BASEMENT.ORG
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 30, 2009, 09:25AMInventing The Semantic Web…Again
Over at Semantic Universe, they’ve published my article on inventing the semantic web again. The basic premise is that you can come up with a brilliant invention in the lab, but if the masses don’t connect to it (especially if it requires the masses to be fully realized) it’s really not much of an invention.
Few would doubt that the Semantic Web isn’t the “right thing.” The only thing that remains is to figure out how exactly to bring it into the context of people’s individual goals and needs. Until then, it’ll continue to be relegated to academic gymnastics.
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 29, 2009, 02:42PMHTML Prototyping With Polypage
“Polypage was designed to ease the process of showing multiple page states in html mock-ups. By adding simply adding class names to a document you can imply state and conditional view logic.” Translation: Niiiice.
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 24, 2009, 11:37AMFlying Garbage
Let’s make a case for good ol’ paper for a second. I don’t think anyone would dare throw garbage at you to make a point while you were reading a newspaper. Well, the Web I suppose is a different story.
If you visit the NY Times today, there’s a good chance you’ll see…umm…garbage fly across your screen. Here’s a snap:
Desperate times I suppose.
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 23, 2009, 09:25AMBig Media’s Big Head Start
A common theme that tech pundits enjoy ruminating over is the mass democratization of media by way of the Internet. The line goes something like this:
Gone are the days of an extreme concentration of power to mass communicate. Large television networks are giving way to an endless number of video “channels” on the Web. Newspaper journalism is engulfed by a wave of newly-enabled publishers that can reach anyone and as often as they like. Distribution channels around music and movies seem antiquated in this new era of immediate-gratification-entertainment delivery.
In other words, the handful of megaphones that a lucky few had (and held onto with sweaty palms) are drowned out. Everybody’s got a megaphone now. I don’t need to be published. I just publish. I don’t need to be signed to my record label. I just put my music out. It’s all one big hyper-specialized sea of endless “channels.” The restrictions are gone. May the best content win.
Not so fast. As we “transition” from this old way of how things work to the new way, the Old Guard has caught onto something: they control the precious few channels that are still far more distributed today.
Here’s a random article I pulled up from the New York Times columnist Gail Collins. I have no idea what it's about. I didn’t bother looking. It’s from October, 2008. So what’s so special about this article? It has 437 comments. 437! I’m not trying to take anything away from Ms. Collins, but if comments were any sort of gauge to the power or reach of her message, she’s be absolutely prolific in the blogging world.
But alas, she doesn’t live in the blogging world. She’s a columnist for the New York Times. What traditional publications like the New York Times and others are realizing is that they can translate their favorable position in old media (for lack of a better term) and leap far ahead of guy in his shorts blogging from his bedroom.
Just this morning, I tolerated four minutes of Good Morning America to notice they had a guy twittering during their cooking segment. A handful of times, they mentioned that we should be following them on Twitter. And so, people follow: 397,119 people follow (it’ll probably be more by the time you read this).
As for little ol’ me. Well, I enjoy a modest existence on this blog and I’ve just broken 100 followers on Twitter. Let me pitch my credentials on Larry King and you’ve got a very different story.
New media has tried to create its own megaphones based on mass validation. Delicious, Digg and the like. But it doesn’t really work. The celebrities (and yes, a link has its 15 minutes of fame too) come and go very quickly. It’s a transient existence. There have been a few bona fide new media franchises: Perez Hilton and Boing Boing come to mind, but they’re very few and far between.
I’m not trying to suggest some ugly conspiracy where Old Media slowly seeps into new media. It isn’t just about big media’s head start. It’s also about new media’s inability to provide a limited number of reliable sources that we can count on to consistently give us good content. That’s the problem with enabling the masses. You’re left dealing with the masses.
And so, it pains me to know there’s a really incredible blogger out there that I’ll never find…unless she goes on Larry King.
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 17, 2009, 08:36AM“I Wanted To Make Posters”
Jacek Utko talks about how he infused art design into the newspapers he worked on and saw both critical acclaim and a marked increase in circulation. In essence, he elevated the newspaper from a generic source of news to an overall experience that marries content and design. It’s an inspiring six minutes:
I’m not sure if this translates into “design will save the newspapers” but Jacek is on the right track: he’s blowing out the definition of “newspaper” as we understand it today. He’s bringing something else to the table. It’s no longer only about “well, the news isn’t timely anymore because I have the Internet.” It isn’t only about content anymore in Jacek’s world.
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 13, 2009, 10:26AM1:27 Of Monday Morning Zaniness
This brought a smile to my face. It’s wacky and nostalgic (in a lo-fi video game sort of way) and it’s called 8-Bit Waterslide. And then, about half way through, it yells out “Super Mega Hyper Boost Pipe.” What else can you ask for?
The Better Project
Implicit in the pervasive message of “change” that swirls around us these days, is “change for the better.” After all, nobody would suggest change for the worse. To date, there really hasn’t been a platform that taps the collaborative power of the Web to help change things for the better…until now.
The Better Project let’s anyone create a place where they can meet and collaborate with others who share a common goal. It’s a completely free to use.
Arc90’s very own Jen Epting sums it up nicely in 90 seconds:
So what are you waiting for? Act now!
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 3, 2009, 01:22PMFullsize : Building On The Good Ol’ Web
There’s a great little pitch at www.addfullsize.com :
Fullsize is an attempt to get a new
<IMG>attribute calledfullsizeinto the next version of HTML. Hopefully this site will get the attention of the W3C, and they will addfullsizeto HTML and make it a standard.
In essence, it’s trying to cut through all the libraries, tools, frameworks and technical hoops you have to jump through and propose a really simple way to create full size views of images. The creator (Drew Wilson) even created a JQuery plugin the drive the point home. It’s a very slick useful little tool.
What bugs me about ideas like that is that their path to true adoption is at the mercy of the W3C (HTML 5 anyone?) and worse, the cabal of web browser providers. I’ve written in the past about how the new wave of dynamic, AJAX-y Web stuff is great and all but it left a massive population of enablers behind. Tools like Fullsize are brave attempts to invite the masses back into the fold.
What we need is a way to flip a switch and enable simple, easy-to-use additions like Fullsize with very little additional work. How about a way to get this stuff out there without waiting seven years for the W3C or Internet Explorer 9?
I may have to bug the mad scientists at the Arc90 lab for this one…
Posted by Richard Ziade on April 2, 2009, 10:50AMGoogle Gravity
Google Gravity is one of those Google Chrome experiments that shows off the Javascript powerhouse that is Google Chrome. Still, it works in most browsers. Pretty fun…and I love that the links still work. (via Swiss Miss).