Christian, Open Source, Interface Design, HCI, CMS, DLA

I think search will be everywhere, on all things. In other words, search will become the defacto navigational tool for your mobile phone, your music player, your automobile, and of course your PC. We'll all be getting - slowly - more sophisticated is using advanced search tools to help us organize and find information, but not because we're trying harder - but rather because search services themselves will be more sophisticated, more likely to know who you are and what you are looking for in context.

Rafat says: Weblogs Inc, the blog media company founded by Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey, is being bought by America Online, www.paidContent.org has learned from multiple sources. The deal is done and should be announced this week...
Among the other companies Weblogs Inc talked to included the usual suspects: News Corp, Yahoo and MSN...

In the spirit of the Blog, I'll go ahead and blog this. Not like I want anyone else to see it because, well quite frankly I think this position's got my name on it. But then again, being the first to blog it could work in my favor. Amy?

To work in the same vein with Scoble and Zawodny is actually something I aspire to. I think these guys are not only intelligent but worth their 'marketing' weight in gold. The shift (and power) is electric. I especially enjoy the tension I feel reading Scoble knowing he's got to be cringing each time he hits 'save.' Wondering if the 'MSFT old guard' is going to light up his phone ...again.
You GO SCOBLE!

Question: When is Yahoo Search moving from Pasadena to Burbank? The commute will be so much better Bubank side...which is certainly closer to the Santa Monica operation. The move makes sense.

What I really like about this "our team" sort of philosophy from Ning is its simplisity and dead on accuracy. This is by far the best outline I've seen. I'm already really impressed with the concepts of Ning (check out the Ning Blog) and after reading this I'm convinced these guys are going to be huge! The real question, how long can they go before the bidding wars begin? Wonder who will land them, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google... I have my ideas...what are yours?

"We have been around the start-up block enough times to have a very clear idea of what kind of team we want to build. Here are some of the things we believe in:

• Run fast, fly low, and be cheap
• Promote from within--quickly
• Keep everyone informed, both on the good news and the bad news
• Organize based on a cell structure for both technical and non-technical functions
• 3-5 person teams
  • Flat organization
• Be transparent
  • Review projects every 2 weeks
• Reward innovation, ingenuity, and hard work
• Meritocracy
• Evaluate and reward managers based on development of people
• Top down reassignments of high achievers
• Build a team with potential, drive, curiosity, intelligence and ambition
• Don't have to have experience or a track record
  • We want people to build experience and track records with us
• Train people
• Everyone teaches
• Honest, frequent feedback
• Weekly 1:1, staff, and all hands meetings
• Written career development plans

MySpace Quick Facts:

- MySpace is adding 1 Million (yes, that is not a typo) users per week!
- MySpace is the 4th most trafficked site in the US
- MySpace is now serving up more pages than Google
- MySpace was responsible for 10.8 percent of online impressions, up from 7.9 percent in June and 6.3 percent in May. Source: CraigsList

Those are some big numbers...REALLY big numbers. Did you know the former founder and CEO of Intermix Media, Brad Greenspan is on a campaign against the acquisition of the company by News Corp.?

Greenspan, who was head of Intermix until October of 2003, has set up http://www.intermixedup.com to outline his reasons for voting against the acquisition of Intermix by News Corp.

NY TIMES
Google Answers is one of several services creating an online commons for impromptu research. Ingenio.com, for example, markets the services of traditional professionals like tax lawyers and computer technicians. And some sites, like Wondir.com, maintain a no-fee exchange of questions and answers - though tipping is permitted.

The GoingOn Network

Great job Marc. Hope to talk with you at Rafat's party in LA. Can't wait to see GoingOn.

It's official - I can now start talking about the world's first true DLA. I say true - not because 1UP.com wasn't coolio or that Tribe.net doesn't have some cutting edge features - but none of them let me have a free hand in designing what I wanted to design.

