Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Custom URL shorteners put the poetry back in domain names
25 rules of social media netiquette
The quality of our online communities depends on the attitudes and behaviors we bring to it. But Emily Post can’t always help: life online demands new ways of interacting. The term “netiquette” was coined in 1983, the same year that brought us our first list of guidelines for online behavior. The 13 rules laid down in 1983 are still as relevant as ever, but social media has brought new challenges and thus, new best practices. This post rounds up 25 netiquette rules from across the web, covering both longstanding and emergent principles.
6 ways to beat time zones with technology
Picturing the Internet in 1981
6 questions to prepare you for a social media crisis
10 ways spam taught us to focus our attention
First seen in 1978, spam has become the vaccine for your attention span. It’s the toxin that has stimulated our immunity system’s defenses. Thanks to spam, we’ve had to find technical, social and personal ways of keeping our eyes on the 22% of e-mail that isn’t pure junk, and to avoid the 78% that is.
10 ways you can help to build the Internet
You can help to create the Internet without writing a single line of code. You can help create the online world in which you and your children are going to live. This post maps out 10 ways you can help with that important and rewarding work.
Dittos remind us of the pleasures of obsolescence
How my custom URL shortener taught me the 10 principles of tech support
The computer that set the standard for tech support in MY house was invented in 1975. Over the years, I’ve come to see that good tech support makes all the difference between having a great time online, and feeling awful every time you switch on a machine.
Waiting for your life online
1974 was the beginning of the end for waiting, as home computer kits and time-sharing systems started to cut into all those hours waiting for the mainframe. Over the years, we wait less and less, as our computers and Internet connections and smartphones get better and better. But waiting may just be something worth waiting for.
The Harvard Business Review
Custom URL shorteners put the poetry back in domain names
25 rules of social media netiquette
The quality of our online communities depends on the attitudes and behaviors we bring to it. But Emily Post can’t always help: life online demands new ways of interacting. The term “netiquette” was coined in 1983, the same year that brought us our first list of guidelines for online behavior. The 13 rules laid down in 1983 are still as relevant as ever, but social media has brought new challenges and thus, new best practices. This post rounds up 25 netiquette rules from across the web, covering both longstanding and emergent principles.
6 ways to beat time zones with technology
Picturing the Internet in 1981
6 questions to prepare you for a social media crisis
10 ways spam taught us to focus our attention
First seen in 1978, spam has become the vaccine for your attention span. It’s the toxin that has stimulated our immunity system’s defenses. Thanks to spam, we’ve had to find technical, social and personal ways of keeping our eyes on the 22% of e-mail that isn’t pure junk, and to avoid the 78% that is.
10 ways you can help to build the Internet
You can help to create the Internet without writing a single line of code. You can help create the online world in which you and your children are going to live. This post maps out 10 ways you can help with that important and rewarding work.
Dittos remind us of the pleasures of obsolescence
How my custom URL shortener taught me the 10 principles of tech support
The computer that set the standard for tech support in MY house was invented in 1975. Over the years, I’ve come to see that good tech support makes all the difference between having a great time online, and feeling awful every time you switch on a machine.
Waiting for your life online
1974 was the beginning of the end for waiting, as home computer kits and time-sharing systems started to cut into all those hours waiting for the mainframe. Over the years, we wait less and less, as our computers and Internet connections and smartphones get better and better. But waiting may just be something worth waiting for.
OneZero
6 questions about the impact of social media on think tanks
Can think tanks make a difference? That is the question framing a one-day conference at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), where I was part of a social media panel chaired by CBC's Peter Mansbridge. My fellow panelists were Chad Gaffield of...
Make Peace with Always-On Access
The park ranger who helped us pick out a campsite didn’t know he was giving assistance to the enemy. He…
Lessons for online dating from offline marriage
Readers of this blog know that I am fascinated with online dating, probably the way that women who got married in the 50s were fascinated by the birth control pill. Like the pill, online dating has enabled a revolution in romantic and sexual behaviour, one that those...
8 ways iPhones and iPads affect family discipline
There's nothing like the beginning of a school year to illuminate gaps in your family's, um....discipline. After a couple of rocky weeks inspired us to take a closer look at our family's rhythms and regimes, I found myself noting the central role that iPhones and...
A visual glossary of Drupal field types
This post originally appeared on simcentre.ca. We are currently working with Affinity Bridge on a collaborative research project that has us deeply involved in the process of developing a website on the Drupal content management system (CMS) -- the same CMS that the...
The post-reading generation talks about the future of books
This post originally appeared on SIMCentre.ca. Today I got to be a (tweeting) fly on the wall in Jonathan Aitken's ebook design class. Somewhat to my amusement, Jonathan began by explaining how old people like us used to read in linear way, where you flip through...
How will computer use affect the way people are wired?
I just finished taking the Future of the Internet survey that is run by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center. One of the questions asked about the impact of technology use on the kids and...
Social media for political scientists: monitoring with iGoogle, Google Reader and Hootsuite
JSTOR DAILY
6 questions about the impact of social media on think tanks
Can think tanks make a difference? That is the question framing a one-day conference at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), where I was part of a social media panel chaired by CBC's Peter Mansbridge. My fellow panelists were Chad Gaffield of...
Make Peace with Always-On Access
The park ranger who helped us pick out a campsite didn’t know he was giving assistance to the enemy. He…
Lessons for online dating from offline marriage
Readers of this blog know that I am fascinated with online dating, probably the way that women who got married in the 50s were fascinated by the birth control pill. Like the pill, online dating has enabled a revolution in romantic and sexual behaviour, one that those...
8 ways iPhones and iPads affect family discipline
There's nothing like the beginning of a school year to illuminate gaps in your family's, um....discipline. After a couple of rocky weeks inspired us to take a closer look at our family's rhythms and regimes, I found myself noting the central role that iPhones and...
A visual glossary of Drupal field types
This post originally appeared on simcentre.ca. We are currently working with Affinity Bridge on a collaborative research project that has us deeply involved in the process of developing a website on the Drupal content management system (CMS) -- the same CMS that the...
The post-reading generation talks about the future of books
This post originally appeared on SIMCentre.ca. Today I got to be a (tweeting) fly on the wall in Jonathan Aitken's ebook design class. Somewhat to my amusement, Jonathan began by explaining how old people like us used to read in linear way, where you flip through...
How will computer use affect the way people are wired?
I just finished taking the Future of the Internet survey that is run by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center. One of the questions asked about the impact of technology use on the kids and...
Social media for political scientists: monitoring with iGoogle, Google Reader and Hootsuite
THE VERGE
The family that hacks together….
Saturday morning at our house: the kids are programming our new Lego Mindstorms robot. I'm installing Xcode on the Mac home media server...step one in the long road to controlling our Mini with our Kinect.
How to use your Facebook restricted list
This step-by-step guide shows you how to use Facebook’s restricted list to control who can see your posts.
Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids: A response to Amy Webb
Amy Webb has written an important but frustrating post on Facebook privacy and kids on the Slate website. Writing about a friend who extensively Facebooks photos and stories about her daughter "Kate", Webb worries that Kate's parents have compromised their child's...
11 things I want to stop learning
There are some things I seem destined to learn over and over again, and gosh, I wish I could stop learning them already. For example: Unplug it before you open it. If you don't want to do it tomorrow, you won't want to do it in three months, either. Just because Apple...