Kathie's PoliTech

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Art

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Across the sea

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Weezer symbol at "Tracy's," a long beach bar

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Vma

Radiohead

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Radiohead

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wabi sabi

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so good!

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my view

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Ashley Simpson

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where bella sleeps when I am gone

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my view right now

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crabs

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I like to eat crabs

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I want to know how people live with such hot weather when it's 70 and sunny in la

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OKC is SOO hot!

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E-voting Reports Identify Necessary Improvements

2005-10-05T10:49:00.000-04:00

Two independent articles, E-voting report could push audit trails (c|net), and E-voting experts call for revised security guidelines (The Register), describe the needs for vigorous improvements in the US electronic voting arena.

Between them, the articles describe efforts made and proposed to identify and correct problems with voting machine security, accuracy and precision, and to instill in the voting population the notion that such machines are trustworthy.

Anonymous Blogging for Political Dissidents

2005-10-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

Reporters sans Frontièrs has recently published a "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents". Not just another "This is what a 'blog' is and why it's all the rage", but an in-depth, technically fertile description of how to blog anonymously and get around [government] censors. Clearly aimed at people in environments of journalistic restrictions and/or monopolies, the 46-page [English] PDF is available in Engish, Spanish and French, and contains personal accounts from the US and around the world, as well as tips for covering your email trail.

Citizen Journalists at its Finest

2005-08-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

Now you can sell your camera phone pictures to the press! A media agency by the name of Scoopt has created a bridge between the average Jane cell phone photographer and the media.

Now anybody with a camera phone can sell their pictures to the press on the same terms as a professional photographer. Scoopt bridges the divide between the public and picture desk.

Next time you see something amazing, don’t call your friends first, take a picture instead and make some money.

Want to make your very own podcast?

2005-07-22T12:35:00.000-04:00

First, listen to Technology Review's first podcast on how to podcast and then create one using the beta version of Odeo (The software is not quite out yet, but if you email them and tell them what you want to podcast about, they will give you access to the beta version).

Beyond being just the best place to fulfill your listening needs, Odeo makes it easy for everyone to create and publish podcasts.—whether you're a professional broadcaster or just an individual with something to say. These tools
include:

Odeo Studio - A browser-based tool that makes it easy to record and publish audio. With the Studio, and a cheap microphone (or even the one built into your laptop), you have everything you need.
Phone Posting - If you can leave a voicemail, you'll be able to podcast, with Odeo's phone-posting service—a quick and easy way to put your voice on the web (and in people's
ears).
Feed Creation and Hosting - If you already have audio, and you just want to get it into podcasting form, Odeo provides the turnkey way to do that. Just upload your MP3s, and you're done.

RSS Feeds Must Be on Candidate Sites

2005-07-20T00:21:00.000-04:00

In class this evening, we had a few representatives from Campaign Solutions come speak. Though, I think they do well on their sites, I must say, I think they are completely missing the ball on RSS feeds for campaign sites, due to the simple fact they do not understand their value.

It does not matter how small your campaign is or how rare the news portion is updated, YOU NEED TO HAVE RSS FEED ABILITY ON YOUR CAMPIAGN SITE!

Speaker: We don’t put RSS feeds on our clients’ sites because most of our clients don’t update their news content often enough.

RSS feeds are essential for sites that do not update often. If you are not updating your site information daily I highly doubt you have people coming to your site on a regular basis. If you don’t have people coming to your site on a regular basis, many are missing your message when you finally do update your site. With an RSS feed you nullify this problem. As Aaron said:

Conventional web-publishing wisdom says that the way to grow and maintain your audience is to publish often. This is in part because people actually have to remember to visit your site... If all your readers are subscribed to your RSS feed, they don't have to remember to check your site.

Why make it hard on the user? Again, it is ALL about your user!

Speaker: Another reason we don’t do RSS feeds is because we want to bring people to our site instead.

You can set up your RSS feed to only show the title and the first sentence followed by an ellipsis. Interested readers are then required to click on the article, which takes them to your site, to continue reading.

RSS for your Mobile

2005-07-19T00:47:00.000-04:00

Too busy to sit in front of your computer every night and go through your RSS reader? Start sending your feeds to your mobile devices.

Here are a few readers:

49PM's NewsReader: Read any RSS or Atom newsfeed and view the photos formatted exactly to the size of your mobile display! You can save downloaded photos to your phone and show them to your friends later. And when you check a newsfeed, only the newest posts are downloaded. You can add any newsfeed you like, it'll even find the feed if you enter the web location of a weblog or newsfeed page.

Bloggo - an RSS feed reader for WAP 2.0-capable phones.

FoCuS - FoCuS extracts the newest published items from RSS feeds (through the corresponding URLs), and displays them to the user. FoCus is fully compliant to RSS 2.0 specifications, up to 8 feeds storable, automatic buffering of downloaded items, and it
supports both English and Italian.

FreeNews - delivers the essentials of the world wide web directly to your mobile phone. Using RSS, FreeNews gathers the information you care about from the web, putting it on your phone so you can read it anywhere, anytime.

i-feed.de - collects newsfeeds and provides content specific rendering of nearly all types of devices such as mobile phones (WAP or i-mode), PDAs or webbrowsers.

LiteFeeds - provide custom mobile RSS readers for any Java Phone/SmartPhone, Blackberry, Palm or PocketPC which synchronizes with your online subscriptions. New features include : viewing full text articles (not just RSS), viewing Flickr/Buzznet images, and the ability to clip articles to your online clipboard and share it as an RSS feed.

Mobile RSS Reader - allows you to read RSS feeds with your mobile phone. The service includes a downloadable application for your mobile phone and a web service, which allows you to download RSS feed urls. Requires MIDP 1.0.

