Or, in less geeky speak - the original text messaging!
London Director system exchange names
My mother still has the occasional slip and refers to london numbers as Archway blah-blah-blah-blah. Which is charming (as is her habit of occasionally converting prices into pounds, shilling and pence without seeming to actually think about it).
I'm gutted to discover that my old phone number still had it's proper code
(Peckham 7762, please, operator!) whereas I'm now in some pseudo-exchange. Stonegrove, in Edgeware? Pah.
All you geowonks, take note - better make sure you've got enough space in your FOAF and GeoURL codes to write smart names into the data.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Telegraph | Arts | 'I am a young woman. I have sex for money. And I love to write. This is my story...'
Belle in the Telegraph: "here are interesting, well-spoken people for whom the explicit commodification of sex is preferable to the hawthorn thicket of modern relationships."
My main problem with the hysteria and 'It's all a fake' arguments going round is that knocking it makes a rather insidious assumption; namely that any woman who is a prostitute is too stupid to write or operate a computer.
I don't think this is the case.
My main problem with the hysteria and 'It's all a fake' arguments going round is that knocking it makes a rather insidious assumption; namely that any woman who is a prostitute is too stupid to write or operate a computer.
I don't think this is the case.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
luvly: Why do people give up weblogs?
luvly: Why do people give up weblogs?
Becasue they are fickle and eaqsily bored, and theres only so long you can sustain teenage navel gazing?
Becasue they are fickle and eaqsily bored, and theres only so long you can sustain teenage navel gazing?
Monday, March 22, 2004
Oh, and when I said I'm having an internal week...
Sometimes, juxtapositions in blog posts add a whole new level of meaning...
I used to be Belle De Jour, but I Drifted
dotdew: Who Is Belle de Jour?
Damn, someone else did a whois lookup of iambelledejour.com
I'd go with the 'probably an A' theory.
I want to believe. But I did have my doubts after the description of self-fisting. S/he must have long arms, or do yoga, or something, because it takes a degree of contortion I don't think I could accomplish, RSI aside.
I can't imagine it being a fun thing, as much as something that would give you a rather odd sense of personal achievement.
Damn, someone else did a whois lookup of iambelledejour.com
I'd go with the 'probably an A' theory.
I want to believe. But I did have my doubts after the description of self-fisting. S/he must have long arms, or do yoga, or something, because it takes a degree of contortion I don't think I could accomplish, RSI aside.
I can't imagine it being a fun thing, as much as something that would give you a rather odd sense of personal achievement.
Oh So Quiet
Not been posting much because I haven't had much to say.
Having an internal week or two.
However, things that have been interesting me... include the ConCon UK
Having met a nice lady at a work party and had possibly the most enthusiastic conversation ever about RSS feeds (geek, geeek, geeeeek!)...
I want to start a fortnightly meet. In a pub. Where lots of interesting folk can come along and talk nonsense and drink beer.
Because I'm bored of never being able to engage with ideas with anyone.
I'll set up an email list, or something, and do the organising. We could do it on a weeknight so we can have those reqesite work hangovers and a sense of achievement / befuddlement the next day.
The rules -
Polite skepticism. Challenge people, but let them be wrong if they need to be.
Look outside the group for inspiration - none of this everdecreasingcircles of navelgazing, it's about getting out of ruts.
Consideration - if someone doesn't get it, explain it to them. Good explainations are a skill we can all use.
Anyone up for it?
Having an internal week or two.
However, things that have been interesting me... include the ConCon UK
Having met a nice lady at a work party and had possibly the most enthusiastic conversation ever about RSS feeds (geek, geeek, geeeeek!)...
I want to start a fortnightly meet. In a pub. Where lots of interesting folk can come along and talk nonsense and drink beer.
Because I'm bored of never being able to engage with ideas with anyone.
I'll set up an email list, or something, and do the organising. We could do it on a weeknight so we can have those reqesite work hangovers and a sense of achievement / befuddlement the next day.
The rules -
Polite skepticism. Challenge people, but let them be wrong if they need to be.
Look outside the group for inspiration - none of this everdecreasingcircles of navelgazing, it's about getting out of ruts.
Consideration - if someone doesn't get it, explain it to them. Good explainations are a skill we can all use.
Anyone up for it?
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
I find this a bit confusing
Turtle TV - Free Video Downloads with an Amphibious Twist
Yep, someone's recreated popular films using live terrapins as the actors.
Very... very odd.
Yep, someone's recreated popular films using live terrapins as the actors.
