Aνάβασις

Test

2010-02-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ethan's Saga

2007-11-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

{Ethan survives many challenges and sails beyond Miðgarðr }

Ethan's Saga
~

Excerpt from a fragment of Ethan’s Saga,
discovered in Rjivik Ford, Iceland

"… beard grew long and the feasting hall silent. And so did he sail through many long-wearying trials to come to the throne of Óðinn. He who was Ethæn SoftHands; who slew Jack of the Box on the Isle of Misfit Toys and raided the sacred monastery at Cheddar."

I've finally finished my final project. There are probably a few things to change but for the most part I think it’s done. It was very challenging and I ran out of steam at the end. The things I learned from this project include:

DreamWeaver 8 will not always preserve the formatting of a Word document. Your best option is to paste the text as “text with structure plus full formatting,” but sometimes that doesn’t even work right.
Don’t decide to change the font of your project after you have already completed half of it. My project adoptee was very helpful and suggested I change the font from Times New Roman (TNR) to Ariel, preserving the TNR font for my document examples. I thought this was a good suggestion, but it became a real headache to implement because DreamWeaver 8 is buggy!
Make backups. I lost everything I had done on my JavaScript navigation menu at one point when I accidentally saved it as the mainFrame and vice versa – and then continued steaming ahead without realizing what I had done. The whole code got so convoluted that I gave up and had to revert to a backup from several days past.
Do not try and learn something new that involves a lot of non-related research. Before this class I had never published anything on the Internet. I had a lot to learn. The problem with my project was that it not only involved a lot of new skill acquisition but also a lot of content research which took away from the amount of time I could spend on the technological aspects of the project. If I could do this project over I would choose a light subject which required little research beyond the technological skills required to complete it.
Don’t plan on finishing it over the Holidays. By the time the Thanksgiving week came around I had about 80% of the research done and 50% of it implemented. I was counting on finishing it over Thanksgiving. This turned out to be really hard as I had unexpected company and dropped my eye-glasses in the toilet, so things really got crunched at the end.
Writing Disclaimers is fun. The best part of my project was disclaiming any responsibility for it, especially its hideous appearance.

In the Land of Morder, Where the RFIDs Lie

2007-11-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

{Ethan destroys the one Ring before Sauron Googles its location}

One RFID to find them, And in the darkness bind them
~

An excerpt from the lost chapter of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring:

And the minion entered the chamber and approached Saruman the Wise. “Look, my lord, into the seeing-stone. Do you remember how, with the addition of a typing station, we used it to Google your lost sock -- the sock being hidden behind your vanity mirror? What if we used the Internet to find the coveted Ring?” And Saruman looked down upon the creature: “Don’t be a fool! Google a physical object, have you gone loony! I swear, we found the sock by the smell.”

When Frodo was entrusted with the one Ring and reluctantly set out on a quest to destroy it, he faced many dangers. Thankfully, those dangers did not include object hyperlinking, the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things is the interconnection of objects and devices to database networks, made possible by the development of cost-effective Radio-frequency identification (RFID). An RFID tag “is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves.” In his book Ambient Findability, Peter Morville discusses this futuristic interconnection of everyday objects and findability devices. According to Morville, “[w]e are talking about an Internet of Things without precedence in human history. Products, possessions, pets, and people all rendered into findable objects: cataloged, searchable and locatable in space and time” (Morville 2005, 82).

The technology upon which these concepts are based is still developing -- one commentator has theorized widespread availability may be thirty years away – but this does not prevent Morville (2005, 84) from imagining plausible, everyday scenarios: “[l]et me Google my own Bookcase. Show me all the books my friends own and where they are located… Does anybody in the neighborhood have this book? Where are they right now?” Just as Morville envisions the use of RFIDs to locate the real-time location of a book, so would it be possible to Google a lost and much-desired Ring.

-------Source-------

Morville, Peter. 2005. Ambient Findability. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Publishing.

