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August 28, 2007
My AI alterego
I'm currently training an AI version of me and I'm looking for volunteers to have a conversation with my cybertwin. I'm trying to teach it to behave like me so I can see just how much programming is needed to make it useful in commercial contexts. I suspect it's going to be worth the programming in the long term. This is not to say I'm trying to avoid conversation - I'm just looking for ways to realise the cloning ambition I've had for some time :)
So chat away! The more my cybertwin stuffs up, the sooner I can teach it to behave properly!
Posted by jj at 9:45 PM | Comments (2)
August 23, 2007
So very tired...
I'm working very long hours at present and sleeping probably less than I should, but life continues. Right now it's wet and chilly in Brisbane and I have managed to injure my toe rather badly (in that I cannot bend my toe to walk), but otherwise all continues well.
But I thought I'd share the following links as a 'best of' from my del.icio.us links lately, and from other trawling I have done. So whilst I have been quiet, rest assured I am still writing and reading in my 'space'.
- A timely warning from CNet on musicians' rights in 'light' of the license conditions set up at YouTube. While the internet video giant is unlikely to exploit the agreement, that back door is certainly open very wide indeed.
- Steve Rubel has an interesting article in MicroPersuasion on the concentration of media ownership in the Web 2.0 sphere, even as it expands. It may not be quite as significant an issue for consumer driven content channels as for mainstream media, but concentration of ownership in any sector can be dangerous for diversity.
- Nielsen Netratings have released a report demonstrating that use of the internet is shifting from communication to content. I think Doug Rushkoff might have a thing or two to say about this but even if the research doesn't necessarily say what Nielsen and its partners think it says, it does show that content is increasingly being used as a context for communication (something most commentators were saying 10 years ago).
- Over at RoughType, Nick Carr has had a go trying to explain what Web3.0 is and what it can do. It's probably accurate, and it certainly sounds a lot better than laying down our lives for our AI overlords under Web5.0.
- Also by Nick is the somewhat regrettably-titled 'The Ignorance of Crowds', in strategy+business magazine. The article is more about the limitations than the ignorance of crowds, but what it's useful for is in highlighting that large groups can create the kind of compexity that will foil the objectives of any management group. So never mind about corporate ideals for better engines or bigger profits; if you have a diverse group of people you are more likely to produce a money pit or an average, but accessible product. In this case, multi-disciplinary simply converts to megamediocre. So while Michael Fitzgerald over at Inc.com might have a few good ideas about using social networks to build your business, it may be worth thinking rather strategically and carefully about how these tools are used. You may well need to calculate the hours you are spending supposedly collaborating to make the business better by slowing regular productivity almost to a halt.
- Returning to the evil computer overlords idea though, Bob Cringely thinks the journey to the era of the Matrix is going to be extremely long and hideously difficult. Rather than Web5.0, I think Bob thinks it's more likely to be about Web3,497,864.0. He's probably closer than Carr in this prediction.
That's all for now. More perhaps tomorrow!
Posted by jj at 9:41 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2007
Blog Radio
Along with Mark Bahnisch and Nick Gruen, I'll be on Geraldine Doogue's Saturday Extra tomorrow, discussing the value of blogs as a space for considered debate (as opposed to a cathedral of the banal, as they are normally characterised).
Come along and join in on the subject in our respective blogs, as we are looking for instances of considered debate for the program!
EDIT: Some people have asked for my full list of preferred blogs in the business and educational sectors. I've included this in the extended entry....
JOANNE JACOBS' FAVOURITE BLOGS
On Line Opinion
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/
Larvatus Prodeo
http://larvatusprodeo.net.au/
News, current affairs and general interest
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/index.html
Business research blog:
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/toplevel/
Australian small business blog:
http://empowersolutions.com.au/blogger/theaustraliansmallbusinessblog.html
Analyst Equity (Analyst Relations blog)
http://analystrelations.blogspot.com/
Entrepreneur's Journey (Yaro Starak)
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/
And of course the standard Fairfax and NewsCorp business blogs associated with mainstream media sites - often containing content that doesn't appear or that is printed much later in printed articles (and often *after* receiving feedback through blogging communities).
Educational blogs:
http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/, http://incsub.org/blog/ and http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/ but I use http://edublogs.org/ as an index of educational blogs and search down that register as a means of finding quality debate on education.
Also use del.icio.us, technorati and digg with my own tags that I use to seek out information on topics of my specific interest such as social networking, web 2.0, open source, business strategy and so on. These are predominantly indexes of blogs to which people are *linking* thus active discussion is arising from the posts listed on these registers. This is my obsession.
Posted by jj at 2:38 PM | Comments (1)
August 6, 2007
Update on Work
Just to let you all know I'm not dead, and am flat out with client work at the moment. Thanks to all my clients for bearing with the changes to schedules lately and for keeping me on in spite of my rising workload.
In other news, I'm happily settled in New Farm now, and progressing on other opportunities. I'm very happy to pass over on Thursday week, the rather substantial amount of work I have done for the Rotary Club of Fortitude Valley where I have been Acting Club Services Director for the past two months. And I am progressing with programme development on the Brisbane Ideas Festival, to be held next March.
Life is busy and full. Stay tuned for more excitement as it comes to hand....
Posted by jj at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)