Links for 2007-05-29
May 29th, 2007-
“edit photos the easy way, online in your browser” – full of ajaxy goodness, very sophisticated tool
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“Each sector of these piecharts is proportional to the area of the colour on the respective flag”
Links for 2007-05-27
May 27th, 2007-
500 years of female portraits in Western art (moprhing)
Links for 2007-05-25
May 25th, 2007-
a community for teens sponsored by a library association
Links for 2007-05-24
May 24th, 2007-
“Can an elderly father give police permission to search a password-protected computer kept in his adult son’s bedroom, without probable cause or a warrant? In April, a three judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said yes.”
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The Make-A-Wish Foundation and Blizzard Entertainment help a grade schooler become the first outsider to create a new character in World of Warcraft
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users report more spam in their inboxes, but fewer people than before seem to be bothered by it
Links for 2007-05-23
May 23rd, 2007-
(New York Times) fun article about Dan Ryan’s work about notification
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see whether the person has any of your photos favorited
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see the history in Explore of the photo being viewed
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“Whatever flaws he has, Gore suffered through an extreme injustice with great dignity. His revenge is to have been right about a lot of things: right about the power of the Internet, right about global warming and right about Iraq.”
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sad and scary
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interesting idea, amazing that someone took the time to follow through
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(CNN Money) – getting rich through domain name speculation
Do you have email filters set up for some friends?
May 22nd, 2007John Tierney has a piece in the NYTimes about Dan Ryan‘s work concerning the sociology of notification and information dissemination among friends and acquaintances (based on Dan’s recent article in Sociological Theory).
I saw Dan give a talk on this recently and it’s a really fun and interesting topic. His work makes you think about things like why/when it is and is not appropriate to use cc vs bcc on emails, the proper order in which we should notify various people in our networks about certain types of updates, what medium is suitable for what types of material, etc.
The NYTimes piece specifically mentions the idea of setting up email filters for some friends. I must admit that I have filters set up for all sorts of people. I tend to do it by type of person (as in type of network) more so than by specific individual, although the latter idea isn’t foreign to me either.
As someone who studies savvy with IT, I consider the thoughtful use of email filters an important part of skill in how we interact with IT. Email filters are increasingly important for being able to manage the amount of material that comes our way via that particular medium.
[Thanks to Steve Mintz for alerting me to this piece.]
UPDATE: I forgot to post a link to Dan’s blog about the Sociology of Information. Check it out for more goodies.
Links for 2007-05-22
May 22nd, 2007-
(Foreign Policy)
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(BBC) yay, good to know, I drink a ton of tea (although article doesn’t address whether decaf matters)
Five years of blogging
May 21st, 2007My fifth blogiversary was almost two weeks ago and I nearly missed it. I think when I came on sabbatical my blogging went on one as well even though I’ve tried to stay on the scene to some extent.
Looking back, I can tell I was an early adopter, because in my first post, I felt the need to explain what a blog is.
People often wonder when (if ever) is a good time to start blogging. I’ve decided that graduate school was the perfect time. While the following is nearly impossible to appreciate when you’re still in grad school, I know it now: you honestly will never have as much free time as you do when you’re in graduate school. Granted, I was in a cushy position of not having to teach so that experience won’t generalize completely. Nonetheless, the number of obligations that follow once you’re in a faculty position makes it a more daunting undertaking later. (I guess perhaps blogging during a post-doc may also work well assuming that the post-doc experience happens before one gets a faculty position.)
I sometimes look back with longing on the topics I covered during the first year. They seem more interesting than what I get around to writing up these days. It’s not that I don’t think about an equal number of random and intriguing issues, I just don’t find the time to construct blog posts about them. I also wonder if size of audience influences what I blog about and how often. Perhaps one is more hesitant with some topics when blog posts go out to a large number of people instantly, the latter thanks to RSS, also not something one considered back in the “old days”.
One of the most amusing outcomes of a post during the first year of my blogging had to do with the movie Chicago. I wrote a few brief comments about it including a critique of a very annoying movie mistake. For some reason (different search algorithms at work at the time favoring blog posts perhaps a bit too much), my entry came up very high in the results on Google in response to a search on movie chicago. And when I say very high, I mean that it was the first hit on Google having to do with the movie! I got tons of visitors many of whom disagreed with my dislike of the movie and weren’t too shy to tell me. I ended up disabling the comments on the blog it got so ridiculous.
By September, 2003 I joined Crooked Timber. Thanks to the folks there who invited me and allowed me to reach a larger number of readers. It’s been a blast. Thanks VERY much to you, dear reader for making this a worthwhile activity. I don’t know if I would’ve kept it up for five years without, what has mostly been, valuable feedback. I’ve met some great people through this activity and have learned a ton, so I thank you!
Links for 2007-05-19
May 19th, 2007Social aspects of search engines
May 18th, 2007For your weekend reading pleasure: the special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication I edited on The Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Search Engines is out. The Introduction gives you the motivation for this collection and a summary of the pieces. From the Abstract:
Search engines are some of the most popular destinations on the Web—understandably so, given the vast amounts of information available to users and the need for help in sifting through online content. While the results of significant technical achievements, search engines are also embedded in social processes and institutions that influence how they function and how they are used. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication explores these non-technical aspects of search engines and their uses.
Enjoy!
Links for 2007-05-18
May 18th, 2007-
poster calling on people to “report and deport all illegal aliens”
Random thought: May is not a good time to play Christmas music
May 17th, 2007I use Yahoo! Music for most of my music-listening at work. I like the service and at $60 for two years (they had a special when I signed up, the regular now is $72/year) it’s a great deal. [UPDATE: Corrected cost, I had remembered incorrectly.]
The system allows you to customize various stations by giving it feedback about what songs and artists you like. It’s a helpful feature, for the most part. But I think services like this might want to tweak the system so certain songs are kept off playlists at certain times of the year. I am not suggesting that they should be banned, of course, but perhaps not streamed unless sought out actively by the user.
I may like Boney M, but I really have absolutely no interest in listening to a Christmas song from them in the middle of May.
This reminds me of the dance club I used to go to in Budapest when I was in high school. One of the most popular Jive songs at the club was Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree . It was very bizarre to listen to it over and over again in June.
Links for 2007-05-17
May 17th, 2007-
interesting that Hungary is not on the top list
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guidelines for what to include in publications (published in JAMA)
Links for 2007-05-16
May 16th, 2007-
tons of history resources
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Your family photos could get you arrested. Just ask one New Jersey grandmother.
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(and I don’t even like Salsa)
Links for 2007-05-13
May 13th, 2007-
Wired article from 2001 quoting then FCC chair Michael Powell re a Mercedes divide
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interesting little game
Links for 2007-05-12
May 12th, 2007-
article about Friday Night Waltz in the Bay area; fun event
Links for 2007-05-11
May 11th, 2007-
amazing spce images
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see how many people are getting sick with various symptoms in your area
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find others for commuting
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from the American Society of Media Photographers
Links for 2007-05-10
May 10th, 2007I guess I could be offended..
May 9th, 2007.. but actually I find this pretty funny:
(From yesterday’s Bay area NYTimes.)
Links for 2007-05-09
May 9th, 2007-
some data tidbits about the world (mainly focusing on IT, knowledge, jobs)
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if simply recording a music segment using the record function of the Treo is too much for you then here’s an app that will help you create ringtones for your palm Treo
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the newest SNS craze?