A member of Governor-elect Deval Patrick’s transition team, Michael Wilcox, has sent out an email that I hope is indicative of how Patrick is going to govern. The message says:

As you may know, I have accepted, with great pleasure, an invitation to serve on the Patrick/Murray transition team, as a member of the Economic Development working group. I hope you will join the effort by submitting written suggestions concerning the issues that matter to you. We, as citizens, have an unprecedented opportunity to have a voice in our state government. Deval and Tim have expressed a genuine desire to receive public input during this transition process.

For a complete listing of the membership of each of the 15 working groups, see this link. If you’re interested in submitting suggestions to a particular group, you might take a look to see if you recognize any of the members, and submit them directly to that person. Otherwise, there’s a link here to the transition website, where you can fill out a form with your ideas. There is also a link on the transition website to an “Employment Opportunities” page, which provides instructions on how to apply for a job in the new administration.

I encourage you to submit suggestions, either via the website, to someone you know who is in one of the working groups, or to me via email, and I will be sure they get delivered to the appropriate people….

I’ve whined about the transition website because it doesn’t allow us to talk to one another. But I’m also encouraged… [Tags: deval_patrick politics epolitics masschusetts ]

2 Comments »

The daily NPR news and features show, “Here and Now,” for which I am an occasional techno-cultural resource (or something like that), ran a piece on SecondLife, featuring me, Gary Goldberger of Games for Change and Pathfinder Linden. You can hear it here. (It begins 5:02 in.)

During the interview, I chickened out of saying that the Harvard class being channeled through Second Life is in fact CyberOne, taught by my Berkman overlord, Charlie Nesson, and his daughter Rebecca Nesson. It just felt too pluggy. Nevertheless, it’s way cool and it’s open to anyone. [Tags: secondlife here_and_now npr charlie_nesson rebecca_nesson pathfinder_linden gary_gikdberger education]

6 Comments »

asphalt

1 Comment »

purple flowers 2

Originally uploaded by dweinberger.

3 Comments »

Steven Levy has a column about what could make the Zune better. He’s not nearly as negative as Andy Uhnatko (whose article I blogged about here), but he certainly seems underwhelmed. Steven focuses on how Microsoft could put the Zune’s wifiability to good use.

As is acknowledged under the column, Steven is the author of a book about the iPod called The Perfect Thing, which gives you sense of where he stands on the iPod. (Not that you’d want to stand on your iPod.) I’ve been greatly enjoying the book even though I don’t own an iPod, because (a) it’s about the iPod as a cultural phenomenon; (b) it’s about how something creative and elegant comes out of a commercial enterprise; (c) Steve writes real good. (I have a Creative Zen Nomad. It works.) [Tags: ipod zune drm ]

2 Comments »

Andy Ihnatko has a scathing review in the Chicago Sun-Times of Microsoft’s music player, the Zune. His thesis: Zune sucks because it was designed to meet the music industry’s needs, not the users’.

We can only hope that this isn’t a harbinger of Vista’s loyalties. [Tags: drm microsoft vista zune ]

15 Comments »

Jay Fienberg points out an additional capability of Flickr’s new sort-by-camera feature:

Additionally, each view may be filtered using a conventional controlled vocabulary, which is available via a drop down menu, and that has options like: portrait photos, night photos, landscape photos, etc.

One of the things that’s neat about this is that the data that drives this system comes, in large part, from the cameras themselves. With each photo, each digital camera records some data about itself and about how the picture was taken (e.g., at night, in landscape or portrait position, etc.), and the Flickr team has mapped this data into the hierarchical structure through which the photos can be browsed.

In another post, Jay reminds us that the way we sort information depends on what we’re trying to do, so becoming a champion of a single way of sorting is like becoming someone who insists on only using a saw. Important to keep in mind. But it’s also important to recognize—as Jay does—that with the advent of the digital, we’re now all able to use whatever tools we want on the same pile of scrap wood, simultaneously.

And thus the metaphor, extended like a fresh stick of licorice, snaps… [Tags: taxonomy everything_is_miscellaneous jay_fienberg flickr ]

1 Comment »

David Isenberg has three reasons to be hopeful that cellphones are going to be opened up, maybe sometime soon. [Tags: cellphones networks david_isenberg ]

4 Comments »

Pres. Bush had his photo opp with a Thanksgiving bird yesterday. Of course I’m delighted at the thought of the turkey being sent to roam a farm freely for the rest of his days…and I also like that the bird was set free. [Rim shot]

I don’t understand why Americans like the oddly Roman turkey-reprieve ritual. If you like seeing turkeys saved then here’s a festive holiday idea for you: Don’t kill one.

That aside, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It’s actually got a good heart. So, happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow citizens. Most of us have so much to be thankful for. [Tags: thanksgiving vegetarianism]

9 Comments »

“All Things Considered” yesterday ran what was perhaps my oddest commentary. I’m not even sure what it was about.

Also, I was interviewed by “Here and Now,” an NPR news-and-culture show, about SecondLife, along with Gary Goldberger from Games for Change. I didn’t think I did a very good job explaining what SecondLife is, mainly because I was so intent on getting across that it’s a platform where people can build what they want. It’ll air on Friday. So, remember: To air is human, to forgive, divine. [Tags: npr commentaries humor secondlife all_things_considered here_and_now ]

3 Comments »