What a Great Problem to Have

The Washington Post this morning reports that the Obama White House is having difficulty reaching its goal of an open and transparent White House web site that serves as a clear channel for communication between the president and the people (Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps). The fast, light team that took full advantage of the web as a central part of the Obama campaign has bogged-down in a mess of old technologies and is having to cut its way through the internet age version of red tape. But they are trying.

Wherever this experiment leads, what's certain is that, in the same way Franklin D. Roosevelt harnessed the power of radio and John F. Kennedy leveraged the reach of television to directly communicate with the public, the BlackBerry-carrying Obama wants to use the Internet to redefine the relationship between the presidency and the people.

The Washington Post article does a great job of outlining the problems the Obama team has had. They have had too dial-back expectations, for now, and are learning the patience that all newcomers to government seems to have to learn.

But what a great problem to have. Here we have a White House that is straining against the bonds of tradition to try to establish a new form of openness. I plan to watch, and cheer them on, and participate where I can.

After all, it is my government.

I Am a Huge Geek #25

I have added a smaller version of the Feully "signature" banner (above) to the left-hand column of the blog. Fuelly is a social-media site designed to allow users to track their fuel economy over time, share that information, and trade fuel-saving ideas.

I've added every fill-up of my Scion to a Fuelly profile since I started driving it in July. Over 18 fill-ups, I'm averaging 32.5 miles per gallon. My best performance has been almost 36 mpg, back in the summer. I go about 300 miles between fill-ups.

As noted above, I am a huge geek.

I Want One #316

I have spotted a technology that I want to play with. The Make Blog points to a plan by AS220 Labs to debut a new tool at the Maker Faire in Austin, Texas, later this month: The Hair and Balanced TV Filter.

The technology is simple.

The Hair and Balanced TV Filter taps into the composite video input to your TV, detects whether you are watching talking head pundits or newscasters, then draws mustaches on the faces on the screen. The TV filter is a new kind of hardware shield that helps users take control of their screen.

I love it. It reminds me of a novel I read some 34 years ago. I cannot remember what the title was, but it was about someone who developed a tool that let him add graffiti to live television broadcasts. I remember the novel following the consequences of that and the uproar it caused. It was a counter-culture novel. The Nixon people were the bad guys.

I do remember that I finished that book a few days before we learned that Nixon would resign the Presidency. It was an exciting time.

New Wheels. No, Not a Hybrid

I've bought a new car, a Scion xD. We've become a three-driver family this summer and so now have a third car. This will be my car, and it is not a hybrid; that is a major change for me.

I've driven Toyota Prius hybrids for most of the present century. My first was a 2001, the first version that was available in the US. I was, I think, the second or third to have a Prius in Delaware. I replaced that with a second generation Prius in 2004.

I love our 2005 Prius, it is a roomy, comfortable, efficient and clean car. But we are at a point where we need a car for our daughter to drive. We could have found her a used car at one of the dealerships, and we looked a bit. But I didn't really want to buy a used car (my personal bias, I guess). And, if I'm going to buy a new car, it won't be for the young driver; it's going to be for me. We recently replaced Karen's car, by the way.

So I started looking for a small, efficient, and inexpensive car for my commute. I did some research, test-drove a few models, and settled on the Scion. It presents a nice balance between efficiency and features. The Scion is a sporty little thing but you sit up fairly high, which I like. The styling is sharp; a colleague described the front view today as like a Japanese anime character. I can see that.

I'm pleased with the stereo and its integration of both satellite radio and the Ipod. I think this will be a nice place to spend my commute.

I'm a bit sad that there isn't a new version of the Prius, or something even cooler, ready for me to buy this year. I like having cutting edge cars and now that so many Priuses are on the road I feel a bit overtaken (of course, it is a good thing to have more hybrids out there).

