Sad to say my last full day with Mum was difficult for her because she's really not very well at all. It was great that she met my dear friends, Liz and Melissa and my little Godson, Ethan, but I could see she was just not well today and had to lie down. Again it was fabulous later in the day for her to meet up with her friend, Jackie, and it was even better that she was able to eat a little and gain some energy, but I would have loved to take her shopping and out for dinner tonight but that just wasn't an option - she is now in bed with a dreadful headache. *vibes to you, Mum*. I'm so sorry you've been so unwell. And I do hope that returning home to Melbourne tomorrow will be okay for you. It's been wonderful having you with me, and I appreciate all you've done for me whilst you've been here.
Tonight I hope the weather will be fine enough to attend the Australian Ballet performing my old signature work, Paquita, at the City Botanical Gardens River Stage here in Brisbane. I'm dressed for it - entirely wrapped in body-hugging black. It's fabulous how geek and dance fashion collide this way.
For links continue reading....
On the links front, E-Media tidbits are questioning whether the internet can influence election results. Rather interesting given Gary Hart's (now withdrawn) presidential candidacy and blog. Gizmodo sent me to the coolest gesture based mouse-replacement, as well as the new fashion in wearable WiFi. And The Australian provides the latest tech news from Asia: 4 "internet dissidents" gaoled in China, and the Asian Wireless LAN market growing to US$800 million by 2007.
My poor mother has come down with something while she is on holiday here in Brisbane. She's having a miserable time and is stuck home in bed. Still the weather is pretty miserable here at the moment and I have to teach till late tonight so I guess she's not missing much.
Just the one link today to an article in Wired News on the forthcoming changes to search engines, in response to papers delivered at the International WWW Conference held in Budapest this year. Right now these changes are based on increasing speed of response and accuracy of information, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that hierarchical systems will need to be put in place.
I'm a veritable gift and production machine today and yesterday. Nice to feel productive.
I do have some links for people today though...
In the interest of keeping up-to-date with happenings in the digital world, I offer this review of the Matrix phone which seems to agree with my earlier gut response that the phone was cool hardware but short on features.
Also, I'm interested in the emergence of the visual blogging interface, my-expressions.com. Photo-blogging has been hot since the Iraq war, but whether it has the same kind of power as a written blog I rather doubt. Very few people can really express something with a picture, regardless of the old adage about a picture's worth. That's why photography is art. Don't get me wrong - I think there's a place for photo-blogging. I just don't think it's going to attract the same kind of numbers as text-based blogging.
E-Media Tidbits is reporting on the latest Forrester Research on broadband, saying that consumers are more interested in basic boadband than advanced features brioadband services. As with everything else, we consumers like to get a lot and pay a little. I really don't know why this surprises research firms.
I'm highly amused that the US intends to charge Australia for use of its bombs in the recent Iraq conflict. Or at least I was amused until it was clear who would be footing the bill.
For my students, Metafilter has recently provided this link to the most recent (and accurate) list of TLDs (Top Level Domains).
And on a lighter note, I *really* love this T-Shirt from Think Geek.
In my latest Livejournal entry I refer to Jeremy Zawodny's prediction about the death of pagerank, the technology that produces Google responses. The idea is interesting for its implications, if not for its imminence.
On a lighter note, I rank as a 75% e-bore on this survey.
News on the unit is that it has been withdrawn from sale. *shrug* Well that's good news I guess. I'll still keep looking around in the meantime.
News on this blog - have checked briefly through Stephen Dann's links and some look interesting - particularly the blogosphere story. An example of post-modernism in action, blogging about blogging research about blogging is about as reflexive as you can get, and the content isn't bad either.
Students are contacting me in droves about annotated bibliographies I have set as an assignment in one of the units I am teaching in this period. I'd like to use this opportunity to direct students to this site on annotated bibliographies, and to this slightly shorter guide. Of course, my students are writing much longer annotations, but the purpose and process of writing annotations is clear in these sites. Hope that helps, folks.
In other news, I really must buy the latest Linkin Park album and the soundtrack to Matrix Reloaded.
