Mouse on holiday!

However, he should be around Wednesday, at the Great British Beer Festival. If you come, ring me on my mobile once you get to Earls Court, and we'll hook up!

07971 16 1234

Just seen a copy of Personal Computer World. The view from Guy Kewney is much the same as in IT Week. When was the world of user generated content agreed to be a nightmare? Too many assumptions in my opinion.

Could it be that the knowledge of an expert such as Guy is recognised as something, while the outcome of instant discussion is something else? By the way, will the Mouse join in soon or else I shall just rave on by myself.

A printed version of Information World Review has arrived, dated for July and August. The opinions are a bit exetreme in my own view. Web 2.0 is linked with the words "wicked" and "culture killer". That is just the splash on the cover. The review of the book "The Cult of the Amateur" by Andrew Keen is headlined "The monkey cult destroying the temple of knowledge". It opens by comparing the web to "infinite monkeys ....perpetuating the cycle of misinformation and ignorance". The recent views in IT Week from Guy Kewney seem fair and balanced by comparison.

In an interview with Mark Chillingworth, Andrew Keen said "We need to re-install a principle of authority. The mainstream media and experts can civilise the web."

Strangely the same Mark Chillingworth writes an editorial about a recent discussion panel on Web 2.0. "My hat goes off to the information professionals....who put their hands in the air and admitted they didn't fully understand the technology and the issues it presented to their working lives."

So what sort of authority do they have? There could be some sort of dialogue with the people who have been using the web in ways now described as Web 2 or whatever.

I am not sure who finds this topic. There seem to several routes from the Newswireless pages. So here is a link to my own blog, which may be more likely to be updated-

http://www.learn9.net

I am beginning to think about the Information Management Show again. The Mouse missed it last time. It is alongside Online Information. Maybe Guy should go and look at the information issues.

Recent comment in IT Week-"UGC makes these people think they have a point worth making and allows them to make it. This is a recipe for mob rule, not intelligent consensus." There are other bits I could have selected from a finely balanced piece but someone put a headline on it - "Warning: user-generated sites may contain nuts. Real news and informed opinion are being drowned out by conspiracy-fuelled drivel."

http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/comment/219...ser-generated-sites

Of course this is not a reference to the contribution made by the public to NewsWireless. But it is a similar line of argument to some statements by publishers of academic journals about the stuff on the web, even the free versions of papers that have yet to be officially published.

However there are signs of a change in academic thinking. The Guardian reported Dr Timo Hannay, director of web publishing at Nature Publishing Group, which runs Nature Network, as saying-

"We are increasingly seeing the online world with its informal rapid communications complement the slower, more formal communications of academic journals. There should be a way of measuring the impact of a scientist who posts comments on a site like Nature Network. These could be added to their publishing record for the research assessment exercise [in which every active researcher in every university in the UK is assessed by panels of other academics]. I think the funding bodies will see that these contributions add to the scientific knowledge base."

So somewhere around the show there will be a discussion about knowledge and authority for news and journals.

There is usually very little about mobile devices or e-paper. But this is a mistake.

http://www.ims-show.co.uk/
http://www.online-information.co.uk/

Hi
You are The Best!!!
G'night

Hellohsd - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

All these testers, one, two, three.

I don't mind tester three. I think tester two is OK. But I'm a bit anxious about testerone...

Helloaho - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

I haven't gotten much done these days. So it goes. What can I say? I've just been letting everything pass me by. Basically not much going on lately, but it's not important. I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning.

Hellowsm - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

Hellojvv - this is just a testing, don't worry about it

What about Contact Joost?

Will, give us a call! I'll try to catch up...

Anybody would think we were as hopeless as a PR agency at keeping track of our messages. Talking of which:

Joost for foon?

I've been trying to find out about Joost with a singular lack of success.

Is it a "stealth launch" do you think?
:-)

---

gosh, missed all these. Sorry. I'll go wake up the Mouse...
-Guy

Well there were a few of us at the Albion but no sign of the mouse so things continue online. I thought BETT was an excellent show, a rare chance to see computing in a full scope. I have done a report for OhmyNews

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/ar...?no=340214&rel_no=1

Not much sign of wifi. Handhelds were mostly to vote about issues defined on enormous whiteboards. Leaving the learner alone to wander about with unlimited web access is not the current aim of educational professionals, it seems.

Maybe someone should go next year to check out mobility and paper-like display. As with the Online Information show this stuff will fit in eventually.

Please post here if you would like invite to edit doc in previous message.