Monthly Archives: July 2003

THE FUTURE OF IT: A PESSIMIST’S VIEW

Posted on July 14, 2003 by Dave Pollard

Janal Kalis points out an exceptional article in the May HBR by the magazine’s editor, Nicholas Carr, entitled IT Doesn’t Matter . The article, which unfortunately is not available online, has this provocative thesis: What makes a resource truly strategic … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 4 Comments

NEDERLAND

Posted on July 12, 2003 by Dave Pollard

If I had to choose one country other than Canada to live in, I would without hesitation choose Nederland, where I’ve spent the last few days. This is a country in a world gone mad that makes sense . The … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works | 13 Comments

CANADA’S MOST POPULAR WEBLOGS (posted from Winterswijk)

Posted on July 11, 2003 by Dave Pollard

Canadian journalist Colby Cosh has done a lot of research to identify and rank Canada’s twelve most popular weblogs. He used a whole series of weblog-ranking applications to make sure the rankings were fair, but cautions that identifying weblogs as … Continue reading →

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 3 Comments

THE FIVE SENSES (posted from Amsterdam)

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Dave Pollard

i. [touch] — pas de deux, Ètrangersat first i don’t even notice you sitting opposite me in the commuter train. the heat is fierce and i’m preoccupied with finishing writing down some half-formed thoughts  and with finding a place for … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Works | 7 Comments

WHAT’S THAT ABOUT SLAVERY, MR. BUSH?

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Dave Pollard

George Bush is in Africa this week, on another of his ‘Insult Everyone’s Intelligence’ tours. Today he spoke, inarticulately and insincerely, about America’s shameful legacy of slavery. He didn’t use the term ‘shame’ or ‘apology’ of course — lawyers were … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works | 15 Comments

VIEJOS AMIGOS A LOS QUE ACABO DE CONOCER

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Dave Pollard

Spanish translation of my post ‘Old Friends Who’ve Just Met’ can now be found here. Translation courtesy of Karina’s husband. ¡Gracias! La traducción en el español de mi blogpost ‘Viejos Amigos a Los Que Acabo De Conocer’ (del marido de … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 3 Comments

HOW INNOVATION COULD SAVE THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FROM ITSELF

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Dave Pollard

The New Yorker this week (article not available online) reports that the record industry is in free-fall, with sales down 50% from peak levels several years ago. The RIAA is starting to sue people that allow others to copy their … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves, Working Smarter | 9 Comments

JULY 5 – SALON BLOG TOP 50 DIRECTORY AND POPULARITY RANKINGS

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Dave Pollard

It’s that time of the month again. The following chart shows (a), the ranking among Salon Blogs in number of hits in the past month (to July 5) and (b) in black, the ranking among Salon Blogs in number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 2 Comments

CLAY SHIRKY ON THE DESIGN OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE

Posted on July 5, 2003 by Dave Pollard

I wrote a high-level spec recently for Social Networking Enablement (my term for the successor to Knowledge Management) and Social Software. The guru of Social Software, Clay Shirky, spoke to the O’Reilly Emerging Technology conference in April and has just … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 5 Comments

HIDDEN LANDMINES

Posted on July 4, 2003 by Dave Pollard

In 1999, the Land Mine Treaty was proclaimed into law. A Canadian initiative, it has been signed by over 100 countries, including all European NATO countries. Its authors and champions won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Treaty simply states that … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works | 4 Comments