Speakers in the News »

4/21/06
SARAH HEPOLA

Sarah Hepola

While the ease of personal publishing means that more than 75,000 new blogs are launched every day, some of the early adopters have decided it is time to take a break from this medium. Read "Why I Shut Down My Blog", an intriguing essay in Slate composed by New York-based writer Sarah Hepola: "Blogging had been the ideal run-up to a novel, but it had also become a major distraction. I would sit down to start on my novel only to come up with five different blog entries. I thought of them as a little something-something to whet the palate—because it was easier, more immediately satisfying, because I could write it, and post it, and people would say nice things about it, and I could go to bed feeling satisfied. But then I would wake feeling less than accomplished because a blog wasn't a whole story told from beginning to end. I had shelves lined with other people's prose while my best efforts were buried on a Web site somewhere, underneath a lot of blah-blah about American Idol and my kitty cat." Hepola moderated the "How to Add Video to Your Blog" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

11:36am CST | +

4/20/06
danah boyd

Sometimes open source information isn't everything that it is cracked up to be. To wit, read about the experience of being listed on the world's foremost user-generated encyclopedia, as reflected by danah boyd: "Back in July, Justin Hall created a Wikipedia entry for me. I found this very peculiar. I was also mildly intrigued by how i was described in such a setting. Since then, some of my colleagues have edited the entry and my advisors have taunted me continuously. The most that i could say was weird weird weird. . . .As the conversation progressed, people started editing my profile. While the earlier profile felt weird, the current profile is downright problematic. There are little mistakes (examples: my name is capitalized; there is an extra 'l' in my middle name; i was born in 1977; my blog is called Apophenia). There are other mistakes because mainstream media wrote something inaccurate and Wikipedia is unable to correct it (examples: i was on Epix not Compuserv and my mother didn't have an account; i was not associated with the people at Friendster; i didn't take the name Boyd immediately after Mattas and it didn't happen right after my mother's divorce; i didn't transfer to MIT - i went to grad school at the MIT Media Lab; i'm not a cultural anthropologist). Then there are also disconcerting framing issues - apparently my notability rests on my presence in mainstream media and i'm a cultural anthropologist because it said so on TV. Good grief. Why does mainstream media play such a significant role in the Wikipedia validation process? We know damn well that mainstream media is often wrong. In the midst of this, the reference to my fuzzy hat had to be removed because it couldn't be substantiated by the press and because i didn't wear it on O'Reilly. Of course i didn't wear it on Fox - i was trying to get across to parents, not be myself. As much as i don't think of the hat as core to my identity, i'm very well aware that others do. Hell, just last week, John Seely Brown decided to start his keynote wearing my hat, talking about how the hat is the source of all of my brilliance while i turned beet red and scrunched down in my seat. As embarrassing as that was, it's more embarrassing that Wikipedia is relying on Fox over JSB for authority.. . .Now, i love Wikipedia. But i think that there's something broken here. Personally, i would rather my entry been deleted than have this very inaccurate and media-centric entry written." A frequent speaker at the SXSW Interactive Festival, boyd moderating the "Designing for Global and Local Social Play" panel at the 2006 event.

10:39am CST | +

4/19/06
KATHY SIERRA

While the recently-announced policy from Robert Scoble that he will be moderating comments on his blog has drawn a fair amount of criticism and ribbing, others have praised the wisdom of this move. Kathy Sierra (pictured above) affirms the psychology behind Scoble's rationale that limiting negative comments will make him a better person. She writes on here blog, "When Robert says he wants to spend time hanging around 'happy people' and keeping his distance from 'deeply unhappy' people, he's keeping his brain from making--over the long term--negative structural and chemical change . . . The notion of 'Happy People' was tossed around in the Robert-Lost-His-Mind posts as something ridiculous at best, dangerous at worst. One blogger equated 'happy people' with 'vacuous.' The idea seems to be that 'happy people' implies those who are oblivious to the realities of life, in a fantasy of their own creation, and without the ability to think critically. The science, however, suggests just the opposite." The author of several books including "Head First Design Patterns", Sierra led the "How to Create Passionate Users" presentation at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:42am CST | +

4/18/06
PETER MERHOLZ

Peter Merholz

Now that you know how to start a new media business (see essays by Dirk Knemeyer below), you need a location to house your office. How about South Park in the Bay Area, which seems to be the heart of the Web 2.0 surge. This area is no stranger to the Internet economy, as it hosted many of the dotcom companies of a decade ago before falling victim to the dotcom bust. Recalls Peter Merholz (pictured above) of Adaptive Path in a post on his blog: "You couldn't work in the web industry in the second half of the 90s and not find yourself there at least some of the time. While my first job back in San Francisco was way over on 7th and Townsend (to those not familiar with SF: that's a joke -- it's about 5 blocks away, though they *are* big blocks), I hung out with friends from Wired, Vivid, Organic. My next job was with Phoenix-Pop, a web design and development agency headquartered at 512 Second Street. . . . In 2000, South Park was a great strange place. On a sunny day, the entire park would be covered at lunch with eaters. Only two years later, it resembled a ghost town . . . Adaptive Path has been in South Park for over a year and a half. In that time, we've seen parking prices nearly double. We've seen the lines at the burrito place snake down the street. We've seen many of our friends' businesses move into the neighborhood. It's an exciting and uncertain time (exciting, probably, because it is uncertain). The park itself is still a jewel. I have trouble thinking of places I'd rather dine on a nice day. Watching the dogs play. Running into friends. It's remarkable how it's held on through thick and thin." Speaking of new media businesses, Merholz led the "What's Hot in Web Applications" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:12am CST | +

4/17/06
DIRK KNEMEYER

Don't miss the latest article by Dirk Knemeyer for Digital Web Magazine, titled "Building Your Own Start-up Technology Company, Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts." In this second installment, Knemeyer discusses some of the important business details that are often ignored by creatives: "Most design professionals have not cultivated financial administration and management skills, since they don’t engender much interest and excitement. But managing the cash going in and out, keeping good books, and planning ahead are the foundation of all successful businesses. You need to take it seriously and pay close attention to these issues right from the start." Kneymeyer lead the "Building a Start-Up Technology Company" panel at the 2006 Interactive Festival.