OCLC Research, the WorldCat folks, have created a neat-o mashup of Holiday terms, pie charts presented percentages of use and a search of the various resources as a kind of ChistMasH Card. Check it out.
Author: Paul (Page 30 of 146)
As the Foxboro Hot Tubs, Green Day has released six singles for download as mp3s. Their first new recorded music (except for their cover of Working Class Hero which is pretty wonderful) since 2004 (sez David).
Bora and about half of my Facebook friends alert us to the Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology.
Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing America and the rest of the world, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, we call for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy.
All is one comic strip of only 3 panels. Dagwood disses then gives into blogging thanks to the lure of pulled pork, the only true Q. (Thanks Ed)
Almost missed in reading through the NYTimes Magazine annual special ideas issue: Zygotic Social Networking or tying genetic testing results to social networking. The idea shared and exploited by Ancestry.com, GeneTree.com and startup 23andMe is that you can connect with people who are like you — at a DNA level of some sort. This takes friend-of-a-friend to a different depth. It also assumes that you will want to make friends or mate with someone a lot like yourself. So much for genetic diversity. Or will our already confusing diversity confound the companies who are building on research that is so new and undeveloped that the answers are only slightly more reliable than say a Chinese horoscope?
Yesterday’s News and Observer featured a nice long column (albeit a skinny one) discussing a conversation that the author, Dan Barkin, had with Fred Stutzman about Facebook usage. Because I had had an earlier coffee with Dan, ibiblio and I also get a mention, an honorable one. The article is a very good one despite that honor ;->
Marcella alerts us to an important conference upcoming in Cape Town this February, Designing Cute Interactive Media. I need to get a paper ready but the deadline is tight — they’re due December 31.
Cuteness is more that attractiveness, which my colleague Sri knows quite a bit about — to the point of reciting a bibliography on attractiveness and the media effect of the same whilst we stood on the steps this afternoon. Where attractiveness is an aesthetic value and perhaps even culturally bound, cuteness may be deeper in our genetic encoding as Lorenz points out. What that says about Japan’s complete embrace of cuteness as kawaisa, I’m not quite sure. But the cultural impact of the Japanese identity and connections to cuteness (kawaii) and innocence is undeniable.
How to generate a paper with some serious consideration of kawaii and interactivity? Suggestions welcomed.
Cuteness has an effective design philosophy that can be used in many areas to make emotionally engaging user interactive systems, as well as evaluate existing systems. Cuteness can also be included as an engineering design framework that can assist designers and engineers when creating engaging interactive systems that motivate the user in a happy, positive manner.
We look at a range of experiences involving the idea of “cuteness†and its related components. From a psychological standpoint, there are cues that are well known that are instilled in us at an instinctual level. An example is the features of babies that bring out a nurturing and adoration response. Measuring these reactions however is less discrete and is more qualitative in nature. From a cultural standpoint, the definition of how cute something is and what it drives the user to do in response is not yet fully explored.
The main goal of this workshop is to provide designers with a better understanding of developing ways to enhance the positive experience and effectiveness of interactive media by utilizing the psychological and culturally developed effects of cuteness. We would also like to explore a range of interactive experiences involving the idea of cuteness and examine the related components. Based on these experiences, the next generation user interfaces can be built to take advantage of the cuteness factor and its unique effects on the experience which can establish and maintain more meaningful relationships with the users and encourage happiness, self confidence, motivate the user to action, and provide overall positive experiences.
The winter is here in Chapel Hill, the first snow flakes fell and melted even before they touched the ground. But more tellingly, no coeds were wearing flipflops. The plastic shoes of summer have given way to Uggs. There has been an Ugg convergence on campus. More Uggs than Crocs. Crocs, the Uggs of summer!
Speaking of Uggs and other ugly mistakes, Mark Zuckerberg of FaceBook has had some ‘splainin’ to do. And though you might not like or agree with his explanation of Beacon and of FaceBook policy, he does step up and own up to the problem that Beacon has created with a blog post this morning Special upside of the post is that Mark has a link for opting OUT of Beacon!
