Do you Google?

If you don't already have a Google account, you might want to consider getting one after reading this!

Have you heard of Google Voice?
If not, I suspect you soon will. Google Voice is currently an invitation-only service - that means you cannot immediately sign up for Google Voice, but have to request an invitation. I requested one a few weeks ago and received my invite this week.

So what is it, what does it do?
During the setup process, I had to choose a phone number for my account (I chose a California number) and agree to a typical Terms of Service Agreement. After that I configured my profile by adding a couple of numbers for phones I regularly use. I can now share this phone number and have all calls to that number ring one or all of the numbers in my profile. Kinda cool but so what, right?

Well, for those within the local calling area for the number I chose, it allows them to call me without incurring long distance charges. Not bad, but it gets better. In addition, when logged into my Google Voice account I can enter any number in the United States, select which phone I want to use, and press a button to connect the call. For example, tonight I did this to place a call to a Colorado number and connect it to my home phone in Tallahassee. Upon doing so, my home phone rang. When I picked up the line, I heard a couple of ring tones, then the person I was calling in Colorado answered. To summarize, I used the internet to setup a call (that showed up on Caller ID as a California number) between Colorado and Florida - and talked as long as I wanted to for free (e.g. no long distance rates)!

Google Voice is cool in other ways, too!
Google Voice supports SMS, so you can use this number to send and receive standard text messages. This might be useful for those coupon code subscriptions via SMS (?).

Google Voice also has some cool voice mail features. Besides the standard features, you can set it up so that a text transcript of all voice mails is sent to you either as an email or a text message. You can also screen calls by listening in on a voice mail message as it is being recorded, and choose to break in if you want.

Is it Web 2.0?
By the definitions we have been using, probably not - there really is not much that is collaborative about using the service, and I don't think the code is open source. Even so, it is a pretty amazing technology that could have a huge impact on the long distance industry. There have been some recent reports in the news about Google Voice enabled applications being removed from Apple's App Store. Speculation abounds on whether Apple or AT&T is behind this...

What is an expert? A genius?

If you go to an Apple Store, you can spend a few minutes with a bona fide Genius. I know this because I ventured out to Jacksonville last week to get an iPhone serviced. The person who helped me was a Genius - it said so on his shirt!

The whole concept of genius and expertise are morphing before our very eyes. These are interesting times, indeed!

Expertise?

How often do you step outside yourself and objectively evaluate what you see? I mean this as a rhetorical question, but the point is that we too often coast through life with our perceptual blinders on.

In determining expertise at face value - in the absence of research and references - I believe we often ascribe value to opinions, statements, and views that fit well with our perception of the world. In ascribing that value, do we risk elevating someone to expert status?

The example of advice from a car salesperson and a parent was recently used. If both people gave the same sound advice, would we take notice of that fact? If they gave differing advice and the salesperson had better facts and reasoning behind that advice, how would we respond - especially if that expertise was not known?

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?

I really liked Charlene's comments about meeting Gloria Steinem. It has been true for me, too, that meetings in person are more meaningful.

In either situation, it is about building trust in a relationship. The web tends to be more conducive to people developing alternate personas. In the non-virtual world, that practice might be considered pathological! But, usually, our judgment about people seems to be fairly reliable in personal interactions. I doubt the success rate runs as high online. It would be interesting to read study results on the topic...

So, I tend to develop trust quicker when there is a face-to-face meeting involved - even if the other interaction is virtual.

So I was thinking... If del.ic.io.us and others are collecting meta data, no big deal - right? It's anonymous! So far, I would agree. But what are they doing with this information? Google and Amazon deliver statistically more relevant results to your individual searches. Or do they? The results they provide are determined by the vast collective date they have collected on all users.

What does this mean?

