Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
5 ways technology can reduce the family stress of business travel
When you’ve got kids, business travel is especially stressful. It’s hard for them to have mum or dad away, and it’s hard for you to miss them. Here are 5 ways that technology can help.
This 40th birthday brought to you by Apple
What's the right way for a geek to celebrate the big 40? In my case, as many of you now know, the answer was to spend the previous 40 days blogging. That met my need for ritual, but what about the day itself? I wanted to do something memorable, something that would...
How to quickly remove unwanted tracks from your iTunes smart playlists
I like to create new iTunes playlists for lots of different purposes: for parties, workouts, for a regular day of work. In principle, the smart playlists feature works great for this -- just select a couple of criteria like "added in the past 100 days" and "BPM [beats...
40 tips on how to make the most of your life online
7 lessons about our online future from our online past
Bing helps us search for the meaning in our tech choices
The 9 secrets of a successful marriage (to a web application like Evernote)
Why we need to remember life before the Internet
The Lonely Princess: A Social Media Fairy Tale
Wondering how you can get your kids to think about the pros and cons of social media and social networking? This fairy tale introduces the joys of life online and the stakes of choosing between different online communities.
8 ways writers can make the most of online video
The Harvard Business Review
5 ways technology can reduce the family stress of business travel
When you’ve got kids, business travel is especially stressful. It’s hard for them to have mum or dad away, and it’s hard for you to miss them. Here are 5 ways that technology can help.
This 40th birthday brought to you by Apple
What's the right way for a geek to celebrate the big 40? In my case, as many of you now know, the answer was to spend the previous 40 days blogging. That met my need for ritual, but what about the day itself? I wanted to do something memorable, something that would...
How to quickly remove unwanted tracks from your iTunes smart playlists
I like to create new iTunes playlists for lots of different purposes: for parties, workouts, for a regular day of work. In principle, the smart playlists feature works great for this -- just select a couple of criteria like "added in the past 100 days" and "BPM [beats...
40 tips on how to make the most of your life online
7 lessons about our online future from our online past
Bing helps us search for the meaning in our tech choices
The 9 secrets of a successful marriage (to a web application like Evernote)
Why we need to remember life before the Internet
The Lonely Princess: A Social Media Fairy Tale
Wondering how you can get your kids to think about the pros and cons of social media and social networking? This fairy tale introduces the joys of life online and the stakes of choosing between different online communities.
8 ways writers can make the most of online video
OneZero
8 secrets to a smarter tech maintenance routine for your blog
This weekend I had one of my periodic orgies of blog maintenance. Now it happens that 14 hours of software upgrades, plugin installs, widget testing and css tweaking is my idea of fun, so giving my blog a weekend of tech love is also a way of giving myself a weekend...
Self-publishing: 5 issues for authors to consider, from Amazon’s Jon Fine and Prof. Tim Laquintano
At the Merging Media conference today, we heard from Jon Fine, Amazon's Director of Author & Publisher Relations. Jon's talk reminded me of the terrific presentation I heard at AOIR from Tim Laquintano, a writing professor at Lafayette College who spoke about the...
Video: Social media, politics & the future of think tanks
Last month I had the opportunity to be part of a terrific day-long discussion on the future of think tanks, hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations. I shared some of my thinking in a blog post...
What is Evernote, and how can it make you a social media power user?
Making effective use of social media isn't about which tools you use, which networks you join or how many followers you have. People who have made social media a valuable, joyful part of their professional and personal lives are people who have made a number of...
10 funny things to read or do online from a hotel room
Welcome to Social Media for Bored Travellers
4 easy steps to creating a Twitter list from your conference backchannel
You know you're at a conference with a great backchannel when you want to stay in touch with all the folks who've been tweeting away under the designated hashtags. That's how I felt about the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR) conference last week: from the...
Leaning into online struggles
The fourth time I got a call from the principal's office, I knew I had to rethink our school year. One of our kids was having a tough time in class, and I had already made several visits to the teacher, the classroom and the principal's office. Not only was I worried...
JSTOR DAILY
8 secrets to a smarter tech maintenance routine for your blog
This weekend I had one of my periodic orgies of blog maintenance. Now it happens that 14 hours of software upgrades, plugin installs, widget testing and css tweaking is my idea of fun, so giving my blog a weekend of tech love is also a way of giving myself a weekend...
Self-publishing: 5 issues for authors to consider, from Amazon’s Jon Fine and Prof. Tim Laquintano
At the Merging Media conference today, we heard from Jon Fine, Amazon's Director of Author & Publisher Relations. Jon's talk reminded me of the terrific presentation I heard at AOIR from Tim Laquintano, a writing professor at Lafayette College who spoke about the...
Video: Social media, politics & the future of think tanks
Last month I had the opportunity to be part of a terrific day-long discussion on the future of think tanks, hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations. I shared some of my thinking in a blog post...
What is Evernote, and how can it make you a social media power user?
Making effective use of social media isn't about which tools you use, which networks you join or how many followers you have. People who have made social media a valuable, joyful part of their professional and personal lives are people who have made a number of...
10 funny things to read or do online from a hotel room
Welcome to Social Media for Bored Travellers
4 easy steps to creating a Twitter list from your conference backchannel
You know you're at a conference with a great backchannel when you want to stay in touch with all the folks who've been tweeting away under the designated hashtags. That's how I felt about the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR) conference last week: from the...
Leaning into online struggles
The fourth time I got a call from the principal's office, I knew I had to rethink our school year. One of our kids was having a tough time in class, and I had already made several visits to the teacher, the classroom and the principal's office. Not only was I worried...
THE VERGE
Yelpless: What kinds of reviews get squelched by Yelp?
I'm an ardent (some might say pathological) Yelp user, and since I am incapable of putting anything in my mouth without first validating its viability on Yelp, I try to contribute back to the community by sharing my own perspectives and information, particularly on...
Is the Canadian media responsible for Western Canadian alienation?
What is the root cause of Western Canadian alienation? Contrary to common arguments, it's not because the rest of Canada fails to understand the West's "distinct history, economy and society", it's not due to the National Energy Program or even (as my friend and...
Bumper sticker conversation guide: 2×2 edition
This weekend my mind got blown a tiny bit by this unexpected combination of bumper stickers. Naturally, I facebooked the photo, and my friend Steve challenged me to fit this phenomenon into a 2x2. But as with any 2x2, the structure of the table should be determined by...
How 17 essential travel apps can improve your next vacation
Whether you’re packing your bags for a summer trip to Europe or packing the car for a summer road tip with the kids, you may be tempted to define your vacation by what you’re not packing: your computer, tablet or mobile phone. As more and more of us struggle with the...