Very... very odd.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Digital Windolene
XML.com: Geeks and the Dijalog Lifestyle [Feb. 18, 2004]: " ...humans have in their nature a tendency to collect lots of things which are similar but distinct; and that tendency includes an urge to order those collections according to some ordering scheme.
We do this in part because such collections offer us a means of ordering our own histories; for some of us, our media collections are props for the narrative, the lived drama, of our lives."
As a lady who spent a day and a half of her week off putting her CDs in order (and, I hasten to add, cleaning the accumulated Peckham fagash off the cases with windolene) this seems pertinent.
One of the problems with digital media is their lack of tangibility. they don't get 'worn' as they're loved. There's no patina. There's no seductive nostalgia about an old file - it's as crisp as when it's bits were burnt.
I've been trying to design a new template for the blog that feels lived in; it just looks forced.
We do this in part because such collections offer us a means of ordering our own histories; for some of us, our media collections are props for the narrative, the lived drama, of our lives."
As a lady who spent a day and a half of her week off putting her CDs in order (and, I hasten to add, cleaning the accumulated Peckham fagash off the cases with windolene) this seems pertinent.
One of the problems with digital media is their lack of tangibility. they don't get 'worn' as they're loved. There's no patina. There's no seductive nostalgia about an old file - it's as crisp as when it's bits were burnt.
I've been trying to design a new template for the blog that feels lived in; it just looks forced.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Mihtmlton Keynes
Amazon.co.uk: Books: Online Communities: Supporting Sociability, Designing Usability: "If the phrase 'planned community' makes you think of terrible homogenous suburbs, take another look at the Internet. "
There's food for thought. What if all the care that we're taking over communities now is as shoddy as the design of the human factors in many of the new towns of the 50s? Are we all theory over humanity?
Perhaps I should reread the suburbia book again...
There's food for thought. What if all the care that we're taking over communities now is as shoddy as the design of the human factors in many of the new towns of the 50s? Are we all theory over humanity?
Perhaps I should reread the suburbia book again...
Paracopyright
Lost about an hour yesterday to The Word Spy. It's a site devoted to the scholarly snark-hunt of neologisms. I'd forgotten how much I love watching new language emerge. Puppy Leave and Pomosexual are faves so far.
I can across Paracopyright, too: (PAYR.uh.kawp.ee.ryt) n. A set of non-traditional copyright-related principles, practices, and laws that exist alongside and attempt to extend traditional copyright protection.
There was a fairly chilling quote on there that I pinged off to Piers -
> For example, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) contains
> provisions that make it illegal to create or "traffic in" products
> that can be used to circumvent built-in copyright protection. In other
> words, the definition of a copyright violation has been extended from
> the illegal copying or selling of a work to merely creating a tool
> that might enable other people to do so. This is far removed from
> traditional copyright protection, hence the term "paracopyright for
> such provisions.
>
> Now... does it strike you that, just possibly, the biro could be
> included in such a category? As could copyandpaste?
And his reply is priceless, and should be printed on Tshirts:
But these guys are fighting the printing press, and Gutenberg's already released his bible.
I can across Paracopyright, too: (PAYR.uh.kawp.ee.ryt) n. A set of non-traditional copyright-related principles, practices, and laws that exist alongside and attempt to extend traditional copyright protection.
There was a fairly chilling quote on there that I pinged off to Piers -
> For example, the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) contains
> provisions that make it illegal to create or "traffic in" products
> that can be used to circumvent built-in copyright protection. In other
> words, the definition of a copyright violation has been extended from
> the illegal copying or selling of a work to merely creating a tool
> that might enable other people to do so. This is far removed from
> traditional copyright protection, hence the term "paracopyright for
> such provisions.
>
> Now... does it strike you that, just possibly, the biro could be
> included in such a category? As could copyandpaste?
And his reply is priceless, and should be printed on Tshirts:
But these guys are fighting the printing press, and Gutenberg's already released his bible.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Tech History
A network called 'Internet' - Strange how the lack of the definite article makes it sound really, really wrong.
Friday, February 13, 2004
Toss
matt jones on a collaborative mapping excercise involving coin tosses.
It worked fine until they got near the beach.
Interesting that he mentions that 'rules are good because they help you work out what you want to do by breaking them'.
It's a bit like my 'making a decision by tossing a coin' - you know instantly if the coin has made the 'wrong' decision, because you get a powerful negative reaction to the outcome.
Which suddenly made me think... didn't I steal that from Terry Pratchett?
Are all of the great BBC technorati actually just recycling ideas from hack comedy scifi?
It worked fine until they got near the beach.
Interesting that he mentions that 'rules are good because they help you work out what you want to do by breaking them'.
