rchanl :: googlers :: over 99 billion served

2002-12-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some VISUAL MODELS of what we are envisioning and building for the school of {X}..... The "Link" between Art and Science

-Ron

2002-12-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest experiment we did, by linking www.hotdealsclub.com to my weblog, I got a pretty high placement in Google's search engine..

This is done by using "keywords", just one of the variables used by google's search engine...

more to come....

2002-11-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

So as most of you might already know our team: "Ron, Nick, Marwan and Darren" are going to be running some experiments with Google's search engine. Our main focus is to apply and link the knowledge aqquired from this course and compare them with the way Google rank webpages. The whole Power Law and topology idea is a part of Google's ranking formula. Ranking, in a nutshell, has to do with links on your page, popularity of your links, how many links you have on the website and how many sites are linked to your site. Sounds complicated? try looking at the formula goolge uses!!

You can find a bit of peliminary research both on my page http://ronnola.blogspot.com and Marwan's blog http://bl0gh0g.blogspot.com/ . Nick and Darren are doing some experiments with keywords and links as we speak.

SO with that said, if ANYONE has any ideas or interesting appoarch to this type of experiment please feel free and give us some pointers. I know some of you out there are Search Engine Wizards... Any comments??

2002-11-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

2002-11-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

2002-11-18T06:56:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 18, 2002

Google and It’s RANKING SECRETS

As some of you might know I am going to pursuit some experiments on Webpage ranking systems in module 3. After talking to Laura, we both found that there were many relevant information within the course that can help look at how search engines work. The whole Topology idea and Power Laws plays a big role in a “Search Process” as I found doing a preliminary experiment with Nick’s Weblog.

So today I am starting an extensive search on how Google works. Guess what?? It’s a Secret as Google would like to say.

“Google's order of results is automatically determined by several factors, including our class=SpellE>PageRank algorithm. Please check out our "Why Use Google" page for more details. Due to the nature of our business and our interest in protecting the integrity of our search results, this is the only information we make available to the public about our ranking system.”

Yeah that’s useful!!

That’s what I’ve been getting within the help pages in Google! They talk about their Patented “class=SpellE>PigeonRank” system and started to get off topic and talked about how many pigeons they have and how they are treating them. Is this for real?? Using Real pigeons? I don’t think so. Look for yourselves….

http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

True or NOT, I am going to get to the bottom of this. hopefully today!!! Because this is bugging meclass=GramE>.. I hate secrets… and my job now is to find out that secret and see what it has to do with the things we are doing..

Here is a REALLY SIMPLE explanation but it doesn’t explain much but I guess this can be a good base to work from.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html

Anyways check back later.. I will get this thing sorted out!

-RON

2002-11-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

blogger.com

2002-11-12T04:43:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Reflection :: TWO

Wow, talk about connectivity, one web post to another, the content connects so well.

What makes a GOOD weblog?? Pictures, Colours, and MORE pictures.. NO I don’t think so…. We don’t want to SCARE people AWAY!

I think it is important to stay on topic and don’t jump around. I remember mentioning about how PEOPLE of the same interest usually visit your site so changing the topic or moving around will cause CHAOS!!! Basically by moving around or changing topics, you are inviting people from other nodes to enter your site. THIS will screw up the whole study of the “CENTRAL NODE” and the “SCALE-FREE
NETWORK”.

The design is VERY important since it sets the mood and introduces the environment.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> These will facilitate the learning and information absorption. Weblog is a tool to share your experience with other’s with the same interest. Needless to say that the DESIGN you like, the
visitors to your site will most likely enjoy as well! Text and Graphics work hand in hand in the deliver of the content.

Did I say updating the weblog is important?? Maybe about ten thousand times throughout my postings. =) No one wants to read outdate material, like the site www.hotdealsclub.com , their site is update ”MANY TIMES A DAY” meaning many hits and more to come! Talk about SUCCESS. “POWER LAWS???”

Finally I think the CONTENT is as important as the weblog as a whole. The content is what drives the site to newer and higher levels. If you bring interesting and useful information within the node, people will come. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>“If you BUILD it, they will COME” Field of Dreams I believe it was from??? Who wants to READ about old news OR something that EVERYONE knows already. Be an expert within your field and start posting like one! If you act like you are on top on everyone “TOPOLOGY wise” you will eventually enter that level!

