So shortly after my recent post (and an email to webmasters) about the New York state senate's anti-anonymity on the internet bill's website and the non-appeareance of comments comments from the past week appeared.
While I don't know if my actions were directly responsible for the appearance of comments on the site, the time does seem a little suspicious. That being said, I really hope that New York State Senate doesn't have a system that requires additional feedback before they post comments on legislative proposals. Such a system would seem to undermine much of the point of a system of web-based commenting on legislation.
Anyway, it's nice to see that there are now 16 comments on this questionable piece of legislation. It would be even nicer if the public had some way of knowing how many comments have been submitted and if any have been rejected.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The appearance of inclusiveness in New York
Some of you may recall that a few days ago I posted about a bill before the New York state Senate that would prohibit anonymous commenting on websites. While looking into the bill while I was preparing the post I stumbled across a New York state website that provides access to a copy of the text of the bill (as well as all other bills before the legislature as well as other legislative documents), as well as some additional information about things like expected fiscal implications.
One aspect of the website that stood out immediately was that at the bottom of the page they provide an opportunity for members of the public to publicly comment on the bill or give the page a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down.' Not surprisingly, to comment they require one to sign in through one of any number common web identifiers (Ex. OpenID or a Yahoo account). Though this hurdle is likely meant to cut down on nonconstructive comments and spam. Once you've submitted a comment one is notified that before comments are posted for the public to see they must be approved by a moderator.
Because no one had yet commented on the bill, or at least that's how it seemed at the time, I thought that I might give their system a shot and show who their whole system worked. And as this is the first time I've seen this option available to members of the public I thought I would try to help those responsible for implementing the system out by giving them some traffic.
I can't remember what my first comment a few days ago was, but I know it was pretty mundane. I probably commented/asked about enforcement. Whatever the case may be, it's now been almost a week since I made the comment on the site and it still hasn't been approved by the moderators nor have I received a notice indicating that my comment has been rejected. Even the 'thumbs down' that I gave the bill hasn't yet made an appearance.
While I think it is admirable of the New York State Senate to try to use new technologies to encourage the participation of the citizenship in the legislative process, I fear that implementing a system that is either non-functional or incredibly slow may actually be worse for public participation. Also, by making the terms of comment moderation unclear users aren't able to know if any comments that do make it past the moderators are really reflective of public sentiment, or if the comment they are reading are those comments favoured by the moderator/censor. Even if the comments aren't being censored/skewed the fact that they are moderated makes it hard for a skeptical public to know that this is actually the case and that the viewable comments do accurately reflect the views of the comment posting public.
My gut is telling me that it seems likely that the level of discussion that we are seeing on these New York Senate bills will be not to dissimilar from the type of discussion we might come to find standard in a world where anti-anonymity on the internet legislation is the norm.
One aspect of the website that stood out immediately was that at the bottom of the page they provide an opportunity for members of the public to publicly comment on the bill or give the page a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down.' Not surprisingly, to comment they require one to sign in through one of any number common web identifiers (Ex. OpenID or a Yahoo account). Though this hurdle is likely meant to cut down on nonconstructive comments and spam. Once you've submitted a comment one is notified that before comments are posted for the public to see they must be approved by a moderator.
Because no one had yet commented on the bill, or at least that's how it seemed at the time, I thought that I might give their system a shot and show who their whole system worked. And as this is the first time I've seen this option available to members of the public I thought I would try to help those responsible for implementing the system out by giving them some traffic.
I can't remember what my first comment a few days ago was, but I know it was pretty mundane. I probably commented/asked about enforcement. Whatever the case may be, it's now been almost a week since I made the comment on the site and it still hasn't been approved by the moderators nor have I received a notice indicating that my comment has been rejected. Even the 'thumbs down' that I gave the bill hasn't yet made an appearance.
While I think it is admirable of the New York State Senate to try to use new technologies to encourage the participation of the citizenship in the legislative process, I fear that implementing a system that is either non-functional or incredibly slow may actually be worse for public participation. Also, by making the terms of comment moderation unclear users aren't able to know if any comments that do make it past the moderators are really reflective of public sentiment, or if the comment they are reading are those comments favoured by the moderator/censor. Even if the comments aren't being censored/skewed the fact that they are moderated makes it hard for a skeptical public to know that this is actually the case and that the viewable comments do accurately reflect the views of the comment posting public.
My gut is telling me that it seems likely that the level of discussion that we are seeing on these New York Senate bills will be not to dissimilar from the type of discussion we might come to find standard in a world where anti-anonymity on the internet legislation is the norm.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
NY's potential contribution to the perfection of the internet
On the Media, a great public radio show from New York, just brought to my attention a bill from New York that is aimed at the elimination of anonymous commenting on internet sites (I can't tell if their goal is to reform the entire internet, or just the part of the internet that resides in New York state - in either case the whole thing seems a little futile).
Given that the bill is less than a page long (and is really just an amendment to the civil rights law) I was able to breeze through it in just a few minutes.
The first aspect of the bill that caught my attention was the definition of the term 'anonymous poster.' In the bill an
Another definitional matter that is worth thinking about is that they haven't defined what constitutes a 'message.' Might a 'thumbs up' or a 'like' be a 'message'? In some ways, these non-verbal interactions with web-based content may be just as important or meaningful as various forms of written contributions. And what about videos or audio content, are these things 'messages'?
