Wakoopa allows you to socially share the software I use. This has several interesting applications, like finding interesting and useful software, solve problems with your software, and read reviews by others.
In a more business like setting think of tracking how much of your costly software licenses are actually used, self-help when rolling out new software in your firm, and one that is of high interest to me: seeing the actual working routines people have, how people switch between tools, how they form their personal work environment. It has showed me for instance I have a few tools that I use only for seconds at a time, but are crucial to the flow of my work (such as being able to resize a photo in 5 secs). Understanding your personal workflow is essential to getting things done.

Logged >1400 hours in >200 applications

I am excited about Wakoopa starting to track web services as well, as they are an increasing part of my work-environment. Now it merely says I spend about 3/4 of my time in my browser, but I know it is much more granular than that. Wakoopa is part of my daily toolset, and the mentioned improvements will make sure it will stay that way for some time yet. A big thumbs up for Robert, Wouter and the soon to be growing Wakoopa Crew.

Last week's profile: 71% is browser, and you can tell I have been giving a presentation

Was PolitCamp a BarCamp?
Yes it was. Even if some people criticized the fact that a couple of slots were preprogrammed, and even though the spaces it took place in were really better geared for full frontal presenting. That the wifi was arranged the way it was (password protected, no SSID broadcasted) is simply working with the IT people at the location. I was grateful that Macs have an easier time getting onto 'invisible' wifi, and that the wifi was stable, fast and never faltered. I think that saying that with PolitCamp Graz and a few other events the 'BarCamp culture in Austria' is dying is merely an elitist statement, much like we see every time something becomes attractive to a larger group of people and the early adopters start moaning. Fact is if you want to attract at least some new people into the format, especially representatives from the rather ossified Austrian political structures, you will have to do some expectation management beforehand. Like printing something that looks like a programme, even although you know reality will be different on-site. Otherwise it would have been an echo-chamber discussion. The very same thing a lot were finding fault with in the local political sphere. Pot, kettle, black, you get it. And you can bet this format was a culture shock to quite some people attending already.

Signs of BarCamp

Organization
Taking the BarCamp format and use it within the higher education setting in Austria takes a bit of courage I'd say. The students of Heinz Wittenbrink, his colleagues, and Heinz himself pulled of an inspiring event, that hopefully creates some spin-off within the FH Joanneum. Experiencing that having exchanges in an informal setting can be a great learning experience, and is indeed very real work, is extremely valuable. Taking away preformed structures from an event is liberating. Preparing for such an event is hard work, because taking away preformed structures does not mean that the event will take its course all by it self. If you look closely these types of events are much more heavily managed and structured than they look. Just not in those places, instances and roles, we've come to expect it in other events. Many thanks therefore to all those who helped PolitCamp happen.

Some of those involved in making it all happen. Thanks!

Politicians
Christoph Chorherr (Austrian Green Party) presence was one of the highlights of the event. He actively participated both days. His personal drive was very much visible, his party politics never got in the way. Other politicians 'flew in' for one session only. Lisa Rücker, the Graz deputy mayor, also Green party, was frank and honest about her limited knowledge of everything internet and web2.0 (not knowing the URL of her blog, asking what is 'a facebook'), as well as the fact that her blog is just there because she's a public figure. That same honesty and transparancy however is visible in her blog writing as well. You may question, or teasingly ridicule, the lack of personal passion and knowledge behind it, but certainly not her style of execution which is for real. Toni Vukan (Socialist party) was an example of the complete opposite. Describing the internet as something that 'can be an important information medium if it were properly controlled' (as Helge remarked, 3 misassumptions in that one sentence right there). Because right now the internet is 'full of liars' you know.

Opposite attitudes: Toni Vukan (left), Christoph Chorherr (right, pic by Helge)

I did not mind the provocative tone though, even if not my style. What I thought was really bad was his approach to the discussion. First painting the audience as 'uncritical internet embracers', then saying most internet users are trolls anyway, before proceeding to argue against that uncritical attitude and trolls is just making straw man arguments. When he was called on it he pretended he was being treated unfair and 'refused to be portrayed as being against the internet'. Trying to only let discussion take place under conditions exclusively set by yourself is simply a cheap trick to make sure you won't have to challenge your own assumptions. It has nothing to do with real communication, if I've got what little I know from Habermas right. I left, as I am not part of the Austrian political realm anyway I thought getting into the discussion wouldn't have been of help. I returned in time though to hear him say at the end that 'the internet is very important but we must not forget the importance of personal contact'. And corny pictures of party leaders hugging elderly women in retirement homes served to illustrate that personal contact. Rrrrright. I've been online daily for most of 2 decades now, and to me internet has always been about personal contact. Using internet for unilaterally broadcasting information and crappy communication efforts really is a more recent invention by the smug and self-satisfied likes of Toni Vukan himself. Can you tell it pissed me off?

