Information User

The Billfold 1.0

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:09:27 -0400

Samantha Shankman’s first byline on GigaOM.

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:55:38 -0400

Samantha Shankman’s first byline on GigaOM.

The Awl and Percolate recently teamed up to launch a site that...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:30:11 -0400

The Awl and Percolate recently teamed up to launch a site that covers the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. The site is called Approve This Message and the Nieman Journalism Lab has a great piece covering its launch. The first sentence is one of my favorite sentences: “The Awl sure likes to build stuff.”

Nice Best Buy placement on The Wirecutter.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:30:00 -0400

Nice Best Buy placement on The Wirecutter.

I went to the Digiday Publishing Summit last week and was a part...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:57:31 -0400

I went to the Digiday Publishing Summit last week and was a part of a panel discussion. Afterwards, they asked me to be in a video where I talk about my job. Here’s the result of the video interview.

A big bonus for me was that the video was on the Digiday.com homepage the same day as a profile of Noah Brier and Percolate.

Two of my favorite web personalities have a big week in video....

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:53:55 -0500

Two of my favorite web personalities have a big week in video. Post two of two.

Two of my favorite web personalities have a big week in video....

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:50:00 -0500

Two of my favorite web personalities have a big week in video. Post one of two.

"The control which designers know in the print medium, and often desire in the web medium, is simply..."

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:31:00 -0500

“The control which designers know in the print medium, and often desire in the web medium, is simply a function of the limitation of the printed page. We should embrace the fact that the web doesn’t have the same constraints, and design for this flexibility. But first, we must accept the ebb and flow of things.”

- John Allsop

The Wirecutter continues to develop. I love this review.

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:18:12 -0500

The Wirecutter continues to develop. I love this review.

A lot of people worked hard on this video and it’s the...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:36:40 -0500

A lot of people worked hard on this video and it’s the first in a series of four. The talent is extraordinary, production excellent and sponsorship wonderfully fitting. Can’t wait to post the remaining three.

Cool to be a part of this. Thanks to everyone. The Wirecutter...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:17:32 -0400

Cool to be a part of this. Thanks to everyone. The Wirecutter 1.0 AKA Raw Mode. Stay tuned.

"Question: What did you learn from Mark Zuckerberg specifically? Answer: The importance of having a..."

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:08:29 -0500

“

Question: What did you learn from Mark Zuckerberg specifically?

Answer: The importance of having a stable and lucid vision at the core of an organization.

”

- I’ve never heard of Cloudera before this article and I’m no real investor but based on this one interview, my instinct says this company will be successful and to bet heavily on it as long as it keeps its leadership in place. Jeff Hammerbacher sounds like he has the tactical skills, vision and is in the right time and place to lead a successful enterprise.

Photo

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:18:07 -0500

Long Form: Excerpts from Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 13:44:00 -0500

Reading Clay Shirky’s book, Cognitive Surplus. It’s an insightful read discussing some of the fundamental societal waves swelling now. As an exercise, I wanted to pull out some excerpts I enjoyed. It’s a quick combination of quotes and rephrasing.