Fool on Morville on Semantic Web

2007-11-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

{What shall Ethan do? Love, and be silent.}

The Fool on Morville on the Semantic Web
~

Act II, Sc. V
[At Cornwall Castle, a Hall therein.]

Enter Lear, Kent, and Fool.

Lear: Alas: the giftor dispossessed.

Fool: How know nuncle! Dost thou knowest, nuncle, that in Ambient Findability, Peter Morville includes a discussion of the Semantic Web. Morville’s discussion principally revolves around what he terms the “snarky crossfire” between Semantic Web proponents, led by Tim Berners-Lee, and “loosely joined swarms of bloggers and social software advocates” (Morville 2005, 121). Morville (2005, 121) traces the roots of this disagreement to an article written by Tim Berners-Lee and others in which it was argued that the “Semantic Web will ‘bring structure to the meaningful content of Web pages, creating an environment where software agents roaming from page to page can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users.’” In reaction to this article, Weinberger argued that the Semantic Web would disappoint, as “‘normalization of metadata works real well in confined applications where the payoff is high, control is centralized, and discipline can be enforced. In other words: not the Web’” (Morville 2005, 123). Weinberger’s critical comments were followed by Shirky who “described the Semantic Web as a shared world-view embedded in metadata and ‘political philosophy masquerading as code’” (Morville 2005, 124). The combative tenure of this discussion did not continue, Morville (2005, 124) notes thankfully, as other individuals “seized the opportunity to use the Semantic Web as a boundary object to build shared understanding.” These “boundary spanners,” as Morivlle (2005, 124) calls them, “showed that whil most of the lofty goals espoused [by Berners-Lee et al] are unrealistic, much of the work on triple storage, trust metrics, semantic disambiguation, and ontology exchange may prove worthwhile.”

Kent: Aye, tis a kingdom to be lost!

[Exuent.

------------------

Fool’s Work Cited

Morville, Peter. 2005. Ambient Findability. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Publishing.

Converse’s Semantic Web Disease

2007-11-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

{Ethan diagnoses you}

Converse’s Semantic Web Disease
(presented by Ethan!)
~

In Ambient Findability, Peter Morville includes a discussion of the Semantic Web. In this discussion, Morville (2005, 123) quotes Tim Converse on the symptoms of a potentially fatal illness, “The Semanic Web Disease”:

------------

“It starts with a scratchy throat, and (if not treated promptly) progresses to a full-blown belief that content creators everywhere will work together in harmony, and speak with one (meta-) voice. In its origins (in particular, the belief that if we understand what a name/symbol/tag means, then program will too), it may be related to certain disorders of the AI family. The afflicted are often unaware of its progress, since when applied to small, cohesive communities of technically informed, well-meaning individuals… the beliefs actually make some sense…. So do yourself a favor, and ask your doctor about the free (Semantic Web Disease) screen when you get your next mental checkup.”

------------

Quoted in:
Morville, Peter. 2005. Ambient Findability. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Publishing.

Robin Hood Confirmed as World’s First MetroSexual

2007-11-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

{Ethan robs the rich to pay for his personal beauty products}

"Robin Hood, Ye Olde Tyme Metrosexual:
‘Out with the Merry Men Again are We?,’"
~

Released through AP WireService
November 10, 2007

At the annual Conference for Medieval History and Medicine held in Devonshire, UK, a panel of six Medievalists confirmed that the historical personage dubbed “Robin Hood” was, in fact, the first recorded instance of a metrosexual. The Oxford Dictionary defines a metrosexual as a “[a] man (esp. a heterosexual man) whose lifestyle, spending habits and concern for personal appearance are likened to those considered typical of a fashionable, urban, homosexual man.” The concept is also defined at wikipedia.