Mobilerss.net - an online/offline news aggrator that focuses on mobile devices and produces optimized output for a wide variety of them. Users can view their content online or synchronize feeds for offline viewing. OPML import/export and search in syndic8 is also supported.

mReader - a light-weight Mobile RSS Reader (Aggregator) designed to be compatible with J2ME midp devices including Mobile Phones, PDAs and Blackberry.

News Lite - a free RSS news reader, developed in Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 technology and asp.NET for server side components. The software is designed for all "flash-enabled" S60 smart-phones.

nextBLAST - Supports English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Croatian, Russian, and Chinese.

RSSHome.com - created to simply the reading of RSS and Atom feeds from mobile devices like Microsoft SmartPhone, Sony P800/P900, Handspring, Palm, PPC, etc. as well as WAP enabled mobiles and desktop browsers. To minimize data traffic to the mobile device, a proxy server is used behind the scenes to filter, verify and catalog all RSS feeds content. The proxy server then sends the minimal amount of data to the mobile device so the device can display the RSS feeds.

Yahoo! Mobile - allows you to read the RSS news feeds that you've subscribed to in your My Yahoo! page from your mobile phone's minibrowser.

*List complied at All RSS.

The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics

2005-07-19T00:34:00.000-04:00

It’s that time of year again… when we vote for those Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics on Politics Online. I would like to point out that The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI) is on the top 20 list and of course I highly recommend voting for us!

During its six years' existence, the Institute has established a national and international reputation as the premier center for the study of the Internet's effect on politics, producing practical studies that address the larger questions about the Internet and politics. IPDI's staff have developed materials during that time that have helped academics, advocates, and practitioners understand the potential power of this new and evolving technology. The variety of scholars, real world political operatives and the Politics On Line Conference make them on of the most unique and comprehensive actors in the field of politics and the Internet. The Institute provides a balance of dreamers and data driven realists who tell us what we know and help push us to contemplate a variety of ideas and concepts we should get to know.

You can vote for us here.

Quick! Where can I find the nearest vlogger?

2005-07-18T00:17:00.000-04:00

Vlogmap.org is using Google Maps plot where registered world wide vloggers are located. If you have a vlog, it is easy to join the community, just register by filling out this form.

Vlogmap

Check out Rocketboom, a vlog based in NYC. Friday’s vlog has a drinking game played to the Karl Rove ongoing investigation from The White House press briefing by Scott McClellan.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

2005-07-18T00:06:00.000-04:00

Have an old computer just sitting around taking up space?

American Recycler

Help close the digital divide and send your slow old machine to World Computer Exchange. They collect, clean, refurbish, and send computers to economically challenged places in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

End-of-life PCs are obsolete to our society but are incredibly valuable to areas where 99% of students graduate without every touching a computer. As pupil Elizabeth Momanyi described:

"In terms of employment it has also improved a lot. After you finish High School it's easier to get a job with knowledge of computers."

Viral Measuring Tool

2005-07-17T00:17:00.000-04:00

“Technorati is a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blogosphere — the world of weblogs” With about 12 million blogs in existence and 10 new ones created every second, it is fairly hard to keep track of what is being said on everyone.

A few years ago, Web search was revolutionized by a simple but profound idea — that the relevance of a site can be determined by the number of other sites that link to it, and thus consider it 'important.' In the world of blogs, hyperlinks are even more significant, since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, which creates the sense of timeliness and connectedness one would have in a conversation. So Technorati tracks the number of links, and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging. Because Technorati automatically receives notification from weblogs as soon as they are updated, it can track the thousands of updates per hour that occur in the blogosphere, and monitor the communities (who's linking to whom) underlying these conversations.

Is it art? Is it even mine?

2005-07-17T00:04:00.000-04:00

Art is an expression of creativity rendered through demanding technical skills... or is it?

Dada art raises a few eyebrows and in my opinion a few ownership questions. My absolute favorite example is Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. Basically, Duchamp ordered a urinal, wrote “R. Mutt 1917” on it, and called it his art. Is it though? Does that make it his work? He surly did not put the effort and craftsmanship into the piece. He simply wrote a piece of graffito on it.

Fountain

I see this piece as the gateway into the today’s postmodern toolbox. Average people today, with no artistic ability, can take existing pictures, videos, and music and refashion them into “art” using such tools as Photoshop, Apple Garage Band, and Apple Final Cut Studio. With as much distaste as I have for Duchamp’s Readymades, I will give him credit for his creative thinking and his support of remixing of old common objects into “art”.

Creative Control: A Legal Matter

2005-07-16T22:51:00.000-04:00

Copyright laws are set in place to protect the work of artists. Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford argues that these restrictions destroy innovation because they do not allow people to build upon the past.

As Lessig explains in The Future of Ideas, a director of a movie must clear absolutely everything on the set with lawyers before showing the film. This includes items in the background that are never brought to the attention of the viewer but still may recognized.

The lawyers insist upon this control because the legal system has taught them how costly less control can be.
• The film Twelve Monkeys was stopped by a court twenty-eight days after its release because an artist claimed a chair in the movie resembled a sketch of a piece of furniture that he had designed.
• The movie Batman Forever was threatened because the Batmobile drove through an allegedly copyrighted courtyard and the original architect demanded money before the film could be released.
• In 1998, a judge stopped the release of The Devil’s Advocate for two days because a sculptor claimed his art was used in the background. These events teach the lawyers that they must control the filmmakers. They convince studios that creative control is ultimately a legal matter.

Interestingly enough, the main topic of Wired this month is remixing.

Everywhere you look, pop culture has been digitized, resequenced, and eassembled. Remixed. It started in music with hip hop samples and extended dance versions. It moved to movies, with director's cuts and Tarantino-style swipes from other films. Now it's spread to TV, games, music videos - even cars and fashion. From Kill Bill to Gorillaz, from custom Nikes to Pimp My Ride, this is the age of the remix.

