Preoccupations

Being that much better

From the immemorial to the ephemeral. I’ve been moving steadily Mac-wards in the last couple of months. If nothing else, it’s liberating to learn to think with different tools. (The desire to have tools that are ready-to-hand, but the value that lies in appreciating constraints — then we have a fighting chance when the picture might otherwise hold us captive.)

The operating system I should really be using is Linux, for the reasons John Gruber summed up so well in a footnote to his recent blog post about Google Chrome OS/vapourware. What he had to say about Linux is so good it’s worth quoting it all:

“Linux” means different things to different people. At a precise technical level, Linux is not an operating system. It is a kernel that can serve as the core for an operating system. What most people mean by “Linux”, though, is an operating system built around the Linux kernel. For use as a desktop PC operating system, all the various “Linux distributions” are basically the same thing: variations of Gnome or KDE sitting atop the ancient X Window System.

Ubuntu is almost certainly the pinnacle of these distributions, but they’re all conceptually the same thing, and the only significant difference is the choice between Gnome and KDE, and even there you’re just choosing between two different environments that are conceptually modeled after Microsoft Windows. The entire X Windows/Gnome/KDE “desktop Linux” racket has never caught any traction with real people. Almost no one wanted it, wants it, or will want it.

My theory on this is rather simple. Early versions of Gnome and KDE were pretty much just clones of the Microsoft Windows UI. They’ve diverged since then, and I’d say Ubuntu’s default Gnome desktop is in most ways better from a design and usability standpoint than Windows Vista. But it’s still fundamentally a clone of Windows — menu bars within the window, minimize/maximize/close buttons at the top right of the window, the ugly single-character underlines in menu and button names. At a glance it looks like Windows with a different theme. The idea being that if you want Windows users to switch to Gnome or KDE, you’ve got to make it feel familiar. But that’s not how you get people to switch to a new product. People won’t switch to something that’s just a little bit better than what they’re used to. People switch when they see something that is way better, holy shit better, wow, this is like ten times better.²

So I think Gnome and KDE are stuck with a problem similar to the uncanny valley. By establishing a conceptual framework that mimicks Windows, they can never really be that much different than Windows, and if they’re not that much different, they can never be that much better. If you want to make something a lot better, you’ve got to make something a lot different. …

² The group that’s the most enthusiastic about Gnome and KDE desktop Linux systems consists of those who care the most about the political and licensing aspects. With regard to the freedoms that stem from the software being open source, something like Ubuntu isn’t just, say, ten times better than Windows or Mac OS X, it is infinitely better.

In amidst fruit-picking, I’m playing with a better camera and I think I’m moving on a little, inspired by time spent alongside Jonathan, engaged by how he works, and, interesting-to-me, by computer games. To start with, that familiar sense of panic that, years ago, poetry once gave me (“I’ll never get this”) and then, at first slowly then more and more quickly, the coming of understanding and pleasure. Games absolutely encourage a try-and-fail-and-try-again approach. I used to be paralysed by the seeming unpredictability in learning anything much at all about digital photography, but treating it like play (which is certainly how I see Jonathan set about things) makes it all right — and fun.

Tools for thought: this post was semi-made on a Mac — I could have made this in a pure-Mac way (following a path no doubt excellent but seemingly laborious), but LiveWriter remains the best tool I know for blogging (a lot of the time it gets out of the way). And VirtualBox is free — and works.

Technorati Tags: play, constraints, tools, thinking

Gawping in amazement: Flickr & Upcoming

Prelude: TechCrunch says 'Flickr continues to rock along, with 4.5 million registered users and 17 million unique visitors per month. They have just under 230 million total photos uploaded and 900,000 new photos are uploaded daily on average'.

And after that, the stats for geo-tagging (launched 28 August) are still amazing! '24 hours in, there were 1,234,384 geotagged photos (and now more than 1.6 million geotagged photos as I write this, about 9 hours later)' — Stewart Butterfield, Flickr blog.