In a conference paper entitled “Robin Hood, Ye Olde Tyme Metrosexual: ‘Out with the Merry Men Again are We?,’” Panilst Thomas Thistlewythe noted the characteristics of Robin Hood which lent to the metrosexual designation. According to Thistlewythe, “Robin is commonly seen in tight pantaloons, which he keeps in immaculate shape. Considering the environmental conditions in which Robin lived, and the athletic requirements of being a brigand, one must be truly dedicated to one’s appearance to keep personal garments in such pristine condition.” During the panel presentation, Thistlewythe presented a bulleted list of Robin Hood's metrosexual tendencies:

Routinely wears tights
Makes a conscious effort to always be seen smiling
Hangs out with a band dubbed “Robin’s Merry Men”
Likes to dress up in costumes
Prefers to go by the formal appellation “Prince of Good Fellows!”
Professes love for Maid Marian, but never seems to commit – a charge to which Thistlewythe added, “Holding back are we?”

User Smarts not Only Problem with Youtube Tagging

2007-11-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

{Ethan finds you with single-worded tags}

User Smarts not Only Problem with Youtube Tagging
~

Of course, one of the funniest things about Youtube is the tags users apply to their videos. In fact, this phenomenon (bad Youtube tags) was the subject of a Tony award winning play “An Extremely Elongated Nose-stick is Speechless,” written by P. Nocchio. It is interesting to note, however, that the poor choice of tags used to describe Youtube videos is not purely a product of Youtube users. The inanity in Youtube tags is traceable in part to Youtube’s tagging system.

Youtube describes tags as “keywords that describe videos.” As an example, Youtube provides the following scenario: “a surfing video might be tagged with ‘surfing,’ ‘water,’ and ‘waves.’” According to Youtube, “[u]sers who enjoy watching surfing videos can then search for any of those terms and that video will show up in their search results.” You will notice, however, that you cannot tag a surfing video with multiple word tags. As a result, users cannot tag a George Bush blooper as “George Bush” or better yet “Bush, George W.” This was, of course, the example that P. Nocchio utilized so deftly in his play -- the lines being haughtily spoken by A Medium-Sized Nasal Protuberance.

So, if Youtube wants to truly implement effective free tagging, the website should allow for multiple-worded tags. Of course, it is conceivable that Youtube users might not exactly understand this powerful new feature, tagging a George Bush video as “really funny” instead of just “funny.”

When Ethan was Archon at Athens

2007-11-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

{Ethan closes the open drains and makes the bath houses findable}

When Ethan was Archon at Athens
~

Below is a fragment of a classical Greek inscription found at the Attic city of Delomos. The fragment details the city’s efforts to make all municipal websites optimized for findability, based on the suggestions of the scholar Peter Morville (2005, 19).

Side B
By the vote of all citizens [it] is hereby / declared the following. All citizen postings / to the municipal website of Delomos will / abide by the elected-upon rules. / This requires that [each] poster:

v “Determine the most common keywords and phrases… that users from your target audience are entering into search engines.”

v “Include those keywords and phrases in your visible body text, navigation links, page headers and titles, metadata tags, and alternative test for graphic images.”

v “Proceed cautiously… when considering the use of drop-down menus, image maps, frames, dynamic URLs, JavaScript, DHTML, Flash, and other coding approaches that may prevent a search engine speedier from crawling your pages.”

v “Create direct links from your home page, site map, and navigation system to important destination pages in order to increase their page popularity ranking.”

v “Use RSS feeds with ample backlinks to your site’s target destinations to encourage subscriptions and visits and to boost organic search rankings.”

v “Reduce HTML code bloat and overall file size by embracing Web standards to ensure accessibility and improve keyword density.”

This law was decided [on the] eighth / day of the war against Argos, when Ethan / was Archon at Athens.

The Archon’s work cited:

Morville, Peter. 2005. Ambient findability: Libraries at the crossroads of ubiquitous computing and the Internet. Online 29(6): 16-21.

The Brothers Grimm Synchronous Reference Service

2007-10-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

{As was suspected, Ethan is the fairest of them all}

According to the American Library Association’s discussion of reference services, “reference work arose in the late 19th and early 20th century.” Now, the non-existent ALA footnotes indicate that this statement is not exactly true, although it is an understandable misstatement. As the Brothers Grimm point out in their collection of scholarly essays, the first reference service actually occurred “once upon a time.” In a dark wooded kingdom, ruled by a very stern queen, there was a special synchronous reference service that was available through a two-way mirror exchange. The service worked by dressing up in a regal gown, standing in front of a magical mirror, and asking the mirror a question. Now, originally, the mirror also utilized asynchronous messaging, leaving foggy messages while one was taking a shower, but this was terminated as people tended not to bathe during “once upon a time.”

