April 15, 2005
Moving the blog...
I'm moving the blog to http://defenestrated.typepad.com, so please point your browser there from now on! My primary reason for the move is comment spam. I just don't have an interest in taking the time to install/configure all the mods needed to fight that particular battle. Typepad does it all for me. Less functional in some ways, of course, but for the casual blogger like me, it's perfect. See you at my new home!
April 13, 2005
Business Books 101
Al Crowley's blog has another great post, commenting that business books often rehash old ideas in new ways. I agree with Al for the most part, although there are occasionally some new business books that genuinely do present new ideas. Neil Rackham's "Rethinking the Sales Force" is one example, and Jim Collins' "Good To Great" is another. Their attraction, for me, is that they're founded on reasonably solid, new research. In my experience, too many business books fawn around the edges of pseudo-science, mostly full of anecdotes and "business fables". My one-second judgement call is this: If the book has a cover with the author grinning inanely or with a superior expression on his/her mug, it probably ain't worth reading. (Notable exception: "Getting Things Done" by David Allen!)
BBC Creative Archive is alive!
Today the BBC, UK Channel 4, BFI, and Open University launched the Creative Archive Licence Group, which aims to create awareness about the CA license. Using it, organizations like the BBC can make content available for reuse by anyone who wants to do so. As they say:
The Creative Archive is significant because for the first time it will be possible for the public to freely access and 'own' a copy of a big slice of British culture that they can use as part of their own cultural creations.
I don't see any other major content producers doing this. It's only possible due to how British TV has developed over the last 50-odd years, which has its own roots in British radio.
The archive will be limited to access from the UK right now. (British TV License payers did, after all, fund the content in the first place!) But I can see this initiative spreading. More content producers need to adapt or die, and the Creative License is a very innovative way for British content producers to adapt elegantly.
April 11, 2005
Accenture: eGov has promise. Just follow our instructions...
Last week GCN reported on Accenture's new paper which asserts that e-government hasn't achieved all the objectives it was articulated as addressing but that it still has potential. The paper goes on to outline four elements that should be addressed for e-government to realize the potential, which focus on making the customer's experience central to the services. I don't disagree with Accenture's conclusions and, actually, they seem pretty reasonable to me. However, I think that people often forget that the original 24 E-Gov initiatives were selected based on how many citizens they would touch, and how deeply they would be touched. Customer service has always been a part of US e-government. It seems to me that the ethos of customer service is lost in the "government" part of e-government, and guvvies can hardly be blamed for that. With Congress, inspector generals, lobbyists, and God-knows-who-else constantly baying for responses to their needs, the faceless citizen is easily forgotten.
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April 8, 2005
Let Them Sing It For You
Whoever thought of this is a complete genius. You type in words, and the system sings them back to you using samples of famous singers. Hilarious!
The nature of blogging was irrepressible...
Phil Gyford has a really interesting post on his blog about the nature of blogging and how some blogs may need to accept more responsibility for the accuracy of their postings. He picks out BoingBoing for special criticism, mainly because it's one of the better-known blog-publications. Phil's point is that, as some blogs become more popular, they can't plead that their work is valid journalism and also deflect criticism of the inaccuracy of their posts by saying they're a blog and therefore those faults are okay. More interesting still, though, are the comments attached to Phil's posting. There's one poster, Cowicide, who really does need some anger management help and unwittingly demonstrates why BoingBoing no longer accepts comments itself!
Post a comment to 'The nature of blogging was irrepressible...'
April 7, 2005
No! Not our sitcoms!!
The BBC is reporting on a deal it's struck with the producer of "The Cosby Show" and "3rd Rock From The Sun" to develop sitcoms. I sincerely hope this doesn't lead to an Americanization of British situation comedy. After all, would we have ever seen "Blackadder" come out of the NBC comedy mill?
Not Apathetic
Not Apathetic is a site where UK voters who don't intend to vote can post their reasons for not voting. The site's philosophy is that 40% of the population doesn't vote, and they can't all be apathetic.