Yes I did it. I managed to stay away from internet cafes and did not bring my laptop with me, so the most technologicaly advanced piece of equipment I had with me was my mobile, and that was useless for much of my trip as the Daintree Rainforest, Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation don't have mobile phone reception.
The trip was wonderful, tours fabulous and the mozzies were fierce (particularly at Mossman Gorge where I forced Mum to go on a 2km hike through rough terrain and across a very shaky suspension bridge). Will go into details later, but just wanted to post to say 'hi, I'm home'.
Thanks to Dr Stephen Dann for guest blogging while I was away. Only 3 posts? You surprise me. Either you were too bored to blog or you found the whole bit about posting links of interest and discussions a bit hard to sustain. Anyway - thanks for your posts and I strongly advise you follow AJF's advice if you want a client-based blogging system inside of MT. I still maintain the interface for MT absolutely eclipses LJ.
In other news I think my flat may have sold. The agents have removed the sale sign. Now all I have to wait for is an eviction notice.
I noticed that Jo rarely blogs on Saturdays, but hey, I'm having to give the site back tomorrow, so my last post is a quick bout of link spotting.
I picked this story through BoingBoing (as Jo and I do), and it's an interesting continuation of the analysis of the blog as a system of communication (it's a diffusion of innovations model in action if anyone other than me really cares about those, I can wax lyrical over in my own journal about it). The story basically looks at what the authors call the "blogosphere story"
Each weblog post is not meant to be a complete story in itself, but rather is part of a larger story that develops across a number of weblogs and other information sources to build what we call a blogosphere story.
What jo will do with this story and her current work is going to fascinate me, but my commentary on it is relatively straight forward. Some picks the innovation, (first post! first post!), then others (early adopters - eg Slashdot/BoingBoing) post positive and negative responses - which are read by the early majority (ie the bulk of the people like me and jo) who post up what we think on our blogs, and eventually the cycle lands into the decline point where someone does a wrap up summary of the various points.
To me it's not really that much different that tracking film reviews and how film critics follow consistent patterns across their love/loathing depending on how other critics first portrayed the movie. Jo will have a totally different take on it, I suspect, and I look forward to the livejournal debate some time on Tuesday :)
So, today's the last business day for my blogging on Jo's behalf, and thus, I come to these conclusions.
In review of the blog that was...
* News to break on a friend's site: Word is out that the long awaited Dann and Dann Introduction to Marketing textbook has hit the presses as of Tuesday. Physical copies are forthcoming.
* Movie Reviews: I saw Phonebooth last night, and I do recommend watching it, and I think watching it on the big screen with the big surround sound is a very good idea. Colin Farrel should provide a nice amount of visual feasting as well. He's a rather good actor, and certainly easier on the eye than 80 something minutes of Tom Cruise.
* Links and related internet eventualities: I now own a physical copy of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and it's surprisingly small. 200 pages and reasonably large text face at that. I no doubt I shall loan it to Jo at some point. I also now own a copy of Jennifier Government , the site that spawned the popular "Nationstates" site. One day I hope to read these books, but for now, it's nice to know that I own them (and yes, Jo and Liz, you can borrow both of them)
Interestingly enough, Max Barry (Jennifier Government's author) is based in Melbourne, and chances are, Jo's probably met him.
* Moveable Type may suit Jo, but I miss the Livejournal client interface functionality. I have a preference for client software ahead of web page input.
* Not a lot else happened really. It's been fun, and see Jo, I did behave myself.
$
My selection of the links of the day.
* Technology to glow for....glowing cloth
Luminex, Light Emitting Fabric (Thanks to Boing Boing). The animated flash presentation is very nice.
* Limited news of a new bit of Neil Gaiman work to pursue
Three pages from the forthcoming 1602 comic (courtesy of the Gaiman blog)
* Kitty Project
No, it's not that. It's a portable input device to allow for keyboard free typing. I'm interested in the application of Kitty to air guitar / air piano technology as well as standard keyboard input.