Aside from obvious jurisdictional, technological, and enforcement issues, I was also struck by the bill's brief business end. If passed the bill will require
Secondly, and this is maybe the most striking feature of this bill, the suggestion that one can engage in anonymous posting as long as 'anonymous posters' provide their name, address, and contact information seems to be something of an oxymoron to me. It would seem to me that if an 'anonymous poster' is providing all of this information that they are no longer anonymous - but that's just my non-legal reading of this text (and if you recall the earlier definition 'anonymous poster' meant basically anyone posting anything on the web so maybe this isn't as crazy as it seems).
Of course, the substantive issue that this bill seems to be addressing is the legitimacy of anonymous communication. It would seem that those in support of this bill don't think that residents of New York/users of the internet should be able to engage in anonymous communication despite the fact that anonymous communication has a long and storied history in the United States, The Federalist Papers being a particularly prominent example of an important anonymous publication in the US. Given first amendment protections of free speech in the US this position seems strange, and, based on a quick internet search, not only that is likely to fare well under the harsh light of judicial review.
Anyway, I guess we'll see if this makes it anywhere (and as nothing has happened since the bill's introduction on March 21 my fears may be for naught).
Given that the bill is less than a page long (and is really just an amendment to the civil rights law) I was able to breeze through it in just a few minutes.
The first aspect of the bill that caught my attention was the definition of the term 'anonymous poster.' In the bill an
ANONYMOUS POSTER IS ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO POSTS A MESSAGE ON A WEB SITE INCLUDING SOCIAL NETWORKS, BLOGS FORUMS, MESSAGE BOARDS ORANY OTHER DISCUSSION SITE WHERE PEOPLE CAN HOLD CONVERSATIONS IN THE FORM OF POSTED MESSAGES.According to my reading of this definition the 'anonymous' descriptor is really superfluous as they seem to be referring to any and all who post messages on websites. Why not use this basic definition of a 'poster' and then suggest that anyone who engages in such actions without providing their legal name and contact information is an 'anonymous poster'? Or is that too obvious a solution?
Another definitional matter that is worth thinking about is that they haven't defined what constitutes a 'message.' Might a 'thumbs up' or a 'like' be a 'message'? In some ways, these non-verbal interactions with web-based content may be just as important or meaningful as various forms of written contributions. And what about videos or audio content, are these things 'messages'?
Aside from obvious jurisdictional, technological, and enforcement issues, I was also struck by the bill's brief business end. If passed the bill will require
A WEB SITE ADMINISTRATOR UPON REQUEST SHALL REMOVE ANY COMMENTS POSTED ON HIS OR HER WEB SITE BY AN ANONYMOUS POSTER UNLESS SUCH ANONYMOUS POSTER AGREES TO ATTACH HIS OR HER NAME TO THE POST AND CONFIRMS THAT HIS OR HER IP ADDRESS, LEGAL NAME, AND HOME ADDRESS ARE ACCURATE. ALL WEB SITE ADMINISTRATORS SHALL HAVE A CONTACT NUMBER OR E-MAIL ADDRESS POSTED FOR SUCH REMOVAL REQUESTS, CLEARLY VISIBLE IN ANY SECTIONS WHERE COMMENTS ARE POSTED.First of all, who can lodge such a request? Is this opportunity open to anyone, and if so how are they expected to go about doing this? Can I use New York and its courts to unmask trolls even if I nor the trolls are in New York?
Secondly, and this is maybe the most striking feature of this bill, the suggestion that one can engage in anonymous posting as long as 'anonymous posters' provide their name, address, and contact information seems to be something of an oxymoron to me. It would seem to me that if an 'anonymous poster' is providing all of this information that they are no longer anonymous - but that's just my non-legal reading of this text (and if you recall the earlier definition 'anonymous poster' meant basically anyone posting anything on the web so maybe this isn't as crazy as it seems).
Of course, the substantive issue that this bill seems to be addressing is the legitimacy of anonymous communication. It would seem that those in support of this bill don't think that residents of New York/users of the internet should be able to engage in anonymous communication despite the fact that anonymous communication has a long and storied history in the United States, The Federalist Papers being a particularly prominent example of an important anonymous publication in the US. Given first amendment protections of free speech in the US this position seems strange, and, based on a quick internet search, not only that is likely to fare well under the harsh light of judicial review.
Anyway, I guess we'll see if this makes it anywhere (and as nothing has happened since the bill's introduction on March 21 my fears may be for naught).
Friday, May 18, 2012
What's up with all of the vegan hating?
Today I, once again, made the mistake of reading a post on the Freakonomics blog and then reading engaging in the comment section. This post was kind of about biking and veganism and their relative environmental merits, though in many ways it wasn't really much of a post or all that much about either of these topics.
Despite the fact that there really wasn't all that much meat in the post itself, quite a number of commenters latched on to the vegan thing and ran with it. And with their cause in hand they ran right to the land of criticism.
While reading the comments I learned,
and that
The other part of the equation that I don't quite understand is the apparent indignation that many people exhibit when they hear about the idea of a vegan diet. Does it really make sense to be upset that someone else has decided not to eat any animal products? Especially in the US context where 'freedom' is a cause célèbre, why should it matter if some one has decided not to eat meat for for whatever reason?
A related issue that I find similarly frustrating is the suggestion that humans have evolved to eat meat and therefore should eat meat. Unfortunately, for better or worse, despite that the fact that most humans share many traits, it is not the case that all humans react the same way to all foods. It's pretty clear that quite a large portion of the population doesn't respond well to dairy products, and there are other portions of the population that don't respond well to other foods - some people even have a hard time with meat. So in those cases when the consumption of particular animal products may cause illness or discomfort it seems reasonable that they should be avoided.
