[from bengoldacre] Cheap lolz (2)
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Beyond The Conversation (22)
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darmano (384)
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Logic+Emotion (384)
2 days, 5 hours
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OK, let's get this straight. For the past couple of years we've had a great time talking about the merits of conversation, transparency, authenticity, facilitation, participation, and blah blah blah. Having talked about "The Conversation Economy" myself—I'm no exception to the "BLAH". So, we get it—and now it's time to get down to business. From my vantage point there are a few things going on at once, so here's a few thoughts rolling around in ...
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JayCrossler said:
This is a good perspective on three types of initiatives that could make sense when explained to executives. Shared so I can later use the image on a PowerPoint slide.
Major and minor reasons for US newspaper crisis. (4)
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Strange Attractor (51)
2 days, 9 hours
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Tip of the hat to Martin Stabe for highlighting this link as he does with so many must-read media stories. Vin Crosbie has a lengthy and thoughtful post, nay essay, on why the US newspaper industry is in dire straits in two parts, see Part 1 and Part 2. Vin's prediction is this: More than half of the 1,439 daily newspapers in the United States won't exist in print, e-paper, or Web site formats by ...
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Kevin Marks said:
Great analysis in here about the nature of publics, and newspapers old model:they came to believe that producing a common edition for everyone is their raison d'être, forgetting it arose as a limitation of their technology. Fitting psychologist Abraham Maslow's statement that "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail," the editorial production limitation of Gutenberg's technology has led most newspaper editors to believe that they set the 'common agenda' for their community and likewise that their community's readership is somehow homogenous because it reads the same newspaper edition on any given day.
Ten worst movie industry predictions (1)
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davidw (181)
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Joho the Blog (214)
2 days, 11 hours
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Scott Kirsner has posted his ten favorite worst predictions about the movies, drawn from his just-published book. My favorite of his favorite: Jack Valenti’s. (I missed Scott on Science Friday…) [Tags: movies scott_kirsner ]
"Can we have this for the entire Internet?" (5)
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Resources (1)
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douchebag (2)
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Douchespeak (2)
2 days, 22 hours
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I’m thinking “trees, maybe? Or a supply of clean water? Perhaps some ever-pricier oil?” Admittedly, I work for what’s effectively a media company so I’d be pretty fucking impressed if it turns out we’ve got a secret drilling lease on a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but, y’know, you’re yammering on about “resources” so I figure there’s something pretty awesome going on here. Right? No? Oh. When you said “resource”, you meant me? ...
Successful OpenSocial Hackathon hosted by Hyves and Google (2)
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Arne Roomann-Kurrik (13)
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OpenSocial API Blog (91)
3 days, 6 hours
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To anyone browsing the list of launched partners, it's clear that OpenSocial is a truly global initiative. In Europe, there's a lot of activity in the OpenSocial developer community. Take for example the Netherlands. A few weeks ago, Hyves and Google jointly hosted the first OpenSocial hackathon in mainland Europe. Fifty developers from all over the Netherlands, and some from the UK and Germany, gathered for an afternoon of coding to create OpenSocial applications. The ...
Crash into me (4)
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Megan McArdle (110)
3 days, 9 hours
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My former co-blogger reads about Hans Monderman, the madman/genius who took out the street signs and traffic restrictions in a Holland town, with surprising results:As I watched the intricate social ballet that occurred as cars and bikes slowed to enter the circle (pedestrians were meant to cross at crosswalks placed a bit before the intersection), Monderman performed a favorite trick. He walked, backward and with eyes closed, into the Laweiplein. The traffic made its way ...
Dionysus and the Amethyst Initiative (16)
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zephoria (463)
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apophenia (326)
3 days, 15 hours
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Across the United States, dozens of higher education leaders have signed on to the Amethyst Initiative. It's a fascinating approach. The signers aren't committing to a stance, but rather asking American society to begin an informed and unimpeded debate on the 21 year-old-drinking age. It's a controversial topic and it hit the airwaves in controversial style. Merely trying to cover the story touched a nerve across the country and countless media channels dedicated air time ...
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Logical Extremes said:
Nice summary of the issues on both sides, though I think it would be helpful to include some international experience. Personally, I don't like the idea of a permit, and I wouldn't make it legal in public under 18. But, 18 is the age of majority in all other things in the US, and there's no good reason to promote the taboo of prohibition for those between 18 and 21.
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Greg said:
A really wonderfully-written article from danah boyd on changing the American drinking age. I agree with every word.
