My new del.icio.us feed – The perfect way to share cool stuff I find everyday on the internet.

Frederick Giasson

As you can see at the bottom right of this page, I added a ” My Del.icio.us ” section. I have been convinced by reading Todd and Slacker to add it. What’s del.icio.us? It’s a social bookmark. You create an account and you add your bookmark when you find interesting stuff on the Internet. It’s just this. All bookmark entries are joining with tags. Tags can be seeing as folders; it’s a word in relation with the bookmark’s content. What is interesting is the definition you write with your bookmark entries.

This is a social bookmark. Who says social, say community and also say sharing. No bookmarks are private in the system. Everybody can see your bookmarks and they are automatically added to each tags’ pages. Then, they are rapidly viewable by thousands of people. It’s why the definition you’ll write about your bookmarks entries is important: it’ll help other users to figure out what it talk about. By correctly entering it you’ll participate to increase the quality of the product, then, the quality community.

Another cool feature is the ability to subscribe to other users entries. It’s called an inbox. Each time one of your subscribed users posts a new entry, it’ll immediately appear in your inbox. It’s a kind of bookmark aggregator. It’s really efficient and interesting when you subscribe to users that post interesting stuffs.

How to use it? Todd and Slacker are suggesting using Splur on internet explorer. Splur is the same type of system but you have an add-in software available on IE, Mozilla and Firefox to help you to bookmark your pages. One of the system’s options is to synchronize your Splur and del.icio.us account together; it’s what make it interesting. But I found that the best tool for del.icio.us available is a small Firefox add-in called delicious. It’s easy to use, small, fast and full of features.

Why I had added this feed content on my blog? Because I found really useful stuff each days on the Internet. The problem is that I’ll not do a post for each of them. I don’t want to make this blog a link repository; I want to make this blog a repository of my written thoughts. So, the del.icio.us feed broadcast on my blog is the best tool to archive these two goals: write my thoughts and share my findings. So, I wish that you?ll enjoy this addition!

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The importance of your blog’s posts titles – A message to bloggers; a wish as a reader

Frederick Giasson

Are you a blogger? Do you take care of the titles of your posts? Personally I try to. I don’t know if I’m efficient at it but I try. The title is probably as important as the content of your posts. Why? It’s really simple: most of feed reader software only shows the title of your posts. If the user clicks on it then he’ll read the content; otherwise he’ll not. The first battle is to get subscribers. It’s really not ease but it’s possible. If you get some, the war is not won. After you need your posts read by your subscribed readers. Think about it, what happen if he scans 100 feeds daily with over 200 messages? Will he take care of you posts if the title he read is not attractive, short and relevant with what his under it? I don’t think so.

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It’s why the titles of your posts are so important. It helps you to be read but it also help the reader to scan for what he need and didn’t need to read. I subscribed to many feeds and many authors don’t take care of their titles. I know that I didn’t read really interesting post because the title didn’t catch my attention. It’s sad because I know that I pass beside many interesting posts.

The new MSN RSS search engine feature via Moreover – Use it to promote your blog

Frederick Giasson

As I already discussed before, the new MSN search engine as implemented a really interesting feature: the possibility to search for RSS file types. As some had probably remarked, they use Moreover to do their searches. It was basically a test, but it seems to become the norm. You have now two good reasons to ping Moreover when you post a message on your blog. I read a really interesting article by Robin Good that talk about the relation between MSN and Moreover and the future features that will emerge from it.

Basically you can ping the Moreover server by entering this string in your browser:

http://api.moreover.com/ping?u=X

Where X is the address of your RSS feed.

Personally I?m using Ping-O-Matic. It?s probably the best free ping service available for the moment. If I?m wrong, please tell me where the best free is 🙂

Good publications!

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Remarks on Expository Writing in Mathematics – How to write a readable mathematics text

Frederick Giasson

I came across this article from MathForge. It’s a really interesting reading for anyone who needs to write a text on mathematic. It can seem really a specific reading but his goal is more than important. The reader targeted by it is the graduate student in mathematics. Personally I think that this article needs to be read by any university students in sciences. Writing is probably the core skill of all sciences. You need to know how to write your ideas to make them understandable by your peers. It’s essential not just for publication but for everyday works. This assertion is more and more true with the place the Internet is now taking in universities around the world. Some can think that video and voice chat are the future. Personally I don’t think so; even if it will be the case, for the moment, writing is the privileged communication medium.

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Create your words repository – Use Word to keep track of your words search

Frederick Giasson

I’m using Word as a translation tool since some months. Why? Because it’s easy, powerful and it’s integrated in the environment I’m using to write these posts. With Word 2003, Microsoft comes up with an interesting language side bar. If you select the “All Reference books” and search for a term, you’ll have answers from many, more than useful, works. Encarta English dictionary, English thesaurus, the French translation and French thesaurus (dependent the translation language you selected). His that not perfect? In a single click I have access to a word that I didn’t know with his definition, his synonyms and his translation. Okay, there is why I’m using this tool.

I also use it as a words repository. A word repository is especially interesting when you are learning a new language. It’s a place where you’ll put new words that you learn with his definition and translation. What make Word interesting as a word repository is that you only have to create a Word document call “word repository.doc”. Then when you are searching for the translation of a word that you don’t understand, you open this file, you search for the word’s translation in the translation tool; you copy the definition and the thesaurus entry and paste it into your document and save it. Then you have, in few seconds, keep track of your new learned word. Your words repository is now started.

What’s the purpose of a word repository? It’s a way to keep track of new learned words. It’s a place where you’ll be able to easily find words that you already searched for. The problem with languages is that this is not because you use a work once that you know this word. You need to use it few times in different contexts to master it. It’s where a word repository is interesting. You can easily get tracks of your own words and rapidly search through it. You also can enhance it with an excerpt of where and how you are using it.

I said that it was really useful when you are learning a new language; but keep in mind that it also can be really useful with your native tongue. Use it to refine his writing and speaking; to master his subtleties.

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