blog.forgreatjustice.net

“REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer, which is basically meaningless.” (Agile Development on Rails, p175)

Of the larger companies fueling the progress of Web2.0 technologies, Yahoo! is a major player. Besides their acquisition and support of the biggest technologies - Upcoming, Flickr, del.icio.us - they’re also giving back to the community in big ways, like the PHP and JavaScript Development Centers. Yahoo! is providing a positive model of how a growing company can support a global information-driven economy.

Also, Yahoo has helped the Chinese government find and arrest pro-democracy dissidents. Information drawn from recovered “Draft” email proved that the suspect was planning with a “Freedom and Democracy Party”. The conseqences for him will be very severe. (In all fairness: it’s a lot easier to look out at the politcal natures of other countries, rather than make a clear judgement call about our own societies.)
Could this have been done better? I’m not sure. Business operating in a foreign government need to operate by their rules to stay open, and it’s not clear that denying Chinese citizens access to technology would help anyone, even if this technology is under the sway of the government. There might not be an easy solution here, and I wouldn’t argue for one.

However, I would argue against any utopian technologist who would suggest that networks are some silver bullet for freedom and progress. They can help, or they can just as easily be co-opted by the status quo, and for this reason a good technologist should always keep a good reality check at her side.

Google’s frontpage is often described as extremely elegant and simple; Don Norman suggests that “the truth about Google’s so-called simplicity” is simply deception and hiding of features, rather than actual simplicity and ease of use. Chris McEvoy tried to implement a vision of a simpler Google. Try it for yourself: Simply Google.

I’m afraid that this new attempt isn’t very “simple”, or more importantly, easy. The page dumps nearly every option of entire Google endeavor into a single consolidated page. I can appreciate how this is great for power users, and while it’s not aesthetically perfect, much of that could be aided by some prettifying of the layout. However, you can’t get away from the fact that there’s a row of over 20 buttons marked “Search”, and a flood of links at both sides. If anything, this UI feels hyperactive.
This experiment feels like a far cry from usability, so perhaps high usability is not identical to simplicity. If this was the first page someone saw, there’s a good odds that they just wouldn’t soak more time into the page. Usability is, roughly, making the page’s functionality flow naturally into the user’s expectation. I’m find myself agreeing with Don’t Make Me Think* principles, and I don’t think this site follows that standard of maximizing user flow.
In the comments, Chris agrees that this isn’t an end-state of usability:

Design-wise, it is at the other extreme from the ’simple’ official google homepage and shows that the most usable version is probably somewhere in-between the two.

And Google’s UI approach isn’t the end-all either (The idea of “home page googlization” seems like the case where everything looks like a nail for your GoogleHammer.) I’m skeptical that this flattening of all features is moving the page towards greater usability, but I look forward to seeing how these experiments progress, and what they come up with,

* See also: Don’t Make Me Think : A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition)

I really like sourdough bread: is a complex, challenging and ultimately dangerous sort of bread, and I’ve only found satisfactory sourdough from San Fransisco. If I get it elsewhere, it’s just a loaf of tragedy.

I just don’t dig rye. I feel like it tries too hard to be special with those damn seeds but, seriously, it’s just trying too hard, and I’m not feeling that caraway vibe.

Potato bread is basically a plain white bread with delusions of grandeur. Sure, it seems more nuanced and delicious at first. But after a loaf or so, it’s just like another bland white bread, and perhaps even more disillusioning as what was once delicious – the taste of potato – is itself dominated with the blandness. By now I sorta wish I’d never bothered with potato bread. All that bread chewing got me to same point of disillusionment with the whole bread thing.

But still, I gotta eat bread, right? So anyway, Whole Wheat Bread gives good, tasty traditional pop-punk offerings. It doesn’t break new ground, but nonetheless it’s pop-punk done right, and that’s more than enough.

I finally read Danah Boyd’s paper, Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace. Definitely give it a read. The two points I found most interesting:

(1) MySpace is about cultural identity production. You tweak your profile to show off what your style/clique/affiliation is, just like uniform clothing within cliques.