But this also demonstrates that a uniform human diet isn't feasible or desirable. Promoting the misconception that all humans need to consume meat and/or dairy is likely to lead to adverse effects in some portion of the population. By denying the fact that humans are different and that they may respond to foods differently we risk discouraging individuals from becoming aware of the fact that the consumption of certain foods may be having negative impacts on their health.
Despite the fact that there really wasn't all that much meat in the post itself, quite a number of commenters latched on to the vegan thing and ran with it. And with their cause in hand they ran right to the land of criticism.
While reading the comments I learned,
It’s a moral choice because Vegan foods are almost always [sic] awful than foods that actually cater to human biology and evolutionary preferences.
and that
Biking is fun. Eating vegan not so much.Maybe these aren't the most anti-vegan comments that are out there, but, at least as far as I am concerned, they pretty obviously incorrect. I would guess that most foods people eat on a daily basis are already animal product free. Maybe more importantly, I would guess that most people quite like many of the vegan foods they enjoy on a daily basis. Furthermore, many vegan foods are pretty straight forward to make/acquire and are pretty tasty.
The other part of the equation that I don't quite understand is the apparent indignation that many people exhibit when they hear about the idea of a vegan diet. Does it really make sense to be upset that someone else has decided not to eat any animal products? Especially in the US context where 'freedom' is a cause célèbre, why should it matter if some one has decided not to eat meat for for whatever reason?
A related issue that I find similarly frustrating is the suggestion that humans have evolved to eat meat and therefore should eat meat. Unfortunately, for better or worse, despite that the fact that most humans share many traits, it is not the case that all humans react the same way to all foods. It's pretty clear that quite a large portion of the population doesn't respond well to dairy products, and there are other portions of the population that don't respond well to other foods - some people even have a hard time with meat. So in those cases when the consumption of particular animal products may cause illness or discomfort it seems reasonable that they should be avoided.
But this also demonstrates that a uniform human diet isn't feasible or desirable. Promoting the misconception that all humans need to consume meat and/or dairy is likely to lead to adverse effects in some portion of the population. By denying the fact that humans are different and that they may respond to foods differently we risk discouraging individuals from becoming aware of the fact that the consumption of certain foods may be having negative impacts on their health.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Fixing the internet
I may currently be clogging the internet with garbage, but earlier this afternoon I feel as though I made a real contribution to fixing the internet.
While looking at the episode summary for the upcoming This American Life episode Conventions I noticed that the link to Dishwasher Pete's site was broken (because the site no longer exists). Through the magic of Twitter I conveyed this information directly to the powers that be at This American Life.
Within 9 minutes (and it was likely much less than this) the broken link was removed and replaced with a functioning link.
Sometimes the internet blows my mind.
Cameron: 8
Neil: 0
While looking at the episode summary for the upcoming This American Life episode Conventions I noticed that the link to Dishwasher Pete's site was broken (because the site no longer exists). Through the magic of Twitter I conveyed this information directly to the powers that be at This American Life.
Within 9 minutes (and it was likely much less than this) the broken link was removed and replaced with a functioning link.
Sometimes the internet blows my mind.
Cameron: 8
Neil: 0
Monday, January 30, 2012
Yo, this is Ann Arbor!
Though I grew up in Newfoundland, both of my parents are from Michigan. And though Michigan isn't the most populous or the wealthiest state it's residents and places seem to pop up rather frequently, or more than you might expect for a state of its size, in various media. Because of my somewhat tangential connection to the place (and because it is still where most of my extended family lives) I always take note of these Michigan connections, even if knowing that so-and-so or such-and-such is from Michigan will likely serve me no real purpose in my day-to-day life.
A few years ago, just after I had started listening to This American Life, I learned that contributor Davy Rothbart (also of Found Magazine fame) was from Ann Arbor, Michigan. When I eventually made it to the Found Magazine website I had a sneaking suspicion that the magazine's mailing address was on the same street as an aunt and uncle's house.
When I got around to asking about this they confirmed that while the Rothbart kids were a little older than my cousins they did know one another. Maybe more importantly, my asking my cousin about this lead her to re-connecting with Davy. I know that at one point here were plans to meet in-person, but I don't know if those plans ever came to fruition.
Then, just a few days ago, I happened to come across a relatively new blog, Yo, is this racist? that seems to be making waves on the internets. I happened to learn about the blog through the author's recent Grantland piece on racist portrayals in sit-coms (though I can no longer remember how I ended up reading this article).
After reading the blog for a while I happened to come across the fact that the blog's author, Andrew Ti, seems to be from Ann Arbor and is about the same age as my Davy-Rothbart-knowing cousin. I decided to ask if she also knew this guy?
Much to my surprise, just last night I found out that she does/did know this guy (though she said she really knew his sister more).
I find it very exciting to have a cousin who is tapped into things/people on the internet and doesn't even always know that she is until I sporadically ask her about people from her past.
The real problem I have now is how I might possibly extend my streak. Is there anyway I can organically find a third Ann Arbor/Michigan person that my cousin knows who I can ask her about? Taking my streak from two to three seems like it might be implausible, but then I thought going from one to two would be implausible.
A few years ago, just after I had started listening to This American Life, I learned that contributor Davy Rothbart (also of Found Magazine fame) was from Ann Arbor, Michigan. When I eventually made it to the Found Magazine website I had a sneaking suspicion that the magazine's mailing address was on the same street as an aunt and uncle's house.
When I got around to asking about this they confirmed that while the Rothbart kids were a little older than my cousins they did know one another. Maybe more importantly, my asking my cousin about this lead her to re-connecting with Davy. I know that at one point here were plans to meet in-person, but I don't know if those plans ever came to fruition.
