Phil Bradley trawls the internet to find the answers to this month’s readers’ queries.
Q This isn’t terribly serious, but are there any websites that I can use that will remind me what’s on television? I’ve found a few, but they’re all US-focused, so of no value to me based as I am in the UK.
A Well, planning your television viewing might be considered as important by some, especially as we’re coming up to Christmas. A website that was recently launched is Mightyv (www.mightyv.com/). The reason that I like this one is because it has a wide range of channels available to you, and you can create your own feed very quickly and easily. I use it all the time, mainly to see what I’m missing while I’m online!
Q I’m usually fairly clued up when it comes to internet terminology, but there are a couple I’ve noticed recently – ‘swiki’ and ‘yellowiki’ – which I need you to enlighten me on.
A A swiki is an abbreviated version of ‘search wiki’. Now, since I’m sure you’re no clearer, a search wiki is a search engine that learns from users. You can create a swiki at http://swicki.eurekster.com/ and emphasise particularly useful sites, or remove sites from search results that are not helpful. It will continue to learn and adapt, anonymously and automatically, based on the search behaviour of your community. You could create one for gardening for example, and the results returned would focus on that subject, rather than anything else. If you want to see one in action try the one hosted at the UKEIG weblog (www.ukeig.org.uk/blog/).
For your second term, I had to hunt around a bit more. It’s basically a wiki that allows individual users to add information about businesses and commercial enterprises, and it’s short for Yellow Pages wiki. The Yellowikis (www.yellowikis.org/) is attempting to become a Yellow Pages, Dun and Bradstreet and Hoovers, all rolled into one. It’s still in early stages as yet, but you can visit and add some data yourself to improve it.
Q What is ‘Web 2.0’? I’m seeing more and more references to this, but I still don’t understand it.
A It’s not surprising that you’re not clear exactly what Web 2.0 means, because neither is anyone else. Some are saying that Web 2.0 is meaningless jargon, while others are saying it’s the direction that the web is moving in. My middle ground approach is that it’s partly a state of mind, partly a change in the use of the web. Web 2.0 uses the web as a platform, on which applications can be run and resources shared, rather than having them on your own machine. A quick example might help here. You can use a calendar on your own computer to keep up to date, but it’s not a great deal of use. A Web 2.0 calendar would, however, sit on a server somewhere, allow you to add/change details, and share the information with others, possibly allowing them to make changes as well. There are an increasing number of applications that allow this sharing, all located on the net. That’s one definition, but you can find more information at http://tinyurl.com/743r5 – a page at Tim O’Reilly’s site and it’s able to go into much more detail than I can [also see graphic at top of page].
Site of the month
My site of the month for December is, with a complete lack of modesty, something on my own site. I’ve put together a collection of more than 200 applications that allow you to share bookmarks, manage your work online, share projects with colleagues, discover books/ movies/bands you might like, and so on. I’m adding to the collection all the time, so do stop by and take a look – I’ll guarantee you’ll find at least one thing there that will make your online life that much easier. It’s at www.philb.com/iwantto.htm
Finally, December has rolled around again, so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a splendid Christmas and New Year.
Phil Bradley is an internet consultant, trainer, web designer and author. Visit www.philb.com for free information on internet introductions, search engine articles, web design tips and a host of other free information. New: 3rd edn of The Advanced Internet Searcher’s Handbook is now available! If you have any questions about the internet send an email to philb@philb.com with the subject header ‘column query’. This column and its hotlinks are available on www.cilip.org.uk/update under Online Articles.
Updated: 29 November 2005