Here’s some excerpts:

The problem:
“…for all of the press and fanfare, most social software is, well, socially awkward. ”
“…design is profoundly awkward for more nuanced social interaction. ”
“…most social software tools are clumsy and ineffective at smoothly facilitating interpersonal interaction.

The opportunity:
“…From an historical perspective, we are still in the early days of social interaction design.”
“…social software is pretty far from mature”
“…there is ample opportunity to produce something truly new.”

Success requires:

“…different skills than those employed traditionally in software design.”

“…a deep understanding of the unseen elements of relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules in social systems.”

Here’s a link to the original article

And here’s a video of him giving a talk based on that article:

That’s because people are often talking at cross purposes. It turns out that privacy is virtually impossible to define. And to further confuse matters, we think we care about it. But when it really comes down to it. We don’t.

To begin to make progress in understanding privacy we first have to recognise that we relate to privacy at two distinct levels. At a societal level and at a personal level.

Yet another threat to society

At the societel level the concern is about government spooks and megacorporations. Pouring over your data and watching your every move. This is a very real concern. But…

It’s impersonal. And filed away in our heads under “Yet another threat to society.” In short people don’t feel it acutely enough to actually alter their day-to-day behaviour. Even though they kinda know they should. So, in a practical sense its just as if people don’t care about privacy.

This time its personal

The erosion of privacy at a personal is very different. I hold that privacy cannot be usefully defined at this level, except to be defined by the breach. By instances of social embarassment. By those moments when social spheres collide with messy consequences.

Facebook has gone further than most in bringing this reality to light. At its best Facebook is a serendipity engine. At its worst its a privacy trainwreck.

To restate that. When we are pleasantly surprised we call it serendipity. When we are unpleasantly surprised we call it a breach of privacy.

‘Privacy’ is a red herring

Its all very subjective and context sensitive and this is why I say that at this level privacy as a notion is not amenable to definition. And it distract and confuses us, making it difficult to see what is really going on.

Its better to reframe the situation. And recognise that people don’t care about privacy. What they really care about is social embarassment.

They want the happy accidents that are the upside of social collisions without the messy consequences that are the downsides.

Of course, this is not possible with Facebook. Its a double-edged sword. You can’t have one without the other.

The Future
I suppose someone will eventually find a way give the consumers what they want. The upside without the downside. What will it look like? Who knows, but it will likely be a new platform that doesn’t have these problems baked in.

*****Timely example********

Facebook ‘reconnect’: The latest Facebook innovation illustrates this baked in double-edged sword… serendipity engine / privacy trainwreck scenario perfectly.

Facebook ‘reconnect’ prompts users to reconnect with ex-lovers and dead friends.

The Holy Grail of Facebook Privacy is a simple guide to protecting yourself on Facebook and making sure you never end up with an embarrassing situation that could have lasting repercussions, potentially even costing your job.

It runs to 24 detailed pages.

This is not for normal people.

Normal people will not buy this book.

Normal people will not read a detailed 24 page guide to navigating the privacy setting on facebook.

Normal people will not keep updating and curating setting at the level of detail required as their social networks morph and grow.

Facebook privacy is not attainable by normal people. The settings are just too complicated and detailed. They are too offputting and require too much attention and curation.

The result:

Here’s a light-hearted take on how your sense of privacy is easily compromised by people like your Mom.

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

Here’s how it easily compromised by you:

Conclusion:
Facebook’s privacy setting are truly only a fig-leaf of protection. They only serve to protect us from the embarassament we feel. About what we know to be the truth of human nature.

Share a place you love. Without spoiling the joy of discovery.

Have a look at this Google Map of caches in the West of Ireland. And zoom out for caches across the rest of the world.

With thanks to Chris Reilly.

Another great tool from the guys that brought us Toddle “beautifully simple email newsletters.”

3 minute screen cast shows how simple this is to use.
Play in FULLSCREEN mode.

FULLSCREEN VIEW———————MOUSEOVER BOTTOM RIGHT—^

Out of the blocks
Back in 2002, Wolfram published his grand theory in ‘A New Kind of Science’.
It left the scientific establishment standing awestruck.
And not a little bewildered.

They have remained that way since.
Rooted to the spot.

As he powered ahead.

What’s the big idea?

In ‘A New Kind of Science’ he mapped out a new theoretical framework.
With Wolfram Alpha, he demonstrates the power of that theory in practice.

So what’s does his theory have to say?

It shows how simple hypotheses.
Can be used. To capture the operation
of. Large complex natural systems.

It is a veritable ‘How To’. As in. How to probe
what is going on in large complex natural systems.

Is there anything practical here?

This was massive. It shook the (academic) world.
But, that is not the end of the story.
In fact, its just the beginning.

With Alpha, Wolfram shows how to put this theory into practice.

What the link between the theory and practice again?

With Wolfram Alpha, at its most basic:

1. You enter a ’simple hypothesis’ into the search/query box
2. It takes that simple hypothesis and tests it against a massively complex set of data about the natural world.
3. It returns a result. Or set of results.
4. You refine your hypothesis and test again.

Okay so that’s the basic. What’s the next step?

Its not much of a leap to automate this recursive process and noodle through data to uncover data relationships and crystallise them into concepts that can be tested again. This is practically a description of thinking.

This is the scientific method. Writ large. Running at light speed. Automated. And practiced against massive and massively complex data sets. As opposed to through physical experiments set up in labs with bunsen burners and test tubes.

Wolfram delivers the demo very matter of fact. Is this really a game changer?

Before the demo I was thinking “too good to be true.”
But this demo has blown my socks off.
I now think this will change more than the game.

This will change everything.
Your personal life.
Your work.
Your industry.
Your country.
Your world.

I want to shout out
“Welcome to the inflection point of the information revolution”.
“The singularity is just around the corner.”
So yes I’m excited.

I am daring to believe.

Bonus link:
Joe Drumgoole has a (kinda) Top 10 on why this is a game changer in Silicon Valley answering the ‘meh..sure won’t Google just buy it or bury it anyway’. Fave line from the top “Alpha.. generates new information from data as opposed to slavishly returning the mob results that Google collects.”

3 easy steps.

1. Tell everyone you know.
2. Draw a circle on your hand.
3. Turn up.

Here’s a taste of what they did in New York.

In London. A massive free-for-all spontaneous pillow fight.

In Dublin…

Tonight at 8pm. Outside the Stag’s Head.

View Larger Map

This will be an especially special flashmob as it is organised by internet rockstars Jonah Peretti and Ze Frank. You’ll never get a better chance to make internet history in Dublin. Don’t miss out!

So what is the biggest baddest puzzle of our time.
In short, too much of a good thing.
Information overload.

We live in an age where we are easily
overwhelmed by the constant flood of
high value information.

Information makes you smarter.
Until it becomes overwhelming.
Then it makes you dumb.

Drinking from the firehose is not the best way to quench a thirst.

So how can we cope?
Well, Twitter helps a lot.

It delivers the first part of the solution.

It enforces brevity.
And that’s good.

It also deliver the second part of the solution:

Finding what is relevant to you.
By using friends as filters.

The third part of the solution?

Real-time search of real-time discussion.
This is why Twitter purchased ‘Summize.’

The final part of the solution.

Is real-time search within the bounds of ‘friends as filters’
This delivers real-time results most relevant to you.

This is exactly what is provided by Twission.

Check it out. Twission.

Note: its quite slow at the moment, but you’ll quickly get the idea