2002-11-12T02:52:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

THE POWER LAW

I am being to grasp the idea of the central node that branches off into many other linked nodes, which ALSO connects to one another
at different levels. Needless to say that the central node can inflict heavy influences throughout the network because of the numerous links it has connections to.

"think about deborah gordon's class=SpellE>havester ants, or Paul Krugman's model for edge-city growth. [...] Relationships in these systems are mutual: you influence your neighbors, and your neighbors influence you. All emergent systems are built out of this kind of feedback, the two-way connections that foster higher-level learning."
-- Steven Johnson, Emergence, ch3: the pattern match, p.120

Within the many networks that make up the World Wide Web, the notion of a “scale-free network” is unquestionable and its power can be the proof. It is hard to clearly state out or DEFINE the theory of “Power Laws” because of the inconsistency with empirically observed properties of the Web link structure.
The World Wide Web has evolved itself into a spontaneous, dynamic and distributed complex network which is hard to analysis and to control. I think if we are to analysis the web
topology, we can discover user’s interest that leads to their surfing behaviors; again the fact that irregularities continues to set us back and act as a barrier to our research continues to be a big issue. We can see that certain nodes increase exponentially as well; we can see that the links are not totally random. Each node has a reason to be linked with one another and it is mostly because of its context. The “Rich will get Richer” idea works totally in this discussion. The more popular links get more and more hits and more and more sites are linked to it. Comparing to the less popular nodes, the popularity comparison are astronomical and can quickly expand itself beyond expectation.

"the surprising discovery of target="_top">power laws in the Web forced us to acknowledge the hubs. the slowly decaying power law distribution [...] predicts that each scale-free network will have several large hubs that will fundamentally define the network's topology."

IT WORKS.. I’ve tired it with a classmate Nick and his weblog. Try typing in “small world separation” in www.google.com and you will find his site!!!

Weblog
... of seperation between people from opposite sides of the world. You could easily describe
this situation as a type of clustering. The small world networks only ...
www.maddat.blogspot.com/ - 35k - 10 Nov 2002style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:green'> - Cached - Similar pages

Isn’t this cool??? I think Laura will be pretty happy about this!

2002-11-12T02:52:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

MODULE REFLECTION

Reflection:: I think that the class weblog is finally doing what it is suppose to do. It is coming together as a network as Laura would have wanted it. I can see that the mapping exercise really helped in the development of these paths. The maps really helped in identifying the center of it all and it also clearly shows how they are linked and involved between one another. We can apply this knowledge back into the third culture theory and see how the two “Science” and “Art” link and how they are evolving.

This framework or MODEL is one of many proposed networks towards the idea of “small world separation” and “the sixth degrees of separation”.
What we have created here as a class allows us to study the problem analytically. I did find this website about the ideas of Watts and Strogatz. People have suggested that their recent models are quite well defined so I checked it out.

http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/485477.html Not just how I feel, but others have found
that they do provide convincing arguments for their framework. Their framework does proof to have convincing evidence that their network of “small-world phenomenon” acts as a central
entity between nature and technology. The future and the evolution of the World Wide Web will soon be based of the evolution of these fundamental ideas.

With all these ideas and help within our own network I hope to experiment with different techniques in Module 3 and hopefully be able to contribute to the class Metablog. I’ve read many different ideas from different students and I’ve start to contact them and exchange ideas to see if my model is compatible with others and how they can evolve into something more effective.
I am also looking at the links and maps others have created to see the connections between different nodes and try to figure out the formula/pattern.

2002-11-12T02:51:00.001-08:00

Sunday, October 20, 2002

TOPOLOGY

I found that week’s topic touches on the topology and the structure of the World Wide Web. I can start to see the connections between
the nodes and how they come together. Search Engines like www.google.com and www.yahoo.com are one of the top competitors on the internet. We all fight for the highest position on these search engines because we all know, the
better the placement the higher the hits. This is not just all random clicks and hits but because of the links it has and how centralized the site is.
What I mean by “centralized” it that the number of nodes that branches of from itself(the site). Of course other factors such as cultural and political influence can throw the “Power-law” off track but as it grows, these “insignificant” factor (after its growth) becomes lesser of a threat. Needless to say for site like www.google.com, they direct most of the traffic within the web making it the centralize power that help links site to one another.

