Hello there lovely people. It's been a few weeks since I last sent out a tinyletter. Hopefully we'll get back into a cadence for 2018. But I'm promising nothing.
If you only read one thing make it this:
https://www.mercatus.org/commentary/my-personal-moonshot
It's short - and I highly recommend it. It speaks to me because:
Networked writing is an unfair advantage.
(or, said another way - In the land of hierarchy, the networked individual is king).
There's an article by Venkatesh Rao called the Calculus of Grit which follows up on this idea. I tie it all together in this post: In the land of hierarchy, the networked individual is king.
The punchline is this:
"This might ultimately be the measure of the networked individual - to what extent do you populate ideas in the network? how easy is it to address and link these ideas together? and how often do you rework them and revisit them on the internet github/blockchain consciousness?"
Food for thought.
For the blog-nerds out there I'm also curious about how the medium shapes the way we write. RSS, wordpress, Google Docs, commenting, twitter. These mediums shape the message (McLuhan!). So how might these mediums evolve? How might *we* evolve them? I posted some idea-starters in this piece: experiments in networked writing.
Ultimately of course it's all just one big disappointment that we can't write everything in Google Docs. (Know anyone who blogs and publishes in Google Docs? I'd love to see that.)
In other, networked-living-news, the podcast I started with Sean - The Malcontents - is up to 4 episodes. Listen here:
If you only read one thing make it this:
https://www.mercatus.org/commentary/my-personal-moonshot
It's short - and I highly recommend it. It speaks to me because:
Networked writing is an unfair advantage.
(or, said another way - In the land of hierarchy, the networked individual is king).
There's an article by Venkatesh Rao called the Calculus of Grit which follows up on this idea. I tie it all together in this post: In the land of hierarchy, the networked individual is king.
The punchline is this:
"This might ultimately be the measure of the networked individual - to what extent do you populate ideas in the network? how easy is it to address and link these ideas together? and how often do you rework them and revisit them on the internet github/blockchain consciousness?"
Food for thought.
For the blog-nerds out there I'm also curious about how the medium shapes the way we write. RSS, wordpress, Google Docs, commenting, twitter. These mediums shape the message (McLuhan!). So how might these mediums evolve? How might *we* evolve them? I posted some idea-starters in this piece: experiments in networked writing.
Ultimately of course it's all just one big disappointment that we can't write everything in Google Docs. (Know anyone who blogs and publishes in Google Docs? I'd love to see that.)
In other, networked-living-news, the podcast I started with Sean - The Malcontents - is up to 4 episodes. Listen here:
What are you all up to? Has anyone found a way to talk about content without using the word content yet? Answers on a postcard please.
Till next time. Much love x
Need more? Here’s some things I’ve enjoyed reading recently:
- The blockchain man (ribbonfarm.com) - not actually about the blockchain but rather about the new world of work. Essential reading for those contemplating the on-demand economy.
- In Praise of Theory in Design Research: How Levi-Strauss Redefined Workflow (epicpeople.org) - a lovely little case study on using "theory" can drive real change (ideas are powerful huh!)
- Boat stories (ribbonfarm.com) - mind blowing stuff from Venkatesh as always. Come for the theories of fiction, stay for the line "To blog you need to move. You need to sail in the Zeitgeist Sea to where the memefish are biting"
You just read issue #13 of Tom Critchlow. You can also browse the full archives of this newsletter.
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