Everything is dead

August 18, 2010


Did you hear the one about when a magazine that makes a living talking about technology and the Web told us all that the Web was dead?

The Web. It’s dead.

Let’s review.

Chivalry is dead. The Queen is dead. Microsoft Kin is dead. Duke Nukem Forever is dead. Michael Jackson is dead. Bill Cosby is dead.

Print is dead. The 30-second spot is dead. Blogs are dead. The record industry is dead (though, surprisingly, analog and vinyl are not). Sitcoms are dead.

Paul is dead.

God is dead.

And now the Web.

We’ll look beyond the argument that, while stand-alone apps and smartphones are rising in popularity, the simple fact is that most apps still depend on Web content and a not-so-small degree of Web promotion to become successful. We’ll also look past the example, which positions a tech-savvy media consumer lucky enough to own an iPad as some kind of technological standard, as if a vast majority of people are suddenly rising to the upper income brackets, running around and buying Apple products and downloading apps as if their status depended upon it.

Instead, we’ll just bask in the cheap journalistic practice of stating [SOMETHING] IS DEAD!, a surefire way to deliver easy traffic, draw considerable ire, and make baseless predictions using flawed data and a minor timeframe.

Because, in the eyes of the claimants, who are we to question?

These headlines are cheap. And so are the stories. The only solace we have is that, five years from now, we’ll be able to look back at this article and laugh at its misguided bluster. That is, if we even remember it – the hidden strength behind these boisterous obituaries is that, five years from now, no one will ever remember.

Listen, Wired may have a point.

But a point isn’t enough to lay claim to predicting a medium’s demise. (One they’ve admittedly already made, 13 years earlier.)

It is, however, enough to throw a hail mary article into the abyss of the magazine industry’s dwindling readers – of which I’m one – in a desperate attempt to regain a little relevancy.

Journalism is dead. Long live journalism.

Tags: Annoyances, Blogging, Journalism, On..., Technology |

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What I’ve Been Reading – HTML5 for Web Designers

August 16, 2010


What I’ve Read:
HTML5 for Web Designers by Jeremy Keith

There’s an underlying belief throughout the non-tech-savvy that computer and Web programmers are a secluded, arrogant group; fiercely loyal to their language, looking out for themselves, unable to share their findings lest they make themselves obsolete. It’s this belief that leads us to stop trusting our company’s IT department and automatically mistrust the kid Web developer signed on to work our church Web sites.

It’s not necessarily true.

In my experience, Web developers aren’t maniacally protective of their knowledge, but simply frustrated that no one else is bothering to commiserate. When you show up with the ultimate in ignorance – like asking a CSS expert to help you get rid of spyware, or expecting a .Net developer to automatically help you purchase a digital SLR camera – you’re not facing arrogance.

You’re facing exhaustion. That expert? He or she is simply tired of being misunderstood.

If there’s one thing I’ve discovered over the past two months in Web development, it’s that Web developers want to talk about Web development. They want to share their secrets, often to the point that your eyes glaze over.

Ask a pointed question, though, and you’ll discover something even greater: the Web developer’s desire to spread knowledge. Which brings us to A List Apart’s first publication, HTML5 for Web Designers – a short and easy to digest primer on the changes being made through HTML’s newest iteration.

As a Web guy whose exposure to HTML and CSS has come exclusively from the routine hacking of free WordPress templates, HTML5 for Web Designers dives into the subject at my level – highlighting the changes and features of code that could change how the Web is organized and developed. Even better, it does so in a way that’s akin to the “spreading the gospel” model of Web talk – 100% devoted to letting the reader understand the code.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not going to make my mom understand Web development.

That being understood, it’s a wonderful look inside the mind of a development evangelist; Keith’s knowledge takes a 900-page slog of a standards guide and boils it down to the 80-some pages you’ll actually need to read.

Because, you see, developers don’t aim to make people feel dumb. At least, not as long as we’re willing to listen and make a concerted effort to understand.

It’s our inability to grasp the nuances of technology that’ll take care of that for us.