I REALLY like what Curt Hibbs is focusing upon. I'm also aware of the approach of Jeffrey Veen with CMS (Jeffrey's personal site is here) and the folks at Adaptive Path. And, if you are developing this PLEASE SEND me an e-mail to discuss how much I will pay you... ;-)

I've been earnestly seeking to develop a deep understanding of the next generation of interactive development in order to launch a new online business. One where I'm able to play a part in an ever evolving site design way beyond Dreamweaver's approach, even reaching into the future past the capabilities of currently available Open Source Content Management Systems.

What I'm beginning to realize is that my need for this interactive development process doesn't exist the way I see the future unfolding. What's freaky, is that what I need should be completely common to nearly everyone like me who is way techno savvy, but not a coder. You see, I'd like to build an online community with an open source type product where information is easily published by the group and moderated by admin status. This is the idea with most CMS (Content Management Systems), with unique and customizable themes/skins, one factor that is stopping everything is the easily integrated e-commerce package... (that and the fact that most CMSs simply look like hell, are not easily reskinned and are a bear to work with or make changes if you don't code, and are NOT intuitive, simple or designed with HCI GUI understanding.

I get WEB2.0, or the semantic web, or communities of practice, or social networking, or whatever you want to call what everyone else soon will figure out is the future of interactivity. The problem is after nearly 4-years of working with this stuff extensively, I have yet to FIND the correct one stop shop (consultants) and open source solution. I think www.Bryght.com and CivicSpaceLabs.org with www.Drupal.org are on the right track. But without ecommerce support there is a huge disconnect.

After a good deal of reading, I'm just about convinced that this solution smells like AJAX, with hints of RUBY ON RAILS, a pinch of Drupal & Gallery, with some serious pluggable e-commerce thrown in as the glue to make some coinage. Quite frankly I feel that blogging is about to take on an entirely new realization, much faster than it initially took off, and that is a good blog is a TON of work, with little to no reward (at least in my personal experience), and unless someone comes along and designs a product to HELP bloggers make money (selling whatever tangable or intangable) they quickly loose their luster.

I really really like what Jason C. and Rafat Ali have done with their business models. Yet, I'm sure most bloggers are like me and have not received any job offers, or have paid advertisers on board allowing a full time comitment to this blog effort. In addition, my blog has not really introduced me to others to bring about an increase in partnership or revenue. Bottom line, it's VERY difficult to make any money blogging, and most people don't really reach outside their own circle of influence. Getting money from blogging would ultimately create a huge form of incentive for blogging to reach the next level (which I would love to do). Hence, my need for an integrated open source package with an e-commerce module allowing me to work some sort of product into my online community... Does any of this make sense to anyone else?

To conclude: I want to be able to build then customize (on a whim) my own online community, where members can publish their thoughts and add to WIKIs and upload tons of digital photos, audio, videos, podcasts, etc.; where I can easily upload product photos/descriptions to sell to the membership, but also to non-members. Good design revolves around community, commerce, and content...yes, but who has designed this open source product? Am I just dreaming of the future? Anyone?

If you have any thoughts on my QUEST for the ultimate Ruby - AJAX, social software, open source, ecommerce package along with the consulting/design/development agency that knows it all inside out while providing amazing not of this world support and service through an 800 number 24x7 support hotline, please let me know!... Or, can you point me in the right direction? Interesting article listed below.
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A few years back Kevin Kelly touched upon Google Answers. Wondir is like Google Answers but without the experts. Wondiring Blog

Wondir with offices in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, is an organization with a simple mission: eliminate the barriers between questions and answers.

Wondir is building a new and different kind of information service, Wondir, to connect people who have information needs with the people and information that can help them.

The premise behind Wondir is this: there are thousands of organizations, corporations and service providers, and millions of individuals throughout the world who want to help others by providing information, guidance and expertise. There are many people who need their help. But despite all the advances in the internet, communications and search technology, it is still far too difficult for these forces to connect. That is why we?re creating Wondir.

Wondir strives to be a simple yet effective way for people with an information need to ask a question and get a good answer from those sources who are out there, ready to help. And since a primary goal of Wondir is to open up the gifts of knowledge to anyone who has questions, the service will be free to all, and open to all.

