internet
Presence Labs
On February 14th, I registered a new business name for a new organisation, Presence Labs, to operate under the umbrella of our existing Barking Owl and carry into the UK sometime soon.
Presence Labs is my new business focussed on Internet presences of all kinds, and particularly building tools to enable websites for the read/write web, blogs, RSS, tagging, social software, user generated content and all that stuff we tend to lump together under that (dare I say it) Web 2.0 word. Let’s call it next generation online presence or something.
And, of course, a new business needs a new blog and domain and website:
So, step over there for a look, if you please.
LinkedIn Profile on the web
I noticed that the businessy sixdegreesy linkedin.com have opened up a bit, and now allows your public profile to be visible on the web.
I quite like LinkedIn for business to business networking and as a store for my ever-growing ever-changing CV. It makes a CV a lot easier to manage that the traditional word document type.
See my LinkedIn public profile here.
Google China Censorship in Pictures
See these side by side results for google.com and google.cn when doing an image search for the term “tiananmen”. As in square. You can’t see censorship more graphically than that.
New Stuff
I’m working on some new AJAX-driven interactive web stuff.
It is a cool idea. But there is an “As Usual” here. As Usual, it works great for simple things. To make things fast and snappy and with rounded corners is a lot harder and will involve lots of JavaScript with the usual cross-browser issues.
That said, it is fun and enjoyable to work with. And it is very refreshing to break out of the one-thing-per-page idea.
Want to know more? Start at the Wikipedia entry for Ajax (programming).
For my development, I’m using Python on the server, using the Myghty template framework and the Myghty Ajax Toolkit.
Brighton makes WiFi for all
A partnership between free-WiFi providers and a local authority has created a city-wide wireless network for business and government and a lot of free Wifi access in cafes and public spaces around Brighton.
We could do with something like this in Perth/Fremantle. Anybody interested?
Guardian report on the Brighton metranet.
Save username and password?
You know how most browsers will offer to save usernames and passwords when they see them so you don’t have to type the password again and again and again? Mostly these kinds of things have worked really well for me, but look out for the trap I fell into in the last couple of days with Firefox and a couple of Linksys routers.
Online Social Networking 2005
I’ve just registered for the Online Social Networking 2005 conference. This is a wholly online conference running for a couple of weeks discussing all aspects of online social networking.
It should be really interesting, both for the discussions of social networking and the experience of an online conference.
OSN2005 will be a summit for all those interested in working with social networking processes, tools, and media. In addition to attending many workshops, panels, and presentations by leading experts and practitioners, attendees will have the opportunity to be part of a community with a significant role in defining the future direction of online social networking. If you want to help shape this industry, come to OSN2005!
During the OSN2005 summit we will co-create and publish a manifesto describing what we want and need from online social networking tools. What are the key criteria for choosing and assessing OSN products and services? What gaps exist in currently available software and related tools? What needs to happen before it’s common knowledge that OSN products and services can deliver significant value? What are the most promising developments in the OSN industry?
Flashmob in Perth!
Perth’s First Flashmob is on today!
1pm outside the London Court Clock on the Hay St Mall.
I won’t be there, unfortunately. It sounds like lots of fun.
Creative Commons conference in Brisbane, Jan 2005
The QUT faculties of Law and Creative Industries are running a conference called ‘Open Content Licensing (OCL): Cultivating the Creative Commons’. And Professor Lawrence Lessig is coming out to do the keynote. I’m making plans to be at this one.
New Matilda up and running
The New Matilda online magazine that I talked about in a previous post is finally up and running.
All of the New Matilda website is free until 8th September, after which you will need a subscription to view some sections.
Political Party Website Reviews
It looks like the election is just around the corner. Rumours suggest we are looking at an August 7th or August 14th Election and our federal politicians are working late and long to tidy up before the election.
More than a few voters are going to go to the web to work out who to vote for, so let’s take a look at the official sites of the Liberals, ALP, Democrats and Greens and see what’s what.
Initial Impression
The Liberal site dissapointed immediately. I knew there would be some menus somewhere but browser after browser failed to show anything. I tried Safari, Firefox on Mac and PC, IE on the Mac and finally went to IE6 on a PC in the office and managed to get the menus going along with the tacky applet news ticker (very 1998). There was the expected Australian flag waving in the top left corner and these words “Protecting, Securing, Building Australia’s Future” which sounds eerily like the side of an American police car (”To serve and protect”). I’m going to find this website hard to like.
Next, the ALP site. Very Red, White and Blue. Way over the top with it’s Red,White and Blueness. It works with Safari and Firefox no problems. Australian Flag in the top left also, like the Libs and a total of four appearances of the Southern Cross on the homepage. A bit over done. This site is hard to look at. They need to sort these colours out. That said, the main heading on the page is “Opportunity for All” next to a smiling picture of Latham. That has a good feeling about it. No menus. Has a sidebar down the left and right with a bunch of links. Pretty accessible.
