Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Core tenets of the social web
The Core Tenets of the Social Web, 25 years in the making
This post originally appeared on the Harvard Business Review. We like to think of the social web as green fields in which we are just now sowing best practices and first principles. After all, if there are no hard-and-fast rules, then anything goes. We get to come up...
Cut the cord
Honoring the debt Canada’s connectivity owes to Chinese workers
When you choose a historical metaphor, you make claims on conscience as well as imagination. Canada chose to complete its national network of connectivity in November 1985, on the 100th anniversary of completing a national railway built on the hard work of ill-treated Chinese workers. The Canadian – and global — Internet is in danger of repeating that sad history.
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.
The Harvard Business Review
Core tenets of the social web
The Core Tenets of the Social Web, 25 years in the making
This post originally appeared on the Harvard Business Review. We like to think of the social web as green fields in which we are just now sowing best practices and first principles. After all, if there are no hard-and-fast rules, then anything goes. We get to come up...
Cut the cord
Honoring the debt Canada’s connectivity owes to Chinese workers
When you choose a historical metaphor, you make claims on conscience as well as imagination. Canada chose to complete its national network of connectivity in November 1985, on the 100th anniversary of completing a national railway built on the hard work of ill-treated Chinese workers. The Canadian – and global — Internet is in danger of repeating that sad history.
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.
OneZero
6 solutions to the sadness of social media
Is social media making us sad? On the UK's Channel 4 News website, Benjamin Cohen is concerned that social media is changing the nature of friendship, and has adjusted his use of social media in response: I’ve stopped sharing as much, full stop....I’m not suggesting...
Why I like to check my email
Recently I've been trying to follow my friend Leda's advice on taming the compulsive need to pull my iPhone out any spare moment: the eight seconds in which the grocery clerk is running a price check, the twenty seconds it takes to walk to the bathroom, the...
The 10 best tips on how to write an online dating profile
It was inevitable that one of my single friends would get the hint. I go on and on about my fascination with online dating, and how tragic it is that I missed out by getting married before it was really a thing, and how much I would like to learn more about how it all...
Jobs of the future
It has been widely reported that for most of today's elementary schoolchildren, the jobs that lie in their future don't even exist yet. While that may be terrifying for those of us in the parenting or education game (how do you prep kids for a future you can't see?),...
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...
JSTOR DAILY
6 solutions to the sadness of social media
Is social media making us sad? On the UK's Channel 4 News website, Benjamin Cohen is concerned that social media is changing the nature of friendship, and has adjusted his use of social media in response: I’ve stopped sharing as much, full stop....I’m not suggesting...
Why I like to check my email
Recently I've been trying to follow my friend Leda's advice on taming the compulsive need to pull my iPhone out any spare moment: the eight seconds in which the grocery clerk is running a price check, the twenty seconds it takes to walk to the bathroom, the...
The 10 best tips on how to write an online dating profile
It was inevitable that one of my single friends would get the hint. I go on and on about my fascination with online dating, and how tragic it is that I missed out by getting married before it was really a thing, and how much I would like to learn more about how it all...
Jobs of the future
It has been widely reported that for most of today's elementary schoolchildren, the jobs that lie in their future don't even exist yet. While that may be terrifying for those of us in the parenting or education game (how do you prep kids for a future you can't see?),...
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...
THE VERGE
Established Companies, Get Ready for the Collaborative Economy
This post originally appeared on The Harvard Business Review website. As more and more startups like Airbnb, Etsy and Kickstarter crowd into the space of the collaborative economy, big brands are starting to get in on the action, too. Staples sells products developed...
Announcing Work Smarter, Rule Your Email
There's no part of online life that has a bigger impact on our productivity — and our happiness! — than email. But most email productivity guides focus on getting control over email, when what we really need is more control over our lives and our work. That's why I'm...
7 ways you can learn to love reading ebooks
About a decade ago, somebody gave us our first crock pot, also known as a slow cooker. For months we feasted on the remarkably easy, delicious dishes it could produce: chicken tagines and chilis, beef briskets and vegan stews. Then I made the mistake of discussing our...
It’s monkey see, monkey do over here
And you know, you usually don't let monkeys hack firmware.