Bring back a link from last module www.hotdealsclub.com all I can say it this site is awesome and the information and links it bares
continues to help it evolve and grow. This site proofs that the “Power-Laws” are in existence and it helps keep the wheels turning. People go on this site through other sites and they come together spontaneously. People are interested in HOT deals, and everyone wants to save money. People contribute naturally to gain popularity and also to keep this network alive. The more people link, visit and contribute to this node, the larger it gets.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> If we look at all the connections within this node week by week, we can see how it grows as more and more information are fed through this system. BACK to the things we learned from module one, of how weblogs are successful when it is constantly updated, this site is a perfect example of how this theory works!

Many people attempted to figure this out using mathematical formulas. The work of Watts and Strogatz is a great example of how their theory ties together with the uses of grids and factors that can help define the
topology of the web.

“In our experiment (Experiment 1), we first adopted a power law for both the user interest distribution and for the information distribution over the Web structure. The simulation results indicated that the distribution of user page-surfing steps follows exactly a power law, while the distribution of user domain-surfing steps follows an exponential distribution. These findings are consistent with the empirically observed real data sets (see Figure 1). It was also revealed from our experiment and real data sets that the distribution
of link click frequency, denoting the number of times users traverse a link, also follows a power law. This is something that has never been revealed before. In order to explore whether these regularities are influenced by the
information distribution over the Web structure, we conducted the following experiment (Experiment 2): We adopted a normal distribution for the information distribution while keeping other parameter unchanged. The result shows that the
originally revealed regularities still exist only with little changes in shape parameters. This indicates that information distribution does not influence the order in user surfing behavior.Ý However, when we
adopted a normal distribution for the user interest distribution, the distribution tail of user surfing depth will become an exponential function (Experiment 3). This interesting result confirms that a power law of user surfing depth distribution is determined by the user unique interest distribution.“ - Tsiwu Shang

I liked the idea that Ben Lin brought up about linking names and content: “I have a close friend, Sam Shum,
whose mother is the sister of the mother of a popular singer in Hong Kong, who has worked with Jacky Chan before. In other words I could get a signed photograph of Jacky Chan through Sam, through his Mom, through her sister, through her daughter, and from Jacky.”

I am going to explore that with Nick as well since we share similar views and ideology. I guess I will post the results next week and see if what we’ve been studying can us with tasks in our world.

2002-11-12T02:51:00.000-08:00

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Popular Cultures

I find there is a lot involved between popular networks and culture. The World Wide Web is a huge network and I feel that our physical lives
are being mapped onto this vast growing network of ideas and NODES. I find it SO interesting that the web is helping us connect so much more effectively than the traditional links within
our society. Although our society is a big network with many smaller links in between, popular cultures cannot get to where they are today without the
help on this online network (WWW). Within this digital node, there are many factors and theories such as the “web topology” and “power-law” that drives this phenomenon.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Nick has mentioned that the

“…networks develop out of the emergence of many individuals from a completely bottom-up approach…”

I completely see the relevance as the connections between nodes evolves from communities and a community evolves from people with the same interest. But YES they DO get thrown OFF track by other entities and this is when “popular culture” can help maintain the balance and filter out this chaotic evolution. I
also feel that the “Power Law” has something to do with this and it can throw things out of proportion. One of the things it can affect is the growth of a community.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I am convinced that it can make a popular site even more popular while leaving the less popular nodes at its own mercy.

2002-11-12T02:50:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

What’s Next?

I am reading about Stanley Milgram and his take on the theory of “small-world phenomenon”. He believes that this whole idea is empowered by “short chains of acquaintances” Through his work and his theories, they help evolve the
experimental trials of “social science”. Need I remind you that this started around the 1960’s and now we are applying his ideology in the digital world.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He work was the first to help us realize that the existence of the “sixth degrees of separation” between unique parties. With his work as the bases of future studies, people are starting to develop more and more frameworks that can help solve this puzzle analytically. Since then he worked on many experiments that claims can backup his theories. After reading about his theories and experiments, I did a little search on the web and found that many has attempted to follow his paths but the “outcome” remains branched out (apart) but within the context. There are different powers that continue to throw this theory off course. One of which is the inconsistence of users in an un-controlled environment.

