[sustran] Update: Latest work and progress on Knoogle New Mobility 1.0 at http://knoogle.net

Eric Britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Thu Oct 30 02:12:22 JST 2008


Subject: Latest work and progress on Knoogle New Mobility 1.0 at
http://knoogle.net   

 

Over the last weeks we have been working with a couple of grad students at
the university of Michigan to extend and refine Knoogle New Mobility 1.0,
which we now have to a point that it can fairly be called 1.1. Here is what
has been accomplished thus far:

 

1.	We have carefully reviewed the original source list - bearing in
mind that our target is specifically "new mobility" in all its main variant
and  flavors --  kicked a certain number out, added more than one hundred
new entries, and generally tried to upgrade it both in terms of its coverage
and importance. (The database currently has close to five hundred carefully
selected sites and sources.)
2.	In all this, we have keep to the fore that quality and not quantity
are our goals in these searches. That of course being the big difference
between Knoogle and Google. 
3.	I have made a real effort in the last days to develop a creative
link to Wikipedia. When we put it in its raw form originally, it started to
overwhelm the results with too much stuff that is not useful. So we went in
and nailed just those entries which in our view need to be brought into play
in this case. One nice result is that in most cases in a first search the
corresponding Wikipedia article will be found toward the top, kind of a nice
checkpoint and reminder. Especially useful for anyone perhaps not so
familiar with that concept or action.
4.	Here is one routine which in a few minutes will give a pretty good
feel for how this can be put to work. Suppose you were going on an
assignment to some city or country to look specifically at one or a range of
new mobility techniques.  For example you are going next week to Delhi or
Dublin or Denver, and you will be looking at public transport, BRT and
non-motorized transport. Well, an hour or two spent with Knoogle will
certainly help you prepare a good trip.
5.	In parallel we have developed a more focused Knoogle, this one
looking specifically at carsharing developments and issues around the world.
You can pick it up and test it at www.wcs.knoogle.net I have found it very
good to be able to develop the two in parallel, learning from one and then
taking the lessons to the other. 
6.	Maybe we are far enough along in this process so that I can safely
suggest that you consider spending a bit of time testing  it as a research
tool, and then getting back to me if possible with your critical views  and
suggestion for doing better. 
7.	Among these might be sites which in your view appear to be missing,
are valuable sources, and should be included. Don't worry about any eventual
overlaps, just hand on your thoughts on this and we will take care of the
dog work from here.

 

Hope you find some use in this. I look forward with real interest to hearing
from you.

 

All the best,

 

Eric Britton

 

PS. Just in case this somehow got overlooked, the basic strategic reference
for all our work under the New Mobility Agenda  is
http://strategy.newmobility.org/ . No. 11 is one that is very important to
us, "The Female Metric: "If we design transportation systems that work well
for women of all ages and conditions, they will work well for society as a
whole. Women are the metric of new mobility."  We will stand or fall on that
one. 

 

 

The New Mobility Agenda - http://www.invent.newmobility.org 

      Europe:   8/10 rue Joseph Bara,     75006 Paris,  France    

      T:  +331 4326 1323  or  +339 7044 4179   Skype: ericbritton

 

New Mobility Partnerships  - http://partners.newmobility.org 

      USA:      9440 Readcrest Drive   Los Angeles, CA  90210      

      T:  +1 310 601-8468    Skype : newmobility

 



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