Today I think I’ll share a few email excerpts to illustrate some of the more annoying aspects of my job, each of which involves public school district IT Departments acting in ways that are (in my very partial and partially-informed estimation) either a) lazy, b) incompetent, c) draconian or d) all of the above. If I come across as a curmudgeon in the process, it’s because I am. Still, it’s important to note at the…
Why I’m (Probably) Deleting My FaceBook Acount
Mecha-Zuck ruthlessly semantifies your profile By now, everyone has heard about the latest round of FaceBook updates. Without a doubt, some of the changes are really cool and lots of folks will love the way that certain websites will seamlessly adapt their content to suit their tastes and preferences (based on FaceBook profile information). After all, who doesn’t want more relevance on the web? We can also expect just about every major content provider to…
Why We Blog? Time. Community. Hubris.
Recently, I had a conversation about blogging with my partner, who is a Montessori teacher. Often times as we share a ride home from work, she will discuss some aspect of her work day that leaves me impressed with her knowledge and insight about teaching and child development. More than once, I have suggested to her that she start a blog to share that knowledge and more than once she has shot down the idea,…
A Sililoquy on the Cassette Tape and other Analog Wonders
Yes, I know it’s 2010 (pronounced “twenty-ten”), and I know that nostalgia for the analog age is a 30-something cliche, and I know the cassette has become a sickening node of ironic culture. But for just a few minutes, I ask you to set aside your pernicious Family Guy-inspired liking for hackneyed 80s references to consider the cassette as it should be understood: as a lost assertion of our basic rights, a technological and social…
The Spectacle, the Social Web and You
“The only historically justified tactic is extremist innovation” – Debord & Wolman, A User’s Guide to Détournement (1956) I’ve been thinking about the Situationists for about a decade now, after learning of Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle in some Propagandhi liner notes (I think) about a decade ago. Sadly, after all that time, I’ve developed no great insights as to what the hell they were talking about. I mean, I get the gist if…
