Joe's blog

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Every now and then I use this blog for a shameless plug of what I’m working on. And this time what I’m working on is the launch of PeoplePond. I have set up my profile there: Joe Beaulaurier.

Using PeoplePond, I put up a biographical “About Me” that is rich with those SEO keywords I think best represent me. I set up a pic of me and then filled in the blanks for all the social media and social network sites I care to share with others.

“Then what?” you ask. Precisely. There’s not much more for you to do except to toss your business cards and change your online signature to point to your page on PeoplePond.

Over time, you will discover your online identity (all those places where you put up comments, posts, pictures, music, video, etc.) will begin appearing higher in the search engine pages thus resulting in more people finding you online. If you have a product to sell, a service people need, an offer to make, etc. you will notice more interest as your messages become more visible.

What’s this about tossing business cards? Erm, yeah. I did say to do that didn’t I? Let me give you a little foundation first. PeoplePond is actually the compilation of Weavemet.com, DandyID.com and PeoplePond.com. By setting up on PeoplePond, you automatically inherit accounts at Weavemet and DandyID.

Weavemet is where your contact information is stored. One of the really kewl features of Weavemet is the ability to use text messages on your phone to request contact information from people (even if they aren’t using Weavemet yet) and to approve requests from others (again, even if they’re not using Weavemet).

I will receive a note telling me you are requesting my contact information. You will also receive a text instructing you how to quickly set up on Weavemet to receive my information. Once you’re ready, my information will be sent in a vCard email attachment that is usually painless to import into whatever address book you use.

So imagine standing in front of a new contact, pulling out your phone and sending a quick text message. Their phone then pings them with a message from Weavemet. Bing Bang Boom! They have your info. No lost business cards and no time wasted entering data. Quick – clean – easy.

PeoplePond is currently in a closed beta. That means you need an invitation code to set up an account. These codes are being released slowly. Follow PeoplePond on Twitter at twitter.com/peoplepond to see if the most recent code still works. If it has been used up don’t worry. More will follow.

Snow in Ferndale is a rarity. That’s one reason I like living here. But this winter we had a long-lasting snow event in December and an even longer cold snap for weeks following. Even two trips to Miami weren’t enough to remove the chill in my bones.

And today… mid-March… I’m awaiting another snow event in Ferndale.

WTH?

The Washington Department of Transportation has developed a web site that is nothing short of spectacular, especially in a state that enjoys frequent unanticipated weather events that affect traffic. But it is only as good as the information provided to it and information regarding weather events outside of Snohomish, Pierce and King Counties and the mountain passes is sorely neglected. I can’t say whether the information is disregarded or if there is not collection mechanism to start with but the following screen caps are typical when there is a weather event outside the tax base of the Seattle-Tacoma population.

Click to enlarge

This is the Bellingham-specific page on the WSDOT site. It is automatically updated with live cameras and road traffic measurement equipment embedded in the I-5 roadbed.

Note the slow and stopped traffic indicated by yellow, red and black on the flow map. Note the blizzard condition indicated by the live camera still. This weather event had been happening for about 5 hours at the time I made these screen caps.

Also not the lack of any timely advisories regarding the event that is slamming the area.

Click to enlarge

This is the NW Washington State page for locating travel alerts and slowdowns information. Notice the Whatcom County region? Nothing more than an obligatory construction advisory.

If I’m leaving SeaTac airport and driving home, I would expect that I can look at this page and see if there’s anything between me and home in Ferndale. But, as is apparent here, I would need to view the camera images all the way up my route.

I have taken this up with WSDOT and was told that 1) they can only do so much and 2) I should look on the Bellingham page for timely information.

UPDATE 2/26/09 – I received an email from WSDOT Communications. It reads as follows:

Hello Mr. Beaulaurier:

Thank you for sharing your blog entry with us.  I know that the site
appears biased toward the metropolitan Seattle area,  but there is a
reason behind what you see.

These "services" are not technically "services" for the general public -
the cameras, road sensors, etc. They are functions that highway
engineers use to monitor highways.

The traffic engineers have put them in place based on the needs of their
jobs. The tools were already in use by the engineers for quite some
time, when the Web Team decided to make the traffic engineers' tools
available to the general public - via the Web site. But the choice of
technology and the locations covered are specific to the requirements of
the highway engineers. We would like to cover the entire state with the kind of
details provided by these tools. We also would like to develop a
web-based application where you can enter your starting location, your
ending location and get all of the travel details and issues on the
route you have chosen. Some day, maybe. Meanwhile, we are attempting to
provide you with whatever is available to assist in your travels. We
simply do not have the collection mechanisms in place to provide more
comprehensive data across the state. We may be able to upgrade some of
our cameras or add new cameras with federal stimulus funds, but it is
too early to tell for sure.

Our camera technology doesn't function well in extreme weather. In this
last big storm, we had many camera outages due to frozen fiber optic
cables. Our road maintenance crews do their best to repair them.
However, their first priority is to make the roads safe and passable for
motorists. Especially when we have a lot of snow and ice, it takes
awhile for the cameras to rise to the top of the priority list.

We've tried to provide as much mountain pass information as we can. I'm
not sure if you've visited the Statewide Mountain Pass page at:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/ where we compiled the mountain
pass information together.  We also have mountain pass reports available
via GovDelivery, an e-mail subscription service available on the site.
Go to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/emailupdates/ and enter your e-mail
address. Follow the instructions to establish your subscription and then
check the boxes next to the alerts you want to receive. You can receives
alerts about all of the passes, or just the one you travel most
frequently. To unsubscribe, simply uncheck the boxes. Some of the alerts
are available for wireless devices, too.

We hope you will continue to use the WSDOT site, despite its current
imperfections.

I entirely understand her point but seeing it makes me fear I didn’t communicate my position very well. The detection and communication of weather and accident-related incidents are outside of sensors and cameras. It involves State Patrol and WSDOT staff communications. At some point, these do find their way onto the regional map; very quickly it seems in the Seattle region but never or hours later in the outlying areas. That’s my complaint. My guess is it’s merely a matter of resources and priority.

Kudos to the WSDOT for replying so quickly. In her signature block she points to several social media resources which are handy to have.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wsdot
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot
Blog: http://www.wsdotblog.blogspot.com

Today I received an email from Twitter telling me the that Jason Calacanis had requested to follow me on Twitter. I was immediately suspect since Jason, although he’s met me and I have worked for companies he’s started, wouldn’t have any reason to know my name let alone have any interest in my Twittering, which has been all but nonexistent for months.

I visited the Twitter profile identified in the email and I wondered what on it would enable me to validate that it was in fact his and not someone having fun using his name. I immediately saw my answer in that this profile was following and being followed by some 50,000+ other Twitterers. That also answered my question as to why he was pinging me, it’s part of his marketing machinery for Mahalo. He’s reached 50,000 people for next to no cost. That’s something. He’s able to keep them engaged over time. That’s a miracle.

Then I noticed a tweet sent from this profile that said, “Watch now!” and provided a link to a YouTube video. This video was put up by a YouTube account named, “RepAlanGrayson", and the title was “$1.2 Trillion Slush Fund: Congressman Alan Grayson Grills Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn.” Again I was led to wonder who really was posting this and do they really represent Representative Grayson’s interests. As I watched the poor quality video, I was evened challenged to decide the audio I was hearing was in fact what had been said. Yeah, I’m a weeee bit paranoid.

So how do I go about authenticating social media and networking accounts which represent themselves as belonging to notable individuals and for that matter, friends and associates?