1. 06 September 2006

    854 days ago

    Let Us Not Pretend We Do Not Like the New Facebook.

    It is intrusive. It is voyeuristic. It is bliss.

    I’m with this guy. If you know about facebook, you know that it’s kind of scary. And I swear to god, just the day before this came out I was thinking about how facebook had to be tracking all this stuff, what if 20 years down the road they started selling off people’s databases to the highest bidder or something. But now it just all goes right out there into the open, for you and everyone else to see. Brilliant. Now if it only came as RSS. (To let you in on how big a fucking deal facebook is, 2/3 of my friends have recently updated profiles (3 days), 1/8 have updated in the last 8 hours.)

    via Kjell Olsen854 days ago

  2. 05 May 2006

    Linked

    Albert László Barabási

    978 days ago

    How everything is connected to everything else and what it means for business, science, and everyday life.

    A nice look at networks and how they’re manifesting themselves in the world today. I read the book for class, it was a good class, and I think that all the talking about it we did there will only detract from the mulling over it gets here.

    I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of the pop science genre – you can tell that the guy would just love to pull out his formulas and really get down to things; but he holds back and the whole book has a sort of wishy washy tone to it. An interesting read, but nothing really popped out at me.

  3. 03 May 2006

    980 days ago

    Neutrality of the Net

    Tim Berners Lee (inventor of the www) on net neutrality:

    The Internet is increasingly becoming the dominant medium binding us. The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true.

    via Kjell Olsen980 days ago

  4. 24 April 2006

    Network Neutrality

    989 days ago

    (A letter to my representatives in government)

    Network Neutrality: “in order to promote innovation, network service providers such as telephone and cable internet companies should not be permitted to dictate how those networks are used (i.e., not permitted to ban certain types of programs, to ban certain types of devices connecting to the network, or to favor carriage of traffic to certain web sites over others).” (from wikipedia)

    If the above was a bit much for you, and I’m indeed hoping that this isn’t being read by some intern, watch a quick introductory movie on the issue. Here’s a link which is likely to be much more coherent then my letter; and here’s a whole collection of material on the issue.

    The crux of things is that:

    • The internet is threatening a stranglehold held by telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner) over electronic means of communication since the invention and adoption of electronic communication.
    • The internet is beyond amazing, I’m not sure what I’d do without it. Even if you could imagine life without the internet, why would you want it?
    • The internet is a ‘dumb network’ – nothing happens to a request sent out over it’s wires in between your computer and the computer it was sent to. All the work is done at the edges, at places where individuals are in control. Be that individual a person, an organization, or a government.
    • Telcos want to replace that direct individual to individual connection with one managed by themselves. They’d be taking the free market internet and turning it into an oligarchical system. They’d be able to decide who gets to see what, when, and for how much.

    Right now there are laws against this. There’s a bill surfacing in the House, sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton, which passed through committee a week or two ago, and is headed for a vote in the house.

    This centralization entirely contradicts the entire notion upon which the internet was founded and has flourished. In less then 20 years, the internet has left a bigger mark on our world than any other technology of recent invention. Allowed to continue to evolve and better itself, as it has done ever since it’s creation, only God knows what will come of it in the years ahead. Who could have foreseen just 10 years ago what it would be today?

    This is bad, bad, bad. The only reason the internet has evolved to the point it has is that it’s a decentralized system which allows equal access to everyone with a computer and connection. The web as we know it has emerged from nothing but a conglomeration of research universities and government organizations, into a massive engine for learning, communicating, and commerce. Above all the internet embodies equality and liberty, and who would entrust such important values to any corporation?

  5. 15 September 2005

    1210 days ago

    Making Visible the Invisible

    Fascinating visualization of circulation at the Seattle public library.

    via Kjell Olsen1210 days ago

  6. 28 August 2005

    1229 days ago

    Facebook | Welcome to the Facebook!

    I couldn’t have imagined how big a fucking deal facebook is with college kids – but having just uprooted, it’s oddly compelling to sift through and find your friends and acquaintances.

    Kjell Olsen1229 days ago

  7. Also somewhat recently

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