At lunch time today, I learned from a tweet that UK Home Secretary, the Right Honorable Jacqui Smith will resign as soon as convenient to the Prime Minister. Most sources seem to cite the now cliched “expenses scandal” as the main reason, but also mention various moments of Home Secretarial chagrin.

My initial reaction was one of elation. “Finally, and not too soon!” is a sentence too easily thought about someone I think has done more to damage the UK than any one holding power in the last decade.

But this is not how I want her to be remembered. I do not want her to have gone because of a media-fueled feeding frenzy of shame for her expenses or her husband’s use of public funding to watch porn.

Maybe I should clarify?

Last February, I wrote a piece about the Home Secretary which still attracts concerned comments. It told my story of how her tough stand on immigration affects the legitimate, the law-abiding, and the defenseless rather than dealing with any perceived threat by illegal immigrants, migrant workers, or European nationals.

Jaccui Smith should resign because she used a misleading public story to back plans which bring shame and financial hardship to people.

One of the most controversial campaigns Ms Smith backed was one to introduce compulsory ID cards to the UK. She claimed that people would willingly sign up to such a scheme, and much talk of fighting terrorism with these bits of plastic ensued. This is a lie, really. People don’t want it—or, at least, the majority of people don’t seem to want to spend their money on them. Oh, yes. Not only is the scheme hugely expensive to the public, but individuals will have to buy them themselves. The card could cost £30, £60 or £93, depending on which confused source reported the cost [1]. The scheme itself will cost the UK taxpayers around £5bn with an additional £375mn coming from foreign nationals, who will be the first victims of the programme.

The ID cards information produced by the Home Office itself reads, to this linguist at least, shockingly like propaganda. It produces press releases such as this one, which appear to show an eagerness which belies the fact that nearly every mention I’ve seen in media regarding the scheme has contained the word “Controversial”. It has proven so controversial, indeed, that the latest report I read showed that the Home Office seems to have changed its mind massively. This leads me to believe that the Home Office misleads, both in content and in linguistic implication through its own media.

Jacqui Smith should resign because her policy to introduce ID cards is not democratically supported, is questionable and expensive, and her promotion of the scheme is biased and untrue.

On any number of profiles trying to make sense of or summarise Ms. Smith’s career, another low point has been the proposal to allow imprisonment without charge for 42-days of suspected terrorists. This has proven controversial (simply search for “Jacqui Smith 42 days” to see.) and demonstrates Ms Smith’s disregard for the ancient principle of due process. The Proposal was mercifully scrapped last year.

Jacqui Smith should resign because her principles do not include thousand-year-old fundamentals of basic citizens’ rights.

Not everything undertaken by Ms Smith has been terrible. Throughout a mixed career, it should be mentioned that she held her ground, proved resiliant, and handled difficulties well (until now). The Right Honourable Jacqui Smith, MP has been the UK’s first female Home Secretary, and no doubt worked very hard. However, this was expected of an MP, and a Home Secretary should handle her job well, which is why it is news when this has not been the case.

Ms. Smith has been forced out of office following news of the least-damaging scandal. Shame on the media for blowing out of perspective the theft of several thousand pounds in claimed expenses in the light of a proposed spend of £5bn to encumber citizens and ostracize legitimate foreign nationals. Shame on the reporting that claims her husband’s silly use of £10 to watch porn should take precedent for misleading a nation, trying to create and enforce draconian laws and damaging the reputation of a great democracy.

[1]: It should be noted that the £93 claim is old, and that the Home Office seems to say most recently that the cards will cost £30 for early adopters and rise to £60 after two years.

Additional ID Card Stories include: Scotland refuses to back them., and some initial concern about the cost raised by the LSE.

