NorthStarNerd.Org

Normandy Battleground Photos ... then and now!

Let me invite my online friends to take a look at these dramatic photographs of Normandy. You will get to see World War II battleground photos juxtaposed with the same exact view from today's France. My father is both a World War II and Korean War Veteran. Thanks, Dad.

The link and one screenshot are given below.

http://opendoorway.multiply.com/video/item/172/Normandia-ontemehojePARTE1

Adding Yourself to Your Own Twitter List

My thanks to C|Net which is where I learned this feature ... it's not obvious. I was one of the lucky (?) ones recently who Twitter gave access to their new feature, Twitter Lists. This ability allows me to create lists along whatever topic lines I desire. My first list is people who work in the collaboration space for large corporations and organizations. Just like Twitter accounts, you may "follow" Twitter lists. Hopefully this ability will make it easier to filter content on Twitter. Here is the link to my list.

• Twitter List: Collaboration 2.0
  
Focus: Individuals within organizations who work upon internal collaboration projects ... thus not consultants, not Web 2.0 companies, etc.

One darn inconvenient task, and hard to find is ... adding yourself to your own Twitter list. After all, why would I not add myself to the list given above? The task was not obvious ... once again, my thanks to C|Net for their post. I've improved upon their content by adding the screenshot given below. Click to maximize. (Learn about our benchmarking council's Google Wave test)

Riding the Google Wave: Test #2

Our benchmarking group invites you to "ride the wave" with us. If you already have a Google Wave account, work for a large organization and would like to work through a formal test of Google Wave and its possible use for collaboration and sharing, you're most welcome to join us.

Please send your request to RichardHoeg<at>GMail.Com. Please include a link to your LinkedIn public profile.  While our goal is not to exclude folks from our test, the web can be a nasty place ... we want to protect our other participants. Thank you for your understanding. (learn about our first test)

Our test will examine the following statement via Google Wave and eMail (i.e. we will perform the same test using new and old media):

• What are the main benefits for a company to have a Web 2.0 presence and what can be considered best practices in doing so? 

Our first test was over the course of two hours last night with about 20 people surfing the wave in real time. It was confusing. Here is my post about that Wave (test #1). Here is are starting point for test #2 (click to maximize)

Impressions of a Google Wave

I promised I would blog on my impressions of tonight's test of Google Wave. Approximately sixteen of us from a number of different companies attempted to do a formal test of Google Wave. The theme for the evening was corporate use of LinkedIn. However, our goal was not so much to discuss LinkedIn, but rather to have a set topic for our Wave. Here are my impressions;

• Our wave started at 7 pm Central time. It was scheduled for one hour
• The wave just keeps on rolling ... 193 messages have been posted in about 2 hours
• While we tried to stick to our topic, we ended up often discussing Wave itself
• Confusion was often apparent. When you can see five or six people typing in "real time" it gets easy to become distracted from your current thought.
• None of us really understand what a Wave is yet. It's not a wiki; it's not email, and the group is evolving.

I was hoping to post a number of screenshots, but I now understand that would violate the privacy of the group. We did have some good discussions, which obviously I want to respect. One idea that comes to mind after this experience is it might be a good idea to pre-build a wave. In other words, if someone created content which a group could critique ... the end result might be very valuable.

(see information about our group's Google Wave Test # 2 ... including an invite)

Here are a few Wave resources I found in preparing for tonight:

• An business Wave example from SAP Research: Gravity
• A good list of Google Gadgets to get you started.
• A Google Wave Quick Reference Guide
• Google Wave Extensions & Gadgets List (from Google)

Please note that the guide is not my work, but the original site now seems to crash (docs.docstoc.com)

Finally, here is one screenshot from tonight's Wave before we got started. Click to maximize.

Software Quick Reference Guides

I'm not certain if I've ever mentioned these guides before, but if you're ever in need of a free, downloadable quick reference guide ... Custom Guides is the place to go. You'll find software guides for most common applications hosted upon both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Oops .. Sorry Dad .. Missed Minnesota While Flying my A320 Airbus

This is almost funny, except it could have been tragic (fuel, aircraft handling, other jets, etc). Two Northwest / Delta pilots of an Airbus A320 "missed" Minneapolis on Wednesday and took a "Sunday drive" over central Wisconsin. Now I know many folks from both coasts consider Minnesota "Fly Over Land", but this is taking it to the extreme. Anyhow, the flight from San Diego missed Minneapolis (we really are a big city) and flew on into Wisconsin

Traffic controllers tried for 78 minutes to contact the wayward jet ... while it maintained radio silence and flew past my fair city by 150 miles. While the speculation is the pilots fell asleep, I have a much more logical explanation ... maybe the pilots are Green Bay Packer Fans who are upset the Vikings now have Brett Favre!

