Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Getting into the swing - and challenges - of blogging

What with this blog, adding a few posts to blogs I had started, and setting up some new ones, I am getting more comfortable with this medium, especially now that I have begun to use technorati.com as a base from which to organize and classify the various blogs.

As you can see from the growing list of related blogs - see the sidebar to the left - I am not yet sure how my approach of creating multiple blogs will fare compared to an alternative approach of consolidating all my blogging on a single space, however, at least for the time being, I will continue to use this approach.

Part of the challenge is the breadth and scope of issues and processes that fall under the overall aegis of information ecology - a challenge that I also face in managing and developing the broad range of domains that are part of the network of Information Habitat, Seasons of Peace, Gaia University, et al.

I also face the challenge of finding a balance between a modus operandi for blogging, and the very different type of focus that is called for in database development - where I face not only the need to focus on a reasonable degree of completion of the compilation of hyperlinked UN documents in preparation for the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations - but also of rebuilding some of the database-generated pages that had been built on habitat.igc.org - to which I don't currently have access.

There is also an urgency to the challenge given the critical condition of my finances, as I am unable to re-register domains that are expiring, and have received a past due notice from Earthlink ...

While I have no end of what appear to be promising ideas for support / partnerships that could provide the resources I need not just to keep going but to allow many of the projects to move into a much more substantial scale of operation, I have been reluctant to reach out to potential partners given both the incomplete state of many of the initiatives and the current inaccessiblity of key links, as well as the fact that = especially with compiling the body of UN documents - it has been easier for me to concentrate on the nuts and bolts gathering and organizing the documents and tinkering with the database than on developing home pages that could provide a suitable entry point for potential partners.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Fall Equinox - Seasonal Update

Happy Fall Equinox!

Yesterday - the International Day of Peace - was a day for which I had been preparing for some time. I had been planning some type of pre-release of a 60th Anniversary Gift for the United Nations Community - however that didn't reach fruition so it look as if I will be focusing on October 24 - the actual anniversary date

However, I thought I would see what I can do by way of writing a brief description here of the gift - although its form and shape is still very much evolving.

Part of the impetus for getting back to my blog was an excellent article in the 25th anniversary issue of Discover magazine, titled "Web 2.0 Arrives" by Steven Johnson, noting inter alia "Essentially, the Web is shifting from an international library of interlinked pages to an information ecosystem, where data circulate like nutrients in a rain forest."

When I visited Steven's blog - stevenberlinjohnson.com - I discovered that he was going to be speaking at the Strand bookstore that very evening in a conversation with Malcolm Gladwell - author of Blink and The Tipping Point - so needless to say, I decided I should go.

There was a good crowd, about eighty or more people, with standing room only, and it was an intersting conversation - among other things, Steven, whose latest book Everything Bad is Good For You, talked about his contention that playing video games can be a valuable learning experience as the games involve managing complex situations with many variables, calling for complex strategic thinking - as well as psychomotor coordination - that can provide valuable preparation in the skills of managing complex situations in where one is immersed in a digital environment - my choice of words, not his.

There was a good amount of time for questions form the floor, but I held back as no particular question came to mind, however, after the session ended, I went to the end of the line of people wanting Steven to sign a copy of his book, and introduced myself to him saying it was his article in Discover that had led me to the event, and that I was an information ecologist, and would love to talk more with him. He was very receptive and I said I would send him an email - still on my to do list

anyhow, that's enough for right now, however, I think I will write a separate piece about what is happening with the countdown to the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations - and perhaps start a separate blog for that.