Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The 8 stages of professional commitment: social media edition
I've recently crossed the commitment threshold. Not the romantic commitment threshold -- heck, that's easy, considering how little software is required (usually). I'm talking about the professional commitment I make to each project I take on, and to each partner,...
11 ways Twitter can change your life, as told by its users
Online conversations change lives. That belief drives most of my work and writing, which is why I'm always so interested to hear people reflect on the ways that social media affects their relationships, career or self-image. A few months ago I collected some of these...
Does the Internet eradicate barriers or perpetuate them?
The Guardian published an interesting story this weekend about the Internet's impact on disability. Aleks Krotoski writes that her masters' thesis in social psychology demonstrated two ways the web benefits people with physical disabilities: First, the web offered...
Diary of a yak shave: Or, How to get an Excel file into Scrivener
I need to write a draft document that borrows from my previous blog posts. A sane (non-techie) person might just write the freaking document, already. But that is not the Geek Way. So I'm now in the middle of an epic yak shave: Installed a Wordpress plugin that...
Singing goodbye to a Facebook “friend”
This week I participated in a fireside chat with Rochelle Grayson for Canadian Women in Communications, on The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing. It was the scrappiest conversation I've ever had from a (notional) podium, probably because Rochelle and I know and...
Status report on the perpetual home media overhaul
Gillian Shaw's delightful weekend story in the Vancouver Sun covered online alternatives to cable, and outed me once again as the World's Most Committed Cross-Platform TV Consumer: And then there are the techno geeks like Vancouver's Alexandra Samuel opting for a...
Create a category-specific series box with WordPress, Thesis and Organize Series
I use the terrific Organize Series Plugin for Wordpress, which I highly recommend for anyone who regularly posts multi-part blog series. You can see it in action on series all over this site, such as my recent series on 7 days to inbox zero. It lets you easily add...
How Twitter filters can help you cope with your fear of missing out
UPDATE: Seesmic is now part of Hootsuite, which doesn't support filtering based on excluding keywords. So during SXSW, I use Tweetdeck, which lets you filter a stream to exclude any tweet that includes a specific term. If you've been using Facebook, Twitter,...
11 surprising insights into the future of mobile & BlackBerry from Tyler Lessard, VP of RIM
Tonight I attended presentation by Tyler Lessard VP of Developer Relations for RIM. There are 3 million downloads daily from BlackBerry store even though they have a fraction of the number of apps available on the Android and iPhone stores. ESPN reports more traffic...
Using your e-mail signature to fight inbox overload
It's day 5 of my vendetta on mandatory e-mail replies and I'm feeling the pain. On the one hand, I'm as committed as ever to changing the attitude that every e-mail needs a response -- an attitude that is totally out-of-step with every other channel of online...
The Harvard Business Review
The 8 stages of professional commitment: social media edition
I've recently crossed the commitment threshold. Not the romantic commitment threshold -- heck, that's easy, considering how little software is required (usually). I'm talking about the professional commitment I make to each project I take on, and to each partner,...
11 ways Twitter can change your life, as told by its users
Online conversations change lives. That belief drives most of my work and writing, which is why I'm always so interested to hear people reflect on the ways that social media affects their relationships, career or self-image. A few months ago I collected some of these...
Does the Internet eradicate barriers or perpetuate them?
The Guardian published an interesting story this weekend about the Internet's impact on disability. Aleks Krotoski writes that her masters' thesis in social psychology demonstrated two ways the web benefits people with physical disabilities: First, the web offered...
Diary of a yak shave: Or, How to get an Excel file into Scrivener
I need to write a draft document that borrows from my previous blog posts. A sane (non-techie) person might just write the freaking document, already. But that is not the Geek Way. So I'm now in the middle of an epic yak shave: Installed a Wordpress plugin that...
Singing goodbye to a Facebook “friend”
This week I participated in a fireside chat with Rochelle Grayson for Canadian Women in Communications, on The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing. It was the scrappiest conversation I've ever had from a (notional) podium, probably because Rochelle and I know and...
Status report on the perpetual home media overhaul
Gillian Shaw's delightful weekend story in the Vancouver Sun covered online alternatives to cable, and outed me once again as the World's Most Committed Cross-Platform TV Consumer: And then there are the techno geeks like Vancouver's Alexandra Samuel opting for a...
Create a category-specific series box with WordPress, Thesis and Organize Series
I use the terrific Organize Series Plugin for Wordpress, which I highly recommend for anyone who regularly posts multi-part blog series. You can see it in action on series all over this site, such as my recent series on 7 days to inbox zero. It lets you easily add...
