Choose Your Bicycle!

What fun! Didn’t I tell you Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) were the way of the future?

Google has just released Chrome for Windows, a browser designed for the evolving Web. I’m not running Windows, so haven’t tried it myself, but the feature list makes such sense. The browser is designed to run Rich Internet Applications, such as Google Docs (well, Google championed AJAX, too), quickly and reliably. Chrome, according to Google, gets out of your way.

Anyway, they explain it better than I do, so jump on over and have a look. Don’t forget to check out their heraldic comic book, either.

This really is revolutionary: these guys have very big plans, you can bank on that. Already, people and businesses are switching from desktop office applications to Google Docs. If this takes off - if! who am I kidding - one can see the future looking quite bleak for those that actually SELL operating systems. Their products are destined to become thinner: the business will all be at the server side on the Web. There hasn’t ever been money in the browser.

It will be mighty interesting to see Microsoft’s reaction. Come to mention it, this is a fabulous opportunity for browser vendors and developers: no doubt we’ll see more innovations in this line.

Well, I must return to work, but let me end by saying that you can mark my words: a few years down the track from now, and well into the future, you will see “Google Releases Chrome” featuring on Internet and Web timelines. It’s a turning point.

I’ve managed to get quite behind in NET11, that’s certainly true. But don’t think I’ve been doing nothing! In reading the module 2 readings and pondering the various concepts involved with email and other forms of online communication, I managed to get sidetracked. Let me explain: I attempted to sign up for a SecondLife account one fine evening. Being an essentially practical person, this was a huge step for me. I generally consider anything so rich as being a distraction to my usually business-like communications. To be frank, I don’t generally use the Internet to communicate with friends (with one major exception: I regularly email my best friend throughout the day, but only during business hours, and we are fairly like-minded in our communication preferences), but use email, Yahoo, MSN and Skype daily to chat with clients and contractors. SecondLife is utterly superfluous to my needs. I had to overcome the cringe factor to even attempt a sign up. And I did, but to no avail. SecondLife’s server was apparently picking up the nervous vibes I was emanating, and refused to process my beautifully complete registration form. Seriously, I am guiltless. Anyway, I had a scout around the site, and stumbled across the Orientation Station training region, which promises to welcome me to the Metaverse. Now, that term Metaverse appealed to me instantly: beyond this universe, perhaps, an abstracted existence? I began thinking about Possible Worlds and wondered - as I suppose most do - at the possibilities a second life in a created world might entail. Naturally, I googled the term, and found Wikipedia’s explanation that the Metaverse is a virtual world in which humans interact through their avatars: a construct in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel, Snow Crash. Wow, this is exceedingly interesting stuff, kinda Matrix-y, definitely something to think about. So while I sought a copy of the book, I found another of Stephenson’s books and got stuck into that instead. This was just the first distraction. I began to think about avatars: what they are now, and how they might develop into the future. I found mEgo.com, a new personal profile tool provider that really starts to put flesh on the bones of the avatar concept. And it’s portable. Portability is a growing issue these days. Currently, Facebook and MySpace are independently popular, but their use raises questions about the openness of data and online interactions. Say you have a profile on MySpace and one on Facebook (and maybe another on Orkut, or Xanga, or Friendster….): you have to maintain these profiles and sets of friends separately. Your left hand doesn’t know what your right is doing, so to speak. mEgo.com is only one of a bunch of tools springing up to make information more portable between social networks: I actually think mEgo.com is a bit more of an evolution. My thinking is that the people are likely to be drawn to tools that help consolidate a person’s online life. Frankly, it’s a pain to have an identity for every situation (although there are obviously certain advantages to this, too!). Nevertheless, my expectation is that people will gravitate towards tools and systems that allow their currently disparate activities and identities to converge: this will simplify communications and make the Internet as a system so much more powerful and useful to each individual. Hey, we’re starting to think of motorbikes here! So, I expect systems like OpenID to eventually flourish despite the many corporate barriers.  It may take some doing, I’ll grant you. I tried to return my thoughts to email, and was successful. But my earlier ruminations haunted me and I recalled an article from The Economist about email being the basis of an evolution of social networking.  An email-based social networking system would have the advantage of being open and within the user’s control. Tools would be available to assist rather than to impose and shape, interactions. It may not be a business, but when we consider the history of the Internet, why should it be? So much of the good things we take for granted are in existence because of the collaborative efforts of enthusiasts and visionaries across the globe.

I thought about how such a system could work. I developed a system design and am currently working on building a prototype. If anyone is interested in this project, I’d love to hear from you: I’m no designer, not a great writer, not an accomplished developer, so any help is appreciated.

Blogging is a unique art: you are essentially publishing your thoughts to the world. A great (and almost unprecedented) opportunity, yes, but as profound and interesting as you may be, you actually need to engage your reader in order for your blog to be widely read.

When I started blogging, I wasn’t the slightest bit interested in the outside world: I kept a blog because it was a convenient means of recording  any random thoughts I had. But the blogosphere is about far more than random, private jottings: it is an interconnected community, a social network (in a fairly natural sense).

To be a true part of the blogosphere, you need to provide value in your writing. Here are some tips to help you find the path to creating an interesting and engaging blog.

1. Be clear about your purpose in writing.
   You really should know why you are keeping a blog and what you wish your readers to get out of it. This will go a long way to helping you provide it. For example, if you are writing a business blog, you’ll certainly want to get your readers interested in your business, but you still need to provide something of value in order to entice readers to visit your blog in the first place. I learnt a lot about this type of writing from Jonathan Cohen, who works with me at CybaSumo.com.
   I recommend that you be very clear about the niche in which you are writing: this will help readers to find your message amongst the millions of blogs out there (search engines love unique, niche content). Don’t ever forget: your blog is for your audience!





2. Read other blogs in your niche - but don’t just read!
   This is the blogosphere, remember! So contribute to it by making relevant and useful comments on other blogs in your niche or in related niches. People who appreciate your contributions are quite likely to visit your blog, too, and will perhaps make their own comments on your site. Of course, it’s good to know what others are writing and reading about: this will help you to stay relevant to your audience.
   Another good idea is to include good blogs in your blogroll: this helps your readers connect (anythign that helps your readers is good), but also helps you to develop relationships.





3. Make your posts interesting. Hey, remember, this is all about the audience, right? So give them stuff they’d like to read, then invite interaction by encouraging your visitors to comment on what you have had to say.
   Another great tip is to include some eye candy with your post: an image or two goes a long way towards attracting your reader and setting the tone of your post. So where do you get images from? Try Stock.XCHNG or Fotogenika.
   Another way to provide value in your posts is to link to good external resources.





4. Get your blog out there. Promote yourself by:
   • linking to other blogs;
   • providing useful commentary on other blogs;
   • using trackbacks and pingbacks; and
   • using promotional tools such as RSS Feeds (Feedburner is good) and ping services.
5. Enjoy yourself.   Nothing makes a blog worth reading more than an author who knows their stuff and enjoys writing about it.

To read a little more about blogging, I suggest the following:

• Lorelle’s Learning About Blogging;
• WordPress’ Introduction to Blogging; and
• How To Blog: A Beginner’s Blog Publishing Guide

This barely touches the tip of the iceberg: what tips do you have? Feel free to leave me a comment with your ideas.