November 2006 – Page 2

Web 2.0 doesn’t share its toys

In an interesting detour in the question of what “Web 2.0” really means, Nicholas Carr (of “Does IT Matter” fame) takes on Lessig in his weblog post Web 2.0lier than thou and challenges Lessig’s claim that Web 2.0 is synonymous with unrestricted sharing of information (and consequently that services with built in restrictions such as YouTube are not Web 2.0). Carr asserts that this is not an accurate portrayal of the current web, and that Lessig’s moralistic take on Web 2.0 is idealistic utopianism. All of the sharing just furthers industry and in fact exploits th creative individual by asking … Continue reading Web 2.0 doesn’t share its toys

Math is still hard

By AMH

From last week over at badscience, this is one of the most succinct and compelling examples I’ve seen of why everyone needs to know math, particularly prob/stats math. The example centers on a legal case and everyone involved’s inability to compare two conditional probabilities. Or, more properly, that the relevant thing to compare is conditional probabilities. It’s one of those situations where knowing how to do the calculations isn’t as important as knowing what the calculation you should be doing is.

Wait – that’s what we’re doing, right?

By AMH

Computing changes our world – not a new idea – but this registration-required NYTimes essay (you’re using BugMeNot, right?) summarizes what some computer scientists think is, and isn’t, coming. Predictions? More interdisciplinary impact and more policy issues requiring knowledgable leadership. Data mining in social networks as a promenent theme (I’m guessing the whiteboard scribbles in the photo at the top of the page are illustrating clusters…) It all suggests to me that getting more people educated about the fundamental capabilities of techology and the implications of its use is going to get more important to us over the next decade … Continue reading Wait – that’s what *we’re* doing, right?