Archive for April 2006

What I’m Up To Now

In Design, Life, Powazek on 26 April 2006 with Comments Off

Two months ago, I posted about leaving Technorati and starting a design studio. I also lamented how hard it was to find a good domain name, and lots of you wrote in with fabulous suggestions and offers. I tried to reply to everyone, but please forgive me if I didn’t get back to you. They [...]

The Wisdom of Browse

In Design, Geek, Internet, Wisdom of Crowds on 20 April 2006 with Comments Off

There’s some drama afoot lately as bloggers pick apart Digg’s user-controlled editorial system, looking for evidence of editors lurking in the darkness. But much of the conversation is overlooking a crucial nuance when it comes to authentic media and democratic editorial systems.
For the uninitiated, Digg is a tech news site, where the members post links [...]

Attention Daily Show

In Fun, Internet, Video on 20 April 2006 with Comments Off

Attention Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Hire this man immediately.
Don’t make me beg.

Design for Selfishness

In Design, Folksonomy, Geek, Internet, Tags, Technorati on 11 April 2006 with Comments Off

In 1996, Paulina Borsook wrote a story that, frankly, really pissed me off. In “Cyberselfish,” published in Mother Jones and eventually turned into a book, she wrote about how new have-it-your-way technology was creating a generation of spoiled brats with computers.
I took umbrage. Not only was I a proud member of the generation she [...]

Death to User-Generated Content

In Blogging, Flickr, Geek, Internet, Journalism on 4 April 2006 with Comments Off

Dear internet,
Can I make a suggestion? Let’s all stop using the phrase “user-generated content.” I’m serious. It’s a despicable, terrible term. Let’s deconstruct it.
User: One who uses. Like, you know, a junkie.
Generated: Like a generator, engine. Like, you know, a robot.
Content: Something that fills a box. Like, you know, packing peanuts.
So what’s user-generated content? [...]