 Christopher Butler Strategy and Resourcing Hi, I'm Chris. I've been working at Newfangled since September, 2004. | Chris Butler's Blog |
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The Week in Review
February 29, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
This post is a collection of things that caught my attention this week, most of which came to me via RSS feeds and blogs that I read myself. Now I'm passing them on to you (in the order in which I bookmarked them). Enjoy!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Read about what will happen when we reach the 4 billion IP limit of IPv4. Read about AIR, a software development system that will power potentially tens of thousands of applications that merge the Internet and the PC, as well as blur the distinctions between PCs and new computing devices like smartphones. Read how a National School Boards Association (NSBA) study says that as many as one-third of American teens regularly post inappropriate language or manipulated images on the Web. Read how Japan has launched an extra-high speed broadband internet satellite. Read about theTactical Ground Reporting System, a social networking system for soldiers in Iraq created by the US Military. Learn how to build your own green computer system. See your face in ascii! Watch this video take on the Annual Report (via Able). Learn more about Yahoo's advertising plans. Read Wired Editor Chris Anderson's thoughts on the free future of business. Read about the rise of advertising exchanges, which are meant to trade impressions on Web sites the way Nasdaq trades stock. Read about a summer camp set up in Shanghai to cure internet addicts. Read A List Apart's article on 'reviving anorexic web writing.' Read how scientists are increasingly convinced that cosmic dust clouds are full of tiny diamonds, and that now they've figured out a way to spot them. Check out this incredible hand-made wooden 13-floor skyscraper! Check out Google Sites! Read internal Microsoft emails which show how worried execs were about the low quality and failure of Vista. View this beautiful collection of modernist postage stamps. Read the 10 trends that will define logo design in 2008. Read the 10 typical mistakes in icon design. Read the principles of beautiful HTML emails. Read how Google has introduced some 'social' features to it's Google Books search tool. Read Web Worker Daily's 12 Top Free Ways to Collaborate Online. How do you know that you are not a brain in a vat? |
Tags: technology strategy hardware week-in-review user-interface-design video web-development design audio social-media art privacy marketing software
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How to Do SEO
February 28, 2008 at 10:30 am by Chris| Eric just posted his latest newsletter, the first in a two-part series on SEO. There is a detailed video that accompanies it. Read it here. |
Tags: search strategy video google newfangled
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TEDTalks: World Wide Telescope
February 28, 2008 at 9:00 am by Chris| My blogging has been pretty light this week (mostly sharing videos), and might continue to be for a bit. In the meantime, here is a compelling video from this year's TED conference. This one demos the World Wide Telescope, the thing that reportedly made Robert Scoble weep. |
Tags: software video the-future
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Gmail is Cool and All, but Man, so Much More in Russia...
February 27, 2008 at 3:00 pm by Chris...or in LEGO... ...or in sand... ...and yeah, free food, classes, laundry, massages, volleyball and what not is really cool until you realize that you're not allowed to leave the Google complex... ever... ...because when you're this cute, you couldn't possibly be evil! |
Tags: software video google
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Contact vs. Powers of Ten
February 26, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris| I recently rented the movie Contact, which I'd definitely recommend, by the way (what a great stimulator of philosophy-of-technology-related conversation!), and couldn't help noticing a similarity between its opening sequence and the Eames short film, Powers of Ten... What do you think? Contact Powers of Ten |
Tags: video the-future
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Farewell, Scott!
February 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Chris
This is a bittersweet day here at Newfangled. Scott McCall, one of our Project Managers, will be leaving us after today to begin a new phase of his career, playing lead guitar for Tift Merrit's band. Scott is an accomplished musician (he's played guitar with several bands including the Two Dollar Pistols, with Mark), and I'm really happy for him that he'll be able to do what he loves (and is clearly gifted at) full time. If you can't get enough of Scott (heck, who can??), try and catch him on tour. If he's not going to be stopping by your city, you can always catch him on Monday, February 25th, when he performs with Merritt on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno!Working with Scott has been a real pleasure. I've learned a lot as I've watched him be consistently kind, respectful and helpful to our clients and co-workers, all with a great (and uniquely Scott) sense of humor. Many of his strengths are ones that I lack, so I hope I've been able to absorb at least a bit of Scott's traits over the years. His influence on Newfangled's culture will hopefully stick for a long time to come, too. Here's a video of Scott performing with Tift Merrit at Raleigh's First Night celebration (if you want to see more, click here): Here's a video of Scott and Mark performing with the 'Pistols (if you want to see more, click here): |
Tags: video
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Wow!