And the long one at the end...(with bonus commentary)
Sesame Street breaks Iraqi POWs (spotted on the
...Uncooperative prisoners are being exposed for prolonged periods to tracks by rock group Metallica and music from children's TV programmes Sesame Street and Barney in the hope of making them talk....
so...first Bert sides with Osama, and the war in Afghanistan is over quickly...then Elmo teams with Saddam...where's Big Bird working these days? If the Saudi Royal Family has acquired a 7 foot yellow political advisor, can it only be a matter of time before there's another regime change?
I also wonder if the US Army got the Metallica tracks from Napster. That said, it gets worse (or better if you're me)...
"In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney "I Love You" song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again," one US operative told the magazine.
So...come the time the US Army takes me prisoner, my love of awful music will save me during the torture of endless listens to cartoon themes and "Best of the Spice Girls". So remember, if you're going against the US, listen to heavy metal, love Barney, and.... well.... go hire some teenagers to do your work for you. They probably can handle this stuff better than we could any day.
I'm heading up to Tropical Far North Queensland (Port Douglas) for the next four days to take in the glorious sunshine and celebrate my mother's birthday. Dr Stephen Dann will be your host until I return and I very much hope he will behave himself in the role. (No-one can say I'm not optimistic.)
*hugs to my friends* and *waves* to my students, colleagues and contacts.
See you all next week.
And no, I don't plan to bring back fish (regardless of the subject line for this post).
:-)
Joanne
On a suggestion from yours truly, Jo has gracefully allowed me to be the guest blogger for her site during her absence over the next few days.
So whilst Jo and her mother enjoy a relaxing vacation, I can be posting on her webpage.
She was planning a relaxing break wasn't she?
Dr Stephen Dann
(guest blogger)
Brisbane has been 30° for the last couple of days, with blue skies and humid mornings and evenings. Perhaps it's someone up there trying to aclimatise me to Cairns and Port Douglas in a couple of days' time :-)
Links for today include:
Tiny bluetooth enabled LCD screens for glasses (Thanks Gizmodo);
UK plans for interactive television (BT report) (Thanks E-Media Tidbits);
China Internet operator jailed (Thanks Smart Mobs);
and Popdex goes into beta release (Thanks Boingboing).
People, people learn to code!!! I have spent the morning looking at government and private sites pertaining to communications policy on an international basis, and have found the most abysmal HTML in existence. Why is it that people feel that an "under construction" sign or a side note on "work in progress" is an excuse for making content unreadable?
I suspect part of the problem is using template systems driven by servers where the content creator does not have control over the layout and design. This is why I maintain absolute control over my interfaces. Even here in Movable Type, I control the template for output. And I don't *let* it be globally visible until it is properly readable. It's also why, IMHO, the interfaces for blogger.com and Livejournal.com (among others) suck in comparison with a server-controlled interface.
It's times like these that I wish someone would direct a DoS attack to the servers where such poor coding occurs. My students who have never created websites before do a better job, primarily because they don't seek to pack their pages full of irrelevant junk. In sites that purport to be about communication, it's absolute farce.
On that note, I proffer a link I was reminded to explore this morning when my friend, Liz, asked a coding question: Jakob Nielsen's Use it! site. More government sites in particular should read the advice therein. Please.
So is Zion the real world, or just another construct?
Arguments from people who have seen Reloaded only, please. (I'm not being a snob; I'm trying to avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen the latest chapter.)
Matrix was immersive. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) the vast majority of ideas, symbols and theories will either shoot straight past people's heads, totally unnoticed, or will be too difficult for them to understand. If you are planning on going and are not aware of chaos theory and epistemological theories of being, then do some research. Many of the longer conversations about faith, life, programming and destiny will be too difficult for you to follow without substantial research. You'll end up being bored or frustrated.
Of course, for those who do miss the references or misunderstand the philosophical questions, there's always the outfits and the fight scenes - and these are visually superb.
As a devotee of intelligent debate, as well as an appreciator of cinematography, choreography, post-modernist negotiation of identity and sheer beauty, I was delivered a film that simultaneously overloaded the senses, and stimulated ideas and debate. Guess who is pretty damn happy? :-)
Thanks to Liz for coming with me. Was good to have you there Liz :-)
Flat battery on my car. Public transport here I come.
