Posts from — April 2006

Internet Archive: Details: The Great Failure of Wikipedia:

“The Great Failure of Wikipedia”: Presentation by Jason Scott at Notacon 3 in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, April 8, 2006. Covers the universally-editable encyclopedia-like site Wikipedia, architectural and procedural choices by co-founder Jimbo Wales and the often-unintended consequences of these choices and philosophy. Includes short overviews of the Brian Peppers Debacle, the Ashida Kim Controversy, and the fallacy of “Notability” and “Neutral Point of View” as implemented in Wikipedia as it currently stands.Not intended to be a “Wikipedia shouldn’t exist” screed, this speech/presentation is instead a quick-paced, profane listing of the results of Wikipedia’s great experiment and how reality is changing the endeavor inherently and permanently.

At Least Its Not A Vlog…carmel:

You know that video blogging has hit the big-time (not to mention podcasting) when it gets mentioned in a Sunday comic strip:

(And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I have permission – UClick lets you share their work for noncommercial purposes.)

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hilarious….

Open Source Mac – Free, Open-Source software for OS X:

ree and open-source software is good for you and good for the world. This is the best OS X software that we know of.

this is a great utility

slower, softer:

Old things are as interesting as new ones.

The speed and spectacular novelty of a particular innovation should never be a measure of its value or the basis of its justification. (But I get why they are).

We* need time to explore slow and ethical innovation.

We need more space for quiet voices, more room for thoughtfulness and more recognition of the value of boredom.

We have a lot to learn from the practices of late adopters, as well as those of the thoughtful, the sceptical, and the reluctant. We should watch them. We should listen.

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Jean hits something on the head that is central to some of my work. Not the boredom aspect per se, though as many in my polisci grad program will recall, i do own a book entitle boredom, that has a black cover with golden/white letters that i used to pretend to read…. no, it is more about the critical spaces found in slowness, and the opportunity, oft passed over, for deep thought found in slowness.

Conservatism and Golf:

Next, from a Rick Perlstein piece at Huffpo late last year (via Henry’s announcement of the man’s new webpage). You really should read this great speech he delivered at a gathering of conservatives. (The Lind is good, too, but Perlstein is great.)

Republicans are different from conservatives: that was one of the first lessons I learned when I started interviewing YAFers. I learned it making small talk with conservative publisher Jameson Campaigne, in Ottawa, Illinois, when I asked him if he golfed. He said something like: “Are you kidding? I’m a conservative, not a Republican.”
Make of it what you will.

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i agree, bushism and republicanism is a form of lightly veiled progressivism toward a christian theocracy. conservativism is the opposite of progressivism.

Most expensive sandwich in London goes on sale – UK News Headlines – Life Style Extra:

“Even if I had a pension as big as Tony Blair’s I wouldn’t spend it on an £85 sandwich.”

20 Reasons, 1 Cause:

10 Action Strategies for Eliminating NCLB
Hold a public forum in your community to explore and explain these points.
Organize community and neighborhood potluck dinners with teachers and parents to talk together about how NCLB is affecting children and school.
Persuade your organizations to pass resolutions calling for the repeal of NCLB based on these points.
Collect signatures on a Petition to Eliminate NCLB based on these 20 points. Publicize your results in the local media and send copies of resolutions and petitions to your local and federal elected officials.
Write letters-to-the-editor and op-ed pieces for your local and regional newspapers, making these points.
Get your local school board to pass a resolution or hold a community forum about eliminating NCLB.
Contact your U.S. senators and representatives about eliminating NCLB: Call them, write or email them (send these points and other information), and set up meetings with them in your district (bring a group of children).
Contact your state legislators to enlist them in the effort to eliminate NCLB; get state legislatures to pass resolutions.
Parents: Join the NCLB-mandated Parents Advisory Board at your child’s school. Bring the 20 Reasons to Eliminate NCLB to begin a dialogue.
Organize a public protest or march on test days or days given over to test preparation.

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NCLB is emblematic of the current administration it tries to fix something by making it worse. It doesn’t encourage learning or critical reasoning, it encourages rote memorization and teach to the test. Something has to be done. Here are some sugestions

Orchestra:

UNESCO’s Basic Texts on the Information Society:

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some interesting key unesco texts.

ABC News: Bush said to authorize leak of Iraq intelligence:

Apr 6, 2006 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush authorized
the leak to the media of classified material about Iraq, a
former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney said according to
court papers filed by prosecutors and made public on Thursday.
The aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, also testified that he was
specifically directed by Cheney to speak to the media about the
intelligence information and about Joseph Wilson, a former
ambassador who had criticized Bush’s Iraq policy, according to
the papers.

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breaking news eh… i would say this is broken news.