February 22, 2008 at 10:00 am by Chris| Saw this amazing animation this morning: Here's another short, but impressive, animation: |
Tags: design art video
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The Week in Review
February 22, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
This post is a collection of things that caught my attention this week, most of which came to me via RSS feeds and blogs that I read myself. Now I'm passing them on to you (in the order in which I bookmarked them). Enjoy!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Read about the 14 Grand Engineering Challenges of the 21st Century. Read about Nicholas Negroponte's plans for the OLPC. Read how some scientists are expecting machines to 'match man by 2029.' Read an anarchist librarian's article on the relationship between the individual’s desire to share thoughts and experiences with others via social networks and the commercial entities that provide the distribution channel for that act of sharing. Read how scientists are investigating the possibility of making fuel from air. Check out this wiki of obsolete technical skills., or things we used to know and do that are no longer useful to us. Read how Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is cautiously approaching online adverstising. Read the top 10 reasons you've had too much facebook. View this incredible video of Dean Kamen's Luke Skywalker bionic arm. Read Jakob Nielsen's latest Alertbox, which states that "application usability is enhanced when users know how to operate the UI and it guides them through the workflow. Violating common guidelines prevents both." Read how the Supreme Court turned down a request to take up a challenge to the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program, adding to the Administration's string of legal victories in challenges to the controversial, five-year-long program. Browse Technology Review's list of the Ten Emerging Technologies of 2008. Read how Stanford Law School Professor and former Wired magazine columnist Larry Lessig said Tuesday that he's considering a bid to take over the late Rep. Tom Lantos' D-Calif.'s congressional seat. Read a comparative study of internet censorship from Global Integrity Commons. Watch this video interview with Adam Lasnik, Search Evangelist at Google (via Eric). Check out these suspiciously lego-man-like Microsoft action figures. Read how the next version of Windows may allow users more ways to interact with their computer than just a keyboard or mouse. Check out these extremely messy offices. Check out this amazing gravity-powered lamp that recently won a Greener Gadget award. Read about how Facebook ad networks are still performing poorly. Read how lots of web workers are hangin' out together in sweet spaces while they work. Read as Doc Searls asks,"What's Next for Open Source and Public Media?" Read about the CNN producer who was recently fired because of his personal blog. Read how BusinessWeek has revised it's 'Blogging will change your business' article to be 'Social Media Will Change Your Business.' Read about the dud satellite that was shot down using our anti-missile defense system on Wednesday. Read Nicholas Carr's thoughts on IT in 2018. Read how Microsoft has withdrawn Vista SP1 delivery because (big suprise) it's too buggy. Watch this incredible story about a conductor who lost his ability to make new memories. |
Tags: technology strategy hardware week-in-review user-interface-design video web-development design audio social-media art privacy marketing software
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Social Media Matters When it's Personal
February 19, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris| I've written before on the benefits of blogging and maintaining your online reputation. Here's a recent post from Communication Overtones, titled "Social Media Only Matters When It's Personal" which states, "People care deeply when someone helps them out of a hard spot or makes their life easier. If your gizmo or social media service can do that, then you will earn loyalty and gratitude." It's worth reading. |
Tags: social-media strategy blogging
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The Week in Review
February 15, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
This post is a collection of things that caught my attention this week, most of which came to me via RSS feeds and blogs that I read myself. Now I'm passing them on to you (in the order in which I bookmarked them). Enjoy!