I think JSPWiki is one of the greatest pieces of open source software out there anywhere. It might not be well suited to everytone running a small website on a shared host because it requires a Java servlet container for hosting, so demands a slightly higher level of expertise than the PHP junk that's out there.
That said, it drops into place and "just works" for a fast tryout or evaluation. At the same time most of the flexibility needed for large-scale, sysadmin-run deployments is easily available, and its not an "all in one big step" thing either: you can gradually add the finer-grained controls as you need them. Any Java-capable sysadmin will have no difficulty.
Furthermore, there is an active, healthy and, above all, friendly developer community.
I am using JSPWiki to run the "static" content side of this website, with only myself allowed to create, delete and edit pages. (Indeed, only I am allowed to log in!) Its perfect for the task. All I have to do now is hack the templates into something nicer to look at. :-)
10 July 2006
08 July 2006
Blogosphere Blues
I hate the word "blogosphere". It sucks. Its just an ugly word. The person who thought of it should be shot. Come on! Own up! We know you're out there, and, Google willing, we'll find you eventually!
So, not one to accept generalised wingeing, I propose a replacement: Blogsphere.
There, see? By dropping just one little letter, its a whole heap more palatable. Although I confess it does remind me of "Vogsphere"...
So, not one to accept generalised wingeing, I propose a replacement: Blogsphere.
There, see? By dropping just one little letter, its a whole heap more palatable. Although I confess it does remind me of "Vogsphere"...
02 July 2006
Internet3.0
Robert Cringley makes an excellent point: we should own the "last-mile" infrastructure ourselves. Instead of farming it out to that bunch of robber-bandits the phone and cable companies, we should build and own it ourselves, co-op style. He quotes Bob Frankston as proposing that this last-mile infrastructure be implemented as Fibre To The Home. (Unfortunately the second half of his article meanders off into a meaningless rant about Microsoft that does nothing to further the discussion of community-provided infrastructure.)
Now, self-built-and-maintained local-loop optic-fibre infrastructure may be feasible in the more densely populated parts of the USA, and possibly Europe, but no way here in Africa, least of all in a rural area such as I choose to live in. Far more reasonable for us to look to WiFi for that answer. Wireless makes a lot more sense in most locations, anyway, in that the maintenance burden is much smaller, being localised to the wireless nodes themselves. Fon is targetting precisely this space, and I wish them much success with the model.
The fatal weakness in the scheme is still the backbone. Fon, in common with Frankston's idea, both assume that the local loop connects to some "large infrastructure backbone" provided by ISPs who will remain neutral bit-carriers. Dream on!
Furthermore, there is the interesting (to me) question of whether it is at all possible to maintain a global internetwork during the disruptions likely headed our way as we descend from the cheap-oil plateau. It takes serious amounts of energy, time, money and organisation to maintain a large-scale wired infrastructure such as existing telephone and cable networks.
Currently my 'net access is via the state-monopoly phone company, Telkom, who are either totally bent on network control and continuing access restriction (resulting in the most expensive network access in the world!) or they are simply total incompetents: they can/will not provide proper two-way network access. It is impossible to run a server at my end of the 'net, due to the configuration of their firewalls and proxies. This is not a network! Something that telcos are constitutionally incapable of understanding due to the nature of the networks they have been running for decades.
The whole discussion of community-provided infrastructure resonates with something I have been giving quite a bit of thought lately: Internet3.0 - The Community Provided Internet.
Drawing on the theme of Web2.0, characterised by much web content being generated and provided, edited, filtered, and rated by the community, together with Frankston's idea of community-supplied last-mile wiring (whether fibre, WiFi, WiMax, laser or carrier pigeon) I believe we should be building community-owned-and-run long-haul networks - community-driven Internet backbones.
I am well aware that there have already been some successful efforts to build trans-America wireless mesh networks, and this is precisely the model I think we should adopt. I do not propose or expect that we would aim to replace existing wired infrastrucure. Wired networks have distinct reliability and bandwidth advantages over wireless; this is inherent in the physics and operating environment. We can and should, however have alternative routes for IP traffic that reside outside the hands of corporate and government control.
This last issue is difficult. Many repressive regimes would and do restrict access to wireless spectrum, including South Africa where it is technically illegal to establish a wireless link to your neighbour without a license. Licenses are unobtainable, and the charge for a license is prohibitive. Fortunately we have a strong tradition if civil disobedience in such matters!
The time to build a global wireless mesh of networks is now.
Now, self-built-and-maintained local-loop optic-fibre infrastructure may be feasible in the more densely populated parts of the USA, and possibly Europe, but no way here in Africa, least of all in a rural area such as I choose to live in. Far more reasonable for us to look to WiFi for that answer. Wireless makes a lot more sense in most locations, anyway, in that the maintenance burden is much smaller, being localised to the wireless nodes themselves. Fon is targetting precisely this space, and I wish them much success with the model.
The fatal weakness in the scheme is still the backbone. Fon, in common with Frankston's idea, both assume that the local loop connects to some "large infrastructure backbone" provided by ISPs who will remain neutral bit-carriers. Dream on!