One way of interpreting this is to realize that our technology and economy are operating in opposition to our stated values as a nation. As a nation we support - and legally bind ourselves - to values such as diversity, equal opportunity, and freedom of expression, among others. When we start basing our technology and economy on compilations of metadata, we are choosing the mass-majority section of the bell curve and ignoring the fringe. It reminds me of the concept of the "melting pot." We have realized that a better description for our nation is a tossed salad that has many unique, identifiable elements rather than a bubbling pot that has no uniquely identifiable elements.

Aren't these tools finding the middle of the bell curve? Aren't major business decisions being influenced by this metadata?

Coast Guard Moving Forward With Web 2.0

I mentioned elsewhere that the Coast Guard is moving to adopt Web 2.0 technologies. Our Commandant and other senior leaders have blogs and there are other external resources out there. We are also moving to put Web 2.0 technologies into our internal tools and culture. There was an announcement about this a while back (located here and pasted below). I know all caps is considered poor etiquette on the net these days, but this is the original text which is a holdover from the days of teletype and morse code.

ALCOAST 128/09
COMDTNOTE 2800
SUBJ: CG PORTAL UPDATE
1. CG PORTAL WILL BE THE ONE-STOP SHOPPING PLATFORM FOR MEETING CG
INTERNET, INTRANET, AND EXTRANET NEEDS. CG PORTAL WILL REPLACE CG
CENTRAL STARTING EARLY APRIL 2009 AND FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE
INTRODUCED IN PHASES. PHASE I WILL REPLACE CG CENTRAL MICROSITES
AND COMMUNITIES. PHASE II WILL REPLACE THE REMAINDER OF CG CENTRAL
CONTENT. SUBSEQUENT PHASES WILL REPLACE OUR WWW.USCG.MIL INTERNET
PRESENCE AND ADD NEW CAPABILITIES.
2. IN EARLY 2010, BOTH CG CENTRAL (INTRANET) AND WWW.USCG.MIL
(INTERNET) WILL BE RETIRED. CG PORTAL, WITH ITS NEW FUNCTIONALITY,
WILL PROVIDE EXCITING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNICATIONS USING
ADVANCED WEB PORTAL TECHNOLOGIES. ALL EXISTING FUNCTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS WILL BE REPLACED IN CG PORTAL PRIOR TO RETIRING THE
LEGACY SYSTEMS.
3. THE DECISION TO DEPLOY IN PHASES IS BASED ON TWO CRITICAL
SUCCESS FACTORS: DATA TRANSFER AND USER FAMILIARIZATION. FIRST, A
PHASED RELEASE FACILITATES CONTENT MIGRATION. THERE ARE 1,300 CG
CENTRAL MICROSITES, 13,000 CG CENTRAL CONTENT AREAS, AND 800
WWW.USCG.MIL WEB SITES THAT NEED TO BE MANUALLY MIGRATED TO CG
PORTAL. IN ADDITION TO MANAGING THE LOGISTICS OF MOVING SUCH A
LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION, ACCURATELY MIGRATING INFORMATION TO A
NEW PORTAL IS PARAMOUNT. SECOND, A PHASED RELEASE ALLOWS END USERS
AND WEB PUBLISHERS TIME TO FAMILIARIZE THEMSELVES WITH THE NEW
PORTAL. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HOW IT FUNCTIONS, PROVIDE FEEDBACK
AND ASK QUESTIONS, RECEIVE TRAINING, AND BEGIN TO INTEGRATE THE
PRODUCT INTO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE.
4. THE PHASE I RELEASE OF CG PORTAL IS TARGETED FOR EARLY APRIL
2009. THE PRIMARY PRODUCT BEING DEPLOYED IS QUICKR, SERVING AS A
MUCH ANTICIPATED REPLACEMENT TO CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND