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Check out this amazing house made from shipping containers. Browse the evolution of tech company logos. Read this NYTimes blog post which asks, "Can We Uninvent Suburbia?" Read about Yahoo's rejection letter to Microsoft. Then, Read about Microsoft's ominous response to Yahoo's rejection of their bid. And while you're on the topic, read about large-scale layoffs at Yahoo this week. Also, read how one Yahoo investor has is urging others to sell their holdings. Learn how many employees Google has currently. Read what Reuters CEO Devin Wenig conisders to be two big trends hitting financial data, and why the semantic web is at the heart of them. Learn how to create slideshows from your bookmarks or RSS feeds. Learn how to use Google Docs to collect form data. Read about the end of an era- Polaroid cancels instant film production. Learn how Google's logo was created and see some of the rejected ideas. Check this out- all the furniture you need in one little box (via Able)! Read why Facebook is "like the Hotel California- you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." Then, read how Facebook just made it easier to 'delete your face' (via Able). Read how Bill Gates was getting some 8,000 friend requests per day on his Facebook account, so he gave up and bailed on it. Read how Microsoft really botched things up by allowing computers to be labeled as 'Vista Capable.' Note to self: waterboarding is not a good approach to motivating employees. Read how U.S. spies are looking increasingly online for intelligence and they've become major consumers of social media. Read about FriendFeed, a tool that lets you see what your friends and family and co-workers are up to on the web via RSS. Read a first-look review of Firefox 3 beta 3. Read about the Net neutrality bill expected to be re-introduced to Congress this week. Read how the Senate overwhelming voted Tuesday evening to legalize President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program and grant amnesty to the phone companies that helped out with the domestic spying. Then, read how the ACLU has called on Congress to let the old wiretapping law expire and not pass a replacement. Read about Apple shares continuing to drop. Learn how to become an architect with no training and one cleverly chosen prop. Read how outer space apparently has a smell. Browse the winners of the Greener Gadgets Design Conference. Read about the design of the Enron logo. Check out Communter Feed, a free service that lets you see reports on traffic incidents in your local area using Twitter. Read how scientists say they have developed a way to produce a truly carbon-neutral fuel and useful organic chemicals at large scale using carbon dioxide removed from the air as the raw material. Read about a plan to use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law-enforcement missions that is now moving forward after being delayed for months because of privacy and civil liberties concerns. Read about "The YouTube Videocracy,” Google’s first large advertiser event. ThinkPad vs. MacBook Air. Check out this in-depth look at the first issue of Wired Magazine (via Able). Do you have a Facebook addiction? Watch and decide for yourself. Prepare to be overwhelmed by Dubai. 'Nuff said, just check this out. Take a look at a chart detailing ad spending by industry in January, 2008. |
Tags: technology strategy hardware week-in-review user-interface-design video web-development design audio social-media art privacy marketing software
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Blogging and Brands
February 14, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris| Eric at SmashLab has just posted another great article at his ideasonideas blog. This one is on blogging and brands, and is worth the time to read. Read it here > |
Tags: strategy design blogging
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Goodreads vs. Google Books
February 13, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Chris
Many people I know use Goodreads as a way to compile, share and review the books they've read, find out about other books, and possibly connect with other readers. I have an account, too, but just don't find myself using it much, either to connect with other readers or to find out about new books. I tend to find out about other books in three main ways: 1. from other people (in conversation, articles, and blogs), 2. from Amazon ("people who bought this book also bought..."), and 3. from browsing at my library. When it comes to the word-of-mouth referrals, I think I am just way more likely to read a book recommended by a friend or another individual I respect (like a NYT reviewer or a blogger I read) than by another Goodreads user that happened to read a book I also read. Sometimes, though, I do want to research a book online that I may have heard about from one of my three main sources. I will often search for it on Amazon first and skim through some reviews. However, I am finding myself often turning to Google Books to get even more information about the book- even being able to preview pages within it. The more I do this, the less I am using Goodreads, so I wanted to compare the two and figure out which features make one a better tool than the other. For my review, I used 'Time Travel in Einstein's Universe,' by J. Richard Gott, as an example book (I mentioned this book in a previous blog post about Mark's blog). Lastly, when you search for a book you haven't added yet to your profile, you'll tend to get many matches back if the book has multiple editions or title variances (Google consolidates the entries for you). 
