barbara haven: My Interests

Mon, 08 Nov 2004 18:31:49 GMT

Cal-IT conference

Arnie terminates conference speech. [The Register] Maybe we could have a showcase like this stateside too. Webcast or blog it —for the majority of people who cannot go to London.

Appreciatively I read some summaries from this past weekend's bloggercon in Palo Alto. Although it was near enough to drive (about 3 hours from my home), from chemotherapy my energy is a little less, and also I'm avoid crowds during this time when my immune system is low.

Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:27:33 GMT

My morning break

Computerworld: Data Centers Get a Makeover. But this familiar scene masks some big changes in the way that data centers are built, as well as changes in computer technology and an evolution in what data centers are expected to accomplish. Ultradense server racks, the move to distributed and virtual processing, a requirement for instant fail-over, and new requirements for IP telephony and voice over IP are all driving changes above and below the raised floor. [Tomalak's Realm]

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:28:23 GMT

My first robot

When Robots Rule the World. Well, not the world maybe, but possibly your lawns and kitchens. The use of robots -- especially as domestic help -- is expected to increase sevenfold by 2007, according to the United Nations. [Wired News]

Next week I expect a an Irobot Roomba Floorvac (Discovery model) to arrive. My first robot! I'm going through chemo. treatments that may cause fatigue, as a possible side effect, so I thought vacuuming was something I could delegate to a robot.

I wonder how much time I'll need to spend on dog training, instead of vacuuming, but dog training is really fun and returns loads of energy for the time and energy spent--a trade-off I can live with.

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:46:14 GMT

Back in a few weeks

Please peruse the changethis.com website, a delightful manifesto collection. Scoble's blogger manifesto gets some notice:

Scoble's Corporate Blogger Manifesto. Robert Scoble has published his manifesto for corporate bloggers (PDF). There are some great lessons there from someone who'd lived them all. I've added it to my How to Start a Blog list. [Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog]
'

I read Scoble's Blogger Manifesto and thought I should

Encourage others to embrace blogging
Send it to all State of California Data Center executives
Send it to all State IT people
Send it to the State CIO

I haven't done those things, but I will refrain from blogging for a few weeks while my life is in turmoil (see, in the blogging manifesto, Scoble's #13). I have a health challenge, breast cancer requiring surgery, so will be away from where I blog and will be using all (or most of) my positive energy for healing.

Tell me how and why I should encourage blogging in California's government.

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:33:07 GMT

Linux guide designed for developing nations. The manual is intended to increase open-source usage among the 800 IT projects sponsored by the United Nations. [CNET News.com]
I've needed something like this. This weekend the family conversation was about the virtues and difficulties of Linux distros. Now I'm saving the notes about who's having smooth installations==I consider an hour about right.

At the moment, I wish for a small ibook where I can also run Yellowdog Linux. Maybe in September.

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 19:02:58 GMT

Word-of-the-day quotation

I have been a journalist too long to be ensorcelled by conspiracy theories.
—Nat Hentoff, Speaking Freely

The Word-of-the-Day Challenge: try to use it undetected today—No raised eyebrows or puzzles looks in the environment.

Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:26:29 GMT

Bogus in the Blogosphere

Wry Hoaxes Enliven the World of Web Diarists. The time-honored tradition of literary hoaxes has taken on a new form: the Web log. By By DANIEL TERDIMAN. [The New York Times > Technology]

During my morning drive, the usual radio program reviewed and discussed the Manchurian Candidate remake film, and delved into what political thrillers, a crowded and diversely populated genre, provide for viewers (and the readers presumably). Do people want their inklings of conspiracy confirmed?
Perhaps the "outed" blogs mentioned in the Times article play to the same suspicion--that blogger doesn't really exist, but is an elaborate hoax.

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 21:45:53 GMT

Better Browsing with Words

They're using words and not URLs or URIs:

With the new Browse-By-Name feature, users of the Google's Toolbar can, for example, type "Grand Canyon" into their Internet Explorer browser window and land on the Grand Canyon homepage without having to type the somewhat cumbersome http://www.nps.gov/grca/ URL for the national park.

Many government URLs are impossibly cumbersome. Sometime, I plan to use a URL-shortening service. I like Google's Browse-by-name feature but that works in the browser window.

Could it also work for linking?
That would solve the link rot when website reorganize or merely change their underlying technology in ways that change the page-name extensions.

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 18:58:18 GMT

The Ethics of Reviewing Or Promoting Products On Your Weblog

Read this later "The Ethics of Reviewing Or Promoting Products On Your Weblog" One personal goal: Best ethical approach to blogging.

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 16:17:25 GMT

All ideas must have passionate advocates behind them. — Thomas Davenport (Fast Company magazine)

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 16:02:03 GMT

Totally off-topic: Foodie delights

Chef Jamie Oliver has a new weblog with recipes.

There you'll find his "new best salad", about which he says:

This salad is one of the best things that's happened to me this year.

Really tasty, really clean and fresh. I haven't yet given it to anyone

who didn't absolutely love it. The recipe uses tarragon instead of any

other salad leaf. This is quite shocking for me, as I've always been

scared of tarragon! It's a potent herb, but used aggressively and

strongly like it is here it really works well....

There's a reason to plant more tarragon.

Updated: Britain's top 50 foodies The cuisine improved, but I suspect many love cookbooks more than cooking and food itself.

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 18:23:25 GMT

More about weblogs.com

Wired: "What was decried as the death of a blog universe when Dave Winer shut down free blog host Weblogs.com turned out to be little more than a four-day server outage surrounded by a heck of a flame war." [Scripting News]

As a frequent free-services user/exploiter, I need to think which would work in a work setting. Not necessarily "mission-critical" uses, but just for convenience.