Image: “Jacqui Smith at anti-binge drinking launch” by “photographyjournal” via flickr

In the technological world, this seems like a strong analogy for Linked Data: information which can be connected by a web-like network of links. These Linked Data have become the foundation for what has come to be known as the “Semantic Web”, a web of connected information which breaks out of information silos and enables the discovery of new ideas from old, and innovation from existing information. We use the phrase “serendipitous reuse” for the idea that once an idea (or a piece of data) is published, it can be used and reused in novel ways and in context of other data to produce unexpected, and unforeseeable possibilities. These ideas (data, again) become increasingly useful when published in a format which allows them to be linked freely to ANY other piece of information. We’ve had the distribution method for this network for years (the good, ol WWW itself) and it’s been about a year since RDF was launched by the WWW Consortium to handle the data itself. The idea is basically to give every bit of data an address (a universal address, not one subjective to a database like a cell reference), and to predicate that bit of information very much like language does. If you think of it like a language, RDF lets bits of data (nouns) to be acted upon or act upon (verbs) others (other nouns). This triple-format enables a near infinite recombination (theoretically) of any data, anywhere with an address.

So, what’s the problem? Well, most of the world’s data are locked away in silos (prisoners of the cells their databases confine them to). Many organisations may wish to make use of their data in a semantic environment, and many might even embrace the Open-source nature of their data, and make it freely available to the world to recombine and use: there are always more innovations outside an organisation than within! In order to lower barriers to enter this linked data world, Talis has built a Platform with resources to host and utilise these connections, making use of semantic web standards (RDF and SPARQL, the query language of the semantic web) and a developer-friendly environment (a RESTFul API, for example).

However, this innovation is only possible when data are accessible. In order to further lower the barriers, Talis is now offering free access to the Platform to host public domain data. We are calling this initiative the Talis Connected Commons, and the offer is not limited to free hosting: the data access services, including access to a public SPARQL endpoint, are also freely available. To keep this data open, you will need to use either the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License or the recently launched Creative Commons CC0 license to publish data. Anyone will then be able to freely access the stored data using the Platform services, without API keys and without usage limits.

There is more information available at www.talis.com/cc, where you can find detailed technical information, FAQ’s and other resources.

Image: “Eggistentialism 1.5 or Three of a Perfect Pair” by bitzcelt (via flickr), CC Licensed

When they arrived, I was surprised by the dummies themselves. They were made to a very high standard, with a pleasant shape (they fly really well off their toggles!). I’ve since discovered that they float, can take just about as much munching as Lucas can give as he stumbles up hills, and last much better than the other one I bought (which, if I recall, was actually more expensive). I was interested in why they seemed so well-thought-out, since they’re essentially just a bag on which to practice retrieving. I quickly found their weak-point, however, when the dummy landed toggle-side down on a stone: the shiny molded plastic shattered! My interest with the company, however, was further piqued when I ordered a few more, and I found the toggle to be a made of hard rubber, which bounced and gripped even better in my hands. This was iterative design, working to make an ever-increasing standard without changing the price or making a feature of general improvements. Being so impressed, I contacted the makers (the Working Dog Company) to find out their story:

Ian has been working his Labradors for a number of years. One of them had a particular problem delivering the standard type of dummy to hand. He either held it by one end like he was smoking a big cigar, or he tossed it around his head by the toggle flap. I spoke to a number of people and gun dog handlers about this problem and it seemed not to be unique to me or my dog. I could not find a dummy on the market that would help me, so I discussed the problem with my daughter who is a designer for a top country clothing retailer and supplier. We decided if we were going to start from scratch, lets change the shape to more closely resemble the shape of a game birds body. Make it softer for the dogs to hold and reduce the size of the toggle flap so that the dog would not be tempted to take hold of it. We came up with this design, offered it in 2 sizes: the Partridge to be utilised as a puppy dummy and the Pheasant to make a dog open its gape and carry as we would expect it to hold a shot bird.

When I retired after 30 years service in the Fire Brigade Jill and I decided to set up The Working Dog Company Ltd, the web site went live in August 2008 and the new dummies were launched (pardon the pun) at the Midland Game Fair in September 2008.

They have proved very popular, demand has been high and we received 2 very good reviews in the shooting press, namely BASC Nov edition magazine and Shooting Times. To view these testimonials visit our web site. We are now providing to a number of gun dog training clubs, professional handlers and shipping out to Scandinavian countries where gun dog training and handling is almost a national past time.