In his Sunday NYTimes column “The People We Have Been Waiting For”, Tom Friedman rejoices in the role of Google and of MIT students in accelerating the work on energy problems and efficiencies. So far so good. Engineers see a problem and work on solutions whilst politicians argue. Each set doing what they are best at ;->
Friedman is especially intrigued by MIT’s Vehicle Design Summit where the “Linux of cars” may be being developed by distributed and social production. What Friedman loves most and what he uses to conclude his column is the VDS tag line “We are the people we have been waiting for.â€
Friedman doesn’t quite get the quote right and he doesn’t credit the author of the phrase “We are the people we have been waiting for.” She is the late poet June Jordan. The phrase “we are the ones we have been waiting for” from Poem for South African Women (1980) was picked up by many graduation speakers (I may use it myself) and others including most notably the singers Sweet Honey in the Rock who made the phrase into a song and Alice Walker who took the phrase as title for her most recent collection of essays (2006).
I’ll have to say I was somewhat surprised, yet satisfied, to see June Jordan’s words taken up by MIT students but surprised and unsatisfied that Friedman missed the travels for the phrase entirely.
More on Jordan who has had a school named for her at her website BTW the poem is there too.
LiveJournal moves to Moscow:
Six Apart sells LiveJournal to Moscow-based SUP. Will Friendster soon sell to a Sao Paulo firm?
Seasons Greetings from McGuinn:
Roger McGuinn posting before a visit to Utah offers “O Come All Ye Faithful” for the Christmas season. Camilla blogs about the Rolling Thunder Review.
Reputation Economics at Yale:
“Symposium on Reputation Economies in Cyberspace” this week, which I can’t make but hope to follow, has a great list of participants
Bob Young Explained:
Roger Martin of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business explains that makes Bob Young and Red Hat different thinkers and different actors in an excerpt from his “The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking” (Harvard, 2007).
Who Hates Tech?
PC World’s Mark Sullivan writes about The Most Anti-Tech Organizations in America. “These groups line up against tech interests in courtrooms and corridors of power across the country.”
I couldn’t make Congressman Brad Miller’s Blogger MeetUP at Milltown (between Carrboro and Chapel Hill) last night. But Seth Wright of the Daily Tar Heel was there and filed this report.
The School of Information and Library Science has a nice article about my trip to and lecture at K-State earlier this fall.
I’ll be delivering the graduation talk to the North Carolina State University Computer Science Department on December 19 at the Meymandi Concert Hall. I entered that Department when it was brand new in 1968. They took their first class in 1967 exactly 40 years ago.
Cristobal alerts us to a large fire burning now in Carrboro’s Ashbrook Apartments (google map) and points is to a brief Flickr stream of the fire as seen from a building across the creek.
This just in from CNet (full story here):
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the chairman of a House of Representatives Internet and telecommunications panel, is readying a new version of his Network Neutrality Act […]
Markey plans to introduce the new effort, which will “closely follow” the old one, during the next two to three weeks, shortly before Congress adjourns for the year, a spokeswoman told CNET News.com on Tuesday. Further action, including hearings, is expected in the new year.
[…]
Roger alerts us that the Wrecking Crew was just celebrated at the Musicians Hall of Fame Awards Show in Nashville. Story here.
I spent today in a series of interesting conversations. First with Historian of Science and Duke “recycle” Fellow Andrew Russell who works on the construction of standards for technologies. Later a lunch to talk about Media Law, Privacy, Defamation, and Libel and the like with Lolly Gasaway, Mike Kautsch, and Deb Aikat. And lastly (not counting email, phone and other discussions) a talk about Facebook and privacy and secrecy with Kelly Davies, a student doing social network research for a class in the J-school.