• Read the full article via the Wall Street Journal

And of course the classic cover from the New Yorker Magazine ... a New Yorker's view of America. Notice Minneapolis is not even on the map! I think we're somewhere up in Canada.

Faculty Blogs

Yesterday I was reading an RSS Feed for a friend who offered up some new academic blogs he had found interesting. His list got me to thinking, how easy would it be to construct a Google query which would easily find academic blog portals. If you needed to do some new research, this could be valuable. After a few tries I hit upon this Google query ... "faculty blogs" while limiting the domain to .edu. While that simple query might not seem like much, the results were quite nice. Some of my initial results included:

• Princeton University Faculty Blog Portal
• Carnegie Mellon Cyber Academy Faculty Blogs
  and
• Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government Faculty Blogs

It's worth running this Google query to find schools and academic disciplines of interest to you. Since I tend to focus on technology and engineering in this blog, here are a few other finds of mine:

MIT Engineering Systems

• Intellectual Property: Technology, Culture, Policy
  Frank R. Field, III, Ph.D.
  Senior Research Associate, MIT CTPID
  Director of Education, TPP
  Senior Research Engineer
  Senior Lecturer in Engineering Systems
  .
• A collection of observations, news and resources on the changing nature of innovation and the future of information technology
  Irving Wladawsky-Berger
  Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems Division
  VP, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM

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Princeton University

• Freedom to Tinker
  Edward Felten
  Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs
  Director, Center for Information Technology Policy
  .
• Dirty Slate Design
  Michael Freedman
  Assistant Professor of Computer Science
  .
• Wang Lab Blog
  Samuel Wang
  Associate Professor of Molecular Biology

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Biz.Edu: Top Business Professor Blogs

These professors write about the impact of technology on business in these blogs that offer topics on sustainable technology, innovation, and more.

• The Impact of Information Technology (IT) on Businesses and their Leaders. Written by Andrew McAfee, a professor at Harvard Business School, this blog features technology as it pertains to business.
  .
• Harga-Blog. Andrew Hargadon writes about technology innovation and management with an emphasis on sustainable technology. Recent topics include innovation and entrepreneurship, smart design, and a discussion of what makes a good idea.
  .
• Technology and Organizations. Terri Griffith, from Santa Clara University, takes a look at technology and its application in organizations in her blog.
  .
• Eric Goldman. This law professor writes about technology and marketing on his blog, which covers Internet law and news, copyright and technology, and more.
  .
• Open IT Strategies. Joel West writes about IT and business with a focus on creating business models.
  .
• Karim R. Lakhani’s Infrequent Musings. This Harvard professor blogs about technological innovation here.
  .
• billso.com. Read about "management, mobile computing, and information systems" in this Hawaii Pacific University professor’s blog. Recent posts have included Google apps, time management, and Scrabulous on Facebook.

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Online College.Org

These blogs are written by top math and science professors.

• Nerdy Science Blog: Get nerdy about science on this blog.
  .
• Female Science Professor: This professor offers a glimpse into the life of a female science professor.
  .
• Bad Astronomy: Check out Bad Astronomy to learn from professor Phil Plait.
  .
• Sciencewomen: This scientist and engineer discuss the changes they want to see in science.
  .
• Impact Lab: The Impact Lab offers a look into the future of human experience.
  .
• YoungFemaleScientist: Read about the life and work of a young female scientist on this blog.
  .
• Cosmic Variance: This group blog is all about physicists and astrophysicists.
  .
• Pharyngula: PZ Myers, a biologist, writes Pharyngula.
  .
• Medical Futility Blog: Thaddeus Pope writes about policy and developments in medical futility.
  .
• Dr. Wes: Westby G. Fisher discusses cardiology and internal medicine.
  .
• Neurotopia: Learn about neuroscience on Neurotopia.
  .
• Drug Monkey: These bloggers work as scientists in biomedical and basic science.
  .
• BrainBlog: On BrainBlog, you’ll read about the brain and behavior.
  .
• Ourboros: Ourboros discusses research in the biology of aging.
  .
• Professor Astronomy: Professor Astronomy will help you keep up with the latest in astronomy.
  .
• NeuroDojo: Train your brain with the NeuroDojo blog.
  .
• The Mind of Dr. Pion: Read ravings on physics, politics, education, monitoring, and more.
  .
• Janus Professor: Janus Professor writes about travels in a two-body life.
  .
• EagerEyes: Get a look into visualization and visual communications through this blog.
  .
• Science Musings Blog: You can learn about science musings on this blog.
  .
• The Blog Prof: The Blog Prof is an associate professor of engineering discussing politics, science, and more.
  .
• RealClimate: RealClimate is all about climate science.
  .
• Explorations in Science: Explore science with Dr. Michio Kaku, professor and popularizer of science.