I really like seeing innovation in things that often go un-noticed. I can say that my little pup definitely prefers retrieving the Working Dog Company dummies. In fact, it’s difficult to make him retrieve the other if he’s allowed his preference! It’s certainly a success story so far, and I wish the WDC great luck in future.

As a child in Colorado, I have a distant memory of finding a nugget of pure gold, bigger than the tip of my thumb. I instantly became the richest kid in America! I thought I could buy a husky (with a sled) and a Tama Starclassic Birch studio set with a full range of Paiste cymbals, and maybe a house or three. I could move out on my own, I could—so many expectations; so many promises.

My dad took a quick look and said something like: “Wow, you’ve found iron pyrite. Fools Gold.”

The disappointment! All those things to which I was looking forward disappeared, and the lump of cold angles suddenly seemed a reminder of what could have been.

I have recently had a similar experience with some fools coffee.

Coffee Suppositories?

I was asked by Miele to trial a high-end coffee machine for three weeks, and give an honest account of what I found. I was thrilled, since the last time I got to play with a 5-figure espresso machine was during uni working as a barista. I built up a few images in my mind; imagining pulling perfect shots of central-american Cup of Excellence blends, practising my crema, and tasting half a dozen different coffees to see which worked best with the £1,000 set up. My interest was only piqued further when a colleague at work described Miele as “the Rolls Royce of appliances”.

About three weeks ago, a courier arrived as I sat working from my home office. He delivered a box big enough for a springer spaniel to sleep in, and heavy enough to make the manly nonchalance I affected while carrying it away from the door quite difficult indeed. Nonetheless, I left the box packaged and wrapped up in the hall until the evening, looking forward to the reward of an espresso or six after work.

As I worked my way through the layers of packaging, I gradually unveiled a stainless-steel, microwave-like appliance that dwarfed anything else my kitchen held, except—just—the oven. I scanned the quick-start guide and with a single word, my expectations instantly disappeared: “nespresso”. I lost the will even to unpack and set up this monstrously-large contraption.

Nonetheless, I did set it up, removing all of a counter-top from usable space. My disappointment, if anything, grew as I laboriously set up the menu through an achingly-complicated process involving the use of arrow buttons and “OK” to calibrate a dizzying array of possible settings. Throughout the next two hours, I played with settings, opened all the openable compartments and tried several of the coffee suppositories. My thoughts follow:

The Miele CVA3650 is a giant appliance which costs £1,000 (c. $1400). It looks impressive, with a stainless-steel finish and various accoutrements, including backlighting, obviously included as talking features. It would not feel out of place in a posh flat in Kensington—fitting in like an addition to a designed suite of expensive appliances. Indeed, the lasting impression is of a lifestyle rather than coffee. Browsing the Miele site, I found many photos of kitchens, appliances, and artfully-arranged mugs sometimes held by comfortable, rich-looking models. The only thing missing from these photos?

Coffee.

Nespresso tastes worse than I thought it actually could. I’m not saying that to be snobbish about my coffee, and I was genuinely curious to know what the little, coloured “pods” could produce. The result of every single “brew” was a flat, metallic, suspension of frankly disgusting, tepid liquid. Some aspect of the extraction produces an interestingly-contrived crema every single time, so the drink (I can’t call it coffee) certainly looks impressive. My wife recoiled after the first sip, and I left more than one completely untouched. The terrible “flavia” machine in my office makes better-tasting coffee than this!

The Miele machine is touch-button automation at it’s most falsely economic (time-wise). Sure, it’s convenient to press a button and have an espresso (ahem!) within 30 seconds, but that does not account for the half-hour (no joke) of programming every time the machine is re-plugged back in. I’m afraid I’m green-conscious enough to flip the switch at the wall after every brew, so this makes it ridiculous to use. The menuing system is cumbersome enough to make my eyes water. Two arrows, and “OK” to make every selection. It takes a huge amount of patience, and its… just… aweful! So many features, so few necessary or even useful. You can, for example, programme 9 different “user profiles”. Why? It’s a pod of shite coffee, which will taste EXACTLY the same, no matter which button you push. Why go through dozens and dozens of beeps in order to have a user-specific nescafe?