Today, this form of reference service has been supplanted by newer computer technology, as the use of a mirror can be very unflattering to the user. Luckily for us, however, the Brothers Grimm recorded a few reference exchanges for posterity:

Chat log saved on Gloomy Night, Once Upon A Time

---------------------

Reference User1: O mirror, mirror upon the wall, Who is the fairest fair of them all?

Mirror Operator: Hello mighty queen. Try asking “where can I find… yadda yadda”

Reference User1: Fine. Where can I find out who is the fairest fair of them all?

Mirror Operator: Ok, definitely don’t look in the mirror, cause that ain’t the answer…

Reference User1: But…

Mirror Operator: Did you try an encyclopedia, maybe a dictionary?

Reference User1: Uhm… Are we talking about Snow White again?

Mirror Operator: Look, I don’t normally suggest this, but you could try hotornot.com/

----------------------

Chat log terminated by user

An Extremely Elongated Nose-stick is Speechless

2007-10-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

{Ethan stars as Pinocchio}

An Extremely Elongated Nose-stick is Speechless

A play by P. Nocchio

Pinocchio: (Talking with a short ruddy nose) In Ambient Findability, Peter Morville, drawing on the concept of pace layering, talks about tagging as a “fast layer” of information architecture. According to Morville (2005, 141), user tagging will influence with increasing momentum the underlying makeup of websites, which change at a slower pace layer. “[O]ver time,” Morville writes, “the lessons learned at the top are passed down, embedded into the more enduring layers of social and semantic infrastructure” (Morville 2005, 141). So, user tagging will influence the development of websites. This is good because, as Morville (2005, 53) states, “[m]etadata tags applied by humans can indicate aboutness thereby improving precision."

A Short Ruddy Nose: Uh, I’m skeptical. Can user tagging really improve the precision with which you can find a digital object?

(Pinocchio grabs his entourage and together they walk to youtube)

Pinocchio: Of course it does. Just look here:

(Pinocchio reveals a funny video of the U.S. President trying to speak)

Pinocchio: (Talking with a medium sized nasal protuberance) We can easily find this video by searching the tags: “George” or “W” or “Bush” or “funny.” There are multiple tags to increase precision!

A Medium-Sized Nasal Protuberance: (Sounding a little bit stuffy) You are telling me that the tag “W” is precise? No. Tagging a video of George Bush as “George” or “W” or “Bush” or “funny” isn’t precise. What would be precise is “George Bush” or better yet “Bush, George W.” and…

Pinocchio: (Talking with an extremely elongated nose-stick ) No, like anything entrusted to a torch wielding, unwashed mob of people, precision will exist! “Mob indexing,” “free tagging,” whatever you call it, it works well.

An Extremely Elongated Nose-stick: (Is speechless).

------------------

P. Nocchio’s Work Cited

Morville, Peter. 2005. Ambient Findability. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Publishing.

Long Journey to Tulsa Inspires Bad Poetry

2007-10-19T13:23:00.001-07:00

{And Ethan says: “but look its Basho and me”}

Driving to Tulsa nearly two times a week makes me go crazy and because I get tired of talking to myself, I tried to do something different. I make poems while driving! So technically they are not all haiku, but oh well...

On the Road to Tulsa

~
The descending bird;
its shadow passing,
through the slumbering grass.
~
That single glance;
the limbs of a tree,
waived beneath the cloud
~
Lost droplets of rain,
washing from my car;
a misty screen.
~
Now a fast-dimming horizon,
the clouds bequeathing,
an ascending moon.