Click here for full size screen capture. Google Books Google Books was initially put together as an effort to scan and index the world's books and make that information available online, rather than as an effort to build an online social community around books. This is why one of the main features of Goodreads is lacking from Google Books- the social connections made by adding 'friends' and communicating with them. However, the majority of the other features of Goodreads are also available on Google Books. Each book has a profile (see screenshot below) which displays images of its front and back cover, the title, author, publisher, publication date, library of congress categorization, page count, and isbn number. There are also links to online stores where you can purchase the book, including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Booksense.com, and Froogle. You'll also get a current price display for Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. There is also a 'Find this book in a library' link, which will query local libraries (based upon your Google account zipcode) for the book you are viewing, a feature which emphasizes the more 'academic' approach of Google Books. While Google Books lacks the 'social' features of Goodreads, like adding friends and the ability to browse their profiles, it does provide some other data which Goodreads does not. Google Books profiles will show 'popular passages,' which preview snippets of text from the book that are most often quoted elsewhere. You'll also have access to reviews of the book written by other Google users, listings of references to the book from other webpages online, listings of references to the book from other books, listings of references to the book from other scholarly works, a related books list, a 'key terms' (tags) list, and a list of other editions of the book that are available from Google. Again, these offerings cater more to an academic approach to online book research. Lastly, the search results in Google are a bit more finely tuned than in Goodreads, which makes sense given that search is the bedrock of Google. While Goodreads doesn't make the connection between various editions of a book, Google does and includes an 'other editions' link within the snippet on their search results page. 
Click here for full size screen capture. Google Books also has an additional view (see screenshot below) which allows you to preview the book you are viewing. Depending upon the book's copyright, you'll be able to view varying amounts of pages within the book. If the book is part of the public domain, you'll be able to view scans of every page of the book, and do text searches within the entire book's text. 
Click here for full size screen capture. Conclusion I'm not sure that one tool can necessarily be seen as better than the other. Examining the features of each really shows that they were created with different goals and users in mind. If the social features are what you're looking for, Goodreads is the platform for you. You'll be able to add friends, see what they're reading, discuss books, and expand your library based upon your friends' recommendations, all within an attractive 'shiny' interface. On the other hand, if you're looking for a more academically-oriented online tool (and the familiarly austere Google interface) that will give you more detailed book information and help you connect to other books based upon other user's info and other books that have been archived, but not a social network, Google Books is for you (and for me, actually). Did I miss any features of either Goodreads or Google Books? Which tool do you prefer and why? |
Tags: social-media software books google
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New York Times Blog Logo Designs
February 13, 2008 at 10:00 am by ChrisI mentioned before that the New York Times was on a roll with its blogs. Many of them really have great articles, and their logo's are nicely designed, too! Out of their 52 total blogs, here are a few that stand out with nice logos (I don't read all of them).
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Tags: design blogging
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Asus Eee PC vs. Everex Cloudbook
February 12, 2008 at 8:00 pm by Chris| Here's a demo video of the Cloudbook: More on the Cloudbook > More on the Asus Eee PC > |
Tags: software computers
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How Does TinyURL Work?
February 12, 2008 at 2:00 pm by Chris
Using Twitter would be next to impossible without TinyURL being built in. If you don't know what TinyURL is, it is a service that converts long URLs into short ones by creating an alias for your request. How it works is actually pretty simple. But, what I wondered is how a service like this, assuming growing popularity, could sustain itself. Wouldn't the URLs they create have to get less tiny over time? The answer turns out to be yes, but... not so much.Currently, TinyURLs are composed of six alpha or numeric characters attached to the TinyURL domain name. For example, the TinyURL for this post (I just created it) is http://tinyurl.com/2j2xr9. Because there are 36 different options (26 letters plus 10 numbers) for each character in the alias, TinyURL has up to 2,176,782,336 aliases to work with until they'll need to start using 7 characters instead of 6. According to their website, they've made more than 62 million of them so far, so it will be a while until we see that 7th character show up in our TinyURL's. After that, it will be even longer until we see 8 characters (78,364,164,096 more URL's, to be precise)... Do I have that math right? If not, I can at least pass some of the blame off on to Eric, who just figured this out with me. |
Tags: social-media software technology google
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Glad I Had Some Matches
February 12, 2008 at 11:30 am by ChrisThe wind was so heavy on Sunday- this is what happened. |
Tags: design art newfangled
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Separation of Work and Home
