[okfn-labs] what we are working on...

[stef]

On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 01:57:26AM -0800, Friedrich Lindenberg wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014, at 01:45 AM, stef wrote:
> > On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 05:19:03PM +0100, Friedrich Lindenberg wrote:
> > > For the combination of technologies that you’re using (Neo/Django), I’d also consider having a look at detective.io, it’s Journalism++ brain child - an open source platform aimed at journalists with no data modelling skills.
> > 
> > dumbing down tools instead of smartening up the users seems like a step
> > backward. but then it creates opportunities for the elite jurnos to
> > separate
> > from the bottom feeders. ;)
> > 
> > enablement is not through tools that paternalize, but through
> > understanding,
> > knowledge.
> 
> Nicely trolled ;) 

i guess you laid a trap and i happily jumped right in the middle ;)

> I think journalists should become more courageous in acquiring
> tech skills (like SQL SELECT, it's the killer tool of journalism), but
> that doesn't make a good reason for shit usability.

i totally agree. sql select should be on the curriculum of all jurnos, even
the old ones.

> In this specific case, what J++ are trying to do is make a WYSIWYG
> editor for OWL. I'm not sure they needed OWL in the first place, but if
> you're going to use it, please hide it. Otherwise, any user will first
> have to understand XML, RDF, OWL itself and subscribe to some fairly
> whacky philosophical ideas. It's as close to human rights abuse as you
> can get on a flat-file basis. 

totally. so maybe this tool is not something that should be widely used as a
positive example?

-- 
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