onfocus

There's a great article on Boxes and Arrows about Microsoft's intranet. (The article was written by the authors of Information Architecture for the WWW.) Microsoft has over 3 million intranet pages, content created by over 50,000 employees, and over 8,000 separate intranet sites. Aggregating all of that data into a useful whole is an interesting problem. (Not unlike trying to aggregate information across thousands of weblogs.) They're using a single metadata schema (borrowed from the Dublin Core) to facilitate searching and browsing across the intranet. Applying some of these methods to weblogs could increase their usefulness as a whole. [via Information Nation]

Part 2 of Microsoft's intranet series is worth reading as well. It has some good advice from one of their knowledge management analysts about how to develop a system that will be adopted: "...Improving information systems affects people, process and technologies. To not recognize that will spell doom...Another key is to have a multi-disciplinary team. Just one discipline does not have the answer."

Tonight on the NewsHour, Naomi Klein did an excellent job of articulating why people are protesting the IMF in Washington today (and around the world). They don't have a transcript up yet, but you can listen to the audio of the debate. I think the protesters are most often portrayed as a loose collection of trouble-makers without any defined agenda, but there are substantive issues behind their efforts.

Update: Here's the transcript.

New Software Quietly Diverts Sales Commissions (NYT): "The amounts involved are estimated by those in the industry to have mounted into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and are likely to continue to grow — in part because most users are unaware that the software is operating on their computers."

speaking of things being absorbed into mass culture—MSNBC Weblog Central.

great idea. (of any day.)

Someone recently asked for the first time if I sell enlargements of my photos. I don't have a process in place to do that, so it would be nice if a service took care of that (and site integration) for me. Why would I send people to a site like ofoto when they make all of the money from selling the print?

24 Hour Party People was good. Like Dogtown and Z-Boys, it's an interesting look at a subculture that eventually became absorbed into mass culture. (Though this film is not a documentary like Dogtown.) It's interesting to see what choices people make when big interests move in to take advantage of a new cultural movement. Tony Wilson (early promoter of bands like Joy Division/New Order and Happy Mondays) solved this big business dilemma for himself by never signing contracts with his bands. To paraphrase from the film, he prevented himself from ever facing having "sold out" by never having anything. The film is a bit confused and hard to follow at times, but it seems like Manchester in those days was as well. The style was fun, though, and it was constantly breaking the 4th wall as the character Tony narrates the action from within the film.

And now I can't get this out of my head.

What I really need my computer to do is monitor my emotional level and then enable/disable features as appropriate. I'd like to see this dialog box: "I'm sorry, you can't post to your weblog right now because you're at emotion level 6. Please try again later once you have successfully chilled out. Contact your system administrator if you feel you've reached this message in error."

"Warning: You're now at level 7. Breathe."

Or, "I'm sorry, you're much too happy to open Excel. Try back later."

more >>

skp and I made a quick trip to Yosemite this weekend and I was amazed at what a difference a few months makes. I was just there in June, and it feels like a completely different park; different colors, different smells, and a different enjoyment. The waterfalls have almost completely dried up. There is no Yosemite Falls right now, and the Merced River has slowed from a raging torrent to a glassy calm.


Lower Yosemite Falls in Spring


Lower Yosemite "Falls" in Summer

The grasses are all long with lots of yellow, orange, and brown. The air is dusty and dry. It's a complete change from the springtime park that is practically bursting at the seams with water and life. This summertime Yosemite is less fantastic, but more peaceful.



We spent all day today walking around the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove. They are simply incredible—not only for their size, but their time. They live for thousands of years. Being around them forces me to think about time and the environment in a different way.


Mariposa Grove Museum

I have a camping trip planned there in a month or so, and I hope it'll be enough time from now that I'll get to see yet another side of Yosemite.

found in the referrer grab bag.

Hey, I know those people. (photo by Teddy—don't believe his lies.)