Then, just a few days ago, I happened to come across a relatively new blog, Yo, is this racist? that seems to be making waves on the internets. I happened to learn about the blog through the author's recent Grantland piece on racist portrayals in sit-coms (though I can no longer remember how I ended up reading this article).
After reading the blog for a while I happened to come across the fact that the blog's author, Andrew Ti, seems to be from Ann Arbor and is about the same age as my Davy-Rothbart-knowing cousin. I decided to ask if she also knew this guy?
Much to my surprise, just last night I found out that she does/did know this guy (though she said she really knew his sister more).
I find it very exciting to have a cousin who is tapped into things/people on the internet and doesn't even always know that she is until I sporadically ask her about people from her past.
The real problem I have now is how I might possibly extend my streak. Is there anyway I can organically find a third Ann Arbor/Michigan person that my cousin knows who I can ask her about? Taking my streak from two to three seems like it might be implausible, but then I thought going from one to two would be implausible.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
This is unacceptable
A few minutes ago I was reminded of a situation that has been allowed to continue on the Government of Newfoundland website that is completely unacceptable.
While the Department of Government Services provides online access to its Registry of Companies, one can only access the database if they are using Internet Explorer 6.
In case you aren't up on these things, Internet Explorer 6 was first released in 2001. According to the Wiki article about Internet Explorer 6 suggests that "Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8." A Microsoft website dedicated to eradicating Internet Explorer 6 goes are far as to say "Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye." This same site also suggests that only 2% of Canadians use this browser.
So to get back to my original point, by allowing access to the database exclusively through an outdated browser the Department of Government services is effectively failing to provide access to this data about Newfoundland companies to the vast majority of the Canadian population. That this situation has been allowed to persist is completely unacceptable.
While the Department of Government Services provides online access to its Registry of Companies, one can only access the database if they are using Internet Explorer 6.
In case you aren't up on these things, Internet Explorer 6 was first released in 2001. According to the Wiki article about Internet Explorer 6 suggests that "Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8." A Microsoft website dedicated to eradicating Internet Explorer 6 goes are far as to say "Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye." This same site also suggests that only 2% of Canadians use this browser.
So to get back to my original point, by allowing access to the database exclusively through an outdated browser the Department of Government services is effectively failing to provide access to this data about Newfoundland companies to the vast majority of the Canadian population. That this situation has been allowed to persist is completely unacceptable.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Reporters on Twitter
Maybe even before I had a Twitter account I was aware of the fact that quite a number of reporters and media types were making use the aforementioned service. As I have spent time on Twitter I have seen that reporters frequently use the service to do such this as promote stories, cover events live, or seek information from fellow users. All of these uses, and more that I can't think of, seem like pretty reasonable uses of Twitter by members of the media. Actually, that there are so many reporters doing things like this on Twitter is one of the reasons that I am so fond of the service. Particularly during election campaigns I have found this entertaining as one might have the ability to simultaneously hear about the daily campaign events of the competing parties as they make their way through the campaign.
But it seems that one major consequence of the fact that Twitter makes the provision of content so easy is that editors are no longer involved in filtering the content of these reporters. Content is going directly from the reporter to the consumer (often times this information seems to be accompanied by more editorializing than one might find in the accounts that are eventually published).
Consequently, many reporters in their Twitter profiles suggest that their tweets don't represent the views of their employer, or something to that effect. They, to at least some extent, are trying to separate their Twitter content from the content provided by their employer.
Of course this separation seems to be only partial at best, and sometimes veering towards misleading. Not only is the connection between the media organization and the reporter made apparent by such disclaimers, but in many cases it is the connection that brings their account it's sense of legitimacy. Furthermore, the reporter has access to the content they are tweeting about only because they are reporters working for their employer. And it should also be noted that they are typically covering stories on Twitter that they have been assigned to cover by their employer.
I think that it is also worth pointing out that these reporters are tweeting about these stories on work time, and probably with work phones. Given that these actions are accessible to the public it seems reasonable to assume that the reporters who are engaging in this behaviour are doing so with the support (and possibly encouragement) of their employers.
Another practice that seems common, particularly among CBC reporters, is to include some form of the network name in their Twitter handle. This further blurs the boundary between the individual's private persona and their media persona and arguably undermines the believability of the profile disclaimers claiming that they don't speak as a representative of their employer.
I guess I generally feel that if you don't want your comments to be attributed to you as the employee of a particular enterprise don't make a point of highlighting your relationship to that enterprise and don't use an supposedly private Twitter to report and comment on things that you are simultaneously being paid to report and comment on.
As things stand now, I think it is hard not to see many reporter's tweets as extensions of the media services for which they work. If reporters or media agencies aren't keen on this public perception they will need to work harder to find ways to clearly differentiate the private and sanctioned web 2.0 content of their employees.
But it seems that one major consequence of the fact that Twitter makes the provision of content so easy is that editors are no longer involved in filtering the content of these reporters. Content is going directly from the reporter to the consumer (often times this information seems to be accompanied by more editorializing than one might find in the accounts that are eventually published).
Consequently, many reporters in their Twitter profiles suggest that their tweets don't represent the views of their employer, or something to that effect. They, to at least some extent, are trying to separate their Twitter content from the content provided by their employer.
Of course this separation seems to be only partial at best, and sometimes veering towards misleading. Not only is the connection between the media organization and the reporter made apparent by such disclaimers, but in many cases it is the connection that brings their account it's sense of legitimacy. Furthermore, the reporter has access to the content they are tweeting about only because they are reporters working for their employer. And it should also be noted that they are typically covering stories on Twitter that they have been assigned to cover by their employer.
