links for 2006-09-29
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Will this be the future – applications just run on the computer and you don’t even know which OS you are actually using??
You are currently browsing the archives for September, 2006.
Feed the Exploratory Need…finding delight in technology
Alan Levine, in his CogDogBlog (which I find a must-read), once again nails it with what I was thinking as well but couldn’t quite squeeze through my pinhole of a blogger brain!
I had the same experience as he did with my Google personalized homepage last week. “Hey! Tabs! Cool! What happens if I click….”
And so I have gone on and built my own personal portal with RSS and other tools on their own little tab universes. I love it. Alan’s recent entry summarized my own sense of delight and exploration and creating fun in this techy world in which I operate most of the time. In fact, since my undergraduate days in education, I have kept these words around, taped above desks, written in the fronts of journals, on my screensaver — dulces et utiles (To instruct while delighting) I have always tried to make this my creed. Alan’s post mirrors that sentiment as well. His words of advice:
But maybe think about this in the work that you do, be it graphics, teaching, writing web pages, positing blogs, writing lessons etc… how droll is it to stick to the same old same old? Why not feed the exploratory need? (I think we all have it to some degree, it has just been squashed out of us by the end of adolescence, for those unlike me who have completed the process…). Sneak a little note in a flickr image. Write an obscure link that does not directly say where it goes… yes, create your own tiny rabbit holes.
I want to try to keep that in mind with projects at work. With the building out of a Luminis portal at school and all kinds
of talk of tabs and channels, this was a good personal exercise with that type of environment. I have to consider how to add those tiny “rabbit holes” in the portal. I also have to contend with the fact that it is certainly not as easy to use as Google’s. At least, not yet.
(C)hell Phones – are they good for us?
So, I read this article on Wired News today and it struck a chord. I am always surprised how folks react when I didn’t have a cell phone. (DISCLAIMER: I now own a Virgin Mobile pay as you go phone that sits in my home office way more than anywhere else. The occasional trip out of town and the lack of public phones forced it on me)
But, when I didn’t have a cell phone, folks were SO SURPRISED and almost shocked by the fact. In the land of the geeks, cell phone lackluster attitude just doesn’t seem right or so it seems. And, given my fascination with other electronic toys and gadgets, it does seem a bit out of character. But, I’ve never been a fan of the phone, in general. I didn’t sit in my room during my pre-teen and teen years on the phone with the friends I just left at school. I was too busy playing my 10 LPs over and over and over again.
But, from a psychological perspective, I am frequently bothered by cell phone users. I don’t like to listen to their conversations and I often cannot escape them. If I walk into a home or office and someone is on the phone, I usually leave and wait for the conversation to end. If someone is sitting in the cereal aisle perusing the Cheerio options (ooo, whole grain!), while asking the invisible person on the other end of the call, “Whatcha doin’?”, I can’t escape the answer unless I miss picking up my Kashi GoLean box. Don’t even get me started on the phone calls during movies, theatre performances and live concerts. I can get ballistic on that. But, I digress.
I did like notion from the Wired article that the cell phones narrow our social network because users tend to call the same small group of folks.
“It’s not exactly horizon- or mind-expanding. Combine that restrictedform of sociability with other social developments like gatedcommunities, filtered news sources and a security-obsessed state and itleads to a dangerous narrowing of the mind.”
That is an aspect I do like about the ‘net – I can connect with folks all over the world, in strange and wonderful ways. And, I don’t have to know a 10 digit number for each one of them. Or be awake at the same time or on the same provider network.
Read the article yourself. What do you think?
Wired News: Cell Phones? Hell Phones!
links for 2006-09-26
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find out your style in this matrix
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core process for designing and redesigning sites.
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When you have some time to kill..find out if your phone number spells anything. bummer, my number does not…
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decent listing of free online resources and classes
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video player and platform – watch this one and see how it progresses (pun intended)
links for 2006-09-23
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easy to use listing of converters, players, codecs, etc for video work on a Mac
A Whole New Mind – book and attitude
Being fresh from a nice vacation, I do feel as if I have a whole new mind! I also spent my airplane time reading Daniel Pink‘s book A Whole New Mind. It was a great read and I’m not usually into reading business and strategy books.
The main thesis really lends itself to my whole techy-feely approach to life. He presents six skills or aptitudes that he thinks will be the most useful and highly desired in the future as the business world adapts to major change agents such as automation and outsourcing to Asia. Being able to use empathy, seeing the big picture and a sense of play are all going to be a big part of being successful in the near future, according to Pink.
It has a good deal of right brain-left brain kind of exposition, which I liked. I also really agree with his six skills and enjoyed looking over his resources and “exercises” to help develop them even more. After more brain marination, I will post about each of the six in more detail.
links for 2006-09-22
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creating subchannels in luminis with javascript
links for 2006-09-21
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good pictorial resources for American history online
Brain-cation
Back from an extended vacation which was very much needed and well received by body, mind and soul. Fun was had in Maine in a cabin that had no phone, no internet, and lots of rustic charm. Spent my time with friends and more time outside than I usually do in a month or two. It was good.
If you have never been to Maine, especially the Acadia National Park, Belfast, Camden, Moose Point State Park and Camden Hills State Park, I highly recommend a visit.
Truly beautiful and a good fit for this t-f girl.
