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Catch up on Alex’s latest publications and appearances here.

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Latest project: TechSoup/CompuMentor

Sep 19, 2005 |

My latest venture in the fabulous world of Web 2.0 is helping CompuMentor -- home of TechSoup -- set up an online community in conjunction with an event they are organizing for next spring. Job one? Use this post to check whether the aggregation is working.

What Google blog search doesn’t have

Sep 14, 2005 |

Rob highlights its pros and cons. How could he forget to mention its gravest oversight: no rankings! Or is this a desperate hope that the ascendance of Google could change the domestic balance of power?

National Conversation now online

Sep 14, 2005 |

Politics Online has launched theNational Conversation project, which aims at engaging Americans in dialogue about major national issues (in the first instance, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina). I like the effort to encourage multimedia contributions, and to allow people to...

10 ways RSS can help build online communities

Sep 13, 2005 |

Non-governmental organizations seeking to strengthen relationships with members. Governments trying to reach out to citizens. Businesses hoping to engage and win the loyalty of customers. These are the kinds of challenges that bring people to the field of online...

More love for Zagat

Sep 6, 2005 |

Ah, the joys of the automatic reply. Zagat canceled my subscription as per my request, and here's what their e-mail included: If you have a moment, could you let us know why you decided to cancel? Is there anything we can do to change your mind? We rely on customer...

Tagging for Katrina

Sep 6, 2005 |

At the suggestion of Nancy White, I've just posted an introduction to tagging for people who are creating online resources for post-Katrina disaster recovery. It covers some suggestions for tag choice as well as overall tips on tagging. It's online at You're It.

Kudos to Fido

Sep 6, 2005 |

Within a few days of my post, Fido responded with a 100% perfect solution: The $50 GPRS Unlimited bundle was added to your account. It was possible to do so as we have not yet fully converted to our new Billing platform - thankfully. The usual condition is that...

Scratching at Fido’s door

Aug 27, 2005 |

29 days into my love affair with an unlocked Treo and I have discovered why it's nice not to be married to any one cell phone carrier. I made the leap into wireless, thinking that Fido's unlimited data plan offered a net; they've since pulled the plan, though existing...

Why have one home page when you can have ten?

Aug 24, 2005 |

Just discovered a very cool Firefox feature. If you have several web pages open in tabs, and then click Peferences/General in order to set your home page, Firefox gives you the option of setting your home page to "current pageS". So if you like to check your bank...

Speed feeding

Aug 22, 2005 |

Part of the plan with the telecentre.org ecosystem is to bring relevant content into telecentre.org sites using RSS. In the case of event sites -- like the Capetown site that is the very first telecentre event site to get up and running -- we'll use special tags...