A bit easier on the eye is the Democrats site. Red white and blue are missing, replace with a soft greens and white. No sign of the flag or the southern cross, thankfully. But the banner on the page shows a bunch of dark suited sombre looking democrats with the big heading “The Lie Detectors”. Is this an attempt to look like a TV crime show. Doesn’t work for me. There’s a small, old green and yellow Democrats logo on the right. Looks classic 1980s or something, casting back to their heyday, I guess. In general the site looks clean and there is easy access to current news here and thumbnail images are used well. I’d tend to linger here much longer than either Liberal or ALP.
The Greens site has come a long way. The look is modern and spacious, the least crowded of all the sites. No flags or southern crosses. News stories are well laid out with nice photos for each story. Somebody is putting in a lot of effort to make this site comfortable. Two shades of green and white with the occasional red highlight works well. Nice to see candidates and their photos down the right hand side of the page - but that’s easy if there are only a few of them, I suppose.
So to summarise my initial impressions:
Liberal: broken
ALP: red, white and blue
Democrats: the lie detectors???
Greens: best so far.
The Leader
Next, let’s try and get a feel for leadership of these parties. How do these sites present their leadership? I’m going to count home page appearances and look for defining statements. This is fun.
On the Lib’s home page, there are five John Howards. Mostly dark suits and ties. Oh, look, there a flag behind him in one, and there he is posing with the military, jacket off, all smiles. Now, what does he stand for. Here’s his home page statement:
Australia is the best country in the world.
That is why we must do all in our power to protect, secure and build Australia’s future.
and it has a signature underneath. The whole thing, including a photo, is wrapped up in a business-card-sized image, including the text. Strange.
“Australia is the best country in the world”. Oh, for goodness sake, what a load of old cobblers. He’s going all simple on us. I’m afraid it doesn’t do it for me.
A fresh-faced Mark Latham appears once on the ALP’s home page. Taken from above, it makes him look young and energetic. And I like the aspiring statement right next to it, which take centre stage on the front page (excerpted here):
Opportunity for all
I believe in ambition and aspiration. I believe in the powerful combination of hard work, good family and the civilising role of government services.
I say that economic aspiration is good and social mobility is even better – all Australians climbing the ladder of opportunity.
…
I guess the ALP are taking the risk that people will actually read enough of this to get the idea. It works for me better than the very simple Howard statement, though.
Over in Democrat land, leadership is lower key. Andrew Bartlett leads the ‘lie detector’ pack in the page header, and appears again in the Spotlight section where his National Convention address is referred to. Nothing dramatic or interesting, and I get the feeling that is the way the Democrats like it.
The Greens show three Bob Browns, two Andrew Wilkies (including the cover of his book) and even one John Howard, but he’s only there as Wilkie’s sparring partner for the seat of Bennelong. Several MPs, including Brown have a say in news items on the front page, but there is no leadership statement as such. That is appropriate for the Greens.
My summary:
Liberal: ubiquitous Howard but strangely simple message
ALP: Latham’s youth & aspiration
Democrats: who’s the leader?
Greens: low key
News presentation
I’m interested in getting new direct from the parties as the election nears, so how do these websites provide the news:
The Liberal site links to a bunch of stories from the front page. There are no summaries or photos though. Clicking through leads to boring media release pages with no photos and they are mostly if not all on separate sites. No RSS feeds of news. Why am I not surprised by this.
The ALP shows the latest news below the Latham’s aspirational speech on the home page. Again no summaries or photos. Clicks through lead to press releases, with an MP’s photo if you are lucky, but there are ‘related items’ indicated. Not that exciting really. No RSS newsfeeds either.
Ah, the Democrats get it. A headline item at the top of the page, more stories down the page with photos and good long summaries. I think there must be a content management system behind this one. Following links leads you to standard press releases, but there are still on the site, and you can browse amongst them. No sign of RSS either.
The Greens have gone all the way - using the plone content management system. News is presented in the centre of the main page in big stores with More… links at the bottom. There are well-chosen photos on each story which follow through to the full stories. Easy reading. No RSS.
My summary:
Liberal: boring
ALP: slightly less boring
Democrats: good browsing
Greens: visual, friendly
Subscribing
I want to end up with the news from each party as the campaigns proceed. So, like a true sucker, I’ve signed up to all of the party’s email newsletters. Here I’ll comment on the signup process and the results so far.
The Liberals have a signup field on the home page. Type in an email address, then a click and you are presented with a form asking for your title (defaults to Mr), name and postcode. You can select HTML or text emails then. Clicking ok leads you to a terse page indicating you are on the list, with another form for dobbing in up to five friends. I felt a bit abused by this process. It certainly isn’t up to good web standards. There was no email confirmation step. But they delivered the first bit of news into my email box. Unfortunately it was a nerr-nerr cheap shot negative statement criticising the ALP for not all voting the same way on the FTA, so the content didn’t inspire me. Unsubscribing is easy, which we like.
