Header Socials

A new twist on anti-spam tech can help digitize books

Posted

OK, this is really cool – putting the time spent on filling in CAPTCHAs to good use to harness the wisdom of the crowd in a big big way – 60 million eyes a day, solving problems that computers cannot solve. Brilliant idea, so many possible applications apart from the simple task of fixing weaknesses in OCR.
Just a little worrying that it could be a tempting target for coordinated practical jokers and maybe worse – CAPTCHA-bombing could be the next big thing 🙂
Created:Sat, 26 May 2007 06:05:22 GMT

Original: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1284
Posted: May 26, 2007, 12:05 am

BibMe – the fully automatic & free bibliography maker (MLA, APA & Chicago)

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as the title says – generates bibliographies in a small number of popular styles for inclusion in papers etc. The neat part is that the bibliographic database is generated by everyone who uses it.Simple idea, with collective intelligence.
Created:Thu, 17 May 2007 14:55:59 GMT

Original: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1279
Posted: May 17, 2007, 8:55 am

Numbers follow a surprising law of digits, and scientists can’t explain why

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Benford’s law shows that, in a very diverse range of data sets, the first digit of numbers is 1 about a third of the time, and the next numbers follow a consistent pattern of distribution. This is both interesting and odd but, for me, it is much more interesting how the law was discovered, independently, by two reserachers:
“Both Benford and Newcomb stumbled upon the law in the same way: while flipping through pages of a book of logarithmic tables, they noticed that the pages in the beginning of the book were dirtier than the pages at the end.”
A wonderful example of the collective in action, without the aid of any computers!
Created:Sat, 12 May 2007 08:04:22 GMT

Original: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1274
Posted: May 12, 2007, 2:04 am

Fidg’t: Your Social Networking Address Book

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Very interesting social networking application that visualises networks, interests and so on. Seems very stigmergic. The site says:
“The Fidg’t Visualizer allows you to play around with your network. You interface with the Visualizer through Flickr and LastFM tags, using any tag to create a Magnet. Once a Tag Magnet is created, members of the network will gravitate towards it if they have photos or music with that same Tag.

This simple mechanic lets you visualize your Network in a unique way, demonstrating its Predisposition towards certain things. What is more popular amongst people in your Network – rock or electronic music? Are photos of buildings more popular than photos of sunsets? Based on how your network reacts to those Tags, you might get an answer. The Visualizer also shows how your Network compares to a random sampling of the networks of other Fidg’t users, letting you see how your network stacks up to others”
Created:Sat, 12 May 2007 07:54:28 GMT

Original: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1273
Posted: May 12, 2007, 1:54 am

Control and Constraint in E-Learning:Choosing When to CHoose

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The publisher’s site for the book. Read it! Buy it! Tell your friends! Tell strangers in the street!
It’s about lots of things, especially why social software is a better idea than traditional forms, at least partly because it lets learners choose the level of control that is good for them.
Created:Wed, 02 May 2007 15:37:02 GMT

Original: http://jondron.net/cofind/frshowresource.php?tid=5325&resid=1268
Posted: May 2, 2007, 9:37 am