Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
7 rules for rule-breakers
The Internet may be based on standards, but it hates rules. Thanks to the Internet we are now faced with almost daily choices about when to obey, and when to defy. If you’re going to be an online rule-breaker (and you probably should be, at least some of the time) these 7 rules can help with your rule-breaking.
1972: ELIZA, IANA and the search for (in)finite attention online
The 1972 Internet gave us ELIZA, a computer therapist, and IANA, which allocates IP addresses. Together they structure our contemporary dilemma: how do we get scarce, human attention in a world of infinite online distraction?
Another view of the Internet in 1971
Rob Cottingham, who was actually around in 1971, remembers the early Internet a little differently. He's annotated the Computer History Museum's 1971 ARPAnet map, which I included in my kick-off on my 40 years of looking back on the Internet: Thanks, Rob, for this...
One 40-year-old looks back on the Internet, c. 1971
As I approach my 40th birthday, I look back on 40 years of life online.
Why I’m happy to pay for the New York Times
My latest blog post for the Harvard Business Review is a celebration of the New York Times' new paywall. OK, maybe not a celebration of the paywall itself, but a celebration of the decision to alpha test the paywall on Canadian readers. This news gave me the same rush...
Twitter makes jet lag even more painful
It was 3 in the afternoon, but it could have been 3 in the morning to judge from the exhausted faces of a roomful of entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs constitute the up-and-coming generation of businesses in Cluj, Romania, and I had just spent the day talking them...
How many e-mail clients do you need?
Jodie Tonita is a lovely person. She is passionate, funny, kind to children and small animals, and an amazing hula-hooper. Unfortunately she was sent by our alien overlords to ensure I never do my actual work. As evidence, check out this message Jodie left on my...
How to write a blog post in 10 minutes
For Lent, I’ve decided to give up reading about digital fasts
Gosh, how I love digital fasts. And Lent 2011 has given us a bumper crop of digital fasters who now find 40 days without Facebook (or Twitter) more profound and painful than a month without booze, TV or smokes. Well, if they can live without us for 40 days (sniff!)...
How to sustain a social media presence in 3 hours a week
Feel like you don’t have enough time to create a meaningful social media presence? In this post I spell out my step-by-step process for creating and maintaining a high value, useful blog and Twitter presence in just (I mean it!) 3 hours a week.
The Harvard Business Review
7 rules for rule-breakers
The Internet may be based on standards, but it hates rules. Thanks to the Internet we are now faced with almost daily choices about when to obey, and when to defy. If you’re going to be an online rule-breaker (and you probably should be, at least some of the time) these 7 rules can help with your rule-breaking.
1972: ELIZA, IANA and the search for (in)finite attention online
The 1972 Internet gave us ELIZA, a computer therapist, and IANA, which allocates IP addresses. Together they structure our contemporary dilemma: how do we get scarce, human attention in a world of infinite online distraction?
Another view of the Internet in 1971
Rob Cottingham, who was actually around in 1971, remembers the early Internet a little differently. He's annotated the Computer History Museum's 1971 ARPAnet map, which I included in my kick-off on my 40 years of looking back on the Internet: Thanks, Rob, for this...
One 40-year-old looks back on the Internet, c. 1971
As I approach my 40th birthday, I look back on 40 years of life online.
Why I’m happy to pay for the New York Times
My latest blog post for the Harvard Business Review is a celebration of the New York Times' new paywall. OK, maybe not a celebration of the paywall itself, but a celebration of the decision to alpha test the paywall on Canadian readers. This news gave me the same rush...
Twitter makes jet lag even more painful
It was 3 in the afternoon, but it could have been 3 in the morning to judge from the exhausted faces of a roomful of entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs constitute the up-and-coming generation of businesses in Cluj, Romania, and I had just spent the day talking them...
How many e-mail clients do you need?
Jodie Tonita is a lovely person. She is passionate, funny, kind to children and small animals, and an amazing hula-hooper. Unfortunately she was sent by our alien overlords to ensure I never do my actual work. As evidence, check out this message Jodie left on my...
How to write a blog post in 10 minutes
For Lent, I’ve decided to give up reading about digital fasts
Gosh, how I love digital fasts. And Lent 2011 has given us a bumper crop of digital fasters who now find 40 days without Facebook (or Twitter) more profound and painful than a month without booze, TV or smokes. Well, if they can live without us for 40 days (sniff!)...
