Twittermap FAQ 裡奧義的「地名管理大法」(L:place=address[:] )初步閱讀練習之後,暫譯成中文如下:

L:place=address[:] 儲存地名(Place):儲存一個使用者標定的位置
L:place[:] 指定地名:將先前儲存的位置,設定成目前所在位置(current location)
L:address[:] 指定位置:將任意的位置,設定成目前所在位置

其中 David Troy 註解說,地名(place)可以是一個或多個英文單字;最好是一個英文單字。位置(address)可以用任何地理資訊的表示法(geocodable location)來表示(這話說的有點含糊…)。你可以使用 twittermap search 來尋找某個你曾經用 L: 標籤指定過的位置資訊(L 不區分大小寫)。

我也重新訂閱了 GVO 中文的 RSS feed。繼續練習吧。

[Updated] 簡單地評論一下 twitter 風潮:我認為這帶來的是每個人都會享受到的,網路生活(life in the net)蜜月期。每一件事情都可以在網路上發生,我們希望電視電影節目表也有 twitter 服務、雜誌期刊論文讀書討論社會運動統統都可以用 twitter 來解決。這樣的風潮在 IRC 搭配 bot 的時代就已經風行草偃過,只是透過層層的介面、literacy 造成落差,那是少數人的享受。如今透過 blog 作為中介(解決了多少 RTFM 的問題?),讓一般人可以在自己的 Windows Browser 裡面享受到尊貴的待遇。

網路生活蜜月期過了之後,你還是要回到現實生活。如果你很幸運,你的往來無白丁,各個坐擁 17 吋螢幕筆記型電腦,你就可以透過歡樂的方式乘風飛起,一起營造成功的案例。如果你的每天合作夥伴還是被 Desktop PC 或甚至 offline real life 的禁臠,你要創造一個大家都擁抱最新科技的熱情夢想可能還是不太容易迅速實現(除非你期待所有人都有快速在手機輸入重要訊息的能力)。

我們需要更多 hybrid model 的想像與設計,才有辦法走進現實生活。Twitter 帶給大眾許多契機、開啟想像,但是我們還需要更多的現實考量,更多的討論與實作交流。Hybrid 一點都不 cheap,需要投入更多資源才能夠讓網路生活的蜜月長長久久永續下去。

我上次演講就用他的 mashup 概念圖,實在很不錯。他 3 月 19 日的這篇文章:“Web 2.0 Software Models Evolve as the Conference Season Begins in Earnest” 介紹了今年上半年的一系列研討會當中的 Web 2.0 軟體模型的演化,不禁讓我感慨,好的研討會所促成的集體成長,實在是產業不可或缺的重要催化劑。

Ron Brinkmann, lead developer of Shake (Apple) and author of The Art and Science of Digital Compositing gave a talk in recent Etech Conference. They would like to build tools for the challenges in digital films, but then they found the tools are also useful for real world situations. Spectacles (you must remember the very big ad of Calton Draught), pedestrian simulation for public safty, like pilgrimage bridge crowd simulation in Mecca. Ars Technica’s Nate Anderson in “The wisdom of digital crowds: from Lord of the Rings to a bridge near Mecca”.

Visual effects work draws from real-world research into all sorts of things: image processing, artificial intelligence, physics, and mathematical movement algorithms. But Apple’s Ron Brinkmann argues that the process is bidirectional, with tech developed for the visual effects world beginning to make its way into real-world scientific simulations—even in Mecca.

She ask good questions in the end of the article. If the movie/tools is earning a lot of money from entertainment industry, then maybe we don’t need any more practical usages to proof its legitimacy. That’s pragmatism. But we can always found truth indirectly via the glance of the ripple, or children’s innocent smiles. There’s an alterity also there we might really want to enjoy.

Taipeitimes: “US official warns of PRC arms buildup”.

US official warns of PRC arms buildup

WORRYING: The deputy secretary of state for East Asia told a committee that China’s missile threat was real, but Taiwan could rely on its ally despite their recent differences
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Thursday, Mar 29, 2007, Page 1

The US State Department’s chief specialist in Taiwan affairs says the US is “deeply concerned” over China’s military actions that threaten Taiwan and has recommitted Washington defend Taiwan despite issues that have come between the two countries in recent years.

“Taiwan has no better friend than the United States,” Thomas Christensen, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told a hearing on US-China relations by the Asian subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

The morning newspaper reading. Especially after recent history studying.