I think that it is also worth pointing out that these reporters are tweeting about these stories on work time, and probably with work phones. Given that these actions are accessible to the public it seems reasonable to assume that the reporters who are engaging in this behaviour are doing so with the support (and possibly encouragement) of their employers.
Another practice that seems common, particularly among CBC reporters, is to include some form of the network name in their Twitter handle. This further blurs the boundary between the individual's private persona and their media persona and arguably undermines the believability of the profile disclaimers claiming that they don't speak as a representative of their employer.
I guess I generally feel that if you don't want your comments to be attributed to you as the employee of a particular enterprise don't make a point of highlighting your relationship to that enterprise and don't use an supposedly private Twitter to report and comment on things that you are simultaneously being paid to report and comment on.
As things stand now, I think it is hard not to see many reporter's tweets as extensions of the media services for which they work. If reporters or media agencies aren't keen on this public perception they will need to work harder to find ways to clearly differentiate the private and sanctioned web 2.0 content of their employees.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
A Few Quick Notes 548
-The past two days have been overcast and intermittently rainy. I guess this isn't too surprising an occurrence after a period of particularly dry weather. The other big change is that these days have also been much cooler than the days preceding them. I think it isn't even 20 degrees outside right now, which is a fair bit cooler than I would normally expect for this time of day.
-Our cherry tomato plants might finally be starting to set fruit, though it is a little hard to tell as the prospective fruit are still quite small. Hopefully it is the case that we have a few pre-cherry tomatoes.
Yesterday Jeannette and I finally got around to pruning them. It seems that we likely should have pruned the plants differently and now allowed them to grow as tall as they were allowed to grow. They really are out of control.
-My Google Reader account seems to be non-functional at the moment. And because I can't access it there is nothing I want to do more than check my Google Reader feeds. And because it isn't working I am checking for status changes every 30 seconds. This service would be causing me to waste much less time if it was functional right now.
-Yesterday I listened to an old episode of On The Media and heard an interview about the site 0 Views, a site dedicated to finding and then re-posting YouTube videos with 0 views. During the interview the site's manager noted that much of the content was really quite bad. Now that I have had a chance to check the site's content out I am in a position to agree with this individual, though is a little disappointing as I do find the idea of the site kind of entertaining.
-I guess I should stop wasting my time and get back to work (at least my time here hasn't been spent checking my non-functional Google Reader feeds).
-Our cherry tomato plants might finally be starting to set fruit, though it is a little hard to tell as the prospective fruit are still quite small. Hopefully it is the case that we have a few pre-cherry tomatoes.
Yesterday Jeannette and I finally got around to pruning them. It seems that we likely should have pruned the plants differently and now allowed them to grow as tall as they were allowed to grow. They really are out of control.
-My Google Reader account seems to be non-functional at the moment. And because I can't access it there is nothing I want to do more than check my Google Reader feeds. And because it isn't working I am checking for status changes every 30 seconds. This service would be causing me to waste much less time if it was functional right now.
-Yesterday I listened to an old episode of On The Media and heard an interview about the site 0 Views, a site dedicated to finding and then re-posting YouTube videos with 0 views. During the interview the site's manager noted that much of the content was really quite bad. Now that I have had a chance to check the site's content out I am in a position to agree with this individual, though is a little disappointing as I do find the idea of the site kind of entertaining.
-I guess I should stop wasting my time and get back to work (at least my time here hasn't been spent checking my non-functional Google Reader feeds).
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Why is the internet such a procrastination vortex?
So this morning Neil invited me to a new web service. Consequently I ended up poking around with the settings a little. One thing lead to another and I happened to see that YouTube now has more self-animation features than it did the last time I looked.
Of course I had to try one of them out.
[Embedded video]
As you can see, this was a great use of my time. Fortunately, this really only took as long to make as it took me to enter the dialogue text.
Back to work - and hopefully I will be able to avoid the siren calls of some of these newly charted areas of the internets.
Of course I had to try one of them out.
[Embedded video]
As you can see, this was a great use of my time. Fortunately, this really only took as long to make as it took me to enter the dialogue text.
Back to work - and hopefully I will be able to avoid the siren calls of some of these newly charted areas of the internets.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Work around?
For much of this evening Blogger has been unable to accept new posts or comments. It seems that there are some issues that they are trying to resolve. As far as I can tell they have thus far been hesitant to suggest a time by which service will be restored.
Update: My 'work around' didn't really work - it was held up in the system until Blogger came back online.
Anyway, all of this means that I can't get my up to the minute stats that I am accustomed to checking periodically throughout most evenings. How am I supposed to get any work done if I can't confirm that we have had three pageviews in the past 2 hours?
I am curious if this post will even be posted as the system is supposed to be down (though I am trying to post it through an in-direct mechanism that I hope is still functional). Actually, testing this mechanism is my only real justification for this post.
Update: My 'work around' didn't really work - it was held up in the system until Blogger came back online.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
I'll never miss a hot viral vid again
A few days ago I happened to be browsing the Twitter when I noticed a re-tweet from one of the Google accounts that I follow. The tweet in question was originally a tweet from the YouTube Trends Twitter account. Eventually I was taken to a post about newly popular slo-mo videos. After watching a few of these videos (and a few others that I found through the first videos) I decided to subscribe to the blog via RSS and Google Reader.
Now I regularly get updates about trending/viral vids on YouTube as they are going viral or starting to trend. For instance, yesterday I received a notice that included a video of a key playing a banjo with his brothers.
