I'm at the Mashed Museum developer/hack day – the room is silent except for the clatter of keyboards and the occasional sigh.
I'm having a go at generating dynamic XML data sources from collections data sources for the Simile Timeline widget; it'll be interesting to see if we can link this with Google maps mash-ups that other people are producing.
Why Your Web App Sucks lists basic but important reasons why your web application might suck.
A series of articles from the intranetjournal.com by Paul Chin about the value of user-generated content: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
I'll post this around the various lists but I am still thinking about how best to phrase it. I'm not a geo-geek and I'm never quite sure if I'm using the right language to describe whatever it is I'm talking about.
We've been having more conversations about how we can use tagging to publish more information about LAARC photos. This would allow us and our users to explore, use and compare site photos in lots of different ways. Eventually it may also be applied related data streams such as archaeological finds/museum objects and related media, but for the moment we're just exploring what we can do with an existing platform like Flickr.
Using machine tags to add latitude and longitude looks simple enough, and seems there's a de facto standard for geo:lat and geo:lon. But is there a similar de facto (or proper) namespace standard for machine tags for UK National Grid references? Leave a comment or email me if you know of any, or even if you're just using them yourself.
Some relevant links:
Flickr: Discussing Machine tags in Flickr API
geobloggers » Advanced Tagging and TripleTags
geobloggers » Flickr Ramps up Triple Tag (Machine Tags) Support.
I've been following this issue with interest. Read the full letter here.
Members of Antiquist, Digital Classicist, the Text Encoding Initiative, and Digital Medievalist believe that the AHDS's services play a vital role within the Digital Arts and Humanities. We are concerned that the consequences of this decision could be severe unless part of a larger strategy of support and have issued the following request for information…
I missed this comCast report at the time (September 2006).
Leading User-Generated Content Sites See Exponential Growth in UK Visitors During the Past Year
“Web 2.0 is clearly architected for participation, as it attempts to harness the collective intelligence of Web users,” commented Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe. “Many of the sites experiencing the fastest growth today are the ones that understand their audience’s need for expression and have made it easy for them to share pictures, upload music and video, and provide their own commentary, thus stimulating others to do the same. It is the classic network effect at work.”
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While uniformly demonstrating strong traffic growth, UGC sites are also adept at keeping users engaged.
File under 'fabulous resources that I doubt I'll ever get time to read properly': the Journal of Universal Computer Science, D-Lib Magazine ('digital library research and development, including but not limited to new technologies, applications, and contextual social and economic issues') and transcripts from the Research Library in the 21st Century symposium.
On the other hand, Introduction to Abject-Oriented Programming is a very quick read, and laugh-out-loud funny (if you're a tragic geek like me).
Ok, so we already knew that. But this comScore report confirms that if we want to reach younger audiences, the internet is the place to do it: "U.K. Teens and Young Adults Spend 24 Percent More Time Online Than the Average Internet User".
And, "The comScore study revealed that many of the sites with particular appeal to the 15 to 24 age segment fall into the Social Networking category, including Facebook.com, Bebo.com and Tagged.com. Other properties with strong teen and young adult appeal include ARTISTdirect Network and Alloy, which are news and entertainment sites."
From the BBC:
Government must do more to embrace Web 2.0 tools and communities, says a report.
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The report said that some public data, such as post codes, was already widely used but much more could be done to open up access to official information.It said public data should be published in open formats to encourage use.
The review, called The Power of Information, aimed to find out more about Web 2.0 tools and communities to see how the government can get involved to help Britons make the most of this "new pattern of information creation and use".
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The review was intended to "explore the role of government in helping to maximise the benefits for citizens from this new pattern of information creation and use."
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The report encouraged the government to do more to ensure a good fit between web communities and official information to "grasp the opportunities that are emerging in terms of the creation, consumption and re-use of information".
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The authors recommended that the government work more closely with existing sites and communities that share official aims; do more to help innovators use public data and work to ensure people know what to do with public data and how to get at it.Among 15 specific recommendations the report said the government should not set up its own sites if existing web communities do a good job of getting information to people.
It also said it should speed up efforts to put data in open formats and publish under terms that let people freely use it.
They've linked to a PDF of the report at Power of Information report.
Good privacy pays for web stores
"People will pay more for goods if a website does a good job of protecting their privacy, a study shows."
The report is in the context of e-commerce but the findings probably apply to the cultural heritage sector.