It's a bit like my 'making a decision by tossing a coin' - you know instantly if the coin has made the 'wrong' decision, because you get a powerful negative reaction to the outcome.
Which suddenly made me think... didn't I steal that from Terry Pratchett?
Are all of the great BBC technorati actually just recycling ideas from hack comedy scifi?
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Google Search: Sebaceous Cyst
Well, off to hospital for the first time since childhood tomorrow. To see a plastic surgeon, no less.
So, which do you think it'll be... a Sebaceous Cyst or a Lipoma?
One of these images is not safe for work like the others, kids.
So, which do you think it'll be... a Sebaceous Cyst or a Lipoma?
One of these images is not safe for work like the others, kids.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Wiki Wiki Boom Boom
londongeek.org have created an oral history wiki of the late 90s London new media scene...
Core77 Articles: Insanely great, or just good enough?
Core77 Articles: Insanely great, or just good enough?
More design thinking - this is a bookmark post.
More design thinking - this is a bookmark post.
Woo and Indeed Yay, Now here is the news.
Brian4theBeeb.com!!:
"I outline my background and my 5-point plan for the BBC on my campaign website (www.brian4thebeeb.com), but here I would just stress one point. The BBC currently gives far too much airspace to the views of people who know things. Despite making great strides in the right direction over the last few years, the BBC still privileges knowledge, intellect, and insight over ignorance, stupidity and prejudice. And that's got to stop! Apart from anything else, so-called 'experts' - Professors and the like - cost lots of our money. All those years of 'learning' don't come cheap. But thick people will appear on TV for a can of Tizer and a bag of chips. A People's Beeb, with me at the helm, would make more use of them!"
"I outline my background and my 5-point plan for the BBC on my campaign website (www.brian4thebeeb.com), but here I would just stress one point. The BBC currently gives far too much airspace to the views of people who know things. Despite making great strides in the right direction over the last few years, the BBC still privileges knowledge, intellect, and insight over ignorance, stupidity and prejudice. And that's got to stop! Apart from anything else, so-called 'experts' - Professors and the like - cost lots of our money. All those years of 'learning' don't come cheap. But thick people will appear on TV for a can of Tizer and a bag of chips. A People's Beeb, with me at the helm, would make more use of them!"
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Yahoo - A Guide to WWW
Yahoo - A Guide to WWW
I remember the days...
When Yahoo was the best way to surf the web. When the only browser was Mosaic. When FTP was called fetch. When Newsgroups were a way to meet new people. When Ascii art was the only way to show someone a map...
I remember the days...
When Yahoo was the best way to surf the web. When the only browser was Mosaic. When FTP was called fetch. When Newsgroups were a way to meet new people. When Ascii art was the only way to show someone a map...
Smart Mob - politics stylee
I meant to write this up on thursday, day of the DG Dgoing.
The protest that formed out front of TVC was a smart mob.
At 1.46pm I got an email from outside the BBC saying Greg had resigned. Someone in the department sent on at 1.44pm - I picked it up a bit afterwards.
Everyone turned on News 24, fired up the BBC news site, and went 'What?'.
A little while later I checked the messageboards on our intranet. Someone broke the news there at 1.42. At 1.59pm the first mention of a walk out at 3 is posted.
2.38 - I pinged the gateway link to the junkmail list.
We all start talking about walking out. Were the unions supporting us? Our union officer didn't have a clue, and bectu weren't answering the phone.
Greg's 'I'm Leaving' email came round. Most people sent a personal message back to him. Everone started feeling tired and emotional - Hutton has come on top of the DCMS review for online, and we're feeling a bit picked on, frankly.
Emails ping around the department - one saying 'Well, I'm going, and if no-one is there, I'll pretend I'm going to the garage for some pringles.'
2.30 - naysayers appear on the intranet talk boards - 'It'll play in to the hands of commercial channels'
2.42pm - a complete thread is started - Rumours of a 3pm walkout
3pm - a bunch of people look out of the windows of our offices - they overlook TVC. There are about ten people in a small huddle out front, with a TV camera on them.
A group decision is made - six or eight of us walk out to join them.
Our union rep starts shouting. 'What do we want? Return of Dyke. When do we want it? Now!'. I get embrrassed, and start trying to make people think about why they're there. It's not political, really - it's about expressing shock that Greg stood down.
More people join us - mostly from online departments. We figure it's because they're in front of email all the time, and use talk-gateway.
3.19 - pictures of us appear on news 24
By 3.30 there are a hundred or so of us, and two girls from radio asking us for quotes. I refuse, too scared of getting in trouble for not consulting my line manager before I open my mouth on BBC buisiness.