[Embedded video]
Then today I noticed that Failblog's Win! blog re-posted the video. I was a full 12 hours ahead of Failblog in getting the news. I felt like a real web insider.
Of course I'm not just getting the inside scoop on hot new viral vids, but I am not also watching a few more viral vids than I might have a few days ago. Fortunately, I have been able to restrain myself to a fairly admirable extent, and most of the vids I have been watching have been at least fairly entertaining or informative - unlike the junky vids I was watching before I subscribed to this blog.
And in case you're curious, as far as I know none of my vids have been featured on this blog, presumably because none have hit yet (though I am surely just around the corner with a few of them).
Anyway, if you have to be the first kind on your block to have the inside scoop on hot YouTube vids the aforementioned blog is for you. Even if you don't have to be the first kid on your block to have all the new vids but are just someone who likes a good viral vid you also might find this website worthwhile.
Now I regularly get updates about trending/viral vids on YouTube as they are going viral or starting to trend. For instance, yesterday I received a notice that included a video of a key playing a banjo with his brothers.
[Embedded video]
Then today I noticed that Failblog's Win! blog re-posted the video. I was a full 12 hours ahead of Failblog in getting the news. I felt like a real web insider.
Of course I'm not just getting the inside scoop on hot new viral vids, but I am not also watching a few more viral vids than I might have a few days ago. Fortunately, I have been able to restrain myself to a fairly admirable extent, and most of the vids I have been watching have been at least fairly entertaining or informative - unlike the junky vids I was watching before I subscribed to this blog.
And in case you're curious, as far as I know none of my vids have been featured on this blog, presumably because none have hit yet (though I am surely just around the corner with a few of them).
Anyway, if you have to be the first kind on your block to have the inside scoop on hot YouTube vids the aforementioned blog is for you. Even if you don't have to be the first kid on your block to have all the new vids but are just someone who likes a good viral vid you also might find this website worthwhile.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Internet coverage of election night
It seems that just recently some members of the media, including former member of Moxy Fruvous and current CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi, have just recently figured out that tweeting about elections results before all of the polls have closed is prohibited by the Canada Elections Act.
The most important section of this act seems to be s. 329, which would appear to pretty clearly prohibit such behaviour.
I guess what I find a little strange about this coming up now, especially coming from CBC employees, is that television and radio broadcasts produced by their employer have had staged broadcast coverage for years precisely because of this clause. Did they fail to notice this fact during their coverage of the last election?
That being said, I think it is pretty clear that this section of the law was written without the understanding that it would restrict millions of people from engaging in everyday social media behaviour. Furthermore, given that it is almost impossible to expect 100% compliance with this law might it not make a little more sense to find a way of modifying the law so that loopholes/non-compliance don't negatively impact those who do comply with the prohibition?
The most important section of this act seems to be s. 329, which would appear to pretty clearly prohibit such behaviour.
329. No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district.
I guess what I find a little strange about this coming up now, especially coming from CBC employees, is that television and radio broadcasts produced by their employer have had staged broadcast coverage for years precisely because of this clause. Did they fail to notice this fact during their coverage of the last election?
That being said, I think it is pretty clear that this section of the law was written without the understanding that it would restrict millions of people from engaging in everyday social media behaviour. Furthermore, given that it is almost impossible to expect 100% compliance with this law might it not make a little more sense to find a way of modifying the law so that loopholes/non-compliance don't negatively impact those who do comply with the prohibition?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A Few Quick Notes 532
-As predicted, today was definitely a less than ideal day. While today was not rainy from beginning to end, it was overcast all day.
-It seems that both Jeannette and I had our headphones break on us recently. These developments necessitated a trip to a store where we each purchased replacement sets. The only upside seems to be that we both have slightly newer headphones (and in my case a set that seem to fit a little better).
-I made a satisfying, vegetable-heavy batch of chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight. Now that the leftover noodles have expanded it seems that we have more than we did after dinner.
-Though I haven't completely given up following online election coverage, I have had to dial back the time I spend following the up to the minute developments on Twitter. I just can't afford to spend 5 hours a day watching tweets flow in.
-Developments that I did manage to spend a few minutes following today related to the Auditor General. The first development of the day was a Canadian Press story releasing details in a leaked draft version of a report that makes it look as though the government may have broken the law when it came to spending related to the recent G8/G20 preparations. The second development, which hit a few hours later, had to do with Conservative MPs using an old quote from the Auditor General out of context to make it look as though she was saying something complementary about the Conservative government though she had actually been talking about the previous Liberal government. All in all, it doesn't sound as though it was a particularly good day for the Conservative party.
-Yesterday I should have mentioned that Jeannette helped out with our haircuts. Jeannette helped buff out noticeable lines that we had each given other.
-It seems that both Jeannette and I had our headphones break on us recently. These developments necessitated a trip to a store where we each purchased replacement sets. The only upside seems to be that we both have slightly newer headphones (and in my case a set that seem to fit a little better).
-I made a satisfying, vegetable-heavy batch of chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight. Now that the leftover noodles have expanded it seems that we have more than we did after dinner.
-Though I haven't completely given up following online election coverage, I have had to dial back the time I spend following the up to the minute developments on Twitter. I just can't afford to spend 5 hours a day watching tweets flow in.
-Developments that I did manage to spend a few minutes following today related to the Auditor General. The first development of the day was a Canadian Press story releasing details in a leaked draft version of a report that makes it look as though the government may have broken the law when it came to spending related to the recent G8/G20 preparations. The second development, which hit a few hours later, had to do with Conservative MPs using an old quote from the Auditor General out of context to make it look as though she was saying something complementary about the Conservative government though she had actually been talking about the previous Liberal government. All in all, it doesn't sound as though it was a particularly good day for the Conservative party.
