Marking Time

Sometimes the Madrid Metro looks more like a library. A huge amount of people use the transit time to read books, newspapers or magazines, or to look over business or school related documents.

It’s one of the unforeseen benefits of a good public transport system. More people are reading and learning therefore the the overall knowledge and awareness of the citizens of the city is being raised.

This must give a city like Madrid a distinct advantage over a city like Dublin, where commuters are forced to keep their eyes on the road as they negotiate the rush-hour traffic, and probably arrive at work a little less refreshed, a little more stressed and a little less knowledgeable than they would if they had a reliable and fully functional public transport network.

Interesting discussion on the Electronic Voting System in Ireland at boards.ie.

Even more than the content itself what is interesting to me is that the writer of the report -a member of the Labour Party- actually initiated the discussion and is participating actively in it.

It’s an indication of the possibilities that the Web has given us for improving the democratic system. Ironically, the topic under discussion is an indication of how technology can undermine democracy.

Mixed in with the usual soft rock greatest hits on the music system at the Bus Station this morning: Isolation by Joy Division.

Mother, I tried, please believe me
I’m doing the best that I can
I’m ashamed of the things
I’ve been put through
I’m ashamed of the person I am

Very appropriate given the amount of vagrants and drop outs that gather there.

(Incidentally it also doubles as my early morning office. I’ve already been warned by the security people that working on a laptop there is just asking for trouble).

I don’t read US political blogs that much (Kevin Drum being one of the few exceptions) but with the so-called War on Terror and the very real war in Iraq, politics - and more particularly international politics - has seeped into otherwise interesting and intelligent blogs and has exposed their authors as either smart fools, useful idiots, or just hoplessly náive and ignorant about international affairs.
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Some Web Applications that I’ve been working on.

I saw Mystic River last night. It’s getting a lot of good reviews. While I thought it was technically excellent; great performances, directing, editing, pacing and a strong storyline, it still left me wanting something more.

It’s a dark story with no light relief at all. There is very little sign of the generosity of the human spirit in it. And while I hate ‘feel good’ movies maybe there’s something suspect about ‘feel bad’ movies too. Life just isn’t like that.

Still, it’s worth seeing and making up your own mind.

It occurred to me that in the future the music industry could very well look like the webblog network. Bands will publish their music on their websites in the same way that bloggers publish their words and consumers will download it just as they read blogs today. Bands will become popular in the same ways that blogs become popular- through linking and word-of-mouth. The middle-men of the record companies and music stores will be cut out completely. I think this is inevitable.
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I got a brochure in the mail today advertising children’s toys for Christmas. That’s not unusual in itself but it came with a little pack of 20 stickers with the words ‘Me Lo Pido’ (roughly translates as I want this) written on them. The idea is that the child can flick through the brochure and put stickers on the toys that he/she wants for Christmas. A little bit cynical with the marketing, I think.

I mean 20, count’em, 20 stickers… oh to be a parent.

On a totally unrelated topic today I bought this.

My father just sent me this photo of the Annascaul lake near my mother’s home place in Kerry. Larger picture here.

Although it’s unfashionable to admit it these days I’m going to own up and say that I have occasionally dabbled in the arcane art of web design. Not for profit you understand, purely as a hobby (does that make it worse?).

Anyway I’ve decided to throw up a few samples of work here.

Web design has a bit of a bad name these days and I’m not surprised. Too many ignorant clients with great expectations and too many cowboys willing to take advantage of them, seems to have left everyone bitten and twice shy.

Another problem is that the client is seldom the end-user and this leads to a conflict that even the most scrupulous web designer finds difficult to solve. In order to impress the client -who is footing the bill- the designer needs to present lots of flashy bells and whistles and fancy visual tricks. But these are the very things that obstruct and distract the end-user when they are actually trying to use the site. No wonder everyone is disappointed with the result.

Anyway, it’s not all doom and gloom. The dotcom collapse seems to have cleared out a lot of the cowboys and the back-to-basics approach seems to be back in vogue.

So if you have any questions about web design let me know. I’ll only have one answer. Keep it simple.