Apr 23 2008
Want to Work at Talis?
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Archive for April, 2008
Apr 22 2008
FOAF Images
Back in 2002 I submitted four cute faces as my entry in the informal FOAF icon competition. Now those images are pretty ubuquitous but somewhere in the intervening years and server moves the page I maintained linking to them disappeared. With a nudge from danbri I put together a new page to serve as their home: http://iandavis.com/2006/foaf-icons/
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Apr 21 2008
Upgraded to Wordpress 2.5
I finally made the upgrade. Some things might be a bit wonky around here, especially as I converted all my categories to tags. Expect some broken links and feel free to comment here if you spot anything missing. On the plus side, I added a new Sitemap-style page
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Apr 21 2008
Cloud Security
Just came across a new blog called Cloud Security by Craig Balding that looks to have a lot of potential. Cloud computing is definately the trend du jour and we need more discussion and information around the security of cloud services.
Wonder if it’s this Craig Balding?
One for the subscription list…
Apr 21 2008
The Terrible And Tragic Tale Of Brian The Snail
While clearing out some old papers and files I’ve carried around with me since I left University, I came across this poem that my friend Dominic Taylor wrote for me. It’s based on a true story, an event that occurred to me in early 1991. I thought the poem had been lost forever, so I was ecstatic when I found it.
The Terrible And Tragic Tale Of Brian The Snail
(after William McGonagall)
OooooooOOOOoooOOooooooooooH!
‘Twas in the year of nineteen hundred and ninety one
When, alack, a poor snail was undone.
Brian, for such was the name of this monoped,
Being in danger for shelter had fled.
Not being possessed of much great speed
This was for Brian no easy deed.
And so, not surprisingly, try as he might
He would have been unsuccessful in his flight,
Had he not with sharp eyes aspied
A place where with impunity he might hide.
“And where was this sanctuary?” I hear you beg;
It was in the turn up of Ian’s trouser leg.
The cause of his trouble may now be heard
Brian was menaced by a terrifying bird
Who, feeling peckish, was desiring of lunch.
(He always ate snails because they made a nice crunch).
To return to tale, and I do think we should,
Our hero the snail was not quite out of the woods.
For though Ian lumbers at a rather slow pace
For Brian to catch him it was still a hard race.
So the plucky mollusc sped across the ground
Always spurred on by the terrible sound
Of the bird screeching and screaming and flapping its wings
And threatening poor Brian with terrible things.
The snail was fast but the bird was still faster,
And Brian thought the day would end in disaster.
Then just as he was praying for Ian to wait
He was miraculously saved by interceding fate;
As luck would have it, on a stone Ian tripped,
And into his turn up Brian Snail slipped.
However, when he thought he was safe; in sight was his doom
As Ian mounted the stairs and entered his room;
For exhausted by his exertions down the lad sat
And Brian was crushed with a horrible “splat!”
The moral of this story should be easy to guess:
If you jump in Ian’s trousers you’ll end up a mess.
Dominic Taylor, Spring 1991
Apr 17 2008
links for 2008-04-17
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“If anything, Amazon demonstrates how a cutting-edge Internet company - of all things - can succeed slowly. The trick is taking a million tiny steps - and quickly learning from your missteps.”
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Apr 12 2008
links for 2008-04-12
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There are many types of lock-in: some bad… some good…. Sometimes you’re free to leave but you just don’t want to.
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Recommendations generated using three approaches: collaborative filtering using MinHash clustering, Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing (PLSI), and covisitation counts.
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Apr 09 2008
Identity Theft: It’s Not Your Problem
I spotted this today, a group of people upset by the ease by which their personal information can be accessed. This information was already available to the public but distributed across many locations and physical formats:
“Who knew it was going to get posted on the Web? It’s shocking,” said one House Democratic chief of staff, who requested anonymity to discuss her personal finances. “Now that anybody can look it up on the Web, I don’t know if I like it anymore.”
Her forms for 2006, which were filed last spring, included her home address and 32 pages of detailed statements about bank accounts under the name of her husband and daughter. That prompted her to raise concerns about identity theft at a chiefs of staff meeting in March.
These people are upset but their anger is misdirected. The problem isn’t that this is private information, after all these are government employees being held to account. Nor is the Web to blame for making this information trivial to access. The blame squarely lies with the ease with which having access to this information can be used to commit fraud. The reaction though is a startling illustration of how the banking industry has subtly shifted responsibility for financial security from themselves to their customers. They use the phrase “identity theft” like it’s our fault! They should be focusing on fraud prevention rather than throwing up smokescreens.
The Web opens and connects enormous quantities of data from all over the world and, as the Semantic Web gains momentum, we’ll see more connections and exposure of many more types and sources of data. Hiding this data from other people isn’t an option. Taking control of your own data and having the tools and services that let you find out where and why it’s being used is. But we should also expect every organization to accept responsibility for fraud prevention and guarding their customers against abuse. Pretending it’s someone else’s fault is just abdication of that responsibility.