Press:

New Wave of Exclusive Sites
Tout A-List Networking;
A Revolt Against Friendster
By JENNIFER SARANOW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 27, 2005; Page D1
The people on the other side of the velvet rope have moved onto the Internet, and now they are trying to exclude you from their Web sites, too.
The sites that originally defined what has come to be known as "social networking," like the now-famous Friendster and online communities such as www.MySpace.com let anyone join. Their aim was to let members benefit from the theory that everyone is connected by no more than six degrees -- that your friend's cubicle mate knows someone whose sister's college boyfriend should definitely be dating you and who it turns out went to junior high with you. Then, they try to help people use those connections by mapping them out on a Web site and giving members a way to get in touch with others. Some people use the sites for finding a job or an apartment or to track down a former classmate. Others use them as a networking tool.

Accel Faces Social Networking
Constance Loizos
Apr 15, 2005

Thefacebook.com, a popular online social networking directory that has taken college campuses by storm in the 14 months since it launched, has raised a Series A round of funding from Accel Partners.

The deal was hotly contested in Silicon Valley, and sources estimate the funding was between $10 million and $12 million.

?A lot of firms were clamoring for that deal. I'm disappointed it wasn't us,

"Our great attributes are interactive," said Semel, the former co-CEO of Warner Bros. "We (Yahoo is the new Google) have huge audiences who themselves are the programmer."

From Lloyd Braun: "We believe Scott Moore has the right combination of media and Internet experience, leadership skills and business acumen to help realize the full potential of our media offerings."

Yahoo Photos will get a lot of Flickr features, and there are alot of other areas around Yahoo that will also be Flickrized where Flickrization would be good. Yahoo Photos and Flickr have different kinds of users with different needs, and will remain separate for the foreseeable future.?

Do I have to have a Yahoo ID to use Flickr?

No. In the future, you'll be able to log into Flickr using your Yahoo account, but you can continue logging on as before.

Will Terry Semel do the Developers Developers Developers shtick?

March 16, 2005
Barry Diller Seeks To Shed ZeroDegrees Social Networking

A beloved mole tells the a:c that Diller's InterActive Corp. has found a buyer to take the failing ZeroDegrees social networking service off its hands. InterActive acquired ZeroDegrees in March 2004 for an undisclosed sum. Since then, the company has struggled to find footing - it's an online community without a community of visitors. ZeroDegrees sought to differentiate itself from the crowd by private-labeling its social networking environment, but a look at Diller's other sites shows that ZeroDegrees failed to even private-label within the family.

Looks like Paul Brody, Chip and Randy have been hard at work at Yahoo. I'm intensely excited about this as are others who recall its code name Mingle. I don't want to get in the way of the announcement so I'll keep my comments brief and not discuss filling Yahoo's Director, Product Management, Community Apps position (Marion ??) addressing the galaxy of PRDs and MRDs. Or, why I really like www.adaptivepath.com and 37Signals.

The idea - Yahoo 360 - is VERY much needed, makes perfect sense for Yahoo and is actually overdue. The only thought that keeps banging up against my head is the fact that our little collective (bloggers, technologists, early adaptors, entrepreneures etc.) all want (actually NEED) a product that is OUR product. The easy success then later failure of Orkut is directly related to its tied to the hip relationship with Google. I have yet to read anywhere the unwritten desire of bloggers and the technical elite to belong to their own 'hand built' communities... real - or perceived. I think there is a direct correlation between the perception of MY own blog (that I helped build) and the community that was built 'for me' by others... Does this thought make sense to anyone else? I'm sure back in the day you rode the horses you helped breed, and looked down on those who didn't know (in depth) the lines of their ride. Later in the 50's it was all about customizing your HOT ROD and brands like Ford and Chevy were the foundations. Will Google and Yahoo become the Fords and Chevys of the 21st century? I don't think we are there yet, but we're getting close.

