Below are some of the ideas I found most interesting emerging from the conference; my apologies for the jot note format, but I’m sure I’d be even more long-winded without it:

1. The music industry has shown that theft is actually a sign of content owners refusing to meet demand for more accessible ways of accessing media (Mike Lee)
   • I would argue that the increasing pervasiveness of information due to IT accompanied by the increasing ambiguity of its owner (due to more contributors helping to “evolve” each others’ thoughts) will eventually lead to a major shift in how we understand and enforce intellectual property; the more detached individuals and institutions are willing to be from “getting credit” for “their ideas” (which are largely derived from others’ ideas)–and eventually they’ll have to detach whether they like it or not–the more we will see this trend emerge; my hope is that this will lead to “contributor humility” as an understanding of thought interplay and interdependence is better understood
2. “In the cloud” services have lead to pay-for-what-you-use business models in content hosting to the point that it is dangerous to take advantage of discounts for long-term prepaid hosting service because your provider may become obsolete or bankrupt before the term of service you paid for is over (Jawad Shuaid)
   • I look forward to seeing the same trend FINALLY reach North American mobile companies: sufficient pay-for-what-you-use competitors will lead to consumers refusing to sign inane long-term contracts
3. I’m interested to see whether the ability to distribute storage according to dynamically changing relatedness will enter into the participatory realm; I’m envisioning home users consenting to indexing a small amount of “search data” on their desktop machines, where related information is stored together or “nearby” in the participatory network; it’s already starting to happen between company-based analysis/aggregation systems such as thoora and primal fusion that link into multiple sources to connect related information
4. Participatory web is full of inflated figures that include “contributors” that are inactive, writing about personal matters, or copying others’ opinions; right now, this leads to a sizable (though still small relative to the “contributor population”) group that is able to quickly shape or reshape popular opinion
   • As more and more contributors start to exert influence we begin to see the true democratization of public opinion; this may not be inherently good; it underscores why the need for raising up an educated, informed, and morally dignified majority is increasingly imperative
5. The future of the web is likely to be a more “real time” (Jawad Shuaid), and “industrial” (Peter Sweeney) experience; information will be streamed to devices of all types and sizes constantly (rather than according to static individual requests), and most of that information will be aggregated, organized, and generated by machines aiming to provide a personalized view of information
   1. • Several of my computer interests surround blurring the lines between the “layman user” and the “powerful programmer”; when coupled with a well-educated populace, I see procedurally synthesized content as being much more powerful when the consumer can participate in writing the algorithms that do the synthesis
   • I’m interested to see what this will mean for how online information influences our thoughts; if the information is shaped around issues I care about, and possibly even catering to my own stance on those issues, will “customized access to information” make us more open-minded, more closed-minded, or just more like-minded to the designers of these algorithms? Again, moral education of programmers as well as consumers will play a big role here
6. There’s one aspect of “semantic web” that I’d like us to consider “backwards”; the semantic web is supposed to help machines of the Internet better understand what is meant by data (understand semantics), or, more simply, understand concepts instead of just inputing and outputting information; I’d like to ask the question, how is the advancement of information technology on its current trajectory going to enhance human beings’ ability to understand concepts rather than just imbibing information? Does valuing human understanding above machine understanding imply a direction away from the “semantic web” craze, or simply a more focused application of it?
7. The real time web demands some equivalent to “push AJAX”; based on their track record with standards, the movers and shakers of the web browser world should get consulting, standardizing, and adopting if we’re going to see anything close to universal adoption within the next decade

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. I would definitely recommend EpCon 2011 to any Ontario undergrads looking to learn more about what’s going on in the tech industry as-it-happens.

//Mark

On Day 2 we took a detour to see the House of Worship just outside of Chicago. Unfortunately, we were foolish enough to trust technology to direct us on our way. So, when we searched for 100 Linden Ave, Chicago it gave us directions to Linden in Oak Park, not Wilmette. Eventually we found it, but in the pouring rain. I picked up some reading and tunes at the shoppe, and spent some quality time in the corner stone room and the auditorium.

Later that afternoon we stopped for lunch at Quiznos in North Aurora, IL. When we got back to the car, it refused to go faster than 20km/h… downhill. Turning again to the GPS, we found the name of a local-sounding mechanic. At the nearby Motel 6 we used the phonebook to also look up a “discount” towing service. I suppose if they’d've flown the car to San Francisco for us, it would have been discount. Anyway $422 later, we met up with Eli, a Mexican-American mechanic that assured us we wouldn’t pay a cent for his services unless the car got fixed. He even had a friend/colleague of his to drive us to a nearby hotel–the drive refused any tip.

