judith meskill - soc.media.rocks

For Federal Computer Week, Matthew French writes: DOD wireless policy looks to the future.
...Directive 8100.2 updates a 2-year-old policy intended to prevent wireless networks from becoming easy access points for hackers looking to access DOD systems and data. The new policy, which covers the use of wireless networks inside any DOD facility, primarily defines a baseline encryption standard to which anyone using wireless technology inside a department facility must adhere.
 
According to Navy Capt. Sheila McCoy, team leader for information assurance in the Navy Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer, said the goal was to outline DOD's immediate concerns with wireless technology and allow the services to determine how best to address them.
 
...One of the department's priorities was to develop a policy with some shelf life, she said. "We knew there was no way we could get all of the latest technology into the instruction and keep it up-to-date by the time we went to press."
 
The solution was to develop a knowledge management process through which users could exchange ideas and information about the capabilities of wireless technology and security concerns and solutions...

Mediabuddies and RealContacts announce the launch of the World's first 'Word of Mouth' Media Jobs Service. Anexcerpt of the press release is as follows:

LONDON May 17, 2004 The first global media jobs service was launched today by Mediabuddies, the only worldwide reunion and networking club for media professionals, in cooperation with RealContacts, the social networking pioneer. By connecting journalists, broadcasters, advertising, marketing and public relations executives through their trusted extended network of past and current colleagues, Mediabuddies and RealContacts have made finding media staff and jobs faster, easier, and more reliable.

Intelliden Unveils Policy-Based Network Management Vision at TeleManagement World
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2004--Intelliden Corporation, the intelligent networking company, today announced that its chief strategy officer, John Strassner, is scheduled to conduct several sessions during TeleManagement Forum's TeleManagement World held May 17-20, 2004, in Nice, France.
 
...Tuesday, May 18, 3:30 p.m. -- Making NGOSS Autonomic -- Strassner will co-chair a case study and panel discussion with Kevin Twardus of IBM Corporation. This session will provide a brief overview of autonomic software and explain how the evolution of NGOSS policy and contract models -- along with the TM Forum's Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) and SID concepts -- can support autonomic computing. Examples of autonomic behavior, including spontaneously combining and morphing the functionality of resources and services to meet the changing needs of the environment, will be discussed. Case studies of the definition, application and implementation of state-of-the-art research and practical applications will demonstrate how NGOSS can evolve to support autonomic computing.

On The United States Army Home Page there is a call for nominations for awards in the area of knowledge management:
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 13, 2004) -- Army Knowledge Awards will be presented Sept. 2 during the annual Army Knowledge Conference, being held this year in conjunction with the annual Directors of Information, or DOIM, Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.
 
Nominations for the awards are being accepted until June 30 via the Army Chief of Information/G-6 community page on Army Knowledge Online at www.us.army.mil. Post nominations directly to the AKO site.
 
"This awards program allows us to recognize Army initiatives that exploit knowledge management concepts and knowledge-ware technologies," said Lt. Gen. Steven W. Boutelle, CIO/G-6. "A net-centric, knowledge-based force is at the very foundation of the Army's future force and is a significant and profound combat enabler."
 
Awards will be given in six categories for the best Army Knowledge Transformation Initiative, Enterprise Solution, Cross-Functional Solution, e-Army Initiative, Community of Practice, and e-Learning Initiative.
 
Selection criteria includes: return on value; collaboration; impact; scalability; transformation; customer-focus; streamlining; and E2E Integration, which incorporates cross-functional processes.
 
Past winners include companycommand.com, eArmyU, and Communities of Practice within the Army Reserve.

Jonas Luster, self-describedsocial scientist, technocrat, and sometimes-coderposted some early findingson a interview study that he has conducted recently.
 
In this study participants were gathered from a number of different match-making services including match.com,matchmaker.com, tickle.com (formerly Emode), Yahoo! Personals, and LavaLife.com1404 individuals were surveyed, 835male, 569 female.
 
Jonas gives a readout on some preliminary findings, (along with this warning "Preliminary notes on research findingson online matchmaking, unpublished, unreviewed, 2004") and I will not review them all here, as you can peruseat Finding Your Sweetheart Online.

What I did want to include here is the "ideal" types that, according to Jonas' study have a higher than usual (>35 percent) chance of actually finding a match online:

Males:
Masters degree or higher
Income of $100,000/year or higher
Between 5'9" and 6'5"
"Athletic and toned" or "slim"
Non-smoker
Moderate or regular drinker
Short hair
No children
Never been married

Females:
High-school or higher
Income irrelevant
Between 5'4" and 5'9"
"Athletic and toned" or "curvy"
Non-smoker
Moderate or occasional drinker
Long hair
No children or "children but not at home"
Former relationships irrelevant

Interesting disparity in expectations between genders… /-:=

In a few weblog comments and IRC conversations, Jonas and I have been chatting about what constitutes a SocialNetworking Service. A large number of YASNS in my Social Networking Meta List, support asocial network of "1", and occasionally two or morein fact many Orkut members have only one and theoccasional zero declared connections.

