100th boagworld.

Take 40 or so web designers, developers and the like. Introduce a reasonable amount of alcohol (in the preferred form of beer) and add some recording equipment and you are set to make a boagworld podcast.

With the plan to “make it like we are chatting in a pub� the boagworld podcast went rather literal for the 100th show. The 100th show party / recording was actually held in a pub so, in a strange sort of way, boagworld had reached its goal!

As my first web design event this seemed like a good one. I could go up to stay with a friend, it fell on a school holiday and it was going to be with a small friendly group of people. This was perfect for my first web event!

We arrived at the event at 5pm. We met up with Yaniv who was the first person there all the way from Belgium! We had a quick drink (Pepsi of course) and a chat about web related stuff. About an hour later Paul his wife, and Marcus arrived.

The mingling started I introduced Lion to everyone and we all started discussing everything from web design to meta physics! At 7pm (or so) the recording started.

The first section was the news section. Normally this section is about the current news, but as we are recording the podcast a week ahead of time that meant that this was not possible. So instead we did a run down of the top 4 new stories since the boagworld podcast began in August 2005. I suggested a few and was recorded even submitting my views on one of them.

After this section we move onto Marcus’s bit… He talked about contracts.. well, actually, he talked about clients from hell (though contracts were certainly mentioned!) Marcus and Paul told the boagworlders about their worst client and the audience shared their anecdotes. After about an 25 minutes of talking we had a quick break and the chat continued unrecorded.

The third and final section was the “ask an expert� section. The questions ranged hugely. I am interested to how many actually make it into the final show… To me the most interesting question came at the end. It was also the most useful one to me (which may because I asked it :) ) It was talking about how to get into the web design industry and how the industry feels about qualifications. This was Very interesting as both Yahoo and BBC were represented and gave interesting points of view. I wont give away the podcasts and but the final debate proved to be very very informative and enlightening.

After the recording finished, us boagworlders gathered around for yet more chatting. I was lucky enough to speak with Ryan from www.havocinspried.co.uk and Paul from www.homeofmuppets.com we had a very interesting conversation about development methods and how to take site criticisms. We swapped contact details and I am sure that we are bound to get up to something interesting in the future.

At the very end of the event, I walked towards the tube with Tom Morris. We talked about semantic web stuff, microformats and various ideas about the future of the web. We also discussed more about careers in the web world and how we think we could fit into them. I enjoyed this conversation and I look forward to the next time I can meet such a knowledgeable chap!

Overall from the event I took away something which no reading can give you. I took away an impression of the community of the web design world. Its like no other. So, I would like to thank both Paul and Marcus, Chris and the rest of the organisers for a great mini event. You made my first web event something special and have made me hugely look forward to the next event I go to.. Again in a couple hundred episodes time perhaps? When you know please give me a call, I would love to attend.

Published: 21 October 2007 | Categories: , Permalink

The Art Of Yojimbo

Sometimes, when floating about on the world wide web, you come across those little article that make you think a bit differently about something you do or how you manage something. A few weeks ago I came across such an article over at boagworld.com . It’s all about managing you ideas.

I don’t know about you, but I get a lot of ideas. During the day when walking into town, or to a meeting. During the evening when watching a Film or TV show. Sometimes these ideas are something that I need to act on now, other times these ideas are the sort of thing I want to hold onto, and other times still I have to communicate this idea for them to have any use.

I had historically tired to archive these ideas and thoughts inside my head. Inside Notebooks (in an untidy scrawl no one could read – lion) and sometimes inside notes on my laptop computer. I did this in such a way that I hadn’t really noticed that I was doing it. Anyone who knows me personally will know that I am the type of guy who always has a useless fact for any occasion and I am sure they would agree, I did use to store some strange stuff. But, I didn’t realise this was what I was doing. At least not until reading Paul’s article.

Paul’s article made it clear to me I had to find another way. In his article he talks about a piece of software for the Mac called yojimbo. Yojimbo is basically a database plugged into a pretty interface. It allows you to record notes, ideas, password and the like while tagging them for later sort ability at the same time.

To me, the key to this applications usefulness is the ability to tag, label and sort these items. This introduced the reviewing element into my “Idea Flow�. This sorting fettling, thinking about and sometimes deleting of notes has given me the power to make use of my ideas in a far more constructive way. I have been able to act when I needed to, and I have been able to develop ideas when they required it. With a new school year looming next week I have found a way to make the art of yojimbo work for me. Could you?

Published: 6 September 2007 Permalink

Tags, Tags, Tags

In this short article I am going to take a walk though the world of tags. This article is first and foremost for my friends, In the nicest possible way I am fed up of being asked what the tags on jkg3 and flickr do. This article should explain.

Tags as keywords.

At the basic level, a tag, is a lot like a keyword. It’s a word or phrase which helps to sum up the content to which it has been attached. This is most the obvious explanation of a tag and what most people will think of. People are use to using keywords in google for searching and this metaphor transfers quite well. By adding a tag to something (be it a photo, blog post or video) you are indicating that the tag is connected in some way to that item. You are also creating a connection between that item and others like it.

Tags as connections.

The connection between items which share a tag is something most people don’t even know they are creating. When you apply a tag you are linking that media or content to others which share that tag. These connections can simultaneously be local and global. These connections can lead to a new way of navigating the web.

Tags for navigation?

Microformats… Microformats… Microformats. That doesn’t mean a whole lot to most. To be honest I don’t think it should. So, I hear you asking how does this “Microformatsâ€? this relate to tags. Well, “Microformatsâ€? provide a means of creating a standard tag standard.

This standard, coupled with the links I described earlier create a whole new way of browsing the web. For example, starting from this page using extensions like operator or tails you can use the tags I attach to articles to find out more. A good example is “streetwars07� if you use operator (a firefox extension) and then look under tagspace you will find a link to flickr which will show you all the photos from the drag racing day. This was not a link I created myself. All I did was place the “tag� out there an encorage others on the day to do the same.

So, with all that said, I hope you all have a better understanding of what I means by tags, and why I think they are so important.

Published: 27 August 2007 | Categories: , Permalink