With a little over 13 hours to go till the opening, the final set of Matrix-rich links today are to a few reviews. I warn readers that if they want to avoid spoilers, they might just want to read what I have to say here and come back and read the articles after seeing the flick.
The Reuters (UK) review is critical of the film's sense of its intertextuality. I'm sure the intellectually challenged may find a digression into philosophy in this film as an impediment to narration. Fortunately, most fans of the Matrix culture have a brain and are products of the post-modern condition, so therefore enjoy playing with symbolism and ideas. I rather suspect that the wonderful detective work that we literature students loved in the works of Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose), Thomas Pynchon (Gravity's Rainbow) and William Gibson (Neuromancer) - not to mention filmic texts of Blade Runner, Starship Troopers and Gattica - will be admirably satisfied by such digression in this film.
The Star Tribune's review is pretty much what you'd expect from the Tribune - full of "ooh wow so cool" stuff, but it does at least have the more logical comment, saying that the new characters are underdeveloped. Well that makes sense. They don't really feature in this film, but feature much more in the next.
Finally at a local level, Melbourne's Herald Sun review is glowing in its praise, whilst also recognising that the unanswered question - What is the Matrix? - is still a mystery we are all trying to solve.
Welcome to post-modernism, readers. Following the vague and often contradictory clues to the text in order to reach a reading is what it's all about.
:-)
My friend Melissa has asked myself and our two other friends from the fabulous No Lives Club (Raechel and Liz) to be godmothers to her little boy, Ethan. I'm so excited! :-) My first Godchild - wow!
A veritable flood of research-related interesting bits and pieces turned up on E-Media Tidbits today. Firstly, the European Commission has released a program on safer internet use. This model may well be adopted by Australia, as this country has a long history of promoting "safe" use of the internet by children, and has decried the proliferation of content that would otherwise be regarded as x-rated or banned classification (if in printed material format). What will be interesting is if such a program were adequately funded to deal with spam issues, foreshadowed in a recent post of mine. While I advocate the idea of some centralisation of information content controls, I think it's essential that the process is managed in a way that allows for voluntary submission.
Then Google has released its Australian news portal. I'll be interested to see how much of that portal is drawn from existing Australian media sources and how much from blogs. I suspect very little will be drawn from blogs.
Finally in a realisation of the oft-touted rise of digital paper (researched for some time by the Massachussetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab), E-Ink have announced their development of flexible e-paper, and the idea is discussed in an article in Wired.
As the countdown continues, thanks go to Slashdot for the thought provoking article on the religious interpretations of the Matrix. I've continued with my interpretation of Matrix philosophy in the extended entry.
The second Matrix-related link is regarding the infamous easter eggs all over the site. This is an old link but some of the eggs still work. And there's another site that does something similar.
FWIW, I tend to be of the opinion that when Neo is unplugged from the matrix, he is released from the illusion of reality that religion provides - a distinctly atheistic notion. I'm not an atheist, and I still think there is a strong degree of mythology and fundamentalism in the Matrix films, but rather than perceiving being unplugged from the matrix as salvation, I see it rather as a gruelling loss of faith in commonly held (and preached) beliefs, and the birth of individual control over one's own destiny. That still requires faith, but not the preached faith of one savior, or one set of scriptures. Instead it is the faith in humanity and the strength of a champion to fight for the greater good. Neo is actually expendable - once he saves Zion (even with the religious overtones of that location intact). As Morpheus is quoted as saying from the shorts of the next chapter, "What if, tomorrow, the war could be over? Isn't that worth fighting for? Isn't that worth dying for?". All are expendable, and the individual power, strength of salvation of Neo is merely a means to an end of greater good. It is not that Neo should be worshipped as a Christ-figure, but that humanity has the strength (invested in the efforts of a commando group and technological fighting power of one man) to overcome its own sins - the machines.
Yes I enjoy reading film as text.