Technology

With these blogs, you’ll be able to learn from technology professors.

• Andrew McAfee: Andrew McAfee discusses the business impact of IT.
  .
• Shtetl-Optimized: Scott Aaronson’s blog discusses quantum computers and more.
  .
• Details of a Global Brain: Read this blog about interface, interaction, and information design.
  .
• Open IT Strategies: Joel West offers a look at the use of open-ness as a competitive strategy.
  .
• Knowing and Doing: Read Knowing and Doing to find the reflections of an academic and computer scientist.
  |.
• Harga-Blog: Andrew Hargadon’s blog is a conversation about technology, design, and creativity.
  .
• Technology and Organizations: Read Terri Griffith’s blog to learn about technology and organizations.
  .
• Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Check out what Eric Goldman has to say about the laws of technology and marketing.

The Old Testament (He Qi's Traditional Chinese Folk Art)

It's not often in life you get the opportunity to combine your major beliefs and ability. With that brief introduction, I am pleased to present this musical web mashup of the Bible's Old Testament, traditional Chinese folk art and music (Amazing Grace). All the art was created by my friend, Chinese artist He Qi.

We may be friends, but He Qi's life and mine could not be more different ...

While I was growing up in Minnesota during the 1960's, and worrying about the fortunes of my favorite Minnesota Twins baseball players, He Qi was being "re-educated" by the Chinese. He Qi was considered an "undesirable" due to his Christian faith, and was sent into the Chinese country side to learn proper thought. The local authorities learned of his artistic ability, and he was given the task of painting portraits of Chairman Mao. By night, he painted the Madonna. (Learn more about He Qi via Christianity Today)

I own two of He Qi's large silk prints including the Nativity and Finding Moses. Both works of art hang in places of honor in my home and appear in the video (more on He Qi's Silk Print Style |detail). Here is the link to He Qi's online gallery.

As a reminder, my wife Molly and I have been privileged to learn a little bit about China through our work and trips that built both an elementary school and a dorm in rural China. Our travels took us up in the mountains near the Vietnamese border. I hope you enjoy this web mashup. You may wish to maximize the video to get a better view of the Chinese Folk Art:

Old Testament (China) on PhotoPeach (video link)

Baby Boomers Drive the Web!

Baby Boomer Web ... think about it. Classic thought would lead to the conclusion that it is the young who are driving the web's growth, but this may be wrong. Earlier today I read a great blog post by Dominic Basulto on this subject. In his post, he reviews this theme, and links to some great web usage demographics from CNN. I'll list some facts from the CNN article, but consider this first ...

• The Baby Boomers will be the first generation to approach retirement with both significant money and tech savvy know how. Companies that build successfully upon this demographic should make nice profits.

Here is some Nielsen web usage data provided by CNN:

Users with household income above $75,000
Facebook -- 41.74 percent
MySpace -- 32.38 percent
LinkedIn -- 58.35 percent
Twitter -- 43.34 percent

Users with household income under $50,000
Facebook -- 28.42 percent
MySpace -- 37.13 percent
LinkedIn -- 17.34 percent
Twitter -- 28.36 percent

Female users
Facebook -- 56.33 percent
MySpace -- 56.69 percent
LinkedIn -- 48.11percent
Twitter -- 53.59 percent

Users aged 18 to 24
Facebook -- 10.27 percent
MySpace -- 15.46 percent
LinkedIn -- 3.99 percent
Twitter -- 9.51percent

Users aged 35 to 49
Facebook -- 31.54 percent
MySpace -- 29.09 percent
LinkedIn -- 43.64 percent
Twitter -- 34.02 percent

If you would like to do some more exploring of web demographics and usage, I also recommend linking to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Opus Meets Google Wave

I received my invite to Google Wave at 6:15 a.m. yesterday morning. Yipee! My wife knows that I am a lost cause each evening as I explore the depths of this ocean!  After all, I receive inspiration in life from Opus (from Bloom County). I may even stop by the library today on the way home from work! (click to view full sized)