Tags: Books, Career, Journalism, Literature, Technology, What I've Been Reading |

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Reciprocation

July 28, 2010


I don’t believe in reciprocation for reciprocation’s sake.

If you follow me on Twitter or Flickr, I won’t follow back. Unless I want to. Likewise, I fully understand that, if I follow someone I admire on Twitter, I shouldn’t expect them to reciprocate – especially if they have no idea who I am.

Yeah. We went to school together. But it doesn’t mean I am required to answer your Facebook request.

I’m sorry to have to say this out loud, but I thought the idea of reciprocation was clear: if what you are giving to me is worth repaying, I will repay it. Otherwise, please do not assume I have enough time in my life to follow, link and friend every person I’ve ever come in contact with.

Do you guys remember when blogrolls were a big deal? There were two ways of making it onto someone’s blogroll.

  1. Write or curate a blog that’s worth reading.
  2. Add the blogroll’s site to YOUR blogroll, then hint that, since YOU have blogrolled THEM, THEY should reciprocate.

Number two? That’s a passive aggressive form of assumed reciprocation, and it used to run rampant. Even little ol’ Black Marks on Wood Pulp fell victim to the constant haranguing of blogroll link collectors.

Then, there’s the “I’ll follow you if you follow me” form of assumed reciprocation (let’s call it what it really is: RANSOM) that forces a disingenuous and false sense of shared admiration. And, it puts the recipient in an awkward spot.

These things occur without regard to my preferences on recommendations or relationships. I simply may not have time to offer correspondence. Or, I may be impossibly strict on who I offer praise and recommendation. But now I’ve been pigeonholed. I can ignore and be labeled as a jerk. Or I can accept and undermine my principles.

I don’t like that.

So, if you want to go ahead and recommend me, or follow me, or offer me some kind of praise, or make my life better, you need to go ahead and do it.

Just, please, don’t expect anything in return.

Tags: Annoyances, Friends, Technology |

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Autocomplete and a loss of confidence

July 14, 2010


While dorking out and reading Morville & Callender’s Search Patterns, I came across this sentence:

“A few years ago, results were the only reply. Our goal was a subsecond response. Now, with autocomplete and autosuggest, the results may precede the query.”

From Search Patterns - Peter Morville & Jeffery Callender

This is space-aged, mind reading insanity, if you ask me. AWESOME insanity, but insanity all the same.

Think about it. Through the power of logarithms and the invention of autocomplete, computers – unthinking, non-human computers, completely dependent upon input entered by real humans who can think and reason and instinctively make cross-subject associations – are giving us suggestions as to what we might want BEFORE WE EVEN FINISH telling them what we might want.

I’m not going to go into the technology behind logarithmic search results and prediction, because I’m certainly not smart enough to understand it and, let’s face it, we’re so used to this kind of thing that we’re surprised it doesn’t happen more.

I’m just saying we should stand back a few steps and realized what we’ve created: an alternate form of memory that remembers things we often can’t remember on our own. We depend on things like search and autocomplete and autosuggest to fill in the spaces between our mind’s memories and the concepts we are aware of but can’t find time to memorize.

And this dependence upon autocomplete may be leading to a lack of confidence when applying memory to non-autocomplete sectors. Like, you know, MOST OF REGULAR LIFE.

We use autocomplete and autosuggest to get “sort of close” to our targets, accepting that Google will bridge the gap. We no longer need to spell things correctly. (Another auto – “auto spellcheck” – is guilty here.) And when we’re forced to find answers without autocomplete, we find ourselves slowing down. There’s no confidence in our answer. We’re lost without a back-up.

There’s no answer to this problem, either. Autocomplete and autosuggest are saviors in an era of overstimulated information feeds. Our minds are simply too occupied to remember everything, and – thankfully – we don’t have to anymore.

Thankfully. And cautiously.

We don’t really know what we’re forgetting until we’re given a chance to forget it all over again.

Tags: Technology |

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Go ahead – kick us while we’re down

July 12, 2010


The NBA Game Time Courside app looks fantastic. I’m already excited for the season to begin, and I’d be lying if I said part of it wasn’t because I want to see this app in action.