The only part of this machine which is convenient, is the actual making of a drink. For that, it is fast! It produces a coffee of your choice (out of 5 different capsules) very rapidly (provided it’s been programmed and has already been switched on, obviously.) It will then automatically rinse itself, and let you make another soil infusion very rapidly. You only have to remove the spent capsules periodically from a tub within the machine, and fill up a water reservoir whenever it’s low (though, this is fairly frequently, thanks to the rinsing).

Final Words

Before writing this post, I sent Miele’s representatives a quick heads’ up, with a brief summary which I think works well.

I understand its premise of being a super-convenient means of having a sophisticated-looking hot beverage, but I much prefer my coffee to be tasty, regardless of time. And the amount of time spent scrolling endlessly through menus isn’t really conducive to suiting busy people like myself as a domestic coffee machine. [in reply to the statement that it might prove to be] I’d be much more likely to advise people invest in a cafetiere, grinder and decent beans. For the £1,000 they could have spent on this, they could have many scores of kilos of excellent, locally-roasted, hand-sourced beans, and enough left over to send a thank-you bottle of single malt to the coffee roaster.

The reality is that I tend not to have much time to get the very basics of social-acceptability complete before forcing myself to sleep. Much of this is by choice, no doubt.

Facts: I’d rather read than sleep; I’d rather train the dog to retrieve three different dummies than wash up; and I’d rather cook an exciting dinner than pack a mundane yet healthy lunch.

Much of the time I have, however, is spent working and travelling to work, and trying to get done the things I (and my wife) feel need to be done. A bit of gardening to keep the neighbours from tutting, a bit of washing up so dinner can be made, and walking/training the pup so he doesn’t go mental and eat the cat, our house and the whole world…

I have realised, over the past few weeks, that much of my lifestyle is dependent on a web-connected world. That last sentence reads a bit like an obvious reality from a blogger and someone employed in web innovation; but I mean more than just “My job is dependent on the web”. I work from home half the week rather than commuting the 60+ miles to the office every day; and this requires web access, a vpn connection to work, and various communication services. But I also live in rural Shropshire, and tend to do most of my shopping online. I phone my family back in the states via Skype and keep in touch with friends, colleagues and acquaintances on Twitter. I even plan meetings, arranging transport and buy any travel tickets online. It would be impossible for me to live here and work as I do without a web-enabled life.

The web is part of this lifestyle, though, and there is actually more to this “connected” living than just the links on the web. You see, there is something more about organisation involved. It’s not just that I have a connection to a retail site, but that they’ve innovated their organisation to the point that I can buy most of what I need and want, have it delivered to my door the next day, and still save money and a HUGE amount of time. These connected companies (more in another blog post, probably) are taking advantage of scale to bring a service to web-enabled shoppers.

But its only recently that more interesting services have begun to spring out of this connected cloud of companies. I’ve talked about kiva.org, which organises charitable micro-finance loans through the medium of web-connection and building upon the shoulders of giants like PayPal, who were early innovators in organising payments online. But what about little things? Sure, we can change the world, but can we make a difference to, for example, how we eat tomorrow?

Enter: graze.com. Rob at the office jokingly calls them SaaS (Snacking as a Service). Graze sends a box of healthy and tasty snacks through the post to arrive on subscribed days of the week (i.e. I have mine delivered to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). Graze mixes fresh and dried fruit with nuts and other healthy snacks, for £2.99/box including postage. This is great, healthy food delivered regularly to my desk in time for lunch for less than £3/day!

Graze mixes a few recent innovations to produce this service. Rob’s comment surfaces the “as a Service” ethic, which essentially fills a particular need on a subscription business model via the web. It’s also reminiscent of jukeboxes or music subscriptions applications like Spotify or even iTunes, in that you can choose the level of detail you want to use in organising your snacking, or you can simply “shuffle” them, being surprised but putting no effort into planning.