People are texting and ringing friends around the bbc, telling them to watch the news, telling them to take action, too. Lots of camera phones in evidence.
More people slowly trickle on. My entire department is there by 4pm. Apparently, one of our execs just walked around saying - go, go out there. Go on, show your support. Emails are flying around the BBC - this department has walked, they're out in Manchester, out in glasgow... People are ringing mobiles in the crowd, reporting on media coverage, telling us what is going on...
In the growing crowd, we realise that we can't see the ends anymore. People start turning up with hastily printed placards. The police turn up and stop us standing in the road. Everyone is friendly, chatting, cheering whenever a car beeps us.
4.30 - A rumour shoots round the crowd - Greg is coming. Things go up a notch. There are a good thousand people there by now - on both sides of the street. Photographers and news crews are threading in and out of the crowd. I'm trying deperately to stay off camera - mostly because I'm chain smoking, and my mum is bound to see me on telly, fag in mouth.
An ITN crew runs along the road at full pelt. Somethings up. Everyone breaks ranks - Greg is here. The crowd mobs him - one guy, sitting on a lamppost, appoints himself unofficial steward, and hushes everyone.
The only words I hear are 'Thankyou'. Three women next to me in the crowd are hugging each other and crying.
So - the crowd, emotional and upset, gathered and organised by email, messageboard, SMS and mobile call. And once the crowd reached a certain size, the dynamic became consensual, not individual. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life.
The protest that formed out front of TVC was a smart mob.
At 1.46pm I got an email from outside the BBC saying Greg had resigned. Someone in the department sent on at 1.44pm - I picked it up a bit afterwards.
Everyone turned on News 24, fired up the BBC news site, and went 'What?'.
A little while later I checked the messageboards on our intranet. Someone broke the news there at 1.42. At 1.59pm the first mention of a walk out at 3 is posted.
2.38 - I pinged the gateway link to the junkmail list.
We all start talking about walking out. Were the unions supporting us? Our union officer didn't have a clue, and bectu weren't answering the phone.
Greg's 'I'm Leaving' email came round. Most people sent a personal message back to him. Everone started feeling tired and emotional - Hutton has come on top of the DCMS review for online, and we're feeling a bit picked on, frankly.
Emails ping around the department - one saying 'Well, I'm going, and if no-one is there, I'll pretend I'm going to the garage for some pringles.'
2.30 - naysayers appear on the intranet talk boards - 'It'll play in to the hands of commercial channels'
2.42pm - a complete thread is started - Rumours of a 3pm walkout
3pm - a bunch of people look out of the windows of our offices - they overlook TVC. There are about ten people in a small huddle out front, with a TV camera on them.
A group decision is made - six or eight of us walk out to join them.
Our union rep starts shouting. 'What do we want? Return of Dyke. When do we want it? Now!'. I get embrrassed, and start trying to make people think about why they're there. It's not political, really - it's about expressing shock that Greg stood down.
More people join us - mostly from online departments. We figure it's because they're in front of email all the time, and use talk-gateway.
3.19 - pictures of us appear on news 24
By 3.30 there are a hundred or so of us, and two girls from radio asking us for quotes. I refuse, too scared of getting in trouble for not consulting my line manager before I open my mouth on BBC buisiness.
People are texting and ringing friends around the bbc, telling them to watch the news, telling them to take action, too. Lots of camera phones in evidence.
More people slowly trickle on. My entire department is there by 4pm. Apparently, one of our execs just walked around saying - go, go out there. Go on, show your support. Emails are flying around the BBC - this department has walked, they're out in Manchester, out in glasgow... People are ringing mobiles in the crowd, reporting on media coverage, telling us what is going on...
In the growing crowd, we realise that we can't see the ends anymore. People start turning up with hastily printed placards. The police turn up and stop us standing in the road. Everyone is friendly, chatting, cheering whenever a car beeps us.
4.30 - A rumour shoots round the crowd - Greg is coming. Things go up a notch. There are a good thousand people there by now - on both sides of the street. Photographers and news crews are threading in and out of the crowd. I'm trying deperately to stay off camera - mostly because I'm chain smoking, and my mum is bound to see me on telly, fag in mouth.
An ITN crew runs along the road at full pelt. Somethings up. Everyone breaks ranks - Greg is here. The crowd mobs him - one guy, sitting on a lamppost, appoints himself unofficial steward, and hushes everyone.
The only words I hear are 'Thankyou'. Three women next to me in the crowd are hugging each other and crying.
So - the crowd, emotional and upset, gathered and organised by email, messageboard, SMS and mobile call. And once the crowd reached a certain size, the dynamic became consensual, not individual. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life.
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