Can we have an age of remix with the current Copyright Laws? Are these laws holding back the possibilities and envisionments of artists? Let’s not forget that even Picasso created master pieces from recycled newspaper and glue! ©

Pass Day

2005-07-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

Open Source News

2005-07-11T12:19:00.000-04:00

BBC News 24 capture

Mobile technology is changing the world as we know it. It's pretty incredible to think that such technological advances like camera phones can give people such immense power to truly share their experiences with others. 3G phones give users the ability to become pocket journalists, creating and sending images and videos almost immediately.

In the case of the recent London bombings, everyday people captured and shared their experiences on mobile phones by posting on the Internet (via Flickr and We Are Not Afraid) as well as sending their images to main stream media outlets like the BBC.

"It is a gear change," said the BBC director of news, Helen Boaden, of the public's contribution to the corporation's coverage of the events.
"Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public and we had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful.”

These amateur images give outside viewers powerful and emotionally charged glimpses into the disaster much more so than a typical polished news clip. Witnesses were able to catch images TV crews, because of their complex set-ups, could never capture. This is the first significant account of open source news.

The Digital Divide: Treating the Disabled as People

2005-07-11T00:14:00.000-04:00

Life is hard enough for people with sight and motor disabilities, why should the Internet make it harder?

Jacob Nielsen conducted a test on 19 websites; observing 84 users who were either blind or had low vision or motor impairments. His results concluded that general websites treat the disabled 3 times worse than the average user.

Here are a few suggestions when considering web design for disabled users according to NetMechanic:

1. Text Equivalent: Always provide a text equivalent to any information you present with graphics, videos, applets, etc. Use the text to describe the content and/or function, not merely to describe the graphic. If you include a chart that illustrates how company sales rose 300% in only a year, use that descriptive text in your ALT tag ('Sales Up 300% in FY2000!') instead of merely labeling it 'sales chart graphic.'
2. Alternate Navigation: Always provide a text links somewhere on your page if you rely mainly on image maps for site navigation.
3. Color: Don't use color as a primary means to impart information. If you display sale items in red text, try to group them together under a text section header that says: "Sale-Priced Items!" Choose colors and color combinations carefully too: as many as 1 in 12 white males have some sort of color blindness.
4. Links: Clearly label your links as links and describe the destination. Be particularly careful with this if you're using an image as an important link. A graphic of a shopping cart should clearly indicate that it links to the shopping cart page: 'View the contents of your shopping cart' and not merely 'Shopping Cart.'
5. JavaScript Alternative: Remember that some browsers don't support JavaScript or that users may have it disabled. Provide JavaScript alternatives to any critical functions on your Web page.

When you are finished coding, you may check your site for “quality, accessibility, and privacy issues” at Watchfire WebXACT by simply typing in the URL.

Youth Text 2004

2005-07-10T23:44:00.000-04:00

Youth Text 2004 is a political tool developed by The Dominion Institute and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) that began on April 19, 2004. It provides people the ability to engage in politics through their mobile phones via short code numbers for 4 (Conservative, Green, Liberal, and the New Democrats) of the 9 registered political parties in Canada.

Through this initiative, Canadians can interact with the parties and express their views on important political issues. Send a text message to the political movers and shakers of Canada and tell them what you think!

The beauty of a text message campaign is the fact that it is a medium in which responses can be instantaneous. If users, such as blogger Gene Smith don’t get a response right away, the whole premise losses its appeal and most likely discourages youth participation instead of attracting it. There is simply no reason for the Conservatives and the Liberals not to respond as agreed within the 48 hour allotted time period.

To get the 4 main Canadian political parties truly involved, Nokia teamed up with the major party leaders a designated a day, when Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper, Green Party leader Jim Harris, NDP leader Jack Layton and Liberal Party leader Paul Martin personally answered text messages. This does fix the instantaneous problem Gene faced, but only for one day.

I think it would have been better if each party set up a bot to answer text messages by searching within each question for keywords. It would be easier, quicker, and better for the users.

Some Games Never Die

2005-07-05T21:51:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share with you a new download available on Orange network phones in the UK. Orange network users are now able to download the Ohio Art Company toy Etch-A-Sketch to their mobile phones. The fun does not stop with drawing and saving one’s masterpieces, the true highlight emulates the notable shaking of the toy to erase the drawing. Mobile phone users simply press 0 button to erase their drawing and the phone vibrates.

You may laugh, but I do have a connection to politics with this. I was speaking with a gentleman the other day about mobile technology use on campaigns and he was describing his experiences pitching candidates the idea of using PDAs when cutting turf. One client thought PDAs were just a glorified Etch-A-Sketches. The story just cracked me up!

For those using computers who are so jealous of these Orange network users, worry not, you can play with Etch-A-Sketch here… and they even have a nice little script to erase the drawing.

Never Be Lost Again!

2005-07-05T21:32:00.000-04:00

Have a Java J2ME- enabled mobile phone or other device? If so, you are in luck! Google has rolled out its new Mobile GMaps, which is a free piece of software to throw on your mobile device. It basically allows your device to display the famous Google Maps and keynote satellite imagery.

I foresee technology like this getting people out to the polls. Imagine, on Election Day, a campaign sending people detailed directions and maps to their phones directing them from preciously where they are standing to their precinct station. It may clear up the problem of people getting lost or going to the wrong station and offer a friendly voting reminder for those on the go.

First Mobile Phone to use iTunes?

2005-07-04T13:10:00.000-04:00

Engadget

This could very well be a picture of the first phone to be using iTunes Mobile 1.0 ever.

A few anxious Apple fans noticed several new resource files on iTunes 4.9 that provide instructions for possible mobile phone use. I for one very much like what was found.

I’m sorry, I just can’t put down my phone

2005-07-04T12:43:00.000-04:00

After reading Change is in the Air in the March 10th edition of The Economist I was frustrated by the fact that when flying I am still told to turn off my phone. The article corrects the misconception of cellular phones interfere with the aircraft’s avionic systems.