But how much more impressive is this (all from Stewart Butterfield's posting):

One of the "little" things that was incredibly complex technically was the integration of location-based searching into our existing tag and text-based search technology. That means you can do things like search for photos matching "food" in southern Asia or architecture in South America. … marrying "traditional" search with spatial search in a real-time context is extremely hard, especially at our volumes and rate of growth. More than 228,000,000 photos have been uploaded, with over a million new photos being added on a good day. There are billions of bits of data that go into the search (more than half a billion tags alone), along with privacy controls, group membership, and so on. This is one of the largest real-time search indexes in the world. In contrast, nearly all web search is done in a "batch" mode with periodic updates, while nearly all real time search is done on a small set of items which "expire" after a short period. But new or updated Flickr photos are typically searchable in under a minute.

And:

… today we're also releasing extensions to Flickr's API to enable adding and retrieving geo information, setting privacy permissions, and searching by location: everything you need to roll your own. … This also means: "hey, if our maps don't work for you, use whatever maps you'd like!"

Finally:

… if you take a photo "near" an Upcoming.org event (in time and space), it'll automatically get tagged with the correct Upcoming event and show up on the corresponding event page without you doing anything.

For developments at Upcoming (also 28 August), go here: undiscovered events ('a very deep well of events that Upcoming members haven't added yet, collected from around the web and updated daily by our friends over at Yahoo! Local. To put this in perspective, we increased the number of upcoming events by 3000% overnight'), event filters, Flickr photos for events, buddy icons, new event pages.

All this is already old news on the web. I blog it because the value of this to anyone involved in education is immense and the achievement it represents (on the part of Flickr and Upcoming staff, but also, of course, the user communities) is the kind of stuff about which we should be telling our students — the next generation of innovators and co-creators.

Best overview of Flickr's geotagging I've seen to date? Thomas Hawks', here. (Hawks is the Chief Evangelist for the photo sharing site, Zooomr — 'We would be seen as a competitor to Flickr'.) A 'Go Read'.

Update:

1) Bokardo has posted on it, too: 'With geotags, Flickr pushes the envelope that much forward. I think it’s a great social feature, and one whose surface has only been scratched so far. I’m excited to see what other views people will come up with, given what we’ve seen in the first few days'.

2) Google Earth Blog: Better Method for Geotagging Photos for Flickr Using Google Earth/Picasa.

Technorati tags: Flickr, geo, geotagging, maps, mapping, Upcoming, events, calendars, calendaring

Participatory Media

Stewart Butterfield, as reported by AlwaysOn:

… the key to success in participatory media (a term he prefers over consumer generated content) is the people, not the photos or medium. The photos are just the “locus” for people bringing people together. You can’t have one without the other, and when you put it that way, calling it participatory media does make a lot of sense.

There's a tension here: that last sentence ('you can't have one without the other') doesn't sit so easily with the rest of the paragraph, and in fact what Stewart Butterfield says (play the 2½ minute Google Video at AlwaysOn) is suppler, weighted, much more nuanced — and made me recall what Jyri wrote in 2005:

The fallacy is to think that social networks are just made up of people. They're not; social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object. … The social networking services that really work are the ones that are built around objects. And, in my experience, their developers intuitively 'get' the object-centered sociality way of thinking about social life. Flickr, for example, has turned photos into objects of sociality. On del.icio.us the objects are the URLs. … Approaching sociality as object-centered is to suggest that when it becomes easy to create digital instances of the object, the online services for networking on, through, and around that object will emerge too. Social network theory fails to recognise such real-world dynamics because its notion of sociality is limited to just people.

See also: Russell Beattie and Anne Galloway.

