In search of auto tagging
[Update: Doesn't work. No time for debugging this evening.]

On the old Blogger (Blogger Classic), before I switched to the new Blogger Beta, I had this Greasemonkey script that gave me a tags field and that connected with my pfhyperblog del.icio.us account. The script broke in Blogger Beta and I started using Blogger's Label feature. But that doesn't get you to wonderful world of tags (where both del.icio.us and Technorati live).

I found a new script and installed it (thanks Singpolyma). This is the first test. It should generate tags from the Blogger label field.

Labels: blogging, greasemonkey

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:34 PM |

 
DailyLit: Read books by email and RSS.
DailyLit will chunk up books and email the chunks to you over time.

http://www.dailylit.com/
 
via Larry Lessig's blog . Read Larry's Free Culture at DailyLit.


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 6:29 AM |

 
Freeing the Culture: Academy Award film available under CC licensing
A Story of Healing won the 1997 Academy Award for best documentary, short subject. The film follows an Interplast volunteer surgical team to Vietnam. Ten years later, Interplast has released the film under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerical-No Derivatives license (by-nc-nd) and provided a free download.

According to the announcement, "This is the first time that an Academy Award® winning film has been licensed under any Creative Commons license."

Find the announcement here along with links to the download.


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 6:40 AM |

 
Sifry's State of the Live Web
Doc Searls summarizes David Sifry's State of the Live Web and adds some interesting commentary concerning the Live and Static Webs.

Technorati is tracking over 70 million blogs and 120K blogs are coming into being daily.

Check out the full report; there are some great graphs.

Technorati Tags:
blogging, live_web

Labels: blogging

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:24 PM |

 
Minnebar 2 Wrap-Ups
Garrick's wrap at MNteractive.

Tim Elliott will have podcasts of some of the sessions soon.

Scott Dier posted about my session (Broadband initiatives, Net Neutrality, municipal Wi-Fi) and then added some thoughtful commentary.

The Minnebar site has more links to posts and pictures..

Technorati Tags:
minnebar

Labels: events, minnebar

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 5:42 PM |

 
McCain singing Beachboys
So Senator McCain sang a slightly modified version of Barbara Ann ("Bomb Iran") by the Beachboys and Moveon.org is going to pull it out of context and start an ad campaign. See the video here.

The Internet gives us the remarkable opportunity to follow politicians and report on every butt scratching behavior. I do believe we need to be vigilant of racist and sexist statements but we've got to allow some leeway for humor and jokes, even some that could be judged bad taste.

Read Dave Weinberger's take on this at Huffington.

I'm getting political again. Must be something in the air.

via Dave Winer.

Labels: election2008, politics

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:42 AM |

 
The LCG Feed on the right
I started a class blog for the course I'm taking at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (U of Minnesota). The blog is titled LCG which stands for Leadership for the Common Good.

Today, via Google Reader, I added a widget that pulls in the LCG feed. The raw Javascript widget code is provided for pasting on any blog template and it does not require that you use Blogger.com for blog hosting. You can also control number of entries displayed and the color scheme. What's shared is controlled by the label/folder action in Google Reader so you can share several blogs making it easy to provide a blog roll.

The LCG blog is a class blog with multiple authors. I invited anyone who is taking the class and there are nine (of twenty-five students) listed as authors although not all have posted.

Labels: blogging, policy, UM

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:10 AM |

 
Minnebar Report
[Update. More food for the masses: a cold-cut plate. Minnebar took care of us.]

Almost 400 hundred people signed up for Minnebar. No clear idea how many are here but there should have some idea post-conference via registrations and business cards.

The space is good for the crowd with plenty of spaces for the sessions and for ad hoc discussions. Many thanks to Ben, Luke, and Dan.

Wireless access is donated by ipHouse and it's blazing with downloads around 3Mbps.

Noise is a problem. It's hard to hear many of the presentations and ambient talk is everywhere. A PA system at each main presentation space would be great with wireless miking so you can catch audience questions. Maybe they can score a sponsor next year to offer something like that.

We did run out of pizza. I think we need to enforce a one-piece-only directive in the first time around so everyone gets something.