As the time for the release of the second installment of the Matrix trilogy draws ever closer, the merchandising and misinformation is worthy of its own chronicle. Today I offer one merchandising and one misinformation site. The merchandise is the Samsung Matrix Phone which I reckon is pretty tacky but will probably sell like hotcakes. The misinformation site is the 50 Reasons to Reject The Matrix site - which *IS* a parody, folks. Some people think it's real. Somehow it didn't twig that a website called "Pointless Waste of Time" might be a parody site, or that there was anything remotely suspicious about the email address for "Dr Albert Oxford" actually redirecting you to David Wong's email address. *sigh-some-people-are-painfully-slow*
Links of interest today include the Weblogs Strategies for Business Conference being held next month. I have mentioned this before, but students have reminded me that I have not posted the link to the subject site so I have posted it here as a backup. Cory Doctorow makes some inciteful points in this rant about service agreements. I don't think I mentioned last week that Salam Pax (the Iraqi blogger) is back to blogging. New Scientist is questioning the need for 3G mobile communications as a means of launching the video mobile telephony market. And finally, Microsoft is beginning to sit up and take notice of blogs.
I'd also like to thank those students who have contacted me in the past week to provide personal feedback on subjects I am teaching or have taught in the previous teaching period. It really is most gratifying to receive such fabulous (and constructive) comments about my classes. Thanks for enjoying it.
Music is always good for the soul. It's probably a bad sign that I have spent the last few days listening to classical music, but there are times when music really helps.
Just wanted to wish my Mum a very Happy Mother's Day today. Hope you're having a good day. I miss you and am looking forward to seeing you for your birthday at least in a couple of weeks.
I'd also like o wish a happy mothers' day to all my friends who have children, and a very special day to all the first time Mums out there. Mothers are very special people. All should be cherished.
I received an email this afternoon with the subject line "I have something for you". Surprisingly, the message wasn't spam. The body of the email said "Unfortunately it's a wireless LAN card."
*thwaps Kevin Smith playfully*
:-) Naughty, Kevin. A spanking may be required next time I see you. In the meantime I want my LAN card! Gimme Gimme :-)
My heart goes out to a very dear friend of mine, who was given the awful news today that she has MS.
To the woman in question, I hope you know I love you dearly and if you need to talk, I'm here for you. Please give my love to your gorgeous little girl, and take a lot for yourself. We'll help you get through this, hon.
*sustaining vibes*
I'm presently setting up the MBA Blog for the Brisbane Graduate School of Business. Should be fun to have that running. It's interesting to have multiple authors to a weblog. Important to manage editing rights well but that's fairly straight-forward with Movable Type. I'm constantly amazed at the power of this interface. Really fantastic thing that the authors have developed.
In the meantime, I'm listening to Hilary Hahn playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major. I just love this piece. And Hahn is probably the most exquisite performer in the world today. Go out and buy her stuff. She rocks.
14 hour days in the office certainly sharpen the senses.
Perhaps more interestingly, Apple have announced that sales from the iTunes store topped a million in the first week. So digital music sells? Who would have thought it? Also, Disney are breathing new life into (now old) digital television technology of datacasting, mobile and WiFi network integration is being tested in the US, and smart carpet is being produced.
Here in Australia, the Minister for Communications Information Technology and the Arts has released his vision of current communications policy issues at the Australian Broadcasting Authority Conference in Canberra (thanks to Stephen Dann for the link), and the future of new technology research and development is being unveiled at CeBIT.
Busy day.
Winter seems to have arrived in Brisbane. It got to a top temperature of just 21° today and spent most of the day at around 18-19°C. I'm responding in kind, with jumpers, long sleeves and stockings and thick socks. And my oil heater has been running today. Whacko the electricity bills!
It's the May Day holiday here in Queensland; the traditional Labour Day, celebratuing the success of the long-fought battle of labour unions against employers who had previously demanded unreasonably long working hours. May 1 is only the nominal date when 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation and 8 hours of sleep was accepted as a reasonable working day, but it's the most broadly recognised date in the world, and this historically is associated with 1 May 1884 as the day upon which there began a general strike in the US that eventually brought about the 8 hour work day there. The US was generally behind Australia on this issue as the first 8 hour day marches were held here 19 years before that strike in 1865. Australia has a proud tradition of the union movement, and has done many good things in support of the Australian worker. Nevertheless, I'm spending this Labour Day working my usual 10 hour day. Go figure.