I've been working on similar concepts very seriously for some time now. I like www.YUB.com and the direction they are heading but there seems to be way too much emphasis on Social Networking. Yes, it can work, but simply utilizing the term does not establish 'grass roots' marketing success. This requires not only hard work, but the ability to tap into my research. Let's see is YUB in California now? Looks like they all moved out here from Cambridge. That was certainly a good move.

Buy.com Rolls Out Loyalty Program
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Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com has rolled out a loyalty program based on its Yub.com web site, where shoppers at Buy.com and other stores get a 1% rebate on purchases. The Yub.com site puts a shopping spin on social networking, by promoting the ability of friends to recommend products to their friends and others and receive 1% of the purchase of those goods. Buy.com said that it will also offer a yearly, subscription program where shoppers can earn up to 15% back on their purchases. The Yub.com site was recently launched encourages users to upload photos and share information about themselves--along with reviews of products carried by Yub.com retailers.

?The effect of like-minded consumers sharing product information and being able to act on that information and purchase their friend?s recommendations in one destination is explosive,

Lycos Dating Search users can search and view profiles and photos for free on sites like iMatchup.com, LoveAccess, Tickle.com, True.com, and Lycos-owned Matchmaker.com. Users can view unlimited profiles on these sites without registering for sites. Only active or recent profiles, and profiles with photos, are displayed.

"There's a lot of shopping around with dating sites, both before and after choosing a site to join," said Curt Degenhart, senior product manager for Lycos Dating Search. "Now users can browse and search profiles with no registration requirements."?

Stemming tags, and one website to the tune of another

del.icio.us is still giving me food for thought. Here are two toys I've made recently: a tag stemming tool that helps you tidy up your tagging using the Porter algorithm, and a (Flash) screen-recorded demo of del.icio.us seamlessly embedded in the BBC Radio 3 website.

Bambi, I love your ability to zero in on the amazing business models.

The growing market for organizing
Commentary: Tomorrow's content may be home grown
By Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:44 AM ET Jan. 25, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- We thought Google's 8 billion crawled Web pages was a lot.

We haven't seen anything yet.

Our own content will likely dwarf what's currently being created by large media and the traditional providers of information.

I could see Yahoo purchasing Friendster and completely revamping the service/site/community. The NY Times article is somewhat interesting.

Delicious Monster is the Mac software company behind the hit
Delicious Library, a program for cataloging collections of books,
movies and games. The software is selling like hot cakes and has
garnered rave reviews and awards, yet the company's headquarters is a
Seattle coffee house.

Co-founded by graphic designer Mike Matas and programmer Wil
Shipley, the company's first title, Delicious Library, was launched in
November 2004. It generated $250,000 worth of sales in its first month,
and the company has a crowded, popular booth here at Macworld. See Full Wired article.

How to do Media RSS right

Source: Canter
Now I hate to say I told you so - but the hack-spirit of Podcasting just pissed me off - and now I have somewhere to point to - to show what I mean by proper architecture, well thought out designs and heaven forbid - an RSS namespace spec - which we can all hang out hats on - and move forward with.

http://www.blogninja.com/vsw-draft-paolillo-wright-foaf.pdf

Social Network Analysis on the Semantic Web:
Techniques and Challenges for Visualizing FOAF
John C. Paolillo and Elijah Wright
14.1 Introduction
The Semantic Web promises to provide new applications for Internet users through the
use of RDF metadata attached to various information resources on the web. Yet is
somewhat unclear who will provide the metadata, or what will motivate people to provide
it, let alone the exact nature of the applications the Semantic Web will ultimately support.
What will the ?killer app

About Community Informatics

Community Informatics (CI) is the study and the practice of enabling communities with Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). CI seeks to work with communities towards the effective use of ICTs to improve their processes, achieve their objectives, overcome the "digital divides" that exist both within and between communities, and empower communities and citizens in the range of areas of ICT application including for health, cultural production, civic management, e-governance among others. The Journal of Community Informatics brings together a global range of academics, CI practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. Each issue of the Journal of Community Informatics will contain double blind peer-reviewed research articles as well as commentaries by leading CI practitioners and policy makers.