I do however see his points and believe that the work we are doing now can reinforce his ideas and as well help us develop hypothesis of our own. With the help of our Class Weblog, I think we can soon see the relations and the development of his theories. Discovery the central node will probably be
my first priority in touching with this matter. Finding out which is most referred to SITE can help us study the bigger picture of things.

I believe that the task ahead of us now is to shape and design the networks of tomorrow. We have to look at how successful we are in
helping our node “stay fit” and how technology can improve and evolve the NETWORK of things. We got to discovered what is empowering the users and the nodes and find the catalysis within these processes. With our findings, we can apply our collective knowledge and being to experiment with the experience that it brings.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Is our main objective to bring Science and Art together? Or to find the methods and apply what we learn to facilitate this process?

2002-10-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

Third Culture
So continuing on the idea with TechBC (SFU –Surrey) bringing Art and Science together, we are really the “third culture”. We are basically the bridge between the two cultures and the product is the emergence of this third culture. From the reading, I can see that a third culture would be formed and become the missing link between Art and Science.

"The arts and the sciences are again joining together as one culture, the third culture. Those involved in this effort — scientists, science-based humanities scholars, writers — are at the center of today's intellectual action. "

2002-10-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

Art and Science
So what is the big difference between Art and Science? I know , I know, if you look at it from a basic point of view they are on different sides of the see-saw. I think the difference comes from the mistrust and lack of physical connection between the two cultures. You see they are really not that different but over the years they grew apart from one another. I think the internet is actually closing the gap between the two cultures. When people talk about the “third culture” I think of “us”. What do you mean “us”? I mean SFU- Surrey students. Aren’t we using technology to combine Art and Science together? Everything we do, including this weblog is a type of art and self expression coming together as a community. I see that the communication between the two cultures coming together. Can this be emergence?

2002-10-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Emergence found a rite place to come together
As I was talking about before, emergence just doesn’t happen over night. People have to come together and form some sort of system. This type of emergence comes together with the help of many out there with the same interest. Like the HOT Deals Club web site, people come together and post deal each of them found, all contributing to like collective of information. This is not just any old info chucked together but is a collection of diamonds and jewels. I mean CREAM OF THE CROP. Online communities like this join together and expand naturally into a collective of knowledge. People post links and other hot deals sites and all of a sudden it pools together forming a chain linking one another. There are many ways of connecting emergence to weblogging and this is a great example.

"Emergence is the phenomenon wherein a system is designed according to certain principles, but interesting properties arise that are not included in the goals of the designer."

2002-09-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

I was doing a search on weblogs and found an awesome web site called Hot Deals Club http://www.hotdealsclub.com/ and this is a great example for an updated weblog with multiple participants. This weblog ranks pretty high in my interest list because it features everyday hot deal from around the country (USA). The best part is, I get to read comments from other “cheapos” like myself to see if it is really a good deal or not. I've been using this page for a long time already and never really looked at it as a weblog till now. There are also achieves where people can look back at deals and old prices.

This site has no fancy graphics or flash animations but just the info you need at your fingertips. It is always up-to-date and yes even 5-10 times a day depending on the deals floating around. This is truly a great collective, being kept alive by the participants and the main moderator.

After reading Steven Johnson's book, Emergence: The Connected Life of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software, I kind of related this website to what referred to as Slime molds. Like this site, it is not being run by a "Wiser Slime mold" but it is a self governed system where participants come together and share ideas which bring me to the point of this relationship, emergence. You see weblog is a type of emergence, and a self building structure will emerge after a short period of time. It is a big network or URLS and comments. But it has developed itself into an information vault for people with similar interest.

