I was watching the latest musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, in which one of the principal characters, Nyota Uhura, considers what her role is on the starship Enterprise. It’s a banger of a number and the actress Celia Rose Gooding kills it. It hit me right in the feels, not only because…
Category: Information Society
Letting Your Light Shine… on Instagram
Lately the numbers on my Instagram reels have just tanked. And if I can be honest, it doesn’t feel great. I assume there is some algorithm shenanigans going on. Which is fine, it’s their platform — that’s how they make their money. I’m more interested in unpacking how all of this feels as an online…
Jesus on Performative Activism
Jesus had a thing or two to say about performative activism. I’m not a Christian in the formal sense. But there’s a lot in this quote to think about. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your…
Hide Yourself to Be Yourself
Zoom has a feature called “Hide Self View” where you still show your camera to the people you are in a meeting with, but not see a live view of yourself. As I think about this, “Hide Self View” is ironically about showing MORE of your true self to others. With your own camera visible…
Alternatives to the Social Media Nightcap?
How do you wind down to get to sleep instead of social media surfing? Last night I came home from a lindy hop dance and started winding down to go to bed. It was a pretty good dance – I enjoyed a lot of the music, danced a bit, chatted with some friends. A fairly…
Tacos, Civil Discourse, and the Need for a More Human Communications Protocol
The other night I was was having dinner with a new friend in a dingy but comfortable Mexican restaurant in Oakland. Over veggie tacos, she was telling me about a project she was working on, one that she moved to the Bay Area specifically for. She recounted how much work had already gone into it,…
Two Week Review of the FitBit Surge: An Impressive, Affordable Fitness Tracking Smartwatch
I've had the new Fitbit Surge smartwatch for two weeks now and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it so far! Is it going to win any design awards? Probably not. But does it get the job done as an exercise tracker / smart watch? Absolutely. For those that don't know, the Surge…
Google Hangout Fail
Note to self: it is WAY TOO EASY to invite all of your 300+ Google+ contacts to a live Google Hangout from your living room. Particularly if it is 10:30pm and you are totally braindead. Yes, I am a digital media professional.
Learn about Biodiversity from the Khan Academy and Cal Academy!
I am super excited about this new digital learning partnership that the California Academy of Sciences has begun with the amazing Khan Academy. For those that don't know, the Khan Academy is an online school where millions of students learn everything from basic math to python programming to art history. All for free! The Cal Academy…
They Set Us Up the Bomb: Police Repression, Bomb Threats, & Digital Democracy in Ukraine
Today was so strange I don’t even know where to start. I’m in Ivano-Frankivsk, a small city in Western Ukraine, where I was brought by the US Embassy to lead some trainings in digital media for local NGOs. I’ve done a few of these technology trainings for civil society organizations around the world, and had…