Technorati tags: Stewart Butterfield, Flickr, Jyri Engeström, participatory media, social networks, object centered sociality

Understanding MySpace

Jesse James Garrett in BusinessWeek online:

It seemed like an also-ran. But in less than two years it built up a community of more than 20 million users. And then it sold for half a billion dollars. The site is MySpace, a social-networking space where people connect with their friends and make new ones as they share their interests and personalities through the blogs, photos, comments, video, and audio they post. MySpace has developed a particular appeal for young people because the site makes it especially easy for bands to set up pages to communicate with their fans. Today, the statistics are staggering: 43 million users so far, 150,000 new ones every day. Ten percent of all advertising impressions across the entire Internet happen on MySpace -- twice as many page views as Google (GOOG). And in the wake of its recent acquisition, MySpace's growth has only accelerated.

… the system allows users to do almost anything to the look of their pages, whether it's a good idea or not. Regardless of its aesthetic consequences, this customizability is one of the site's most attractive features, and the do-it-yourself sensibility of the site resonates with the audience's desire for self-expression. …the unpolished style invites users to try things out, telling them they don't have to be professional designers to participate. The unrefined look of MySpace sends another message to users: We're like you. You're not a designer, and neither are we. We're not here to show off our design skills, we're here to connect. … Throughout, MySpace knocks down the distinction between the people who run the site and the people who participate. You'll never be isolated on MySpace, because the site's operators are your friends.

… crafting a site experience that acknowledges both what users care about and what they don't may be the smartest design strategy of all.

Technorati tags: MySpace

Yahoo! Go Mobile

Yahoo! Go Mobile is here:

With Yahoo! Go Mobile, emails, phone numbers and pictures synch with your account. So your stuff is always with you and easy to use.

• Contacts — Stored phone numbers are automatically synched
• Photos — Take a picture and it's stored online
• Messenger — Record voice instant messages
• Mail — Get notified when new email arrives

And …

Yahoo! Go - Get Started on Your Mobile

Yahoo! Go Mobile is available for download today on select Nokia Series 60 handsets. Prior to downloading the application, you should review the list of compatible handsets and read the installation instructions.

Technorati Tags: Yahoo!, Yahoo! Go Mobile

Coco Rosie at Scala

Last Thursday, I caught Coco Rosie (biographical info here) in fine form at this great venue. Unlike the Astoria, Scala is a fun place to go to and the irony this time was that had I had my camera with me (as opposed to leaving it on the number 35 — thank you, Oxford Bus Company for getting it back to me safe and sound) then my photos from the front of the pit would have been sensational. As it is, I have some photos from a Nokia N70 that are not bad, all things considered: on Flickr, here. (The day will come, and soon, when our phones will take great photos. The N70 is still just a 2 megapixel camphone, but that's such a step up from the 6630 and its 1.3 megapixel camera.)

What a gig! Coco Rosie are a phenomenon: a highly sexualised act, led off by a very male black dancer with a skirt on over his trousers and a keyboard player who looked male but, after ten minutes, was, we realised, a woman … The sisters, Bianca Casady and Sierra, sported moustaches drawn with a childlike hand. Cross-dressing and gender confusion, but not as in drag — all very see through, yet enough to be provoking and arresting. Gender, identity, gay and straight sexuality, loss and dream-like longing were all very strongly present themes throughout their set, on stage and in the lyrics. And there was downright, straightforward exuberance, too!

The music is far better live than recorded (and I really like their two albums): innovative and eccentric, but seen in the act of composition with little of the studio (pre-recorded/recorded) about it. They use a wide range of instruments, including "toys", and their sharply contrasting voices (Sierra is classically trained and had been destined for an operatic career) are often set against each other in ways that are by turns uncomfortable and beautiful. For the latter, I think of 'Good Friday'; for the former, 'The Sea is Calm'. 'Tahiti Rain Song' showed Bianca's voice to great effect and 'Candyland' Sierra's harp playing and singing. 'K-Hole' was another memorable song from the night. 'Beautiful Boyz' could easily have suffered from the absence of Antony, but the sadness of the song was well caught by the group.

