Groupware
"""
Dude. It is possible to get some [sic] laid by creating a really
really really really really really useful software product. Take
single sign-on for example.
"""
(ref)
Being married, this is less of an incentive for me, but I can see how it
could work. ;)
That jwz article is full of good quotes. I also like:
"""
Then the next thing you want is an invitation manager like Evite but that doesn't suck. Evite sucks because they're spammers, and because it's more important to them to put advertising in front of your eyeballs than to be useful, so the mail they send out doesn't actually include any information, in a lame-assed attempt to drive hits to their web site. So what you want next is a free replacement for Evite -- but more to the point, one that doesn't require any kind of server running anywhere.
"""
I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do this, but it does
nicely sum up my feelings about Evite.
Reputation systems, certs, etc.
A
few days ago I begged for links and comments on certification and
reputation systems. I only got one reply, from Steven Rainwater. He
mentioned robots.net as a more
up-to-date site running mod_virgule. He also said that he thought the
user interface for cert systems that he's seen is a large part of the
problem, and that users frequently don't seem to understand what the
certs are or what they mean.
Here's a handy link to his Web page on mod_virgule.
I also found this O'Reilly Network article called "Annotating Everything",
which reports on Marc Smith's work on Aura.
Finally, on the subject of annotating everything -- CleverCS had a cute article on acquiring linguistic/world knowledge from volunteers. Looks interesting, although
clearly I'm not smart enuff to understand their prototype app. But maybe you are...
Again, if you have links to effective annotation/reputation/certification/contribution systems, please send them to me! Thanks!
Shotgun Golf
In response to no hockey season, HST introduces Shotgun Golf:
"""
The game consists of one golfer, one shooter and a field judge. The purpose of the game is to shoot your opponent's high-flying golf ball out of the air with a finely-tuned 12-gauge shotgun, thus preventing him (your opponent) from lofting a 9-iron approach shot onto a distant "green" and making a "hole in one." Points are scored by blasting your opponent's shiny new Titleist out of the air and causing his shot to fail miserably. That earns you two points.
"""
(ref)
--titus