Umamiblog

There was a big increase in both traffic and visitors in September over the previous month. What surprises me (in a pleasant way of course) isn’t the growth itself but the continued exponential trend I’m seeing. Cool!

The most popular entry written in September was the Visualising data usage entry about those really cool inflatable USB drives. But the most popular entry visited in September was the Inspiring travel video. I still really love watching that video a month later.

Again for September, the biggest referrer to my site was someone’s MySpace profile, I really wish they’d refer in a way that let you see which actual profile or profiles were linking through.

Also again, the most popular search term used by visitors was “vodka” followed in second place by “umami”. Vodka, as far as the eye could see… is the offending entry. I’m seriously thinking of getting in touch with 42Below about that page now

The vodka jellies image on that page seems to get linked to from far and wide, it even makes a guest appearance on this Espanol forum. What are they talking about Pablo (apart from my superb photography skills)?

The most popular entry written in August was the Inspiring travel video made by the “Where the hell is Matt?” guy. However the most popular entry visited in August were the notes I scribbled down about Rowan Simpson while I was at Webstock back in May. Maybe there was renewed interest in him after his recent presentation at TechEd.

The biggest referrer to my site was someone’s MySpace profile. I wish I knew who’s as it’s definitely not mine

The most popular search term used by visitors was by far was “vodka” which I suspect leads to the entry: Vodka, as far as the eye could see… Maybe I need to see if 42Below are interested in sponsoring that specific page

What (un)usual and (un)interesting stats came up in your blogs for August?

I want you to have a look at this site (Post Expression) for two reasons. Firstly, I like the design and I think you will too. It’s the first time I can remember the use of dark brown and light blue as a colour combo on a website and I think it works well.

Secondly, I want to know your thoughts on the idea behind the site. Leaving multi-media messages in trust for your loved ones seems to me like a really great and touching idea.

It makes me wonder how the site’s owners/operators will feel when their first actual message is released and delivered. Geekish joy at seeing the system working? Sorrow in the knowledge that someone has just lost a loved one? I’d imagine it could play with your mind quite significantly.

In saying that I think it’s a great idea and will be seen as an invaluable service by those who receive last messages of love. I’d say with the 385 messages that have already been created at 19 Euros each, they are well on their way to breaking even. Not bad for two months of operation.

One of the areas of economics that has interested me the most was the concept of Microfinance. Put very simply, they are very small loans (not gifts or grants) that are typically given to individuals who are unemployed and living in poverty in a third world economy who would otherwise not have access to any kind of credit. Wikipedia has more on it here.

Evidence suggests it is an extremely effective method of helping lift people out of poverty via self-employment and putting them in charge of their own destiny. Not only that, it is also suggested that from a financial risk point of view the idea works surprisingly well. Repayments are actually made and in some cases microcredit programmes have lower bad debt/failure rates than traditional banks and lending organisations in those countries. And usually those very same organisations refuse to lend to these people.

Those same repayments are then typically poured into more microloans and thus the process repeats itself.

I had often thought that this type of framework would be excellently served by the internet. A website has the ability to detail, categorise and organise the giving of loans and the receiving of payments. It was an idea that excited me a lot and here are the notes I scribbled down a long time ago on the subject:

* Sponsor real needs
* Categorised on site
* See exactly where it is going
* Actively engaged
* No passive monthly income giving
* Just project, need by need
* Micro-enterprise => micro-donations
* Not committing for any length of tme
* Updated on progress of project
* Has the need been met
* “I helped a 25 y.o. brother pay for his siblings primary school tuition because his parents aren’t alive. It cost me $80.”

I remember at the time thinking if I was ever going to get real about it and take it beyond the idea stage that you would need to partner to an existing organisation operating in these communities.

I am heartened to see that banner being taken up by Kiva. You can view individual cases and donate loan via services like Paypal from as little as USD$25. When that money is repaid, you can reinvest it or take it out. Beautiful, simple and effective.

Web 2.0 t-shirts

I’ve been meaning to design this blog since I started it about 18 months ago. When I first installed Movable Type the only thing I did was stick a banner-like image up the top to brand it. Since then it has been on my list of things to do. Glad I can now scratch it off.

I aimed to focus on creating something that was essentially simple. Not sure if I’ve achieved that well as I feel it is simple but a little cluttered. Might feel the urge to make tweaks to it in the coming days.

Anyone subscribed to my feed would’ve seen 4 posts come up – these are just pages in the new design. I figured adding them as posts would be an easy way to add them and make any future edits to them.

