DPR at 9:47 AM [url]:

Useful rant on end-to-end argument

My old friend J. Noel Chiappa just wrote a great rant, applying and interpreting the end-to-end argument.

It captures something I have been trying to point out for a long time that resulted from people equating the end-to-end argument with the metaphor of a "dumb" (Gilder) or "stupid" (Isenberg) network. That metaphor is limited to the view of the network from the customers' point of view (the network doesn't do me "smart" favors), but is wrong when applied to the internal "as built" view of the network. It's worth devoting lots of computation and state to routing, etc. as long as that computation isn't specialized to a subset of the possible applications. I had thought our original paper on end-to-end arguments was quite clear about this, but the point is obviously subtle and has been hard to grasp, especially for people who came to the Internet long after the late '70's when Noel and I were involved.

Though Noel's audience is primarily network designers, I think his rant is accessible to anyone interested in Internet design. And I strongly believe understanding the end-to-end argument remains relevant. Feel free to send comments to me and/or Noel. [SATN.org: Comments from Frankston, Reed, and Friends]

I've pointed to David's end-end materials before. This is a nice addition to that line of thinking. David does assume that you will read the material carefully and think about it, which runs somewhat counter to the assumptions about materials targeted to the average executive.

These materials are well worth the time both to read and to think carefully about.

9:02:36 PM •  • comment  

McBooks Press has a lovely explanation of the expression "over the transom":

What's a Transom?

A transom is a small hinged window above a door. In the days before air conditioning, many offices in large buildings had transoms, which were often left open for ventilation. A transom left ajar was a boon to an aspiring author, who could sail his or her unsolicited manuscript through the opening. These days, a manuscript that comes in "over the transom" simply means one that a publisher wasn't expecting. Although there is a preponderance of advice against this approach to finding a publisher, many famous books found homes with publishers in this way.

There are, of course, other meanings of the word transom, but the above is the best explanation we were able to find on short notice of the "over the transom" expression.

[from The Boulder Inquisition]

8:26:24 PM •  • comment  

The semantic web: it's whom you know. Andy Oram, writing for the O'Reilly Network, has a nice riff on using people as filters. [Jon's Radio]

Oram makes the following observations:

When I want to educate myself regarding a topic, my first step is to find a place where interested people congregate (it could be a mailing list, if I am doing my research in virtual mode) or a collection of useful documents. When I find people who impress me with their insights or who simply intrigue me with their points of view, I spend more time reading what they have to say and ask them for pointers to new material.

This technique uses affinity between individuals, as collaborative filtering does, but the individuals are actively seeking affinity rather than passively waiting for it to emerge from a collaborative filtering system.

Furthermore, once I know someone's interested in a topic, I tend to forward that person URLs or mail messages that I think will be valuable. This again is an active filtering system. It helps extend a past interest to future topics.

Most subtle, perhaps, is the way I discover new topics of importance by following what interests the people I respect. For instance, if I learn from someone's views in a particular software area and find that he's becoming obsessed over some piece of hardware, I decide that it's time to look into that hardware. I don't simply screen out this new information because it's different from the software area that we've always talked about.

This reflects a well-thought out process for plugging into a new topic that's worth emulating. It's a concrete example of how to divvy up work between people and technology in a productive way.

Moreover, it offers insight into why weblogs used in a knowledge mangement context offer such promise. For one, the offer a more visible and transparent window into someone's interests. Second, they provide simple tools for organizing and pushing information in the direction of those who might be interested, either now or at some later point.

10:17:09 AM •  • comment