http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/index/ Your daily batch of Herko en me@herkocoomans.net Copyright 2008 2008-02-12T06:49:01+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/slow_site_reconstruction/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/slow_site_reconstruction/#When:09:24:00Z After some downtime a few weeks ago I've started making some cosmetic changes to this website. The goal is for the site to gather info from different sources such as Amazon.com (for books, music and movies I recommend), Last.fm (for a peek into the music I listen to) and such. I've also started expanding the site with a special section dedicated to my webhosting activities, and have started recollecting some of the content I'd like to share with you all. this website 2007-07-31T09:24:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/the_design_of_the_net_web_graph/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/the_design_of_the_net_web_graph/#When:06:49:01Z I posted this article at designed.nu, a weblog is about design. Design commentary usually focuses on the aesthetical and artistical side of what is considered design. But this particular post is about the original design of the internet, the world wide web and the giant global graph. -Huh? The what? Exactly. Let me explain. When just about any blogger comments on the development of the internet and the world wide web, long discussions about web 2.0, web 3.0 and all kinds of concepts usually follow. And when that blogger considers to rename the world wide web into something as obscure as the Giant Global Graph, this normally is greeted with laughter at that person’s expense. Enter the latest weblog post of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. -Huh? Who? Exactly. When the ‘inventor’ of modern day’s most succesful technology writes a post about the next step of the web -following its original design, but fuelled by the evolution that it has made over the past few years (the www is only 18 years old!), we’d better start paying attention. All this Web twopointsomething crap aside, he explains how he sees the evolution of the internet, the world wide web, and the next layer: the giant global graph. Basically, the first abstraction layer is what is referred to as the Net. The major benefit of the Net is that it doesn’t matter how your computer is connected and how the cables go from one ‘puter to the other. The Net was/is designed to connect you to any other computer. The second abstraction layer built on top of that is what is commonly referred to as the Web. The benefit this brought to the masses was that it doesn’t matter where the documents are located physically, but you can access it’s contents anywhere and anytime. Most people think or assume that this is what the Web 1.0 was all about. Berners-Lee and his people over at the Cern labs wanting to make their research archive freely available to all Cern and associated researchers. As in documents, files, web pages. But -as Sir Tim has explained many times already, they are wrong. He now explains the ripeness for the third abstraction layer which he refers to as the Giant Global Graph. This graph thing is a mathematical term apparently and he does make some objections to using it -but apparently it’s a common enough term in scientific circles, and as you just saw, that is where his roots are. The Graph signifies the ‘cloud’ of personal data and data relationships that is available on the web today. The term in this context is most often seen with the SocialGraph, which is the sum of all personal friendship relations you have created on all the social network sites out there. Actually, Brad Fitzpartick and David Recordon have a much better definition: A social graph consists of who an individual is connected to based on the type of connections, such as work, friendship, interests, and location. It differs from a social network, which consists of who an individual is connected to based on the existence/strength of (one type of) connection, such as work. A social graph therefore conceives of connections in a typological way, whereas a social network does so in a binary/spectral way. I.e. a social graph asks what type of connection exists between individuals, whereas a social network simply asks whether the connection exists or how strong it is. Accordingly, a social graph is a more complex/higher-level model of a social system than a social network. The Social Graph follows the same ideology and pattern as the Sementic Web -the name Berners-Lee gave his continued work on building the web into it’s full 1.0 potential. Basically it means that you -as a user, not as a developer- choose what relationships you have with other people, and that your identity is connected to your other online alter ego’s, and that this includes your network of friends. For example: you join a social network site by logging in with your OpenID for the first time, and you get a message saying that because you used your OpenID, and because you have made your network relationships part of the public sphere, those friends you have in your network and who are also a member of that social network site are listed for convenient adding to your friends list on that site. And why is this convenient? Well, it follows the rather simple and thus powerful idea that friends are people too, and that they are not limited to one network site like Last.FM. I mean, my friends are on Hyves (a popular Dutch Facebook-alike site), LinkedIn (because I made them), Facebook (those with international contacts), Last.FM, Flickr, just to name a few. They’re the same people, why should I have to tell each site that I know them? The benefits of this are obvious, and the potential for new and improved webapplications are boundless for now. But most importantly, this brings the simple yet fundamental point of who owns my data (me!) closer. When implemented correctly, I -the user- will be the one who decides what part of my network I want to share my music tastes with, and what part my resumé. And if this concept goes on, I can share content other then identity and relationships as well, like my photo’s, or my ideas, or my scribbles, or whatever. Data -more importantly, my data, will be portable. Lets call this the Web 4.0 (3.0 already having been claimed by the mobile content industry). Naah, lets just call it what it really is: the evolution of the Web 1.0. To finally come closer to what it was originally designed to do. inspiration, webstandards 2008-02-12T06:49:01+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/advice_to_government_dont_make_your_texts_too_simple/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/advice_to_government_dont_make_your_texts_too_simple/#When:13:47:00Z The Dutch government aims to keep their texts simple and clear. This as part of its policy to make its contents accessible without discrimination. In order to achieve this goal, a lot of texts and forms are being reviewed on their complexity and readability, guidelines are created on how to write readable simple texts and a lot of research on text readability is being conducted. Bureau Taal (The Language Agency) has written a very nice booklet on language readability and levels of understanding. Basically, there are 4 levels, with 2 sublevels. A1 being the most simple text, and D2 the most complex. European Research indicated that most government texts are written in C1 and C2 level, while only 15% of the population