Web Diary

blogging 2000 till 2007

New Blogs on the Block

31 Dec 2007

This blog started as mprove Web Diary on Oct 26, 2000. You know, the term "weblog" hadn’t been coined yet. It‘s time to continue with a bunch of new blogs which are more focussed than this page.

Zeitgeist – An independant film by Peter Joseph

2 Dec 2007

An impressive film about religion, the church, culture, war, history, money, terror, media, and a little bit about the truth. But, as the author said:

It is my hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized.

1:56' of Zeitgeist at google video

the remaining minutes at youtube

Produkt-Management ist...

22 Oct 2007

...das Beobachten und Regulieren der Grenze zwischen Rot und Blau. (Siehe meine Notizen zum Vortrag: Kulturbeobachtung – ein Element dynamikrobuster Höchstleistung von Dr. Gerhard Wohland)

The Meaning is the Message

28 Sep 2007

A smart summary of Marshall McLuhans theories:

Der Schwabe Darth Vader entdeckt das Virale Marketing

29 Aug 2007

Gefunden auf DabbleSläsch

Capturing Satellite Feeds

10 Aug 2007

Brian Springer: Spin

This is what happens if presidential condidates are on air without being aware of it.

New Google group on History of Informatics

20 Apr 2007

At MEDICHI — last week in Klagenfurt — we decided to continue the conversations on the history of informatics online. Please join us at the new MEDICHI google group to share your insights and participate in the discussions.


Google Groups Beta
Subscribe to MEDICHI
Email:
Visit this group

Weizenbaum. Rebel at Work.

29 Jun 2006
21 Okt 2006

Ein Film von Peter Haas und Silvia Holzinger um das Leben und Werk Joseph Weizenbaums. 80 min DVD, 2006

Ein berührendes Portrait des Menschen Joseph Weizenbaum. Wenn man sein berufliches Leben, seine Bücher und Überzeugungen kennt, ist der Film eine ganz liebevolle Hommage. Wenn man Weizenbaum noch nicht kennt, dann wird man durch "Rebel at Work" angeregt "Die Macht der Computer und die Ohnmacht der Vernunft" zu lesen und hört dann den Autor selbst zu einem sprechen. Jeder Informatiker sollte den Film mal gesehen haben.

Il Mare Film works on a portait on Joseph Weizenbaum.

Douglas Adams’ Hyperland (1990)

7 Oct 2006

In 1990, the late Douglas Adams produced Hyperland for BBC2. It is a 50 minute self-labelled 'fantasy documentary' on the end of linear television. He also features Ted Nelson.

Douglas Adams’ Hyperland at google videos

Hyperland at Vimeo

See also

Kai Krause über seine Freundschaft zu Douglas Adams

20 Jul 2006

im Interview von Marcel Magis

Juggling Videos

21 Jul 2006

dropping knowledge

9 Apr 2006
29 Oct 2006

Can the world be changed by asking questions? – I suppose it is worth the attempt:

dropping knowledge

flickr cluster on droppingknowledge and flickr tag: tableoffreevoices

Adrian Mendoza

21 Nov 2005

a photo journalist by profession and a tweaker at heart. He has some photos of Kai and his gang in his gallery.

A Kakapo86 Kakapos left in the world

28 Apr 2005

The kakapo is a bird out of time. If you look one in its large, round, greeny-brown face, it has a look of serenely innocent incomprehension that makes you want to hug it and tell it that everything will be all right, though you know that it probably will not be. – Douglas Adams, 1990

Kakapo Recovery Programme New Zealand

Wikipedia: Kakapo

The Fabulous Kakapo

Google: "kakapo"

PageRank

10 Apr 2005

Wikipedia: PageRank

Google's PageRank Explained and how to make the most of it by Phil Craven

A Survey of Google's PageRank by eFactory

German version
Überblick über das PageRank-Verfahren der Suchmaschine Google

PageRank.net – Provides search engine optimization tools for improving search engine rankings and increasing Web traffic. Includes news on specific search engines.

What is The Message?

9 Jan 2005

Mark Federman's blog: What is The Message? => What is The (Next) Message?

Capturing the World

2 Jan 2005

pixos.net

Someone keeps stealing my letters...

30 Dec 2004

At 31.01.2005, Robert Cailliau wrote:

What the hell is that....! I'll explore.

Robert.

At 01.02.2005, J.O. Bugental wrote:

Thanks! That bunch of letters reminds me of one of my night-time horror phantasies. These days, "bad dreams" always seem to involve massive frustration when I'm trying to do something. I don't even fall any more. What would Dr. Freud say to that? -JO

Christina Aguilera sings “Hello”

26 Dec 2004

The site Follow your own star offered a free mp3 of Christina Aguilera’s song Hello: hello.mp3.

25 Jul 2004

What took so long?