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:31:43 GMT

John Battelle visits Applied Minds, a Willy Wonka-esque nerdvana [bOing bOing] At Appliedminds, Danny Hillis is CTO and the other Co-chair is Chief Creativity Officer.

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 16:23:38 GMT

About Weblogs.com

Thanks to Doc Searls for explaining what's going on with free hosting at weblogs.com. [Scripting News]

In the explanation, Doc writes a general truth about the Internet:

I've said before that nobody owns anything on the Web. The fact is, we're all renters here. That means our sites, our blogs, our businesses, live in a commercial marketplace. Our Web presences live at the grace of the companies on which we depend. Companies change, and so do the people that comprise them.

Small independent companies (and their customers) are especially vulnerable.

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 00:32:52 GMT

How are you going to find out about RSS, the popular syndication format?

RSS, a popular syndication format, has

non-technie RSS guide http://www.reallysimplesyndication.com/
A librarian’s RSSpresentations
- Unleashing the Power of RSS - PDF
- Blogging and RSS Preconference - PDF
Government RSS examples with some definitions http://rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html
Online Journalism Review has a RSS short article http://ojr.org/ojr/technology/1086293132.php

(formatted to drop into plain text emails) What do you suggest to people for discovering the beauties of RSS?

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 18:06:10 GMT

IT Morale Low

Today this story appears in diverse sources:

IT workers' morale hits rock-bottom. Cheer up, worse things happen at sea By Tim Richardson . [The Register]
IT morale drops to all-time low, study says [CNET News.com]

Wed, 09 Jun 2004 16:37:03 GMT

uiweb: How to survive creative burnout. What was once fun and challenging feel stupid and annoying. Or perhaps the things that used to motivate or move you don't resonate at all. You feel nothing for them. It all just seems like so much more crap to deal with. If this sounds familiar, or you fear that this day is in your future, this essay is for you. [Tomalak's Realm]

Scott Berkun writes practical detection and improvement steps for the dreaded burn-out. He even provides practical things to say. He says about taking responsibility and communicating:

A good manager would ask and investigate to find out what’s wrong (it’s their job), but some don’t know what to say. In that case, it’s up to you. Here’s an easy way to go:

“Hey boss. I’m concerned about something. I haven’t been as motivated as I’d like on this project for the last 2 weeks. I’m trying to figure out why, and it’s possible I’m burnt out on some aspect of this work. If you have suggestions for me, I’m open to them, but I just wanted to make sure you were aware of what’s going on. I’ll keep you posted as I figure out what we can do about it.”

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 17:00:59 GMT

Need mobile phone and other business etiquette guidelines?

Mobile phones drive us mental: official. Shock survey result By Tim Richardson . [The Register] says:

"I'm afraid the research survey shows that we all want to have our cake and eat it," said Professor Michael Warren of the University of Surrey.

"We become stressed and impatient when we can't reach someone, and we expect instant responses from co-workers and business contacts. And yet we become annoyed when our own meetings or discussions are, for example, interrupted by a mobile phone."

Instead, the Prof said that new workplace rules need to be developed to provide workers with guidelines about what is acceptable business etiquette.

My current idea: Etiquette and Ethics for Business = a working title, book supplemented with a weblog to keep up-to-date with fast-changing world of etiquette and ethics.

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 16:52:32 GMT

Call It the Dead E-Mail Office. Internet bigwig Lawrence Lessig is behind in his e-mail -- so far behind that he's given up. But he's really sorry about it. By Michael Fitzgerald. [Wired News]

I've been tempted and probably, inadvertently a spam filter discards some email that I don't see when I glance at the identified or probable spam folders.

Any email legislation should be forward-looking enough to be appropriate for whatever replaces email.

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 17:02:15 GMT

Value-Based Management

All on one page, numerous links to models and methods for IT and business, Value-based Management Website. I used my browser's "find on this page", because it works better than scanning.

Earlier I was looking for Kotter's Change Management references, found them and more valuable references on Management of Change:

Change Management Iceberg (not chilling, but like an iceberg, has a host of things below its waterline)
Three Dimensions of Strategic Change from Pettigrew and Whipp

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 16:51:53 GMT

Bruce Sterling in San Francisco next Friday [bOing bOing] Part of Long Now Series.

Mon, 24 May 2004 22:47:41 GMT

Something so reliable—I often take Akamai 'foregranted'. Akamai glitch slows sites [CNET News.com]

Fri, 21 May 2004 19:41:39 GMT

All-star female panel on education options for entering and re-entering Computer Science and IT

Panel on Women entering Computer Science at Google HQ, June 2. I signed up and don't want to drive round-trip from Sacramento to Mountain View alone.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and Google are pleased to co-sponsor an all-star female panel on education options for entering and re-entering Computer Science and IT on Wednesday, June 2 at 6:00pm at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

details at http://anitaborg.org/events/careers_in_cs.htm

If you would be driving there for the evening, let me know (in comments). I'm signed up, and heard it was filling fast. Go ahead, it'll be fun.

Without company, I might combine this with Santa Cruz. Well, it's after Memorial Day, so no need to decide yet.

Mon, 08 Mar 2004 19:44:34 GMT

Regaining Personal Space

BBC article includes:

Some women use earphones to deflect unwanted attention, finding it easier to avoid responding because they look already occupied.

In the same way, removing earphones when talking to someone sends a strong message about how interested one is in what is being said. It pays the speaker a compliment.

Wed, 21 Jan 2004 22:40:03 GMT

Joel Spolsky speaks on Designing Applications with the User in Mind at UC Davis on January 29th. The speech is free and open to the public so if you're in the Davis/Sacramento area please come.

UC Davis
Thursday, January 29, 2004
10 - 11:30am
at the University Club (map)

[Joel on Software]