This is my notepad of links for a course I'm writing. My real weblog is Mooselessness. You're welcome to read my notes if you want, but there often won't be enough background to make sense of the entries.
The course is about the effect that computers and communications systems have on people's lives. Think Slashdot and Risks Digest. Feel free to e-mail me with comments or suggestions.
Geekcorps
Slashdot thread on bridging digital divide
Censorware breaches firewall
Lots of points here about how complexity is the enemy of security.
Network Effects based on Metcalfes Law
Might be a better unit title.
CBC's wired classroom
School.net. St. Dorothy. Give the tools early. Teachers forced to be sysadmins. Curriculum set centrally. Managed by Industry Canada. Private sectors ties?
Review of Tipping Point
Includes a good summary of his prescriptive points, but too many teasers of his other points.
Red Herring
Was trying to find a source of business/tech news that wasn't all about stocks. This isn't bad.
Gonzo Marketing
By a cluetrain guy. But how is Coke supposed to promote its product without hype? What is there to promote?
Permanence of Online Journals
From slashdot.
Wireless high speed network at university
Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y.
Russian gas monopoly hit by intruders
Rare example of a country's infrastructure affected by internet (?) security breaches.
Open standards in USA today
When you have open standards, you don't have to fear one vendor.
Interfaces for disabled
from slashdot
Response to Bill Joy
Calls him on his comparison of future threats to the atom bomb. What if the West hadn't researched it?
Machine Translation
from Wired
Chat Circles
Not brave enough to try at work.
The Digital Divide is Bunk
"By far the most important factors facilitating or inhibiting Internet access are education and age, and not income—nor race/ethnicity or gender, each of which accounts for less than a 5 percent change in rates of access and is statistically insignificant."
The Client is the Server
More about distribution and the power of networks than anything else. Great overview. Freshmeat.
Speech and Vision
Never thought of vision, gesture recognition, as an interface, despite having seen Johnny Mnemonic. (Had to go to imdb for that reference. Matrix fills my brain's only Keanu sf slot.)
Technology Review
MIT's Magazine of Innovation. Lead story is end of Moore's Law. Okay, okay. Sit over there with the global warming people. (Hey! You're not supposed to be reading this anyway, so no complaining.)
Open source as a model for collaboration
O'Reilly. Ties many themes together.
Twilight of the cryptogeeks
Such a title. Find out about Bill C6, Canada's privacy bill.
What will it take to shift the net
Wireless, broadband, and IPv6. Slashdot thread here.
Movie tax
If IP is non-rival and non-excludable, then it becomes a public commons. Do we have a music tax? Shades of Canada Council. How would this work globally?
Licence to Bill
Author wants to resist depossessionism, as seen in subscription software and Napster alike.
Rim mini keyboard
I can't believe that thing is usable. Archie the cockroach would like it though.
Slashdot thread on CFB
Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference. Notes here.
Soda's customer loyalty game
Defectors and advocates.
UI Design for programmers
Good bread machine anecdote. "A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would." All else is commentary.
Rattle of Pebbles
Unnecessarily long piece about ebooks and its effect on publishing. Will cheap binding protect IP? Just as London Drugs won't copy copyrighted pictures, Kinko's won't bind cracked PDFs?