Posts from — May 2007

Ok. Back. One day missed, then another, then … Well, lots of ‘life’ stuff … career issues (Been a while since I’ve sent out a resume. Apparently the notion of acknowledging receipt has died, yet anther common form of politeness that has died) parents health, … but still …

Not for lack of things to write about. Congress caving in to a sham of a “compromise” war funding bill. This so-called compromise reminds me of the parent in the cereal isle at the supermarket, holding up box after box while the two year old screams “No” … till finally the brat gets his sugar pops. I don’t really think of this as ‘negotiation’. Apparently there are some others out there who don’t either. Very appropriate Danziger cartoon at Vermont Daily Briefing

And the issue of socioeconomic integration in the Burlington schools. Can we reconcile the need to share resources equally and keep neighborhood schools that serve as a source of strength for the community? What about starting by addressing the socio-economic segregation that comes from allowing variances so that the “rich” kids from the “poor” neighborhoods can go to the “nice” schools? Ought we not plug this gap first?

What about the fact that were the issue race rather than income, the some of the folks that are saying “not my kid” would be falling all over themselves to support integration, and and the rest would be considered racist? This is a complicated issue. Here are the maps, should you wish to cut through the talk and see what the school district is thinking.

Will have to look at this more. Here is how you can get involved (from the Burlington School District page on the matter)

Informational opportunities:
Sustainable Schools Info Session May 21 6:30 - 7:30 pm Wheeler Elementary
Flynn Center for Performing Arts session 6 pm May 30 at Wheeler Elementary School
Proposal Q and A May 22 Ward 5 NPA
Proposal Q and A June 5 Ward 6 NPA

Public Hearings:
8 am May 22 Champlain Elem Learning Center
7 pm May 29 Flynn Elementary Learning Center
7 pm May 31 Edmunds Elementary School
8:30 am June 4 Barnes Elementary Learning Center
7 pm June 4 Wheeler Elementary Learning Center

Additional input may be provided through email to superintendent@bsdvt.org or through letters sent to Superintendent, Burlington School District, 150 Colchester Avenue, Burlington, VT 05401.
For further information, call 802.865.5332 or visit the Excellence and Equity Home Page.

From a just received email … Saturday night is looking up.

Dear Friends of the IFD,

Don’t spend another Saturday night nursing your broken
heart and thwarted dreams, watching the ants march
across the kitchen counter [while listening to
Prarie Home Companion - ed.] Life is waiting for
you at Euro Gourmet, this Saturday, 9:00. There,
paninis abound, the people are warm and
attractive, and inebriates may be acquired
for a minor fee. As if all that were not
enough, Inner Fire District will be there, playing
their noble accordion, heroic clarinet, morally
authoritative bass, and roguishly lovable
electric guitar. It’s also Tim’s birthday, and if
you don’t come, he’ll have a sad, no-fun birthday.

And I’d hate for you to have that on your conscience.

Best,
David Symons

Was a wonderful show last time. See you there?

While this research does not really get at the connections between the “real world” and the blogsphere, it dose give us an interesting picture of the blogsphere. Here is one picture, from Data Mining: Text Mining, Visualization and Social Media

Here is a link to a more complete picture, in a blog entry pointing to an article that appeared in a recent issue of Discover magazine (See! Crossover!)

We can see that there are groups of blogs that are more well, that tend to “talk” amongst themselves. They tend to share the same blogging platform (live journal), or the same subject matter (political commentary, tech). But, this does not necessarily mean a homogeneous set of opinions, a lack of discourse.

There are, of course, great concentrations around the “A-List” bloggers, and a sort of sub-species that are good connectors. Then there is the riff-raff, or as they are more commonly referred to in this sort of network analysis, the “long tail”

A couple of things here. First of all, this pattern is not all that different from the patterns we tend to see in any sort of social network. We can say it all kinds of ways, but people tend to clump up. There is the heavy tailed “power law” distribution. You have the popular types, and the folks that go between groups - either viewed as genius cross-pollinators or social misfits, depending on your take.

So, it looks like you give ‘em this fancy technology, and layer even groovier web 2.0 on top of that, and people still tend to act like people.

Secondly, if this is like may other non-linear dynamic systems, we have a fractal pattern. And that would mean that if we were to repeat this analysis on the Vermont blogsphere, we would see much the same pattern.

Anyone got the time, inclination, or funding for this research?