Month: April 2007

bookmark_borderFriends and Codes

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Blimey, a fairly busy week or so of overly gluttonous introspection in blogland. No surprise I guess but this time round it has been fairly forthright and more vociferous than usual. I’ve linked to a few of the following before, but, pulled together they encapsulate most of what has been said. I think.

It all started with Kathy Sierra’s announcement of her withdrawal from a conference due to threats to her person. Obviously this was followed by shock and outrage and so on and on and then Tim O’Reilly drafted a Code of Conduct for bloggers (he has since posted a follow up with some more considered thoughts).

This was met with no small amount of derision but, as I said in comments in that post, I applaud him for doing it as I’m sure he was aware it was doomed to failure. But sometimes these things need done regardless. Admittedly I do agree that you’d be as well to post a “warning; may contain nuts” message on your blog. It is a nonsense of course, and the backlash was predictable (although very well designed).

Even Auntie Beeb weighed on the matter, a sure sign of the changing face of the blogosphere, although even then it should be noted that (and I wish I could find the quote from who said it first) there isn’t ONE blogosphere but many (you wouldn’t compare Beethoven’s 9th with the latest single from Girls Aloud, but they are both “music”… yikes, that was a bad example…).

The New York Times paid the issue some lip service, and it was from there that I found my way to the best round up of the Kathy Sierra saga so far.

Of course that is not to forget that recently, here in the UK, there has been a court case where some person has been found guilty of harassment (if you do go here, DO NOT google and visit the persons website, you are only then feeding her delusions).

What on earth is going on! I hear you say.

Well, every now and then, like a child growing up, the blogosphere (god, I’m actually getting used to typing that blasted word) needs to go through some pain to fully mature. Don’t you think? No I’m certainly not condoning the actions of the few that sparked a lot of this, but this is not the last time negative actions will bring focus on to blogging. With that in mind we are all responsible for how we conduct ourselves, so I guess I need to count my blessings that you lot are always civilised, and that I’ve never had to invoke my own commenting policy.

It’s a times like these that I wish I were more eloquent and could string the various threads that run through the current stream of “blog news”. Thankfully you don’t need to rely on me to do so, as mike returns to tug all those strands into a wonderfully lucid and thought provoking post. If you do nothing else after reading this, go read that.

bookmark_borderDo I REALLY sound like that?

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In an effort to compile a list of what I consider to be the best posts of this blog, and yes such things are highly subjective I know, I spent some time perusing my archives last night.

It’s an odd experience, as I found myself re-living a lot of my past via this strange yet familiar narrator. For, you see, I don’t actually talk like wot I write, y’ken? Hmm I don’t talk like that either mind you… although I do say “och aye” more than I realised, much to the amusement of a colleage of mine from New Zealand.

Of course this isn’t such a surprise as no-one really talks the way they write, nor sings the way they speak, but I did catch myself wondering if I really did write what I was reading. Which is both odd and comfortably flattering at the same time.

I guess this comes down to that old “people don’t see you the way YOU see you” thing, where, as the name suggests, other people don’t see you the way you see yourself, and their opinion of you isn’t swayed by your own internal insecurities, unlike your own.

There are far too many commas in that last sentence, this is another thing I’ve noticed and which litters my archives like dog turds on a cycling path, consistently terrible punctuation. What of the semi-colon? Honestly, as someone who writes for a living I am shamed. Of course there isn’t much call for personal writing in the midst of a technical manual so maybe I have a small get-out clause?

Yes, browsing your own archives is both enlightening and informing in many ways. I recently commented, on another site, about why I leave my entire archives in place rather than removing the nonsense, or starting over completely. The simple reason is that they remind me of how this blog started and how much it has improved. Looking back to the first year or two of this blog I’m still surprised that anyone visited at all, let alone returned more than once. Zip forward to 2007 and the stats continually surprise me. Hundreds of you visit every day, and then come back again, and again. I may not get the most visitors and I may not get the most comments, but I have to admit to a quiet satisfaction that, for the main part, my visitors and their comments are of a consistently high standard. Thanks you guys.

Stepping back to take a new view of something is always intriguing, regardless of the subject matter. Everyone has a different viewpoint, a different point of approach, a new angle. Given the recent round of news in the blogosphere regarding “codes of conduct”, self regulation and so on, this is something worth considering. I’m happy to be disagreed with, I’m happy to be proven wrong, I’m happy for people to voice their dissent in the strongest terms but my comment policy stands. I enjoy reading comments from people with a different point of view, no matter how opposed. I’m always willing to learn from others, so if I say Black is White, please feel free to disagree with me (and yes, I know Black and White aren’t colours).

I’m not going to tackle that topic though, others have been before me and most of the ground has been covered. I will point you to the new Blog Advisory System though, it seems to be very accurate.

Whoa, bit off-track (there is another post in this, about how the fact my miniblog refuses to work is effecting how and what I write here in the main posts) now, were was I?

It has, and continues to be, an education to read through my own archives. I don’t have that great a memory, with a lot of the stuff I post here largely being posted as a method of NOT having to remember it, so it’s an excellent way to re-acquaint myself with my own content. I am intrigued to know how everyone else keeps track of such things, are you all as disorganised as I am? Or do you remember what you wrote?