Robert Taylor, a father of the net looks back and asks, “What took so long?”; by David Plotnikoff, Mercury News, March 2000

Robert Cailliau's dabblings on the Web

25 Jun 2004

Robert Cailliau - coinventor of the Web - shares his thoughts on the web.

Net's moving into Iron Age

24 Jun 2004

Internet pioneer and steward Vint Cerf contends that the Net is still early in its evolution, in the process of moving from a figurative stone age to an iron age. In his Face to Face interview with ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber, Cerf discusses the Internet's future and outlines his views on spam, privacy, IPv6 and interplanetary networking. He also answers the question, "Who should run the Internet?"

The Internet is a reflection of our society. And that mirror is going to be reflecting what we see. If we do not like what we see in that mirror the problem is not to fix that mirror. We have to fix society. - Vint Cerf

Vinton Cerf: Net's moving into Iron Age (26 minutes video)Video

The luxury of an empty mindNobody here

8 Jun 2004

I'll get up tomorrow.

Intense Moments

The bears are getting smarter and smarter.

Superman -- looking for his glasses.

What is...?

Social Computing

12 May 2004

del.icio.us / androse by Ned Baldessin

surfmind.com/musings/ by Andy Edmonds

Third Culture

21 Mar 2004

Wake-Up Call for Europe Tech by Frank Schirrmacher, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2000; plus letters from Steward Brand, Kai Krause, Charles Simonyi and more.

Web Conferences

10 Mar 2004

Beth Perry collected a lot of backgound information on web conferencing at Web Conference Depot.

Powerpoint Makes You Dumb

16 Dec 2003

At least Edward Tufte came to the conclusion that Powerpoint is not the ultimate ratio for presentations. In fact his Wired article is entitled Powerpoint is Evil. See also to NYTimes article Powerpoint makes you dumb.

Macht Powerpoint blöd? Führt Powerpoint zu einer Verflachung des Denkens? (auf XING)

Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

15 Dec 2003

Sunday, November 30, 2003, an Apple Store opens at Ginza, Tokyo35MB QuickTime

A Keyword Map of the Whole Internet

30 Nov 2003

kwmap.com keywords of mprove.de.

Applied McLuhanistics

26 Nov 2003

met with Mark Federman, chief strategist from the McLuhan Institute in Toronto. Some of his excelent papers are published under creative commons – the equivalent to open source for creative work (wich does not mean that coding is not a creative task).

KEOS

16 Nov 2003

keos.com - Arts vertical portal, a small but high quality web directory

Visually Inspired

21 Oct 2003

Ianus Keller at ID SudioLab, University of Delft

I love your site and enjoyed what happened to the people doing Meta, and to the people doing Cyberstudio.

In case you want to know why I chose red as default link color

11 Jun 2003

read Set Your Link Colors Ergonomically by David Siegel.

How will machines interact with humans?

5 Jun 2003

Lots of resources on Natural Interaction.org

Best Blonde Joke Ever

5 May 2003

der beste Blondinenwitz aller Zeiten

read best blode joke here

Anti Spam Initiative

27 Apr 2003

The scale and effect of the spam epidemic leads us to suggest that spam is no longer simply a nuisance, but is a type of information security problem. Therefore, we must undertake systematic efforts to understand and analyze the problem and propose solutions. – Paul Judge

Contribute your spam to spamarchive.org

Dont't Panic! H2G2 is here

14 Mar 2003

Welcome to H2G2, the earth edition of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Internet Killed the Video Star

15 Feb 2003

watch the shockwave video

So You Wanna...

27 Jan 2003

... speak with an Irish accent?, ...fake being a wine expert? and much more on www.soyouwanna.com.

Meta...?mprove: Meta...?

2 Dec 2002

What happened with all the talented guys around Kai Krause? My page MetaTools, MetaCreations, Meta...? tells some hints and links.

3.1412...

7 Sep 2002

Imagine to search the first four billion binary digits of Pi for a specific string! Fine, do it at pi.nersc.gov

The Idea Basket

11 Aug 2002

Edition May 2002: The Commercial Feasibility of a Next-Generation User Interface at The Idea Basket

The goto statement considered harmul – in memorian

6 Aug 2002

Today Edsger W. Dijkstra passed away. Sometime he provided his own epitaph:

I mean, if ten years from now, when you are doing something quick and dirty, you suddenly visualise that I am looking over your shoulders and say to yourself, ’Dijkstra would not have liked this’ — well, that would be enough immortality for me.

Bootstrap Alliance

21 Jun 2002

To improve our collective ability to solve the world's problems we must harvest the immense promise and power of technology. The mouse is just the first step – Doug Engelbart

Bootstrap.org, and don’t miss the high quality ba-unrev-talk list.

