Shell gets a clue. Doc links to an article by David Weinberger about Royal Dutch/Shell’s online forum. Unlike most representatives of the genre, it isn’t a tightly controlled and highly sanitized bit of fluff but a really open forum for comment and criticism. Importantly, it’s not just a handful of Shell employees who are authorized to respond either – anyone can add their commentary in response to posts. Even when they accuse Shell of murdering people.
I followed a link from plasticbag
early this morning and took an interesting test: Battleground God. The basic idea is that it tests the consistency of your beliefs in god and such. As a long-time atheist, but one who has studied religion in various forms, I was particularly interested in seeing this thing in action.
I ended up being judged to be very consistent with my views, but I got one “direct hit” – meaning that I was badly inconsistent in one opinion. The site said,
Earlier you said that it is justifiable to base one’s beliefs about the external world on a firm, inner conviction even when there is no external evidence for the truth of this conviction. But now you do not accept that the rapist Peter Sutcliffe was justified in doing just that. The example of the rapist has exposed that you do not in fact agree that any belief is justified just because one is convinced of its truth. So you need to revise your opinion here. The intellectual sniper has scored a bull’s-eye!
This is wrong – similar to what Tom found, the site has judged something inconsistent incorrectly. In saying that it is justifiable to base beliefs on a firm inner conviction, it does not follow that any firm inner conviction is therefore justifiable or acceptible. I base my beliefs about the world on firm inner convictions but also upon other things, such what I feel “society” or my community finds acceptible. For me, it is the constant dialogue between my existing inner convictions and the demands of the wider world that determines my morality, not only firm inner convictions, unconnected to anything else.
Link and think
.
Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day, and to recognize the global impact of AIDS, mikel.org is participating in Link and Think. Whether or not your life has been touched by AIDS (and I’d find it hard to believe it hasn’t), we should remember that notwithstanding any advances in treatment over the last few years, AIDS is still a major problem – a plague in Africa – that deserves prompt attention. The following are a few links to sites that might be of interest today and the rest of the year.
- My Day Without Weblogs page from last year.
- COCQ-Sida: “COCQ-Sida is a coalition of 35 Quebec community organizations involved in the fight against AIDS. We act as the voice of these groups both within the province and across Canada. Our mandate is to represent member organizations and thereby promote co-ordinated action in areas of shared interest.”
- The Farha Foundation, Quebec’s leading AIDS fundraising organization.
- The Center for AIDS Services of Montreal (Women)
- The Canadian AIDS Society/Société canadienne du sida
- Centre sida McGill/McGill AIDS Center
- sida-vie in Laval (a suburb north of Montreal)
There’s also an
interesting thread going on over at Peter Merholz’ site following his post, “Thoughts on the definition and community of ‘information architecture’“.
For my part, everything I’ve seen lately about IA suggests that it expands far beyond the range of things that I generally consider IA. In many ways the role as it is currently being defined is what I consider to be the product or project manager’s role. And I don’t think that’s the right way to go. In my work, I absolutely would not want the IA person to have the designer report to her or him. It is precisely the tension between these two related, but different, roles that I think gives the best opportunity of getting it right.
Same goes for content definition. I want the tension between the conflicting ideas of the IA and a site’s editor (assuming it’s a content-rich site you’re working on) to go to work, which if managed properly will produce interesting results.
In my ideal org chart, there is a project manager and reporting to her or him are a) an editor; b) a lead designer; c) a lead programmer/application developer; and, d) an IA. They do their work, each taking the lead on different aspects of the project but working as a team.
Just notes
:
- Some readers will know that my brother works downtown in Manhattan near the World Trade Center. I’ve heard from him, he’s OK. My sister-in-law is a flight attendant, and she’s OK too.
- CNN.com has put up an extremely simple site, presumably to host a higher load of traffic. The CBC has done the same.
- I’ve been getting my best breaking news from the virtual community at Cafe Utne. Lots of first hand accounts, and luckily just about everyone I know from the Cafe is OK. Haven’t heard from everyone yet.
- MetaFilter has also been a good source of info.
- Canadians with friends or family in New York can call 800-387-3124 for information.
