Google’s preview of its upcoming communications megatool — Google Wave — is yet another indicator of an emerging metaphor for life and work online. I’ve already touched on lifestreams — aggregations of all of your social networking communications in one flowing stream. Anyone using Twitter and its brethren can share the ever-flowing river metaphors that […]
Archives for May 2009
Data, data, everywhere
Research and statistic wonks have reason to celebrate as more source data and visualization/analysis tools make their way onto the web. And if dabbling in databases isn’t your particular cup of tea, it might be time to take little sip anyway. Fans of government data sets (you know who you are) can celebrate the Obama […]
The corporation as shape-shifter
We tend to think of corporations and organizations as having a fixed and defined boundary around them — people inside are staff, people outside are constituents, objects inside are property or assets, objects outside are resources or potential inputs. Yet this metaphor has always been more of a convenience than a fact. Consider the nonprofit […]
Towards an artistic theory of everything
Author, educator, and consultant Eric Booth has grown weary of the disconnects and bickering within the many fields of art — by discipline, by professional level, by community, by distribution channel, by artistic intent. So, in this compelling essay, he suggests a renewed emphasis on the common core of artistic endeavor — the ‘grand unifying […]
The minimal web site
I wondered out loud last week (on Twitter, anyway) about our increasing efforts in arts organizations to add more and more internal functions to our web sites. Calendars, blogs, news banners, rotating content, special interactive features all have their lure for our visitors and potential visitors, but they also create an increasing drag on our […]
Is dynamic pricing in your future?
If you book a lot of flights, you know the oddities of airline pricing — where a round trip can be one price on one day, and then either half or double that price the next. Such is the world of dynamic pricing, where high-volume sellers work to charge what the market will bear while […]
The TED Commandments
I’ve often expressed my admiration for the TED conference keynotes — 20-minute nuggets of insight, humor, provocation, and revelation by really smart and engaging people. A perfect fit for my bus ride home. So, I’m thrilled that the ground rules behind those great presentations are available on-line. Tim Longhurst (via Garr Reynolds) offers a transcription […]
Operas captured in 140 characters (or less)
After diving into Twitter last month, one of my happiest discoveries was #operaplot, a competition (launched by this brilliant individual) to summarize opera plots within the confines of Twitter’s 140-character limit — massive, epic narratives constrained to absurdly small dimensions. The contest had basic rules, fabulous prizes donated by web-eager opera companies around the world, […]
On Facebook and mortality
NPR had a fascinating segment on the challenge of on-line identities when the originator dies. Who owns your Facebook page, your LinkedIn profile, your Google mail account, your Twitter feed, your Flickr photos, your YouTube videos, and all the other remnants of your virtual life when your actual life has ended? I’m honestly not sure […]
Assessing Lincoln Center
Anthony Tommasini offers a 50-year assessment of Lincoln Center in the New York Times that’s worth a read, especially if your town is planning a major multi-venue cultural facility. Although, Tommasini may have missed the recent and continuing developments across the country built upon its model: Yet if a sprawling performing-arts complex like Lincoln Center […]