Update: Jan 4 2010 – I received this response from Stephen Conroy today.

Senator Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced that the Federal government would go ahead with plans to filter internet access for all Australians.

It has yet to pass caucus. So it’s not too late to do something about it.

Apart from the whole “police state” mentality this brings, the whole scheme is simply not going to work. It will NOT protect children from unwanted net predators.

Here’s a copy of the letter I wrote using the campaign on GetUp:

Dear Mr Conroy

As a web-savvy parent of 2 children. I urge you to re-think your strategy for tackling “net threats” to children.

The answer lies in educating parents and children.

Making the filter mandatory is an infringement of our personal freedom and clearly the wrong choice from a technology perspective.

You said there would be a public consultation process, now is your change to listen to the people.

A quick search in the internet shows the vast majority of Australians do NOT want their internet filtered. The same search shows how easy the proposed filter can be bypassed.

I realise it’s difficult for the government to admit it’s made the wrong decision. This is a great opportunity to show strength and do the right thing.

Thanks for listening.

Some links for further reading:

• ISP filtering pilot results on the DBCDE website
• Why the Internet filter is not the solution we wish it was (Penny Sharpe MLC)
• Net censorship move a smokescreen: expert (SMH)
• Bypassing Australia’s Net Filter
• Do these people have no idea? — the folly of the Internet Filter
• My thoughts on the mandatory Internet filter – Lauren Cochrane

What you can do

Write to the government and put your name down.

• No Clean Feed website
• GetUp Campaign

The last thing we want is to end up with our freedom controlled by an ill-informed government.

Been a while since I last posted, due to a change in work and lifestyle.

Right now I’m juggling web and film projects. Interestingly, my experience with project managing website development has benefitted the film projects. Sure, there are different considerations but the big picture things are similar – resources available, time needed and budget constraints.

At the heart of all these activities is the undeniable importance of diligent planning.

Don’t start any projects – web or film, without sitting down and mapping out your ideas.

One of the most interesting aspects of working on these projects is meeting really creative people driven by passion. It’s inspiring.

I haven’t posted in a while, been busy with work but this was too good to not share.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCq6E6tnQKg

via GeekAdvancement

There’s no doubt social media is experiencing unprecedented growth. Twitter is a micro-blogging service that has genuine business uses as well as personal.

Here are some links to help you get started.

Twitter use explodes

Twitter growing 3 times faster than Facebook

Put Twitter to work

Twitter Flies into the Enterprise

Connect to Customers with Twitter

Got Twitter?

Battle of the multicolumn Twitter clients

I’ve just installed BlogWriter Lite to test the app. It let’s me blog from anywhere using my iPhone!

Stay tuned for more! Subscribe via RSS

Kristarella has put together a great tutorial video on using Firebug for CSS experimenting, tweaking… those situations where you want to see how someone has used CSS or if you want to try different things but don’t want to edit the original stylesheet.

Check it out at the link below.

via How to use Firebug for CSS | kristarella.com.

According to The Vine, schools in Australia are finding ways to use iPods as a learning tool.

A pilot program in which teenagers used iPods for school work has increased attendance and increased enthusiasm for homework.

This comes as no surprise really. There are so many applications out there now for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it was only a matter of time until the education sector picked up on its’ potential.

More detail is on The Vine website at the link below.

Homework fun on an iPod touch – Tech | thevine.com.au .

Nice one.

This is my first post after upgrading to a new version of Wordpress and a incorporating a new look & feel.

The updated was inspired by the need to make my blog more standards-compliant, with better SEO capability and all that.

Also, the old look was just that .. getting a bit old. There will be incremental changes coming over the next few days.

As the great Sam Cooke once said, “It’s been a long time coming”.

If you’re writing copy for a website, you can’t use the same principles as when writing for a print publication.

Documents written to be read online must be concise and structured for scanning. People tend to skim Web pages rather than read them word by word. Use headings, lists, and typographical emphasis for words or sections you wish to highlight; these are the elements that will grab the user’s attention during a quick scan. Keep these elements clear and precise — use your page and section heads to describe the material. The “inverted pyramid” style used in journalism works well on Web pages, with the conclusion appearing at the beginning of a text. Place the important facts near the top of the first paragraph where users can find them quickly.

From: The Web Style Guide

This is not a new topic by any means, but one that bears reiterating.

So, to get you on the path to writing succinctly for the web, here are some useful links:

Editorial Style

http://www.webstyleguide.com/style/print/

Organizing your prose

http://www.webstyleguide.com/style/print/organize.html

How to Write for the Web

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html

Downloadable Files to Replicate Web-Reading Study

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/studyfiles/

“Chunking” information

http://www.webstyleguide.com/site/chunk.html

Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9606.html

How people read on the web:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Eye tracking study reveals 12 website tactics:

[http://www.directcreative.com/blog/eye-tracking-websites

Enjoy

I just stumbled across the site, Words of a Man’s Mouth.

The site founder was visiting a shop in Hong Kong and came across an old leather-bound journal with photos of young men and writings in Chinese. It looked like a school yearbook from the 1940s. He bought it, scanned the pages and posted them onto the site, inviting people to comment on the images.

The title of the Web site is from a quote at the beginning of the book: “The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.”

As I clicked through the site, I found myself compelled to continue. Reading the comments from readers was fascinating.

If you can read traditional Chinese, please have a look at the site. Perhaps you can help with some of the translation and, in turn, help discover more about the author and people in the book.