COMMUNITIES. WHEN PHASE I OF CG PORTAL IS DEPLOYED, QUICKR WILL BE
FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND THE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INTERNAL COAST
GUARD COLLABORATION CAPABILITY. CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND
COMMUNITIES WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION. QUICKR OFFERS A DIVERSE SUITE
OF WEB 2.0 FUNCTIONALITY THAT INCLUDES BOTH BLOG AND WIKI
CAPABILITY. WE ANTICIPATE QUICKR TO BE HEAVILY USED FOR TEAM
DISCUSSIONS, PROJECT TASK MANAGEMENT, AND INTERNAL COAST GUARD
COLLABORATION. ACCESS TO QUICKR WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE AS A
LINK FROM CG CENTRAL.
5. QUICKR PROVIDES COLLABORATION AREAS KNOWN AS CG PLACES. ALL OF
THE CONTENT FROM CG CENTRAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE AVAILABLE UNDER THE
SAME COMMUNITY HEADINGS. EVERYONE THAT ACCESSES QUICKR WILL SEE
THESE COMMUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THEIR LIST OF (PUBLIC PLACES) AND
HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THE CONTENT. A CORRESPONDING CG PLACE WILL
BE CREATED FOR EVERY MICROSITE. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF A
CG CENTRAL MICROSITE THEN WHEN YOU ACCESS CG PLACES YOU WILL SEE AN
EXACT REPLICA OF THOSE SAME MICROSITES UNDER (MY PLACES). WHILE
EACH PLACE WILL BE AVAILABLE AND WILL ALREADY BE POPULATED WITH ALL
OF THE SAME MEMBERS THAT CURRENTLY EXIST IN THE MICROSITE THERE MAY
BE NO CONTENT IN THE NEW PLACE. CONTENT MIGRATION FOR CG CENTRAL
MICROSITES WILL OCCUR AUTOMATICALLY AS PHASE I IS IMPLEMENTED AND
IS DUE TO BE COMPLETED BY MID-APRIL.
6. CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL APPEAR ON BOTH CG CENTRAL AND CG
PORTAL FOR A PERIOD OF THREE WEEKS AT THE BEGINNING OF PHASE II IN
LATE AUGUST 2009. MORE IMPORTANTLY, CG CENTRAL WILL REMAIN THE
AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INFORMATION DURING THIS PERIOD. AS A
RESULT, ANY CHANGES TO CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL NOT BE
AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED ON CG PORTAL DURING THIS THREE WEEK PERIOD.
DURING THIS TIME, UPDATES TO CG PORTAL MUST BE COMPLETED MANUALLY
BY THE END USER OR WEB PUBLISHER.  MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON
THIS PROCESS WILL BE RELEASED AS WE DRAW CLOSER TO AUGUST.
7. FOR PHASES I AND II OF CG PORTAL DEPLOYMENT THERE WILL BE NO
IMPACT ON INTERNET SITES SUCH AS WWW.USCG.MIL. PHASE III WILL BEGIN
THE TRANSITION OF CONTENT FROM WWW.USCG.MIL. WE ANTICIPATE THIS
PHASE TO BE COMPLETED IN EARLY 2010.
8. THE HOMEPORT INTERNET PORTAL WILL REMAIN IN PLACE AND CONTINUE
TO SERVE AS THE CG COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION
SHARING PORTAL FOR THE MARITIME INDUSTRY AND PORT PARTNERS.
HOMEPORT USERS SHALL CONTINUE TO USE HOMEPORT AS BEFORE.
9. WEBMASTERS SUPPORTING INTRANET WEB SITES HOSTED ON CG WEB
SERVERS INSTEAD OF CG CENTRAL SHALL MIGRATE THEIR STATIC CONTENT TO
CG PORTAL BEGINNING IN PHASE II. ANY CONTENT THAT CANNOT
TECHNICALLY BE MIGRATED DUE TO FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE ADDRESSED IN A
FUTURE ALCOAST.
10. LOW BANDWIDTH TESTING HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF CG PORTAL. WE WILL BE WORKING WITH A FEW OF OUR
