Fri, 30 May 2003 21:21:18 GMT

A Little Less Conversation. The whole social software craze is already getting quite a lot of backlash. This article from the BBC reiterates points that many social software critics have, which is that the people working on social software think they’ve discovered something new, when it’s really just the latest version of work that’s been going on for ages. Worse, those designing and promoting social software are accused of ignoring all the lessons people learned before them about human-computer interaction and how computers really play into social interaction. I tend to agree that many people, when they start working on hyped trends, often ignore very important work that’s been done before – but that doesn’t mean the new work isn’t useful as well. Both sides seem to be taking an antagonistic viewpoint on this debate, which is becoming more and more a debate over the semantics of social software, rather than looking at how the software is actually being used. In the end, people will keep using what works, and won’t worry whether it’s officially “social software” or some other term.
[Techdirt]

What is different this time is that many of the tools being lumps into social software are actually easy for people to use. They allow someone to get up and going in a community without needing to understand just what is happening. Social software is different than knowledge management systems, although both try to solve similar problems. But KM software tends to be monolithic and top down, requiring the user to learn an arcane and non-intuitive viewpoint in order to use the software. Many of the tools from social software and simple enought to be eaily manipulated. The user can find the best one to use, the one that fits their own viewpoint. This is a big, but subtle, difference.

Updated Blogroll

I’ve updated my blogroll. There are a few I am watching to see if they are dead or just resting but this is an up to date listing of the sites I aggregate regulalrly.

Fri, 30 May 2003 17:21:51 GMT

The Internet Constituency. I’ve posted an article called “The Internet Constituency” that reviews the webbiness of the various presidential candidates’ web sites. Only two show any promise, IMO. One of them I actually like: Howard Dean’s, especially his staff’s weblog. See, for example, the currently lead article on the Dean site which is an open letter to the FCC opposing the proposed rule change that would make it even easier for the media to concentrate itself into a ball so dense that no light escapes from it. Here’s the opening of the article: The Republic of the Internet certainly has been downgraded since… [Joho the Blog]

It will be very interesting to see what happens when polticians enter the INformation age.

Fri, 30 May 2003 16:38:58 GMT

Conservatives express concern about USA PATRIOT [LISNews.com]

You know that the problems and challenges we are, and will be, facing cut across traditional political barriers when a liberal like me agrees with an arch- conservative. This article discusses many of the same things that I have been afraid of with respect to PATRIOT. The American Conservative was started by Pat Buchanan and a few others to counter the neo-conservative movement. Read the ‘About Us’ page. There are few politicians whose views I have more diametrically opposed than Buchanan. But on this point (and I am sure in the coming years we will see more) we agree. The new technologies, while allowing a more democratic discussion to occur, also increase the possibility of misuse. People will unite to fight this misuse, creating some awfully strange bedfellows. I truthfully believe that there will be political realignments coming in the next few years.

So Much for Economic Principle

One of my favorite economic bloggers discusses the Mac and how Apple has been able to break many economic rules. He’s had Macs since 1984, just as I have. For many years, he thought any new Macs would be the last ones, because everyone knew that MS had won the battle. But Macs are still here.

Fri, 30 May 2003 05:42:13 GMT

Novell Jumps to Linux Rescue. Novell said Wednesday it — not SCO Group — owns the key rights to Unix and that SCO should stop claiming Linux developers misappropriated Unix code. Linux advocates rejoice and SCO’s stock tanks. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

Don’t you just love lawyers. SCO has gotten people to pay up, has gotten a large amount of cash from MS and has seen its stock rise 10 fold, without ever actually saying what it has!! Now Novell claims it owns the patents that SCO has been peddling. Could be interesting to see.

Discussion On Blog Discussions

It is too late for me to write more about this but Tom is right on track. Blogs filter important information and disperse it rapidly in a fashion that has been impossible before. As we get better at using this approach, we will see a larger explosion of its filtering properties.

Wed, 28 May 2003 05:59:59 GMT

STILL MORE REASONS why “no-knock” raids are not only un-American, but criminally dangerous: “We must do a better job of no-knock search warrant… [InstaPundit.Com]

We have had people killed by gunfire up here from no-knock raids on the wrong place. Unreliable snitches oten provide incorrect addresses. In parts of the country with higher gun possession, this tactic seems stupid.

Wed, 28 May 2003 05:40:03 GMT

Excuse me if I have been a little more partisan and bilious tonight. My mood is dark, making it easier to paint the world in shades of black. I find that following the Black Muse I often find my way back to light much faster. Such is the case and I feel better already. Of course, listening to Heart singing Barracuda probably helped also.

You Can Take Pictures At Starbucks

The official word is that ordinary people can take pictures, just not members of the media. I guess not all managers got the message but now we all know and we know who to email if we have problems.

Wed, 28 May 2003 05:29:42 GMT

For Partisan Gain, Republicans Decide Rules Were Meant to Be Broken… (Adam Cohen). For Partisan Gain, Republicans Decide Rules Were Meant to Be Broken… (Adam Cohen) [Common Dreams]

Are the Republicans worse than the Democrats or is this something EVERYONE does? I do not recall the Democrats ever trying to drop an atom bomb on the filibuster rule in the Senate. We have Republicans who will only meet with lobbyists if those lobbyists are Republican. We will probably see increasing partisanship and disenfranchisement in the coming years.

Washington’s Rare Byrd

Here is a column from a British paper discussing Robert Byrd. It discusses some of the positive points and many of the many negative points of Byrd’s career, particularly his tremendous ego. It explains why he could never have been President but I think he represents an older generation of politician who believed that a Senator was as high as a politician could aspire. The executive could only manage what the Legislature passed. And the Senate was the real controller of legislation. Unfortunately, this view has not been really true since Nixon, if not earlier. No longer do we seek our Presidents from the Senate. They now come as Governors of Southern States. When Byrd is gone, so too will go the age of Great Senators as the true rulers of America.

Wed, 28 May 2003 04:59:45 GMT

Stating the Obvious… (Paul Krugman). Stating the Obvious… (Paul Krugman) [Common Dreams]

More on the Republicans ‘Starve the Budget’ policy. They are forcing people years from now to pay for their decisions today. If this plays out as they expect, I do not believe that many people will be happy.

Wed, 28 May 2003 04:53:36 GMT

Housing Bubble?. HOUSING BUBBLE?….There’s a bunch of reasons to be jumpy about the economy. Paul Krugman thinks we may be headed for a liquidity trap. Income inequality is rising to historically dangerous levels. The stock market is still overvalued. Productivity is continuing… [CalPundit]

The housing market is one of the few things holding up our economy. It did the same thing in Japan over a decade ago. When it burst, it signaled the beginning of terrible times for Japan, times it has spent most of the last decade dealing with.

Wed, 28 May 2003 04:52:03 GMT

Tax Cuts. TAX CUTS….While we’re on the subject of artificially increasing deficits for the sole purpose of throttling social spending, Andrew Sullivan responds to a reader who makes this point very clearly:Give the guy points for candor. But the result of this… [CalPundit]

Okay, lots of economic stuff today. Don’t know why but it happens. Using tax cuts to throttle the government has been openly discussed by several conservatives. Even Milton Friedman likens it to striping a child of their allowance. But we are not children. The money for the social programs most of America values will have to come from somewhere. The coming retirement of the boomers could be a huge time of generational warfare because of what is being done today.