Overall, I'll give it 4.5 (of 5) stars. Good job!

Technorati Tags:
minnebar

Labels: minnebar

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 1:36 PM |

 
Design 2.0 at Minnebar
We are at Minnebar in St. Paul and we are listening to the Design 2.0 panel: Ben Edwards, Margaret Andrews, Garrick Van Buren, Stefan Hartwig, Christopher Leighton-Brooder, Norman Orstad. Check their various links here under 'Design 2.0'.

http://barcamp.org/MinneBarSessions


Technorati Tags:
minnebar

Labels: minnebar

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:20 AM |

 
Minnebar is TODAY
I'm at Minnebar listening to William Gurstelle talk about potato guns, flying cars, underground technology, and more.

I'll be twittering...



Technorati Tags:
minnebar

Labels: minnebar

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:50 AM |

 
Wireless Cities Lev speaking
Whoa. Twitter is really slow from here. Quicker to blog!
- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:28 AM |

 
Wireless Cities Today
I'm in U of MN Walter Library at the Wireless Cities conference and Lev Gonick is going to do the first keynote. He's going to tell us about OneCommunity (used to be OneCleveland). He's CIO at Case Western in Cleveland.

Watch my Twitter feed for updates.

Watch here too.

I present at 3:15 with Garrick Van Buren, Jeremy Iggers, and Cris Lopez.

There is a conference blog.

Labels: broadband, events, tech, UM, wireless

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:10 AM |

 
The penguin is a girl
The penguin is a girl. Novell's PC Mac Linux marketing videos. Scroll the list to find them.

Mark vs. Fred. Mark Cuban and Fred von Lohmann discuss YouTube and the future of copyright.

Labels: links, tech, video

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:28 AM |

 
Minnebar April 21


There's still room for participants and workshops/discussions at Minnebar on April 21. Sign up here.

Friday's pre-event mixer will be at Lo-To.

Labels: events, minnebar

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 11:48 PM |

 
Life Time Fitness Meets Buzz
Star Tribune's Buzz.mn is definitely worth checking out for local stories written by people just like you and me. They have some true citizen-media-journalism hyperlocal placeblogging going on. I think anyone can get an account and publish.

Make sure to check the Life Time Fitness thread by nmdevitt:

Are you a member of LifeTime Fitness, which now operates all the (former) Northwest Athletic Clubs? Am I the only one who is ANGRY that the two oldest, worst-equipped clubs are in a tier (eg, St Louis Park and Crosstown) with higher monthly dues than the newer, far-better euipped clubs (eg, Chanhassen, Plymouth clubs)?

She's started a grassroots campaign and hit a serious nerve regarding Lifetime and it's fee structures. She got a story in Star Tribune (which I cannot locate in their search engine). She has managed to get her own membership terminated by the corporation (bad move, Life Time).

This would have been soooo hard to accomplish in pre-blog days.

You will note that sometimes I use "Life Time" and sometimes "Lifetime." If you go to the Life-Time site, you'll see that they are not sure who they are either.

Labels: blogging, newspapers, placeblog

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 6:28 AM |

 
Peter Speaking at U of M’s Wireless Cities Conference
Garrick beat me to the post but I'll carry on with my announcement that Garrick and I will be part of a panel at the University of Minnesota Wireless Cities Conference April 16 at Walter Library. Our panel, Media and Wireless Communities is at 3:15. We'll share the stage with Christina Lopez of the U's Digital Media Center; Jeremy Iggers, former Star Tribune restaurant critic and current Director of Twin Cities Media Alliance (parent organization of TC Daily Planet); and moderator Nora Paul, Director of the Institute for New Media Studies. The conference runs two days and the cost is $175 ($75 for U of M attendees).

I think this is going to be interesting.

Required readings... Michael Maranda on bringing folks out of isolation to tell their stories, Doc Searls on the Giant Zero, and Garrick on news by the block.

From Doc's post:

The Net is a giant zero. It puts everybody zero distance from everybody and everything else. And it supports publishing and broadcasting at costs that round to zero as well.

we don't just "deliver information" like it's a Fedex package. We inform each other. That is, we literally form what other people know.