(2) MySpace gives a social space without authority. Excerpt:

“Teens have increasingly less access to public space. Classic 1950s hang out locations like the roller rink and burger joint are disappearing while malls and 7/11s are banning teens unaccompanied by parents. […] By going virtual, digital technologies allow youth to (re)create private and public youth space while physically in controlled spaces.”

That night, I think I experienced the fluttr effect. I don’t mean the band, Fluttr Effect, but rather: while watching their rocking performance of “Say Goodbye” near the end I saw, quite literally, every movement simply merge and flickr, fluttering into a blur of mighty idiosyncratic rock. I can’t tell you when precisely the guitar’s fists melted into the wicked marimba melted into the swinging orange hair of the vocalist, but I can tell you that this was a good, good thing.

Also: electric cello. Fluttr Effect is a quirky band, nearly to the point of feeling like art-rock or indie. And yet while listening through their songs, I’ve never once felt like they were forgetting about actual song craft. Their music pulls of some interesting things, combining some sound fusion I’d never expected before. The MIDI-powered marimba / electric cello isn’t something I’d expect to meld with power chords, but they make it work. The vocals are themselves an interesting mix. Songs like “Transmission” feel like a well-crafted balled, while otheres (”Tarantula” is a standout) use the vox as just another instrument, letting the other instruments push the song forward.

For the first half of their set, they played as an acoustic trio: vocals, cello and marimba, but minus the guitar and drums. And this was an amazing shift from the more guitar-backed songs I’d heard before. It was sort of distilled Fluttr: the three of them drove the rock to fill every nook of the Lizard Lounge with their loud, gorgeous melodies; but they also took total advantage of their acoustic setup in this more intimate venue, giving the cello or the vocals the breathing room when they needed it. For me, it felt like the first time that I could truly hear and understand the quietly moving lyrics of “Transmission”:

I’m sending a signal
Begin, please come in
Transmission for the one I have not found

(You can get a similar “acoustic trio” version of Transmission from their site: mp3)

Their performance had all the elements that a good live set should: intimately performed numbers, tuned for the crowd and the venue, but also with enough shock and awe kept in surprise so that you don’t get too comfortable. Catch them at the smaller Boston venues while you still can.

I went to the Boston Ruby Users Group last Tuesday, and had a good time of it. Andy Singleton discussed his experiences with trying to create cutting-edge enterprise level software with Rails.

In particular, he mentioned his need for a new kind of “designer”. As the discussion progressed, we seemed to suggested wanting someone who could:

• put out sharp image comps of the design
• put together modern CSS/HTML
• understand enough of the programming language to be comfortable with it’s use in the template
• implement AJAXish interfaces
• strong aesthetic sense
• superior understanding of user interface design

This is a rather herculean task, at least to fit into a single person. Andy suggested that there were “no more than 30” such persons in the world at large. But I certainly think that we’ll see more individuals and teams possessing this vital toolkit. Personally, I’m even considering making my next profession be as one of these mythic “web superdesigners”. I’m sure the demand is there, and can only be rising.

Harvey Danger had this crazy idea: put together a new studio album and give it away. They had good reasons. They deserve major kudos for that, and at least a free hoodie from Downhill Battle. (And they deserve at least a listen from you, because it is legal and free. Go get.) However, I will not just promote a band because they have the right ideals. I will promote them if their music is high-quality, and “Little by Little” is clearly a quality work.

The album walks the blurry line between indie-rock and twee-pop, with a really strong tend towards true song-crafting. On an album like this, you’re going to get cozy with the vocalist, locking eyes with him and hanging on at least every other word. The band is there too, but they’re chill, and he’s chill: neither snide vocals nor overzealous instrumentals are going to dominate. This sounds rudimentary, but the amount of blend I get between the band members is almost jarring.

I’m really reminded of Ben Folds / Five in the flavor of this music, and for me that’s a huge complement. Ben Folds strongly locked into capital-C songcraft, with sighing piano chords and retold stories in the most earnest language. That’s what I’m getting from Harvey Danger: clever and grabby lyrics, sincere vocals, and also no shortage of the piano-driven rock. (My key example of the Ben Folds Five / Harvey Danger synergy: “Happiness Writes White”.)