My Wiki Article

2007-10-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

{Ethan contributes too}

I wrote a small article for AmbientLibrarian which defines Morville’s concept of “ambient findability.” I organized the article with a definitional section and then tried to provide a few examples of concepts which illustrate the idea of locating “anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime.” The article is available here.

One interesting problem I had is how to format the citations. Wikipedia has an article which describes how it would like sources to be cited in its pages. In general, the Harvard system seemed to be the preferred format – in part due to a desire to maintain consistency. However, in AmbientLibrarian the existing articles did not use this citation style; rather, they used instead what appeared to be the Turabian format. So, to maintain consistency, I used the Turabian format for my article.

Scandalous Secret Revealed; Books Cower in Fear

2007-10-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

{Ethan reveals it}

I spent Monday trying to find an article that is not available online. Eventually, I discovered I would have to get in my car and drive 30 or 40 minutes to a library to look at a book containing this article (or microfiche). I cursed The New Yorker. I was upset because I know the magical secret to a happy existence, as scientifically verified by a group of researchers. In a collection of "[s]urveys of faculty, students, and scientists in non-university settings," Boyd et al (2004, 137) found proof that accessing information online, instead of physically traveling to an information agency, saves users time. According to Boyd et al (2004, 137), "[o]ur surveys show that this [accessing information online] saves them about 15 minutes per reading on average (emphasis added)."

----Source----

Boyce, Peter, Donald King, Carol Montgomery, and Carol Tenopir. 2004. How electronic journals are changing patterns of use. The Serials Librarian 46 (2): 121-114.

Less Artificial Intelligence, More Natural Flailing

2007-09-30T09:12:00.001-07:00

{Ethan trades his ragdoll for a flailing robot}

My brother is a software engineer and notified me that there has been a breakthrough in the world of Artificial Intelligence. It is illustrated in the simulator “Sumotori Dreams.” This program utilizes a “self-balancing algorithm” in its “bi-pedal physics engine.” What I mean is, the computer will try and balance itself as you pelt it with rocks. This allows coded robots to move and react in a more human-like fashion, instead of falling down like Raggedy Andy (ragdoll physics). And don’t doubt the profoundness of this program’s code is lost on the general public! A quick google of the program indicates that the unwashed masses grasp the program’s true significance:

“Something about the way the characters move cracks me up”
“I can testify to how freaking hilarious this is to watch”
“This is awesomely hilarious… and it’s from Hungary”
“Friends don't let friends fight drunk”

If you download the program, you can try out the self-balancing physics through a simulated sumo match, or unlock the secret mode by throwing blocks into the 2nd slot between the bars to the right of the menu and destroying the wall.

In the Grim Future, There are no Blogs

2007-09-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

{Ethan runs from an invasion of Poddycasters}

Inspired by this weeks readings, I made a small podcast using Audacity. If you use this program make sure you download the LAME MP3 encoder.

You Won't Believe Your Ears!

DRM (Digital Rights Mismanagement)

2007-09-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

{Ethan hands you two uninstall tokens.}

If you haven’t heard about it, SecuROM is an anti-piracy product developed by Sony that installs onto your computer without notification and does not fully uninstall when your remove the parent-product. BioShock is a PC/console first person shooter developed by 2K games, using SecuROM for its DRM. BioSchock was released on August 21, 2007, and immediately generated a controversy over 2K’s approach to DRM. There is a really good article that describes the whole sordid drama: “BioShock Soaked in DRM Fiasco”. But, in case you don’t have time to check it out, I’ll give you the abbreviated version.

At purchase, BioSchock came with a hidden program which installs on the customer's computer and limits each customer to two installations of the game. This was unknown to initial customers of the game and, during the week of August 21, 2007, 2K’s forums became inundated with customer complaints that they could not reinstall their game after undoing a corrupt instillation. Of course, unbeknownst to them, their installation tokens had run out. To make matters worse, 2K provided the wrong support number for overcoming such issues. As more customers became aware of 2K’s DRM program, anger began to brew at the official support forums and 2K unleashed their PR reps. Meanwhile arguments began to surface that 2K’s DRM program actually violated its own software license which granted users the “limited right and license to use one copy of the Software for your personal use on a single console.” Back at the official forums, the 2K PR reps contradicted themselves and 2K’s official position on the issue and generally oozed disinformation. The controversy grew. In the face of the growing storm, 2K decided to be generous and raise the installation limit from two to five. However, as customers found out, this did not affect those who had already used up their two installation tokens.

