Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

[etech] Marc Smith Marc Smith is a Microsoft researcher who last year gave a winning talk about NetScan, software that aggregates tons of interesting data about usenet discussions. Now he's talking about well, not sure yet. But he's funny and interesting, in a Jeff Goldblum-y way.

Not all groups are groups. Groups should be people who know one another and are treated roughly as equals. Much of what's on line is more like civic associations like the Shriners. Like such groups, most members in online groups don't do anything beyond showing up once or twice. They are "places," Virtual "Schelling Points" (i.e., places in a landscape you might naturally go to meet).

Yhprum's Law: Systems that shouldn't work sometimes do. E.g., eBay's reputation system. [Ironically, Smith misspells Yhprum.]

What sort of furniture do you need in these social places? Ostrum's design principles for groups: Boundaries matter. ("Don't give me seamless computing. Seams, please.") Groups need to monitor their members' behavior. Groups need a graduated system of sanctions. [And others I didn't catch.]

Smith studies UseNet. It's a 23-year-old "standing structure for conversation." 240M messages in '03. 8.5 unique identities. 151,000 newsgroups. About 50,000 are very active. Mark's group tracks metadata about UseNet. He goes through the presentation I saw and liked at eTech last year.

The new mice are almost upon he says: Handheld devices that allow us to click on things. They read tags and get info off the Web. "Every object has a story to tell." [Also from last year.]

He's touting NTag, an e-ID tag system I used at Pop!Tech. He's more excited about it than I was.

His sytem is called "AURA." [See last year's blog.] Your cellphone becomes a mouse and the label becomes as big as cyberspace. Anyone with an opposing view can attach a message to the object.