Instead, the problem is that airborne mobile phones disrupt mobile networks on the ground. An airliner with 500 phones on board, whizzing across a city, would befuddle the network as the phones busily hopped from one base-station to the next.

Fortunately, someone is doing something about this. Next year the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing plans to lift the ban of mobile phone use on flights.

I know you all are just so excited to over hear my phone conversations on our next flight together.

iTunes Podcasting Update

2005-07-04T11:13:00.000-04:00

As of Saturday, June 30th, two days after the release of iTunes 4.9, customers have subscribed to over 1 million Podcasts through its new feature.

I will admit, I really knocked podcasting in the past because I felt it required too much effort on the part of its users and not nearly enough people owned ipods. I do not think iTunes 4.9 quite solves those problems, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“Podcasting is like cappuccino,” said August Trometer, developer of iPodderX. “Gourmet coffee was around for a long time, but it took Starbucks to put it on the map. Apple is like the Starbucks of Podcasting and advertisers will take us more seriously now.”

iTunes 4.9 still requires users to sync their iPods with their computers daily to get the latest Podcasts. I foresee a day when we will be able to break free from our wired world. I want my Podcasts to update my iPod automatically, while I am sleeping, without a physical connection and perhaps also allow content to be sent to other devices like my cell phone.

Bottom Line, Equal Access is not the same as Equal Participation.

2005-07-02T02:13:00.000-04:00

Henry Jenkins, a professor at MIT stated that

Like many white liberals, I had viewed the absence of explicit racial markers in cyberspace with some optimism-seeing the emerging "virtual communities" as
perhaps our best hope ever of achieving a truly color-blind society.

Though race cannot be determined through an email or web address it does not mean the playing ground is equal.

Some have argued that class, rather than race, may be the strongest indicator of who has access-though we need to recognize that in a society where the average black family income is roughly half that of the average white family income, race and class are not easily separable.

What may look like race inequalities are in actuality inequalities in class, which is also known as the digital divide when speaking about Internet connectivity.

Like Jenkins, I have faith in an emerging technological area, mobile technology. Wired Magazine reported that 24% of African American households are cell phone only and in many cases that phone also serves as the only source of an internet connection. Mobile technology is more affordable and prevalent and therefore increases access.

3 Things That Will Help Make a Text Message Campaign Catch On

2005-07-01T16:42:00.000-04:00

1- Encourage interaction. Reward people for using it by providing a coupon, contest, or an invitation to an event.

2- Use a Short Code that is relevant to the context of the campaign. Make it easy on the user.

3- Make signing up and opting-out seamless. Again, make it easy on the user.

RB and His New Digs

2005-07-01T12:21:00.000-04:00

My favorite, Russell Buckley, has left the Mobile Technology Weblog and has started a new blog called MobHappy.

Public Hearing on Internet Communications

2005-06-29T09:29:00.000-04:00

The FEC has been holding hearings to try to sort through how to regulate the Internet in regards to campaign finance rules.

So far, blogs have been the main topic, but as blogger Kos pointed out, looking at blogs only narrowly addresses the problem. New technologies on the horizon can and may have the same impact in future campaigns as blogs did in the past election cycle.

One proposed idea is that bloggers should be given a press exemption. Carol Darr of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet points out that such an exemption could open an unforeseen flood gate. Corporations and unions could spend endless amounts of money to exert political influence by just simply calling their activities a blog and proceed without regulations. It would take away the voice of the little people and give it to people who have large amounts of money. According to Kos and many other bloggers, that is the simple beauty of a blog, the little guy gets a chance to speak and people listen.

NPR had a great recap of yesterday’s hearings.

iTunes 4.9 was just released!

2005-06-29T09:07:00.000-04:00

iPod fanatics, now you can seamlessly add podcasts to your pod. Just browse, sample, subscribe, and listen. iTunes even updates your podcasts automatically. Check it out.

Ohio, Oh No

2005-06-28T23:13:00.000-04:00

In class tonight we watched a video about the troubles people had voting in Ohio. It was crazy… some people waited in lines for over two hours; only to find out they were in the wrong line and had to begin again. Why on earth would you put someone through that!?

As Flanders would say, it is all about your user. Make it easy on your user. Only think about the user.

Why on earth would the same not apply to voting stations? Why wouldn’t we want to encourage people with a seamless quick process instead of discouraging voters?

And we wonder why turnout is low... we are driving away people who activity try to vote.

The MGM-Grokster ruling

2005-06-27T16:14:00.000-04:00

Today the Supreme Court ruled against Grokster on the MGM-Grokster case. MGM sued Grokster for creating a p2p program. MGM argued the Grokster's practices were tantamount to encouraging infringement, and hence not analogous to the Betamax case.

(I should disclose that I'm in no way a legal expert.)

Before the verdict was announced, the EFF (who represented Grokster) posted some guides about what the case was about. Also, Corante has a large list of online resources discussing the issue.

The decision stated, "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties." Initial reaction (from the Grokster camp) is that this verdict narrowly addresses the particulars of the Grokster company. The EFF hoped the decision would answer broader questions about file sharing, such as 'how is the Betamax decision interpreted for digital media?' and 'What exactly constitutes vicarious infringement?'

I agree with the EFF that until these laws are clearer, innovation is curtailed since programmers and entrepreneurs don't know if their company will be sued by Hollywood.

I also think it's important to remember that the computer and telecommunications industry is like a hundred times bigger than Hollywood. If a technology is moderately good for the telco industry and really bad for Hollywood, it's still a net gain in social wealth.

Good articles on RSS

2005-06-24T16:29:00.000-04:00

Two recent articles about RSS and other spiffy buzzwords are: Why RSS and Folksonomies Are Becoming So Big and Wikis, Weblogs and RSS: What Does the New Internet Mean for Business?

RSS relieves pressure to publish

2005-06-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

(This is very probably not an original observation. In fact, I think I've read this myself somewhere, but I can't remember where. But it's important and not said enough, so I'll repeat it.)