LOW BANDWIDTH UNITS TO ENSURE THAT THE CG PORTAL APPLICATION
PROPERLY SERVES THIS AUDIENCE.  WHILE WE WILL ENSURE COMPATIBILITY
WITH THE APPLICATION IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLISHERS IN THE
FIELD TO USE THE TOOLS PROVIDED PROPERLY WHEN ADDING CONTENT. AS WE
EXPAND THE USE OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR PUBLISHERS
TO ADD A LARGE VOLUME OF CONTENT THAT CAN MAKE VIEWING DIFFICULT
FOR SOME OF OUR AUDIENCE. IT WILL BE AN ON-GOING EFFORT TO STRIKE A
BALANCE BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND USABILITY.
11. TRAINING REMAINS A TOP CONCERN FOR ALL OF US. CG PORTAL IS
COMPRISED OF INDUSTRY BEST PRODUCTS THAT ARE BOTH EASY TO USE AND
FLEXIBLE. CG PORTAL WILL RELY ON WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND
TRADITIONAL MULTIMEDIA FORMATS TO DELIVER HELP GUIDES, JOB AIDS,
VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS, AUDIO INSTRUCTIONS, FAQS, AND POTENTIALLY
MICROSOFT LIVE MEETING WEB CONFERENCES. CLASSROOM TRAINING WILL BE
DEVELOPED AS NEEDED AND COORDINATED WITH REGIONAL TRAINING
CONTACTS. INFORMATION ABOUT CG PORTAL CAN BE FOUND IN THE CG
CENTRAL - FEATURED ITEMS - NEW CG PORTAL INFORMATION CONTENT AREA.
THIS INFORMATIVE BLOCK CONTAINS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ), A
RECENT ARTICLE FEATURED IN ENGINEERING, ELECTRONICS, AND LOGISTICS
QUARTERLY, AND A VIDEO DEMONSTRATION. AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND
DOCUMENTATION FOR CG PORTAL IS DEVELOPED IT WILL BE POSTED TO CG
CENTRAL.
12. THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF KEY DATES AS WE LOOK AHEAD TO THE
FIRST TO PHASES OF CG PORTAL:
A.  13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL MICROSITE CREATION REQUEST NO LONGER
ACCEPTED
B.  13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL COMMUNITY REQUEST NO LONGER ACCEPTED
C.  27MAR09 - CG CENTRAL MICROSITE AND COMMUNITIES ENTER READ-ONLY
STATUS
D.  APR09 - PHASE I DEPLOYMENT
E.  AUG 09 - PHASE II DEPLOYMENT
13. THE COAST GUARD WEB PRESENCE IS RAPIDLY MOVING TOWARDS AN
EXCITING FUTURE AND EACH OF YOU PLAY A ROLE IN ITS SUCCESS. PLEASE
TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE SYSTEM, QUESTION ITS CAPABILITIES, AND
PROVIDE FEEDBACK. TOGETHER WE CAN DEVELOP A PREMIER WEB PORTAL.
14. CG-6 POC FOR THIS PROJECT IS: LT FELTNER AT 202-475-3580 OR BY
EMAIL AT KERRY.A.FELTNER2(AT)USCG.MIL.
15. RADM D. T. GLENN, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT FOR COMMAND, CONTROL,
COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SENDS.
16. INTERNET RELEASE IS AUTHORIZED.

I have a feeling I will be involved with this either as a project during my studies, or in my assignment next year after graduation!

Produsage #1

Sometime in the next twelve hours I will post a link (via a comment to this blog entry) to my Produsage #1 submission.

I've been looking at some of the other projects and am very impressed! I'm also relieved this is not a competition where we will be rank-ordered!!!

Congratulations to everyone; such clever ideas. I would especially like to praise the project at http://isconferences.ning.com/. WOW!!! Very professional looking, with great application of our learning in the course. I now have a much better appreciation for NING and may consider it for my Produsage #2 assignment.

Thanks!