By Stephen Downes
June 24, 2004
I Want To Be A Cognitive
Ergonomist
Robin Good turns a phrase about as
well as anyone, and today's contribution - cognitive
ergonomist - is no exception. A short item - but that's
about the way it is today, one of the slowest news days of
the year (so today's fare is a little light, a little
opinionated, a little irreverent, like a summer breeze). By
Luigi Canali De Rossi, Robin Good, June 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Copyright Criminals
I just have to
say, if people find it easier to take pictures of book
pages and read them that way, then the publishing industry
is in trouble. Their solution: digital camera detectors in
their stores. Sheesh. Read the comments for a snarky remark
from me about the terminology used in this item. By Jade
Walker, E-Media Tidbits, June 23, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
a journal of a researcher
Daniel
Lemire linked to this site - another NRC researcher who
blogs. Wouldn't it be nice if the entire NRC reserach staff
had blogs so that the Canadian public could see clearly the
work that they're doing? By Yuhong Yan, June, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Codec
Comparison
Oh, I don't know. Maybe somebody,
some day, will need a detailed description of video
coder-decoders (codecs). Well, here it is, describing
varions of AVI, Quicktime, Windows Media and MPEG (Real
format forthcoming) in quite a bit of (technical) detail.
All part of the Video Guide for the MIT Computer Graphics
Group. By Various Authors, MIT Computer Graphics Group,
June, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Location Field Is the New Command
Line
This is a follow-up to an item run here a
few days ago, How Microsoft Lost the API War. It has me
thinking a lot more about web applications. I have been
touting the web as the source of content for a long time
now (in contrast, say, to standards designed to accomodate
local media, such as CD-ROMs). But I have left the domain
of things like word processors and even email to the
desktop. Mostly because web based versions - such as
Microsofts Outlook Web Access (OWA) are so awful. But maybe
that's all about to change. By John Gruber, Daring
Fireball, June 22, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Credit Cards Could Offer Key to E-government
Authentication
Here's a stupid idea - using
credit cards to authenticate voters and participants in
e-government. Why a stupid idea? Well if you knew how many
years I was denied a credit card (the consequence of
student loans) you would understand - I see no reason to be
denied my franchise simply because I have a bad credit
rating. (You know - it's funny how professionals, including
professors and journalists, think of their lifestyle as
'normal'. Trust me, it's not. Most people don't have
retirement savings plans, summer homes, two car garages,
investment portfolios, and the like. But you'd never know,
following the media.) By eGov Monitor, Digital Media
Europe, June 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
I’ll Spend My Time Talking to Whom I Want,
Thanks Very Much!
Nice observation here: “For
the consumer, the ability to control the timing, method,
and manner of a transaction is very attractive –
particularly if it saves them time and effort. The
attraction for the supplier is that they can off-load all
the administrative costs of selling to the consumer and
still give a better service.” Or, put another way: stop
trying to tell me what amount and kind of interaction is
right for me. I'll figure it out myself, thank you. By Lisa
Galarneau, Relevancy, June 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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