Then again, the first two songs on the album - “Wine, Women and Song” and the spunky “Cream and Bastards Rise” - come off a bit differently. “Wine” starts of mellow enough, but we quickly see the steady piano chords and clever lyrics, while innocent on their own, combine to reveal a truly bitter, sardonic view. This is sharp, in both the sense of “witty” and also “like a razor blade”. “Cream” ditches the genteel sheen of the piano and goes for the more comic anger of a guitar driven baseline. It’ just so very punk, but in a geek-rock sort of way.

Nonetheless, even these tracks never lose control, and I think that’s what was so surprising about the album when listening to this. The band has the patience for pace and a wisdom to know where it wants to go. It gets there in modest but small progressions: little by little.

Download it direct (and free and legal) from Harvey Danger’s site.

PayPal them money if you like it.

“Little by Little” (Harvey Danger)

The other day I saw my friend Nelson (founder of Free Culture) in Cambridge. There was Indian food, and also a discussion of this idea of his: “A user-oriented open source software bounties site”. We talked about even expanding it to non-software free culture. It would work like this:

Step 0: Dev gets an itch for some media. “Man, I wish someone would record that epic orchestral piece Zigeunerweisen so I could download it. And I really wish that it was in the Creative Commons, so that I could share it with my friends.”

Step 0.5: Dev realizes that anyone would any taste would have a similar desire. Clearly.

Step 1: Dev posts a reasonable “bounty” for his request. “$200 for a CC-licenses recording of this most awesome song.” He throws in $20 to start things off.

Step 3: Smart folk log onto the site and throw in their donations.

Step 4: $200 is reached, and given to a community orchestra in Tulsa, who have recorded a righteous version of the song. Score!

Actually, this isn’t just a scenario; this is how I’m feeling right now. Clearly, this would be a good thing for Free Culture.

The first thing I notice in this song is the violin. She starts out in brisk bottom-of-the-bow staccato, scarcely sounding like the refined instrument you’d think it was, but like the rhythm guitar’s short and crass cousin. Then she breaks away from the accordion, doing her own thing. She’s still laying low, she’s still not looking you straight in the eye, but you just know that the she is starting to act like a real violin now. She flying up and down no more than three notes, like a twisted “Flight of the Bumblebee” with her heads rolled into the back of her head.

I should come clean: I played the violin when I was younger. (SUZUKI METHOD, FOOL!) I wasn’t ever one of the best young violinists, mainly because I hated to practice. Thus, I got left behind while my betters filled up the first violin slots. Perhaps a different side of the violin was shown to them: the violin as the champion of classical music, carrying the melody proudly into battle, with swords and painted armor and crap like that. I was always in the second violin section, and my playing was always there to support the first violinists. But that sweet, sweet jealousy was the very elixir to wake my young eyes. I knew what was missing from my colleagues’ understanding of the violin: Satan.

No, really. The violin is the devil himself, and if you’ve heard any of the really good stuff (HINT: Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate) you understand this. When someone is truly great at the piano or harp or banjo, you might presume some angels was guiding the fingers. You make no such mistake with the violin: when she sings out, whether in her low bellow or her high scream, and when she spins around faster than God would allow: you then understand that the violin, for all her good intentions, is a purely diabolic entity.

This is Gogol Bordello, and they just don’t care. So you’ve got this violin. She started fast and mean, and now she’s getting faster and meaner. If I were you I’d duck right about now.

The second thing I notice in this song is a piercing scream, crossed with the violin finally wailing upwards, breathing fire and cutting the bow to bits as she climbs up the octave, throwing tremolo across the note like it was cheap vodka. The violin is now dirty and fast, mean-spirited and violent, and entirely soaked in flammable spirits. Just like the violin was meant to be. You? You’re loving every minute.

The punchline is that you’re just thirty seconds in a 3 1/2 minutes song. This is Gogol Bordello, and they just don’t care. Cue the vocals.

“Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike” (Gogol Bordello)