For many years I have developed websites the old-fashioned way. I have used the MicroEMACS text editor and Unix/Linux command line tools to create HTML/Javascript and Perl/PHP CGI files entirely from scratch, and installed and configured MySQL databases and Apache webservers the same way.
One of the areas that overlaps my professional life and personal interests is the use of the Internet (and specifically the World Wide Web) for scientific research - and although in my professional life I work closely with academic researchers, I’m also interested in how the web can be used by non-scientists to make a contribution.
I’ve just finished reading two interesting books about the modern Internet and where it’s going. They are:
I believe that words are very important as labels, especially in technical fields. A terminology with commonly agreed definitions enhances communication and understanding in what can be a complicated area.
In my job at the moment, I’m considering what it means to have responsibility for a website - what does this entail? A term that is often used in this respect is ‘webmaster’, but what does this mean? It’s a pretty vague term, but it’s used an awful lot - it’s often seen as text at the bottom of a website page, usually with some sort of contact email address hyperlink.
I recently read ‘Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams‘ by M.J.Simpson, which to be honest was pretty dull, but it did get me thinking about the thing Adams is most famous for, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘.
I’ve mentioned metadata in a few of my previous postings, and something else that is related to metadata is the concept of a ‘controlled vocabulary‘. This is a term that suffers from many misunderstandings so I’m going to try and define what it is and where it sits in the grand scheme of things, using my own experiences.
Regarding my posting of a few month’s back, ‘The curse of metadata’, which was quite negative about the current state of web-related metadata initiatives in general, I thought perhaps I should provide a more positive counterweight so here goes.
One of the more indisputable advantages of the Internet as it exists today is the abundance of software on it that is ‘free‘. It is free in the sense that it is available to download and use without a financial fee. Some software, as well as being free, is also ‘open-source‘ meaning that the source code is freely available and can be changed for bespoke purposes - something that is obviously anathema to commercial software.
Ever since January 2003, I have used the services of Pickaweb Internet Services to host my website, but a few days ago experienced such poor service that I immediately cancelled my account with them. The behaviour of their technical and sales support would be comical if it wasn’t for the fact that it was me that was on the receiving end and I wasn’t actually giving them my money.
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