Unfortunately, our bad luck had not run out yet, and our ride drove away before we found out the hotel was booked for the night. So, we took a cab back to the Motel 6 that gave us the phone number to the not-much-of-a-discount towing service and checked in for the night.

The next day we walked to the neighbouring outlet mall which was not an easy task. This was one of those outlet malls that are just off the highway where, aside from a narrow entrance ramp for cars, nature is frantically attempting to reclaim every inch of the land surrounding the commercial sprawl. After a couple of hours of pretending to be interested in buying electronics and playing Worms on Val’ls laptop, Eli called saying that the car was ready. So, a cab drive and a reasonable fee later we were on the road again.

However, our bad luck still hadn’t quite run out. The first time we stopped to get gas and lunch, we miscalculated a turn, crossed the opposing lane of traffic and scraped across an SUV. There was no serious damage to either vehicle, but we still needed to wait around for the police report to be filled out. We also had to pay “bond” and sign a sheet that was apparently not an admission of guilt, even though it certified our payment for a bond fee associated with an illegal right-hand turn.

After determining that the only thing leaking from the bottom of the car was water from the A/C unit, we set out again to spend the rest of the trip having to both weasel our way out of the driver-side door. The rest of our trip was largely uneventful. We didn’t stop at as many sights as I would have liked on account of having lost almost a day and a half to setbacks. Along the way I learned that all the States East of Wyoming (and West of Michigan) are absolutely dull geographically, but I never new that Nevada was so mountainous.

Anyway, the journey to California has finally ended. I started work yesterday at the usual slow pace; still waiting on this and that to get everything fully set up to start work; still lots of learning to do before I’m fully comfortable with the work environment. We will see what the rest of the semester has in store…

//Mark

Left from Kitchener at about 11:30AM. After a quick stop in London to pick up a couple of things we foolishly trusted the GPS system to guide us.

We set the GPS to get us to Flint, MI; the GPS figured the best route was to go via Buffalo. Of couse, when we noticed this, we paid it no attention and continued to Sarnia/Port Huron. However, the GPS could not be pursuaded; after each exit we passed, it recalculated a new route that was the same every time: pull a U-turn at the next exit, drive to Buffalo, and then turn around and head for Flint.

Unfortunately, the system didn’t improve much once we crossed the border either. Its latest bright idea was that we should drive through Detroit to get to Flint, rather than take the straight and uninterrupted route via I-69. I am seriously concerned about when we enter parts of the States where I haven’t been.

Crossing the border was relatively uneventful. We waved a bunch of pages with signatures on them around while customs officials looked for fruit and yogurt stashed in between our laptops and our clothes. We did arrive right when our officer was about to change his shift though, so when the computer system froze up half way through processing us he got tagged out by a seemingly more attractive and experienced one.

Finally, we stopped in Flint to pick up my new Peek, which turned out to cost a fraction of what I expected; I’m pretty sure it’s an older model, which is fine by me. Our hotel appears to be a T-Mobile deadzone though, much to my chagrin.

Now we’ve stopped in Kalamazoo, MI for the night, mostly because I like the name. According to Val, that’s about 1/6 of the way, which is not bad for a half-day of driving with delays crossing the border. I took some pictures today, but I left the photo cable in my big luggage; hopefully I’ll remember to dig it out tomorrow and transfer some photos.

Anyway, I’m off to contact people I’m supposed to contact, blah, blah, blah. Sleep eventually. Stay tuned tomorrow for more updates–from on the road if I can get my Peek to work correctly!

//Mark

//Mark

This post should include an image of me in my room back at Lester.

UW's new marketing logo

So, there’s been a lot of buzz about the proposed new logo for UW, but I haven’t written anything substantial about it because for a long time I didn’t hear anything about the university’s response to the outcry.

Recently, I came upon a Facebook video of UW’s Meg Beckel explaining all of the expensive research that went into developing UW’s change of image. The main defense of the logo change was that research showed that the university associates itself with such terms as:

• Innovative
• Creative
• Courageous
• Connected
• Critical-thinking
• Unconventional
• Risk-taking
• Collaborative

…while a survey of outsiders associated the following with UW’s current marketing logo:

• old
• staunchy
• uppity
• royal
• imperialistic
• academic
• rugby/athletic
• ancient
• smart
• boring
• passive
• proud
• mythological
• hard
• formal
• old fashioned
• Harry Potter/British

First of all, the univerity should applaud their target audience for their innovative/creative/unconventional/risk-taking use of the word staunchy. Also, as a student, I would have replaced collaborative with relentlessly competitive in the university’s list, but the first list of adjectives otherwise does a good job of representing the university’s self-image. I am somewhat skeptical of the second list. Not that those adjectives were made up, but I’m willing to bet that they were hand-picked from a very young sample space.