Michaela Mojzis, and a list of OeVP internet efforts

An interesting discussion was had when Michaela Mojzis joined the group and talked about the efforts of the OeVP on the web. I was shocked by her description of her busy schedule. Six to eight hours of e-mail per day, and a rigid monotone week schedule dictated mostly by the never ending rhythm of how both government and press work. I'd hate the type of week she's having. After e-mail takes up most of her time, other internet efforts however get attention. (See photo with list). You can tell the OeVP is really trying to grok it all, taking coders on board and building apps themselves. Making her take-aways explicit (and good ones at that) was another sign of willingness to explore and learn while staying focussed on your primary goals. What ensued was a lively discussion on the role of internet in politics between all present, without party politics getting in the way much. Really enjoyed that one. She and her colleague also stayed on for the evening party, continuing the conversations with participants.

Hospitality
The event attracted quite a bit of sponsoring and it showed. The food and drinks available during both days were well appreciated. And it was really our own fault that we ate too little before the party at the end of the first day. The discussion still going on was just worth it, even if it was hard on me the next morning. I was also happy to get to know the monochrom art group, and enjoyed their performance a lot which was fun, witty and intelligent. Sipping one last beer and some antipasti with part of the organizing crew on a sunny roofterrace in the old city center of Graz was a nice way to end the event. And on top of it all, I got to enjoy the hospitality of Heinz Wittenbrink and his family in his home. It made it a very pleasurable experience, getting to know eachother bettter and being able to talk about some more topics as well.

Party announcement on paper wiki, and chilling after the event at M1

Links
As can be expected a load of stuff is available on-line. Most of it in German though as was the whole event. Good starting points are the event blog and wiki, my Flickr pics, and those of others, the Slideshare-space, and the blog of Heinz, Jochen, Michael, Julian. Also I did some live streaming at the party (since they had open wifi there) with Qik from my phone. There are a couple of other posts I will be writing about PolitCamp too.

This afternoon I arrived in Graz, Austria. The coming two days I will take part there in a BarCamp on politics and Web 2.0, called PolitCamp. Heinz Wittenbrink of the local higher ed institute FH Joanneum was kind enough to invite me over. On Saturday I will talk about the impact that mobile telecommuncations and internet have had, bringing the incremental cost of publishing, sharing and group forming back to zero. It has radically changed my working routines, life style, my possibilities to shape the world around me. I hold it also means that we have to rethink our 150yr old political structures. They were created because publishing, sharing, and group forming were difficult and expensive endeavours. That cost has now fallen away, leaving these structures wanting for a raison d'etre. My thesis is that the emergence of one-issue parties, personality based populist movements Dutch politics has seen in the past 8 years are as much a result and symptom of this, as is everything Web2.0. Even if you don't own a cell phone, and have never been on the net it will impact your possibilities to shape your own life.

Pictures of PolitCamp are/will be published on Flickr. Haven't done my slides yet, but will upload them to my Slideshare on Friday.

UPDATE: Slides are now available

| View | Upload your own

A week after PolitCamp Graz, NlGovWeb will take place in Amsterdam. Here politics are less the issue at stake, but the practical realization of the possibilities Web2.0 offers to government agencies and ministries to be of service to citizens. Web developers, coders, government employees and internal innovators will share experiences and stories, looking for opportunities and thresholds in using social media.

For me social media is all about conversation. True conversation in the definition of Habermas, but also by everyone's experience, is symmetrical. It is an even exchange of ideas, views, where both have the same level of effort to be able to take part, and the same power within the exchange. I bring that notion of conversational symmetry to tools like Jaiku and Twitter.

It means that my postings there are not public, but only visible for contacts thus ensuring that we can see eachothers postings.
It means that if you request to follow me, and there is a large unbalance in your number of followers and the number you follow, I will deny your request.

