The Really Big Show
Just a thought from 31 January 2005 about Art, Cole Valley, Photography, Powazek, San Francisco.

For weeks Heather and I have been running the photo printer constantly, buying up lengths of wire and strange plastic bits, and having conversations like, "does this dog go with this ripped graffiti?" and "I dunno, the broken taillight or the billowy cotton candy?" And after two late nights with tape and levels and other implements of destruction, we're finally done. Our first joint photo show is up.

It's called "Local Color" and it's 42 color photos and a bunch of Polaroids of the San Francisco we know and love. Except for that one that Heather shot in Mexico, but shhh, that's a secret.

If you're in San Francisco, do stop by Reverie Cafe at 848 Cole Street sometime between now and the Ides of March for a look. If not, well, here's a glimpse of the Wall o' Pets (my contribution, natch).

A short history of my affliction with weblogs
Just a thought from 25 January 2005 about Bloggies, Powazek, Weblogs.

I'm honored to be a nominee for the 2005 Bloggies in the category of, get this, Lifetime Achievement. Seriously. If I win, I think I might just retire.

New 'round here? Here's a short history of my affliction with the world of weblogs.

1997: I begin posting personal thoughts in reverse-chronological order. There is a photo of my cat. This is called a "homepage."

2000: Put blog in tiny box. Get called "brain dead" by Dave Winer. Consider it as new slogan. Reject idea. Ask "What's a weblog?" and get some ideas. Go to work for Pyra as Creative Director and design Blogger "B". Host first-ever weblog panel discussion at SXSW. Redesign.

2001: Redesign. Write Design for Community. Mention weblogs in last chapter. Seems like enough text at the time. Create City Stories Project, a proto-Metblogs.

2002: Same design. Amazing! Contribute to blog book. Go to work for AlterNet and implement news blogs. Still waiting for fad to pass.

2003: Redesign. Get filmed for Blogumentary giving three seconds of thought to a 30 year subject. Add Storyblog to Fray.

2004: Redesign. You're lookin at it!

2005: Give up waiting for fad to pass. Go to work for Technorati.

Thanks for visiting. Come back soon. Oh, and, please do vote if you're so inclined.

Buy My Car
Just a thought from 23 January 2005 about For Sale, Powazek.

Live in the Bay Area and have a hankerin' for a luxury automobile? Then keep on lookin! But if you want the perfect city car, able to haul a bike and still fit in the little parking spots, check out my car. Her name is Flo and she's free to a good home. And by free, I mean about three thousand dollars.

Searching vs. Browsing
Just a thought from 19 January 2005 about Blogging, Folksonomy, Tags, Technorati.

Or: Why you're gonna be hearing the word "tag" a lot

Think about these two words for a moment: "Search" and "Browse." They're words that are used frequently to describe things we do on computers. But consider their traditional associations:

Browsing is shopping, strolling, flipping through a magazine. Browsing is fun, casual, entertaining.

Searching is mechanical, trial and error, frustrating. Searching is work.

There's a powerful emotional difference between the two. Now let's talk about tags.

Lots of smart people have been buzzing about tags lately, and for good reason. Tags are like categories or subjects - a general description of a thing. So, for example, I might tag this photo of my dog with the words: Dog, Chihuahua, and Bug.

Once I've tagged my photos, they can be easily collected on a page - I can see all my photos tagged Chihuahua, thanks to Flickr. Take that to the next level and I can see everyone's Chihuahua photos. Neat! Take that aggregation one step further and you can see everything tagged with Chihuahua anywhere. Even neater.

Continue reading “Searching vs. Browsing” »

It's About Time
Just a thought from 19 January 2005 about Comment Spam, Geek, Google, Internet.

Google Blog: Preventing comment spam

If you're a blogger (or a blog reader), you're painfully familiar with people who try to raise their own websites' search engine rankings by submitting linked blog comments like "Visit my discount pharmaceuticals site." This is called comment spam, we don't like it either, and we've been testing a new tag that blocks it.

Can I have a little told-ya-so moment? I called for Google to own up to the problem they created for bloggers in november of 2003, exactly 14 months ago. It's about time.

JPG Magazine is GO!
Just a thought from 13 January 2005 about JPG Magazine, Photography, Powazek.

The first issue of JPG Magazine is out!

Bring on the reality distortion field!
Just a thought from 11 January 2005 about Apple, Geek.

Today's the day to watch the Apple madness going on in San Francisco. It's Macworld! I suggest following the fun with this Technorati search for "Macworld". It's sure to get interesting in the afternoon when everyone's blogging the Stevenote and all his one-more-things. Personally, my money's on the smaller-than-mini iPod, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the $500 headless iMac. (Of course, I remember when those were called "Performas"). iHome? Wishful thinking.

Let the games begin!

Update: Woo hoo! We get new iPod Shuffle, Mac Mini, iLife, and iWork. Yowza.

Emotions create decisions
Just a thought from 5 January 2005 about Emotions.

Sometimes in the cacophony of blog noise, there's a gem like this post from Caterina:

People whose brains are damaged in their emotional centres are not only unable to express joy or sadness, they are unable to make decisions and they are unable to choose. Because you make decisions based on what you would like, what you fear would happen if you chose to do another thing instead, what you fear would happen if you don't do this particular thing in time, or what you desire the outcome to be.

I can't tell you how many emotionally broken men I've befriended, worked for, or have known in my life (fortunately not many currently). I've often wondered if I was too emotional for my own good, but I'm not. In fact, being in touch with your emotions is a prerequisite for any designer. After all, what's design about if not anticipating the way your work makes people feel?

Ephemera Year One
Just a thought from 4 January 2005 about Photography.

Every photo I posted to Ephemera in 2004.