mostly research stuff
what the shit? i do a lotta interviews and love doing ‘em…but late last spring, i did this “what people do all day” type of interview with hi magazine (yes, it’s in arab language, that’s the right link)…kinda against my better judgment, but they were really into my strange research work…hi magazine is this big middle eastern region ‘young culture’ rag put out by “the magazine group” in washington, dc… and they kinda maligned me via choppy editing and referencing items with poor context…it actually says, ‘david carpe, business spy’ (and it’s like a half page in print, that’s big type dudes and dudettes)
they used to be arab language only, but the mag took off, so now they’ve got an english language version up and running as well… initially, i was like, ‘whatever’ - because i don’t know many folks who can read character based languages…but now my mom and dad are probably gonna see this! …what a mess…i’m dishing it out for myself now before other people start finding this article and emailing me…rest assured that these folks edited out at least 90 percent of what came out of my mouth…for example, i do very litte conference and tradeshow competitive intelligence, and i worked in business after studying stone sculpture, and had already worked in research and founded a company before bschool… and yadda, yadda, yadda, can’t even get into it…
…only kinda bummed because i know that the next girl i ask out is probably gonna yahooglebot me and turn this whack bit up…(that’s right folks, i’ve just coined a term: yahooglebot is when Read the rest of this entry »
after reading article upon article about this google-for-scholars bit, i felt compelled to set the record straight on this one - lest folks should imagine that google is in fact driving all change in scholarly search…first of all, i’m not just talking about crossref, which is in fact an open standard - i’m talking about crossref plus other stuff - namely google coopting dspace…so first, to clarify the crossref thing: the relationship between google and crossref is not exclusive (people have gotta stop making it sound like only google cares, because it just ain’t true!)…and there are problems with crossref, the main issue was discussed again recently by katy sidwell….summary: “the problem with CrossRef is that it does not address the ‘appropriate copy’ problem for libraries, nor does it give libraries any control over the route to resources for users…it is not enough on its own.”
…for those unfamiliar with dspace, it’s a few years old and presents a wonderful step forward for research (oh shit, there’s that ‘wonderful’ word…i’m gonna have to kick my own ass for using it again)…”DSpace is a groundbreaking digital library system to capture, store, index, preserve, and redistribute the intellectual output of a university’s research faculty in digital formats…Developed jointly by MIT Libraries and Hewlett-Packard (HP)…now freely available to research institutions world-wide”…the most important note to take down here is that Read the rest of this entry »
a short while back, i wasted some time checking out colonel sanders from kfc only to discover that a) he was no colonel and b) timing couldn’t have been better, since all that crap about the kfc slaughter houses went down a few weeks ago (if you’re like, “the kfc what? i never eat anything with a face!” then check out the kentucky fried cruelty site put up by peta, they talk about the nasty video)…oh, so to my point: i wound up getting very excited about a few other folks after stumbling across yet another article examining yet another crop of consumer brand spokespersons…here’s the game: you read the names and then try to make a guess like ‘oh yeah, definitely a real person’ or, ‘no way, total crap’ and then click ‘more’ to see the answers…
betty crocker (that sweeeeet talker)
chef boyardee (wednesday is actually prince spaghetti day)
uncle ben (what’s white and crawls up your leg? answer: uncle ben’s perverted rice)
little debbie (i could live on the fudge rounds, but i think that they cause some kinda fat accumulation)
Read the rest of this entry »
okay, so i’m reading this piece in new scientist (i know, i know, that’s a bit geeky) and there’s this recap of a huge 2003 study at columbia university demonstrating the statistical validity (sorta) regarding the “six degrees of separation” theory…basically, you can now allay social status anxiety by comfortably disclosing to people that you’re “pretty closely connected to (insert celebrity name here)”..here’s the summary:
test purpose: prove that everybody in the world can be linked through six social ties
targets (randomly chosen): sample: professor in america, australian policeman, veterinarian in norway (plus 15 others)
participants: 60 thousand people across 166 countries
methodology: participants were assigned to one of the 18 targets. they were asked to contact that person by sending email to people they already knew and considered potentially ‘closer’ to the target. also, participants sent an email to the research team explaining who they chose to email and why, which revealed the kinds of social bonds most likely to help a message reach the target.
results and sample conclusions: Read the rest of this entry »
yesterday, i put up an outstanding article written by dean vandruff back in 1995 and explained that a) it was a huge cult item years ago, though still bears tremendous relevance and b) dean was super cool and let me reprint it all here out of the goodness of his heart…after putting it up, i realized that i forgot one of the most interesting elements of the piece: the reader submissions…
over time, many people reached out to dean and sent in their own terms for conversational tactics (ones that they felt were either missed, or represented variations on one of dean’s original themes)…they are equally insightful, amusing and fascinating - and once again rolled up into one big passingnotes.com entry… so grab a 24 ounce dunkin’ donuts mutha-coffee and enjoy these Read the rest of this entry »
this blog is mostly safe for work, though i sometimes throw around a 'fuck' or two. you'll find a bunch of my articles from CI Magazine, SCIP online, other research pieces and some other crap. enjoy. there's lost of content here related to getting information about, around, from and through people and organizations...