If you follow orders of magnitude more people than follow you, one on one interaction is not your goal apparantly. You're building a phonebook, or you're soaking up a large collage of everything that's being posted, as a large antenna array. It's a way of usage, but it's not conversation.

If you follow orders of magnitude less people than follow you, you're someone others like to keep track of. Kind of like the A-list bloggers of old. It's the celebrity profile so to speak. You can use it as mass media then. If you also want conversation as a 'celebrity' it might be useful to keep a seperate, non-public, Twitter account for that, while maintaining a public one to inform people of your public actions.

If the number of followers divided by the number you're following is near 1 chances are you use Twitter for conversation style exchanges. It's what I do.
I respond to what others write, and write stuff that might trigger conversation. Much like particles that help freeze water quicker, or create more bubbles in your soda.
Also I seem to have different circles of people active in Twitter compared to Jaiku, different circles of conversation.

Elmine standing on the Wii Fit plate, and callibrating it.

The Wii Fit is a pressure sensitive plate that you stand on, and connects to the Wii gaming console. It senses changes in your posture by changes in the pressure your feet (or hands when doing push ups) give to the plate. For running excercises you do not use the plate, but put a Wiimote in your pocket. The sensors in it are used to determine your running rhythm and pace. What the Wii Fit and the software it includes do is bring back play into moving and excercizing. Just a it was when you were a little kid. You weren't running because you needed to run, you ran because you were playing.

In general I think these type of interfaces such as the Wii offers are a very interesting development, helping digital information to break out of the laptop screen and key board and become a more integral part of our physical surroundings. Other branches of the same tree in that respect are certain mobile applications, ambient devices, 'roomware' and internet 0 nodes as well as RFID applications. It makes me wonder what Johnny Chung Lee will do with this Wii Fit, having seen what uses he puts the Wiimote to.

It will be different to visit the city without going there for Reboot (which will be in June again, and which Elmine and I will be certain to attend). We visited Copenhagen in 2003 for our summer vacation, and enjoyed the yearly Jazz Festival there. After that Copenhagen and Reboot have been synonymous for me. But not this week.

If I haven't been in touch with you through e-mail, but you would like to catch up on Saturday 29th or Sunday 30th in Copenhagen, let me know.

(The picture was taken in 2003, in the city center.)

How I filter information
For my information gathering I have two lenses. Back in September 2005, I wrote about my filtering, and created this illustration, that is still valid:

The first lens is the outside-in lens, on the left of the funnel. The second one is my inside-out lens, and is directed by specific questions and tasks I have at a certain point in time. My RSS reading serves both lenses. The outside-in in real time (what is going on now), the inside-out mostly through searching in the archives or full text search in the current items. All my RSS feeds are people-based. I e.g. subscribe to your blog feed, delicious feed, Flickr pics, and other feeds that contain your personal on-line traces. I rename all those feeds to start with your name. From it I construct an overview of what is happening in the circles and communities I am part of.

Current feedreader organization
In my feedreader, I have grouped all feeds in to only a few sections. One for 'Dutch context', one for 'German context', one for ' Keeping track' which collects all internet traces I leave myself (self reflection as it were), one for clients, and one 'all' which contains the long list of people writing stuff I usually find worthwile. All in all I track maybe about 300-400 people, though it fluctuates over time.

My wiki may point the way
In the wiki I use on my laptop for personal note taking I also keep pages of people, where I write down some of the context we share. Where we met, the type of exchanges we've had in the past, and where they're from. I have about 240 people in my wiki, largely different from the ones in my feed reader. The way I categorize them is what is of interest here. I put the people pages in my wiki in circles based on social distance. These circles are roughly based on Dunbars number and 'natural' group sizes. As you can see in the screenshot below I have circles / categories for 1 (meaning <12), 12 (<50), 50 (<150), 150 (<1000), and 999 (>1000) where the number in the category name is sort of the minimal social distance I 'feel'. Remember: this is not exact science, it is just an approximation of my own intuitions. It means nothing more, but nothing less either.

If you were to draw these circles as a social networking graph, you would get what in SNA terms is called a network of spokes. Me in the centre with connections radiating out.