Have a look, let me know what you think or if there is anything that goes awry. I haven’t fully browser tested it yet so if you’re an IE user you may see the odd funky thing. If there is anything it should be resolved soon.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

Hoorah! They’ve put the Webstock sessions online. They’re hosted by CityLink so most Welly businesses should have an excellent connection to them, there’s about 25GB in total. As I mentioned in my wrapup post, Kathy Sierra and Darren Fittler were highlights for me, as was Tony Chor – check out their presentations.

Hat tip to JD who noticed Miraz’s post.

View a website as a nodal graph. Fascinating to watch it spawn and grow – then rearrange itself slowly to be less visually complex. Amazing.

Hint: Compare blogs to more static websites.

In my little corner and circle of the world Ruby on Rails has been getting a lot of airtime. I first came across Ruby sometime in early 2005 and began hearing of this insanely great framework. For those of you who have still to hear of Ruby on Rails (or just Rails, RoR), its a web app framework that started life with the 37signals crew and has some strong philosophical points. It strives for simplicity and from what I’ve been hearing makes development incredibly quick which apparently makes for happier developers.

The thing that has really struck me with Rails are the people who find it. It seems to be special above-average people who find it, they’re those people on the edge (of the company or project or class or bell-curve or whatever). And then they rave about it, with passion. I’ve seen this trend with Rails a lot. That more than anything is what has made my head turn and start to pay attention.

We’re lucky in Wellington as we have one of the Ruby on Rails core team residing here. Michael Koziarski gave a short presentation on Rails at the recent Webstock conference. He presented really well (especially for a developer) and exposed people to Rails that otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance.

There are the beginnings of a Rails user group starting in Wellington. Head on over to the WellRailed group and signup. A few weeks ago there was the first informal rails meeting at Syn Bar and it was really interesting to go to. Two things really struck me. Firstly, was the sheer number of punters who turned up. I’d hazard a guess somewhere at the 40+ range – that was awesome to see. Secondly, it was really interesting to see that there were lots of people from all ends of the spectrum, not just freelancers and students (aka “the fringe”), there were plenty of corporate employees there also.

JD decided this week that it would be a good idea to start some Rails related discussion on his blog. He did this by detailing what his concerns with using Rails are. I don’t really know or care enough to debate those points or to have my opinion swayed wildly but plenty of people have joined in on the discussion which is good to see. It was enough to make Andrew Peter’s post the first article on his blog…

Kathy Sierra asked in her presentation at Webstock “How do you know when you have passionate users?”. The answer was when you have a cult (ie. the cult of Mac). A lot of the trends we’re seeing with Rails are very similar and cult-like. I think that’s really positive because we always need more passion in the world.

I’m going to get into playing with Rails when I get back from my trip in August. I’ve been meaning to do this for over a year but as per usual life got in the way. I’d encourage anyone in IT, from testers through to salespeople to acquaint themselves with Rails and just have a look. There’s a really good chance we’ll be hearing more about it in the future and it definitely wouldn’t hurt to be on the right side of the bell-curve!

I was struck and my curiosity aroused when Zeldman proclaimed on ALA that “wireframing AJAX is a bitch”. I made a note then to look into this a little further and write a wee article on it.

As per usual, 2 (of the busiest ever) months have passed by meaning I didn’t get onto it in time. But the cool cats at Particletree beat me to it:
* A Designer’s Guide to Prototyping Ajax
* Ajax Wireframing Approaches

The first article contains a number of links that explore the idea/issue even further.

“as for all those freaks from Intergen with their identically styled hair…”

– Aquaboogie on Webstock

LOL!

I’d say the first Webstock Conference was a success. Definitely a sound platform has been built to further drive and grow not only the conference but NZ’s participation in the web world. Some highlights for me:

Kathy Sierra
Brilliant presentation, left me feeling absolutely inspired.

Darren Fitler
It was eye-opening watching him use a computer and give a presentation. A really nice guy also.

Tony Chor
I had a chance to talk to him at the dinner. Nothing overly important, but it was a highlight for me

Accessibility
It was amazing how accessible all the presenters were and how willing they were to accept questions. Awesome.

Conference swag/Branding
Excellent. Period.

Meeting cool people
This was a definite highlight for me, meeting so many cool like-minded people… the majority of whom already live here. The networking that went on can only be good for our clients and the general eco-system in the long run.

The trick now is to keep the momentum, the inspiration, and the optimism gained from the conference. I’ve already decided to start attending more events around town (including the RoR and Unlimited Potential events) and I’ll be looking at ways to share the information and experience we gained at Webstock.

Now, lets go change the world!