I’m trying to wrap my head around all of the information I’m reading about image search. Search, retrieval, information, data, all of these terms are loaded, and used differently depending on whether I’m reading an HCI paper, a text analysis paper, or a blog post about search engine optimisation (SEO).
In hopes of simplifying things, I’ve settled on a human-centred, conceptual definition of search:
Search refers to the process of a user developing a need, defining a query, retrieving information, viewing result(s), providing feedback, and refinements of those steps.
The end result does not have to be finding a single result. Occasionally, other steps in the search process, such as seeing a result set, can satisfy the users need. For example, if the need was to gain information (”What does a ‘87 Oldsmobile Toronado FE3 look like?”) rather than find a specific image (”I need a picture of a black ‘84 Cutty!”), viewing the result set may be enough.
Figure 1 is an illustrates the definition of search, in the human and interface context.
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In the next few weeks tuition for Graduate students at the University of Guelph is probably going to go up again. As a student, this obviously bothers me. What is that, 14% in three years? 120% in the last 12 years?
Since many of us know the tuition increase is imminent, and aren’t really willing to protest against it publicly out of fear of reprisal, skepticism, or ignorance, we say:
Hey at least we’re not in the U.S. … tuition is like $<xx>,000 per semester!
There is a prevailing belief in Canada that American tuition fees are completely out of reach for the average lower-middle-class student; thus in Canada we have it a little better, and shouldn’t complain about 4% tuition increases.
This is a popular theory amongst students in times when the Administration corrects budget shortfalls with student money rather than public money, and raises tuition. In hopes of affirming the “at least we’re not as screwed as the Americans”-theory of public education management, I decided to do some research.
The results were surprising: tuition at Guelph is definitely not less expensive than at similar U.S. schools.
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I’ve been using Last.fm to track my listening habits for a few years now, and decided to take a look at what I’ve been listening to. You can use Last.fm to track things you listen to in iTunes, Rhythmbox, Winamp, BBC Radio, whatever. Check out their website for a full list of supported music players.
Anyways, reviewing a list like this made me realise how quickly I forget how important certain tracks were for me at a given point in time. So without further ado, two lists, one rock, one hip hop.
Warning: YouTube videos ahead.
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The University of Guelph Faculty Association (UGFA), the union for faculty on campus, is in a legal strike position on Friday, March 14th, at 12:01am (press release). They’ve been negotiating a new agreement with the University Administration for about 18 months now, and haven’t reached something amicable yet.
It’s tough to find information on the specific outstanding issues, but information from the UGFA at least details what faculty members were voting for when they voted for the strike mandate.
But what are we students supposed to do: Graduate Students who are GTAs, Sessionals, or those of us just attending classes?
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After spending far too much time trying to get WP-Cache2 plugin to work on a very vanilla Wordpress installation, I’ve given up on it.
I’m sure it’s super amazing when it does work, but in my experience as a competent *nix user, it’s difficult to get working/debug (and silly to remove because of this stupid symbolic link that many FTP clients can’t remove).
1 Blog Cacher
Anywho, I started hunting for alternatives, and the one that I installed successfully (and confirmed working) on the first try is 1-Blog-Cacher.
Installation
The installation was NOT simple, at least not compared to WP-Cache. I followed these instructions:
- Create the cache directory /wp-cache/ in your WordPress directory (/wp-cache/) and make it writeable (chmod 777).
- Upload 1blogcacher2.0.php file to /wp-content/plugins/ WordPress directory (/wp-content/plugins/1blogcacher2.0.php).
- Upload advanced-cache.php file to /wp-content/ (/wp-content/advanced-cache.php).
- Add this line to the wp-config.php file (/wp-config.php): define(’WP_CACHE’, true);
- Activate the plugin and take a look to «Options > 1 Blog Cacher» in the WordPress panel.
… and there were helpful prompts in the Options panel if I forgot something. Changing the settings isn’t simple, as you have to open up the advanced-cache.php file with a text editor, and re-save/re-upload it when you want to make a change.
But anyways, it works.
The gentleman in this video, Dr. David Weinberger, thinks it’s a pretty terrible idea to try to categorise ideas in the same way we categorise physical things in the physical world.
Many people who deal with information on a regular basis tend to think that since you can only stack a chair in a single location, the virtual representation of that chair should be categorised in one place as well. It’s hard to explain why that’s a silly idea (and why it’s done often), but he does a very good job of doing just that.
He draws from a really neat reference: The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges, and compares Wikipedia to Borges’ theoretical, infinite library (that, naturally, drives its librarian mad). That bit is in the Q&A period at the very end.
Thanks to Gil P. for this one.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2159021324062223592
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| Thursday, March 27th, 2008