Furthermore, there is the interesting (to me) question of whether it is at all possible to maintain a global internetwork during the disruptions likely headed our way as we descend from the cheap-oil plateau. It takes serious amounts of energy, time, money and organisation to maintain a large-scale wired infrastructure such as existing telephone and cable networks.
Currently my 'net access is via the state-monopoly phone company, Telkom, who are either totally bent on network control and continuing access restriction (resulting in the most expensive network access in the world!) or they are simply total incompetents: they can/will not provide proper two-way network access. It is impossible to run a server at my end of the 'net, due to the configuration of their firewalls and proxies. This is not a network! Something that telcos are constitutionally incapable of understanding due to the nature of the networks they have been running for decades.
The whole discussion of community-provided infrastructure resonates with something I have been giving quite a bit of thought lately: Internet3.0 - The Community Provided Internet.
Drawing on the theme of Web2.0, characterised by much web content being generated and provided, edited, filtered, and rated by the community, together with Frankston's idea of community-supplied last-mile wiring (whether fibre, WiFi, WiMax, laser or carrier pigeon) I believe we should be building community-owned-and-run long-haul networks - community-driven Internet backbones.
I am well aware that there have already been some successful efforts to build trans-America wireless mesh networks, and this is precisely the model I think we should adopt. I do not propose or expect that we would aim to replace existing wired infrastrucure. Wired networks have distinct reliability and bandwidth advantages over wireless; this is inherent in the physics and operating environment. We can and should, however have alternative routes for IP traffic that reside outside the hands of corporate and government control.
This last issue is difficult. Many repressive regimes would and do restrict access to wireless spectrum, including South Africa where it is technically illegal to establish a wireless link to your neighbour without a license. Licenses are unobtainable, and the charge for a license is prohibitive. Fortunately we have a strong tradition if civil disobedience in such matters!
The time to build a global wireless mesh of networks is now.
27 June 2006
More website progress...
Finally managed to get the farm web content up and running under the new JSPWiki - now I just have to hack the templates to conform to the new scheme of things. The advantage is that I'll be able to secure the content-editing using the new permissions system in JSPWiki, instead of my old scheme of having two different template sets. Means I will only have to maintain one template set in future.
JSPWiki is just such a great piece of software; the guys who develop it have a fine sense of "as simple as possible, but no simpler".
JSPWiki is just such a great piece of software; the guys who develop it have a fine sense of "as simple as possible, but no simpler".
23 June 2006
The Next Wave in the 'Net
A new idea is blowing around in the (cold!) wind: A community blog/newpaper for the South Cape region. Do a quick search on any search-engine of your choice to see what is happening in the South Cape. Good search terms might include "South Cape", "Garden Route", "Knysna" or "Outeniqua". The overwhelming majority of links that come back are tourism-related, and almost all of the rest are real-estate advertising.
Almost everything on the 'net about this region is outward-facing; there's next-to-nothing there for local people to find out what is happening where they live. Caveat: There is a small quantity of inward-facing content in the 'net for South Cap locals, but it is certainly not well placed in the search engines. Perhaps I should try one of the local (South African) search engines, but they all suck.
My initial concept is more like along the lines of a "community blog" than a conventional newspaper. It has everything along the lines of bottom-up content, community-driven development and community-managed editing, etc. that I think are good things to foster. Think along the lines of Slashdot for ordinary people, and with a regional focus. But, given how limited access is to most people in the area, it makes sense to me to try and find ways to tie the "bits" world (the 'net) back into the "bricks" world where most people live.
It's also a fact that, even people who /do/ have some level of 'net access, also run Real Lives(TM) and don't spend a major amount of their time in the 'net. Mostly those who do "live in the 'net" are hacker types like me, or retired people with time on their hands (and the money to fund it, and lower levels of real-world energy). (Note: That's "mostly", not "all".)
I have come to believe that the next wave in the 'net (and most of the real world, or "bricks" world, hasn't yet caught-up with the current wave) will centre around tying the bitworld back into the brick world, and an application of the same bottom-up notions to brickworld. My startup venture (if it ever flies! :-) is a direct application to test the theory.
The news thingie is a sharper application of the same question: Can we get the real news from ordinary people who "see stuff happen" instead of an "ordained ministry who pre-chew our pap"? Including those who lack the advantages of decent 'net access!
If we can be modestly successful at that, then, along the way, we will surely make some money, too.
Almost everything on the 'net about this region is outward-facing; there's next-to-nothing there for local people to find out what is happening where they live. Caveat: There is a small quantity of inward-facing content in the 'net for South Cap locals, but it is certainly not well placed in the search engines. Perhaps I should try one of the local (South African) search engines, but they all suck.
My initial concept is more like along the lines of a "community blog" than a conventional newspaper. It has everything along the lines of bottom-up content, community-driven development and community-managed editing, etc. that I think are good things to foster. Think along the lines of Slashdot for ordinary people, and with a regional focus. But, given how limited access is to most people in the area, it makes sense to me to try and find ways to tie the "bits" world (the 'net) back into the "bricks" world where most people live.