Tags or folders to add contexts
To be able to not only look at my social network (as an information filter) from the above perspective, i.e. me at the heart of several circles, I need to be able to add contexts. Single facet contexts like 'my old fraternity', 'people working at client x', 'living in or around Berlin', as well as multi-faceted contexts like 'coders in Amsterdam', 'Drupal community members in Germany', 'coders in Ruby on Rails', 'start-ups around mobile applications', ' stakeholders around client system x'. The former would form community 'blobs' on my circles above. The latter would add spider-networks to it.

Adding the single faceted contexts could be easily done by splitting feeds into folders, or rather allowing the same feed to be in multiple folders. The multi-faceted contexts can not be done with folders I'd say, but need some sort of tagging, where you can filter on combinations of tags to get the context you need. Like drupal+Germany, to give me people working on Drupal, based in Germany. Tags can of course also replace any folder structure completely.

Inside-out and Outside-in
As I said, all the usual feedreading is for outside-in information-filtering. To get a feeling what is happening in the world of people that mean something to me in one context or another. For finding answers to my own current questions, information pertaining to current tasks, or refinding links to things I want to point to in what I share on-line myself, I like to use an archive on my laptop. Insdie-out information filtering then amounts to full-text searches on that archive. Also because I spend a lot of my reading and writing time off-line e.g. in the train, I like my feedreader to store stuff off-line. Therefore on-line feedreaders are not a workable option for me.

Finding the right RSS reader
Now I can start out with arranging my feeds in my feedreader (currently using Vienna) according to the circles of social distance shown above, but tags and one feed being able to live in multiple folders is a different thing. Do you know about an off-line feedreading client that provides these functionalities (one feed in multiple folders and tagging, or at least tagging)?

The full title of my topic was "The tools I need/want but that don't exist yet, or I am unaware of."

I started with a sketch of the three major quantitative changes I see.
First an increase in connections between people (induced by new global infrastructure like mobile telephony and internet).
Second, an increase in speed and dynamics (when you build roads, you create traffic)
Third an increase in information until the level of abundance.

As our previous strategies to deal with connections, speed and information don't scale into a networked globalized world, we see qualitative answers emerging.

Those qualitative answers are along the lines of:
First a more pro-active attitude, making your own sense of the world.
Second different priorities in existing and new information skills.
Third, new tools and work forms that cater to a pro-active attitude, and different information skills.

The shift I see, also in working with clients, away from the Web 2.0 avant garde, is to a higher level of cooperation: networked co-creation. Here I quoted Ivan Labra from his talk at BarCamp Brussels, where he distinguishes three maturity levels (sharing information, coordinating tasks, co-creation).

When I look at what this requires to build effective working routines, I see things like:
Pattern recognition, and taking those patterns as input signals.
Being human on-line: more subtle and granular negotiation of trust levels and intimacy in information exchanges.
Visualisation: what is the quality of my social network as a filter, where are the white-spots, echo-chambers, dark zones.
True co-creation: simultaneous editing, re-arranging and adding, in real-time.

What resulted was a good conversation, in which others gave some tips and pointers to tools that might provide buidling blocks (though most were familiar). Yahoo Pipes, Megite, Quartz, APML and Open Search were among those mentioned.

I also noted in this conversation how deeply ingrained a notion it is that we look at information piece-meal. Where my point is, that I don't look at individual information pieces when I want to get a feeling for what is happening in my communities. I look at what they are talking about, not what they are saying immediately. When I have a specific question to answer, then I do read individual items/entries that look to provide parts of the answer.

My main take-away however was the realization, in line with the needed pro-active attitude mentioned above, that I need to dig into this deeper myself. Have a dive into sources on data-mining and into the pointers given.

It also triggered me to think about redesigning the way I gather and combine my RSS feeds. That is the topic for the next posting.

More pics of BarCamp Amsterdam can be found in my Flickr stream, and some video's I life-streamed with my phone are at my Qik account.

When I talk to teachers they sometimes think that making learning fun means making it simpler, dumbed down. Once I heard one say learning had to 'hurt a lot' for it to stick.

To me adapting teaching to our networked information-abundant world means making it fun, challenging, and relevant to me instantly. I've never equated fun with easy. Fun just means the learning process is more engaging, easier to stick to, not that the content is of less quality or less challenging. The work done in Umea is a case in point.

(found via the HumLab blog)