-Yesterday I should have mentioned that Jeannette helped out with our haircuts. Jeannette helped buff out noticeable lines that we had each given other.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Big change to the special ballot application page at Elections Canada
As some of you may recall, a few days ago I pointed out that Elections Canada's special ballot application webpage was less than fully accessible. Most notably, to access the special ballot application one first had to use a clunky Java tool to enter basic information about one's home riding.
Not long after making my post I wrote to Elections Canada to draw their attention to the issue as I feared that the problem had the potential to deter quite a number of voters.
Much to my surprise, this evening I received a response from Elections Canada about the issue. An while they didn't quite acknowledge all of the problems that existed, they do have seem to have made a few changes that move things in the right directly. Most importantly, they have made the Java tool optional and offered an HTML only option that provides quick access to the PDF form.
I like to interpret the following quote in such a way that suggests they made the changes because of my email, though this may be reading a little too much into it.
Though they didn't admit it in their email, I think that they also fixed some compatibility issues relating to their Java tool, which now works on my computer. I guess the important thing is that they made the changes that make the form more accessible, anything else wouldn't be anything more than an ego boost.
Not long after making my post I wrote to Elections Canada to draw their attention to the issue as I feared that the problem had the potential to deter quite a number of voters.
Much to my surprise, this evening I received a response from Elections Canada about the issue. An while they didn't quite acknowledge all of the problems that existed, they do have seem to have made a few changes that move things in the right directly. Most importantly, they have made the Java tool optional and offered an HTML only option that provides quick access to the PDF form.
I like to interpret the following quote in such a way that suggests they made the changes because of my email, though this may be reading a little too much into it.
To help both PC and Mac users online, we have incorporated, over the last days, one additional message and link at the bottom of each screen to offer the elector, as you suggested, the ability to access a basic HTML version of the application
Though they didn't admit it in their email, I think that they also fixed some compatibility issues relating to their Java tool, which now works on my computer. I guess the important thing is that they made the changes that make the form more accessible, anything else wouldn't be anything more than an ego boost.
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Tony Clement/the Canadian Government and Twitter
A few days ago Canada's Industry Minister, Tony Clement, used his Twitter account to publicize the government's decision to get the CRTC to revisit their decision on usage based billing (UBB).
While I guess that things like this are likely to be the wave of the future it is, nonetheless, a little strange.
While in some ways making announcements via Twitter might increase access to the content of the decision, this approach might disperse official policy stances of the government across the web. Determining which of these positions are the official positions of the government, given that they are on non-official sites, might be challenging.
Also, who controls this data? Will these tweets be available permanently and in venues other than Twitter? Will these tweets be considered official government statements? Who will manage this information? All in all, the switch to this platform seems to have been taken without much planning or thought.
All of this is not to say that the current government doesn't have a number of good reasons to move to this platform for official announcements. Firstly, Twitter is fast. For instance, Clement was able to get his message out to thousands almost instantaneously. This speed means that news cycles can be skipped or toyed with. Secondly, Twitter provides a way for the government/ministers to communicate directly with interested parties and the public, a feature that must be particularly appealing to this somewhat media-phobic government. The government does not have to rely on the mass media to transmit their message to the public nor worry that their message might be distorted by devious journalists. Furthermore, follow-up questions from the public (or media) can be addressed directly and quickly (and these are things that Clement seems interested in).
And finally, it seems that with same Twitter account that Clement is using to make policy statements he is also commenting about important topics such as the quantity of Red Bull his squash competitors have consumed or what he thinks about the half-time entertainment at the upcoming Super Bowl.
Thus Clement is blurring the lines between his public and private persona. When he says something on Twitter, as he has been for the past while, is it a reflection of the government's position (i.e. Does the Canadian government think that the Black Eyed Peas suck?) or are such positions reflections only of Clement's personal beliefs? How are citizens to know when Tony Clement is speaking for only Tony Clement or when he is actually speaking for the Government?
Anyway, given that this trend is likely to increase in popularity rather than diminish I think that a few of these issues (and likely a few that I have neglected to discuss) are worth considering somewhat seriously before we proceed too far along this path.
Score
Cameron 13
Neil 0
While I guess that things like this are likely to be the wave of the future it is, nonetheless, a little strange.
While in some ways making announcements via Twitter might increase access to the content of the decision, this approach might disperse official policy stances of the government across the web. Determining which of these positions are the official positions of the government, given that they are on non-official sites, might be challenging.
Also, who controls this data? Will these tweets be available permanently and in venues other than Twitter? Will these tweets be considered official government statements? Who will manage this information? All in all, the switch to this platform seems to have been taken without much planning or thought.
All of this is not to say that the current government doesn't have a number of good reasons to move to this platform for official announcements. Firstly, Twitter is fast. For instance, Clement was able to get his message out to thousands almost instantaneously. This speed means that news cycles can be skipped or toyed with. Secondly, Twitter provides a way for the government/ministers to communicate directly with interested parties and the public, a feature that must be particularly appealing to this somewhat media-phobic government. The government does not have to rely on the mass media to transmit their message to the public nor worry that their message might be distorted by devious journalists. Furthermore, follow-up questions from the public (or media) can be addressed directly and quickly (and these are things that Clement seems interested in).
And finally, it seems that with same Twitter account that Clement is using to make policy statements he is also commenting about important topics such as the quantity of Red Bull his squash competitors have consumed or what he thinks about the half-time entertainment at the upcoming Super Bowl.