Web Usability Resources

10 Mar 2002

Ressourcen zu Web Usability von Ursula Schulz (Uni Bremen)

Usability @ Internet von Michael Gellner (Uni Rostock), außerdem Quellen im Netz

James Kalbach on…

23 Feb 2002

or find more by James Kalbach.

Jacob Nielsen "fan" site

23 Jan 2002

 useit or lose it

In Search of the Post-PC Interface

22 Jan 2002

NooFace

i.e.
The Ultimate Interface
The Ideal Search Interface
Showcase Of Data Visualization Techniques
 
referenced by NooFace: 
Project Oxygen - MIT's ubiquitous computing effort is taking technology out of the box.

The MIT Media Lab (Research Area); web-archived version

KnownSpace: Personalized Data Mapping

Cooper Newsletter

12 Oct 2001

Alan Cooper says, «Navigating isn't fun. […] Users don't want to waste time solving the mystery of where resources and information are hidden. […] To the user, each successive screen is the equivalent of a new window or dialog in conventional software. My axiom is: "A window is another room. Have a good reason to go there.»

Information Mapping

18 Aug 2001

Weblog eines Seminars an der FH Aachen/FB Design

z.B.:
map of the internet
Truth, Beauty, and the User Interface: Notes on the Aesthetics of Information
How many Pennies would it take to fill the Empire State Building?

The Clock of the Long Now

22 Jul 02001

A mechanical clock for the next 10,000 years, that will tick once a year and chime every 1,000. «The idea of the Clock is to encourage long-term thinking, which is in short supply these days.» [Stewart Brand]

I cannot imagine the future, but I care about it. I know I am a part of a story that starts long before I can remember and continues long beyond when anyone will remember me. I sense that I am alive at a time of important change, and I feel a responsibility to make sure that the change comes out well. I plant my acorns knowing that I will never live to harvest the oaks.

I have hope for the future.

-Danny Hillis

The Long Now Foundation

Digital data lasts forever, or for 5 years - which ever comes first. [Stewart Brand held a talk the Unfinished Revolution Symposion (session III)]

Webauftritt der Byteburg

18 Jul 2001

Kai Krause und sein Team starten die Site zur Byteburg.

MetaTools, MetaCreations, Meta...?

How to Learn Anything

12 Jul 2001

Ted Nelson in Dream Machines, page 42.

Kristen Nygaard: "Those Were the Days"? or "Heroic Times Are Here Again"? IRIS Opening Speech, 1996

Squeak for the rest of us

7 Jun 2001

squeakland.org

The Squeak plug-in is shipping! (dazu eine Kurzintro von Marcus Denker)

May the Best Interface Win!

28 May 2001

May the Best Interface Win! by Simson Garfinkel

Well-written software doesn't require that people bend their behavior to the fancy of the machine; it responds productively to the quirks and foibles of its human users. […] letting people type spaces in credit-card numbers and even letting people type the letters "O" and "l" for the numbers "0" and "1" isn't rocket science.

Antarctica – 3D maps of the Web

23 May 2001

An XML father maps the Web in 3D on CNN.com, Nov 20, 2000

Map.net

“So long, and thanks for all the fish”

11 May 2001

Douglas Adams is dead – douglasadams.com

All your bases are belong to us

9 May 2001

overview at FreeRepublic

and the origin at Tribalwar.com

enjoyable experience, hell, why not?

4 Apr 2001

From: Donald A. Norman

To: CHI-WEB@ACM.ORG
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001
Sender: "ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)" <CHI-WEB@ACM.ORG>

Several (private) correspondents have asked me for websites I do like. So let me surprise you all and suggest www.dsw.com. I don't know what its purpose is, but it is enjoyable.

Now, mind you, I was told about this on the grounds that it would be worse than the Philips site:

One other possible candidate that may even beat Philips' site is www.dsw.com. Make sure you check out "Living Here"...and "select audio".

I did, and I kind of like it. It is funky, weird, but so what? It is fun. Now who or what DSW is or does is beyond me, but in terms of an enjoyable experience, hell, why not? and hey, I can escape.

Don Norman

http://www.nngroup.com   http://www.jnd.org
User Advocacy is the passion, Human-Centered Design the means.

About CHI-WEB: http://www.sigchi.org/web/

Cleanig up the User Interface

3 Mar 2001

by Tim Berners-Lee

Consistency between the Desktop and the Web

Hypertext editing

Hello?

28 Feb 2001

The Mojave Phone Booth Site, rrrrring… in the middle of nowhere

The Yale Web Style Guide

27 Feb 2001

Yale Web Style Guide, 52 Web pages of valuable information by Patrick Lynch.

Hot Design Tips on Site Building

22 Feb 2001

  1. People hate to wait.
  2. People hate to scroll.
  3. People hate to read.
  4. People would rather scroll than wait.
  5. People would rather wait than read.
  6. People are not necessarily rational or consistent, but sometimes they are.

