How we build successful websites June 18, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Pajamanation, London, web2.0 , add a commentAnother reduced instruction set recipe, this time from Last.fm’s Hannah Donovan
- Get your idea out: put perfection behind you.
( because not everything worth doing is worth doing well) - Don’t release new visuals without new functionality
( because form should always follow function ) - Designers and developers work on the same team
- Do the hard stuff first, use iterations
i18n - internationalisation - Use broad brush strokes
Joomla 1.5 and the limits of open source development June 18, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : web2.0, tools , add a commentMiguel explains the complicated open source licensing controversy in which Joomla the CMS has becom embroiled:
Joomla 1.5 and the limits of open source development « eme ká eme
Yet it’s in trouble.Either Joomla thrives (and changes the world a little bit more), or it sinks.
Flux article on Dopplr shift June 16, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : edublog , add a commentOnce again I’m getting the impression that there are some people at Futurelab who get it, or at least espouse the theory.
Flux » Articles » Dopplr shift
So what can designers of educational software learn from Dopplr? Simply that tools exist within a wider system: that it is better to create something to do a single job well than it is to build something which does many things badly. Creating a small piece that can be loosely joined with others is truer to the spirit of the internet than building the monolithic “virtual learning environments” and closed communities that currently fill our schools and universities. That’s the true Dopplr shift: away from tools that deny their users’ previous online existence, and towards tools that fit into the way people actually live.
Digesting the geek dinner June 15, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : social objects, London , add a commentOn Tuesday I went to a London Geek dinner, only the second I’ve ever attended. The first was last year with Chris Anderson on The Long Tail
Despite being distracted by the environment ( there was a big band practice in the adjoining room!) , Jyri captivated the assembled geeks and provoked serious discussion. This was no sales pitch but a clever analysis of what it is that makes the rising stars in the top 100 websites attract and retain growing numbers of participants. I listened carefully, but after a couple of glasses of red wine provided by Hugh Mcleod I didn’t manage to retain all of the carefully ordered points for instant recall when I got home. What a stroke of luck then, that Robin Hamman video blogged Jyri giving much the same talk at NMK the next day 
This is important stuff which takes a bit of digesting, so I decided to add a page on DARnet wiki to gather together my notes with the links to the video, slideshare, blogs etc.
The implications of applying the checklist to various projects I have an interest in are reasonably clear, but challenging. Exciting.
object centered socialityMySpace, Second Life, and Twitter Are Doomed June 14, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : web2.0 , add a commentIs Twitter just an
ongoing Haiku contest?
Pointless irony
MySpace, Second Life, and Twitter Are Doomed - Yahoo! News
Twitter is popular now because the Web cognoscenti are using it. This bunch of eggheads prides itself on irony and witticism. They treat the site like some sort of ongoing haiku contest.
Facebook is the platform June 13, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : web2.0 , add a commentNot everybodty has been affected by the sudden upsurge in takeup on Facebook by large numbers of people other than the original student communities it used to orient towards, but a heck of lot of people have.
This article explains why:
blog.pmarca.com: Analyzing the Facebook Platform, three weeks in
Tom Morris - The university is over June 13, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : edublog, London , add a commentTom Morris: Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I have access to the Reading Room at the British Library and a borrowing pass at the University of London library. I have Google at my fingertips twenty-four hours a day.
Illich’s “learning webs” are just a click away, as is Socratic dialogue, as is the largest encyclopedia ever created.
The university experience is going to become like the movie-going experience. It’ll be something that people do for the experience rather than for the substance, because, as with Hollywood, the substance has gone.
Educational institutions that don’t realise they are becoming Napsterised are deluding themselves. When Facebook launches a ‘learning’ application, you guys will be dead.
London Geekdinner with Jyri Engeström of Jaiku - Tuesday 12th June June 11, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : London, tools , add a commentI haven’t been able to attend a London Geek Dinner for a while so I’m looking forward to meeting up with people at this one tomorrow :
What is Jaiku?
It’s a web and mobile service that brings people closer together by enabling them to share their rich presence. It’s about enabling people to stay connected, rather than “connecting people“, because the connections with phones are often quite random - you don’t know if the other person is able to take your call but you still try because that’s your only option. Jaiku is more about a constant state of connectedness.
Only if your phone is switched on though I hope….
More Discussion on Personal Work Learning Environments June 10, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : edublog, politics , add a commentTony Karrer has usefully kept track of a list of 16 out of the outburst of blog posts continuing the discussion around PLEs and work:
More Discussion on Personal Work Learning Environments : eLearning Technology
Then he wonders…
.. if people will adopt these tools and approaches over time, then as a corporation, if you want to be able to keep the content after an employee leaves, especially blog content … then shouldn’t you make sure you provide these tools now rather than having tools adopted that are outside the firewall and personally owned where you will lose the content if the employee leaves?
which kind of confirms the point being contradicted in Jay Cross’s comments:
Pitting individuals against corporations is not productive. Nor is the implication that businesses are out to steal workers’ intellectual property.
PajamaNation Venezuela: The press meeting June 10, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Pajamanation , add a commentCountry Managers for PajamaNati0n Venezuela forged ahead by holding a successful press launch last month.
Trabajando en Pijamas Libre y Feliz: The press meeting …
But this was not like any other press launch, Ricardo held it in an apartment, in his pyjamas. Then he explained the serious proposition behind the pajamanation global microjobs exchange.
Journalists were invited, and a sponsor who covered expenses and donated a prize. As a result, within a few weeks Venezualan Pajamaworkers have rapidly swelled in numbers and been joined by new microjobs providers and more microjobs for them to bid for.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
