Basically paper.li organizes links shared on Twitter into an easy to read newspaper-style format. Newspapers can be created for any Twitter user, list or #tag.

A great way to stay on top of all that is shared by the people you follow – even if you are not connected 24/7

So A user can basically begin to publish in newspaper format
1.All their twitter links or
2.The twitter links of people on their twitter list or
3.All twitter links from a hash tag

Benefits
1.if you host events like i do you can basically create a giant newspaper of all thoughts and links from events
2.if you use twitter hash tags for discussions amongst users .. can u see the advantages of capturing all the that info in one place

and it alleviates the guilt of not blogging as much because you are always tweeting(well at least for me ) because all my link are in one place and i can put the link on my !!bingo

My favorite paper.li newspaper at the moment is The most influential people in tech Daily

Now they need to allow that newspaper to be converted to PDF…..*cough cough* feature request

My intention in all this is not to show that the developers didnt do a good job , I am just saying there is a lot of room for improvement .

There are a number sites on my radar at the moment

• The Ghana Ministry of Agriculture website (Open in FireFox)Thanks Kwabena for bringing it to my attention.
• The African Union Website . I blogged about the usability issues of this website earlier this year .
• The BarCamp Africa UK website (a shameless plug for me as i am one of the organizers and we use a wiki at the moment and looking to migrate to website next year )

Instead of writting a blog post everytime i see websites that are not what they should be , I propose we do something about it .

The Plan:I am seeking web developers,designers and usability consultants who will give thier skills pro bono(free) to consult on and even help in house teams to improve or even rebuild these websites .

Also if you are a web developer,designer or usability consultant and wish to donate your skills to improve these website .please contact me at ethel@ethelcofie.com.

I think there was a sense from those of us on this side of the pond that we also need a BarCamp Africa in the UK .

Of course there will never  be enough events that will bring together a group of talented entrepreneurs, technologist, charities, engineers, designers, bloggers, artists, with a passion for African development.

So a tweet , a retweet ,a couple of emails back and forth and an organizers meeting later we are on course for an inspiring and action oriented BarCampAfrica UK on the 7th of November 2009 .

Ps.  The Next Organisers meeting is in secondlife ooo! check us out we are making use of all technological avenues open to us .

Find out more about BarCampAfrica UK and register on http://barcampafrica.com/uk

Untill the Next Post see you later

I must reiterate that the aim of this article is to bring these issues to the attention of the web masters, developer and administrators and thereby helping to improve the usability of the site.
The issue are enumerated below:
1 .When the home page loads initially it runs what I assume is a flash intro of the site. This is in theory is nice concept can become a usability issue and an all round nuisance when the user is not given the option to stop the flash from running fully and be sent directly to the main content pages but has to wait until the whole flash runs to click a link .This is especially a nuisance when that user logs on multiple times or use his back button to get back to the home page.

Many information and corporate sites e.g.Accenture , www.zdnet.comand numerous other sites do because they are increasingly aware of the nuisance this becomes .

2. When the Flash intro loads up, an African map is displayed.When the user passes his mouse over the countries on the map the colour of these regions lighten and the mouse symbol changes to a hand giving the impression that they are links when they are clearly not. At the best I think what should have being done was to display a information on that country as a tool tip when the user passes a mouse over the countries on the map.
3. Lastly there is funny problem with the links provided after the flash intro loads. There are parts of that text link which the user cannot click on. I can only assume here that the problem is that the link area is not wide enough and should be changed to cover a wider area than just barely covering the text provided.
They are small niggling issues but they go long to improving the user experience on the site, decreasing site dropout rate and the perceived quality of the site.
I hope somebody this article comes to the attention of the administrators of thehttp://www.africa-union.org/site.

PCMCIA: People Can’t Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms

ISDN: It Still Does Nothing

APPLE: Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity

SCSI: System Can’t See It

DOS: Defective Operating System

BASIC: Bill’s Attempt to Seize Industry Control

IBM: I Blame Microsoft DEC: Do Expect Cuts

CD-ROM: Consumer Device – Rendered Obsolete in Months

OS/2: Obsolete Soon, Too.

WWW: World Wide Wait

MACINTOSH: Most Applications Crash; If Not, The Operating System Hangs

PENTIUM: Produces Erroneous Numbers Thru Incorrect Understanding of Mathematics

AMIGA: A Merely Insignificant Game Addiction

LISP: Lots of Infuriating & Silly Parentheses

MIPS: Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed

WINDOWS: Will Install Needless Data On Whole System

MICROSOFT: Most Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software Only Fools Teenagers *[not a microsoft hater but its funny all the same ]

RISC: Reduced Into Silly Code

Potential blog items

• Ghana Election  hot the different political oponenets used technology to garner support
• Again on the different technologies on how i followed the ghana election using
• Why I missed using blog.co.uk instead of word press based on the social networking aspect of the it
• Drupal sitemap xml for 6.x

1.Fields to ‘include/Exclude’ why couldnt they just have 2 text areas 1 for includes and another for exclude – i get the impression that they just couldnt be bothered

2. The include/exclude drop down i was assuming would toggle to show in the ensuing text area   the fields that were include or excluded  unfortunately they just serve  to indicators for saving included or excluded files making it a a usabilty nightmare for anymore who want to rack which files are either included or excluded

