Sunny Man’s Blog

April 18th 2008

(1) The Perfect Website

Internet, Technology

Natural selection and web page design aren’t two phrases I would normally utter in the same sentence but now researchers are using evolutionary algorithms to come up with the perfect web page design. The Telegraph reports that an organisation called Creative Synthesis has designed evolutionary software that takes a Wordpress theme and changes it gradually based on how a user responds to it. Through tracking software, they recorded and analysed how users interacted with the design. Any parts of the design that were not considered interesting or did not receive attention were ‘bred’ out of the design.

Evolutionary algorithms have been used before to design aeroplane wings and also art but I think this is the first time they’ve been used to design the perfect web page design. Unlike these two uses though, it requires human interaction which is both a positive and a negative.

“The mutations will always occur and while they are responsive to human attention, they are not bound by them. It is possible to develop unique mutations that may actually influence human goals (rather than the other way around).”

It would be interesting to see this technique used on sites with different functions: social networking sites, news sites etc.

Cow’s Blog | New Scientist

April 16th 2008

(2) Chinese Patriotism Rears Its Misinformed Head

Life, News, Politics

Several blogs today report on a current trend with the popular instant messaging program MSN/Windows Live Messenger. Chinese internet users are adding a “love China” icon to their screen names in support of their country and in protest to perceived Western bullying seen in recent Olympic protests.

From SushiPanda, linked above:

Over half of my Chinese-Chinese friends on MSN have put the badge on their contact names, in defiance of all the anti-China bullying that they’re undoubtedly reading about in the Chinese newspapers, watching on the Chinese news, and scouring over on the hundreds of blogs and BBS’s peppering China’s cyberscape and devoted to propping up this country’s national pride.

I’ve no problem with patriotism, within limits of course, but we all know that information is manipulated in an unprecedented way in China and it’s a shame that the people - the good people of China - don’t realise why foreigners do protest. It’s nice to see that Chinese internet users can rally together like this, but just a shame they seem to have a misguided view.