The long/short? I’ve actually saved money, because I no longer pop out to a petrol station to spend £4 on a barely edible sandwich and snack. I feel better, because this food is actually, truly great for me and It feels nice to eat something light but sustaining when sitting at a desk for hours. I don’t skip lunch, so I’m less inclined to trough when I get home, and all by simply outsourcing my lunch!

What else needs organising in life? Tidying as a service? No? Clothing? Wardrobe as a Service? Ooh, if anyone wants a startup, I’ve got a great idea for a service that delivers clothes perhaps monthly to keep your wardrobe refreshed, or allows for special days (weddings, balls etc… too). What would you outsource, and what service would you provide?

Hi,

Thanks for emailing us.

Our Broadband team have received your email and will get back to you in the next 48 hours. We’re sorry to say that we’ve received more emails than normal over the past few days and this is why it might take us a bit longer to reply to your email.

Our call centres are also very busy just now so please don’t call us for an update on our email reply. Don’t worry, we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks for waiting.

In the mean time, why not check out our broadband help pages…(link)

A few notes on why this is unsatisfactory:

Firstly, an automatic apology (”we’re sorry to say”) means nothing; and I would advise any customer services to not include one. It is cut from the same cloth as the oddly cheery recorded announcements broadcast at rail platforms: “We’re sorry to announce that the **** service to Manchester has been delayed by 45 minutes. We are extremely sorry for this delay.” It raises the blood pressure with its disingenuousness.

Secondly, to say you’ve received many extra emails is foolish in the extreme. It puts me in the role of one in a mass of unhappy customers who must all be receiving the same service; and I feel more than ever like shopping elsewhere. Additionally, an automatic response saying “over the past few days” for two months is hardly accurate. In fact, it’s a lie. If it’s been higher than “normal” for that long, it’s a new normal. Gradually, the meaning becomes something like: “We receive many, many emails of this nature each day—far more than we’re prepared for; and we’re don’t see this as a problem. We are happy with the level of service we supply enough not to expand our team. Join the club, and we’ll get back to you, eventually.”

Thirdly, the opening paragraph is contradictory. One cannot promise 48-hour turnaround in one sentence, then follow it with a sentence explaining it might take a bit longer. It illicits the thought pattern: “Longer than what? Longer than 48 hours; then you shouldn’t say it. Longer than expected; then I will expect less than 48 hours and be disappointed if it is around two days.” It doesn’t make sense.

Moreover, this email abruptly cuts off communication channels with the users: “Our call centres are also very busy just now so please don’t call us”. This is a slap in the face, especially for someone experiencing connectivity issues. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be open with customers, even for a large service provider. Perhaps, actually, especially for a large service provider. Telling customers in need of support not to phone is extremely unadvised.

I will not go into the grammar (team is singular, I therefore expect “Broadband team” to be predicated by the singular stative verb: has; and why is Broadband capitalised?), for this way lies pedantry (and I don’t want anyone even more pedantic pointing out all my mistakes!)

This is the first communication your customer receives after a complaint, it should be crafted with care. It’s not just an automatic reply; it’s the immediate face of your company. And, as it stands now, it’s not an attractive face at all.

I’d be more than happy to outline suggestions for such an email, and I welcome comments.

People tend to make the mistake of giving the puppy attention for making noise in the crate. When you do this, you confirm the puppy’s instinct that being alone is death (it would be, in the wild), and that calling for help will bring someone. -VeterinaryPartner.com

I realise that a single post a few weeks ago simply stating that I had acquired a puppy (admittedly inclusive of photo) is not the best way to enamour myself with dog lovers out there. So, I thought I’d update the puppy narrative a bit, now that Lucas is about 14 weeks old.

Lucas’ first night with us was his calmest, I think. He’d been separated from his mother and two sisters, picked up by a big stranger and driven nearly an hour down winding, Shropshire roads to a place he’d never seen. The journey was smooth, I thought, because he didn’t make a peep. I even stopped once to make sure the bundle was still breathing. I brought him inside, and laid inside his crate with him while he slept, snuggled up against his fleecy hot water bottle. (I think, on reflection, that the adult lab-sized crate was slightly over-kill for a foot-long pup). I’m thinking, at this stage: “Hey, this is great! I remember puppies being much more work than this! Must be the breeding.”

