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July 27, 2005

Mothball Alert

(low priority) I've been pretty nose-down working lately the last few weeks (helping w/the Developer Relations Podcasts and some other super-double-secret internal projects), so haven't been blogging as much as I'd like, my apologies. I'm also out for vacation this evening thru 8/3, so the prospects of posting in the next few days is also nil. No worries, tho- I'll be back clogging up your favorite aggregator in about a week. Seeya then!

Posted by sfegette at 05:17 PM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2005

Quick Facelift

I'm working on a slightly more involved redesign of my 'blogs on the side thru the next week or two, but decided to push up an interim version today to get rid of my old 'default pumpkin' MT template first. I proofed reasonably well in the key browsers/platforms (although it's not a particularly evolved layout), so if you see any weirdness in your particular browser/version/platform please be sure to drop a comment here so I can fix it as I move forward. Thx!

Posted by sfegette at 02:17 PM | Comments (5)

July 20, 2005

Contribute, Bloggers and an iPod

Do you blog regularly? When posting, do you wish you had more options than just a textarea and a cursor? If so (and you've got a few minutes of free time you can lend), the Contribute team would love to get more of your feedback on your 'blogging habits/best practices/opinions via an online survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=90958176E65789

Drop in and make your voice heard- and for added incentive, you'll be in the running to win an iPod for taking the time. Heck of a deal!

Posted by sfegette at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)

July 15, 2005

MM.com Content Highlights

While I've been nose-down the last few days, quite a bit of new content was released on Macromedia.com you might be interested in checking out. First up, the Developer Center just updated with a slew of new articles worth reading, including:

Also, make sure to check out the Captivate product site on Macromedia.com- which just won the Training 2005 Conference and Expo Software Simulation shootout. If you're not familiar with Captivate at all, make sure to look over the 'Captivate in Action' section and it's demostration/simulation examples. Powerful stuff.

Posted by sfegette at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2005

Tagging and Relevancy

I was reading this great article by Thomas Vander Wal on the recent boom of tagging content, and it got me thinking about my own opinions on metadata, classifications, taxonomies and content relevancy in general.

Now I'll freely admit that the first time I noticed tags reaching more of a critical mass (del.icio.us, Flickr, Technorati) my initial reaction was a negative one: metadata soup! Although tag clouds certainly have visual appeal on a UI level, most (IMHO) also seem to suffer from what early Photoshop and UI wunderkind Kai Krause referred to as '747 syndrome'- an interface/usability pattern that overwhelms more than informs (i.e. the console of a 747 jetliner) and requires steep investment from the user to browse and/or use effectively. I don't want to parse a cloud to find something quickly- and can get really annoyed when I visit sites/blogs that only use tags, as although tags feel like navigation, in practice it's more like exploration (IMHO). Sometimes exploring content is fun, of course- but I'm not always in a 'nose around' kind of mood. Who really is?

On the plus side, the greatest benefit I can see for tagging schemes are that they expose a given content item to larger, cross-community relevancy patterns outside the myopic site/application/resource it lives within. Local hierarchies simply can't compete on that level. Very cool end result when navigating this shared 'tagspace', but will different interpretations of tag terms (and the ever-growing morass of tags shared across communities) dilute the long-term effectivity of this new browsing meme? For example, the tag 'service' could mean public utilities to a consumer, wsdl links to a developer, military branches to a government official, et al- interpretation definitely affects relevancy. Does a given tag/keyword mean the same to you as it does to author X on site Y as interpreted by consumer Z?

'Folksonomy' efforts offer a twist - i.e. letting content's consumers categorize your data - but this further subjects classification of content to third-party interpretation and/or misinterpretation. There are benefits to 'folksonomic classification' of course- one would tend to trust data from known sources/quantities (and misinterpretation could possibly be construed as a sign that the content itself has flaws or unclear focus) but I'd still prefer the content owner- who ostensibly should understand their content's intent and purpose more clearly than anyone else - be the primary first step in the process.

At the end of the day, when I mull over Thomas' article and whether it's worth the effort to jump on the hype-wagon and start implementing tag-based categorization myself, I still have doubts these 'open social taxonomies' will ultimately help consumers to navigate and target content effectively. I just keep stalling on the dilution problem- without a way to at least standardize tags across resources (example- 'auto-fill' UI elements that suggest standardized strings/terms based on your initial keystrokes)- I can't help but feel that tags will be negatively impacted as more and more interpretations of what a given 'tag' actually represents are entered into the system. Maybe I'll implement tags here soon, but honestly I'll probably watch things develop a bit more first and make a call later. Updating my crappy pumpkin-colored Movable Type default template here will be the first use of any free time, honestly. ;-)

But enough braindumping- what do YOU think about tagging?
Passing fad riding on a big hype-wave, or navigational meme of the future?

Posted by sfegette at 03:03 PM | Comments (3)

July 01, 2005

Lynchian Weather (OT)

If you're located in the LA area, take a moment to enjoy legendary director David Lynch giving you the local weather each day. It's not really a web app (in fact just a QuickTime movie link), and I don't live in LA anymore- but I must admit I'll still probably check it out daily- just in case he breaks out an oxygen mask. Only thing missing is an eerie Angelo Badalamenti soundtrack droning in the background, if you ask me. :)
(stumbled upon via Xeni Jardin's post at Boing Boing)

Posted by sfegette at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)

The JXL Chasm

Quick 24-hour rewind- JD and I were chuckling over this graphic from a recent corporate blogging survey published by Backbone Media yesterday in the MACR lunchroom, and JD 'blogged our initial reactions shortly thereafter, lamenting a lack of witty captions to add to said graphic. Flash meister Jesse Warden picked up that fleeting comment in record time and ran with it - check out his remix of said graphic here. Classic! Thanks for those 4 hours, Jester- made my Friday. ;-)

Posted by sfegette at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)