meta-roj

this blog actually started with the hecklebot, because, well, i had something to say on the subject. and i’ve had a few things to say since. i went way off the deep end (as i tend to do, i guess), but it’s interesting to see that there are some others out there who are “getting it.”

todayi thought i’d share an example. not a broad, sweeping, academic paper, but a short news piece on the disruptive nature of wifi combined with instant messaging (they almost got it all the way to the hecklebot).

the triangle news observer.

Today’s presenters had better be on their toes, because the wireless Net becomes a quick fact-checking tool.

the triangle news observer.

Can wireless drive even the most well-prepared speaker crazy? I should think so. Sperano says we’re all getting good at multitasking; We can do more than one thing at a time. But some people will use wireless to check with Google on each fact, correcting and annoying the speaker with the same ease that the kid in my sixth-grade class kept raising his hand before anyone else in the room.

the only thing missing is that i don’t have to be present to be a disruptive force. ask anyone who attended that session to explain…

rakesh agrawal stole my stuff!

ok, not really. but i think i can see this person in my future.

i’ve been working on a few things that involve the preservation of privacy in a large collection of data that can still be analyzed. i ran through a couple ideas – generally:

hashing, where the data is manipulated permanently before it’s analyzed (but that can destroy relevant information)
black-box queries, where you can ask a question, but you don’t get to see the raw data (but that can put a real screw to reproducing results, and so confirming valid work)
compartmentalization, where only data important to the analysis is made available (but that means multiple analyses might piece together private information)
randomization, where the data is randomized as a set, and statistically-relevant results are still valid (but this generally means a big raw data set)

well, i didn’t really come to any conclusions, except that any of these methods might be useful depending on the circumstances. in the particular circumstances i’m thinking on, the randomization approach seems the most useful.

…off into the wild internet i go and amazingly enough, it’s been done.

here is an interview version. this [pdf] is one from acm. (see his page for papers).

the combination of protecting individual privacy and building an enormous database that can be combed (well, raked) for trends and historic comparisons is critical to improving my diet. i’m glad i don’t have to invent this wheel.

so this is all old news to me – why bring it up? rakesh was recently honored by scientific american as one of the top 50 contributors and contributions to science and technology. so he’s going to be a really popular guy now.

i just thought i’d get a number now… save me a place!

this has taken a couple weeks to filter into my realm of awareness, but it’s still interesting, and i can see all kinds of applications.

rfid is neat technology. it really is, but it also comes with some interesting social implications, and i’ve made a few comments about them from time to time.

this version of rfid, is a great example of solving a problem with an existing tool, which appeals to my “determinism ranting” thread, but better, it’s simply elegant.

tagging the world is a good idea. tagging people, even indirectly, maybe not so good.

(thanks to crysflame for sharing this apple bug)

but wait! i say it’s not a bug! it’s a cultural easter egg!

every geek knows best how something should be done.

the independent is reporting that kids are text-messaging the movie business out of their expected summer blockbusters.

“The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films – sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching – and so scuppering carefully crafted marketing campaigns designed to lure audiences out to a big movie on its opening weekend.”

welcome to the era of the distributed moble hecklebot.

big media will never be the same…. and valenti will be even more dependent on the home-video market.

The Baltimore Sun reports (along with many other sources) – the LovSan worm has taken out an entire state government agency. this is comforting.

(this rant was first drafted on july 26, with a nod to Joi Ito (JoiIto), Richard Soderberg (crysflame), Ross Rader (Ross), (yonderboy) and the existence of #joiito)

It starts (innocently enough) with a comment. “i don’t really understand hecklebot, and this is not a request to help me change that.” (Richard Soderberg/crysflame)

Well, request or not… (it is, after all, the prerogative of experts to explain things).

Joi has offered (threatened) to take the Hecklebot to the various conferences and events that he attends to heckle speakers, including Bill Clinton. I have proof ( I’m going to hecklebot Bill Clinton I think.)

The intent of the hecklebot is to provide a direct backchannel to a speaker. Not just a running “sidechannel” commentary on the speaker or the material, but a direct in-your-face response. Speakers are generally selected (or invited, chosen, whatever) because they are in some respect a “domain expert.” The audience expects knowledge, insight, erudition, maybe even wisdom from people chosen to speak on a subject that interests them.

In six months, it’s going to take much courage to speak anywhere Joi Ito might show up. Actually, in six months, there may be a dozen or a hundred hecklebots roaming the conference and event circuit, and it’s going to take a lot of courage to speak on any subject, anywhere. I’m not willing to predict the adoption curve on this one, but the game has changed. Just the potential of having a so-called domain expert called “bullshit” mid-sentence is going to intimidate anyone who thinks they know everything (because deep down, we all know we don’t).

The era of the domain expert is over. The beast is extinct. They don’t realize it.

With the extinction of the domain expert, I predict the emergence of a million forms of “I think…” “I believe…” “It seems to me…” It will take time, but the language will adapt. Proclamations of Truth are going to become rare things indeed. (Joi observed, “Usually the audience knows more than the speaker.”)

The most interesting insights generally come from the “outsiders” that approach the material with a different set of assumptions and semantics.

Perhaps this is because they are willing to ask the “stupid questions.” Unburdened by years of accumulated (and shared) assumptions, the outsider is willing to look at a situation and say “so what?” or “that is crazy” or “what if?”

There is a value in asking questions. There is great value in asking questions that are relevant in context. Context always matters. In his paper, “A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy: Social Structure in Social Software,” Clay Shirky comments on the merits of learning by experience,

The most charitable description of this repeated pattern is “learning from experience.” But learning from experience is the worst possible way to learn something. Learning from experience is one up from remembering. That’s not great. The best way to learn something is when someone else figures it out and tells you: “Don’t go in that swamp. There are alligators in there.”

While I agree, as far as it goes, the more valuable skill is the ability (and willingness) to ask “Is the swamp safe?” and then marshal available resources to find the answer that is relevant to your context. Is it safe for swimming? Since I’m here can I substitute alligator in this recipe for stew? I don’t know if this is a skill that can be taught.

There is significant inertia in education, and it will not change quickly or easily. Knowledge was compartmentalized effectively through several hundred years of development in “higher education.” Now the compartment are so small and so focused, that they directly impact relatively tiny groups. It will be the intersections of domains that is interesting in the future. Domain experts are valuable, but they will increasingly be challenged by outsiders, and their larger contributions will be in areas that span domains.

Any expert that is really deeply invested in knowing The Truth is going to be heckled to death, or at least off the stage.

I’ve never been a President of the United States, but boy, do I have some questions for you, Bill. And at least you’ll know I am listening.

Let the heckling begin!

For more on the Hecklebot, a quick diversion to Hecklebot Wiki and UcHeckle Wiki is in order.

( this rant is also on the joi.ito.com wiki and is available in non-wiki-form here. )

so i’m on this track, chasing this train of thought lately, and for some reason this just jumps out today.

“can someone recommend a _____ that doesn’t suck?”

i think i’ve seen this five or six times today.

and, i just want to say that without a little more to go on, pretty much all the answers sucked.