Blogarithms
Doug Kaye's thoughts on web services, web hosting and managed services.
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Not At Home. Like the rest of AT&T broadband customers, my cable-modem link died early this morning. I've had agreat day being unable to get on line. Lit a fire, out on some nice music and caught up on some reading. But I finally realized I could only keep this up for so long, and I had my brother-in-law help me sigh up for a dial-up account. It's so sloooow! But at least I'm back on line for now.
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 9:08:11 PM 
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Metadata? Should users be expected/required to enter metadata when blogging? There are times when metadata are appropriate, such as when there's a taxonomy natural to the environment or application. For example, if one needs to know location, selecting from a list of countries is appropriate. Likewise, I see why there's a good reason for metadata in a job-search database. But this isn't a k-log. I think we're confusing k-logs with other applications, KM or otherwise. A K-log isn't a CRM, HR or project-management system.
But in the general case, metadata just doesn't work very well for two reasons. First, every required step acts as a deterrent to the use of the system. I've found that to be true in every software product or web-based system with which I've been involved. In some cases (such as an on-line dating service for which I was CTO) I've actually tested it. The more you ask, the less likely people are to participate. Seond, contrived taxonomies typically associated with metadata are a disaster. I've tested this, too. No one person--or committee--can design a taxonomy for the ideas of others. Library science is inadequate for the range of knowledge and thought are encountered with weblogs. I *have* seen success with n-dimensional context "spaces", where the dimensions aren't associated with specific concepts, but rather server to enrich the complexity of the space itself. At the very least people will spend a whole lot of time debating and complaining about the taxonomy. And people will find another person's taxonomy frustrating and will avoid using it. Some have suggested that it be someone's responsibility to add and clean-up metadata of others. This will always fail due to the inability of that person to keep up with the volume in any organization of more than a dozen or so people. (And I sure wouldn't want someone else re-categorizing my posts!) [Blog the Organization]
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 1:49:39 AM
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K-Logs. John Robb has been posting his thoughts on "knowledge logs" (he calls them K-Logs) to a Yahoogroups mailing list. John is the President and COO of Userland Software. Before that, John was President and COO of Gomez, and before that, the senior Internet technology analyst for Forrester Research. Not a bad pedigree, eh?
John moderates the mailing list, so you're not guaranteed to see all opinions, but there are some excellent readers and contributors. Adam Curry, who lives in Holland, calls them Cloggs. Cute. [Blog the Organization]
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 1:49:06 AM
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Book Proposal. For the curious, I've just posted a copy of the "Book Proposal" that my agent and I are using to try and land a publisher. It's still too early to tell whether we'll be able to stir up sufficient interest, given that the topic isn't one for which there's screaming demand. I'm not too concerned, however. I'm prepared to publish the book myself if necessary. [Blog the Organization]
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 1:48:49 AM
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My BlogBook project has taken a major turn. It's no longer about weblogs in the sense of diaries and journals. Instead, I've decided to focus on the use of weblogs and similar tools within organizations. More later on why I've made this change. For now, please bear with me while I update the Web site to align with my new plans. [Blog the Organization]
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 1:47:17 AM
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Doc's Up. What? @Home is working for Cox users, according to Doc: "It's Saturday (barely) and my Cox/Excite@Home connection is still up. For now." Working for me using AT&T, too.
Posted Saturday, December 01, 2001 1:44:54 AM
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