Perhaps it’s just me…

I tend to watch the local news on TV, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth it. The same old commercials, repeated ad nauseum; the same lame stories, re-told in an effort to rile people up.

I can hear the newsroom talk now:

Mgr: “Look, we’ve got them watching the same commercials 3 or 4 times in the space of an hour. Surely we can do better than that.”
Newsreader: “Well, it’s a slow news day. Perhaps we could just repeat the news from yesterday, or at least a story or two.”

Mgr: “Good idea. We’ll give them double the commercials and half the news. They’ll probably never notice.”

Newsreader: “Ya, and on the morning news, we could just highlight the stories in the local paper. The audience won’t even realize that they’re sitting on the couch reading the same thing in their own daily paper.”

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just watching/reading/listening to too much local news these days. Perhaps it’s time to ignore it for a while.

Personalized media

Tim O’Reilly has an interesting article on Web 2.0. It was great reading even if most of it was over my head (that’s how ya learn, eh). Thanks to Chris Anderson at the Long Tail blog for the link

One section in Tim’s article really caught my eye:

In many ways, the combination of RSS and permalinks adds many of the features of NNTP, the Network News Protocol of the Usenet, onto HTTP, the web protocol. The “blogosphere” can be thought of as a new, peer-to-peer equivalent to Usenet and bulletin-boards, the conversational watering holes of the early internet. Not only can people subscribe to each others’ sites, and easily link to individual comments on a page, but also, via a mechanism known as trackbacks, they can see when anyone else links to their pages, and can respond, either with reciprocal links, or by adding comments.

I hadn’t made that connection quite that explicitly before. NNTP newsgroups taught me the little I know about computers and the internet. They also provided indispensible information about software tools. Later I added a few web-based bulletin boards as things moved off NNTP.

All those groups are/were a great place to pick brains and share what you could. Most of what I learned was kind of techie in nature, but this statement by Tim got me thinking: Blogs and RSS offer a way to find information and start conversations in a much wider way than NNTP or standard web-based bulletin boards.

With a few well chosen RSS feeds, I can keep up with current thinking about IT, journalism, left and right wing politics, science, and almost anything else I care to follow. And all that information arrives at my desktop automatically. I don’t have to hop all over the place to read it.

If I feel like exploring something further, all I have to do is take the link to a favorite site and check out the blogroll, or follow the in-text links for more information. There’s bound to be more links than I can handle on a subject from there.

Cool. Personalized media. Ahh, the concept is starting to gel for me.

Give me back my CBC

Most of the time I’m up early, but there are times when I’ll set a radio alarm just to make sure I’m out of bed at a particular time. My radio is set for CBC FM, and I’m usually greeted with gentle classical music that pulls me out of my sleep. A minute to enjoy the music, a long stretch, and I’m off and running for the day.

It’s been that way for a couple of years now, but today was a shocker. At 05:45, my lovely symphony turned into a marching band and brought me to attention immediately. I couldn’t wait to shut the thing off. Nothing in particular against marching music, but at that time in the morning? AACCKK.

Please give back my CBC. Whoever is running the show right now has no sense of timing.

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Visiting WOTS, again

I spent today at Word on the Street. I’ve attended WOTS for the last 3 or 4 years and always enjoy it. It’s a good mix of commercial literary display, author readings, poetry, and art – not things I’ve had much exposure to, until just recently.

Spend $18 to get a hemp treasure hunt bag and you can collect a pile of sample magazines, books, and other goodies from the vendors. It’s a good way to explore the different niche products out there. My favorite keepsake is a metal book mark from Canadian Geographic magazine. It’s a small square with a cut-out loop in it that fits over your marked page. Unlike others of its kind, this one is smooth and discretely marks the page without ripping. I picked one up last year and use it in my notebook every day.

