I think this is how it works: programs sniff out blogs that allow users to create new accounts with automatic posting privileges to the front page (up to today, this was how ASC was setup). They do this by creating gibberish user names, pushing gibberish URLs and email addresses in the comment spam. This had puzzled me in the past - why would a spammer take the time to spam gibberish? You’d think at least Viagra or penis enlargement would be among the links in the comment spam. But these posts are “hello world” posts - designed just to see if the bot succeeded in creating an account with authoring privileges. Once the spammers realize they have found a host blog that they can publish from, they then use the accounts to post to the site- in this case, interracial porn.

A note to the spammer - would you care to comment on whether the above analysis is correct? I’d like to know whether I got it more or less right.

Here is a link to the lineup of all the thesis projects.

1) more to come shortly

2) ASC succeeded in every important way, as the technical failures are now a part of the conversation that will happen on this website between now and the next ASC.

3) The next Augmented Speakers’ Corner will be sometime in late May/early June.

I want to sincerely thank all the participants of the ASC in Union Square for an excellent beginning. Also, special thanks to Patricia, Brian, Lucas, Matt, Lindsey, Liz, and Gabe for their time and energy. Thanks guys!!

While the ASC had several technical malfunctions which effectively disabled the implementation of the cell-based interactivity, I am proud to say that I plan on continuing to improve the interface based on what I witnessed in Union Square yesterday. The core of this project was to erode the barriers to honest & constructive public discussion, of which there are many. I theorized that using a cellphone would remove some inhibition from speaking on a microphone. Despite the technical malfunctions, ASC-US was able to get first timers to feel comfortable speaking, on the microphone. Part of that was the visual representation (”Amateurs Wanted” is a pretty good slogan for this project, if I can say so myself). I think the other part was the emergent nature of the conversation. I will be posting some thoughts on this over the next few days, as well as photos, video, and audio from the event. This site will be a place to discuss the evolution of the interface, as well as the implementation of future Augmented Speakers’ Corner events.

Congratulations to All!!

felipe

Instead, I think it might be neat to create an open category and simply allow users to submit and tag their submissions however they see fit. After a while it might be possible to pick out some patterns and see how I can provide other ways to slice and dice the content.

On the other hand, too much openness makes things too vague and therefore uninviting. So here’s a start: there are two different “channels” (ie categories for content on this site) that I think would be useful to pick out. One relates to your feedback and ideas about this project itself - your suggestions and observations on how to improve any aspect of it. This is a pretty broad conversation. Appropriately, this channel is called “Suggestions”.

The second channel is related to why the ASC project exists in the first place: your voice taking part in a public discussion. This channel is called “Questions for Union Square”. And this is the beginning of the ASC project: How do I seed the conversation online to generate a dialog in Union Square that can build upon itself into something cumulative, something uncommonly solid?

To re-state my line of inquiry: What questions should be asked that will generate the best and most productive set of questions and answers thereafter? I think one excellent question that goes in this direction is this:

If you could ask one question of millions upon millions of people, what would it be?

Can you think of a better way of putting it? Maybe that question is too open-ended. What is your question?

Please post it to the “Question for Union Square” category. If the audio interface is unavailable, don’t hesitate to create an account and simply post it in text form. Otherwise, you can also email it to me.