February 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm by Chris
In a previous post, A Permanent Work in Progress, I mentioned in passing the notion of the line between work and home becoming more blurred:"However, this potential 'omniweb' may not be such a great thing for those of us who like having some boundaries between our work and time off. I can't help but fear that someday 'not having access to my email' or 'not being in cellphone range' might not be valid reasons to not work while on vacation, or that no matter where I am in the world, I might be easily findable. I also wouldn't mind being able to escape from the ubiquity of technology every now and then, either, but from the looks of things this is going to only become more difficult."Recently, though, the Australian government halted plans to deploy BlackBerries to its workers after employees expressed fears that the devices might upset their current balance of work and home life. It seems that the BlackBerry has polarized at least two groups of differing opinion; the first feeling that BlackBerries would make the work day longer since they extend workstation functionality outside of the office, while the second group felt that in doing so it allowed for greater flexibility for schedules and telecommuting. Personally, I can relate to both perspectives. Having a BlackBerry allows for work-related travel while still keeping up with the 150-200 emails I might receive from co-workers and clients a day. This is great since there is nothing worse than returning after traveling for work to a bottomless inbox. However, it's also tempting to want to respond to email after hours, too. Every time my BlackBerry starts blinking after hours, I have to resist the inclination to open it up and deal with whatever messages are there, rather then let them pile up for the morning. I think the key is just being able to turn the thing off, though the cut off point is really up to your individual discretion, and the requirements of your job. Do you feel that having a BlackBerry (or comparable device) has eroded your boundaries? Update: 01/09/2008: Rae at BBGeeks posted an editorial after I "tweeted" a question: "Does your BlackBerry rule your life" and linked to this post. Her editorial here. 02/27/2008: Paul Kedrosky writes "I couldn't help but notice some bearded guy to Ben's (Bernanke) right who was a certifiable Crackberry addict. He was typing up a storm in his lap, showing incoming emails to other people, and generally out of control with email, and ignoring Big Ben." |
Tags: software project-management business
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Get Yourself Out There
February 11, 2008 at 2:30 pm by Chris
Brian Solis says that lack of comments means lack of influence, but I say don't expect a ton of comments unless you are approaching A-list (or even B-list) status. In fairness, Solis also says that "measuring the success of a blog based on the amount of comments is just lame," and I completely agree. In fact, according to Jakob Nielsen's study, 90% of online community users are lurkers, meaning they read but don't comment, while only 9% contribute a 'little' and 1% contribute actively. While this study is not specific to blog comment participation, it's likely that the principle is applicable though the numbers may have a "+ or -" factor. This means that the majority of your blog readers will probably not be commenting on your posts anytime soon.As is obvious to anyone who reads this blog, I don't get a ton of comments, so this isn't going to be one of those "I did it and so can you!" posts. Like Brian Solis says above, comments are not always going to be the best judge of the current success of a blog. However, there is always room for improvement, and as readership increases, so, too, should commenting. So, my blog has a way to go. There just is no magic wand to use to instantly get lots of traffic to your blog. There are ways to gradually increase the amount of activity on your blog, but to do it, you've got to get yourself out there. Establish Your Hub The first step is to give readers a way to find your blog. If you already have a website that gets some traffic, your blog can be integrated into your existing site's structure. If your blog is your online hub, you can use your profiles on various social networks to point readers your way (to learn more about this, see an earlier post titled Is that Really You?). Read Other Blogs to Stay Informed Next, you'll need to find and start reading other blogs that deal with the same topics that you deal with on your blog. Being familiar with the larger conversation is crucial to both gaining readers and being properly informed on those subjects that you plan to write about. Use a feed reader (we like Google Reader) to subscribe to the RSS feeds for these blogs and get into the habit of reading through your feeds daily. If you've come to the determination that blogging is important enough to your web strategy to actually create one, you'll also need to realize the importance for making time to read other blogs. Once you've done that, you'll probably find yourself asking how anyone could possibly keep up with the amount of information delivered via RSS to their computer every day. Here's how. Leave Comments, but don't spam. Finally, reading other blogs will help you stay informed, but it won't help you to get noticed. Remember, at this point, you're just lurking (not that there's anything wrong with that!). However, at some point you'll probably have something to add to the conversation that's happening in the comment threads of the blogs you're reading. That's a good thing, and you should do it. Most blogs allow you to add links to your comment, so if you have a blog post or webpage that is relevant to your comment, this is your chance to share it with the community. The more you participate by sharing insightful and valuable comments, the more you'll be able to share links without spamming the other readers of the blog. Participating in this way is crucial for developing recognized authority in regard to your area of expertise. (In the spirit of conversation, here's a link to a blog post which asks how bloggers interact with comments. The comments thread to the blog is a fairly good indication of people's varying opinions on how to interact with comment on their and others' blogs.) Then What? Once you're off and running, there are several other strategies you can employ to get a sense for how your blog is doing, including setting up an RSS feed for search results for your name or your company's name online. If your blog has become a significant part of your online strategy, being aware of your online reputation will become more and more important. It will also give you a chance to respond quickly to those blogs that have noticed and mentioned you (for positive or negative reasons). |
