digipoem Update Posted 144 days ago by Jon Elliott

Recently, I've updated my flickr mashup, digipoem.

As well as the ability to visualise user entered text, I have now included mashups with random haikus and song lyrics.

Random haikus are provided randomhaiku.com, whilst song lyrics are retrieved courtesy of the lyricsfly API.

I've also optimised some areas of the JavaScript code and added per image navigation controls. The site still needs a bit of work to iron out a few glitches and what not, but it's fairly reliable at the moment.

I do have a few more extensions to the mashup I'd like to include, if I find the time, namely using the Yahoo! Term Extraction API for something useful.

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Hello World Posted 148 days ago by Jon Elliott

It's taken me a while, but I've finally got round to setting up a blog. It's something I've been intending to embark on for some time now. The trouble was that I had difficulty grappling with the motivations for doing so.

Pencil and Paper

Despite there being a multitude of worthwhile blogs, the web seems to already have it's fair share of blogging detritus. The accessibility and ease of blogging seems to have encouraged setting up a blog merely because it's possible. The freedom of communication and expression that blogging offers is a wonderful thing, yet it strikes me that such a powerful platform is often poorly used. To communicate a thought or opinion is important, however to immortalise it with the written word holds a kind of sacred significance for me, one that should not be embarked upon lightly.

Blogging does seem to require some form of inner self-importance, I must admit I'm struggling with it at the moment. By posting a blog do people really want to benevolently share their opinions and findings, or do they just selfishly crave attention and want to be heard? I suspect it's a bit of both.

The transitory nature of blogging certainly encourages a constant effort to dole out more material. The method in which old blog posts seem to disappear into a void of redundant ambiguity often appears to drive some kind of vain effort to stay up to date.  However, it is after pondering this idea that I realised I had approached the whole concept of blogging in the wrong light.  After all, a blog is not a piece of printed literature. Moreover, it strikes me as more of a playful form, quite happily transcending any oppressive longevity.

So, it is with this thought in mind that I have decided to setup this blog. I am optimistic that the more relaxed constructs of a blog will enable me to write more freely and, after years of devouring the content of others, I hope I can contribute some half-decent material of my own.

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