But, you guys, come on. Can’t we throw an off-season placeholder up there until the season begins?

Do we have to be reminded of this game?

That’s cold, man.

You’ve got to change it. Celtics Nation implores you.

Tags: Basketball, Boston Celtics, Sports, Technology |

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On holding the Internet

July 11, 2010


Some initial thoughts on the iPad, several months after my initial thoughts could possibly be relevant.

This isn’t a gadget. This isn’t a trifle – it’s not a thing you just have, like Flip video cameras and iPod Shuffles have become. This isn’t a piece of trivia.

Most of all, this isn’t a laptop, where the Internet is simply a function of a larger machine, as equal in processing power as the calculator or word processor or camera. This is – and I’m being almost literal, here – the physical manifestation of the Internet itself. Sure, you can pull a few offline productivity type programs into the mix, but the iPad’s importance is tied directly to its ability to condense and simplify the Internet experience, offering such a direct pipeline to information and entertainment that the pipeline itself becomes transparent.

If you could actually hold the Internet – if the Internet were a physical, tangible thing – you’d probably be holding something pretty close to the iPad.

Seriously. It’s smooth. Real smooth.

All that hype? It’s real, you guys.

Tags: On..., Technology |

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Seek. Meet. Learn. (Repeat.)

May 18, 2010


You don’t know everything. I don’t know everything. No one alive knows everything.

Change “everything” to “everything in your chosen field” and it still won’t be true. Change it even further, to “as much as you need to know” and now you’re just fooling yourself.

It’s true that you know something. I know something. Everyone knows something. We all know different amounts of something – some are experts on one kind of something, and you might have a solid grasp on another kind of something.

But, when it comes down to it, we don’t know the same somethings.

This is where the greatest potential lies: in swapping somethings and gaining a more complete picture of the things that make up our world.

Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before

When we encounter people with a vast amount of knowledge, we ultimately have three choices: we can compete, we can defer, or we can learn.

Competition comes from arrogance and shows an unwillingness to grow. Deference is steeped in anxiety and a fear of being seen as stupid or dull or unskilled.

Learning is humble. It makes us better, while simultaneously giving a little dap to the person we see as the teacher. It builds relationships. Oh, man – there’s that word. Relationships.

Relationships, people. We’re not talking social media 2.0 synergy blah blah, but real relationships – built upon common interests, tied together by respect, unconcerned about whether you’re properly networking or if this is just a waste of time cuz you’ll never get funding from this sap without twisting the knife.

Nope. We’re talking real relationships. The ones without an agenda. The ones that benefit both sides.

Ask Stupid Questions

It doesn’t have to be all career-oriented and serious. It can be just an informal chat on something you’re interested in.

I don’t know as much about radio (or plants for that matter) as Ted from Rock Garden Tour, but I had a blast talking to him the other day about radio and plants and the art therein. I don’t know as much about indie rock as Scott, but that didn’t stop me from trying to follow along as he rattled off a billion bands I’d never heard of after recording The Ledge. I ask the photographers I admire about photography. I pushed into the world of Web and UX with expert knowledge and direction from one person who will become my boss in a few weeks and another who I only know through the Internet.

I’ve learned from all of them by asking stupid questions.

That’s. How. You. Do. It.

I won’t deny it. I’ve been that Competition guy. And I’ve been that Deference guy. I didn’t want to look stupid so I didn’t want to talk to people who were smarter than I was and in the event I did – watch out! – I tried to outdo them.

I’m willing to bet that you’ve been there too. Or maybe you’re still there.

It’s not easy to break out of those habits. To talk to people. To glean knowledge, not force it. But if I’ve learned one thing in the past decade, it’s this:

Stop trying to KNOW. Start trying to LEARN.

The Moral

Seek out the people you admire. Offer to buy them lunch or a beer or a pack or basketball cards or whatever it is that gets them excited and just talk to them about whatever they’re passionate about. Ask questions, but mostly just listen.

You’ll get more. They’ll get more.

Everyone wins.

Tags: Career, On..., Technology |

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