How to sustain a social media presence in 3 hours a week
Feel like you don’t have enough time to create a meaningful social media presence? In this post I spell out my step-by-step process for creating and maintaining a high value, useful blog and Twitter presence in just (I mean it!) 3 hours a week.
OneZero
Troubleshooting calendar syncing with Google Calendar, iCal, MobileMe and BusySync
A couple of nights ago I spent an hour cleaning up what I initially alleged to be a problem with Google's calendaring servers, but which closer examination revealed to be a case of user error. And I must reluctantly admit that user was me: in my infinite enthusiasm...
4 ways your computer can help you to protect your time
Feel like email and social media are stealing your time? Great news: your communications technologies can give time back, too. I'm not talking about productivity boosters or clever ways of getting even more work done in even less time. I'm talking about protecting...
Back to school at the juncture of art & social science
Walking through the front doors of Emily Carr today after a few days in political science land was a reawakening to the extraordinary.The gallery by the front doors was bursting with fresh pieces, including something that requires you to put on headphones and look at...
Social media for political scientists
Live blog: Cyber Security in a Wikileaks World
I am at the APSA panel on Cyber Security in a Wikileaks World, which I will be live blogging for the next couple of hours. Tweet me your questions aboutany of the papers (you can download them, or just follow along here) and I will happily ask them when the time...
10 ways to tell the difference between APSA and SWSWi
I am spending this week at the
Anticipating the virtual wedding
Today's Globe & Mail features a story about the "iPad bridesmaid": the woman who attended her friend's wedding via iPad. Since Renee Armstrong couldn't make it the wedding in person, a groomsman carried an iPad to which she was connected via FaceTime (Apple's...
Respecting the billable hour
Can I have $500? One of the interesting things about being a consultant or entrepreneur is that people ask you for that kind of money all the time. I was reminded of this recently while catching up with a friend who (unlike me) is still involved in the daily work of...
JSTOR DAILY
Troubleshooting calendar syncing with Google Calendar, iCal, MobileMe and BusySync
A couple of nights ago I spent an hour cleaning up what I initially alleged to be a problem with Google's calendaring servers, but which closer examination revealed to be a case of user error. And I must reluctantly admit that user was me: in my infinite enthusiasm...
4 ways your computer can help you to protect your time
Feel like email and social media are stealing your time? Great news: your communications technologies can give time back, too. I'm not talking about productivity boosters or clever ways of getting even more work done in even less time. I'm talking about protecting...
Back to school at the juncture of art & social science
Walking through the front doors of Emily Carr today after a few days in political science land was a reawakening to the extraordinary.The gallery by the front doors was bursting with fresh pieces, including something that requires you to put on headphones and look at...
Social media for political scientists
Live blog: Cyber Security in a Wikileaks World
I am at the APSA panel on Cyber Security in a Wikileaks World, which I will be live blogging for the next couple of hours. Tweet me your questions aboutany of the papers (you can download them, or just follow along here) and I will happily ask them when the time...
10 ways to tell the difference between APSA and SWSWi
I am spending this week at the
Anticipating the virtual wedding
Today's Globe & Mail features a story about the "iPad bridesmaid": the woman who attended her friend's wedding via iPad. Since Renee Armstrong couldn't make it the wedding in person, a groomsman carried an iPad to which she was connected via FaceTime (Apple's...
Respecting the billable hour
Can I have $500? One of the interesting things about being a consultant or entrepreneur is that people ask you for that kind of money all the time. I was reminded of this recently while catching up with a friend who (unlike me) is still involved in the daily work of...
THE VERGE
Work Smarter with LinkedIn, published today
Work Smarter with LinkedIn takes you through exactly what we’d cover if we sat down together to get you powered up on LinkedIn. If we had an hour or two together, we’d talk about your near- and long-term professional goals, and then we’d focus on how LinkedIn could help you achieve them.
How BrainPop prepared my son for time travel
Last night's bedtime story was "JCat and the Time Machine for Cats". Like all JCat stories, this one featured JCat traveling to Cupertino with Tim Cook in order to invent something. Happily, I was ready for the request to have a story featuring a time machine, since...
Win my love: The cheat sheet
I know that you are supposed to like or love people based on their character or their soul, but that shit takes a lot of time to figure out. It's much more efficient to quickly categorize people as loveable, likeable or deeply suspicious based on their surface traits....
Stop sibling conflict with a tech-inspired solution
Are you tired of listening to your kids argue? Does it seem like a single ill-timed comment can ignite a cascade of escalating attacks and complaints? Are you sick of playing referee? This weekend we came up with an innovative strategy for stopping the sibling...