From Chicago Innerview:

The music on La Maison de Mon Reve evokes genres of soul, gospel and blues, but Bianca and Sierra don't want to be limited by a certain type of music. Their songs play with an older Southern vernacular, with fictionalized stories and monologues. Bianca writes most of the songs and plays with various toys while Sierra puts the writings to melodies and vocals. "Everything is basically the way it sounds. It sounds like an endless resource of sound that creates a story or a feeling or even a sense that it's real, that you are just listening to a real moment," states Bianca about their music.

They integrate their own recorded samples that sound like degraded old records (similar to what Moby does except with authentic samples) and field recordings such as falling rain, birds chirping and an ambulance siren. Even though Bianca and Sierra used degrees of improvising on the album, they let it evolve naturally into structure …

The first track is the melodic "Terrible Angels" where Sierra sings as Bianca backs her up. The track combines their beautiful voices with a sawing sound to become a poignant lullaby. The next song is "By Your Side" where Sierra sings in a blues-inspired Billie Holiday or Nelly Furtado voice about a woman who wants to be a housewife: "All I wanted was to be your housewife/I'll iron your clothes /I'll shine your shoes /I'll make your bed /And cook your food /I'll never cheat /I'll be the best girl you'll ever meet." An array of sounds including crickets, birds and electro beats also accompany the track.

On "Jesus Loves Me," the girls continue with the Southern dialect to tell a story about how "Jesus loves me/But not my wife/Not my nigger friends /Or their nigger lives" to create a minimalist song with jangling tones at the end. The rest of the album appeals to romanticism and naturalism, with the dreamlike and poetic track "Good Friday" which features an acoustic guitar, whispering voices, and swirling sounds. The stripped down "Tahiti Rain Song" uses gospel vocals against the sound of actual rain falling onto a tin; the instrumental track "Candylandplaying" showcases Sierra's opera vocals with the piano and harp highlighting this angelic tune, while the romantic yearning of "Haitian Love Song" contrasts the other songs with its use of subtle hip hop beats. With this style of experimentation, Bianca and Sierra allow themselves to change with the music. "Part of it is an evolving regression to kinda go against myself, to create and consider different types of music. For me, it ended up with qualities people classify as folk/blues."

… Bianca says, "I guess I like the idea of doing something really contrasting - like with the Wu Tang Clan - something that would challenge people's idea of categorizing music." The duo are always recording and collecting new sounds as they embark on another record, which Bianca says gets "weirder and weirder."

See Voodooeros for other releases from the collective that includes Coco Rosie, Devendra Banhart, Diane Cluck, Vashti Bunyan … (There's a recent interview with Devendra Banhart which ropes in Coco Rosie and throws out links to many no doubt shared influences and listened-to bands/albums.) The Enlightened Family looks like an interesting album to follow up. The Milk Factory:

(Bianca) has collected a series of previously unheard songs from friends, both famous and unknown. The Enlightened Family features two tracks from a sixteen-year old Devendra Banhart, a 1968 recording from British folk legend Vashti Bunyan, an instrumental recorded by Patrick Wolf on a desert island, two tracks from Diane Cluck, an old forgotten piano track from Sierra Casady, and two of the sisters’ side projects, Metallic Falcons and Island Folk Lore.

Far from focussing on just one sound, this album changes direction with every track, from the fragile opener by Metallic Falcons and the soulful You’ll Never Know from Nomi to Houses, a track recorded by Devendra Banhart for a friend’s Birthday, which already showed signs of his particular aptitude at crafting perfect bohemian pop songs, or the chaotic gallic hip-hop of Rock N’Roll from CocoRosie’s regular collaborator Spleen, here with Zen, each track seems placed specifically against the one it follows to generate multiple clashes all the way through.

The two gems out of this eccentric family are to be found with Diane Cluck’s delectably sweet and sour Real Good Time and Vashti Bunyan’s long lost demo Song Of A Wishwanderer, which appears to encompass everything her followers thrive for in the astonishing purity of her voice and singing, which even the poor quality of the recording cannot alter.