How Twitter filters can help you cope with your fear of missing out
UPDATE: Seesmic is now part of Hootsuite, which doesn't support filtering based on excluding keywords. So during SXSW, I use Tweetdeck, which lets you filter a stream to exclude any tweet that includes a specific term. If you've been using Facebook, Twitter,...
11 surprising insights into the future of mobile & BlackBerry from Tyler Lessard, VP of RIM
Tonight I attended presentation by Tyler Lessard VP of Developer Relations for RIM. There are 3 million downloads daily from BlackBerry store even though they have a fraction of the number of apps available on the Android and iPhone stores. ESPN reports more traffic...
Using your e-mail signature to fight inbox overload
It's day 5 of my vendetta on mandatory e-mail replies and I'm feeling the pain. On the one hand, I'm as committed as ever to changing the attitude that every e-mail needs a response -- an attitude that is totally out-of-step with every other channel of online...
OneZero
10 ways to save on roaming charges when traveling with your smartphone
Don’t blow the savings from your budget-conscious vacation on a whopping cell phone bill. These 10 tips will help keep your voice and data costs under control.
10 ways to save on hotels using your smartphone or tablet
Facebook dating: 8 tips for pickup artists (or how to avoid them)
The slender brunette in the airport lounge had just ended a cell phone call when a young man with heavily gelled blonde hair sat down next to her. "Do you have Internet on your phone?" he asked. "I'm trying to find out the weather." "Sorry, I can't get a connection,"...
Creating a visitor’s guide to your home tech setup
One of the joys of living in a multicultural society is the experience of welcoming someone from a different heritage into your home, and introducing them to the various artifacts, practices and beliefs of your own culture. It is in this spirit that we sometimes...
13 essential ingredients for your blogging setup
The 3 essential questions every blogger should answer
Any blogger — newbie or pro — should be able to answer these three essential questions about his or her blog.
5 questions that will make the most of your social media vacation
Do you suspect that taking a brief or extended break from the Internet would make you happier, smarter or taller? Tackle these 5 questions to get the most from your social media vacation.
10 challenging perspectives on social media & the Vancouver riots
The past week has been a laboratory in the power and limitations of online dialogue. While I have been troubled by the number of simplistic, hostile or unconsidered posts and comments about crowdsourcing the identification of rioters, I have more often been astounded...
JSTOR DAILY
10 ways to save on roaming charges when traveling with your smartphone
Don’t blow the savings from your budget-conscious vacation on a whopping cell phone bill. These 10 tips will help keep your voice and data costs under control.
10 ways to save on hotels using your smartphone or tablet
Facebook dating: 8 tips for pickup artists (or how to avoid them)
The slender brunette in the airport lounge had just ended a cell phone call when a young man with heavily gelled blonde hair sat down next to her. "Do you have Internet on your phone?" he asked. "I'm trying to find out the weather." "Sorry, I can't get a connection,"...
Creating a visitor’s guide to your home tech setup
One of the joys of living in a multicultural society is the experience of welcoming someone from a different heritage into your home, and introducing them to the various artifacts, practices and beliefs of your own culture. It is in this spirit that we sometimes...
13 essential ingredients for your blogging setup
The 3 essential questions every blogger should answer
Any blogger — newbie or pro — should be able to answer these three essential questions about his or her blog.
5 questions that will make the most of your social media vacation
Do you suspect that taking a brief or extended break from the Internet would make you happier, smarter or taller? Tackle these 5 questions to get the most from your social media vacation.
10 challenging perspectives on social media & the Vancouver riots
The past week has been a laboratory in the power and limitations of online dialogue. While I have been troubled by the number of simplistic, hostile or unconsidered posts and comments about crowdsourcing the identification of rioters, I have more often been astounded...
THE VERGE
Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite, new from Harvard Business Review Press
Do you feel like you could get more out of Twitter? Or are you a passionate Twitter user who wants to help your colleagues, friends and family use it and love it the way you do? Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite is for everyone who wants to get more out of...
End those digital fasts with these 5 April Fool’s Day pranks
Well, folks, it's almost that time again: Easter. Also known as the end of Lent. Or what should be known as national coming out day for all the people who've just spent the past 40 days doing some kind of digital fast. They inevitably come back with a desire to...
NSF Political Science cuts fail to predict the unpredictability of research
On March 20 the Senate de-funded political science grants from the National Science Foundation “except for research projects that the Director of the National Science Foundation certifies as promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States.”...
The 23 stages of the task management software lifecycle
Totally on top of all pending tasks Moderate slippage of select tasks leads to mild anxiety Catastrophic failure to complete one or more mission-critical tasks leads to wholesale re-evaluation of career choice, self-worth and why are we even on this earth anyhow?...