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Bit.ly, the URL shortener now used by Twitter, is not the first company to craft its name out of a county code top-level domain (ccTLD).

But Bit.ly does appear to be the first company to do so with the Libyan ccTLD.

As some have speculated, Bit.ly could put itself into a precarious position should it begin hosting URLs for the adult industry, or any other industry that violates Libyan laws. It’s always important to keep in mind that a company can’t “own” a domain the way it owns real estate.

But this is all just speculation. The registrar Libyan Spider clearly is hoping to capitalize on all the “ly” permutations of a word or brand name. And the fact of the matter is that more and more countries are viewing their country codes as profit centers.

Which leads me to a brief inventory of the sites that I am aware of that use ccTLDs as part of their names:

• Delicio.us (USA)
• Pdk.to (Tonga)
• Short.LA (Laos)
• fav.or.it (Italy)
• drop.io (British Indian Ocean Territory)
• MyID.is (Iceland)
• Outside.in (India)
• imo.im (Isle of Man)
• notify.me (Montenegro)
• Rafi.ki (Kiribati)

I’m rather surprised at the range of countries represented here. Montenegro, by the way, has already sold more than 250,000 domains so far. Not bad for a country that’s less than a few years old.

Any companies that I missed?

The DITA topic hierarchy that goes into a production system invariably does not match the desired hierarchy of documents coming out of it. And in any mixed-document system where not all docs are in the DITA format, it is invariably the case that xrefs to external documents need to resolve to different locations when documents are published in different contexts. They may require absolute links in some contexts, but be able to use relative links in others--but the relative location may change, depending on context.

This post contains a proposal for production maps. The goal is to control link generation at production time, automatically insert xrefs at authoring time, and automate link management in Content Management Systems when document names and locations change.

Since it touches the DITA standard itself, and all aspects of the tools ecosystem that surrounds that standard, any attempt at implementation will require a significant amount of time. (In the process, the proposal will undoubtedly undergo significant modification, as well.) But at this point, I don't see any alternative that will successfully divorce the output hierarchy--and link resolution--from the input hierarchy.

We can enable online, collaborative discussions, and do a better job of tracking the designs and decisions they reach.

Enabling incremental builds for DITA...

Alex Manchester has written about intranets on mobile devices. To quote:

I’m still of the opinion that we’ll see many more mobile-friendly intranets in the future. In fact, I also think we’re not too far away from a situation where the majority of employees are given mobile devices as a matter of practice when they start.

The idea of pushing the intranet, its related tools and internal/corporate communications to a device that can manage computing and browsing, but also documents via e-ink (Kindle style), has huge potential. But it seems we’re not there yet.

Shawn Medero has written an article on paper prototyping. To quote:

As interfaces become ever more complex and development schedules seem to get shorter and shorter, you may find it useful to give up your user-interface modeling software for awhile in favor of something simpler. All you need is paper, pens, scissors, and your imagination.

Statistically, Flock (news, site) is like the little browser that could, but didn’t. Translate that into numbers and you get 7.5 million people that have downloaded the browser, but only 1.1 million that actively use it.

So, why does Flock keep Flopping? Well, we’re not really sure. Dubbed the social Web browser, Mozilla-powered Flock is made up of all the things we typically love: integrated social networking, micro-blogging, chat, etc. Will the newly released 2.5 version be enough to finally take flight? Let’s take a look at the fresh features:

It’s been a busy few months for Autonomy Interwoven (news, site).Last week, it unveiled a new solution that provides analytics for social media.

This week, it’s turn for MediaBin — their Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution — to get a once-over, which comes in the form of meaning-based Virage MediaBin 7, a solution that automatically retrieves, analyzes and processes audio, video and graphic content.

Atlassian (news, site) says they don’t implement features just for the sake of it. That all enhancements to their solutions are based on customer feedback and needs. With the latest release of their enterprise wiki, Confluence, we see that some of these needs are universal across the Enterprise 2.0 market today. All show just how far the wiki has come in only a few short years.

CMSWire spoke with Bill Arconati, Product Marketing Manager, and Laura Khalil of Altassian to get the scoop on the new features and an update on the Atlassian Stimulus Package.

ThoughtFarmer has changed the name of their intranet solution to better define the market it supports. Now called Social Intranet Software, the latest version out offers a host of new features that will get your employees collaborating and sharing their knowledge.

A press release from the Department of Unwanted Efficiencies:

Huntsville, AL – June 1, 2009 – Cabinet NG (CNG), provider of document management and workflow software, today announced that Limestone County, Alabama is using CNG’s document management software to enable a unique Video Hearing application. By processing new jail inmates through CNG’s Secure Access Filing Environment (CNG-SAFE), all the necessary legal forms and other court paperwork is instantly available during the video hearing process. Limestone County can now get the most out of local government resources in a time of fiscal restraint and challenging economic conditions by streamlining the preliminary hearing process while protecting a defendant’s constitutional right to participate in the legal process.

David Seibert, Limestone County’s Commission Chairman, said, “We are committed to putting into place technology that allows us to better serve Limestone County citizens. Enabling electronic preliminary hearings by integrating document management with videophones eliminates the manpower, transportation and time needed for trips between the Limestone County Jail and the courthouse.”

Added Mike Blakely, Limestone County Sheriff, “There are public safety benefits to conducting preliminary hearings without transporting inmates, and we can process more inmates through the system this way, saving the county time and money.”

…[T]his Video Hearing solution is a unique integration of electronic document management and Videophone technologies that can be applied in a number of environments. For example, any face to face process requiring the processing of documents can be liberated from the physical constraints of appearing in person.

If you want face time, don’t do the crime.

[Tags: document_management jails justice video_hearings ]