Interesting idea, founded by the same people that run mySociety, which aims "to be a charitable project which builds websites that give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives" and "to teach the public and voluntary sectors, through demonstration, how to most efficiently use the internet to improve lives." So far, this mission has translated into sites through which people can easily research and contact their Members of Parliament and other civil servants.
Thanks to BoingBoing for the link!
April 6, 2005
Analysis of Creative Commons in UK
This is an excellent article about how the Creative Commons license is taking root and starting to prosper in the friendly and less market-protectionist environs of the UK. It's encouraging to see this kind of innovation being so welcomed and embraced, especially by the BBC.
.Gov uses BitTorrent!
Trust NASA to break new technological ground. For the first time ever (as far as I know), the government is using BitTorrent to distribute a file! It's accessible to anyone who wants to download NASA's World Wind, which "lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there." It is a truly fantastic experience and, even if it's limited to Windows right now, NASA's released it as open source so anyone can have a crack at it.
I hesitate to suggest this, but... Is the government starting to "get it"?
April 5, 2005
FCW likes Firefox
Finally. See, it takes a while for things to filter up (down?) to the government...
Telework...again
Every couple of months the government tries to spur some interest in teleworking amongst Federal workers. FCW has news on the latest attempt. In my view, the "telework gridlock," as Karen Evans of OMB puts it, is not due to Federal workers' unwillingness to telecommute. Rather, it's a consequence of agencies' resistance to it.
The law says that agencies shouldn't discrimninate against contractors that propose using telecommuting staff. In my experience, agencies try to find other reasons to hire someone that doesn't propose telecommuting personnel.
This deep resistance to telecommuting and telework can only be overcome by legitimately persuading GS-14s and up that telework and telecommuting actually benefit them. Regardless of hand-waving that suggests the opposite, these are different modes of working that require alternative and (in my view) more sophisticated methods of management. It's a great deal easier to "count noses" in the office and assume work is being done than it is to manage by outcomes of effort, which is exactly what one must do in a telecommuting/teleworking environment.
As another FCW columnist noted earlier this very month, agency managers need more persuasion of the benefits of telework and telecommuting, and education about how to handle the staff that work in those modes. Only then will we see less congestion around DC every morning and afternoon.
This guy is living my idea!
This BBC story about a guy who's kitting out a motor home ("RV" in US parlance) with all manner of networking gear reminded me of a pipe dream I had when I started working for TCG: to roam the country in a satellite-equipped RV, working wherever we happened to stop for the day. I've got this vision of finalizing a proposal while looking over a ridge in the Grand Canyon. Seems like this chap is doing something similar. Now that's telecommuting!
April 4, 2005
Why doesn't it ever rain?
I'm a business developer for a small systems integrator. My job involves creating, finding, and capitalizing on new opportunities for us to sell things to customers. What it boils down to is this: phone calls (LOTS of them), meetings (LOTS of them), and a great deal of thinking. The idea is to create a steady stream of new things for us to bid on and win.
It's the "steady stream" bit that never happens. Today, for example, I had my entire day mapped out: 1 hour of organizing the rest of my week, 2 hours of phone calls, 1 hour of e-mail processing, an hour of reviewing a new RFP I'm interested in, 2 hours of meetings, 2 hours working on some new marketing materials, and maybe another hour getting material prepared for meetings tomorrow.
By 10.30am, that was all blown away because we received three new RFPs and opportunities to bid in one shot. THREE! And they all happen to need attention right now. Sheesh. All I want is a little stream of opportunities to bubble on by.
I'm by no means complaining that the hard work of the last few months is paying off. But I admit I am whingeing a bit about Fate's lack of project planning.
April 1, 2005
Gmail offers Infinite+1 storage?!
If this is an April Fool's joke, it's not very funny (unless you like really geeky jokes): Google is now promising to keep Gmail's storage limits ahead of every webmail provider. At least, that's what they're claiming on the Gmail home page, with their "Infinity+1" storage plan. Yesterday I read a story from The Guardian on how Yahoo may be overtaking Google on a number of fronts, including web mail. At best, the two are sparring for first best. But if Google keeps innovating in ways others can't compete with...that's the sign of a true market leader.