Martha Graybow in an article forReuters Livewire: Personality TestsProliferate on the Webincludes a reflection by Tickle's company founder and Chief Executive James Currier: "Theidea behind Tickle is to tap into people's favorite subject: themselves."

Is displaying one's profile to a group on a dating service, or any other service, sans the ability to mapthe nodes or connections one is makingSocial Networking? Or are these services simply vehicles for detailedadvertisments on our favorite subject: Ourselves?

Wow…
 
Ben and Mena carved the trackback 'hammer' with which they are being most thoroughly pummelled in the largely unhappyresponse to their new MT 3.0 pricing structure.
 
The trackbacks speak forthemselves…

Update: I penned this post rather rapidly yesterday whilst I was IM chatting with Stuart Henshallwhobrought the > 500 trackback situation over at Six Apart to my attention. Stuart pens a powerfulpiece Greed May Kill MTregarding the new MT pricingplan.

In another Business Wire this morning, Government Technology Conference -- GTC -- Presents the "Exhibitor Best Solutions Award" to Delegata for DOJ Solution.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2004--Delegata, a premier provider of business consulting and technology solutions, was awarded the esteemed "Exhibitor Best Solutions Award" at GTC West 2004 for the "Do Not Call" Correspondence Management System developed for the California Department of Justice (DOJ). GTC awarded companies based on providing a customized government solution that resulted in significant measurable results. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Delegata has won the prestigious "Exhibitor Best Solutions Award".
 
...Delegata utilized leading-edge product development methods and tools to build the application as well as established the architectural foundation for reusable components that DOJ can leverage on future projects. Utilizing its "Diamond" application development methodology, Delegata developed J2EE/Java-based components integrating new technologies with legacy systems resulting in the rapid deployment of the secure CMS. These applications allow DOJ's Public Inquiry Unit "anytime" access to requests and complaints associated with the DNC program.
 
Delegata followed the DNC project with a thorough series of knowledge transfer to ensure that the DOJ team had full capability to maintain and continually develop their CMS. The knowledge transfer included software development, Java, J2EE, Struts, Oracle 9iAS, reusable components, Rational Unified Process (RUP) and project management.

IRC Junkie reports of PieSpy 0.4.0:

Those who like toys, or are interested in social networks will like this bot. It is a "social network bot" which renders diagrams that show the social structure of a channel.

"I've just released PieSpy version 0.4.0" PieSpy coder Paul Mutton said to IRCJunkie. "It will probably never reach 1.0, as
that's just the way I version things :)"

This new version contains the tracking of nick changes, "which was the most popular feature request" , and faster rendering of the images showing the social networks.

"You can now apply different weightings to each of the heuristics that are used to infer relationships and the source code has been refactored so it is now very easy to make your own inference heuristics" , Paul adds.

You can find PieSpy here.

O'Reilly will release a book shortly by Paul Mutton, "IRC Hacks, 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools".

Rochelle Garner reports for CRN that SAP, Microsoft Collaborate On Cross-Platform Tools.
...sometime "early next year," Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will deliver repository managers that integrate SAP NetWeaver Knowledge Management, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.
Some industry observers said the collaboration will have little immediate benefit.
 
"Other than declaring eternal love and brotherhood, there's nothing world-shattering about these announcements," said Simon Hayward, a Gartner Group fellow. "They've done a good job of papering over the fact that there's very little specifics besides those repositories. There's no commitment to move all of the NetWeaver tools to Visual Studio .Net. There really are no high-value cards on the table."
 
Still, the joint technology undertaking does bring Microsoft's .Net Web services framework into the NetWeaver fold. When SAP first unveiled its integration platform in January 2003, it only supported the Java/J2EE environment. SAP executive board member Shai Agassi said he's been working toward Microsoft interoperability since NetWeaver's original introduction.
 
"Our customers said they were constantly going between applications on our two platforms," Agassi told CRN. "We looked at the stack on both platforms, layer by layer, to find the friction and eliminate it. We've done that at every level--portals, development environment, knowledge management and brokers."
 
Agassi said the goal is to enable programmers to start a process model in one tool, then finish the model in the complementary environment. "The whole thing is preparation for both companies to look at the next generation of applications, to see what you can do when the friction is gone," he said.
 
