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- January 28, 2005
Ad Hoc Knowledge Systems
January 28, 2005Read moreI caught an episode of NPR’s Day to Day regarding the creation of expertise-sharing websites at the company commander level. At companycommand.com, military commanders at the company level (a company being from 100-200 troops) exchange practical tips on how to get the job done. Say you’ve got to lead a convoy out of Falujah…ask your fellow commanders on this password-protected site for their advice. Listen to the Day To Day audio segment.
While the companycommand.com website is not open to the general public, there’s a link to Tomoye, the company that apparently makes the knowledge system behind it. It seems to be a social network package designed to facilitate the creation and management of what they call a Community of Practice. The powerpoint demo provides a good general overview of what the product is supposed to do, though I wonder how many people really get it.
You’d need motivated leaders and contributing experts to make any community happen, but it’s interesting to see how social networking is developing from beyond simple roll-ups like LinkedIn to make it easier to happen. A few months ago, Meetup added something similar, but that site seems pretty dead these days.
- January 27, 2005
Merlion Asian Market
January 27, 2005Read more
After being in business for about a year, the Dong Fang Oriental Market closed and reopened under new management. I was pretty disappointed, since they were much better stocked than the Joyce Chen over in Amherst. But O Happy Day! The Merlion Asian Market has risen from the ashes of the old. They stock the foods that matter most: curry and hot chinese sauces. And gluten, pork dumplings, chinese meatballs, vegetables, steam breads, weird cookies, funky soft drinks, roasted seaweed, rice noodles, canned eel…you get the idea.
- January 27, 2005
Collaboration
January 27, 2005Read more
Today I posted to the MMBug Discussion List, to see if I could find any other folks in southern new hampshire / northern mass region who wanted to get together and chat about interactive design:
SO FAR: Three, THREE People have responded. :-)
- January 27, 2005
On Stretching
January 27, 2005Read moreI was chatting with Alen today about my goal to do 10 games this year as a way of maintaining momentum and learning some stuff in the process. He congratulated me on making the insight, and related two foundation art school exercises he did at (I think) University of Michigan:
- 30 Drawings in 30 Minutes — the idea is to make a whole bunch of drawings every session. Eventually, you amass thousands of drawings, and some of the best stuff you’ll ever make will come out of it. My thought is that the more you do something, the better you’ll get at it. Letting go and just doing is probably another good thing to master… it’s something I’ve traditionally had trouble with, being prone to overplan and detail contingencies in a meticulous manner…
Ugly Drawing — the instructor asks you what you think is ugly, then you are made to make it! About halfway through, you are then told to somehow “rescue” the picture. The resulting tension in the drawing, Alen said, made for phenomenal results.
I have some equivalent ideas, but they’re not so poetic: (more…)
- January 26, 2005
Picasa’s Awesome X Button
January 26, 2005Read moreI am continuing to evaluate Picasa 2, and noticed something interesting about zooming into “full screen” photo mode that is both simple and clever.