It's also a fact that, even people who /do/ have some level of 'net access, also run Real Lives(TM) and don't spend a major amount of their time in the 'net. Mostly those who do "live in the 'net" are hacker types like me, or retired people with time on their hands (and the money to fund it, and lower levels of real-world energy). (Note: That's "mostly", not "all".)
I have come to believe that the next wave in the 'net (and most of the real world, or "bricks" world, hasn't yet caught-up with the current wave) will centre around tying the bitworld back into the brick world, and an application of the same bottom-up notions to brickworld. My startup venture (if it ever flies! :-) is a direct application to test the theory.
The news thingie is a sharper application of the same question: Can we get the real news from ordinary people who "see stuff happen" instead of an "ordained ministry who pre-chew our pap"? Including those who lack the advantages of decent 'net access!
If we can be modestly successful at that, then, along the way, we will surely make some money, too.
16 June 2006
mikro2nd.net Stage 2 retro rockets firing
So, Stage 2 of my experiment is now working - integration of the wiki (JSPWiki - the best wiki engine out there) with the blog system (Blojsom, in case you didn't notice, and also a best of breed piece of work). Next I'll probably fiddle with wiki templates for a while to get some working the way I want things. OTOH I don't want to drop too deep into Look and Feel issues before adding Forums. (Isn't it a pity that "Fora" is such an ugly word that almost nobody gets without blinking? Correctness sacrificed for common use.)
I'll probably go for using MVNForum, and have never yet had the pleasure of installing it, so I would really, really like to hear from anybody who has strong opinions (for or against) MVNForum, particularly from the viewpoint of installation and administration.
I'll probably go for using MVNForum, and have never yet had the pleasure of installing it, so I would really, really like to hear from anybody who has strong opinions (for or against) MVNForum, particularly from the viewpoint of installation and administration.
22 May 2006
Front Door Syndrome
Ever on the lookout for god and bad ideas in software user-interface design, here is one on LinkedIn really blows me away. Its a classic case of what I term Front Door Syndrome.
Front Door Syndrome is a website misfeature most often designed-in by web designers who come from the conventional advertising or conventional media world - a world where there really is a Front Door - a single point of entry. Somehow they try to keep hold of this idea in the web, where it really doesn't apply at all. They forget, or never absorbed the fact, that every page in a website is a Front Door. And, in a world of such abundance that the only realistic way to navigate to content we seek is through search, every page is guaranteed to be used as a Front Door: A First Point of Entry into a website.
We've all seen those sites; if you're lucky its just a big page saying "Welcome to Fubar.com. Click <here> to enter." If you're less lucky it is a great ugly Flash animation. Personally I never get further - my mouse finger has reflexively clicked me away to somewhere safer and more pleasant in the 'net.
So what has this to do with LinkedIn? I searched for the name of someone I knew long ago, and their name turned up on LinkedIn. I clicked the link from the search-results page to take a look whether this page really belongs to the person I was looking for. Something like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/801/801 (I'll use my brother's LinkedIn page to illustrate, firstly to protect the unwary, and secondly because I know he won't mind some publicity).
Go ahead - click the link. I'll wait here for you....
...Good! You're back. If you're using a decent browser you can have both pages open on different tabs so you can see exactly what I'm about to tell you about. But I digress...
On the destination LinkedIn page, there are a couple of links enabling non-members of the LinkedIn network to Join Now. Very good. Very viral. But I am already a LinkedIn user.
Where is the link allowing me to log in? Where is a link to a login page? Nowhere.
No wonder LinkedIn is seen by geeks as a tool purely for spammers and fools.
Front Door Syndrome is a website misfeature most often designed-in by web designers who come from the conventional advertising or conventional media world - a world where there really is a Front Door - a single point of entry. Somehow they try to keep hold of this idea in the web, where it really doesn't apply at all. They forget, or never absorbed the fact, that every page in a website is a Front Door. And, in a world of such abundance that the only realistic way to navigate to content we seek is through search, every page is guaranteed to be used as a Front Door: A First Point of Entry into a website.
We've all seen those sites; if you're lucky its just a big page saying "Welcome to Fubar.com. Click <here> to enter." If you're less lucky it is a great ugly Flash animation. Personally I never get further - my mouse finger has reflexively clicked me away to somewhere safer and more pleasant in the 'net.
So what has this to do with LinkedIn? I searched for the name of someone I knew long ago, and their name turned up on LinkedIn. I clicked the link from the search-results page to take a look whether this page really belongs to the person I was looking for. Something like http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/801/801 (I'll use my brother's LinkedIn page to illustrate, firstly to protect the unwary, and secondly because I know he won't mind some publicity).
Go ahead - click the link. I'll wait here for you....
...Good! You're back. If you're using a decent browser you can have both pages open on different tabs so you can see exactly what I'm about to tell you about. But I digress...
On the destination LinkedIn page, there are a couple of links enabling non-members of the LinkedIn network to Join Now. Very good. Very viral. But I am already a LinkedIn user.
Where is the link allowing me to log in? Where is a link to a login page? Nowhere.
No wonder LinkedIn is seen by geeks as a tool purely for spammers and fools.
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