To help demonstrate what such a future might hold, Microsoft and SAP will jointly staff a Collaboration Technology Support Center in Walldorf to show integration scenarios in action. In addition, the two companies will engage in a variety of joint sales and marketing efforts.
 
As for NetWeaver itself, Agassi made it clear that he and SAP see it as the linchpin of the company's services-centric strategy.

In a Business Wire earlier this week Kanisa, whose clients include industry-leaders Microsoft, HP, Apple Computer, Ford, and Novartis -- Received Highest Score for Technology in New Allen Bonde Group Study.
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2004--Kanisa Inc., the leading provider of knowledge-empowered customer service applications, announced today that it was recognized as the technology leader among 20 Web self-service vendors in a study recently conducted by Allen Bonde Group Inc. (ABG). Kanisa received the highest score for technology due to the superiority of core technology, completeness of its knowledge management platform, its robust self-service functionality and overall breadth of its application suite.
 

ABG, a management consulting and strategic advisory firm with a focus on self-service trends, best practices, and strategy, tracks more than 150 vendors in the greater self-service market. Kanisa received top technology honors based on its proven ROI to high-tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, and Network Associates and a growing number of new vertical markets. The study also highlights the acceleration of Kanisa's technology leadership and mindshare through its acquisition of Ask Jeeves' enterprise software division in June 2003.

Autonomic Computing efforts heat up and gain credibility as a PR Newswire announces that Solid Information Technology Secures $14M in B Round Investment. An excerpt from the newswire:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Solid Information Technology, the leading provider of an Autonomic Data Management Platform, today announced that it has secured an additional 11.7M Euros (US$14M) in series B investment financing. The round was co-led by funds managed/advised by CapMan, a Nordic private equity investor, and Funds managed/advised by Apax Partners, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Solid's compelling and unique vision, strong product and technology, seasoned management team and demonstrated ability to execute secured the investment. The funds will be used to extend Solid's sales and marketing reach as well as positioning it to make strategic technology acquisitions.
 
Solid develops and markets the first carrier-grade Autonomic Data Management platform that delivers embedded data management, high availability and distributed data replication. Solid's technology powers network infrastructure devices like VoIP switches, general purpose network application servers, and media gateways, as well as telematics applications such as fleet management.

Check out this May 17 - 21 2004 trainingSocial Software for the 21st-Century Organization:

Blog, Wikis, Social Networks - what can social software do for you?
From the Wall Street Journal to Business 2.0, everyone's talking about social software. This affordable online course will help you get past the buzz and find out what's in it for you.

Organizations today want to foster knowledge, deepen working relationships, and create a collaborative culture and esprit de corps. Social software can deliver on this promise.

Taught by industry pioneers Tom Mandel and Lisa Kimball, this affordable executive briefing will pay off for your organization. You will try social software tools in a safe and guided environment. You will engage with social software leaders and exchange experiences with your peers and colleagues. Sign up today, and begin learning about a topic of great importance to your organization and your future

Among the top 11 Web destinations, according to an excerpt from The 2003 Paid Online Content U.S. Market SpendingReport, are four Social Networking Services: match.com, classmates.com, kiss.com, and matchmaker.com:

Top 25 Web Destinations Ranked by 2003 Consumer Content Revenue
Source: Online Publishers Association/comScore Networks

1. yahoo.com 13. bluemountain.com
2. real.com 14. carfax.com
3. match.com 15. playboy.com
4. classmates.com 16. pressplay.com
5. wsj.com 17. espn.go.com
6. ediets.com 18. ieee.org
7. matchmaker.com 19. egreetings.com
8. weightwatchers.com 20. msn.com
9. consumerreports.org 21. astrology.com
10. 1800ussearch.com 22. thestreet.com
11. kiss.com 23. Britannica.com
12. ancestry.com 24. consumerinfo.com
25. smartmoney.com

Brad Hill has a post on thesearchenginemarketingweblog about new Blogger.comfeatures.
 
One bit that Brad did not cover is the new profile feature which Evan Williams, Blogger program manager at Google,says shares similarities with social networking services.
 
I see Marc Canter is already asking: " where's the FOAF?"Evan Williams sez there is none. )-:=
 
Also, just Atom supportno RSS.

informal learning fine fuel for 'formal' futures
so semiotic.
haitech haiku ©2004 judith meskill inspired by Lilia Efimova's prolific PhD research and a paper that Lilia pointed me to in the past--Beneath the Surface of KM and OL -- beyond Informal Learning through 'Semiotic Learning'--by Angela Nobre...