I’m writing today because I’ve realized once again (how I could forget in the first place baffles me) how many smart people there are on this planet… Want an example ?

I’ve become quite interested in web standards lately, mainly because we share offices with an ISP (Frogfoot.com) who are absolute Linux nuts. Microsoft would call them evangelists I suppose! Every time we send them a document, the issue of standards comes up, and the end result is usually a rolling of eyes and quiet swearing. Disclaimer: I’m trying not to take sides, but rather learn more about Linux and open source philosophies on Friday nights (no, don’t be silly, I don’t have a girlfriend). Because of the continuing arguing (I’d rather call it debating), at some stage, I installed Mozilla to see what all the fuss was about, which is where I started getting interested in the whole standards and usability movement (w3c.org). Even though the two aren’t necessarily related, I was exposed to them at pretty much the same time. A few nights of surfing later, I realised two, no wait, three things:

• Building standards-compliant websites is hard work. I mean, really, it is a LOT of work (at least compared to how I’ve taught myself in the old-school way).
• Jakob Nielsen is not as clever as people think he is.
• Internet Explorer is NOT really standards-compliant. I thought it was…

The concept of the semantic web is pretty cool, even though I don’t see it being a reality in a capitalist world. Why not ? People are greedy, and if they can lock people with less knowledge than them into using technologies which make them money, they will do so. Why on earth would Microsoft want to be fully standards-compliant if it means a possible drop in revenue ? Remember, we still function (let’s not kid ourselves) at a basic survival-of-the-fittest society, and each competitor in this society subconsciously looks out for his/her needs (as well of those of their offspring/family) Think about it, it’s quite simple really…

I’m getting way off the point here – To get back to it:

Smart people find ways to make things work, regardless of the surroundings they find themselves in. Here are links to the blogs of a few people I’ve discovered lately, and who I think are pretty smart:

www.designbyfire.com – Andrei Herasimchuk & Donna Driscoll

www.simplebits.com – Dan Cederholm

www.1976design.com – Dunstan Orchard

I haven’t posted to this blog as often as I would like to – If there’s nothing meaningful to say, I’d rather keep quiet.

That being said, I have been investigating my PhD options, and now have a better understanding of the official procedures and timeframes involved. Current mission: Creation of a formalized goal, with a specific objective to be achieved within specific boundaries. I’ve had a passion for information interfaces and diffusion of knowledge for quite some time, and RSS has really tickled my interest lately… Thus, I’m thinking somewhere along the lines of developing a model to deliver entrepreneurial development interfaces into corporate intranets. In simpler terms : Developing a way for corporates to foster innovative thinking by helping people share diverse scraps of information through a decentralized publishing interface.

How am I going to do it ? I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out :)

Don’t you just love learning new things – I, without any doubt, do!

As the world’s information density becomes higher (what a statement for a non-scientist), structure is probably going to become more and more important – at least that’s what I think (in my relatively uninformed state as someone trying to figure it out). Wait a minute, that might be a stupid statement. After all, isn’t it obvious ? Once again, with the emphasis on probably, probably not… As human beings, we’ve spent centuries organizing ever increasing amounts of stuff, be it toothpaste on the shelves of mega-supermarkets, or cubes of sales data gained from so-called CRM systems.

The focus often falls on how to organize information being pushed out to people. Take the web as an example: A lot of emphasis usually falls on how to arrange information on a homepage to make it as accessible to as large a range of people as possible (depending obviously on who the target audience is). If the information isn’t organized correctly, no-one’s going to bother, right ?

I’ve just started thinking differently about structure after checking out RSS. Yes, I might be way behind, but I think it’s pretty cool… Not just RSS itself, but the concept it represents (If you don’t know what RSS is, don’t feel stupid, read here.

Basically, I think the concept behind RSS (pulling information instead of pushing it) is the way forward in a world increasingly saturated with information (or data, at least). My thinking is that, as information overload sets in, the mind processes only information it has (or is) subconsciously prepared for. Hence, if you want to take certain types of information in, you’ll process it more meaningfully if you’re prepared for it and can digest it in a format you like. Take newspaper clippings as an example. People cut bits out or highlight them, and read them later if they’re interested but don’t have time to immediately take the information in. Fast-forward to the web: Bookmarking websites is fine, but it doesn’t really help if you have to go and check periodically to see if anything new has popped up.. That’s why RSS feeds are really cool – You can pull information from diverse sources, and organize it in the way you prefer. Highly selective surfing, if you like… :)

I’m definitely investigating further – As I understand the abilities of RSS and related technologies better, I’m going to come up with some ideas on how I think they can be applied (that’s if my humble opinion is worth anything :)

On a different topic, I’m going to see Professor Marius Leibold at the University of Stellenbosch tomorrow to discuss the posibilities for my D.Comm studies (which I’m hoping to start next year – if you’re not familiar with D.Comm : Doctor of Commerce, almost like a specialised PhD). The goal - to formally qualify myself as an Information Architect within the next two years…