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INFURL
A beacon of enlightenment | |
This idea was inspired by [nineteenthly]'s
Self-Documenting Peripherals, computer
accessories that feature their own
manuals in an integrated fashion (link
provided).
The new concept is more basic and
applies to more than just computer
gadgetry. Anything which requires a
manual (i.e.,
anything) should feature, in
a visible yet discreet manner, an INFURL.
Essentially, a device's INFURL (short for
Information URL) is the address of a
*permanent* webpage where the
manufacturer of the product keeps
documentation pertaining only and
precisely thereto. This could be manuals
in electronic formats, drivers, safety
warnings and updates: whatever
information is critical to the device.
This is radically different from business
as usual, where in times of need one fires
up the manufacturer's main website, and
ends up with the conclusion - often after
wading through the unintuitive product
database, and trying out the site's
invariably clueless "search" function -
that one's product must have entered
obsolescence.
Self-Documenting Peripherals
Self-documenting_20peripherals
[placid_turmoil, Feb 22 2007]
Open Firmware
http://www.openfirmware.org/
You could suggest it to these people, also. [Ian Tindale, Feb 22 2007]
Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee
Destination URL.
E.g., http://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)
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I want a url on my brain. |
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Why do moderators sometimes type an mfd? Shouldn't they just delete it themselves? |
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So your objection is that it's infeasible? I
claim that it is quite possible! Simply by
giving it a name and image. Make it a
quality standard, a label if you will. All
that is required is a simple, neat
creative-commons-licensed logo. |
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A product subscribing to the INFURL
philosophy would convey a message of
quality and added value to consumers. |
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It's only hard if you try to force
manufacturers to conform to it. Instead,
get a few great companies to endorse
the concept by implementing it on their
products, and have the rest of the world
flock to the standard it previously
despised. Think introduction of the
potatoes by Parmentier and Louis XVI! |
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I think some mfds are enormously over used, and perhaps some intelligent moderators realize it is best to get second opinions on these things before deleting. "Let's all" is perhaps the biggest offenders. Pretty much any idea involving a change to labelling, a new law, or a new medical technique gets "let's all," when in all honesty, laws are passed all the time, labels are changed all the time, and new medical techniques are invented, implemented, and patented all the time. |
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None of these are "lets all," because they do not effect everyone, and people can opt out in various ways. "Let's all grow tails" is a let's all, quite a funny one, which makes it a good example to keep up, because sometimes an idea is just good enough to flaunt all rules. |
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This is obviously not a "let's all," because it does not involve everyone doing it. Indeed, I'm quite sure my mother's 1965 era pressure cooker will never get an INFURL for it. Nor will certain other devices. |
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Paper manuals dissapear, and are hard to find again. There's quite a grey economy trade in "car manuals" and books that are developed by companies other than car manufacturers on how to put together and take apart cars, why? because a good car can last nearly forever, and the original manuals are long gone. |
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An INFURL is a good idea in my mind. [+++ Damn, the + button only works once...] because it allows users to locate information about their new purchase. I do hope that this does not wholly replace the manual though, as there are still backwards areas where internet access is the considered impossible, or demonic. (Yes, A college professor of mine just yesterday spent five minutes shouting "NO INTERNET WEBSITES!" at the top of her lungs.) |
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I also forsee three possible problems: |
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One, the INFURL could wear off the machine or part. Thus, the company website should continue to have their non-intuitive system of hidden links and clueless search options connected to the INFURL in some way. |
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Two, these INFURLS will have to be maintained. A permanent link is a very rare thing on the internet today... especially on the halfbakery... [Auto-rant squelcing device is operational] and this will cost money, money which companies are not likely to enjoy spending. |
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Three, as products continue to proliferate, new INFURLs will have to be made, and made again, until all possible names will be nearly taken, and the INFURL addresses will become increasingly, and annoyingly long. At some point, searching the company website may actually become easier than typing in all that INFURL into the computer. By that time, I predict we will have humans on the moon and Mars, so getting RFID encoded INFURLs, and giving everyone an RFID reader to determine what they are may become a rational solution... or something better which does not smack of magic to halfbakers may be developed before then anyway. |
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I think the moderator-mfd thing is due to the fact that the post must lie dormant for a while before it is sent back to the loch where it belongs. |
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It's to give both owners and fans of an idea a chance to point out errors and misunderstandings by the people who mfd'ed it, and to make sure that the poster can see what's going on. It's pretty disorienting to have work deleted online - you don't know whether there's a technical problem, whether you're just not seeing something that's actually there, or whether some moderator pitched a hissy fit (that would be me, probably). |
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My objection to this idea is not that it's infeasible, but that it's in fact both feasible and done already - plenty of things in my environment have URLs on them that allow you to look up details about the thing or order another; your idea is to extend this practice and make it the expected, general norm. Which is a good idea, just not an invention in the sense of the halfbakery. |
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You don't claim that your invention is to stick a URL on a product - that's nothing new.
Your invention is that that practice should be more widespread, with a special name and even a logo for people to remember. And it's that "more widespread" that is the essence of what I'm trying to avoid in the "let's all." |
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I've rewritten the help file entry to be shorter and to avoid focusing on the "all" that I think people have gotten hung up on in the past. |
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[jutta] Ah I see, I now understand the
"let's all", which I initially took to be
your request for everyone to mfd the
INFURL :) |
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Incidentally, I would love to hear which
items in your environment sport a
permanent web address to their online
manual. The INFURL is not just any URL,
but has the very strong characteristics
of 1. Persistence, 2. Specificity and 3.
Information. |
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[ye_river_xiv] Thanks for the bun! I
agree that the cost of permanent links
would not be immaterial. Especially
when revamping their website,
companies may find it hard to keep all
those INFURLs up. It should, however,
not be a thing of impossibility. |
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As for the INFURLs' expanding lengths
over time, indeed that is a concern too,
even though a format like
www.company.com/infurl/
<product_id> should allow us to run
smooth for a while. |
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Persistence and specificity are desirable in any URL, and are gradual. The three things within arm's reach that have URLs on them admittedly point to the brand, not the item.
As for information, that's typically what I find at the end of any URL, so I'm not sure why you include it in the name of your invention or the sample pathname. |
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Perhaps instead of mere "information" I
should have said "relevant, useful
information", but RELUSINFURL is a bit
unwieldy a moniker. ;) |
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Typically brand urls don't give me
information but useless drivel and eye
candy, and it's up to me to dig up what I'm
looking for. |
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Mmmmmmm.... drivel and eye candy... |
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Adding Wiki type funtionality to this service would be interesting. "My toaster, *** model, adds 05 seconds of toasting per increment of the setting indicators. I've found however that between setting 03 and 04, it adds 12 seconds." |
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Rather than assigning a second, equally arbitrary, identification code to each consumer product, how about a database cross referencing IPC and product information? |
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i keep neutral to this idea because it seem just another good idea.. I save the buns for the really great ones. how about having a dedicated portal for all the products in the world? how about having people pay for more than 1 acces/url -> the producer company would pay for the first access, the consumers for the rest. economically solved. |
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