Thursday, December 29, 2005

I am one with The Matrix...

Someone asked me how I do what I do, well the answer is simple... I am one with The Matrix (as shown in the picture below). Sure, the technology is not on par with what Neo and Morpheus use, but give me time. (I understand that Shally, Glenn and Brett all use similar hardware to enhance their performance as well.) For now, excuse me for a few days while I free my mind to more possibilities.

See you in '06 with lots more Digability!!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The web's new "Jook" joint

Here is a head's up on a new tool but, is it cool? Peep the hype from their website.

What is Jookster?

Jookster is a powerful search engine that ranks results based on sites you and your network finds of value. With Jookster, you are able to search the web and find relevant results based on jooked sites by you and your network of friends. In return when you see a great site, you can jook and instantly share it with your network.

What does it mean to "jook"?

Jooking is the process of identifying and marking valuable websites on the Internet. Using the Jookster Toolbar or Links Button everytime you find a valuable site, you jook it. After marking these sites, you and your network can search and retrieve information from them anytime. The more valuable sites you and your network jooks the better your future search results will become.

How does Jookster work?

  • Create an account at our registration page.
  • After activating your account, get a Jookster tool at our setup page.
  • Browse the web as usual and anytime you find a valuable site, jook it with your Jookster tool.
  • Invite friends with with similar interests to join your Jookster network at out invite page.
  • From now on anytime you search with Jookster, it will rank your and your network's jooked sites first giving you more targeted search results.

What browsers and operating systems does Jookster support?

Jookster has been tested to support Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater browsers. Jookster supports Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Unix operating systems.

Why would I want to use Jookster over other search engines?

Today searching for information on the Internet can be a hit or miss process. This happens because sites do not have any information about you and what you are interested in. Jookster allows you and like-minded people to identify or "jook" the most valuable content on the web. This results in less time spent looking at irrelevant content and more time finding information that is helpful to you.

The idea behind Jookster is that people who you share common interests with can help each other filter the web’s content. For instance if you and your friends are video game fans and you search on the term “Halo” you will get content specific to the popular Xbox game because your friends from your Jookster network will have likely jooked video gaming sites. On the other hand if you and your friends are divinity students and you search on the word “Halo” then you will get very different search results because your friends will have likely jooked divinity sites. The people in your personal Jookster network help give meaning to specific results because they know you and share common interests with you.

***

Digability rating: It is what it is.

Community web search seems to be a growing trend (see Eurekster for another example), but no one has done it well enough to get me really excited. I guess because for it to really, really work it has to depend on how well your network of community searchers are willing to contribute. If you have a few co-workers working with you, will it really make a dent in your long-term initiatives?

Think of it this way, how many sourcers across the country will be willing to search together for resumes and share the results when (in all probability) they will be in competition with each other.

Still, for non-recruiters, I could see how this could prove interesting, so I will not poo-poo it. I will simply bring it to your attention.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Do libraries still matter?

Here are a couple of snippets from a very interesting White Paper I came across called, "Do Libraries Still Matter?" Check out these snippets...
...

The library’s information provider crown is slipping. Justifiably or not, today libraries are increasingly viewed as outdated, with modern, Internet-based services, such as Amazon and Google, looking set to inherit the throne. Even so, at Talis, we believe that there is plenty of life left in the library yet. This survival demands change though. Inevitably, as the world advances, the library must also evolve and begin to deliver its services in the ways that its modern users expect. Library 2.0 is a concept of a very different library service that operates according to the expectations of today’s library users. In this vision, the library makes information available wherever and whenever the user requires it.

...snip-snip...

Library 2.0 is about working with partners and suppliers to increase the availability of information, challenging presumptions about the restrictions currently placed upon use and reuse. A big question for libraries should be why there isn’t a single global (and free) library catalogue, not as an end in itself, but as a basis for a host of improved or totally new service offerings? There is a plethora of local, regional, national and even international systems run on a variety of different platforms. This is a huge cost in duplication, and none of them are sufficiently ubiquitous to offer any meaningful service to a population of end users. Yet, using the kind of scalable distributed technology that Google, Amazon and others deploy, we could create a genuine world catalogue with many views; local, regional, national, linguistic. Libraries should be at the heart of the “democratisation of information” - helping to bring down the walls that surround it and enabling greater participation. A major step forward, and a foundation upon which to build, is to bring down the walls around our own systems and our own information.

READ: http://www.talis.com/downloads/white_papers/DoLibrariesMatter.pdf

Santa brought me SNARF...

Vacation’s over. You’ve had a grand time: intriguing locales, fun events, delicious food, memorable moments. You’re relaxed, your batteries recharged. Life is good.

You get home and fire up your laptop to see how things have been going at work while you were gone. That’s when you’re accosted by grim reality: hundreds upon hundreds of e-mails, each demanding your attention, your action, your time. How can you even begin to sort through this informational assault? Panic and dread set in. Vacation’s really over.

Unless you have SNARF, that is.

SNARF, the Social Network and Relationship Finder, developed by Microsoft Research and available for download, is designed to help computer users cope with precisely such scenarios. SNARF, a complement to e-mail programs such as Outlook, filters and sorts e-mail based on the type of message and the user’s history with an e-mail correspondent. The result: a collection of alternative views of your e-mail that can help you make sense of the deluge.

Read: Too Many E-Mails? SNARF Them Up!