The usually reliable Pitchfork gets it wrong, twice: La Maison de Mon Rêve, Noah's Ark. At Scala, there was a Dylan 1996 moment when someone shouted out during the act, 'You're a sham'. No, they're not: they're exciting, inventive and taking great risks — and they're taking people with them (as was obvious by the reception on Thursday and by the unusual composition of the audience — all ages and with evidence of some serious musicians scattered amongst us, there to check out one of the most interesting bands around).

Social Flickr

Back in June, after Reboot 7, when I posted my photos of Copenhagen (the out-of-doors ones rather grimly lit on the whole: beautiful weather, but such strong light made for difficult conditions — for this novice, at any rate) I asked if any passing, friendly Dane could amend or improve upon some of my descriptions. My thanks to Jan (Lausen) for stopping by and doing just this for the ones in question, urban buildings and scenes we weren't quite sure about or just got wrong.

I think this is still my favourite shot from the set:

The Round Tower: 'the spiral walk is unique in European architecture. The 209 m long spiral ramp winds itself 7.5 times round the hollow core of the tower, forming the only connection between the individual parts of the building complex'.

By the by: it would be very good if Flickr would support strikethrough HTML coding. Meanwhile, Flickr should update (as noted here) its FAQ advice: 'em' tags are said to be supported, but in fact only 'i' endure.

Fogged beauty

Wonderful shot of Didcot power station (which I pass regularly) in the fog, from the BBC News webpages (link via gilest):

Not the usual view, verbal or visual. I could live with them like this. (Years ago, I remember a friend arguing in defence of the station: 'it adds depth to the plain' …)

I found the Didcot image on the BBC (here) via a link to http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/. For a moment there I thought I'd found a whole new raft of BBC News images, but the url seems to point to the same pages as the links we're all used to, the ones beginning http://news.bbc.co.uk/. Browsing around to check this out, I came across this stunning AP image, captioned 'China's security services provide a rare glimpse of preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics':

Not being a lawyer, I'm not entirely clear of the copyright position on either image ('own personal non-commercial use' seems to be OK, which is what this is), so these may have to be taken down, but the link to the original BBC page with the image from China is here.

All in all, I prefer the image of Didcot power station in the fog. Less colourful, but much more calming. What is it with security services and Darth Vader?

Flickr …

… just gets better and better. View one of your photos and beside it now appears a new option to 'replace this photo':

Select this option and this follows:

Update (7.11.2005): I see from the FAQ that this is a feature only available to Pro Users —

2. Can I replace my photos and keep the comments and tags and stuff?

Yes! If you have a Pro account, you can replace a single photo at a time. When you're looking at an individual photo page, you'll see a link labelled "Replace this photo" under the Additonal Information heading on the right-hand side. If you do replace a photo, the title, description and all the comments, notes, tags, and favorites associated with the previous version will be kept.

Please note, if the new photo is larger than the original, the difference in bandwidth will count towards your monthly limit.

Flickr

Interestingness and clustering (Stewart Butterfield: 'It's easier to show than to tell, so here are some examples: love, terror, nose, bush, cameraphone'), two new developments at Flickr:

Both interestingness and clustering rely a lot on what people are doing, whether it's with the photos they like, or the tags they are using. You can think about it as people-powered searching. Yahoo! Search Blog

Of clustering, Cory says it's 'a major improvement to Flickr's "tagging" feature, whose main failing to date has been the ambiguity in tags -- some people tag photos of bushes with "bush," others tag pictures of the President with "bush." Clustering to the rescue -- it automatically finds the congruences in tags and groups them according to the discovered relationships'.

Interestingness (= photorank) is throwing up some wonderful photographs.

There are lots of things that make a photo 'interesting' (or not) in the Flickr. Where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more things which are constantly changing. Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic photos and stories are added to Flickr. Flickr

A long time in the making, interestingness is a ranking algorithm based on user behavior around the photos taking into account some obvious things like how many users add the photo to their favorites and some subtle things like the relationship between the person who uploaded the photo and the people who are commenting (plus a whole bunch of secret sauce). Flickr Blog

The Flickr Explore page is a great front end for keeping users up to date with developments.