interesting piece in the SMH this morning suggesting that bloggers and ‘internet pundits‘ are ‘exerting a “disproportionately large influence” on society….. “They’re not representative of the larger audience, but what they’re saying does matter” . Makes me wonder about the ethical responsibilities for people with disproportionately loud voices. Then makes me wonder whether, as there is such a low barrier to entry to blogging (or being ‘active’ on the internet) and voices are (in theory) so easily refuted… perhaps there is no such responsibility? Not sure. Thoughts anyone?

• A More Accessible Map (a list apart)
  guidelines for making pretty interactive maps friendly and accessible
  (tags: maps accessibility)
• Emotionally Centred Design (Don Norman)
  why are these so compelling? Is it the joy of immediacy after so many years of slow, clunky websites? Or perhaps it is the pleasure of the fluid movement, with information overlaying the maps.
  (tags: maps emotionaldesign)
• Web-applications: Speak the right language, please (We Break Stuff)
  The most frustrating thing in localized applications is when you can’t find the way to change the language it uses, to the one of your choice. Language and localisation (what (not) to do)
  (tags: language translation localisation localization)

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have you seen the UPA 2005 Salary Survey? [warning - PDF]. Paul Sherman, who authored the report made a note in his summary that ‘The average salary for males was $82,882; for females, $74,316′. I’m not even sure if I’m surprised or disappointed. Any thoughts? (via WebWord) ALSO: via Lela: Google in need of the feminine touch

assuming I can get out of work in time, I’m hoping to go over to Bondi Junction and see Cory Doctorow talk about ‘the digital future’. Reviews of the Melbourne talk sound good. Details of the Sydney talk are here.