Category Archives: news.english.net.in

Clay Shirky is confused about the origin of language and the significance of the Wisdom of the Language for web publishing

Ushahidi is a word, Mr. Shirky — not something that came about just yesterday: Ushahidi (Swahili for “testimony” or “witness”) Likewise, Gawker.COM recruits writers, not Nick Denton. You seem to be thoroughly confusing two completely distinct phenomena: Gawker and Ushahidi … Continue reading

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A clear indicator that many people in Central Europe still do not understand English: Twitter (cf. “Zwitschern”)

“Und Twitter, ist das auch so wie Facebook?” “Nee, das habe ich noch nicht begriffen. Das ist doch sowas wie’n Blog?” O-Ton am Nebentisch. Post English Net in Home News Forum

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The Wisdom of the HTML = the difference between the link and the URL

What is the difference between links and URLs? There is really only one significant difference: The content that is contained within the link tag — usually called the “link text” (even though it is quite often — as in the … Continue reading

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Fred Wilson discovers something in comscore’s data I noted over 3 years ago :)

Here are the top thirty Internet properties in the world as measured by comScore [see graph] The interesting thing about this chart is that 75% of these properties are based in the US. Contrast that with only 17% of the … Continue reading

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Heterogeneous Co-Mingling > Homogeneous Networking

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of large “social networking” websites (such as twitter and facebook) — and also the significance of online media in the scope of global socio-economic issues. Following the Wisdom of the Language, … Continue reading

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There is a spectre that is haunting the economy — that spectre is a revolution in the technology previously known as literacy.

LOL — Mashing up a famous Karl Marx quote with Jay Rosen’s “people previously known as the audience” So  literacy is no longer just about learning to read,  it is no longer just about reading, no longer about reading + … Continue reading

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Over the past couple weeks, some people have been making statements about the way FaceBook handles data that have shown these people to be very naive and lacking basic web skills — apparently, many still have virtually no grasp whatsoever of fundamental online literacy

Here’s the basic story: If you send data to facebook.com and allow them to publish it, then it is has become facebook.com’s data (just like the stuff you type into a Google search box becomes Google’s data — and yes, … Continue reading

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I like following my *interests* — and certainly if companies follow related interests, then our paths may cross. Such interests are normally expressed in natural language — as in: “English” or “German” (or sometimes even a dialect / jargon term)

Smart idea. Natural evolution of following friends is to follow the companies with which you associate. I LIKE this. http://www.facebook.com/susanbratton?v=wall&story_fbid=119806711383737 Post English Net in Home News Forum

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