Labels: blogging, broadband, digital_inclusion, newspapers, placeblog, UM

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:00 PM |

 
Microsoft is dead.
"A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead." begins Paul Graham's essay, Microsoft is Dead. Not really dead but at least no longer a threat. Sort of like the Dark Side without the Force.

It's insightful and I agree with his points.

Yes, Microsoft is still big, still profitable, and still with deep, deep pockets. So deep that they could become a critical force again. Paul tells them how:

So if they wanted to be a contender again, this is how they could do it:

1. Buy all the good "Web 2.0" startups. They could get substantially all of them for less than they'd have to pay for Facebook.
2. Put them all in a building in Silicon Valley, surrounded by lead shielding to protect them from any contact with Redmond.

I feel safe suggesting this, because they'd never do it. Microsoft's biggest weakness is that they still don't realize how much they suck.

via Chr15 P1r1LL0

Labels: microsoft, tech, web2.0

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 10:09 AM |

 
Josh Breitbart's keys to healthy process
Joshua Breitbart has posted his testimony to the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee. He lists some keys to a healthy process for city's seeking a broadband solution:

• Sustain open participation beyond the initial public hearing stage, through the entire process and continuing even a solution is implemented.
• Promote horizontal relationships among stakeholders rather than hub-and-spoke relationships that all connect to this committee or to any one person or organization.
• Unite stakeholders around shared technology rather than dividing them into tiers.
• Incorporate existing human resources wherever possible to avoid redundancy and to build on existing relationships.
• Be open with whatever information you gather: publish documents, test results, and regular updates on an accessible website and make them readily available to people without Internet access.

Actually, use this recipe for any type of policy initiative. Stir well and let simmer until you don't need the particular policy any longer.

So far here in Minneapolis, we don't rate highly in relation to these points. The process has been relatively closed.

via wrythings.

Labels: broadband, digital_inclusion, policy, politics

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:13 PM |

 
Alanis does Peas
Confession: Before this morning, I wouldn't know a Black Eyed Pea from a garbanzo bean. (I thought Fergie was former royalty currently working for Weight Watchers.) I do listen to some modern music (loved MIA) but I'm way on the periphery of hip-hop and rap. (Is there a hyphen in hip-hop?)

Today I caught the Alanis Morissette parody of Pea song My Humps (via Unapologetic Nonsense ). I remember the song, released in 2005. Never thought much of it and never really listened to the lyrics until I watched Alanis. Luckily this wonderful web had the original available and it's sexist as hell not to mention equating breasts with "lumps" and the link of that word to cancer.

Morissette turned it on it's head. She brought some drama to it. She makes you think about issues like objectifying women and mainstream music promotion of sex. I like it.

The version I link (there's several at YouTube) has had 2M hits since 4/2. Comments are worth browsing too. No matter what you think of the Morissette version or the Pea version, it has started a conversation. That's good.

Original by Black Eyed Peas

Labels: music, youtube

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 7:14 AM |

 
Mark McCahill leaving the U
Mark McCahill, developer of the Gopher protocol and client, is leaving the University of Minnesota. He has a better offer from Duke University and a chance to work on Second Life challenger, Croquet.

He's also unhappy about decreasing state funding of the U.

Julio at Your Tech Blog writes about it and includes a 1996 article about Gopher.

Pioneer Press has the current story.

Labels: UM

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 9:44 PM |

 
U of M Public Health FILM FEST
It's National Public Health Week and the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health is having a film festival. It runs Monday thru Friday this week (April 2 thru April 6) and showings are at 5:30 with one film plus a panel or speaker each evening. Screenings are at the Mayo Memorial Auditorium which is attached to the Mayo Building.

Lots more information here including a map.

Here's a summary of the films and speakers.

---

Monday, April 2 -- Aging: Growing old and caring for the elderly

Living Old - 60 minutes (2006)

Medical advances have enabled an unprecedented number of Americans to live longer and healthier lives, but this new longevity has also had unintended consequences. This special looks at chronic illness in these individuals. With a health care system overburdened, many fear that we are on the threshold of a major crisis in care.

Panel Moderator: Lee Graczyk, Executive Director of the Minnesota Senior Federation.