Conventional web-publishing wisdom says that the way to grow and maintain your audience is to publish often. This is in part because people actually have to remember to visit your site. If each time a visitor comes to you site she sees new content, she's more likely to have a good experience with the site, and thus remember to visit the site again. If you don't publish for a few weeks, the site isn't maintaining it's value to people, and your traffic tapers off as visitors visit less frequently (if they remember to visit at all).

Publishers thus experience a pressure to create new content all the time. Every moment you're not posting to your blog you're risking losing visitors. This pressure, I believe, is one of the driving factors behind blogger burnout. It also causes people to post crap. It's better to post drivel than to post nothing at all.

An unsung benefit of RSS changes that. If all your readers are subscribed to your RSS feed, they don't have to remember to check your site. This means that you can go for months without posting anything. Checking for updates no longer requires mental capital. Particle Tree puts it nicely:

For those of us that have adopted RSS feeds, gone are the days of wasting time making the rounds through over 100 bookmarks just to see who might have said something new.

This means you can post only when you want to, only when you feel you have something really important to say, and your audience will still be there. Isn't that super-fantastic!

BIG CAVEAT: Not that many people actually use RSS feeds, so the conventional wisdom of posting often to maintain traffic still applies. But as RSS technology matures (i.e., as feed readers become easier to use), more people will use it, and the more pressure it will relieve on publishers to write frequently.

In the long run, I think blogs that publish infrequently and don't currently get much traffic will be the publishers who really benefit from RSS. This contrasts with major news media like the BBC, CNN, or the NY Times who were pioneers in offering RSS feeds. Everybody knows they publish articles every few minutes, so there's not much of an advantage to having an RSS reader alert you to new CNN stories.

Forget paying with your phone… just use your finger

2005-06-24T07:20:00.000-04:00

Forbes magazine reported that the grocery chain, Piggly Wiggly and Pay By Touch are going to provide just that for their customers, the ability to pay by touch. Customers' fingerprints would be scanned at the checkout counter and the scanned image would then be pre-linked to their checking or credit card accounts.

I can hear the privacy-crazy people now: "You mean they keep a record of your fingerprint?" Well, not exactly. Here's how it works: When you first enroll, the system uses an image of your fingerprint to find between 35 and 40 points of distinction on the fingerprint to create a unique mathematical algorithm--essentially a string of numbers. That algorithm is then encrypted and sent to a secure data center run by IBM. The only time it's retrieved is when you present your finger to pay again.

I am a big proponent of voting online. Many critics are cautious about this because they are worried about fraud. Well, if every computer had a touch screen and the ability to distinguish fingerprints, why wouldn’t we vote online? And for those who still don’t have computers in their homes or that feature on their computers, they could go down to the voting station and use a similar machine there. It would really speed up the process and I think increase turnout because it would be just too easy. Again, making it easier on the user will make them more willing to participate.

Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights, Oh My!

2005-06-23T05:17:00.000-04:00

The Chinese government and Microsoft have teamed up to prevent free speech by Chinese citizens on blogs.

Users of the MSN Spaces section of Microsoft Corp.'s new China-based Web portal get a scolding message each time they input words deemed taboo by the communist authorities -- such as democracy, freedom and human rights.
"Prohibited language in text, please delete," the message says.

It’s really a shame to see the Internet so restricted for some users. It seems like with every new technological development comes a whole stream of questions. How far is too far? Is it okay that I can see the IP Address of everyone that comes to my site? Is it okay to say I do not agree with a government policy online? Is it okay to blog about my job? Is it okay if I write a blog about a candidate I like?

Get Ready to Throw Out Your Power Chargers...

2005-06-22T01:09:00.000-04:00

MIT’s Technology Review reported the development of an atomic battery .

It's called the Direct Energy Conversion (DEC) Cell, a betavoltaics-based "nuclear" battery that can run for over a decade on the electrons generated by the natural decay of the radioactive isotope tritium. It's developed by researchers at the University of Rochester and a startup, BetaBatt, in a project described in the May 13 issue of Advanced Materials and funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

Because tritium's half-life is 12.3 years (the time in which half of its radioactive energy has been emitted), the DEC Cell could provide a decade's worth of power for many applications. Clearly, that would be an economic boon -- especially for applications in which the replacement of batteries is highly inconvenient, such as in medicine and oil and mining industries, which often place sensors in dangerous or hard-to-reach locations.

Though, currently it is not powerful enough to replace our current cell phone batteries, I would imagine similar long lasting batteries are in the works. If we don’t fix this battery life problem, we won’t be able to throw out our wallets just yet. If we want to have a truly mobile campaign, we need better battery life.

BadApple

2005-06-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

Looking to easily listen to podcasts and simply cannot wait for the new iTunes to be released? You’re in luck! BadFruit has developed a plug-in (BadApple) you could use in the mean time.

BadApple makes it possible to access thousands of podcasts directly from within iTunes. There is no need to install and learn new software programs. Just launch iTunes, click the podcast option and podcasts will be added directly to your Library.

Crazy about new technologies and free September 28th and 29th?

2005-06-21T19:55:00.000-04:00

MIT is hosting its Emerging Technologies Conference.

In its 5th year, this unique two-day event brings together world-renowned innovators and leaders in technology and business for keynote, panel and breakout discussions that center on the transformative technological innovations certain to better our lives, create opportunities and fuel economic growth.

gcensus

2005-06-21T13:54:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty cool site I took form Aaron’s del.icio.us list. It combines Google Maps and census information. Check it out.

The Next Generation of Wikipedia

2005-06-21T01:05:00.000-04:00

Because Wiki has become a reference used quite often in class and because it is an example of group think at its best, I thought I would share this post by Russell Buckley with you.

Russell brilliantly comes up with the idea of making Wiki interactive with cell phones.

Let's look at how this might work.

