I recently read: Jonathan Brazil's Weblog: Space Weather an interesting link to an on-line space weather site which would be very useful if you were thinking of launching a satellite.
However, I have an ulterior motive in linking to this message on Jonathan's weblog, I'm experimenting with the Moveable Type feature called: Trackback. This system allows weblogs to cross-reference each other and maintain lists of these references. Effectively this allows other webloggers to add value to your site by citing your weblog entry as the source for their ideas.
The system of peer referencing closely mirrors how we behave in groups. We often value people who others have referred us to, and we often judge the value of things by the number of times they are referred to by others.
Ben Hammersley has listed a number of related mechanisms in this article on his weblog "Trackback in the Saddle Again". See also Samy Ruby's article on cohesion and "manufactured serendipity".
Other weblogging systems use similar mechanisms to this. In particular Radio Userland (as it maintains a central index of all postings) can auto-create these cross-links by parsing its own feeds. Also, Radio maintains a lits of the most accessed radio weblogs on its site.
As usual, Jon Udell has been instrumental in making me see the power behind these concepts of automated social engineering, particularly his post on Crossing the bridge of weak ties.
Posted by mofoghlu at February 10, 2003 05:39 PM | TrackBack