Unintended Consequences, part 57.... (3)
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stevenberlinjohnson (5)
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stevenberlinjohnson.com (5)
3 days, 15 hours
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This is too awesome for words. Apparently there is a UK band called "sleepercurve." From their myspace page: Named after the term used by US science writer Steven Johnson to describe the idea of popular culture being beneficial to an individual’s cognitive development, this new south London-based trio have single handedly invented the genre of ‘dystopian space rock’ - taking influences that range from contemporary bands like Interpol, Elbow and Biffy Clyro to classic pop ...
Improving Highschool Science Education (13)
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Nat Torkington (256)
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O'Reilly Radar - Insight, analysis, and research about emerging technologies (2357)
3 days, 18 hours
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As I read this fascinating NYTimes piece on a Florida teacher covering evolution, I was reminded of an interesting email exchange I had recently with Kevin Padian, a UC Berkeley professor in the Dept of Integrative Biology, and curator of the UC Museum of Paleontology. He was at Science Foo Camp, and afterward wrote in email: My area is evolution, the most misunderstood concept in all of science. Two websites that help the public with ...
isoguiltotropy (1)
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Danny O'Brien (28)
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Danny O'Brien's Oblomovka (23)
4 days, 6 hours
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I frequently find myself on an isoguiltotropic plane: any new thing I can think of pursuing, or any old thing that I could abandon, makes me feel slightly guiltier than I am now. If I take up a new project, I will be forcing myself to pay less attention to the worthy projects I am letting fall by the wayside currently. But if I abandon a project, then that is one less worthy thing I ...
On Writing For “Free” (8)
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John Scalzi (175)
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Whatever (185)
4 days, 14 hours
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The science fiction tube of the Internet is having another one of those spasms about “free writing on the Internet” and whether giving away writing actually helps or hurts one’s career: Here’s one of the latest, in which I play a prominent role as an example. And while I understand I am fated to continue to be a prime example in this particular argument (although Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross, most obviously, are other fine ...
Flipping Point (1)
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Don Park's Daily Habit (2)
5 days, 11 hours
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Interesting article questioning Tipping Point by Clive Thomson based on research by Duncan Watts. My opinion is that tipping point exists only in hindsight and is only a mirage in foresight. I also think any visible attempt to influence turns most people off, leaving only the stink of marketing and moths of vanity in the air.
Scrivener is on our side (2)
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davidw (181)
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Joho the Blog (214)
5 days, 14 hours
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I blogged yesterday about wanting a word processor that reflects better how we actually write. Islamoyankee in the comments suggested Scrivener, a Mac tool I tried once but didn’t take to, for whatever reason. This morning, I took another look at it and found this paragraph on its home page, at the end of its product description: Because Scrivener is about shaping chunks of text into a final typescript, Scrivener knows nothing of pages until ...
A word processor I want (4)
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davidw (181)
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Joho the Blog (214)
6 days, 12 hours
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Typewriters were terrible tools for writing drafts if only because they had no facility for crossing sections out. At least with a pen, you could make a quick line through an entire paragraph that failed. Word processors still act as if we know what we’re writing. Oh, they’re obviously much better than typewriters, for which I have zero nostalgia. (”Ah, remember the month I spent locked in my room, typing the final draft of my ...
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C.K. said:
we need a wiki word processor.
Neal Stephenson and the 10,000-Year Clock (8)
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KK Lifestream (483)
1 week
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Originally posted in ct2 In 1998 Danny Hillis asked some friends to make sketches of what they imagined a 10,000-year clock should look like. Science fiction author Neal Stephenson, among others, provided several sketches. One of them outlines a clock contained in concentric circles of walls, which opens to outsiders at specific preordained intervals. Stephenson's handwritten notes on this sketch say: Multiple shells of several closely-spaced cylinders w/ broad spaces between -- perhaps arranged on ...
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mndoci said:
Neal Stephenson lives in Seattle? Must find and pray
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Gavin said:
More crazy ass awesomeness about this book. Can. Not. Wait.
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MiramarMike said:
10,000 year clock - nice work. Heard about this from Dave at Ponoko, maybe they could make one for me :-)
Is H.L. Mencken Alive and Well at the NYT? (2)
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David Friedman (21)
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Ideas (28)
1 week
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Mencken's famous bathtub hoax was an invented history of the bathtub, designed to appeal to what readers wanted to believe about the ignorance and irrationality of people in the past. He published it as a demonstration of human credulity, reported with glee on how many people repeated it as gospel despite its obvious inconsistency with easily established historical facts, published multiple retractions pointing out how obviously false it was—and, by his account, never managed to ...