You're in London and are standing in a pleasant, sunny street in Camden Town. City life is going on around you and you fancy the idea of knowing a little more about where you are right now.

Using your phone, as if it was a PC mouse, you uncover snippets of information from the world around you. You click on an old house in the road and a wealth of digital information comes onto your phone screen. Some contain video and audio links.
You learn that the house is on the site of one lived in by Charles Dickens' wife after their separation. You're interested in Dickens so you poll the area and find that there's actually a tour of Dicken's Camden Town that afternoon.

Out of curiosity, you look up how much this kind of house would be worth, what local rates and taxes are. And you read a review of a local citizen's view of schools in the area.

Know Your User

2005-06-20T11:19:00.000-04:00

I came across a very interestingly designed webpage this evening and thought I would bring us back to the topic of site navigation. Take a look at this site and let me know what you think.

Is clicking just a habit? Does this site make you feel uncomfortable? Did you click?

Believe it or not, over half of the unique visitors clicked the screen.

I think it’s great when people think outside of the box and come up with new website techniques… but I am not convinced that sites should be in the habit of breaking people’s habits. When working on a campaign site, be aware of common, almost brainless, user habits and accommodate them. Another useful piece of knowledge is knowing where the user’s eyes look on websites. Take a look at these two studies:

Sound familiar?

2005-06-20T01:03:00.000-04:00

"The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like. We can then know if people like what we write and this indicate[s to] us what to do better. By reading these comments, we can know our weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment."

This was stated by a Fifth grader in Canada who is in a class that blogs, just like ours.

Also, check out the Educational Bloggers Network . It is a group of teachers and organizations who support and use blogging as a learning tool. Maybe Emi should add our class to their membership.

Long day...

2005-06-19T22:54:00.000-04:00

It has been a long day and I needed a laugh, so I am assuming you do too...

Toothpaste for Dinner

friendhamster

hey everyone

the inter who

RSS Newsletters

2005-06-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

As with any database system, a campaign simply must continuously update its records, this includes email addresses.

As pointed out by Amy Gahran, the nice thing about RSS newsletters is that:

there are no databases to be updated
the users are expecting to read some sort of newsletter when going through their reader

When targeting through email, if you get through the spam blockers, you must then deal with an unsuspecting reader. If there are more important emails to attend to, most likely your message will be skipped over. The only hard part of a campaign would be getting people to subscribe. Once that is done, you are home free.

Time on money v. Time on votes

2005-06-19T01:33:00.000-04:00

It is not the candidate who has the most money that wins; it’s the one with the most amount of votes. But, can a candidate focus on getting votes without money?

This past election cycle displayed the Internet’s amazing fundraising abilities. Both campaigns took full advantage of this development, but Kerry raised a substantial amount more than Bush online.

I think Jakob Nielsen’s conclusions as to why Bush did better than Kerry on email newsletters are surprisingly correct.

“As this analysis shows, Kerry supporters were bombarded by repeated fundraising requests, to the extent that many of them probably tuned out the newsletter in the final critical days. Although the Internet is great for collecting money from the masses, there is a limit. Kerry exceeded it.
Bush sent more messages than Kerry asking supporters to get other voters to go to the polls and vote for him. This is a more appropriate use of the newsletter medium because it connects emotionally with subscribers. Being treated as an active participant in the civics process is more motivating than being regarded as an open wallet”.

Kerry raised nearly $82 million from online contributions while Bush raised a mere $14 million. Bush had the luxury of relying more heavily on large donors and did not need to work as hard at fundraising. No doubt, Bush’s strategy was more personal, but I am not sure Kerry had much of a choice. It could be argued that Kerry was behind Bush in fundraising and needed to play catch-up instead of the who has better grassroots efforts game.

Kerry won the battle of online fundraising while Bush won the war or the election.

Class Trip

2005-06-18T22:59:00.000-04:00

We are all going to BlogFest, right? Our favorite Russell Buckley will be there!

A mWallet Case Study:

2005-06-18T19:38:00.000-04:00

Paybox

Paybox was the first and only mobile payment method that allowed consumers and merchants to send and receive payments through cell phones. It was started in 1999 by Mathias Entenmann. The service started in Germany and expanded worldwide, servicing 750,000 consumers by May 2002.

How it worked

No new technology was required, but a yearly £14.99 payment by the consumer was. Instead of handing over a credit card, consumers handed over their phone numbers. The clerk then entered the number into their register and the consumer either confirmed their PIN number through a text message or through the phone (Paybox would call the cell phone). A few seconds later, a confirmation text message was sent.

Disadvantages

The BBC reported that “the only disadvantage I could see of paying with a mobile for tickets is that it takes a little longer than cash”.

Only select places accepted this form of payment.

Why It Failed

In 2003, Paybox closed down its mPayment services. In Paybox’s own words there was

“no possibility for a single mPayment provider to develop the industry lone in the current industry conditions, especially amidst the discord between the other important market players (banks and telecommunications companies). The necessary growth and profitability can only be reached with many active market players, which have so far failed to appear."

Napster leading the way, again

2005-06-17T22:56:00.000-04:00

Napster and Ericsson are joining forces to create the first digital music service for cell phones.

Could this mean podcasting will finally catch on? Will someone actually listen to Newt’s recordings?

I May be Moving Soon...

2005-06-16T11:25:00.000-04:00

My parking and coining woes are over… in Miami, Santa Barbara, Dublin, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Australia.

"The automated system allows drivers who subscribe to simply dial in from their cell phone, punch in the number assigned to their parking spot, and the required costs — plus a 25-cent usage fee — will be billed to their credit card. When leaving, subscribers call back and end the billing cycle.

The Miami suburb began offering the system this month on its 4,573 meters; so far, more than 250 people have subscribed"(Reuters).

The Sweet Would Not Be as Sweet without the Sour

2005-06-16T01:32:00.000-04:00

Today identity theft will be on the minds of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Federal Trade Commission.

