Publications

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past

Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past

William Quincy Belle has a hysterically funny take on Shape's annual sex survey, which (among other things) looks at the impact of technology on our sex lives. Here's my favorite part of his blog post: 72 percent of women admitted in the survey to looking through a...

Ideas for the future of e-books

Ideas for the future of e-books

I enjoyed watching this video by blogger and digg founder Kevin Rose about his wishlist for e-book features. I found Kevin's video via a terrific round-up on social e-books at jjprojects

Listen to an ode to online love

Listen to an ode to online love

One day in October I was driving home and listening to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga sing Telephone. I love them both but Telephone has a special place in my heart, especially I am sick and tired of my phone ringing Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station...

The biggest WikiLeaks disclosure yet

The biggest WikiLeaks disclosure yet

The cover story of yesterday's New York Times Magazine is a must-read piece about the New York Times' experience covering the stories that emerged from the WikiLeaks source material. Editor Bill Keller talks about how the Times approached this unusual source material,...

My Facebook profile, now with extra hotness

My Facebook profile, now with extra hotness

If you haven't visited me on Facebook recently, you may not have seen my new super-awesome profile. It looks like this: And while you're visiting me, I hope you'll check out my new Facebook page, which I set up to share my writing and work. (I use my profile for...

An open design process for SIMCentre.ca

An open design process for SIMCentre.ca

This post appears today on the site of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Shh...don't tell anyone, but we're redesigning our website. That's the standard attitude towards website redesign, at least since the (merciful!)...

The Harvard Business Review

Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past

Learning to live with your lover’s virtual past

William Quincy Belle has a hysterically funny take on Shape's annual sex survey, which (among other things) looks at the impact of technology on our sex lives. Here's my favorite part of his blog post: 72 percent of women admitted in the survey to looking through a...

Ideas for the future of e-books

Ideas for the future of e-books

I enjoyed watching this video by blogger and digg founder Kevin Rose about his wishlist for e-book features. I found Kevin's video via a terrific round-up on social e-books at jjprojects

Listen to an ode to online love

Listen to an ode to online love

One day in October I was driving home and listening to Beyoncé and Lady Gaga sing Telephone. I love them both but Telephone has a special place in my heart, especially I am sick and tired of my phone ringing Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station...

The biggest WikiLeaks disclosure yet

The biggest WikiLeaks disclosure yet

The cover story of yesterday's New York Times Magazine is a must-read piece about the New York Times' experience covering the stories that emerged from the WikiLeaks source material. Editor Bill Keller talks about how the Times approached this unusual source material,...

My Facebook profile, now with extra hotness

My Facebook profile, now with extra hotness

If you haven't visited me on Facebook recently, you may not have seen my new super-awesome profile. It looks like this: And while you're visiting me, I hope you'll check out my new Facebook page, which I set up to share my writing and work. (I use my profile for...

An open design process for SIMCentre.ca

An open design process for SIMCentre.ca

This post appears today on the site of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Shh...don't tell anyone, but we're redesigning our website. That's the standard attitude towards website redesign, at least since the (merciful!)...

OneZero

Making art from a lifetime of data

Making art from a lifetime of data

This weekend Little Sweetie asked whether she can have my computer when I die. I had to explain that she is unlikely to want it: by the time I die, my current computer will be useless. "But how about this," I suggested instead. "When I die, you can have whatever...

Creating a family social media policy

Creating a family social media policy

The ongoing conversation in our home about how to use social media — and in particular, how to do so in a way that is both safe and enjoyable for our kids — has helped us evolve a de facto social media policy governing how we engage with social media as a family. I decided it was time to go from de facto to actual, recorded policy. Use our policy as a jumping-off point for your own.

Facebooking the kids: 12 Dos & Don’ts

10 ways academics can use Twitter

M.H. Beals has a terrific overview of Social Media for Researchers and Academics, based on a one-way workshop held at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services in Edinburgh. Her post provides a great roadmap of the different ways academics can use...

The social media obituary

The social media obituary

His real break came as a stuntman in the Hollywood movie “On the Beach,” about survivors of a nuclear war, which was filmed in Melbourne, his hometown, in 1959. It starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. “He watched Gregory Peck do 27 takes and thought, ‘A...

Who would you be without the Internet?

Who would you be without the Internet?

Without the internet I wouldn't be able to write. In the realms of pre-internet media, one either comes to the publisher/editor/gatekeeper with mad skills and gets published, or he gets a generic pink slip with a one-line apology. You can't use this system of...

5 reasons to blog like it’s the last night of the world

5 reasons to blog like it’s the last night of the world

I worry a lot about the world ending. My scenarios usually involve some kind of catastrophic climate change, pandemic virus or global economic meltdown followed by civil collapse. This intermittent tendency to fret over various doomsday is something I try to deprive...

JSTOR DAILY

Making art from a lifetime of data

Making art from a lifetime of data

This weekend Little Sweetie asked whether she can have my computer when I die. I had to explain that she is unlikely to want it: by the time I die, my current computer will be useless. "But how about this," I suggested instead. "When I die, you can have whatever...

Creating a family social media policy

Creating a family social media policy

The ongoing conversation in our home about how to use social media — and in particular, how to do so in a way that is both safe and enjoyable for our kids — has helped us evolve a de facto social media policy governing how we engage with social media as a family. I decided it was time to go from de facto to actual, recorded policy. Use our policy as a jumping-off point for your own.

Facebooking the kids: 12 Dos & Don’ts

10 ways academics can use Twitter

M.H. Beals has a terrific overview of Social Media for Researchers and Academics, based on a one-way workshop held at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services in Edinburgh. Her post provides a great roadmap of the different ways academics can use...

The social media obituary

The social media obituary

His real break came as a stuntman in the Hollywood movie “On the Beach,” about survivors of a nuclear war, which was filmed in Melbourne, his hometown, in 1959. It starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. “He watched Gregory Peck do 27 takes and thought, ‘A...

Who would you be without the Internet?

Who would you be without the Internet?

Without the internet I wouldn't be able to write. In the realms of pre-internet media, one either comes to the publisher/editor/gatekeeper with mad skills and gets published, or he gets a generic pink slip with a one-line apology. You can't use this system of...

5 reasons to blog like it’s the last night of the world

5 reasons to blog like it’s the last night of the world

I worry a lot about the world ending. My scenarios usually involve some kind of catastrophic climate change, pandemic virus or global economic meltdown followed by civil collapse. This intermittent tendency to fret over various doomsday is something I try to deprive...

THE VERGE

Saying goodbye to pen and paper

Saying goodbye to pen and paper

My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review has provoked a strong reaction to the idea of saying goodbye to the paper notebook. Here's my own take on the experience of giving up on paper and pen. 4.00 22.95 Alexandra Samuel Those 25 characters, comprising a tip, a...

13 New Year’s resolutions for a better life online

13 New Year’s resolutions for a better life online

As you start the new year with the best intentions for your personal, professional and emotional development, don't forget to put your tech life on the list. Here are 13 resolutions to choose from, depending on your own tech challenges and commitments; you'll know...

How to talk about tragedy online

How to talk about tragedy online

Time out, people. In the past 24 hours we have been have been inspired, informed, comforted and mobilized by the unfolding conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. But it's clear that we have also had moments of feeling attached, horrified, angered and shamed....