Fade to Play

In Canada, throughout classrooms and lecture halls, when someone wants to share information with a wide body of people, they will leave a note in the top right corner of the blackboard.

There isn’t any indication of the status of the person that left the message. They might be a teacher or a student.

The important cues that are used to let others know that the message is important and shouldn’t be erased are: 1. create a border that will separate it from the rest of the board and 2. write the initial PLO which means ‘Please Leave On’. Sometimes the writer will also note a date that it can be erased.

The presence of the PLO initials tells the cleaning staff or the teacher not to remove the message.

Relevance: What other cues to other cultures use to convey the importance of messages maintaining permanency?

Silvertone

Originally uploaded by bcostin.

article found via pasta and vinegar.

According to an article in the Economist entitled When Everything Connects, the wireless revolution is almost upon us.

For the moment, the mobile phone is stealing the show. It is evolving from a simple phone into a wallet, keychain, health monitor and navigation device. But as mobile-phone technology matures, even more innovation is taking place in areas of wireless that link things only metres or millimetres apart.

For that, thank the cross-breeding of Marconi’s radio and the microprocessor. Etched into silicon, the radio is starting to benefit from the dramatic decreases in size and cost and the huge increase in performance that have recently propelled computing. Satellite-navigation chips today cost as little as a dollar apiece. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags can be made so tiny that they fit into the groove of a thumb-print. When power can be wirelessly routed to such devices, something that is not far off, all the pieces will be in place.

Relevance: How will Canada adjust to the wireless revolution, when mobile phone companies continue to exploit their users as noted by Boris Mann?

I only feel sadness today.

Condolences to the family, friends, and students of Virginia Tech.

Bike Lock without a Bike

Originally uploaded by tyfn.

Around campus there are a variety of bike stations where you can leave your bike (which hopefully will be there when you return). Of interest to me is the mystery of the bike lock minus the absence of any evidence of a bike. Has the bike been stolen? Any ideas?

Relevance: Want to know if I should be more cautious at these locations or is another explanation probable?

A BBC science/nature article discusses how walruses are being tagged using satellite devices in order to learn about their migration patterns. Rebecca Morelle, the science reporter posted a log about her time spent with the researchers as they searched for walruses to tag. There are also photos.

Until now, the Arctic animals’ migration route and destination have remained a mystery to researchers.

A Danish-Greenlandic team had to spend five days off the west Greenland coast in harsh conditions to tag the mammals.

They also hope the devices will shed light on how hunting, oil exploration and climate change affect walruses.

The tags were deployed over a period of two days by the expedition’s field leader Mikkel Villum Jensen.

The satellite data gathered by the Danish researchers will be shared with BBC news so that it can be posted on their website.

HOW WILL THE PROJECT WORK?

• The researchers set out on a boat from the Arctic port of Sisimiut on Greenland

• During two weeks at sea, the researchers hope to attach 10 satellite tags to walruses

• Data will appear on this map, linked to from our stories, showing the animals’ day-to-day progress during the two-month project

• The tags will be fired into the walruses’ 2-4cm (0.8-1.3in) thick hide using a crossbow or CO2-powered gun

• Each time the tagged creatures emerge from the water, a signal will be beamed up to a satellite, allowing the animals’ coordinates to be determined

• After about two months, the tags will fall out as the walruses’ hides heal

Relevance: An example about how ubicomp technology is being used to unlock some of the mysteries of life. I had recently read about how the mystery regarding the construction of the pyramids may have been solved using 3-D computer animation.

photo by Flickr user jasonnolanplymouth

Earlier this week in Vancouver, a Vancouver Sun article discussed a high-tech system that lets bars/clubs across the network be aware of problem patrons.

“If you’ve been asked to leave a bar for misbehaviour, you will be denied entry from every bar that night,” said Teti. “When you attempt to go to the other bar, when you put your ID in there, it’ll come up with a flag.”

Teti said the ban will normally only last for a single night.

But he said it could also be used to keep those convicted of criminal behaviour in clubs out of downtown venues for longer periods of time — or to document a pattern of bad behaviour for the courts.

He said he expects the system to be up and running within the next 30 days.

Teti said the sharing technology has been developed by Vancouver-based Treoscope Technologies Inc.

Relevance: Would this system be used to flag people (e.g. those wanted for defaulting on child support or those that attempt to use fake ID at another bar)?

New FacebookOriginally uploaded by tyfn.

For all those Facebook users (re: addicts), the new look Facebook is out. Woohoo!!! I am excited to learn about the new features and to read people’s comments on the new groups interface, which provides alot more relevant information. Tara Hunt previously had uploaded screenshots and commented favourably about them.  I like them too.
According to the Facebook blog, the changes are:

1. A navigation and profile simplification—Ever feel like you couldn’t find what you were looking for on that long left menu? We’ve redistributed all these menu options into “Core Aspects” on the top menu, “Applications” on the left menu, Settings on the top right, and everything else at the footer of the page. As for the profile, we’ve added drop-down menus to the top of every user’s profile page, making it easier to get to the information you want to see. You can read more about the navigation changes here.
2. The introduction of “Inbox“—The former “My Messages” and “My Shares” pages have been redesigned to make the communication between you and your friends easier. Now you can send a group of your friends a message with or without a shared link, and easily track the ensuing conversation in one “thread” in your Inbox.
3. Network Pages—To make networks more relevant to their real-world counterparts, we’ve built out pages where network members, events, trends, and demographic info are displayed. Anything visible on a Network page is something that is already accessible to members of that network, and we’ve added additional “Publicize” options to groups and events that make it easy to distinguish what will and will not appear on your Network page. In addition, each page has a full version for members of the networks, and a public version—with certain kinds of information blocked—for people outside that network.

Relevance: Facebook created a group called Facebook Sneak Preview in order to gather opinions, get suggestions, and respond to feedback regarding possible changes to Facebook using screenshots. They listened to us and will continue to listen to make sure that Facebook remains Facebooky .

This has been a real exciting and interesting day for me. I have been keeping a secret for about a week and a half from you, and only now am I able to reveal my small part in it.

I am one of a number of LivePoke™! Ambassadors chosen by Facebook for the UBC (University of British Columbia) network. What my position entails is physically poking 10 students that are part of the UBC network. Their Facebook friends woke up early this morning (as the offer was only good for the first 100 pokers), contacted Facebook providing the name of the friend to be livepoked, and then Facebook sent me my assignments.

It was an honour to be indebted with such an important voluntary role. As a Facebook user since 2005 I have enjoyed sharing the joys and wonders about Facebook to my friends. I have also written and spoke about why I love Facebook.

Fortunately for me, the 10 people I was assigned to poke are all residents of Green College, which made my task much easier, more fun and I was able to provide a much personable approach. Who doesn’t love a digital poke on Facebook from a friend and a LivePoke™! is just a natural extension of this concept. It shows that someone is thinking about you and that they care — similar to receiving candy or flowers. Wouldn’t you appreciate the real thing over the digital equivalent?

I will post pictures on Facebook of my actions this evening.

Relevance: A creative example showing the seamless integration between digital world actions and their equivalent in the physical world. I look forward to participating again next April 1st.