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Monday, January 05, 2004 |
 We are slowly seeing the death of weblogs as a means of creating a vibrant new global thinking process. Politics, personal animostity, and indifference dominate. What a change from the early years (not long ago), when new ideas and thinking were rewarded with links and push back.
6:55:18 PM 
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Why don't we move to a simple username protection for RSS feeds? If a subscriber had a crappy username (like anonymous, you could ban). All you would need to do is provide a name of who you are (and if you have it, a weblog location). It would solve the "who is subscribing issue" and "how many times are they banging my site issue."
5:13:31 PM
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I recommend to ALL Californians that they watch "Pumping Iron." It provides an amazing amount of insight into Arnold's character. This guy is so competitive that he didn't go to his own father's funeral because he was worried that it would negatively impact his competitive mindset. Arnold is a total competitor. If he wasn't an Austrian by birth, he would be one hell of a presidential candidate (and this is in no way an endorsement).
4:40:10 PM
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Questions: Did the weblog world do anything other than amplify the pre-war Bush propaganda campaign on Iraqi WMD? Are we in the worst of all worlds when the mainstream media (our former gatekeepers) buys into a completely false propoganda campaign and that same propoganda is supported online by tens of thousands of mini-Limbaughs?
NOTE: This wasn't a surprise. All the weapons inspections prior to the war came up dry. There was no objective evidence, yet webloggers didn't dispute it.
BTW: I think Saddam was a SOB that deserved to go. I may have supported his ouster on that alone. I didn't get to make that choice. Neither did you.
2:17:11 PM
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One theory of air warfare that has been gaining ground is Col. John Warden's "Five Rings" (Warden was an influential airpower planner in the Gulf War). The theory claims that extremely accurate munitions and newly emerging non-lethal weapons are a better way to sway an enemy to your will as opposed to traditional war fighting. The theory inverts the traditional target list by putting leadership targets at the core and working outward through targets in systems essentials (energy and money), infrastructure, population, and fielded military units. The objective is to bypass the fielded military (fly over it) and win the war by making resistance economically and psychologically too costly to contemplate. In its essence, this is warfare on the cheap (in that it doesn't cost lots of lives), which is perfect in a casualty intolerant world.
The problem with Warden's theory is that the nation's that this method of warfare would work best against aren't likely to be nations we will ever go to war with. We will typically only fight countries that are run by dictators that are will to withstand massive levels of economic damage without capitulation. We also fight countries where the leadership, systems essentials, and infrastructure are in disarray. Further, it doesn't work against the stateless terrorists that are the most difficult enemies we face today.
Despite these drawbacks, Warden does hit on some key concepts. First is that the ability to fight wars with low body counts is advantageous to the US. Second, new technologies do exist that allow airpower to accomplish much more than it has in the past (even in the last Gulf War). Finally, and most importantly, he correctly concludes that it is possible to win wars without directly engaging fielded military forces.
1:08:31 PM
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Here are the features that I want to see on a weblog profile system (in process):
- A simple XML profile for public consumption.
- A simple XML profile that is password protected that includes restricted profile information (contact information in particular).
- An easy-to-use profile publishing page on my weblog tool of choice. I should be able to restrict on the form, via a simple checkbox, any information I don't want to publish in the public domain.
- Spam free e-mail introductions (or an automated introduction system that works via my dynamic weblog tool) where I can release my restricted information to people I designate.
9:58:14 AM
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M2M. David Weinberger critiques social networking software (rightly). My take: There isn't any magic in social networking software. The value this software provides is much more basic than many people think. Here's what it provides:
- It contains solid (but private) contact information on all members.
- Profiles are available on each member (on LinkedIn you can put in a resume).
- There is a safe, formal method of requesting contact with other members you don't know. This is like UserLand's spam free e-mail.
- The connection info (you know D through B and C) is more of a gimmick than something that provides real value. There is a small amount of comfort involved in knowing how you are connected to other people (you can also get info on how many people they are connected to, which is like a PageRank for social networks). This is the part of these networks that confuses everyone.
- There is a search function for finding other members based on information in the profile (interests, company, job title, etc).
Now that we have demystified social networking software, let's think about how to apply the features in an open system that works in conjunction with weblogs. The current systems are too closed and limited to be of much long term value. Here's my thinking:
- Solid information on weblog authors. It would be great to have standardized weblog profile and contact information. Currently, contact and profile information on weblogs, if it is there at all, is all over the map. It really sucks. Sure, you can read what someone is writing on their weblog, but you often need ESP to determine who they are, what they do, etc.
- A safe way to share contact information. Way too many people publish their e-mail address in the clear on the their weblogs. There should be a way to restrict that (via a spam free e-mail feature) that would allow the weblog's author to release solid contact information (e-mail, phone, address) to readers that they authorize.
- Search!! This is a simple and powerful feature. Want to find Microsoft or Google webloggers? Why wait for someone to build a list that may or may not be out of date? A search function on social networking profile information derived from weblogs would solve this quickly and with much more accuracy than a random Google search.
- Categorization. Have a look at Jon Udell's lists of CXO webloggers on the right hand side of his weblog. How easy would this be to create if you had solid contact information contained in a social networking system. In fact, you could build directories on the fly customized to your needs based on good profile information.
- Community and portability. The advent of open profile information would allow people to create custom communities. There is a lot of power in creating ad hoc communities of members using this type of information. It could also be used to allow members of that community to build contact lists in other applications (e-mail and IM) that are constantly and automatically updated (a new role for Newsgator -- creating auto updated contact lists for e-mail apps).
OK, this would be very, very easy to do in the weblog world if we start right now. All that is needed is a simple standard for an XML profile (as simple as RSS -- which only Dave seems able to build) that can be published by weblog authors in a form on their weblog tool of choice. If the vendors (UserLand, Blogger, and SixApart) did this, within weeks sites like Feedster and Technorati would have tools that took advantage of that information. This would then usher in a whole new deluge of innovation similar to what we are seeing in RSS today. Let's put Friendster out of business and open this up.
9:19:28 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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