Do you read through your own archives from time to time, or just search them when you have a vague memory of possibly, maybe, posting about a particular topic in the past?

How do YOU use your own archives?

bookmark_borderCrater needs filled

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Working at home today, and just about to leave the house for a visit to the dentist. She’s very nice, as are all the staff, but it still irks me that I’m paying to have pain inflicted.

We signed up to “go private” just before all the nonsense started and I’m quite smug that I’ve not had to queue for hours to be able to attend the dentist practise (why DO they call it that!) that I want. Up until last year, our monthly payment covered checkups, hygienist appointments, x-rays and minor fillings.

They changed it this year to exclude minor fillings.

Guess what I need done.

Of course it is entirely possible that I’m just being cynical, but there is a part of me that wonders why this wasn’t caught before now. It’s a replacement filling, after all, as an old one has started ‘leaking’ and surely it was doing that last year too…

Trust is, of course, hard to earn but my dentist has always been very good, and I shouldn’t start to doubt her now but there is always a part of me that wonders. After all, they could be making up pretty much anything… at least if I visit the doctor with a sore ankle I have an idea of what has gone wrong..

Anyway, best get dressed. They weren’t best please the last time I turned up in my PJs.

Probably because the fly was open…

bookmark_borderBank Holiday Weekend

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Yesterday was a Bank Holiday. Whilst this is not a huge event in and of itself, it is worth noting as it was probably the first time I’ve not worked one for about 10 years.

After a day pottering at home on Saturday, we headed through to a friends house for a BBQ on Sunday. Not the greatest of days for cooking outdoors but it wasn’t TOO cold. A long afternoon turned into a late night, with news of a wedding taking centre stage. I’ll also be really REALLY good and not mention fake tan… sorry private joke.

We stayed with my parents on Saturday night and arose early to took take my parents to Perth for the day. Most of the day was spent wandering around shops and gardens, with several food related pitstops. Photos were taken, the weather did it’s best, and my Mum even managed to dribble chocolate sauce down her light blue jumper…

All in all a good day. I had visions of sitting in mile-long tailbacks for hours on end, but as we were away from most of the tourist traps we largely avoided such misery. Why DO people do it?

bookmark_borderContent in the City

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Various recent events have me pondering. At what point does the amount of digital content we have become a burden? In the age of “more”, when does “a lot”, become “too much”?

Why do I have Carrie Bradshaw’s voice in my head?

Leaving the exquisite Ms. Parker (or Mrs. Broderick if you prefer) to one side, for I’ll get back to her later, the topic of digital content is a current constant around these parts. Hell even the name of this blog hints at my general leanings in an age where content = information.

With the presumption that I’m already informationally overloaded, should I continue to consume and obtain, adding more and more digital content in the vague hope that some far off tipping point will be reached when, in the blink of an eye, a sticky idea will come along and all our digital woes will be answered. Apologies to Mr. Gladwell for that last sentence.

One of the problems we face is that it’s so (too?) easy to create digital content. Rip a CD and you’ll have MP3s or WMAs, take photos and you’ll have JPEGs and possible RAW files too, send emails and you’ll likely store a copy of your sent email in some format or another, type up and send a letter and you have a new document to store, and all of that is presuming you are only using your computer for ‘everyday life’ tasks. If your work requires a computer Id guess that you are creating, probably, mega-bytes of brand spanking new digital content every single day (although you might not store it all on your own computer).

But what’s the big problem? As the cost of storage continues to drop, it’s now relatively inexpensive to have at least a Terabyte of easily accessed disk space in your home. I currently have around 850GB of space, spread across three drives (one of which is an external drive used for backup only) none of which are even remotely close to being full, although that’s mainly because I’ve not yet resumed my on-going CD conversion project.
Continue reading “Content in the City”

bookmark_borderTilt head for info

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click. bsssszzz, k-chunk. click-klack. Bzzzzzz kvrrrummm whiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

“Importing….”

“Import Complete”

click. bsssszzz, k-chunk. click-klack. Bzzzzzz kvrrrummm whiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Repeat ad infinitum.

Or, as has been the case, for about 10 CDs at one sitting.

I have a lot of CDs and one day they will all be in the loft, gathering dust, replaced by their digital cousins. It’s a slow process, mainly because it’s so tediously manual but at least iTunes helps by detecting the CDs, finding the CD data, and importing them to sensible locations.

This process stalled until recently when my new PC arrived, and has started up again as I now have plenty of legroom in which to stretch my digital legs. I also have a nice powerful graphics card which means I can use iTunes Cover Flow view. This allows me to flip through my music collection by CD cover, or rather by MP3 “cover art”, and offers a nice graphical way to interact with my digital content. It means I don’t need to scroll endlessly down lists of tracks when I simply want to browse for some music and pick whatever takes my fancy.

But there is a flaw with this system.

I don’t know the covers of all my CDs.

I know the spines.

I doubt many would have stored their CDs face out, unless they worked in a music store maybe, and without that view of my “analog” music collection it’s next to useless. So whilst Cover Flow view is all nice and whizzy and LOOKS v.impressive, it’s not really. So I guess the question is, who wants to take photos of the spines of all my CDs??