I got there about lunch time, bought my bag, and did a quick reconnaisance around and through the Vancouver Public Library. Once that was done and I’d collected my loot, it was time to eat. I avoided the regular chips vendor on Homer St. and opted for a very large smokie from a vendor down on Georgia. There’s something about outdoor parties and hot dogs…. Good thing they don’t happen too often.

I ate the smokie while watching and listening to authors read selections of their current work. Nice. While I was there, a couple of friends showed up and we traded summer stories. After that, each us began our own tour around the rest of the site.

CBC Unplugged put on a good show on Hamilton St. Various personalities like Todd Mafin and Sheryl MacKay entertained us with their usual flair. I signed the petition to help them get back to work and then made a serious tour of the vendor area on Homer Street.

There were so many different talents on show: book making, cover design, comic books, poetry, fiction and non-fiction books, writers, magazines, musicians, storytellers, and seminars. It’s a good thing WOTS has a program for the event, or you would be sure to miss something interesting.

I highly recommend a visit to WOTS. It’s a great show and illustrates the variety of literary talent we have in Vancouver.

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Tossing it out

Over the course of a long career in biology and management, I’ve collected a lot of reference material. Now, with a change of focus, I’ve started collecting a lot of different stuff on communication. The problem is that I don’t live in an infinite space to keep it all, and I’m definitely feeling the pinch.

The file cabinets are bulging, the bookcases are overflowing, the floors are starting to get covered with boxes of “I’ll need that someday”, and I’m feeling a real space crunch. Earlier in the week I decided to take the bull by the horns and start purging. The results have been mixed, and filled with emotion, but I’m determined to pare things down over the next few days.

Wouldn’t you know it. Today I’m reading through some favorite blogs, and I come across a post in 43folders pointing to Metagirrl talking about ‘discardia’. Metagirrl provides the definition as: “Discardia is celebrated by getting rid of stuff and ideas you no longer need.” There is also a call for a national holiday, sometime around the equinox or solstice.

The author starts out with:

“I’ve been practicing discardia for several years now and am now reaping significant benefits. My home is light, airy, uncluttered and comforting. Waking in it or returning after being away gives me an immediate sense of my load being lightened….”

Clearly there are ‘evergreen’ subjects in life. Sooner or later everyone has to lighten the load. I guess the trick is to keep on top of it, rather than passively let it build up through lack of attention.

Ha, the wonderful world of blogs. Tomorrow another box….

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Communal wireless internet access?

Via SmallBizBlog we get the news from ITbusiness about a move to provide wireless access in Canadian cities. Bell Canada and Rogers Communication are working on such a deal right now.

That’s somewhat good news, I think. But the deal should be bigger and include other service providers too. Shaw and Telus come to mind in BC, for example.

What if all the access providers contributed a portion of our monthly fees to pay for sharing and maintaining the ‘pipes’, so to speak. We could choose a provider for service, price, logistics, or convenience at our main base, and from then on, have access to the internet. Period. The providers would have a chance then to win our hearts and business (hah).

I think the cell companies call it ‘roaming’. Overly expensive the way it works now, but it does work in a pinch. Certainly better than having a separate account for each and every location you might want to call from.

It’s fine for these large companies to set up additional proprietary networks, but if we want to really exploit the internet for all it’s worth, we can’t all be cloistered around our individual service providers for access. People move around to do business these days, and business and the internet are inextricably linked for most of us.

The ITbusiness article also notes a push for cities to provide free wireless access as a public utility. There’s been lots of arguing about this in the US as well. Free internet services may or may not be good idea, but somewhere, someone has to make enough money to keep the ‘pipes’ working. I’m not sure another tax (+GST) is the answer.

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Killing popups

Popup ads have to be the scourge of the internet. They interrupt our thinking, they break the flow of our actions, and, if we inadverently click on one, it wastes our time when we have to return to where we were. They steal our most valuable possessions: time and attention.

On a personal note, they also change my mood, and leave me with negative feelings about the original site I was on. Often, I won’t go back. But, I’m sure that’s nothing new.