Anyway, the argument is the following: “we want to be associated with the first list, but right now we’re associated with the second list”. Combining the above evidence with this argument is misleading. The second list of adjectives is based on people’s first impression of our logo, not their overall impression based on the reputation and marketing they’ve experienced from UW. It’s entirely possible that most people already associate UW with most of the adjectives in List #1. I am sure that surveying young people’s impression of most Ontario university’s largely classic and traditional marketing logos would yeild similar associations, which brings me to my next point.

While I agree that UW should strive to market itself according to how it wants to be perceived, the issue of being an exciting, innovative place should be subordinate to the issue of being a prestigious university. If I were a parent or youth considering UW, I would first want to know that it is a post-graduate institution of high repute, then I would concern myself with its goals, look, and feel. Using a marketing logo that makes UW look like an 80s night club undermines the first and more important concern.

Another argument made in the video can be summed up as follows: “it’s okay to have a flashy and tacky marketing logo because we’ll still use a classic logo for ceremonies such as graduation and certification”. As a student, I am much more concerned with the marketing logo that my university employs. The marketing logo will represent to others what type of institution I attend. The ceremonial logo will collect dust along with the accompanying text on my degree certificate.

Following the marketing/ceremonial argument, Beckel goes on to show how the new logo will be branded for faculties and institutes, which is nice, but shows nothing about the flexibility of the logo itself. In the brandings, the logo is the same, but the faculty/institute is written in a particular colour beneath. This marketing strategy can, of course, be applied to any logo, including the current coat of arms. In fact, the coat of arms is sufficiently simple to dye the logo itself a different colour for reach faculty and institute making the effect more dramatic and memorable. Many people have also complained that purple was not used for engineering; personally, as an engineering student, I don’t care, but I can appreciate that others do.

The next part of the video is perhaps the most laughable. The university practically underscores the complaint of students by putting the new logo up against the marketing logo of other universities. With the exception of the University of Windsor, all the other logos are slightly modified, still classy revisions of the ceremonial logo. UW’s? Still rockin’ the 80s night club look.

In conclusion, I would like to make it clear that this discussion is not intended as an attack on UW or its marketing team. As a student, I appreciate all the hard work that they do; I simply wanted to convey why I feel they happen to be way off-base with this particular decision. The need to convey a prestigious university as hip and exciting should be subordinate to the need to convey it as a prestigious university. I just wish UW’s marketing team had considered this hierarchy of concern in designing a new visual identity for the school.

The rumour is that the marketing plan is too far along to change the logo now, which is perhaps what I find the most disappointing. Why on earth did the university pump so much money into surveying prospective students, alumni, and other target markets for selecting a logo without consulting the students whose institutional identity will be affected? I wish I could say this is the first time UW found a way to put students last in their agenda, but unfortunately it’s not. More on that another day.

What I’ve found is that Google Reader and similar services will put all kinds of feeds together so that I could make one link that contains everything: my blog, my tumblog, my twitter, my facebook, etc, etc.

However, what I would like to do is–rather than trying to convince everyone in my life to use a Google Reader link when they are more comfortable with a particular application (usually Facebook or Twitter)–what I’d like to do is post information to anywhere, and it will automatically be made available everywhere. Here are some highlights of my attempts and frustrations:

1. Tumblr will sync with Twitter (post my tweets, and tweet my tumblr posts), as well as repost my blog and my Facebook feed.
2. The Twitter application in Facebook will post my tweets as Facebook status updates.
3. Combining 1 and 2, I posted everything except my Facebook status to tumblr, and allowed [anything but Facebook] -> Tumblr -> Twitter -> Facebook to do the work. This still has problems though. First, Twitter turns media rich posts on Tumblr in to mini URLs, so an image or video posted to [anything but Facebook] gets to Facebook as a mini URL, while Facebook supports media-rich posts. Furthermore, posting to Facebook is still a dead end, the solution to which would be posting my Facebook updates to Tumblr, creating an endless feedback loop: Facebook -> Tumblr -> Twitter -> Facebook -> …

One solution would be a smart synchronizer that uses the API from every service that interests you to check whether a post exists at location X, and if it doesn’t, forward it there in the correct format. Provided that ONLY that synchronizer is used (so that it can keep track of post’s origins without error) that would work.