However, I am grateful for the little things. It's cool here in Brisbane, but not too cold - a fresh 18°C, heading for a top of 24°C. Much better than 9.2°C in Melbourne.
Oh and I'm grateful that some people have read the Whuffie discussion. 9 people anyway. ;-)
I have been somewhat remiss in not informing people about the academic discussion of the concept of whuffie that was carried on a few weeks ago between myself and Dr Stephen Dann. The discussion took place over a series of emails, but I decided to enter the majority of the discussion on a website of its own. This way we could let the author of the original concept, Cory Doctorow, a regular blogger at Boingboing, know of the issues at stake. I'm open to feedback on this discussion and will be happy to add others' comments and arguments to this discussion over time. I still have a couple of emails to add to it, but as with everything else online, it's a work-in-progress. Doctorow was fascinated by the discussion so far, and seems keen to keep up with such a discussion, so if you want your 2 cents worth, please feel free to comment.
After two weeks of blissful quiet, we had an attack of the bumps at 12:40am last night - earlier than usual but still the very distinctive banging - this time in six beats; an isoltaed incident but one which woke us all up (I had been alseep less than an hour). The neighbours came out as promised and a discussion ensued. Nothing could be found but there was the sound of possums running across the roof anyway a little later. And a single crash another hour after I went back to bed, I assume was just another possum. But the weird thing is that earlier in the evening I had heard noises that sounded like water being turned on and off in the plumbing - the light sound of the pipes changing pressure as someone turns a faucet off. Only it was happening too frequently for someone to really be using the pipes. Little noises were happening all the time as I listened (rather carefully) around 10pm. It's the kind of sound that might be heard if something heavy were climbing up a series of pipes and changing the weight bearing in various pipes.
So the mystery remains, and we are going to have a residents' meeting on the issue in the coming days. We may well have to put spikes down on the roof. If it is just what I was originally told - a pack of rats lifting and slamming the metal roof to enter or exit the building - then we probably also need to consider silicone sealing the roof to ensure it doesn't happen again.
I like some of the things my mother says to me. In addition to the couple of live-to-air phone interviews I've done for Queensland and Canberra radio in the past few days, I was interviewed for the AM (ABC Radio Morning News) program a couple of days ago but the interview did not air. I haven't really had a chance to listen anyway because I have been too busy, but here is what Mum said in response to the situation:
Well I heard AM yesterday and today - you were not on. DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR DAY JOB. I think you have been dumped.
*chuckle*
Thanks Mum. Good advice.
On other issues, my latest Livejournal piece considers the debate over professional writers and employees generally who also keep personal blogs.
I love watching the light come up at dawn. I basically do it because I wake up and figure it's too late to get back to sleep but hey.
Couple of amusing links: one comes from Boingboing and is the story of an Australian rabbit who has a fetish for cabling, and the other is the first of the many newspaper articles with suggestive titles on the public float of the Melbourne brothel, The Daily Planet.
In terms of issues, the social practices of blogging are discussed in the William Gibson interview in the Guardian newspaper (thanks Linkmachinego) and the New York Times have failed to realise the implications of churches installing wireless transmitters in steeples (for international readers, Australia has been doing this for years, and has dealt with community concern over radiation emissions from towers hidden in everything from church spires to palm trees. The community believe that feeling the power of God shouldn't send you sterile.)
X2 was fun. It wasn't scintillatingly marvellous but then I didn't expect it to be. Liz and I did the Movie-Meal deal at the pasta restaurant within the cinema complex at the Myer Centre, so the night was not too expensive ($18.90 for movie and dinner). Dinner consisted of a very tasty bowl of pasta and some yummy garlic bread, and we were able to supplement this with the musk sticks and soy choc present from Stephen during the film :-)
I've discussed elsewhere my response to the film, but special mention needs to be made about Nightcrawler - fabulous effects with that character - and of Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine), who once again proved that the only truly masculine men in cinema today are Australian
:-)