one of these days, i’d like to begin spending more time on ex machina talking about me. i’m not talking crazy narcissistic – just little dabs here and there.
today, however, is not one of those days. today, i will throw a couple of links into the annotated bookmark bin and call it good:
“The basic protocol being used in CD metadata query is both simple and general: “Tell me what you know about the resource whose CD checksum is some-huge-number” — a protocol reminiscent of the PICS label bureau protocol. The MP3 community could build enormously useful services on top of this, even without adopting a more general framework such as that provided by RDF, but they have stopped short of the next step.”
“The lesson for peer-to-peer metadata architecture is simple. Unique identifiers create markets.”
The Parable of Umbrellas and Taxicabs:
“Anyone who’s spent any time in New York City knows that when it begins to rain, two things happen
immediately: It becomes easier to buy an umbrella and it becomes harder to hail a cab. As soon as the
first few drops fall, people appear on the street selling cheap umbrellas, while a lucky few pedestrians
occupy all the available cabs.Why does an increase in demand produce opposite effects on supply — more available umbrellas and fewer available taxis? The answer is the nature of the resources themselves. Umbrellas are small and inexpensive to store, so it’s easy to take them out when it’s raining and put them back when the rain stops. Additional umbrellas can be deployed in response to demand.”