“According to the FTC, about 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft last year, a crime wave that costs companies and consumers an estimated $50 billion annually. Thieves used to satisfy themselves with Dumpster diving for credit card receipts and instant credit applications in order to ride roughshod over a victim's good credit rating. Now, in some cases, they've replaced Dumpsters with databases and don't even need to get their chinos scuffed to steal thousands of identities at once.”

Before you know it, the scene in this cartoon from The Economist will be next.

The Economist: Dreams of a Cashless Society

When the US adopts the m-wallet system, will we be equipped to handle it? Should the Senate begin to consider the implications now?

EFF's Legal Guide for Bloggers

2005-06-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (which is kinda like the ACLU for the Internet) recently published a Legal Guide for Bloggers. It's full of simple guidelines to avoid getting sued as a result of your blog.

Of particular interest might be the section on intellectual property (for those who tend to dabble in the darker gray areas of p2p technologies) and election law.

And in a few years when you want to gripe about your job and not get dooced, you'll want to brush up on blogging anonymously.

Cash is so Passé

2005-06-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

You finally found a parking spot and you're still glowing by the fact it only took you one try to Parallel Park. You get out of the car and open your wallet only to discover that you have no change for the meter. Friends, this is the story of my life. I simply never have cash on me. I hate carrying it!

Most of us experience a cashless society briefly everyday on our commute in and around Washington, DC with our Smart Trip cards for the Metro system. Smart Trip is only a glimpse into something far larger, m-wallets.

A Japanese company by the name of NTT DoCoMo has been working on the idea for years and after testing it in Japan on small purchasing through vending machines and convenience stores; they are finally ready to take the leap into making cell phones full-fledged credit cards.

In Engadget, “DoCoMo launches mobile wallet cell phones” they anticipate that

“In addition to making payments at shops that have e-money terminals installed or using your phone as a train pass, you can buy tickets online and swipe your way through into concerts and cinemas, check in for international flights, and so forth. Most of the major banks and credit card companies are in on the act, too. There’s also a real estate company planning to let residents use phones as apartment keys; you will apparently be able to get e-mail notifications telling you who’s just got home, and even to e-mail a duplicate key to others. DoCoMo’s planning to shift 10 million FeliCa handsets in the first year and a half, which we presume means they’re going to chip pretty much every new phone they release from now on”.

What this could mean is a change entirely in the way political candidates accept campaign contributions. Forget cash and checks… it will be all about passing your phone over a kiosk at an event or even syncing your phone to your computer so you don’t have to fill in all of those fields in online contribution forms. Either way, I think the more convenient the transaction, the more transactions will occur. And let me tell you, it is so much easier spending money you never see pass through your hands… one just may contribute far more than they thought they could.

Surprise, Surprise… Some Things Never Change

2005-06-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

It amazes me that after thousands of years of evolution, sometimes the most primitive way of doing something remains the most effective. For example, when a plane entered the no fly zone in DC, people were told simply to run. And that piece of advice, need I remind you, has come after billions of dollars and countless man hours invested in our Nation’s homeland security.

The same can be said of word of mouth. As illustrated in The Influentials and The Tipping Point, people accept, respect, and follow the advice and suggestions of others. Word of mouth suggestions are product placements or candidate endorsements given with a personal and meaningful Seal of Approval.

As Seth Godin stated, two centuries ago it was all about farming. One century ago it was all about building efficient factories. This century, it is ideas.

“Ideas are driving the economy, ideas are making people rich, and most importantly, ideas are changing the world… An idea that just sits there is worthless. But an idea that moves, grows, and infects everyone it touches… that’s an ideavirus”.

This way of thinking reminds me of why people enter into the stock market… to make their money work for them. Similarly, an ideavirus does all of the work as opposed to a marketer, and frankly, does a better job of that. The imprint on the market is no longer done through interruption ads that are impersonal. It instead has progressed to a deeply convenient and personal approach. “That’s why focusing on a geographic, demographic, or psychographic group is a common practice among successful idea merchants”.

With that said, my best piece of advice is make it local, make it personal, make it effective, and do it cheaply; target Influentials and make your idea work for itself.

AIM: Kathie4Prez

2005-06-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

Walk into any college dorm and you'll inevitably hear the chime of incoming and outgoing Instant Messages. During my time at Uni, IMing was the main source of communication, sometimes even between me and my suitemates while of course within voice proximity of one another. Why you might ask... well, it was discrete, easy, gave the ability of multitasking without seeming rude, and it was easier to share files.

I came across an article in Wired about people in Hollywood using IMing to find employment and realized, wow, what a great untapped resource for campaigns. IMing would be such a great way for constituents to contact the campaign directly. And supporters could easily share their support with their online buddies by putting in links to campaign donation pages in their profiles and away messages. The campaign could even set up a bot like AOL's smarterchild that answers FAQs. Another big plus is that most mobile phones and sidekicks support these applications. As Dina Piscatelli, a production manager for Errol Morris said:

"It really is something that you use nonstop," she said. "I have a Sidekick and I'm on instant messenger when I'm not at work. If I'm on location and I'm on-set and I need to talk to somebody, I immediately open my instant messenger. It's quicker than text messaging. It's quicker than e-mail."

The only main downside is that "less than 10 percent of all business people use IM, roughly 20 million worldwide. But that number is increasing steadily".

PS. that is NOT my real AIM name, so please don't IM it.

Friendster for your Nokia

2005-06-12T20:11:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my old college roommate came into town. In the typical SUNY Albany fashion she forced me to pick out a boy I wanted to talk to at the bar and she brought him over. Simple as that. But what am I to do when she is not in town? Well, lucky for me, Nokia has come out with a sensor for its phones. ;) It allows users to create personal pages and upload photos to it. You then scan for others near you that also have the sensor, view their personal pages, and then send them messages if you feel like talking to them. What a way to break the ice! You’re not face to face so it’s more candid and the line “Hey, I know you… you are from the city, right?” will never have to be used again.

