A man. An idea. Blog!
Thursday, June 06, 2002
Wordsmiths
Have you ever searched far and wide for the definition of a word only to come up empty-handed? Even with a glut of reference materials on the Web, the task can be terribly time consuming. That's why the creator of glossarist.com has compiled a "compendium of glossaries on various subjects so you can find the best definitions of terms you are interested in." The site's arranged in easy-to-browse categories. Click around and find fascinating glossaries devoted to obscure subjects like debt consolidation, juggling, and classical archaeology. Or use the search box to find a specific subject. If you can't find it here, you're just not looking hard enough.
posted by Kevin Woodward 3:54 PM
Sunday, June 02, 2002
By the numbers
Every ten years, the U.S. Census Bureau collects reams of data regarding America and its citizens. If you'd like to get your hands on the raw numbers, there's no better spot than CensusScope. Whether you're curious about age distribution in Santa Cruz, Calif., or the decline in population in the District of Columbia, the numbers are presented in an easy-to-navigate format. Visit the Maps section and view colorful demographic presentations of generational and ethnic distribution throughout the country. The Rankings section allows you to explore population fluctuations at the state or county level.
posted by Kevin Woodward 8:41 AM
Monday, May 27, 2002
History redux
The spiders of archive.org have been compiling a history of the Web since its earliest days. As recently as 1999, this massive, multi-terrabyte collection was only available on tape. But the Wayback Machine, unveiled in October 2001, is a Web-based front end that lets you browse thousands of fascinating cyber-antiques. Ever wish you had a screen shot of that groundbreaking site you helped launch in 1994? Take a click down memory cyberlane and remember what Emerson said about those who forget the past.
posted by Kevin Woodward 7:26 PM
Saturday, May 25, 2002
About email
Funny what an email address can say about a person. Are they someone who put a little thought and imagination into their selection, were they quick enough to grab their actual name or are they the type who happily accepts an automatically generated name-number combo? I've always been partial to kwoodward@domain.com, but unless you work for a small enough company good luck at getting something other than kevwood364a@ ... well, you get the idea. I held onto my original AOL address of kwoodward for years after I actually stopped using it, knowing how fortunate I was to have something even closely resembling my name and proud to be so far removed from the millions of others who followed me down that digital path. I'm also lucky enough to have grabbed kwoodward for my everyday free email service. Contrary to the practicality of having your first initial-last name as an email address is the cheap thrill of creating a vanity address ... kind of like a license plate but without the seven-character limit. One upon a time I was billgates@netscape.com. Of course, I don't think I ever actually used that address, but somehow just creating it provided a light moment. Two of my most recent acquisitions were hankwilliams@skyhighway.com and webmaster@rattlebrain.com. Hey, if you're going to be webmaster of anything, why not at someplace called Rattlebrain? Since I've set up forwarding on both accounts to my everyday address, chances are you'll receive a response if you message me at either one of them. Just don't expect to see either of them on my resume anytime soon.
posted by Kevin Woodward 5:56 PM
Thursday, May 23, 2002
Look it up
AskOxford.com -- Contains a dictionary and thesaurus, as well as quotations, word of the day, games, and lexicography.
Internet Public Library -- Ask a reference question, relax in the reading room, or search the catalog for online texts.
Last Words -- Collection of famous last words, epitaphs, obituaries, farewells, and last stands.
Pseudo Dictionary -- Compiling words that people may use all the time that aren't in a normal dictionary. Includes slang, webspeak, and colloquialisms. Submissions welcome.
The DICT Development Group -- Simultaneously search several dictionaries for word definitions including Websters, Jargon File, and several other dictionary databases.
posted by Kevin Woodward 2:31 PM
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
Spam doesn't pay
Chances are, if you have an email address you've received the infamous "Nigerian email" message. More than once. That's the one from an alleged Nigerian government employee offering to share his $35 million in ill-gotten gains if only you'll help get the funds out of the country. How? By providing him with your bank account information or some seed money. Apparently victims have been defrauded out of millions of dollars over the years. Nigeria even set up a special police unit in London to fight the spam scam. The good news is, six people have actually been arrested -- four of them Nigerian. Apparently the broken English in the message wasn't just entertaining, it was the only thing legit about it.
posted by Kevin Woodward 2:56 PM
Media Savvy
Check out Media Savvy, a recently launched personal site addressing a wide range of topics including digital liberty, the media, marketing and online strategies. The site -- currently in beta -- is owned and produced by Barry Parr, formerly of International Data Corp, C|net and the San Jose Mercury News' Mercury Center. IDC clients paid thousands of dollars to share Barry's strategic insights. At Media Savvy, the current pricing model is ... free. Among other online contributions, Barry was one of the "inventors" of the banner ad.
posted by Kevin Woodward 12:00 PM
Monday, May 20, 2002
On 'deep linking'
The concept of "deep linking" -- pointing to a specific sub-page on a Web site, allowing readers to bypass the site's home page, and, occasionally, avoid seeing some advertisements -- has a number of online media folks talking up a storm. Rodale Press, publisher of Runner's World, is following in the footsteps of the Dallas Morning News in threatening to sic their lawyers on the perpetrators, in this case a couple of small, independent sites. It's worth noting that no court has ever restricted deep linking. And the thought of legally restricting the practice could have far-reaching repercussions on the industry, most noteably search engines. Why would any self-respecting publisher complain about what is essentially a free referrel? This uproar reminds me of the spirited discussions that used to take place in newspaper offices about "scooping" the print edition of the paper by publishing a breaking story on the paper's Web site before going to press hours later. In retrospect, any arguement against such a practice seems laughable. The same can be said about deep linking.
posted by Kevin Woodward 4:38 PM
posted by Kevin Woodward 3:06 PM
Sunday, May 19, 2002
Why blog?
One of the biggest advantages of blogging is it makes it possible for anyone to easily contribute content to a website. Sort of an everyman's distributed content management system. And the price sure beats Interwoven or Vignette. A good article on the merits of blogging was recently published in Wired magazine.
posted by Kevin Woodward 1:39 PM
Testing ... 1-2-3
An essential -- but too often overlooked -- part of creating content for the Web is testing. This should include not only basic HTML and JavaScript code validation, but QA-ing your pages in different platforms, browsers and even versions of browsers. A good online resource for browser testing is http://www.anybrowser.com/, which offers screen size, search engine and site viewer/compatibility tests. All are free to use.
posted by Kevin Woodward 1:30 PM
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