Can I get a “heh…”?

The journey had made him nauseated, and he was exhausted. The next morning, he was squirmy and lovely, like a puppy’s meant to be; and he spent every waking hour with us, and slept on our laps. Come evening, however, and a different puppy emerged.

We didn’t sleep much that week.

He’s done really well, though, and he’s a great little dog. He’s a natural retreiver, and already dives into cover after thrown toys. I’ve become very anxious, however, after reading several articles and a book or three on dog training. You see, I want him to live up to his heritage and be a useful worker as well as a companion. I want him to be attentive, but free and confident, and I don’t want him to pick up any bad habits.

I think I might want a bit too much, frankly. The next stage is to be calmer with him, and make sure he’s not overwhelmed by our wishes. He’s naturally attentive, and he’s already a companionable chap; so I think the rest will come.

To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish. You can also “save drafts” so you don’t have to work on this all in one sitting25 Random Things About Me

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you (no pressure, if you want to write one, write one, don’t do it cos this thing tells you to!).

1. I was born in Ft. Collins, a university town in northern Colorado.
2. I dislike very few foods. indeed I can only think of one dish I would not eat.
3. I hate flying; in part because of fact 4, but for other reasons as well.
4. I am afraid of being in high places. Some call it an irrational fear, but I have yet to grow wings, so find it rational enough.
5. I was born with such light-coloured hair, it was virtually pink.
6. I have a tendency to over-explain, rather than letting my statements…
7. I am picky about the films I watch, and consequently, haven’t seen many lately.
8. The key I most use is the backspace key, followed by the left-arrow for correcting thoughts as I type.
9. I don’t really have a favourite colour.
10. I tend not to like yellow very much.
11. I prefer trains to cars, but very much enjoy driving.
12. I am distressed to the point of insensibility by some things; and this makes me feel older than I am. Currently, I am 56; and inexplicably of high military rank.
13. I am often accused of linguistic pedantry.
14. I tend to disagree. I think this is too easy a reaction to anyone who understands grammar.
15. I often misspell grammar.
16. I make my living by thinking about other ways of doing and saying things, then writing them down. In other words, I work with concepts, the abstract, and writing.
17. Inconsequential things bother and exercise me more than important things.
18. I very much like dogs.
19. I enjoy creating, both with words and with images.
20. I have sold a painting in a coffee house. I have, so far, a 100% success rate for my art.
21. I enjoy semantics. Meaning is important to me.
22. I love thinking about things, in abstracts. I love metaphorical explanations of the way we think.
23. I dislike playing most games, mostly—I think—because I don’t see the point in winning an inconsequential game. This includes winning games. I simply do not experience much joy in winning on arbitrary terms.
24. I don’t understand why women need to know so many details about certain topics: child birth, for example.
25. My middle name is only an initial. It doesn’t stand for anything at all.

This evening I sent this letter to my ISP in response to their support followup (I’ve removed the company name):

Please, please don’t give me a list of troubleshooting tips again…

The broadband router is attached directly to the test socket, therefore guaranteed by BT.

My microfilter is fine, and I’ve had different units at various times (of different makes and even colours); and, before you ask, I’ve got one on every phone line in the house.

I’ve reset the router in the past (though I’ve been informed that this can actually cause up to 5-days delay, it’s been more than a fortnight since the last reset).

My speeds are the same.

Nothing changes them.

I have nothing else running when I run speedtests, and have used multiple sites.

I’ve double and more checked all settings on the router itself, and have even switched SSID channels just for grins (no change).

I receive the same speedtest results on different more or less identical systems (OS X 10.5.6 each) though not at the same time, and receive the same result.

My iPhone also grows excessively sluggish between 5pm and bedtime.