Another solution would be to have one application where all posting is done, whether it’s a quip, status update, image, video, whatever. Then this “super application” sends out the information in the correct format to everything. The problem with this solution is that the super applicaiton needs to be available for every platform that I use to post content (my phone, my laptop, my PC, a Mac, etc, etc). This solution also doesn’t really solve the problem because I can’t simply post using any interface I want, and expect everything to get updated–I have to use the super application all the time.

Is there anyone out there that has found a good solution to this problem? I’ve seen seesmic for Facebook and Twitter, but it doesn’t cover other applications. I’ve also tried flock, but for some reason it won’t play nice with my self-hosted Wordpress blog.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I would hate to have to learn 1/2-dozen APIs and write my own application to do this properly.

//Mark

No tongue is there that speaketh not the praises of its Lord and maketh not mention of His Name. Amongst the people, however, are those who understand and utter praises, and those who utter praises, yet understand not.

~ Baha’u'llah, Surih of the Temple

This is one of my favourite quotations articulating the objective nature of the spiritual reality of all things. That conscious praise of God is a question of how conscious we are of objective reality and not a question of how we feel about a subjective reality has far-reaching implications.

At any rate, update your links and what not because I only have about a month and a half left before white-raven.net expires and is no more. For now, there is a HTTP redirect to markdittmer.org locations.

//Mark

Here’s what Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Bernier, in announcing Canada’s choice to boycott the event:

Unfortunately, [the 2001 Durban] conference degenerated into open and divisive expressions of intolerance and antisemitism that undermined the principles of the United Nations and the very goals the conference sought to achieve…I had hoped that the preparatory process for the 2009 Durban Review Conference would remedy the mistakes of the past. We have concluded that, despite our efforts, it will not.

In addition to producing irrefutable evidence of the event’s hypocrisy by citing its agenda, the Telegraph’s article also alluded to the UK’s disappointing choice not to boycott the event alongside its Western allies. An interesting move.

Also contrasting the Western boycotts is the list of NGOs in support of the event in 2001 available here, and the reported list of major NGO attendees which includes Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UNICEF.

I don’t pretend to be well-informed enough to reserve judgement on the Canadian, English, or NGO decisions made here, but it certainly seems like, once again, the world’s leaders need to learn how to get along. If repeating the mistakes of Durban I is not the answer, then another conference on a more balanced set of issues and perspectives should be held by the UN in cooperation with its member nations. From the sounds of it, Canada made the right move to back out, but non-cooperation isn’t enough; problems don’t get solved by pointing at the solutions that aren’t working. I am interested to see what gets published on the Iranian Prime Minister’s opening speech today.

I’ll write more on this later I’m sure…

//Mark

Big scary disclaimer thing: Just to be clear, users of this template cannot hold me responsible for any errors in this template if they result in a problem with your work term report. I don’t know whether one would be required to cite me as having contributed to a report that uses this template, so answering that question, as well as (potentially) including such a citation is also the responsibility of the report writer. Basically, I am offering this to save people time, but if you’re the one writing the report, you’re the one responsible for the report and its contents.

Notes on using the template:

• I used MSOffice 2007 fields for a lot of information in the front matter. The nice thing about that is that when the information is repeated, I included a reference to the first appearance of the information. I got lazy later in the document and you will just see examples, not example-text-within-a-nice-text-field.
• Make sure you are not in Design mode when you create a new document using the template, it messes things up and is prone to producing inaccurate field values.
• If you see something like { REF SomeName }, that is a reference to previous data entered using a text field (or Control in MS lingo). To ensure that everything is accurate, I recommend making sure you have filled out all previous fields first, then use the right-click menu Update Field, then use the right-click menu Toogle Field Codes. The same applies to front matter tables and lists.
• If you run into problems with references, it may be useful to know how I made references to text fields (Controls). First I created the text field and named it. Then I created a Bookmark that refers to the value of the text field. Then I inserted References to the Bookmark wherever I needed the data again.

I guess that’s all there is to say about the template. I hope others find it useful. Again, if you find any errors, email me or post a comment to this post. My apologies to those who use OpenOffice or previous version of MSOffice; I don’t have time to write a template in every office suite out there.

//Mark