January 19, 2005 – 10:04 am
I remain an incorrigible word geek. Here are some items related to this theme that have caught my interest lately…
TOP OF THIS LIST: Stupid Attractors. The attractor is key concept of the mathematics of systems. Three types of attractors are generally defined: finite, periodic, and strange. I posit a fourth type – the stupid attractor. Rather than create a meaningful pattern, here the “solutions” that converge are random bits of cosmic jetsam and annoying dunces. Examples of stupid attractors include shopping malls just before Christmas, or the IMAX theater just outside of the Grand Canyon. However, in the grand design of the universe, stupid attractors serve the greater purpose of consolidating idiots in clearly identified clumps that can be avoided. (Read the rest of this list…)
January 17, 2005 – 10:46 pm
Yep, I have a bunch more items on the topic of blogging professionally that I’d like to share with you. (Here’s the first part of this grab bag.) TOP OF THIS LIST: “Internal Blogging More In Focus - Blog Consultants Beware,” Corporate Blogging Blog, Jan. 10. Fredrik Wackå wrote, “If we compare to web communication in general an intranet is for many companies more effective in terms of ROI than an external site. Blogs will, I believe, be another example of this - and that should worry blog consultants… It’s one thing to for example build a personal brand with blogging for an individual. It’s an entirely different thing to try to change corporate culture, working methods and so on with blogging as one of many tools. Where a good writer and decent businessman can build a blog consultancy to do the first, it takes strategic organizational and communicative competence to do the other.” I respectfully disagree with Wackå on this one… (Read the rest of this list…)
January 13, 2005 – 2:41 pm
Here are some items related to wikis that have caught my interest lately… TOP OF THIS LIST: “Blogs or Wikis … What’s the best platform for building a collaborative disaster-relief resource on the web?” By Dina Mehta, Conversations with Dina, Dec. 28, 2004. Mehta is a member of the team of bloggers who set up the now-famous SEA-EAT blog for tsunami and earthquake victim relief efforts. In this article, she ponders whether a wiki might have worked better than a blog. While I agree that a wiki would have made more sense from a development perspective, I think it would have been a mistake from a user perspective. Most internet users don’t really understand how wikis work. They take a fair amount of getting used to. While blogs also have a bit of a learning curve compared to traditional media, it still has a lot in common with traditional media. Also, it’s easier for a newbie to figure out which information is most recent in a blog, compared to a wiki. (Read the rest of this list…)
January 12, 2005 – 3:53 pm
Here are some items related to writing, editing, and content rights that have caught my interest lately… TOP OF THIS LIST: “Fifty Writing Tools,” the workbench of Roy Peter Clark (Senior Scholar, the Poynter Institute). This 50-part weekly series, currently in progress, features articles on specific practical writing tips, with examples. They’re intended for journalists, but can apply much more widely. Take all of the tips together and you’ve got a pretty good style guide. Registered Poynter Online users can get each new tip by e-mail as they’re published. (Read the rest of this list…)
January 10, 2005 – 5:52 pm
Here are some more items about podcasting that caught my attention over the last couple of months. TOP OF THIS LIST: “Scripting News, Trade Secrets and Ego,” by Mark VandeWettering, “Brainwagon Radio,” Dec. 9, 2004. Excerpt: “Podcasting appeals to me because nearly anyone can do it. On any budget. For any reason. To communicate with family. Or their community. Or their church. Or people with similar interests. Or people who don’t know what their interests are. Or people who just need something different to listen to. There aren’t any real obstacles to doing it, at least to anyone who wants to actually do something. We certainly don’t need an industry to make that happen — It’s happening already.” Absolutely. That, my friends, is exactly the point! Mark explored this topic further in his Dec. 10, 2004 article “Why is podcasting important?” Brilliant. Don’t miss it. (Read the rest of this list…)
December 31, 2004 – 3:53 pm
Here are a few items related to the theme of arranging ideas (content management, knowledge management, information gathering, cognitive science, creativity, etc.) that have caught my interest lately…
TOP OF THIS LIST: “Blink”, a new book by Malcolm Gladwell (author of “The Tipping Point”) is due out in January 2005 – and I can’t wait to read it. Blink is about rapid cognition – the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye… (Read the rest of this list…)
December 29, 2004 – 12:03 pm
Here are some items related to e-learning that have caught my interest lately. TOP OF THIS LIST: “Keyser Soze and Organizational Learning.” One of Maish Nichani’s favorite films (and mine) is “The Usual Suspects.” In this article, Nichani describes the key scene where the incognito mafia kingpin Keyser Soze (Kevin Spacey) uses random bits of information in a police interrogation room to spin a bizarre but believeable story which throws the cops off track. Building on that insight, Nichani writes, “A rich experience base is what distinguishes an expert from a novice. One way to build an experience base is to wait for experiences to come to you. This is the natural way. The other way is to create an environment where experiences can be accelerated. This is the realm of training. But how much of our training is based on accelerating experiences? How many training outcomes are based on interpretation and sensemaking capabilities?” An excellent question. Nichani explores it briefly, but I’d love to see other e-learning creators and participants discuss this further. (Read the rest of this list…)
December 28, 2004 – 7:27 pm
Here are some items related to blogging that have caught my interest lately… TOP OF THIS LIST: “Why Do We Blog?” by Fred Paynter, IT Kitchen, Dec. 1. Excellent question! This article includes responses from three dozen bloggers. I’ll be adding my own response as soon as I figure out a better answer than “Because I simply cannot shut up.” (Read the rest of this list…)
December 28, 2004 – 4:02 am
Here are some notes about tools and resources that have caught my interest lately. TOP OF THIS LIST: Bloglines trouble alert. Not everyone is thrilled with Bloglines, the popular, free web-based feed reader service. Apparently Bloglines sometimes inexplicably stops showing updates to some webfeeds, giving the appearance that those blogs have stopped publishing. (Read the rest of this list…)
December 27, 2004 – 3:00 pm
Here are some items that show how the internet is affecting society (or vice versa) which have caught my interest lately… TOP OF THIS LIST: US E-government progress? Depends on what you mean by “progress.” A new report on e-government from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is striking for what it doesn’t address. (Read the rest of this list…)
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