David lafontaine's
Sips from the firehose
A site that attempts to render the internet down into one easy-to consume mental beverage.
Wearable Media: T-Shirts, Hats & Wristbands
Video Everywhere Comes to Our Clothing I guess it was inevitable. Back in the 80s, hip designers realized that consumers were willing to become walking billboards for their product logos, all for the sweet, sweet tradeoff of being able to flaunt our ability to buy...
“Filter Bubbles” and the Raison d’Etre for This Here Blog
The contradictory voices are there. They are presented by voices that mock & disagree with them – in much the same way that newspaper editors, radio hosts and TV anchors did back in the pure human filtration days – but the voices and bits of information are there.
I do agree that there is a serious problem in our society today that a large segment is seemingly living in its own reality, with its own set of facts an interpretations. But this has been true before in our history as well (See: Davis, Jefferson et al.). But this problem predates the web, and is attributable more to talk radio and the removal of the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time than anything else … and to the failure of the American educational system to produce large swathes of the citizenry capable of critical thinking.
4.8 Zettabytes of Content -or- Why We’re Really REALLY Gonna Need Good Filters
One of my oft-repeated memes for my trainees - and, not coincidentally, the reason behind the very name of this blog - is that as we move further into these uncharted digital waters, what we need more than more information is better filters for the ever-increasing...
Real-Time Coverage of Nerve Gas Rumors (via Storify)
Once again, I'm using the social media-aggregation tool Storify to work up a story using the Twitter feeds of reporters & protesters on the scene. This time, it's in Tahrir Square, where the confrontations between the police and the citizens (fed up with the...
Video of Rare Sei Whales Off Dana Point
I've lived in the LA area for more than 20 years now (gulp!), and this is the first time I've ever actually gone out on a whale-watching cruise. The impetus for this trip was a visit from my Tennessee-based sister, who wanted to go out on the water. Since it's...
Wrongheaded Solutions: eBooks (… on a little plastic card to be inserted in the e-reader)
Norwegian company Norli Libris introduces nonsensical "eBook" publishing model Quick Hit: Saw this on BoingBoing, followed it over to Applied Abstractions, and just couldn't resist commenting on it, for 1) the benefit of my international students, who might wonder...