Devon [01.20.07 07:02 AM]

"pervasive culture of measurement", describes it well. I like that.

  Rikard Linde [01.20.07 09:52 AM]

Hi Tim. I tried sending an email to you using the address tim@oreilly.com. Is that the correct address?
If you don't want to reveal your address publicly I understand. You can send an email to rikard@gmail.com or, of course, ignore to do so:-)

  Paul Walsh [01.20.07 03:57 PM]

I'm afraid to say it, but it's a known fact within the (restaurant) industry that decent chefs keep an eye on plates coming back into the kitchen. I can't understand restaurants that scrape plates before they enter the kitchen!

If I leave more than usual on a plate for reasons other than the food itself, I usually ask the waiter to inform the chef that the food was ok even though it may not look like it from my leftovers.

By the way Tim, I must apologise for not reply to a post that you wrote in response to a comment I made. I must get around to it even for the sake of the record. And, thanks for responding too.

It’s ironic for me to comment on a post that talks about Web and food in the same breath because I manage the Web business and my business partner manages our restaurants (in Dublin, so if you’re ever in town!).

  Paul Walsh [01.20.07 04:06 PM]

Oh I forgot to mention that you probably wont get trustworthy information from a Europeans plate in the US. We are not used to monstrous portions and likely to leave a lot behind even when we have had a great meal. So, like Google, some intelligent classification is likely to help gain more meaningful results that can be trusted :)

So perhaps we could setup Content Labels that are country or culture specific. That way, the chef can ensure they have labels to gain more trustworthy results. They can then filter them before changing the menu or recipes to suit. Ok, its late and Im starting to ramble :)

  Alex Tolley [01.21.07 09:02 AM]

Sounds increasingly like Sterling's SPIMEs. Take the analogy further - if it was like Amazon, we would have a better idea which items on the menu were popular with other customers, and which were not, which items were new, which hardy perennials, which combinations went well, with which wine. We'd already know which restaurants to avoid due to health citations, which ones had chef changes - where your favorite chef moved to. Really makes you realize how information poor we are when we walk into a new restaurant, and how the world will change when this information is collected and made public.

  Paul Walsh [01.22.07 02:08 AM]

Alex, you're talking about the Semantic guide to restaurants.

  Edward Vielmetti [01.22.07 08:19 AM]

That would be the eat-through rate, right? (ETR)

I love the idea of feedback loops in systems, though I'll note that to be really effective you want to not just have the Google feedback but also a bunch of other systems doing feedback so that you get fresh insight from other teams.

  J.O. From Urban MVP [10.09.07 02:46 PM]

Wasn't is a great industrialist who's whole core concept was "Measure everything and anything". This of course is much easier done online where most of the measuring can all be automated. But at the end of the day how useful can this information be? Maybe on average you see that a small portion is what people like but this can change instantly and dynamically or this can blur the picture. What if its just that particular dish that is more filling or the time of the season such as summer where more people are conscience of their weight. From the example given above those factors wouldn't have been considered.