Tags: strategy software blogging google
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New York Times Blogs
February 8, 2008 at 3:10 pm by Chris| Does anyone else agree that the New York Times is totally on a roll with its blogs? Check them out here. |
Tags: design blogging
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The Week in Review
February 8, 2008 at 8:00 am by Chris
This post is a collection of things that caught my attention this week, most of which came to me via RSS feeds and blogs that I read myself. Now I'm passing them on to you (in the order in which I bookmarked them). Enjoy!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Read about a new website that will offer personalized search results based on the user's social network. Read this interview with Bill Gates in which he predicts that the Microsoft/Yahoo! merger will threaten Google. Read this article which wonders if we could find a door to a parallel universe. Is information warfare to blame for the damage to underwater internet cables that has interrupted internet service to millions of people in India and Egypt, or is it just a series of accidents? Read on ... Read more on the undersea cable-severing 'conspiracy.' Read about a fifth cable being severed, and how Iran is now offline... Read how Iran is actually still online... Read as Wired sets the record straight on the Cable Cut Conspiracy. Read this about the anchor evidence. Maybe this will stop the conspiracy theories? But, it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully Oliver Stone gets the memo... Check out these incredible origami pieces! Watch this video which imagines the city of 2057. Read about the Dot-com pioneers--where are they now? Read Jakob Nielsen's latest Alertbox column, which states, "Users now do basic operations with confidence and perform with skill on sites they use often. But when users try new sites, well-known usability problems still cause failures." Check out the 'Worst Building in the History of Mankind.' Read how Intel has revealed a new low-power processor for mobile devices. View some web graphics that bring a bird's eye view of celebrity presidential endorsements. See how a LEGO brick is made. Browse art made with Microsoft Office products at the 'Art of Office.' Listen to this interview with Richard Stallman on the OLPC. Watch the LEGO version of the Dark Knight trailer. Read as Andrew Revkin of the New York Times muses on 'The Endless Pursuit of Unnecessary Things'. Read how a recent survey shows that users worldwide think the internet is safer now than it was. Read about the possible construction of "a global-scale shared computer capable of hosting the entire Internet as an application. Read how reader comments on the TSA's new blog has actually led to changed policies. If you didn't think blogging was important before, perhaps you'll change your mind now... Read about '10 Sci-Fi Techs We Could Build If They Weren't So Damn Expensive.' Read about Microsoft's response to the Save XP petition. Read how a recent paper by the government's Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity group foresees virtual worlds becoming the perfect setting for espionage planning, money laundering, and other clandestine activities. Read about the new Facebook feature that “Suggests" friends. Read about the Facebook and MySpace image uploaders that appear to be vulnerable to attack. Read how Google has acknowledged in a conference call with analysts that they made less money serving up ads on social networks than they expected. Read about how the Large Hadron Collider could possibly create an underground time machine. Read more about the LHC time machine and how 2008 could be 'year zero' for future time travelers. Read how scientists have created a knee brace that converts the power of your leg muscles into the energy for your electronics. Read how the performance results were rated as 'mixed' in a PCWorld review of Vista Service Pack 1. Read PCWorld's 'Five Sci-Fi Scenarios That Will Come True.' |
Tags: technology strategy hardware week-in-review user-interface-design video web-development design audio social-media art privacy marketing software
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It's All About Skimming
February 7, 2008 at 11:00 am by Chris
Mark and I recently had a chat (of which you can read a transcript on his blog) about how anyone could possibly keep up with the amount of information delivered via RSS to our computers every day. Every day you gasp? How about every hour!? I mentioned to Mark that one of the most important skills to develop (I can't believe I'm calling this a skill, but...) is to be able to skim through that information well. Good skimming means that you can quickly scan an article and determine if its content is relevant to you, then either decide to read it more closely or file it away for future reference, and maybe even share it with a friend who will find it interesting while you're at it. If you can't skim well, you'll never keep up!Skimming might not be necessary if everyone blogged in the same manner. Think about it: if every blogger decided to post one substantial and high-quality post a week, readers would have more time to digest the information. We'd probably have to subscribe to fewer blogs in order to feel like we're keeping abreast of things, too. However, this is just not the reality. Ev |