google sidewiki as a real wiki.. or maybe a host of other real sidewikis to choose from

@google: give us a truly wiki-like public entry on SideWiki, with wiki functions like revision and restore and spam-reporting and we will garden it.

There'll probably be large scale spam and trolling, but with some good design, wiki revisions and restores, along with maybe a tight linking to google accounts before granting edit, perhaps wiki principles will out.

Oh, and there's no reason why the public entry shouldn't work as just another entry alongside all the others, only rising to the top if it gets voted there.

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update (20100117)

I remember digging the first "wiki margin for the internet" i saw, i think about 5 years ago. wikalong - a firefox extension and a promising idea i thought - a firefox extension that let one create/edit a wikipage for any web page out there.

so when google recently(ish) announced their Sidewiki , and it turned out to be more of a side blog i tried shouting out that bit above.

But now maybe I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe, rather than google's one and only sidewiki, we need an open extension that allows us to choose which side wiki community we want to follow and contribute to..

like a host of wiki channels for discussing the web. many internet margins - with choices between real wiki's, public and private, and sideblogs (like the current google sidewiki)

parasites

hourlong RadioLab audio episode on parasites. excellent

audio here : http://audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast603parasites.mp3

also recently added to my delicious mediachannel

geek rapture ?

ABC Radio National's All In The Mind podcast on the technical singularity. a nice warning about geek rapture :) , alongside a nice description of the idea.

audio here. short, well produced, easy to listen to.

adding it to my slowly growing mediachannel tag, of online media i think worth consuming.

emergent metadata

the idea in the general: is to continuously grow metadata from the use of the data - keeping a history of use, learning patterns, links, and contexts from that history. eventually establishing a strong semantic layer over the data.

in the specific: a plugin for my personal wiki of choice, WikidPad. The plugin, lets call it WikidPadMonitor for now, when in 'learning mode' should collect information about the wikipages you open, the wikilinks you follow, and the patterns of wiki and tag usage - and use this to grow useable metadata.

Eventually, this emergent metadata could be used to establish a new measure of the strength of the links between wikipages, make predictions about the page being looked for, and discover context..

well, thats the idea, anyhow: growing metadata in the wikigarden.

er. i'm hardly ever here anymore

more likely here or here

march against xenophobia and hate

The Social Movements Indaba is mobilising social movements, immigrant communities, NGOs, unions, concerned residents from around the province for a march this Saturday, 24th of May. The march will gather at the Pieter Roos Park, corner Empire and Queens Rds, Hillbrow from 9a.m., proceed through Hillbrow and stop at the Departments of Home Affairs and Housing before ending at the Library Gardens.

The message marchers will be conveying is that our struggle is common and knows no borders. Everyone who wants to make their voices heard should join us – our struggle knows no borders.

Date: Saturday, May 24, 2008
Time: 9:00am - 12:00pm
Where: start of the march is the Pieter Roos Park, corner Empire and Queens Rds, Hillbrow
Street: corner Empire and Queens Rds
City: Johannesburg, South Africa

Bring placards, banners, friends!


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tedtalks

the last two posts where on video lectures from that TED talks thing - theres a number of good talks in there, some are just downright brilliant, they are mixed up with another number that I'm uncertain about, but most are pretty interesting, despite the somewhat corporate feel to it.

i'll tag my favourites there http://del.icio.us/jaysen/tedtalks+@rated.01.
maybe drop a note in the comments if you stumble across any good ones yourself.

african fractals

This ones on fractals and self-organising algorithms in African culture/history. Check it out if you're at all interested in fractals, bottom-up self-organising patterns, or using indigenous knowledge in current solutions

synthetic genomics

Good video (another of the worthwhile from the tedtalks series) with plenty to think about in microbiology, genetics, the upcoming synthetic genomics, and its potential..


heres an audio npr interview with Venter with some additional info.

independent diplomat

A profile of former British diplomat Carne Ross, who resigned in protest to the Iraq war, He now offers his service as an independent diplomat - currently working on the Western Sahara issue.