PearlStone

Pre-Vannevar

From Boxes and Arrows, an article on Paul Otlet, the "forgotten forefather of information architecture".

On our way, to a life-scholar's workstation, to a "Universal Book"....

(cross-posted at Memesphere)

The Cost of Metadata

Tracking Tim Bray's comments from the Shirky flap led me to an earlier post of his, the essence of which I'd noted to myself while reading Clay's article. It's an idea that has been said before: markup (metadata) that matters enough will work (be produced / used)....

But how much is enough to matter?

I see it in the ResumeBlog project - moving folks to simply open their resume / career content to the web via blog post is much harder than it would seem for some...(and we're working on why...)

Call it a metadata potential well....

Transcontinental Railroads and the Semantic Web

Danny Ayers et al. respond to Clay Shirky's latest on the Semantic Web (Jay Feinberg has a pretty decent link collection and so does Library Planet)....

Although Promontory, Utah (Point?, Summit?) is awaiting a new virtual spike, I suppose some other middle space / application set / date will do for both the top-down and bottom-up Semantic Web workforce....

Bottom-Up As A Cardinal Virtue

"...protestations of love, checksummed or no, are not to be taken at face value..."

Clay Shirky's latest missive on why the Semantic Web is coming, but not necessarily from the direction some would think....

(You ++) + (Me ++) = (We++)

...or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mesh".

Article in the UK Guardian yesterday on William Mitchell's new book, Me++.

The yin and yang of observer / observed is a reality of living within your networks...

Buildout

Working on TypeLists and the like - tidying up the place, new coat of paint.... Target: next Monday

The New Kid

After percolating for what seems a(n Internet) lifetime, I've got something to...well, at the very least, I've got people to point at and ideas to mesh.

I've met some through observing and participating in the Dean Campaign.

I've connected with others through my participation with the ResumeBlog project.

I've found neighbors knitting social networks and others working to monetize them.

I fully agree with Sir Canter and Dave Weinberger that the time is now: count me in...as a newbie, looking for a niche.