Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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.
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...
The Harvard Business Review
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.
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...
OneZero
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
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
JSTOR DAILY
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
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
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...