fully understands those texts. A recent study questions these levels however. Using the popular text readability measuring methods a popular children’s book was measured, and the results were surprising to say the least: only 15% of adults would be able to fully understand the book (for the Dutch people who read this: the book was Pinkeltje...). And now more critisism comes from an authoritative source: in the january edition of the Onze Taal magazine, by the Genootschap Onze Taal (the organization that manages the official Dutch language so to speak), commentators advice the Dutch Government not to go overboard on simplicity in favor of nuance. The reason for this criticism is a recent translation of the Dutch Constitution into simple Dutch, which -according to the commentators- loses too much of its intended nuance in the translation. This prompts them to caution the Dutch government not to take simplifying texts too far, and keep a fine balance between readable by the largest possible group and (specifically legal) clarity and completeness. In my humble opinion a huge amount of work is still to be done to make normal texts readable for normal people. We all have a tendency to write complicated texts just because it conveys more professionalism. As if the less people who get what you mean, the more professional you are is the standard. Writing simple texts isn’t a goal tho, but a means to an end, and we shouldn’t forge that. Complex issues cannot be reduced to simple ones just for the sake of communicating them to the masses. So, I am glad for this signal -even tho I am rather excited about the translation of our Constitution into simple Dutch. 2008-01-07T13:47:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/the_death_of_a_legend_netscape_is_no_more/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/the_death_of_a_legend_netscape_is_no_more/#When:19:52:00Z On one of the final days of 2007 we are forced to say goodbye to an old legend. On December 29 2007, America Online decided to pull the plug on the Netscape project. For many people, including myself, Netscape was a big part of discovering the Internet in its early days.  Netscape started in 1994 as a fork off the Mosaic Grandfather of all browsers (yes, I used that one too), and started the battle for the web by taking on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. AOL bought the brand name and the technology a while back, but the browser that had won the war had fought its last battle. I’ve been active on the internet since 1993, when the first few consumer oriented providers started here in the Netherlands. With our first set of install disks (yes, back in those days you had to install the internet on your own computer ) came the Mosaic browser, a gopher client, and some other clients. This because the Internet is so much more then just the World Wide Web and e-mail (don’t forget IRC, gopher, whois, telnet and tons of other networks and protocols that are used to serve you with your daily batch of information and interaction). Soon we started building webpages and using the Webcrawler search to find other people’s work online. But Mosaic was limited, and the world was moving fast. And then Netscape came to the rescue. In my humble opinion, the Netscape browser made the web sexy for everyday users. And therefore it was instrumental in making the internet what it is today, a part of our everyday lives. And for that, I am very grateful to Marc Andreesen and all the others who started the Netscape project because they forsaw that this Interweb thingy had a great future ahead. inspiration, personal 2007-12-29T19:52:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/so_much_for_backing_up_your_website/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/so_much_for_backing_up_your_website/#When:15:36:00Z I thought I had created a good backup of the previous incarnation of this website, but the contrary is the case. This means that most old posts will not be migrated to this version. I managed to save a meagre two posts using the Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine. This means I’ll have to describe some key moments of my life and post them on this blog (again). Oh well, it’s something to do when I feel bored to bits I guess. However, now that I am no longer a part of the XOOPS project, I will start writing some of my thoughts about what went on there. Why? you ask? Because I feel like it Expression Engine, this website 2007-06-10T15:36:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/rebirth_of_hcnet/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/rebirth_of_hcnet/#When:15:56:00Z Zen XOOPSism, Herko’s previous incarnation of this website, has ceased to be and is now replaced by this HCnet::reloaded website. This new website is powered by the ExpressionEngine. This website is obviously still under development. The goal of this project is to create a good looking standards-based website that will hold its own in the Webstandards test of the dutch governement, the webrichtlijnentoets.On this website you will find information on Herko’s exploits, thoughts and projects. Stay tuned for more information soon! this website 2007-05-17T15:56:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/time_to_come_and_time_to_go/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/time_to_come_and_time_to_go/#When:15:26:00Z Since August 2003 I have been active with the management of the XOOPS.org project in one way or another. Now, after two and a half years, I think it’s been enough. As of today I have resigned all official positions related to XOOPS.org, including the chairmanship of the XOOPS Foundation. I will post more about this later, because there are some things I want to say but will not say on the xoops.org forums. This is my personal site, and I will give my personal opinion of events building up to this decision. The decision itself was fully mine tho, and I am at peace with it. A special thanks from me go out to those members of the community who have touched my heart and who I count among my friends, even if I’ve never met many of them. You have enriched my life and fuelled my passion. We will keep in touch, of course. Whether I have left XOOPS completely, or still be active and contribute in small ways, I don’t know yet. I have an offer that I might take up, but first I need some time to reflect on these events. open source, personal, XOOPS 2006-04-20T15:26:00+01:00 http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/bring_on_tha_kung_fu_baby/ http://www.herkocoomans.net/index.php/site/bring_on_tha_kung_fu_baby/#When:15:29:00Z I’m going to be adding some movie reviews to the blog the coming weeks. I’ve been enjoying a growing number of great asian martial arts movies, some well known, some less well known, and I want to share some of my thoughts on them with you. Please feel free to comment on these reviews! The movies I am going to review are: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Wo hu cang long by Ang Lee (2000), Hero Ying xiong by Yimou Zhang (2002), Shaolin Soccer Siu lam juk kau by Stephen Chow (2001), Kung Fu Hustle also by Stephen Chow (2004), House of the Flying Daggers by Yimou Zhang (2004), Fearless Hou Yuan Jia by Ronny Yu (2006), Ong-Bak by Prachya Pinkaew (2003), Zatoichi by Takeshi Kitano (2003), Shinobi by Shimoyama Ten (2005) and Seven Swords Chat gim by Hark Tsui (2005). First up: Crouching Tinger, Hidden Dragon (2000) media 2006-04-05T15:29:00+01:00