Wondiring

Blogging _________ (you name it)

This is just the kind of thing I think that is going to break wide open. In the beginning, people were just blogging their thoughts. Blogging was about online diaries, personal commentary. Sort of like "the home page" when the Web just started out- then it broke wide open, and I think the same is starting to happen with blogs-- blogging entire books like Dracula, blogging classifieds, blogging questions, blogging event announcements, blogging _____ (fill in the blank).  People seeing blogging as less of a specific type of content (such as personal commentary) and more as a medium (together with RSS), a platform for publishing and broadcasting ANY type of communicative content instantly.

Tags: blogging, RSS

One-stop-podcasting

Found this at JD's New Media Musings. Looks like Ev might be looking to do for podcasting what he did for blogging-- simplify it, so the non-alpha-geeks can get on board and run with it. I started out on Blogger, and it really was the first, best step for newbies at that time imho.

Tags: podcasting

Declassifying the Podcast File

The history of tech-invention is always fascinating-- the history of the GUI, the mouse, DOS, the Internet, and so on. First-hand info is often a rare gem-- an inventor talking opnely not just about the invention, but about the personal business experience, as Dave did this morning with regard to the germination of podcasting, and how Adam and Dave have since parted ways. I haven’t heard Adam’s side, so can’t comment either way about who’s right or wrong, etc (not sure that's the issue, anyway). I do like to hear people like Dave talk honestly about their personal business relationships though, as so often the personal side of business is hidden and never spoken of (sometimes for good reason, sometimes not), certainly something we can all learn from imho.

Btw, TDavid of Things that make you go Hmmm... writes an in-depth blog-article about what he calls the Podcasting Star Wars. Worth the read, which includes well over 30 comments, including at least two from Dave.

Tags: podcasting

The Truth about Strawberries

Bonny Wolf, a celebrated food writer, NPR food essayist and longtime friend of Matt Koll's (Wondir founder and CEO) has started a new Typepad blog- Aunt Esther's AntiPasto (and other food stories).  Check it out. She's just getting started, but so far her blog already looks ten times better than mine :)

My favorite of her posts so far is on real strawberries. I always wondered why strawberries sometimes tasted like nothing, and other times like heaven, even when they always look exactly the same (to me, anyway). Looks like it's all about seasons.

Tags: food, recipes, strawberries

A Turing test for Q&A services?

From the beginning at Wondir we've all been very aware of the sometimes fuzzy distinction between what a computer/bot/search engine can answer and what requires a human response. PomeRantz posted on this very thing, quoting an actual list of basic assumptions as a backdrop for such a test, and then goes on to say:

... as far as I know, no study like this has ever been conducted. RQ: What information needs motivate the use of what medium of reference service? Or, RQ: What situational factors affect a user’s choice to use a specific medium of reference service? Someone please conduct this study. And then you get to proceed from whatever assumptions you want.

As far as my own thoughts go on this, I think it's not a binary either/or, but rather a spectrum with "there's a .000001% chance that a bot/engine can answer this" on the one end and "there's a 99.9999% chance a bot/engine can answer this" on the other, and the ability of the user to efficiently use bots/engines being a factor in this as well. The bots will be sufficient for answering closed-ended, simple, bite-sized facts and people will be best at answering complex, open-ended, advice-esque questions that may involve an ongoing back-and-forth dialogue.

Tags: question, answer, reference

Calling all librarians

PomeRantz writes about the Wikipedia invasion and the WikiProject for Librarians and why librarians should embrace it, as they should all "open information sources" (Wondir falls into this category). Here's a snippet:

My point is, the Wikipedia invasion is a great way to communicate the value of librarianship. Here we have an opportunity to publicly demonstrate our expertise in evaluating the quality and reliability of information sources. We should seize it; opportunities like this don’t come around very often.

Tags: librarians, Wikipedia

Dave and God in a Thunderstorm

Now listening to a podcast I missed from a couple days ago. Dave podcasts while a thunderstorm booms and periodically interrupts him (and punctuates his statements), very cool.

Tags: podcasting

Podcasting on podcasting on podcasting...

Listening to Dave's Morning Coffee Notes this morning. Pretty much listen each day now to his podcasts on my laptop as I work through my inbox. Today's he's got a 17 min podcast on podcasting, especially with regard to iTunes' new announcement, worth a listen, as always.

Tags: podcast, iTunes, Apple

Cellphedia: Know as you go

Anyone out there tried this? Pierre at Tribe sent me the link, looks like they just got Slashdotted. Very reminiscent of Wondir themes of free live Q&A. Would be great to hear from anyone out there who's tried them out.

Tags: question, answer, SMS

Rojo + Del.icio.us = Mmm, Rojolicious

Cori, inspired by Steve Gilmor's suggestion, built Rojolicious -- a tasty bridge between Rojo (a social-networked RSS aggregation site) and Del.icio.us (which needs no introduction). I now automatically use Rojolicious as part of my blogging routine, as it auto-launches a counterpart Del.icio.us page each time I share a post at Rojo (sharing posts is what Rojo is all about). Golden :)

To use Rojolicious:

1. Be a Firefox, Rojo (ping me if you need an invite) and Del.icio.us user.
2. Download Greasemonkey (if you haven't already).
3. Go here to install the Rojolicious script.
4. Click on the "share" link (found below any blog post) at Rojo.

What will Cori come up with next? (I actually have some idea and hopefully will be posting about it soon)

Tags: Rojo, Delicious, Rojolicious, greasemonkey, inforouter