Final Project Updates

2007-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

{Ethan updates you}

I am trying to make a website that provides legal information in a tutorial form. This blog entry is where I will provide updates on how this scary final project is going. I will edit in all posts here.

Update for 10/19/2007
I moving along with my research. I have consolidated some of the links in my menu and decided not to provide a discussion of the Statute of Limitations. I'm just going to talk about where to file and not how long you have to file. The research is already too much and that is something I could add in later.

Update for 10/2/2007
Right now, my project is using three frames with a persistent menu on the left frame, site ID always listed on the top frame. I might change this later, but right now I have started to focus on content research. I decided to focus just on one aspect of my topic, so as to limit the amount of information I would have to deal with.

Update for 9/17/2007
Success! I made something in Dreamweaver. Well, I had to make a homepage for another class, but still, it is something. Now I need to figure out how to make some kind of expandable menu that runs on the left side of the page. I think a tree menu maybe; too bad I can't find much in the way of menu options in Dreamweaver.

Update for 9/14/2007
I cried today because I picked a topic that requires more content research than new skill acquisition. {*goes and looks for a time machine*}

For a Healthy Holiday, Try Skipping on the Brains

2007-09-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

{Ethan eats his brain with some fava beans and a nice chianti}

For a Healthy Holiday, Try Skipping on the Brains

Lifestyle Tip,
October 31, 2007

Hey Zombies! Goin’ out on the town this weekend? ‘Gonna eat some brains? Well hold on there gooey cowboy. New studies show that eating brains can increase the risk of contracting a human form of Mad Cow Disease. You heard me right boys. Eatin’ every ghoulies’ favorite delicacy has gotten pretty dangerous this year. Yeah, doctors say that eatin’ brains is similar to cows eatin’ animal byproduct feeds, which makes them go crazy. So, unless you like the possibility of being a mindless shell, try and hold off on your neighbor’s brains this holiday season.

But don’t let this bad news get your reanimated corpse down. Live it up this year by splurging on other parts of flesh. For an extra delicacy try a bit of finger dipped in spaghetti sauce. It’s to die for!

The Order of Authority

2007-09-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

{Ethan is inducted, only to escape moments later.}

I am confident that Wikipedia does not have any implications for stare decisis and the ordering of authority among primary sources. However, It appears that Wikipedia is becoming accepted in the order of authority among secondary sources.

I wanted to be sarcastic and say “Wikipedia is well written” and then provide a quote from a famous, poorly-written entry but when I checked today the article had been cleaned up by someone who wanted it to look respectable with citations (which is ironic because it is about a loopy topic: the Bloody Lady of Čachtice). Just so you know, the Bloody Lady is the infamous Elizabeth Báthory (1560 –1614 A.D.) who, according to legend, killed hundreds of young servant girls and bathed in their blood. Báthory did this because she was a vampire (supposedly, 4 real!) and bathing in the blood of young women would keep her young (statement not approved by the FDA). And, luckily for you, I found part of the original article on this subject that dates from 2002 till 2007:

Here is the original author’s discussion of the Bloody Lady’s guilt:
“It is unknown when Elizabeth started to kill young women, but if she did…”

The original author on the Bloody Lady’s inner thoughts, and the knowledge of said thoughts by her relatives, as known to the author in 2002:
"Both her husband and her relatives knew about her sadistic inclination, but they did not intervene."

For some reason, the fine authorship of the original writer was attacked by a subsequent commentator who said the author’s writing was “shoddy” and “[j]ust because some vampire fan-site has speculated that she may have done this or that doesn't make it worthy of entry here.” Of course, “[e]specially the lesbian thing is extremely speculative.”