Media production has had 15th century Gutenberg economics applied for the 500 years. That is to say “it’s expensive to own and manage the means of production or if it requires a staff you’re in the world of Gutenberg economics. And where ever you have Gutenberg economics, you’re going to have the producers deciding what’s good before showing it to the audience. In this world almost all media was produced by “the media”. Page 45.
In the old world of Gutenberg economics there was no automatic “publish” button. Today there is.
Publish means to make something public. “Consider the cluster of ideas contained in this list: publicity, publicize, publish, publication, publicist, publisher.”
In rethinking the concept media today, it’s evolved from something we consume to something we use. The connotation of media that it’s “something produced by professionals for consumption by amateurs” is antiquated and Mr. Shirky’s new conception of the word is: “Media is the connective tissue of society.” Page 54.
In 1999 two lead AOL community moderators sued AOL on behalf of tens of thousands of volunteers saying they should have been paid minimum wage. The reason why after years and hours of participating willingly lies in what changed. Page 59.
“Extrinsic motivation like being paid can crowd out an intrinsic one like enjoying something for its own sake.” Page 72.
“The feeling of confidence is often best engaged at the edge of one’s abilities.” Page 77.
The explosion of production in amateur/social media would be curtailing if it only was satisfying a release of pent-up desires. The flow continues to increase though because social media rewards our intrinsic desires for membership and sharing. Page 88.
The social media world connects people with niche interests at very low “discovery costs.”
A surprise is the feeling of an old belief breaking. A surprise is not just new information as we integrate new information regularly.
Many new behaviors like memorizing phone numbers are put there because of inconvenience. Page 101.
“Users can press a tool into service in ways that the designers never imagined, and those new functions are often discovered and perfected not by a burst of solo inspiration but by exploration and improvement among a collaborative group.” See: Dogtown Z-Boys skateboarding in pools. Nice phrase from this? Collaborative competition. Page 103.
“Under the right circumstances, we are good at coordinating our actions with regard for other people, even those not present. The skill isn’t universal, however; it requires figuring out how to encourage mutual regard for one another and balance selfish motivation against it. That challenge of any group dynamic- the Z-Boys and the Impressionist had both competitive and collaborative aspects. What’s new is the prospect of creating that mutual regard across much larger and more widely dispersed groups, groups who pool their efforts without sharing a physical location, and whose creations can be valuable not just for the participants but for the rest of the world as well.” Page 115.
Young people respond to experimentation because they have much to gain and little to lose. The pooh-pooh’ing that happens when people share too much is a derivative on this. If these pooh-pooh’ers, were in the “young person’s” position, they’d exercise the opportunity to experiment as well. Page 123.
A Thomas Jefferson quote: “He who receives ideas from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine, as he who lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.” Digital data sharing has similar qualities. Think Napster.
In 1973 Mark Granovetter showed in a seminal paper, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” that people tend to find jobs through casual acquaintances rather than through close friends or family.” Page 128.

Phatic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:17:25 -0500

Phatic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia :

johnbattelle:

In linguistics, a phatic expression (pronounced /ˈfætɨk/) is one whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information.^[1]The term was coined by anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the early 1900s.

- You’re welcome.

+1 :)

Prime Links Vol. 1

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:38:47 -0500

Prime Links Vol. 1

"They want to bring good things to life."

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:12:40 -0500

“They want to bring good things to life.”

- A quote from an article on Richard Bejtlich’s blog on digital security (via blog.alexreinart.com via @CDixon)

Important Information

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:51:00 -0500

A dated Steve Jobs interview I was recently exposed to is so chock-full of beautiful quotes I need more than 140 characters to share them with you. The interview is remarkable for a number of reasons including the moment in time it captures. It’s before the real consumer computer revolution and Steve’s vision is so unwavering. It’s wonderful to read this article with the hindsight we have today in 2010. Steve’s vision comes true. And frankly, based on the conviction with which he speaks, why wouldn’t it. The excerpts I’ve chosen to share below are ones that I haven’t really heard Steve talk about before: About more than just the computer business or about great design and products, he’s actually sharing some of his thoughts and philosophies about life.

“If anyone is reading any of my thoughts, I’d keep that in mind. Don’t take it all too seriously. If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away. What are we, anyway? Most of what we think we are is just a collection of likes and dislikes, habits, patterns. At the core of what we are is our values, and what decisions and actions we make reflect those values. That is why it’s hard doing interviews and being visible: As you are growing and changing, the more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you that it thinks you are, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to go, “Bye. I have to go. I’m going crazy and I’m getting out of here.” And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently.”
“The minute you have the means to take responsibility for your own dreams and can be held accountable for whether they come true or not, life is a lot tougher. It’s easy to have wonderful thoughts when the chance to implement them is remote. When you’ve gotten to a place where you at least have a chance of implementing your ideas, there’s a lot more responsibility in that.”

From:

http://www.playboy.com/articles/playboy-interview-steven-jobs/index.html?page=2

Wipe Your Feet: The Print Is Not Dead, It Is Not Even Print

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:44:45 -0400

Wipe Your Feet: The Print Is Not Dead, It Is Not Even Print:

Peter claims that I have edited this conversation in order to make myself appear more clever. This is true.

A few years ago, in my parent’s kitchen, Peter and I found ourselves on opposing ends of an argument about the future of print media. In one corner: my dad and Peter, matching whiskeys on…

The Content King Needs New Clothes. Solid article supporting an industry truth: Advertising is only a piece of marketing.

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:24:50 -0400

The Content King Needs New Clothes. Solid article supporting an industry truth: Advertising is only a piece of marketing.