James commented on something I’d written earlier today, where I’d quoted Robert Scoble as saying:

• Are you worried about the elitism of A-List jerks like me?
• Then freaking link to new bloggers that we haven’t heard about yet!

What James actually said was this:

• Linking to lesser known bloggers should be encouraged. You should turn this into a full fledged call to action for others to do the same…
  

Seems reasonable.

Now what I’m trying to figure out is the best way of making this happen. Needs a little thought, my hunch is a straight link-to-ten approach on each blog is unproductive. But what do I know?

Any offers out there?

Otherwise I will go with whatever occurs to me over the next 24 hours.

I’ve always believed in a variation of Linus’s Law: Given enough eyeballs, all information bugs are shallow.

Clarence Fisher commented on something appalling that’s going on, in his post here. You can read the original comment by Tom Hoffman here.

So I’m going to do my bit as well. Here goes:
Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Some time ago I was doing my usual wander around the blogosphere, and was passing through Scobleizer via Gapingvoid, when I saw this quote by Scoble, on some of the recent Techmeme noise:

• Are you worried about the elitism of A-List jerks like me?
• Then freaking link to new bloggers that we haven’t heard about yet!

Couldn’t agree more. It is up to us, the Z-Listers like you and me, to make sure that people who need to be heard and read get heard and read. And this is not to demean A-Listers, it’s not their fault. We made them what they are. I know many people I would consider to be part of that elite community, many who have advised me, challenged me, supported me, criticised me. And guess what? I’ve found many new people to connect to, to read, to talk with, as a result of the advice given to me by that elite.

Being an A-Lister isn’t a crime. Preventing others — from having the opportunity to become one — could, in some people’s eyes, be a crime. I can’t accept that. Every one of us is a participant in that process, it is up to us to keep the blogosphere open to all. And I think it is open to all.

• I like stumbling around, ever since I came across StumbleUpon, it takes me places I wouldn’t have found any other way.
• I like taking a look at the blogrolls of people I read, they take me places I wouldn’t have found any other way.
• I like checking technorati to see who’s linking to me, I get to places I wouldn’t have found any other way.

And when I find someone/someplace I like, I watch for a little while (just to see if they’re active) and then link to them.

Which is what I’m going to do with something I found today.

Some time ago, I’d written a post about the power of Beta. And today, I found someone I hadn’t heard of linking to the post. That someone was the Workstream 3 Draft for Connecting Bristol’s entry to the Digital Challenge.

Now whoever’s behind the Workstream 3 Draft, they’re actually thinking of submitting their blog as the entry. I quote from the blog:

• I’m going to try and make the most of the other posts here, and links to referenced projects, articles, etc. Wouldn’t it be cool if our submission was this blog, with a front post that summarised everything and then linked to all the supporting posts, comments, etc?
  

Now that would be cool.

I have always wanted blogs to be the “buy side” of the procurement process, a reasonable extension of the Intention Economy. I could see many benefits. You tell people what you’re looking for. Others come back to you with recommendations. You could recommend yourself or your product/service, but you have to do so in public. And therefore you’re vulnerable. [An aside. It was that vulnerability that really hit me when David Mackenzie introduced Hallam Foe to a small group of bloggers. No place to hide].

But until I saw the Workstream 3 Draft, I’d never considered using blogs on the “sell side” of the process. Shows how dumb I can be.

I love seeing this juxtaposition of virtual and real communities, using virtual as well as real tools to get real things done. Real learning by doing.

So if any of you want to help them, learn from them or just observe, here’s your chance.

There’s a story in the feedback section of the latest New Scientist about a “lazy inventor trap”; it restored my faith in the stupidity of much of today’s patent processes. No surprise, the story’s hidden behind a paywall.

Why worry when you’ve got Google. I entered the patent application number and there it was. You can read the patent here. But I’ll save you the trouble.

It’s a patent for some form of hybrid between image capture and document, somewhere in the copier and fax space. But that’s not important.

What is important is this clause, which occurs six inches into the front page of the claim:

9. The method of providing user interface displays in an image forming apparatus which is really a bogus claim included amongst real claims, and which should be removed before filing; wherein the claim is included to determine if the inventor actually read the claims and the inventor should instruct the attorneys to remove the claim.

What is important is that the clause was not buried in the small print, it was at the start of the claim.

What is important is that the inventor was meant to have taken the bogus clause out.

What is important is that the inventor didn’t. Nor did his attorney. Nor did the Patent Office. Nor did anyone reading the patest for the last two years.

Just goes to show.

Do patents actually get read?

We have patent spam, and it’s gotten worse. Discovery of prior art is not easy. People game the system.  There are frivolous patents, spurious ones, defensive ones and frankly offensive ones.

Time for a change.

Doc’s posted on why he wants VRM. As he says: “This is our problem. We’re the ones in the best position to fix it.” So now I have to find a way to be at the Internet Identity Workshop in a few weeks’ time. It’s a bugbear of mine as well.