Over at the ALP, a front page field and a click leads to a page explaining a confirmation email will be sent. Clicking a link in that email leads to a page asking for title and name, but at least the title is optional. Then a click and you are thanked for confirming. No email has come in from the ALP yet, so I can’t comment on that.
You have to register with the Democrats to get email from them. Name, email and postcode are compulsory here, and you end up with a number for a username and they make a password for you (sent via email). But then you get to select what issues and newsletters you are interested in. This is good and flexible, if a bit daunting at first. Within a few hours I’ve had two emails from the Democrats, so they are using this stuff too.
Type in an email address from the Green’s home page and you can get a confirming email which after a reply puts you on an email list. Low-tech and simple. Works. No emails have come in from the Greens yet.
My summary:
Liberals: works. dob in your mates
ALP: standard
Democrats: all the bells and whistles
Greens: simple and functional
——–
Now the summary of summaries:
In terms of websites:
* I’d go Democrats for respect and efficiency
* Greens for friendliness, clean lines and simplicity
* Labor for something temporarily aspirational
* Liberal if I wanted more of the same and had a PC running IE.
Dear reader, I’m writing about websites not party policies. If you want to comment, please don’t flame on about policies of the parties. Let’s talk about their websites here. I’ll get to policies later.
Very Stupid (Secretly and legally read my email) Legislation
So, you assume your email is reasonably private, right? I do. You’d expect nobody could read your email without a warrant, right? Seems reasonable.
Very Stupid Legislation now before parliament, would allow a whole swag of agencies and individuals secret, legal access to any of your emails, voicemails or SMS messages that are stored awaiting delivery without a warrant in most cases.
Thank goodness we have a sensible Senate that has twice rejected similar silly stuff from the conservative coalition.
This new bill is called the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Bill 2004
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is onto it, as usual. They have written a briefing paper laying out the problems with this legislation. From reading this, you’d think this whole bill was a joke. It removes so much protection already in place and grants unprecedented secret access to our email, voicemail and SMS messages.
Here’s how EFA sums it up:
The Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment (Stored Communications) Bill 2004 should be abandoned. The Bill is an utter disgrace. It is the type of legislation one might expect to see in a police state, not in a democracy.
And I agree with them. It would be funny if some folk in the coalition weren’t so serious about passing this bill.
Attorney-General Ruddock: please withdraw this and start again.
New electronic weekly: New Matilda
Yesterday there was an announcement in the crikey.com.au daily email about a new electronic political weekly called New Matilda.
See the annoucement below, and please register for more information at: www.newmatilda.com.au
I really like the sound of what they stand for:
What we propose
A national, independent electronic political weekly newsletter that will
• Break news that is relevant to a more modern and generous spirited Australia.
• Professionally analyse events and issues. There is so much information, ‘but what does it mean’?
• Innovate policy. We will maintain a steady course on the big policy issues. For example, we will aim to develop a health policy for Australia. We will do this through public discussion in the newsletter.
• Create a constituency of change by nurturing the confidence and convictions of disaffected people, and re-engaging the discouraged,
Why we propose this newsletter
Existing media is predictable and tightly controlled. ‘Spin’ is corrupting public debate. Parochialism and fear are promoted. There is little policy innovation.
There is anger in the community over the leaching away of honesty, decency and ‘loss of soul’. That anger must be tempered with hope and channelled into action.
Electronic technology offers new opportunities. With internet, the centres of power are now less stable.
Our editorial position
Pluralist, liberal and relevant to a modern and more humane Australia.
Public life must be based on enduring values – truth and openness, respect for all, justice, fairness and human flourishing. We will not be value neutral.
Community and personal relationships and social cohesion are critical for a well functioning society.
Prosperity must have a social and moral purpose.
Australians have the right to fully participate in their institutions, eg political parties, business.
The excluded and disadvantaged will have a special place in our activities. Equal opportunity must be linked to personal responsibility.
Our international standing and pursuit of justice and peace depend not just on economic and military strength, but on the values we hold and project.
The response to terrorism must be based on international cooperation, intelligence and security, but also on the factors that provide a breeding ground for terrorism – injustice and poverty.
Who is the newsletter directed to?
People from all parties who feel disenfranchised by existing institutions, political parties and processes. Many are reluctant and disillusioned ALP voters. Others are moderate Liberal voters seeking a more caring response on such issues as reconciliation and refugees. Others again vote Green, Democrat or Independent.
We seek to draw together people with similar values. We will provide an inter-generational forum for new people with new ideas. Many are tired of the sermonising of the Left and the Right.