Why can't I have an all-electric car, with a big battery, lots of energy recapture technology (regenerative breaking and such) and a skin made up entirely of photovoltaic cells? I don't need hydrogen, thanks, and I'm ready to start ending my dependence on oil (not "foreign oil," mind you, all oil).

I'm here, I'm not queer, but I do like to buy cars. Who will sell me my real e-car? Anyone? No? I guess I'll have to wait. I'm happy to play in my little blue Scion for now.

Testing: 1, 2, 3...

I'm typing this, rather gingerly, on our new One Laptop per Child laptop. It has a tiny little keyboard and a hinky sort of mousepad that will take some getting used to.

One Laptop per Child is a project to deploy inexpensive, durable laptops to kids around the world. I bought this as part of a promotion that allowed me to buy one of these for some child somewhere and also one for my family.

I'll admit that I wanted one around to satisfy my curiosity and test one out. I hope this will make a good travel laptop.

So, You Want One of Them iPhone Thingies?

I don't know if you noticed, but there was a frenzy yesterday. A frenzy over a new product.

Folks from all around the nation lined up, camped out, waited sometimes patiently for a chance to spend a good deal of money on a shiny new tech-toy.

Was it worth it? Time will tell.

I do understand the desire for an iPhone. It's smaller. Faster. Shinier. Packs lots of other products into little space.

But do we really need it? We already have tools that serve the functions found in the iPhone. We just don't have them all in one small place.

The iPhone may be like the iPod. Eventually, we may all have one. But I think I will wait for a bit. I don't need to spend that much money for functionality that I already have. And I'm put off by the fact that the iPhone only works with ATT; their monthly plans for the use of the thing seem pretty steep.

I can wait.

I Doubt This Will Surprise Those Who Know Me...

...But it appears that I am an "Information Technology Omnivore," according to an on-line tech-use survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The survey is part of a Pew study, A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users, which attempts to describe the many different ways that we use our suite of information technology tools. According to the Pew study, "85% of American adults use the Internet or cell phones – and most use both." On the other hand, about half of Americans "have a more distant or non-existent relationship to modern information technology."

In other words, many have the tools and many use them, but only a small percentage are really comfortable in an on-line world.

It looks like I am one of this group, about 8% of the American public. The Omnivorous Tech Users are described as embracing the connectivity provided by technology to enhance their work lives and personal lives:

Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.

I don't exhibit all of the characteristics of this group. I don't create video content very much and I don't IM or text message beyond what is required to keep tabs on a teen-age child. And I am well outside one of the key demographic characteristics: "The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30."

I do feel old some days.

Ironically, two co-workers and I explored this same territory in a slightly different way yesterday. We had all heard keynote speaker Don Cooke talking about Second Life at the recent Delaware GIS Conference. That led to a discussion of on-line communities and some of the skills needed to maintain and grow them. I've been thinking about this a fair amount lately, in relation to my work with Delaware's GIS Community, and the National GIS Coordinators group (NSGIC) both of which are partly on-line.

Dave wondered aloud which world, the physical or the on-line, was, in fact, reality. We briefly considered the theory proposed in the film The Matrix (the first one), that what we perceive as reality is in fact a simulated, virtual reality dream world constructed and maintained to keep the entire human population in a state of subjugated sleep.

We skipped the obvious contemporary political implications of this thought and turned briefly to Plato's allegory of the cave in which what humans perceive as reality is in fact only the shadows of a puppet show cast on the wall of a cave in which they are prisoners (/oversimplification of complex philosophical thought).

At that point we realized that once you've pursued a thought back to Plato's cave, it's probably time to move on to something else.

As I write this blog entry, it occurs to me that one could rewrite Plato's allegory in modern terms with the Internet as the cave and blogs and web 2.0 things creating the shadows.

But there is a sunny Saturday morning outside and the grass needs to be cut. The library needs to be walked to. The state park is hosting a kayak expo.

I may be an Information Technology Omnivore, but I know when it is time to shut down the laptop and head outside.