
To which all I can say is YES! And I hope I will be a part of that win (doubtfully as the candidate but who knows).
12/13/2003 05:59:00 PM
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Friday, December 12, 2003
Vaccinate Thy Neighbor
Vaccinate Thy Neighbor
Very cool applied network theory. I hope this gets picked up and spread...
12/12/2003 01:53:00 AM
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Thursday, December 11, 2003
[picoIPO] Fwd: Re: [Just Trade Discussion] RE: Chris Cook on Temporary Equity
[picoIPO] Fwd: Re: [Just Trade Discussion] RE: Chris Cook on Temporary Equity
Another thing found by deep google searching on myself... a conversation that I had a while back with Chris Cook - I really should look him up again and see how that is progressing, it was (and is) interesting stuff).
12/11/2003 08:22:00 PM
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LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION It's all about Real Estate - blog blogging for those who want to know
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION It's all about Real Estate - blog blogging for those who want to know
When you go looking on Google you find links you didn't even know about...
12/11/2003 08:10:00 PM
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Friday, December 05, 2003
What is WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society
What is WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society
Something worth paying attention to, I haven't read over the resolutions and information in enough detail to understand fully what they are trying to accomplish (and part of me hopes the answer is "not much") but it is still something that as I look at and think about social networks and the theory of networks, this type of meeting (and the UN more generally) is certainly a group that I need to look at and see if they fit (or do not fit) into the theoretical models.
12/05/2003 11:54:00 AM
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Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Wish upon a star
Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Wish upon a star
Article about celebrity driven "get out the vote" campaigns. I think that these are pretty much doomed to not live up to their organizers expectations.
More critically I think that the organizers of "get out the vote" need to connect to voters and big and small issues. In general I think that the best way to "get out the vote" would be to be competitive and offer solid options in local elections as well as the general election.
If you look at the California recall election, for just one example, it actually ended up with the winner winning with more actual votes than the previous election.
I think that Democrats (and Republicans) alike are all too complecant and willing to give into gerrymandering and assumptions that they are not competitive in most districts these days. In both the primary and general elections there are far too many candidates who end up running virtually unopposed. This cannot be a healthy thing for a democracy. At the very least, an active opposition forces the incombant (or the otherwise going to be unopposed candidate) to declare themselves on issues and to listen to the voters and perhaps change positions on certain issues to address voter's concerns.
Here in Chicago we are a virtual one-party system, it is rare if ever that a Democrat faces a serious opponent in any local election, which means that many very important positions (such as local judges) go unopposed.
Most critically, it means that many voters take the very reasonable position of "what does my vote matter when I am not even making a choice?"
I have a feeling that were a third party to be created, it would have the best shot of getting some candidates elected by running almost exclusively in "safe" districts, i.e. those districts where the incumbants have generally won without opposition and likely have grown more than a bit complacent. There, serious "get out the vote" activism built on top of active online and offline work, and perhaps backed by celebrity media access and money could have a real and critical impact on the country.
For example, all it would take is a small handful of senators, or a slightly large number of representatives for a third party to have enough votes to mean that neither party held a majority, as a result that third party would have a very strong negotiating position to further their goals.
This would have to be done with compromises, but alot could be achieved and further this would be a self-reinforcing cycle. The voters in that district would see that the third party (once it achieves enough clout to be the swing votes in the house or senate) would offer a very compelling argument of influence and power.
On the minus side, the structures of the Congress have grown up around the assumption of two parties, everything from the rules of committees and the floor generally assume that independants or third party candidates if present are very minor and generally unimportant. With enough votes to deny either party a majority however, this would change. Likely it would mean that various committee appointments would be offered, as well as other compromises to accomodate the third party.
At some point in the future I hope to see such a party form. Tenatively I am calling this the "Centrist" party - i.e. not a party of one extreme or the other, but a party that is socially liberal but fiscally conservative while being comitted to globalism, free trade, and an active involvement of the US in the world (this is in contrast to the Libertarians though this party might share with them many views). I do think that this party would find a large and reasonably solid base of support throughout the country.
Republicans who are more socially liberal than their current leadership, and who are strongly in favor of small government and free trade (which the current steel tarrifs and other trade issues cast some doubt about the current leadership's positions) would be attracted to this party. In fact, even some conservative Republicans who while they might disagree with some of the social positions of the party (pro-choice for example) might find the arguement that "Government should not force a moral agenda on the people" a compelling one.
