More than two years ago, arXiv.org implemented trackbacks. In theory this is a clever way to allow the community to post comments on papers; a commenter would write a blog entry with a link to the paper that they wanted to comment on, and the trackback system would create a complementary link on the paper’s website to the comment. To reduce exposure to trackback spam, there is some sort of moderation system in place.

However, it seems that this hasn’t caught on. The early suggestion was that it would, once researchers started blogging (with standard blog software that supports trackbacks). Researchers would be enticed to blog because of arxiv.org’s support of trackbacks.

Whether or not researchers have embraced blogging technology en masse is an open question. However, there are cultural assumptions that went into the trackback standard that make it really inappropriate for the letters-to-the-editor usage desired of it. First, trackbacks are merely a statement that the blog entry has something to do with the link. I could say that Ron Maimon is a friend of mine and wrote http://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0503028, aren’t I proud of him? This is not a scientific commentary on the paper. Secondly, the blog entries appear on the blogger’s site; a technical discussion of esoterica in a particular paper might not be what the blogger wants on their blog. On a similar note, letters-to-the-editor are threaded; comments on an arxiv.org paper appear out of context on many different websites. Comments on the blog entry, a rational response, would exist out of the timeline of the original commentary. Finally, discussions of the process of critiquing scientific wikipedia entries have led me to believe that researchers desire a collaborative effort on commentary, especially when widely-held views are at odds with the paper.

I am currently in St. Louis for a friend’s wedding. My dad’s family is from the Illinois side of the river, and as a child I went here every year to visit my aunt and grandparents. I haven’t been here in about 10 years, and it’s nice to be back. I’m going to see the arch and some of the neighborhoods, and perhaps the art museum, science museum and zoo.

I’m taking a class called Environmental Interventions [wiki] at Cornell this semester.

With the help of google maps, I created a Lightlink hotspot map:

View Larger Map

I have posted a tool (and also an ajax version) to use the imagemagick command line in a web browser. This will allow you to edit your pictures and photos and do all sort of interesting transformations.

I reimplemented the average color algorithm that was originally in the F&H image segmentation code. Creates neat results.

I am not quite sure what to make of the European interest in my website. Is it just spambots? At any rate, I have heard that digital arts are more popular in Europe than they are here. In particular I think that Ars Electronica is an interesting conference. I am tentatively going to present my research there this fall.

The other conference that interests me is SxSW, which just ended. I am interested in how the web is making inroads into mainstream media and art, and this seems to be a good place to see this happen.

I installed NX Server inside my firewall. I like it as an alternative to other windowing systems, e.g. VNC or running an X server under cygwin. It’s secure, but it requires that a lot of ports be opened up in addition to port 22 (ssh), and I need to figure out how to run it in idiot-proof mode from outside the firewall.

It’s a lot faster than VNC.

For now, I still recommend VNC over ssh, or X clients over ssh, as an easy and secure way to connect through a firewall.

Found out about a cool Eclipse plugin – Azzurri Clay – lets you define databases in eclipse.

I also like

PDT – PHP editor

Subclipse – Subversion plugin

Welcome to the newest page on the web (at this instant). I am working with ActionScript 3.0 on a few projects, some TOP SECRET. But never fear, I have an open-source project to create a standalone sound editor and cue point generator in ActionScript 3.0. I’ll share my techniques and code, and point you to good ActionScript 3.0 resources on the web.

Charles a.k.a “Toby”