As I have said time and time again… MoSoSo, learn it, love it, spread it.

Check out this Ap if you have a Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, or the 7610. It’s free and looks super cool. Honestly, the possibilities are endless with it.

Is group think better?

2005-06-11T18:43:00.000-04:00

The Internet is known for bringing like minded people together.

Are you a single girl in DC with no friends? No Problem, Meet-Up has 20,645 members they can connect you to in the DC area.

Want to buy something on ebay, but question the reliability of the transaction? No problem, the seller has 1,000 positive feedback comments.

Want to watch a movie, but not sure which? No problem, Netflix can align your likes and dislikes with others who are exactly like you and recommend movies they liked.

Have you ever wondered if Eight was really Jenny 8. Lee’s real middle name? No problem, Wiki has assembled a conglomerate of p2p information for you about her.

Though, I must admit, I cant help but wonder if this sheep like herding is hurting us. Is it hindering society outliers? Can people still think outside the box when group think is in nearly every part of ones life? Would this stifle minds like Einstein and Darwin? Or would it actually help them by providing a place for them to exert their thoughts to the world through blogs and websites? Is there really such a thing as a Smart Mob or do you agree with James Surowiecki when he says “The more we talk to each other, the dumber we can get”?

YAY!! Afleet Alex Wins the Belmont!

2005-06-11T18:38:00.000-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS JEREMY ROSE!!!! The Belmont is a hard one to win!

PS... it is my goal to meet Jeremy Rose this summer in Saratoga... if anyone has a connection, let me know.

The Email

2005-06-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

Kos has posted about the email threat and I wanted to share with you a few comments posted on his site about the matter.

Thirdparty: "Very unprofessional".

Kos: "I wasn't trying to be professional, obviously. This isn't a professional disagreement, it's a very personal one.
As for Darr "telling on me" to the FEC? Also unprofessional. Why wwould she do that? Because the disagreement, once again, isn't professional. It's personal".

propagandism: "Markos' response was fine, even-handed and professional. But what the hell was with that angry first letter? Do you honestly expect her not to be a little pissed? It was completely unprofessional and well below Markos' abilities and standards. I'd expect a threat e-mail from Markos to actually educate me on some important point I'd missed, or some vagary or nuance I'd overlooked. That e-mail sounded like nothing more than the threatening rant of your typical GooPer.

And beyond that, did you not expect a backlash? Did you think the e-mail would just disappear? We live in the information age people. You can't just throw out random threats and not expect them to come back and bite you in the ass later. There is always a record. Always.

Unlike the comments Dean is taking heat for in the press and from weak-kneed Dems, I think Markos e-mail was ill-conceived and will do more to damage his identity and credibility than it will to help it. Pray it doesn't do any damage to the issue".

The line! Where did it go?!

2005-06-09T13:19:00.000-04:00

Where is the line when disagreeing with the point of view of others? Is there even a line at all on the Internet?

As I am sure my avid blog readers have noticed on the blogosphere, there has been a bit of a riff between Markos from Daily Kos and Carol Darr, the Director of The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, aka my boss. He completely disagrees with her suggestions to the FEC and not only blogged about it but also sent someone here an email threat!

I think blogs are a great way to get your point of view out there and it’s perfectly okay to disagree with someone. But threatening… hmm… Not so Kosher… Not so professional… Not so respected.

Blogosphere on NPR

2005-06-09T08:39:00.000-04:00

Today on NPR (90.9) at 2pm, Odyssey will be discussing the Blogosphere . Check it out if you have time.

"Whether romanticized as the free voice for all or demonized as the destroyer of print journalism, blogs are getting lots of hype. But how do blogs really relate to society, the academy, and other forms of media"?

Read You Me

2005-06-08T02:52:00.000-04:00

I just read a very interesting article about flirting (thanks Aaron for the article). It states that "When you first meet new people, their initial impression of you will be based 55% on your appearance and body-language, 38% on your style of speaking and only 7% on what you actually say".

I don't think flirting is always between people who like one another. I think you could describe the way a charismatic politician speaks to an audience as flirting. Politicians of course need to have that amazing ability to captivate an audience. I am willing to venture and say it is not so much by what they are saying, but how they are saying it that earns them such adulation.

Granted, on our blogs, we are by no means flirting with people we adore, but there is something about keeping our readers' attention and making our actions seem genuine that we seek. On my blog, you are not able to see my subtle winks, or hear my sarcasm, or even see me put my hands on my hips. You have no idea how I intended the statement through inflection or facial expressions. The reader is forced to rely solely on the words I write. Is this affective enough? Are we missing something greater? Are vlogs the solution to this?

Laugh! It's good for you!

2005-06-07T17:32:00.000-04:00

Here are a few of my very very favorite Toothpaste for Dinner drawings.

keyboard number two

graduate school

wireless internet

ralph nader prayers

to the internet

10 types of people

The Lawrence Lessig Licenses, Now Say It Three Times Fast

2005-06-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

You may or may not have noticed a minor addition to the Klegg blog… far far down the page, at the very bottom, next to the Site Meter, is a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

What is a CC License?

A CC License expands and shares people’s work. My specific license allows all users to copy, distribute, perform and derive from my work.

Why bother?

Lawrence Lessig, the founder and chairman of Creative Commons, started the organization as a method of achieving the goals of his Supreme Court case, Eldred v. Ashcroft. (In the 1998 Congress extended the length in time a work may be held after an author’s death with the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). Eldred v. Ashcroft ruled that that Congress acted within its authority and did not transgress constitutional limitations in placing existing and future copyrights in parity in the CTEA).

Lessig provides free licenses that copyright holders can use when they release their works on the web to encourage sharing and therefore opening up their work for others to draw inspiration from if the work has no market value itself.

Consider adding it to your blog and have an open Creative Commons and an open society.