Democrats who are looking for an alternative to the current party's infatuation with every possible special interest group without seemingly being able to clearly state what the party is for (and who might be annoyed with the definition of the party as anti-Republican instead of actively for something) would be attracted by the social positions as well as potentially by the fiscal responsibility. The arguement that our children and their children should not be burdened with unmanageable debts and that the budget and deficits should be brought under control could sway many as well.
However, some Democrats might find the globalism aspects controversal, especially the ones that are in favor of free trade, removal of protectionism in American policy (and active negotiations and diplomacy to strive to get our partners such as the EU to do the same), an active engagement in the world (which might include the use of our military force) complicated. Certainly many unions would find these difficult points. However, the more innovative and open minded unions might also recognize that to compete in a global environment the US will best succeed by openness and engagement, as well their members will see changes as a result of global free trade, but the US has many advantages and resources and with planning and care they can ensure that their members have a significent and positive role in the future.
As well, by trading with the world and by being actively engaged, we have an opportunity to raise the quality of life around the globe. This means that working conditions, life expectancy, health, education, and opportunity will all be growing around the globe. As a world, when anyone from anywhere has an opportunity to stretch themselves we will see more and more gains as less and less of our collective intelligence, intution, and skill goes unused.
Somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa there are genuses with the ability to solve many of the major problems of the world, with access to education, health, food, shelter and other resources, as well as the political structures to be involved in the world these individuals may have a chance to impact our globe for the better.
Anyway, I'm an optimist at heart.
12/05/2003 10:15:00 AM
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Thursday, December 04, 2003
Ordering instructions for Strange Horizons year one
An Ongoing, Erratic Diary
My friend Mary Anne's journal has instructions on how to order Strange Horizons: Year One in time for Christmas. I want to order both this and her cookbook. I'd like the cookbook in time for the holidays, this book I want just to have for myself...
12/04/2003 07:30:00 PM
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Rhizome.org: Info--Fact Sheet
Rhizome.org: Info--Fact Sheet
Rhizome is an example of one of the many online communities and networks that seem to truly "get" the Internet. I am very interested in looking at this group and others in terms of how they interact and "fit" into the models of the future that are suggested by Social Network software and the more general "Theory of Networks".
In the near future I am planning on setting up a "network of networks" (name to be determined) which will serve as a "metasite" of sorts for people interested in The Theory of Networks, in Social Networks, in Social Network Software, and in other related aspects of community, activism, networking, organizational theory, software development and the like. If it goes as I hope the group and website will sponsor at least one academic oriented conference (probably held here in Chicago) and a peer reviewed publication (at least a website, potentially a print publication as well if the funding is sufficient).
The site will also serve to link to other examples and references online, so likely will link to groups such as Rhizome and others that are working and applying the theory of networks and making "real". Especially with the upcoming elections I hope to make sure that we involve people working in social and political activism (ideally in a non-partisan manner so that people from all parts of the spectrum can gather and learn what is working without "taking sides".
More on this here in the upcoming days and weeks and likely much more on a new website that will be launched in a few days.
12/04/2003 06:16:00 PM
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Drifting Through the Grid
Drifting Through the Grid
An interesting article. I am not certain that I agree with all, even most of the points of this article. But I do want to learn a great deal more about the "nettime" which seems to be something that I should both know more about and participate in myself.
Also the article cites Thomas Barnett whom I have many months back referenced in the context of an article that he wrote that was published in Esquire.
12/04/2003 05:08:00 PM
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Wednesday, December 03, 2003
BlogShares - Closed Down
BlogShares - Closed Down
I had a lot of fun with Blogshares and am very sorry to see it close, I think it had a lot of potential as a very fun and informative game. If I have time (and am quite silly) I may contact Sayed about seeing if a group of the players can take over and revive the game...
12/03/2003 08:27:00 AM
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Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Prolog manual
Looks to be pretty good if a bit old, Prolog is one of those "things I really should know" which I plan on looking at, in part to be more completley up to date on AI research as I have been doing stuff via similar but different means.
12/02/2003 08:45:00 PM
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A Response to Clay Shirky's “The Semantic Web, Syllogism, and Worldview” (Ftrain.com)
A Response to Clay Shirky's “The Semantic Web, Syllogism, and Worldview” (Ftrain.com)
Article that I need to read over and think about more deeply, it is a response to Shirky's article (which I linked to in the past) about the Semantic Web. I found this via Nova Spivak's blog.
12/02/2003 07:35:00 PM
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