(Mike Kuniavsky)

more at webmonkey: Site Building

Der Ultimate Trash Site Award

20 Feb 2001

www.muellseite.de

Unübertroffen die Seite von  Taxi Boldt.

Dave Siegel on Web Site Design

13 Feb 2001

And “follow the fish” at Creating Killer Web Sites

SiegelVision.com

Und ewig grüßt das Murmeltier

2 Feb 2001

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2, 2001, which means we’re in for another six weeks of winter weather.

Punxsutawney Groundhog Club

Word Perhect

11 Jan 2001

Word Perhect by Tomoko Takahashi. For even more artistic projects visit e-2.org

Customer: “I have a teer to teer network.”

Computer Stupidities

From: Dan Smith
To: apple-hi-developers@lists.apple.com
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 09:08:59 -0500
Subject: Pretty funny site with HI implications

The point is not just that it's funny, but a lot of the responses are really not stupid at all... it's a case of "blaming the victim." […]
In the year 2001 _everyone_ proceeds by just using the system and developing a mental model by intuition. Reading this stuff does help me understand the kind of (faulty) mental models the average person is likely to build up.

The Social Life of Information

10 Jan 2001

by John Seely Brown and Pail Duguid.

From: Bryan Moss
To: Apple-HI-Developers@lists.apple.com
Subject: Re: MacWorld keynote and new UI stuff from Apple
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001

Customisable toolbars (everyone may well be different, but unlike personal files, toolbars have a more social role: it's very difficult for people to solve computer problems unless they have some common ground to work from.

[The book] offers many useful insights into this sort of thing. I think the idea of customisation in the interface is a perfect example of ignoring social factors and looking at computers and their users in isolation.

What Questions Have Disappeared?

9 Jan 2001

The World Question Center 2001

egg sunny-side up

17 Dec 2000

cracked, a face for the mp3 player Audion, found at Audion faces

TreeMaps at SmartMoney

26 Oct 2000

SmartMoney.com is using HCIL TreeMaps to display a  map of the stock market

IM mit Kai Krause am 8.6.2001

MetaKai: der Smartmoney site ist nicht schlecht... der typ hat andere neat things gemacht. bespoke.org viele kleine programme musste mal tiefer rein

Interview with Tor Kristensen, Digital Web Magazine, Dez 1999

User Experience and Interface Design

23 Aug 2000

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ui/ – consider the source!

web typography – som elink so finteres t

30 Jun 2000

www.typographic.com

www.quiet-time.com

At 21.07.2000, Phil Clevenger wrote:

Matthias -

Thanks for the links :)

Typographic I think is the best, Angry Monkey I have seen and there are things about it that I like. Quiet Time falls apart the fastest and ultimately leaves me feeling rather empty... those guys need more tim eto figure out who they are...

As always it is a pleasure to be reminded that there are others in this world who are pursuing the same goals. I am glad we are staying in touch, (…)

OK cheers until sometime soonish!!

phil clevenger

Build your own comic

29 Jun 2000

Angry Monkey’s Build Yer Own Comic

skins vs. epidermites

17 Apr 2000

An article about skins. Skin Cancer by Greg Knauss

and another about the Open Source movement It's the User, Stupid by Mike KuniavskySan Francisco

At 19.04.2000, Phil Clevenger wrote:

Matthias -

Thanks very much for the excellent articles. I have forwarded them to several colleagues. We should keep a dialog ongoing. There is so much info out there, it is hard to keep up sometimes... even going to Tog's site and Jakob Nielsen's and others...s o much time... yikes. A good word from a trusted friend is the best hotlink I think. (…)

Cheers,
Phil

Pliant Research “A Better Mythology for System Design”

12 Oct 1999

This talk – held at BayCHI – looks at tensions between the current design philosophy implicit in “classical” computer science, and the needs of social systems. We explore the roots and rationale for the current design philosophy. Based on this analysis we suggest two research agendas to resolve this tension: one with immediate payoffs focused on “fixing” current design approaches, and one with longer term payoffs focused on developing new fundamental computing techniques.

Pliant Research

commented charts

full paper

Ever wanted to know why the original W3C logo is green?

’cause Robert Cailliau’s a synaesthetic – Some personal data about Robert Cailliau: A strange thing...

The last page of the Internet

then

www.1112.net/lastpage.html

At 28.04.2000, Ted Nelson wrote:

Very cute.Very cute.
(…)
Best, Ted N.

At 02.05.2000, Robert Cailliau [internet archive] wrote:

Yes, we know this. You are only the third to send me this URL, so there must be a real crowd now playing outside. Maybe I'll go join them...
:-)

Robert.

At 28.04.2000, Horst Oberquelle wrote:

Danke, Matthias,

nach der Seite hatte ich schon vergeblich gesucht.

Horst

At 28.04.2000, Ralf Moeller wrote:

What is the first page in the internet?

Ralf