semantic web

Last month I saw Cullect for the first time and was very impressed. Up until that moment I was convinced that Google Reader was the best way to stay on top of news and trends in my field(s).

Five minutes ago I just deleted half of my Google Reader subscriptions in favor of migrating my reading to Cullect. Why would I do that?

Google Reader is free!

Yes! Google Reader is free. And, as Garrick Van Buren explained to me, it is a reader that is based on the paradigm of reading email. Reading in Google Reader can be stressful and it does not scale very well. The more feeds I found, the faster I found that I read and, consequentially, the less satisfying that reading became.

Cullect can be free, but there are pay scales

And you get what you pay for. Cullect is a new paradigm of reading. It uses your attention patterns to serve you content that is relevant to how you have been reading. That means that if you only have time to read three posts, you can feel confident that reading those three posts will not be a waste of time.

Cullect also lets you have multiple interests. I am interested in many categories of news, blogs and feeds. I can create several reading lists in Cullect so my reading time becomes even more satisfying. Cullect is about quality and diversity of interests.

I'm on the move. I moved my photography interests out of Google Reader today because they are already in my photography reading list on Cullect. I'll be creating a web reading list and perhaps a new architecture reading list.

How can we use Cullect in an academic setting

This is my big question. There is a lot of potential to use curated Cullect reading lists to create pools of resources. More soon...

Posted by Laurie McGinley at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A short time ago I saw Garrick Van Buren demonstrate Cullect. We began the conversation by talking about APML, something I've publicly raved about. My understanding was that APML was a way to program your attention data into your feed reader. Then I met Garrick.

Cullect is so smart that it doesn't need APML. Garrick programmed Cullect to understand nine (or was it ten?) gestures that measure your affinity for a particular article. In this way, as I read posts from various blogs, news feeds and searches, Cullect tallies my behavior and begins to understand which articles I will want to see.

I decided to challenge Cullect with what I thought would be a very difficult task: show me photographs I like. I thought this would be hard because photographs don't have text that can be scanned and I generally do not care what a photo blog post says, outside of the actual photograph. Well, I am amazed. I've been working on my Cullect photography reading list for about a week now and Cullect shows me the photographs I like.

Simplify your reading life

I have been using Google Reader for about six months. I like that I can collect over 300 feeds and still get through them but I have developed some awful habits by using Google Reader. I tend to tear through unread posts and only skim headlines for interesting tid bits. Google Reader collects all my unread messages and tells me how much reading I have to do to clean up my inbox for the web. That is stressful! I've marked everything as read several times and I just feel guilty about it.

Cullect, on the other hand, has allowed me to slow down and actually read. I know that the posts will be arranged in order for me based on my past reading habits. So, if I only have time to read three posts, I can be assured that reading the first three posts in my Cullect reading list will be satisfying and relevant to my interests.

Here is a comparison of my photography reading list in Google Reader and my photo reading list in Cullect.

Have many interests

Cullect allows me to have multiple interests while letting them cross over each other. I can set up just one reading list if I am only interested in reading one topic. If I set up a reading list for each theme I am interested in, Cullect will allow me to have recommendations for each category. I can also use the same feed to fuel several reading lists and Cullect keeps my reading habits separate.

Why you should pay for this service

I know, everything on the internet is free and having a dollar sign lurking around just makes me nervous. I stumbled on Cullect in January and immediately closed the window when I saw that it was a paid service. Now that I have had a chance to play with it, I see that Cullect is a service that is worth paying for. It will allow me to collect articles, read them on my own schedule and feel assured that what I am reading is relevant to my interests.

Cullect, go test drive it today.

Posted by Laurie McGinley at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Readburner just relaunched last night. Readburner is a service that compiles shared link blogs from Google Reader.

Why should I care?

Shared posts from a feed aggregator can be thought of as recommended reading. I am much more likely to read a book if someone who likes what I like recommends it to me. I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now because my sister recommended it and I am enjoying the book. Sharing a link in Google Reader (or any other feed reader) is a way to recommend a blog post, news item or any other syndicated information.

I could spend much less time and get a greater reward if I only read recommended reading from people who share similar interests. That would save me time and make me happier.

Who is reading your recommendations?

Your link blog is somewhat hidden unless you publicize it. This is my link blog. If you have friends who share links, their link blogs will appear next to your unread items in Google Reader. That is a pretty slow way to share recommended reading.

Then Readburner came along. Readburner compiles shared link blogs from Google Reader. Everyone who burns their feed has their recommended reading added to the pile and Readburner's output is a list of the most popular, or upcoming posts. Brilliant. Now you can get a feed of the most popular recommended reading that is being shared.

New features?

I think only time will tell just how much Readburner has improved during its downtime. I already see a new feature I really like.

There are categories now, that each have their own RSS feed. Today I see "All, Web, Desktop, Mobile and Apple." If I wanted to, I could aggregate a feed of the most popular recommended items for Apple. I hope we will be able to get feeds of recommended items for any keyword soon.

Posted by Laurie McGinley at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ReadWriteWeb has posted a thorough article about Semantic Web technologies. There is a good comparison between RDF and microformats that outlines the benefits and shortcomings of both technologies. There is also a great section on semantic databases.

Link: ReadWriteWeb

Posted by Laurie McGinley at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This just in:

Internet Explorer 8 will support microformats. Via: FactoryJoe.

The most exciting tidbit I saw today was Jon Udell's write up about native hSlice support. It essence, it will allow your page to be your feed. It will allow your content to travel. I am very excited about the possibilities.

Kudos to Microsoft for integrating hSlice (based on hAtom). This is an important step on the way to widely supported standards.

Posted by Laurie McGinley at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)