I know its open source but guys seriously

• Talk on the Life Hack using flickr to host your images to retrieve on request
• Lessons I learnt in my two month stint a Test Analyst
• Forum: Moderate discussion on how porgramming is taught in our institutions , personal experiences and what could be done differently
• Forum for Life Hacks :Moderate a Forum to bring to the forefront Life Hacks that others have picked up over the years/months/weeks

Update

Finally decided on the ->Forum: Moderate discussion on how porgramming is taught in our institutions , personal experiences and what could be done differently

I will write up the discussions an ideas that came up soon-ish

I really really hate cover letters. They restrict my breathing and cause traffic jams in my usually uncongested neural pathways. No matter how hard I try to sound unique and interesting, something about the process makes doesn’t quite ring true. Maybe it’s the formulaic nature of it all. Or that every recruiter believes keeping it short and to the point is crucial since no one has the time to bother with more than one A4 page anymore.

So, this is my ode to the cover letter (I will abide by some basic rules but essentially do away with all the pomp and ceremony that generally gets me nowhere). I am writing it as a blog entry that I’m hoping will one day be a part of the Twice archive. And if not, it will find a home at

http://vimbaikavhumbura.blogspot.com

WHO AM I – THE SPEED DATING VERSION

Bearing in mind that the reader may need to get back to work soon I will give the abridged version of it here. More detailed notes and insights are available on request. Born in Zimbabwe, raised in Swaziland, educated in Cape Town and Brighton I am a bit of a rolling stone. All four places complete my sense of home – which makes for interesting political debates and fights during cricket matches. I have always had a fascination with making things, from knitting to T-shirt design, papier mache piggy banks to cheesecake- still trying to master that one. I love the process of creating new things and the feeling of knowing that there is no other one like it in the world. When I’m not making stuff I dream of making stuff, which is probably why I’m a bit of an insomniac, really. So, I can speak English and Shona and passable basic Afrikaans, French and siSwati. What this means is most people need to be pretty creative to swear at me. I love to sing and dance (but try not to in the office as I’m not really an X Factor candidate). I’m fascinated by words: poetry, prose, hip hop. I collect remixes of my favourite songs. My favourite place in the world is the middle of the Namibian desert, and no, not because Angelina had a baby there. Visually I’m impressed by film making above all other forms of art.

My very first school report read: Vimbai is too talkative. Some might say I have the gift of the gab. I have since refined this skill into some impressive public speaking and presentation skills. I can chat about anything from Brian Lara’s batting average to why Sarah Palin will not be the next Vice President of the USA, and why Rex should not win Big Brother. I like to have opinions and share them occasionally. Despite the picture we’ve painted so far, I generally prefer to listen that to talk…you learn more that way. And I’d rather read or listen to the new Roots album than watch TV, unless there’s a good movie on.

So, that’s my attempt at unique and interesting. Did I mention I like chocolate?

WHY I WANT TO WORK AT TWICE

Ideas, ideas, ideas. It is my favourite way to shock people to suggest that people get dumber every generation. A favourite author of mine wrote: Too many morons, not enough Michelangelos. I really don’t think this is true. It’s just easier in most cases to wait for someone to give you the answer. I think there is a lot of power in this. The Church did it, then politicians did it. Now its global brands that tell us how to behave and what choices we should be making on everything from baby food to where to go on holiday. Brand designers are at the top of the pile here. We are the ones who tell the brands what to tell the people to think. And the key to this is persuasion and self awareness. At Twice, this process is clearly and simply laid out. Idea, relationship, action. No fuss, no strings. The best kept secret is the one that’s left in the open. Twice is a company that constantly produces results for their clients so the real secret must be in the execution. This is what I wish to learn.

WHY I’M IRRESISTIBLE

For me branding is the difference between a turkey and a peacock. Something that seems obvious, but that can be broken down on many levels and tweaked to achieve different results. Essentially they are the same bird, one just figured out a way not to be eaten. I’m still working on this thesis and would love some feedback on the premise. The facts and figures of what I’ve done so far that may be useful in a company like yours are basically that:
-I like to think and to do
-I know how to work with people and how to talk to them
-I think inside AND outside the box
-I love to muck in

I suppose that’s pretty much it. They say you shouldn’t give too much away on the first date and I hope that I’ve sparked you interest enough to discuss things further in person. I’m available at your convenience (though this is a bit of a text book ending to the cover letter, sometimes there’s no need to mess with a classic).

By Vimbai K

BarcampLondon5 is full. Lots of people who wanted to go couldn’t get tickets. We figured: why not have our own, extra, mini-barcamp? The British Computer Society kindly volunteered to host, so it’s on: we’ll have a one-day barcamp on the Saturday (27th).

This will only be on the Saturday and there’ll be nowhere to sleep: apologies to those who can’t manage a trip to London just for the day.

The BCS are also providing tea and coffee throughout the day.

When?
Saturday 27th September, 9am-9pm

How?
We’re issuing tickets now through Eventwax. Go!

Where?
First Floor
The Davidson Building,
5 Southampton Street
London, WC2E 7HA

Map