Making the site

So the deadlines are coming closer. I have 10 days to write my thesis and concept document. My graduation exams will be August 25, so it would be really nice if I would have my test version ready and some feedback on how it works before the 25th of August.

Building the test version

There are some new developments on the test-version front; I’m working on my Drupal test version, and as I now understand how Drupal works, I also see its limitations. I’ve spoken to my uncle and we’ve found a strategy to tackle the problem I have with Drupal. But, that strategy would include hacking some modules and changing the database a little. I would be able to do this, but hacking would take a lot of time.

The new plan; make a Joomla test site. The advantage of Joomla is that the Joomla community is bigger and older. I’ve learned from the way Drupal works and can use this knowledge to work with Joomla. What I need to find out really quickly is if I don’t run into the same problem I ran into with Drupal. It comes down to this specific part:

The problem

There must be personal profile pages and charity pages, on a profile page you must be able to link to other profile pages (buddy-list) and to charity pages (support-list). On a charity page it must be possible to write news items by the charitypage owner and people with a profile must be able to rate and evaluate the charity so that it influences the overall rating of the charity.

Drupal solution

The Drupal hack would consist of making an extra atribute in the buddylist, making it possible to devide the user table in people and charities. I won’t go into details, but it can work if I change some functions in the buddylist and user module. The problem is, hacking always brings new problems to solve, so that will take too much time.
Joomla solution

For Joomla there is the Community Builder and the groupjive module, making it possible to set up a sort of charity profile page. I’m not sure if is possible to put evaluations on such a page, but there are rating modules.

I shall now put my energy in the Joomla test site, but I will not kill the Drupal test.

Final solution

After my graduation there is a really good chance I will be able to build a real version of Helpalot based on a social network site that is being built right now.

I’m working with someone who’s making this social network site and likes to make Helpalot a reality too. We are doing some research together and I’ll probably do a 9 Questions interview to introduce him. Still, this Helpalot version would not be available in time for my graduation, so I’m still going to build my own test version.

How you can help

If you happen to be an expert on Joomla, maybe you can point me to some important modules I’ll need to use for this test version.

If you happen to be an expert on Drupal and/or PHP and you would like to try to do this buddylist hack, I’ll explain in detail what the strategy would be and perhaps it can be done.

Off topic

Now for some fun; check out the new video clip from Muse - Knights of Cydonia, featuring a kung-fu cowboy with a laser gun. Oh, and unicorn, robot, holograms, police car, communistic flag and much more. Hilarious, at 3:14 you can see ‘the crew’ in the mirror, including fake moustache and everything.

Just writing that I’ve finished reading the book ‘The wisdom of crowds’, a great book. And now I’m reading ‘the dynamics of technology for social change’. My teacher Rob van Kranenburg just added another book ‘Branding, a systems theoretic perspective’, to my list of books for my thesis.

Today I had a visit in Amsterdam with the people of Fair Food. Not further details for now. It’s late, and this week I’m really busy with building the test version and writing my thesis, so I’ll probably keep this blog relativly empty.

Or not, maybe I’ll write here to distract myself, we’ll see..

A nice article to read: Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism, By Jaron Lanier..

Some quotes:

“The beauty of the Internet is that it connects people. The value is in the other people. If we start to believe the Internet itself is an entity that has something to say, we’re devaluing those people and making ourselves into idiots.”

“But it is not infinitely useful. The collective can be stupid, too. Witness tulip crazes and stock bubbles. Hysteria over fictitious satanic cult child abductions. Y2K mania. The reason the collective can be valuable is precisely that its peaks of intelligence and stupidity are not the same as the ones usually displayed by individuals. Both kinds of intelligence are essential.”

“The illusion that what we already have is close to good enough, or that it is alive and will fix itself, is the most dangerous illusion of all. By avoiding that nonsense, it ought to be possible to find a humanistic and practical way to maximize value of the collective on the Web without turning ourselves into idiots. The best guiding principle is to always cherish individuals first.”

I tend to agree with most points Jaron is making. I disagree with this piece:

“Collectives can be just as stupid as any individual, and in important cases, stupider. The interesting question is whether it’s possible to map out where the one is smarter than the many.”

Personally I think there is always more knowledge available in a group than in an individual, it’s the process of processing this knowledge (aggregate) that can lead to more, or less useful information. The one is not smarter than the many, but for some problems you’ll need one person to make coherent choices. This person could aggregate the knowledge of the larger group. As I try to do for building Helpalot.

As for Helpalot itself; the goal for Helpalot is to tap into the great pool of knowledge we collectively have in our social system. I think using the social network as a basis is the best way, because it keeps people in the spotlight. Making it clear we are dealing with subjective matters. Context is king and I believe that’s the point Joran is making when he has doubts with internet collectivism.

I’ve read this book:

Hidden order

In this book a model is worked out on how to simulate complex adaptive systems. I kind of see how Pythagoras and his friends got so excited of mathematics, you can make really neat clean algorithms. I wouldn’t go so far as stating that real life can be described using math, but with models like John Holland describes in his book you can mimic processes that are otherwise really hard to comprehend. You have to be a little bit of a network/genes/math-nerd to enjoy this one.

The wisdom of crowds

At the moment I’m reading The wisdom of crowds by James Surowiecki. I’m at page 80 out of 274, and so far it seems extremely relevant for my project and thesis. It’s also easier to read than Hidden order. I’d say it’s also a good read for the not-so-nerds with nice examples and with little expected forehand knowledge.

For my Thesis (outline Thesis), I’ve bought these books:

Small worlds, the dynamic of networks between order and randomness
Duncan J. Watts

Six degrees, the science of a connected age
Duncan J. Watts

Hidden order, how adaptation builds complexity
John H. Holland

The dynamics of technology for social change
Jonathan Peizer

The Wisdom of Crowds
James Surowiecki

Sync, the emerging science of spontaneous order
Steven Strogatz

Books I’ve read

Linked
Albert-László Barabási

All marketers are liars
Seth Godin

Free prize inside
Seth Godin

Emergence, the connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software
Steven Johnson