Rose tinted web?

camellia

Originally uploaded by rosetintedweb.

Just trying out Flickr with an image that I took in Spring.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/22/712830.aspx

It sounds as if the Microsoft IE 7 development team are *really* trying to improve their CSS2.1 compliance. Hurrah!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5271852.stm

Apparently, the video games industry is looking at ways of enticing women to play video games. By cracking the chesnut they estimate that the games market could gain an extra billion dollars a year.

The Sims was cited as being a game most popular with girls. I gave up on The Sims because getting up and going to work and then coming home and cleaning up seemed too much like real life.

I also thought - I need to get out and get a life, so I started blogging instead

From a more positive point of view it may actually open up more jobs for women in the industry.

This video clip on YouTube seems to be doing the rounds at the moment.

The bit that spoke volumes was the piece at the end, where the Executives in their ivory towers aren’t sure whether to blog back or not. “What would be the point?” Quite!

This Web 2.0 clip, also on You Tube by jutecht , also interested me. Although I found it annoying, it did begin to make me wonder whether what is popularly being defined as Web 2.0 technology is of any relevance to organisations or companies. His comparison of the Kodak photo processing website (Web 1.0) to Flickr (Web 2.0) seemed to infer that Flicker was the only way forward. Personally, I don’t feel that the advent of Flickr makes the Kodak site obsolete. Both have their place and distinct purpose. Also I wasn’t convinced by his conviction that these collaborative technologies make web design obsolete. Arguably the explosion of web content, makes good web design even more vital, even if in the end, those creating content have no web design knowledge.

A colleague of mine has been involved in the creation of an interactive orchestra pit . PLAY.Orchestra creates an empty orchestra pit of 60 seats. The idea is that each seat plays part of the score, instrument by instrument. Therefore if one seat is occupied you only get that part where if all seats are occupied you get the full piece.

In addition those visiting the site opposite the Royal Festival Hall, are invited to submit sound samples via Bluetooth, the best of which will be incorporated into a composition at the end of the project.

More information can be found at http://www.milkandtales.com/playorchestra/what.htm

Web 2.0 keeps coming up in conversation. I had a good chat with friends about it the other night.  

I’m a cynic. This web 2.0 buzz that has been zooming round and round the industry through magazines, journals and conferences like an irritating gnat hasn’t really bitten me yet.

I’ve been working in an online world since 1996. Even back then we could see the internet evolving quicker than the marketers could make up a snappy acronym. The internet was no longer for academics, but also for business and home users who could afford a home computer. Media convergence was assumed, although the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Any company worth its salt had to have a wizzy website, preferably with ecommerce, which meant that developers came up with increasingly sophisticated ideas and ways of burning budget. Investors ploughed money into .dot com this and that, throwing caution to the wind.  The “information superhighway” began to develop virtual tail backs because websites were developed that were so graphic and application rich that those modems and the communications network throttled access speeds. For some users the world wide web became the world wide wait  …and then the dot come bubble burst. The web was killed by its own hype.

At around this time Tim O’Reilly and friends came up with the idea of web 2.0 which now seems to be adopted widely by internet marketers across the globe.

I can see how trying to formalise this progression of technology and approach into something more academic and investor friendly helps to reenervate internet business and that’s really helpful, but packaging it almost as a new release has clearly confused things a bit. The fundamental concepts of the www have not been superceded, we are simply finding different means of achieving them.

From my perspective, the web is continously evolving. At the heart of any successful commercial internet enterprise is still thought, organisation and adoption of technology relevant to the business needs, for all the user collaboration, social networking.

I guess what has truly changed is the volume of people now online throughout the world and this was what we were aiming for back in 1996. Those without computers are either unable to afford them, or so stubbornly luddite that they don’t want them. The needs of both user groups are perhaps being tuned out by big internet business. It leaves me wondering what will happen if more of our daily routine, education, information and entertainment gets delivered exclusively online.

The saga of Mumsnet v. Gina Ford has stirred up the debate on Freedom of Speech online. Gina Ford, a parenting guru (without her own children) seems to have objected to some of the comments made on the Mumsnet Bulletin Board. Mumsnet appear to have pulled the offending posts in accordance with their own board rules, but Gina Ford seems to be pushing to have Mumsnet closed down. Cynics have suggested that Ford, who has just set up her own parenting website is trying to wipe out the competition.

Much of the press seems to have picked up on this, including The Guardian, who have set up a channel of their Comment is Free blog to which Justine Roberts of Mumsnet is contributing. Whilst any website worth its salt should moderate its boards carefully to remove defamatory and offensive posts, it seems unfair that they should be shut down because they allowed the posts in the first place. It will be interesting to see what transpires next. If Gina Ford is successful, the future of freedom of speech online looks bleak.

In the meantime, one is left wondering whether Gina Ford anticipated the level of coverage this is getting and the sympathy that Mumsnet is receiving.

Tonight we went to Leicester Square to see  Thank you for Smoking .

It follows Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), a spokesman for big tobacco, as he attempts to ’spin’ public opinion in favour of tobacco. Darkly humerous, he tries to balance his career, as a lobbyist with becoming a role model for his son. Through twisted logic, and creative cynicism he teaches his son about the marvels of free speech.

Its unsuprising that this film rates higher that 8 on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/. If you get a chance to see it - GO!