The XML solution on the horizon is X3D. This has a much better chance of being a useful 3D markup language because in most cases it would be only one representation of the base data among
a set of alterantives including vector graphics (SVG) and XHTML.
The only browser plug-in for SVG right now is
Adobe's, and
it only works in NS4 and IE5 for Mac and Win32. However, there is a rapidly-developing Win32 SVG-savy branch of Moz by Alex Fritz. No text support yet, alas, but the author suggests that it should
be easy to port to other platforms.
Generating SVG
Sodipodi
is a Win/Linux vector graphics program with SVG at
its heart -- well worth a look. Sketch runs in Python and includes SVG in its import/export set. I've had good luck transforming complex Illustrator diagrams into SVG using Sketch.
On the Win platform, I'm quite fond of Jasc
WebDraw; it's in beta and a fully functional demo is provided.
Finally, the versitility of the Batiklibrary is staggering. Written in Java, it includes a viewer, transcoders to png and jpg and a very cool Graphics2D implementation. The latter
allows anything graphics that can be drawn to a java G2D panel to be instead output as SVG. This is a great way to get font dimension info for precision layout of SVG, as we've done building dynamic timelines at the Historical Event Markup Project.
Nor, in fact, should anyone buy the notion that filtering software protects children. It doesn't. Statistically kids are in no danger on the Net. Their greatest source of harm comes from physical abuse from family members and people they know, according to U.S. Justice Department statistical abstracts on violence and the FBI Uniform Crime Report, and firearms and other accidents. Congress seems in no rush to block any of those dangers.
This, I'm afraid, is preaching to the web's choir, and fallacious. The fact that a society does nothing about a putative 'greater harm' by no means mitigates the lesser one, and, most importantly, it is cold comfort to the parents who are keen on web screening for their children.
Until advocates of a fully open web recognize something sensible in the wishes of parents and teachers to limit the access of the children under their care to the full spectrum of human opinion and practice, it will be they, not their opponents, who 'just don't get it'. That is, until those advocates are called to the computer by a five year old daughter who has mis-typed her way into an animated gif of oral sex.
The question then becomes, how do we develop responsible and open parental filtering tools -- obviously, ones that do not exploit our children as data mines --, and how do we, as parents and children, appropriately negotiate their use. This is a more difficult topic and one more worthy of Mr. Katz's skill as a writer.
Some of these ideas are inspiring and, in turn, being adapted to, the peer-review system that has driven university work for many decades now. Exciting examples in my field include the Suda On Line, a collaborative effort to translate a huge Byzantine encyclopedia of antiquity and the De Imperibus Romanis website. SOL is fantastically cool: some of the world's greatest Greek historians are chipping away at their corner of the problem, and their contributions are reviewed like everyone else's.
This excellent basic description begs an obvious question: what happens if something interrupts a write to the journal? Persumably this write is a quicker process, and so less likely to be interrupted, but how do these systems avoid corruption of their journals?
Slashdot Mirror
The XML solution on the horizon is X3D. This has a much better chance of being a useful 3D markup language because in most cases it would be only one representation of the base data among a set of alterantives including vector graphics (SVG) and XHTML.
Browsing SVG
The only browser plug-in for SVG right now is Adobe's, and it only works in NS4 and IE5 for Mac and Win32. However, there is a rapidly-developing Win32 SVG-savy branch of Moz by Alex Fritz. No text support yet, alas, but the author suggests that it should be easy to port to other platforms.
Generating SVG
Sodipodi is a Win/Linux vector graphics program with SVG at its heart -- well worth a look. Sketch runs in Python and includes SVG in its import/export set. I've had good luck transforming complex Illustrator diagrams into SVG using Sketch.
On the Win platform, I'm quite fond of Jasc WebDraw; it's in beta and a fully functional demo is provided.
Finally, the versitility of the Batiklibrary is staggering. Written in Java, it includes a viewer, transcoders to png and jpg and a very cool Graphics2D implementation. The latter allows anything graphics that can be drawn to a java G2D panel to be instead output as SVG. This is a great way to get font dimension info for precision layout of SVG, as we've done building dynamic timelines at the Historical Event Markup Project.
Jabber clients offer GPG encryption of chats and presence declarations. Open specs and all provided in extra-crunchy streaming xml!
This, I'm afraid, is preaching to the web's choir, and fallacious. The fact that a society does nothing about a putative 'greater harm' by no means mitigates the lesser one, and, most importantly, it is cold comfort to the parents who are keen on web screening for their children.
Until advocates of a fully open web recognize something sensible in the wishes of parents and teachers to limit the access of the children under their care to the full spectrum of human opinion and practice, it will be they, not their opponents, who 'just don't get it'. That is, until those advocates are called to the computer by a five year old daughter who has mis-typed her way into an animated gif of oral sex.
The question then becomes, how do we develop responsible and open parental filtering tools -- obviously, ones that do not exploit our children as data mines --, and how do we, as parents and children, appropriately negotiate their use. This is a more difficult topic and one more worthy of Mr. Katz's skill as a writer.
Some of these ideas are inspiring and, in turn, being adapted to, the peer-review system that has driven university work for many decades now. Exciting examples in my field include the Suda On Line, a collaborative effort to translate a huge Byzantine encyclopedia of antiquity and the De Imperibus Romanis website. SOL is fantastically cool: some of the world's greatest Greek historians are chipping away at their corner of the problem, and their contributions are reviewed like everyone else's.
This excellent basic description begs an obvious question: what happens if something interrupts a write to the journal? Persumably this write is a quicker process, and so less likely to be interrupted, but how do these systems avoid corruption of their journals?