Category — Technology

For the graphically inclined or anyone else with a sense of visual play, Idée Labs has built an online application that allows you to search images on Flickr, the photo sharing site, using color as the search criteria. With the ‘Multicolour Search Lab’, you can select a single color or combine up to 10 colors and be presented with subsets of photos (50 at a time) selected from Flickr’s 10 million so-called ‘most interesting’ Creative Commons images.

Even though I’m in between hand-washing dishes, writing and assessing employees, it took only moments to produce the grids below. To see an individual photograph, just click an image you like from the grid to view it on Flickr.

search results using primary red

selected photo from the red grid

combination of light green, red, lavender and an orange-brown

selected photo from the combination grid

This is cool stuff for graphic designers, photographers, editors and those who appreciate the technology. Idée Labs provides a secondary application that allows you to upload and color search your own photos. Now what would be really cool is if I could apply this to my own subset of…say, a million photos of Africa!

Here’s an interesting article (with informative comments) on Internet connectivity options in rural America. I wasn’t aware of Wireless ISP and only recently discovered 3G EVDO when I bought my iPhone a few days ago.

This article is important because not all Black people want to live in cities. I, for one, have fond memories of the country life in New England and North Carolina, and hope to own rural property again. Since I consider reliable and fast Internet connectivity part of quality living, perhaps, by the time I can afford my country (or island) estate, options will have improved.

from Signal vs. Noise

Sorrow in Eastern Congo

As the work of healing our nation continues, do not forget the work that must be done elsewhere. We will surely turn our attentions to Iraq and Afghanistan and rightly so. But let us not forget the work to be done in the last place many of us think about, Africa.

People are still being killed for land and oil in Darfur, but I want to turn your attentions to Eastern Congo for the moment. Few of us know of its civil war or minimize it as yet another ‘African problem that has nothing to do with me’.

Just remember this. Congo is awash with gold, diamonds and metals such as cassiterite and coltan used to weld small pieces together in electronics. The conflict in Eastern Congo is being funded by mineral resources that end up in MY cell phone, YOUR laptop and other electronics.

That connection deepens my stake in a war that sprung out of festering hatreds from the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Perhaps some of us saw its dramatization in the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ or remember when we here in America were focused on Bosnia and ignored Rwanda. That ‘oversight’ allowed the ’summer of blood’ when 800,000 were murdered in 100 days.

Although media outlets here in America continue to ignore the news from Goma, Kiwanja and other places in Eastern Congo, it doesn’t have to be like that. The BBC and the (London) Times have daily online updates. And, if you find yourself hungry for up-to-date details, review Ushahidi.

Ushahidi, which in Swahili means ‘testimony’, is an award-winning mapping tool initially deployed during last year’s post-election violence in Kenya to let people on the ground ‘crowd source’ reports and photos. Since the Internet is rarely available in conflict zones, Ushahidi allows ordinary citizens to report news via mobile phone SMS text messaging. The BBC and regional news outlets use it daily to enhance their reporting.

It is more than just a program, however. The Ushahidi Engine is a platform that allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or the Web and visualize it on a map or timeline. The goal is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response. In May 2008, it was used to map the xenophobic attacks perpetrated against non-South Africans. Imagine if it had been available during the Katrina disaster in 2005.

Today the Ushahidi team deployed the version of their software for the Democratic Republic of Congo (see below). Instances of deaths, property loss, sexual assault, disease, displacement of peoples, locations of fighting, peace efforts and more can be tracked.

screen capture - Ushahidi - Eastern Congo

To learn more about Ushahidi and the situation in Eastern Congo, follow the links below:

Ushahidi
http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2008/11/07/ushahidi-deploys-to-the-congo-drc/
http://drc.ushahidi.com/

http://whiteafrican.com/
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/10/31/the-congo-war-take-three/

Africa News - Times of London
Africa News - BBC

The muscle behind this blog is Wordpress. It is the most popular of a class of programs known as web-based content management systems or CMS. A CMS, in its most basic form, is software that conveniently allows people to update the content on their websites without requiring a programmer.

I use Wordpress partly because of its popularity but mainly because it’s loaded with the right stuff and it’s free. It is a thoughtful product, extremely easy to use with many features. Importantly, it is open source. What matters most about open source is that there is a huge community developing solutions for Wordpress, from interface designs to functions, and that makes my job building this blog much easier.

Although I’m a relatively new user of Wordpress, I’ve outgrown the ’software jitters’ and now embrace my inner programmer. Well, not actually a programmer. I only know of a bit of CSS, xHTML and PhP, requisites in the blog world. It’s more accurate to call me a ‘designer ’slash’ usability expert ’slash’ implementation specialist’. Regardless, because of its ease of use, Wordpress encourages me to explore.

For instance, a new version of Wordpress was made available earlier today. Brimming with confidence and, without reading a single release note, I downloaded and installed the upgrade in a matter of minutes. Was I successful? Well, I survived to write this post. Honestly, I used a solution from the Wordpress developer community to upgrade my installation. The Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin worked amazingly fast.

1. It backed up all my blog files.
2. Backed up my database.
3. Downloaded the latest version from Wordpress.
4. Put the site in maintenance mode.
5. Deactivated all active plugins.
6. Upgraded the Wordpress files.
7. Reactivated my plugins.

All I had to do was give Automatic Upgrade access to my website. Using the plugin, it took less than 3 minutes to upgrade my blog to the new platform.

A shout out to Keith Dsouza of Techie Buzz for making Automatic Upgrade free to Wordpress users. Keith is a member of that large developer community. Remember, they have my back.

I mentioned before that I work nights part-time. I work Customs for UPS Heavy Freight at UPS Worldport here in Louisville. As an employee, I enjoy a number of amenities including great benefits, substantial discounts from retailers and an education stipend. Additionally, my employer subsidizes two late night municipal bus runs to and from Worldport, so the 12-mile commute is free (except on those rare Fridays when the bus runs late and I’m forced to drive). These buses run through uptown Louisville, near the campuses of the U of L and Jefferson Community College and through the neighborhoods of the West End and Portland where I live.

It was on the ‘99′ bus that I was inspired with the idea for ‘The Practical Internet’, a course designed for the ‘underserved’: Net neophytes, old-schoolers and the ‘poor’, those who stand to gain the most from it. It all started when I overheard Miss Linda lamenting to Dolores about how she dreaded ‘getting paid tonight and spending it all tomorrow on bills’. I interrupted. “Um-huh, I know, paid today, gone tomorrow.” “Wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to stay up, go to the bank to deposit my check, then take the bus to pay my water bill and light bill, before they cut ‘em off. I’ll probably won’t get home before 2 o’clock.” I thought for a few seconds then replied, “You got cable?” “Yeah.” “You got Internet?” “Yes, but that’s for my grandson and nephew to play their games with. I know nothing about the Internet.” “Ok, you know, I got to pay bills tomorrow too. But I’m going to roll outta bed ’bout 11, make a cup of coffee then pay bills online, in my pajamas.” Miss Linda just looked at me and didn’t say a word. But the next night on the bus, she asked me how I made this happen.

“It’s easy, if you have a few things in place. You already got cable and a computer. I assume you already got a checking account since you deposit your UPS check.” “Yes.” “Then the hard part is done. I recommend setting up direct deposit and getting a debit card. Let me write down these steps and in no time you can be paying your bills from home and no more running around all day spending money to pay money.”

I gave her my to-do list. She thanked me in that way people do when they’re being polite and I was certain that was the last I would hear about it. Imagine my prideful surprise when, about a month later, she announced she’d been paying her bills online.

…to be continued.