Panel of Speakers: Panel of Speakers: Norby Blake, director of Inner-Tribal Elder Services, member of the White Earth tribe, and Native American Elder; Malcolm Mitchell, executive director of the Elderberry Institute/Living at Home/Block Nurse Program, Inc.; Jackie Stewart, executive board member of the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging

---

Tuesday, April 3 -- HIV/AIDS: HIV in South Africa and Political Smokescreens
State of Denial- 83 minutes (2003)

Excellent story about how politics influences public health. "State of Denial takes an unprecedented and unflinching look at how the citizens of South Africa are living with the AIDS epidemic, given the climate of confusion and neglect perpetuated by President Mbeki's administration."


Speaker: Speaker: Dr. James Neaton, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Dr. Neaton is also the director of INSIGHT (International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials). INSIGHT represents a large collaboration of HIV/AIDS researchers in 37 countries. Their aim is to optimize the use of antiretroviral and other treatments to improve the health and prolong the lives of those infected with HIV. Hundreds of investigators and thousands of study participants have helped INSIGHT carry out the two largest HIV treatment trials done to date.

---

Wednesday, April 4 -- Climate Change: Global Warming’s Deadly Progress
An Inconvenient Truth- 100 minutes (2006)

"This film offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change."

Speaker: Dr. William Toscano, Ph.D., professor of environmental health
sciences, University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

---

Thursday, April 5 -- Immigrant Health:
The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America- 56 minutes (2001)

"THE SPLIT HORN is the sweeping story of a Hmong shaman and his family living in Appleton, Wisconsin. Documenting the 17-year journey of Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America, this poignant film shows a shaman's struggles to maintain his ancient traditions as his children embrace American culture."

Speakers: Chu Wu, a Hmong Shaman

---

Friday, April 6 -- Sex Education
Vintage Sex Hygiene Scare Film #1:

"It's Wonderful Being a Girl"

"Abstinence Comes to Albuquerque"
"Abstinence Comes to Albuquerque provides a glimpse into a nationwide debate over what young people should be taught about sexuality. Through personal stories, community profiles, and expert interviews, the program highlights the differences between a strict abstinence-only-until-marriage approach and more comprehensive sexuality education."

"Think MTV: Campus Guide to Safer Sex"

"Vintage Sex Hygiene Scare film #2: "VD"

"Know for Sure" - 20 minutes (1941)
A syphilis warning film

"The Talk" -- Snippets of Trivia will be shown between films. The Minneapolis-based Youth Performance Group approaches the topic of sex education.

Speaker: Jenny Oliphant, MPH. Ms. Oliphant is the Community
Outreach Coordinator for the National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Research
Center (PRC), Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, at the
University of Minnesota. There, she assists communities in developing
pregnancy prevention programming based on best practices in the fields of
youth development, community collaboration and adolescent health.

Labels: film, UM

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:05 AM |

 
Minnesota: Rural Broadband
Jack M. Geller, Ph.D, president of the Center for Rural Policy and Development in St. Peter, MN, has a letter at the Hutchinson Leader site: Rural Minnesota shouldn’t be caught on the wrong side of the digital divide.

He looks at attitude changes in getting broadband (vs. dial-up) to rural areas (in 1999, nobody thought much about the issue) and how online activities have changed with faster access. Government and business applications need broadband connections for optimal performance and more and more people are finding personal entertainment and making purchases online.

"The widespread appeal of downloading video and music files, engaging in social networking, watching streaming videos and satisfying one’s personal entertainment needs is hard to overestimate."

Very true, I'm sure, but I wish he had mentioned the self-publishing aspect. Broadband is a must for podcasting and video blogging and even text blogging applications (like Blogger) have grown enough to be painful over dial-up, often with dropped connections. Given the practice of the broadband duopoly providing fast service to your home and usually very slow speeds back up to the Internet, this is a point that needs to be pushed again and again and again.

via Minnesota Policy Soup.

Labels: broadband, digital_inclusion, rural

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 11:08 PM |

 
Look Right
Added bio, resume, and home page links o'er there on the right.

Labels: stuff

- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 11:01 PM |