Thus Clement is blurring the lines between his public and private persona. When he says something on Twitter, as he has been for the past while, is it a reflection of the government's position (i.e. Does the Canadian government think that the Black Eyed Peas suck?) or are such positions reflections only of Clement's personal beliefs? How are citizens to know when Tony Clement is speaking for only Tony Clement or when he is actually speaking for the Government?
Anyway, given that this trend is likely to increase in popularity rather than diminish I think that a few of these issues (and likely a few that I have neglected to discuss) are worth considering somewhat seriously before we proceed too far along this path.
Score
Cameron 13
Neil 0
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
New Spamming Technology
It seems that over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of experiencing a new type of spam - text messages sent to my Google Voice number. Fortunately, because the service is free, this doesn't cost me any money or much time (at least yet). What is troubling is how they happen to have gotten my number (unless they are just generating numbers). It is also troubling to think that this could start happening on a more widespread basis and that web-based services could start text spamming actual phones in such a way that would be almost untraceable (though I know to what end they would be working with such an approach).
While looking through my spam texts I happened to come across a mysterious message that I received a few months ago.
[Embedded audio]
I have no idea where this came from or what the caller was getting at. Hopefully they eventually found the person they were looking for.
While looking through my spam texts I happened to come across a mysterious message that I received a few months ago.
[Embedded audio]
I have no idea where this came from or what the caller was getting at. Hopefully they eventually found the person they were looking for.
Monday, December 06, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 484
-Today was an all around strange day. I woke up to learn that in several parts of town the night had been so rough that there were a number of power outages (supposedly including our street even though this didn't actually seem to be the case). Later in the day we had the pleasure of experiencing periods of intense rain followed by sunny periods and heavy wind. Fortunately, I managed to avoid some of the worst patches of weather while walking to and from school.
-I had the pleasure of attending a political science Ph.D. defence this afternoon. Though the defence wasn't particularly short (maybe 2 or 3 hours), it was well done and not the least bit unpleasant (as was the only other defence I have attended). After the defence I join the successful Ph.D candidate, her family, the external examiner, and faculty for a few drinks and some celebrations.
-Apparently Tumblr went down for a few hours. Had it not been an event in and of itself I probably wouldn't have jumped on the bandwagon and been aware of this generation-making event. I just look forward to the day when I can tell the next generation about this earth-shattering event. Like the New York black-out of 2003, kids of the next generation just won't believe such a turn of events possible.
-I should probably try to head to bed shortly so that I can get cracking early tomorrow morning.
-I had the pleasure of attending a political science Ph.D. defence this afternoon. Though the defence wasn't particularly short (maybe 2 or 3 hours), it was well done and not the least bit unpleasant (as was the only other defence I have attended). After the defence I join the successful Ph.D candidate, her family, the external examiner, and faculty for a few drinks and some celebrations.
-Apparently Tumblr went down for a few hours. Had it not been an event in and of itself I probably wouldn't have jumped on the bandwagon and been aware of this generation-making event. I just look forward to the day when I can tell the next generation about this earth-shattering event. Like the New York black-out of 2003, kids of the next generation just won't believe such a turn of events possible.
-I should probably try to head to bed shortly so that I can get cracking early tomorrow morning.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
It just won't get full
As much as I try, I just can't seem to fill the internet. There always seems to be more space for my sub-par content.
Apparently, even with this video about what we were having for lunch today, the internet has not been filled.
[Embedded video]
Apparently, even with this video about what we were having for lunch today, the internet has not been filled.
[Embedded video]
Thursday, December 02, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 482
-Though I don't know that it actually rained today, it was certainly almost as wet as though it was raining. Unfortunately, this condition of proto-rain (the drops weren't quite large enough for me to feel comfortable calling it rain) was just about as wet as rain and certainly as unpleasant.
-I had a series of student society meetings today. Just after noon I had to attend a departmental level student society meeting to amend a constitution. Fortunately we were able to deal with these changes in about an hour. Later this evening, after my three hour seminar, I had to attend the monthly university-wide grad student society meeting. Fortunately, this meeting was also only about an hour.
-The seminar I attended this afternoon was the second last such seminar I will have to attend before I head home for Christmas. Actually, there is a chance I will miss the seminar I am scheduled to attend on Monday so that I can attend a Ph.D defense.
-This evening I encountered the really neat do-it-yourself animation site Xtranormal. Using this site one can crank out quick one or two person animations in no time. Though I will probably be foolish to waste my time playing around with this site in the coming days, I haven't yet produced any web-filler yet.
-I am incredibly tired. Hopefully I will be able to get some sleep tonight so that I can crank out a good day of work tomorrow.
-I had a series of student society meetings today. Just after noon I had to attend a departmental level student society meeting to amend a constitution. Fortunately we were able to deal with these changes in about an hour. Later this evening, after my three hour seminar, I had to attend the monthly university-wide grad student society meeting. Fortunately, this meeting was also only about an hour.
-The seminar I attended this afternoon was the second last such seminar I will have to attend before I head home for Christmas. Actually, there is a chance I will miss the seminar I am scheduled to attend on Monday so that I can attend a Ph.D defense.
-This evening I encountered the really neat do-it-yourself animation site Xtranormal. Using this site one can crank out quick one or two person animations in no time. Though I will probably be foolish to waste my time playing around with this site in the coming days, I haven't yet produced any web-filler yet.
-I am incredibly tired. Hopefully I will be able to get some sleep tonight so that I can crank out a good day of work tomorrow.
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