I requested transcripts today from Carleton University

I just faxed Carleton's registrar's office with a transcript request. These are for applying for the A.Stat credential from the Statistical Society of Canada. Speaking of this society they are having a conference next Spring in Ottawa that I will try to attend.

My abstract for the Communications and Information Technology section of the American Sociology Association 2007 mini-conference in Second Life

Exposed edges and tighter nodes: a suggested social networking hypothesis for web 2.0 as seen through a user of facebook a web 2.0 social networking site.

Author Peter Timusk, B.Math, B.A., graduate student of Systems Science at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

The author explores previous studies of social networking by pioneers such as Barry Wellman. Using these studies and more recent basic networking models a hypothesis is developed for further empirical study of the networking properties of social networking web sites such as facebook. It seems to the author, who is a new user of facebook in summer 2007 that there is more privacy exposure between persons and at the same time these same persons are brought closer together by networking on facebook. Thus edges between nodes on this social network are exposed revealing these edges to other nodes while nodes themselves potentially learn more about each other as nodes only not just as edges. It is hoped that this hypothesis and other various hypotheses will help either social network analysts, or those who will be data mining web sites, such as, facebook to understand implications of the network’s social structure. Legal and ethical considerations resulting from these hypotheses will also be considered in this paper.

Applying for a professional designation.

I started to complete my A.Stat application with the Statistical Society of Canada application.

Reading books.

I read the beginning of two books today:

Berger, Peter L. & Luckman, Thomas. The Social Construction of Knowledge: A Treatise In The Sociology of Knowledge ( New York, N.Y.: Anchor, 1966)

This is a very inspiring book.

Heiberger, Richard, M. & Holland, Burt. Statistical Analysis and Data Display: An Intermediate Course with Examples on S-Plus, R, and SAS (New York, N.Y.: Springer, 2004).

This book I read more of the second chapter.

I did borrow a book and again I am stupid

I did borrow a book on errors and measurement and again I have made a stupid mistakes about knowledge I could have known. The book I read this in was:

Taylor, John R. An introduction to error analysis : the study of uncertainties in physical measurements (Mill Valley, Calif.: University Science Books, 1982)

I read a book for fun that could be related to Internet research or my business but am deciding it was just fun.

I read this book

Carr, Paul & Pond, Graham The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life: The Essential Guide to an Amazing Virtual World - with Millions of Users
(New York N.Y.: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007).

I read most of this book now. I read it very quickly as it has a light hearted style. It has many foreign or historical and ancient origin based words for names of virtual tourist destinations. These are the actual names of these locations in the virtual world known as Second Life. I had to pronounce these proper names slowly. I did not search these locations out in Second Life but the authors gave the tourist spots names as a locational reference. So I did not explore Second Life with the book in hand but instead after, starting to read this book, I went on line in Second Life did a little work on making my home in Second Life. I was intending on working on my business in Second Life while on-line today, but after I read more of the book, I am rethinking doing business in Second Life, and thinking more of just enjoying Second Life.
The pages of this book are small and it is the typical paperback length of 200 pages or so. It read more like Canadian narrative sociology than American analytical sociology.

I was also reading analytical sociology last night. I read more of the book Social Networks edited by Barry Wellman because he seems to think his early work covers social networking like studying facebook or other social web network might need covering these days.

We had a BBQ for systems sciences students today.

My partner and I had a good time at the BBQ organised by other students in my master's program.

Library thing dot com

I added more books to Library thing dot com and tried adding a tag to all the books I am currently reading. Five hours of study done now plus yesterday's work and teaching my partner fractions for an all round busy busy day.

I dig deep into past lessons to understand political and business uncertainty

I want to borrow this book

Taylor, John R. An introduction to error analysis : the study of uncertainties in physical measurements (Mill Valley, Calif.: University Science Books, 1982)

I read about alternative terms for free software to learn what FLOSS means

I read wikipedia's article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS (cited July 5, 2007) and a definition at flora.ca here http://www.flora.ca/floss.shtml (cited July 5, 2007).

Computers as art form? May be not.

R.L. Rutsky, High technē: art and technology from the machine aesthetic to the posthuman (Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota, 1999)

I read more of this book lately. I disucssed a little of the points made at the beginning with a coworker and I made sense. Art attracts me and motivates me. I am a computer artist since 1979.

I read a few pieces tonight in the Internet law puzzle.

I decided to revisit my legal studies of the Internet on Monday evening and borrowed one book on this topic from the old library shelf where I found myself during the e-commerce course I took in Winter 2004. I am just finishing reading from this book one piece

Garnham, Nicholas. The Role of the Public Sphere in the Information Society in Marsden, Christopher T. ed. Regulation and the Global Information Society (New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2000)

This was a good review of law and political theory touching on both Kant and Rousseau as well as Habermas. This whole book was published just before the Internet crash but whose to say that the changes brought about by the Internet which this books asserts has changed the world, is really that affected by a loss in the stock market as the over all changes in society seem to have held and grown stronger. Perhaps the Internet is changing capitalism for the better or at least testing the markets and awareness of the stock markets.

I am studying by email with AOIR researchers lately.

I have been following the Internet with other more senior and experienced Internet researchers by email. I have taken to using facebook for staying in touch with coworkers and friends. This site (facebook) is all of a sudden very popular.