I’ve even had the dern things popup occasionally while reading the Globe and Mail – under a paid subscription at that.

I sent the G&M a note and let them know how I felt one day. The response I got back was that they were sorry, but they have to generate revenue somehow. Guess my monthly fees don’t count in that equation. At least I know where I stand in the larger scheme of things.

Hmm..that reminds me. That G&M subscription is still active, and I haven’t been back for a couple of months. (note to self: cancel or give them one more chance)

Usually I make a mental note of the advertising company and how much they’ve pissed me off. That energy lasts for a while, but I probably forget about it over time. Perhaps there’s a better way.

Dan Gillmore has a short note about popup ads showing up in Firefox, and says:

“I’m going to create — and post — a list of the companies sponsoring these ads, and make a point of not shopping with them.”

Ya. A real list, not just a mental note. Writing things down tends to make them happen. Perhaps that’s a good reason for me to learn how to use del.icio.us , or to remember to tag some posts with ‘popup+spam’, or some other, more graphic term.

In the meantime I’ll start my list.

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Sharing in business

Via the TP Wire Serivce, here’s a clip from an article at Wharton School of Knowledge

“what gives firms competitive advantage isn’t just their repository of sheer knowledge, but their use and encouragement of so-called “performative ties” — those impromptu communications made by colleagues who are strangers in which critical knowledge is transferred with no expectation of a quid pro quo.”

Sharing. Isn’t that what blogs are about. Isn’t that’s what networking is all about. Building relationships in a way that everyone wins.

The authors talk mostly about interactions within a firm, but I’ve seen it happen frequently between specialists or firms as well.

Of course there are boundaries to the kind of information or the amount of time offered freely, but often, if you call an expert, they’ll be more than happy to talk about their field of expertise for a while. Enough to get you started towards an answer, or at least enough to let you know that you need some expert help.

Cool stuff, if you think about it. Similar to the old maxim “All of us is more than one of us”. And it might turn out that you do business together.

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I’m at a loss

With all of the drama unfolding over the last week in the southern US, I’m at a loss for words.

Right now, nothing else seems like it’s really worth blogging about. My attention and support is focused on the southern states and has been for the last week. Story, after story, after sad, sad, story.

Others are doing a much better job than I ever could about posting links to the information. Everyone I read has made the point about donating to worthy causes. Those closer to the events have vented my frustration over the lack of early response at the evacuation centers. And the ugly side of life has been documented by those involved and on CNN.

About all I can stress again is personal preparedness. Do it. Maintain it. Your life may depend on it someday.

Everything else can wait.

Perhaps I’ll feel more like blogging next week when the shock wears off. Right now I’m at a loss for words.

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Katrina and softwood lumber

I can’t believe what I’m seeing in the southern USA after Katrina. Devastation. My heartfelt sympathy to all those involved, both those affected, and those that are offering immediate aid. I’ve been involved with search and rescue for many years, and I’ve seen some of the pain.

How about a crazy suggestion? The people in the south are in need of help: both volunteer time and money. As usual, I expect that Canada will chime in through the Feds – and so we should.

But what about this:

We have a ‘trade war’ going on with the US over softwood lumber duties with a 5 billion dollar bounty tied up in an account somewhere. That bounty is slated for either Canadian lumber companies (if we win) or US lumber companies (if the US wins). That seems like a real stumbling block to negotiations.

What say we just arrange to donate the bucks to the disaster, perhaps through FEMA or the Red Cross.

That does the following:

It helps those down south who’ve really got nothing left.
It helps both Canadians and Americans work together in crisis.
It takes the trade war prize away, and might lead everyone back to the table for a constructive conclusion.

I doubt the companies will lose. They will all gain from the rebuilding effort.

Everyone wins.

I know, kinda simplistic, but…the thought crossed my mind and I thought I’d mention it.