TouchGraph LiveJournal Browser V1.0 is a cool visualization tool for Live Journal social networks.
TouchGraph LiveJournal Browser V1.0
apophenia
Spam sucks. Zephyr must shortly retire. In comes apophenia, thanks to worthless word of the day.
apophenia: the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness in unrelated things; seeing patterns where none, in fact, exist
This word was coined by K. Conrad in 1958 in a Jungian context, but has regained currency due to William Gibson’s recent novel, _Pattern Recognition_.(you may remember Gibson as the author of the seminal cyberpunk tale, _Neuromancer_)
“There must always be room for conicidence, Win had maintained. When there’s not, you’re probably well into apophenia, each thing then perceived as part of an overarching pattern of consipracy. And while comforting yourself with the symmetry of it all, he’d believed, you stood all too real a chance of missing the genuine threat, which was invariably less symmetrical, less perfect. But which he always, [Cayce] knew, took for granted was there.” William Gibson, _Pattern Recognition_
Livewire: Web Sites Try to Make Internet Dating Less Creepy
Livewire: Web Sites Try to Make Internet Dating Less Creepy – another descriptive article about Friendster
gorgeous images
An artist on a psylist that i’m on just sent out a link to new images that he created and they are utterly gorgeous. My favorites:
Perfect timing! I totally fell in love with Sidhi (on the left) and i was thinking about refreshing my art with my upcoming move. Yay for being able to support artists in my community!
government information awareness
The Computing Culture Group at the Media Lab never ceases to make me smiles. To celebrate the 4th of July, they’ve unleashed the Government Information Awareness program:
To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy to use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America.
To allow citizens to submit intelligence about government related issues, while maintaining their anonymity. To allow members of the government a chance to participate in the process.
Happy Independence Day! Let freedom reign!
definition of weblog
One of my colleagues was trying to measure blogs (how many, how often, etc.) and i warned her that she had to first develop a concrete definition of a blog because i didn’t know of any. Apparently, last week, Jill Walker proposed a definition of a blog for Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory. Also, read Andrew O Baoill’s response. His response is particularly interesting because he argues that blogs always exist in a community context. Thus, blogs are not simply about the production of information, but the role of the reader.
How Are Communication Agents Different From Those Who Publish Blogs?
How Are Communication Agents Different From Those Who Publish Blogs? is an interesting comparison essay by Robin Good
The Practical Republic: Social Skills and the Progress of Citizenship
A friend of mine pointed me to a recent Phil Agre paper called “The Practical Republic: Social Skills and the Progress of Citizenship.” It deals with the interrelationship between networks, trust, and social skills as it relates to social capital and different forms of social structures.
new age raves
When i gave money to NPR this year, i got signed up for a subscription of Newsweek. At first, this seemed rather odd to me but i have to admit that reading it over my cereal tends to make me smile.
The headline this week is about gay marriage in light of the fantabulous court decisions last week. But in the midst of it, there was an interesting article on “new age raves.” I guess you could say that i’m a part of that “new age rave” culture (albeit the term weirds me out) cause i still do yoga before dancing and view many of my dance nights as a process of reconnecting with myself spiritually, usually without drugs (no alcohol or caffeine as well). I have to wonder if this kind of press will relieve some of the hostility that people have towards dancing culture. Perhaps one day police in northern California will realize that parties with electronic music do not mean that 16 year old kids on ecstasy will show up. ::sigh::
charlie’s angels
Apparently, i’m an “impressionable little girl” because i truly enjoyed seeing Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. For me, it was a bunch of women kicking ass, taking names, being sexual their way and having fun doing it all. Of course, i realize that it is not “high art” or whatever, but damnit, it was fun.