Although, I’m complaining a bit; this is the best part of my job. If the University is one long conversation, then I’m feeling a part of it all today. I get to listen to smart people thinking about a variety of issues and challenges — if I can keep my own mouth shut long enough ;->
Brian alerts us to this event that he will be co-hosting at the border of Chapel Hill and Carrboro on Thursday.
Join Rep. Brad Miller for a discussion hosted by Ruby Sinreich of OrangePolitics.org and Brian Russell of Yesh.com about the impact of blogging on today’s political environment.
When: Thursday, November 29, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Where: Mill Town Restaurant, 307 E Main St, CarrboroSuggested Donation: $10
Cash BarCongressman Brad Miller is currently serving his third term representing North Carolina?s 13th Congressional District. He has often blogged on many progressive sites, including the DailyKos and Blue NC. Congressman Miller serves on the House Financial Services Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, and Science and Technology Committee where he chairs the subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
RSVP by calling 919-834-2343 or e-mail andy@bradmiller.org or just stop by www.bradmiller.org
Took some time off the mainland and off the blog to spend on Ocracoke with friends who are now living on the island most of the year. We’ve been going down there since I was a kid. After about 2 decades off for bad behavior, Sally and Tucker and I started going down at Thanksgiving about 10 years ago. The brief report is that Ocracoke is as beautiful and as isolated as ever. Some things have changed this year.
Restaurants closed by Thanksgiving were: the Jolly Roger, Creekside, the Atlantic, Captian Ben’s, Flying Melon and the Mango Loco. Open were: Back Porch, Pelican (with a sparse winter menu), Thai Take Out, Pony Island (some meals), Jason’s, and Howard’s
At Howard’s, some changes notable — more tables and booths inside, games including the ring swing moved outside, pool table to the porch area, not open to 2 am any more and shocking to locals and regular visitors alike — Howard’s will close this winter! The reason ostensively is that all of the creek bridges to the north on the island will be replaced between December and January. Howard’s will use this time to remodel. But locals say that they fear that Howard’s will not longer be the community refuge and center of activity that it has been in the past.
The Ocracoke Coffee Shop however has filled the role as community center and it shows no sign of shutting down for winter or anything else.
On the beach with our friend, Peter, we discovered a young harbor seal pulling itself out of the surf. It let me get rather close before barking and striking at me. We were all looking to see if it was injured and later reported it to the rangers. This is the first seal that any of us had seen on the island. A couple of folks claimed to have seen one in the Sound many years back. Peter took some good pictures and will be publishing this one with a write up in the Ocracoke Observer’s next issue.
On the way to the Swan Quarter ferry in Hyde County, a bear lumbered across the road in front of us.
On the geekier side of things, we installed Damn Small Linux on an old Dell Pentium III for Michael, Peter’s son. We had to leave before getting gcc installed for him. That may be too great a challenge for a guy who has never used command line. I did download the *.deb files but I didn’t get any further.
I should write a whole separate entry on the wonderfully local and generally wonderful OcraFolk Festival fund-raiser especially Capt. Rob Temple’s piratical turn on “The Night Before Christmas”
Sally has a note and a sunset picture here.
Brett Bumgarner’s UNC Honors Thesis on the uses and gratifications of Facebook is now published on/at/by First Monday (Volume 12 Number 11 – 5 November 2007). This is a groundbreaking study with a very high N:
You have been poked: Exploring the uses and gratifications of Facebook among emerging adults
by Brett A. BumgarnerAbstract
The social networking site Facebook has become an inescapable phenomenon for college students, but little systematic research has studied why these students use Facebook. I conducted an online survey among Facebook users at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (N = 1,049) to examine why they use Facebook and how it fulfills their needs. The most prevalent use of Facebook was as a social activity – students reported using Facebook with friends to view and discuss other people’s profiles. Essentially, Facebook appears to operate primarily as a tool for the facilitation of gossip.
Note: Fred and I were Brett’s advisors. Jane Brown was the lead advisor and a great one.
Recent Comments