2002-09-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

See I believe in enjoying life and buying things that I like. I will never spend money on things I don't want. Well except for gas...... paying for something that magically disappears on you, and if you want to get more of this
"Liquid" you never get to see? Better open up your bank book and get ready to spend at least 35 dollars a week on gas. Anyways back the thing that I want.... I visited my friend, Mark Rainey's house a few weeks ago and I saw this air sofa he had. I tried it out and it was the best thing I've ever had my butt on. Of course this sofa was from Ikea. Go Figure!!! http://www.ikea.ca/product_presentation/show.asp?productnumber=00018555&type=III&id=5953 check it out.. Round black or red cover with 4 separate air pockets inside. It comes with a 10 year warranty which means it would be as cheap as those air furniture from San Francisco or Spencers. But this is going to be an awesome additional to all the other Ikea products around the house. I can imagine it now sitting on the POSIG typing away on the laptop. (Possibly working on my Weblog) But it is not that easy.... I went to both Coquitlam Ikea (First time, first time) and the Richmond Ikea.. NO STOCK.. so I called up Ikea's order by phone line.. THEY DON'T HAVE IT EITHER... oh well.. they said they will put an order in for me and it should take about a month for the product to come in. We'll see about that.. I am hoping by the end of the year BEFORE Christmas I can be sitting on my posig drinking tea and watching a movie.

Oh yeah for people who don't know about my theory.... I think EVERYTHING around us is important. Why? because everything holds a memory. I don't mean they all have a memory stick inside but they are always, one way or another, linked to a part of your life. Look around the things in your room. ANYTHING, I bet you that you can pick it up and remember where you got it from, how you got it, who gave it to you, etc.... Now imagine giving that thing away and never seeing it again. Then the memory is lost. How can you remember that special moment if there is nothing to help you recall it? So people grab all you can and safe all you've got. Cuz once it is gone, that part of the memory runs away with it.

With that said, I think this weblog idea is totally cool, like “Captain’s log” in Star Trek, I can always look back at this and go over all the crazy ideas I’ve had and what I’ve done about them.

2002-09-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start posting things I am interesting in, from day to day. Don't be mistaken, I probably wouldn't get stuck on one THING and go on and on about it. I like to move around, explore the technological realm. I might post ideas, products I come by or even interesting sites. And of course, I wouldn't waste time on something I am not interested in. What you see (my collection) and READ (my opinions) might shine a light on who I really am. So if you think you know me.. think again.. cuz I always seems to amaze my friends.. one way or another....

-ronnola

2002-09-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

What makes a good weblog? A good weblog should be easy to identify and easy to read. It shouldn’t be a long description, but something short and that can catche the audience’s attention. Weblogs are usually in chronological order and it can be ascending or descending order. Depending on what type of weblog you choose to pursue, the links and contents should be up-to-date and working(valid). And of course the weblog should be of relevance to the interest of the creator. The weblog serves as a reflection of the creator and the contents being viewed are chosen by an audience with similar interest.

There are many different types of weblog to approach. Blogs, notebooks and filters are the most popular method of approach. Blogs are short entries made by the author and it serves as a record of current events chosen by the creator. Notebooks are more detailed and are usually an event that can be related to life of the creator. These entries are more like short stories. Filters are simply an on-going log of the same issue being discussed. This can be in a form of carefully selected links that goes together with the topic at hand.

Weblogs are a good communication tool, and it can reveal the inner and outer minds of the creator. The creator should have a constant or growing interest while updating the weblog. Of course, the opinion of the author can help clear up the ideas and issues brought to the table. These are the things that will keep the audience in the circle with high interest.

I found these pretty cool sites:

http://www.considered-harmful.org - Weblogging Considered Harmful
The site has a pretty good layout of a typical weblog. Notice the calendar on the right, and the dates that are in bold. Those are the last entries by the author. Also the “web ring” type links to other weblogs is an awesome tool for people who are into weblogs.

http://rgb.editthispage.com/ - The Life and Times of Rob Bender
This is cool if you want to read about someone’s personal lives. I’ve read a few pages of this and some of the activities described are actually quite interest. I don’t know about other people but reading about some stranger’s daily activities are actually quite interesting.

After viewing all the different types and styles of weblogs, I will probably use the filter approach when I create my weblog. When doing my own weblogs I will probably use the Blogger software since it is so easy to use and to update and is a free software. The templates they have are also easy to use and adapt. A feature I really like is the teams feature where I can define and add team members so they can add to my weblog. I am probably going to do mine on high-tech electronic devices. I love to be updated on the latest gadgets and tools. I also believe a weblog for this can help identify trends and changes in our technological world.