My last ISP supplied me with a list of 13 troubleshooting tasks, and I completed them duly before each escalation… none of them resulted in any increase in speed whatsoever. The only thing I could think to do further is to construct a DIY parabola booster to increase the signal from the router to my Mac, though, since I write this from less than 3 meters from the router, I doubt that would help much either.

The speeds drop at peak times. That means there’s too much traffic for the infrastructure you supply. I’ve had no problem with (name of ISP) so far, and am fully aware that the West Midlands is low on its priority list (or, at least, BT’s list), and have come to terms with the low bandwidth that entails. However, you advertise speeds in my area (and have said in correspondence that you expect speeds in my area) to be at around 3MB/s. This is not true, daily.

Not only have my speeds routinely dipped below 1.5MB, but have even dipped below 500k on several occasions. I’ve not experienced “broadband” of that quality in years.

I appreciate your prompt replies, and hope you find whatever it is that’s causing this slow-down, though I can save you some trouble. It’s my neighbours, and their neighbours—all using limited bandwidth which you and other ISP’s continue to degrade by accepting more customers than you can supply.

Regards,

I’m sure I’m introducing old friends; but Twitter is a “microbloggiing” platform, to give it its proper description. it gives users 140 characters to publish status updates, comments, gripes, complaints, praises, news and whatever comes to mind. It’s burst out of its original answer to the simple question: “What are you doing?” and users often tweet just about everything.

One interesting innovation is the integration of the hashtag. Simply a hash symbol (#) and a tag descriptor for the comment. This gives people the ability to follow particular threads of updates or participate in conversations around an interest. They’re often used, for example, to update the goings on from conferences (#FOWA for example). People give their own content this little bit of information, and a search engine can find them. People can add additional information and follow conventions which allow for distributed trends that anyone can follow and interact with.

The recent snowfall in Britain gave rise to a flurry of tweets about road closures, amounts of snow falling, schools closing down and all the other chaos unleashed. When users followed a simple convention, however, this information got organised. People quickly adopted the #uksnow hashtag to track the topic; and eventually someone worked out a way to capture all the info needed to follow these geographically. By tweeting the first half of a UK post code plus a rating out of ten snowfall, anyone following the thread knows exactly where it’s snowing. It’s like an instant weather polling station, distributed across the country. It can go a step further, however, when services can actually mashup these tweets when users turn their simple status updates into a mini line of code.

This little bit of information allows for people to write software to track and automate the twitter information. This interactive map from benmarsh.co.uk, for example, actually plots a visual graph of snowfall across Britain. Bigger snowflakes indicate larger numbers out of ten in the poll. It’s simple, really. Ingenious, possibly. But the fundamental distinction between this tracking ability and the noise of thousands of Twits shouting about the snow is that little bit of metadata.

So, is this use of twitter a metaphor for the Semantic Web? It’s certainly a picture of automating information flow using metadata via software. Sounds Semanticcy to me.

Surprisingly, however, this feels easy. Whether that’s the second pint talking, however, would require further experimentation.

I should say: it’s easy enough to TYPE. Thinking at the same time, I feel, will take some time. So, my devoted reader, you’re in for a treat of mindlessness…

Still, it’s as well getting used to using mobile interfaces, I think. With it being this painless to finally BE online through such a small portal leads me to think it’ll be a limited time before this is the default for simply connecting.

Now, this isn’t THAT easy… It is so very much faster to type. But, this is fine, and it’ll only get better. However, there are some things which are necessary for this to be my default:

*I need the use of all my fingers. This screen is fantastically good-and I find it very much better as an interface even than my beloved trackball. But the keyboard… It’s too slow.

*Faster app switching. This will surely improve with time, but it’s a bit of a train-of-thought killer.

*Copy/paste. I mean: Come On!

*Finally, the way to navigate among text is to hold one’s finger somewhere near the text, and drop the resulting cursor somewhere near the letter. Arrows alongside this would be very useful.

So, there you have it: my first iPhone post. Not sure I’ll rush out to to it again. But it’s possible. I need more practice with the interface, but I’m not sure if I will.

One last thought: there’s limited to no file handling. This is a mistake, I think. I would very much hate to lose this much thumb-written text now…