How we are proceeding
We have established a private company. The board is Hilary McPhee, Bill Gurry, Michael Henry, Rod Cameron, Susie Carleton, Lisa Bowman and John Menadue (Chair). The board has endorsed the business plan.
Supporters include John Button, Elizabeth Evatt, Lowitja O’Donoghue, John Clarke, Morry Schwartz, Robert Manne, Peter Redlich, Ian Macphee, Evan Thornley, Rebecca Huntley, Hugh Mackay, Michael Kelly, Peter Tyson, Graham Freudenberg, Julian Burnside, Stephen Duckett, Julianne Schultz, Eva Cox and Duncan Turpie.
We will shortly be appointing an editor, assistant editor (policy development) and business manager. A number of contributing editors will be appointed.
We will shortly issue an invitation to subscribe/donate. The estimated operating cost in the first full year is $380,000. We will initially raise $250,000 in shares and donations. We have pledges to date of over $220,000.
Our subscription target at the end of the second year, is 7,500 @ $50 per annum ($375,000). We will be seeking bulk subscriptions from government agencies, unions, corporations and professional firms. We plan to launch in July/August 2004.
www.newmatilda.com.au has been set up to register initial interest. We aim to have 2,500 on the register before launch. Will you help by registering your name. Could you also copy this email to interested friends.
Contact
New Matilda Pty Ltd, PO box 1025, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Donations: New Matilda Pty Ltd, Acct No.10152919, Commonwealth Bank, BSB 062258.
John.menadue [at] newmatilda.com.au
John Menadue
Chair 19 May 2004
Perth Blog Feed update
I’ve added a bunch more local blogs (from the growing list of local blogs at the Perth Blogs wiki) to the Perth Blog Feed. It was a bit shakey there for a while, and there are still a few issues with spurious angle brackets and stuff.
I can see I’m going to have to come up with an automatic add and remove page for this. Stay tuned. For a while. Possible for quite a while :-)
If people are reading and enjoying the feed, I’d love to know it. How about leaving me a comment here:
Feeds unbroken
Thanks to a quick patch to planet, the perth blog feeds are back alive. And you will notice that Perth weather forecasts scraped by underground london are now included as well. I’m going to put a whole lot more blogs soon, as well.
Feeds broken
There seems to be some problem with the Perth Blog Feeds. I’m investigating.
Perth Blog Feeds are Go
New! We now have an aggregated RSS feed of Perth Blogs listed on the Perth Blogs . You can now pop either of these two feeds (below) into your feed reading software and enjoy a list of recent Perth blog entries.
I have to add blogs manually at this point, so I’ll try and keep up as new ones come along. But for now, it works nicely. Enjoy!
Thanks to Rich for the pointer to planet planet which does the hard work of aggregating so smoothly.
EFA Paper on Free Trade Agreement
Electronic Frontiers Australia has written a position paper on the Intellectual Property provisions of the proposed Free Trade Agreeement. I broadly agree with what they say.
Here’s a quote from the summary:
EFA is opposed to Australia signing or implementing the provisions of Chapter 17 of the FTA. In particular, EFA is concerned that:
- consideration of Chapter 17 should be approached from the perspective of promoting innovation and the public domain, rather than protecting existing business models and punishing infringers
- Chapter 17 expansions are likely to impede rather than promote free trade and innovation
- there is no justification for extending copyright protection to 70 years
- criminal law has only a limited role in intellectual property law and should not be expanded
- proposed circumvention device bans are overly strict and have more potential to be used as weapons against competition and innovation than for it
- proposed rights management information provisions would unduly extend the power position of copyright holders and impinge upon consumers’ rights to deal with legitimately purchased goods
- presumptions towards subsistence and ownership of copyright are unnecessary and weight proceedings too far in favour of those claiming rights as opposed to those defending them
- provisions relating to damages would result in unrealistic determinations and increase the power of copyright holders
- take-down notice provisions are unfairly weighted in favour of those making allegations
- ISPs should not be force to divulge personal information about customers except after judicial order
- FTA would commit to allowing any and all ‘technologies’ to be patented, regardless of whether a need for patentability is demonstrated
Petition against FTA Intellectual Property clauses
Some local linux and open source folk have started a petition against the Intellectual Property provision in the proposed Free Trade Agreement. We need to get a lot of signatures on this so we can get the senate to understand the problem.
The IP provisions of the FTA do everything to support the rights of enormous media companies, further extends the lifetime of copyright, and criminalises reverse engineering and circumvention devices. A circumvention device is something like a multi-region DVD player, so this will potentially criminalise watching legal DVDs purchased in Asia.
Creative Commons in Australia
Good news! I’m really pleased to see that work is in progress to start adapting the Creative Commons licenses to the Australian legal system. Respect to Tom Cochrane, Brian Fitzgerald and Ian Oi and all who are working on it.
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