The industrial scale of todays technology causes tech to become alienated from the very users they are supposed to serve. (Never mind that we should be talking about People, not "Users").
Code Next Opens in Oakland, creating diversity through Constructionism
1 min read
Code Next Opens in Oakland, creating diversity through Constructionism
"From a design point of view it is a truly unique experience that very much leans on an educational theory known as constructionism. This codified curriculum will soon be available to the entire world as an open source."
Code Next Opens in Oakland, creating diversity through Constructionism
1 min read
"From a design point of view it is a truly unique experience that very much leans on an educational theory known as constructionism. This codified curriculum will soon be available to the entire world as an open source."
I love how this succinctly captures the values I hold dear.
1 min read
I love how this succinctly captures the values I hold dear. Delightful design based on open principles with recognition of human effort. I have a copy printed out at my desk.
Ethical Design Manifesto
1 min read
I love how this succinctly captures the values I hold dear. Delightful design based on open principles with recognition of human effort. I have a copy printed out at my desk.
Reading this passage from Ready Player One I was reminded of a major influence that I had all but forgotten:
2 min read
Reading this passage from Ready Player One I was reminded of a major influence that I had all but forgotten:
""It was a Friday night, and I was spending another solitary evening doing research, working my way through every episode of Whiz Kids , an early-’80s TV show about a teenage hacker who uses his computer skills to solve mysteries. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, Chapter 18.""
So I was prepared when I was recently asked "What brought you here?" (in relation to technology). My answer? ... The Whiz Kids. I can directly trace my interest in online services to that white-hat hacking, war dialing, speech synthesizing, BASIC programming gang of kids2. I can only hope that today's teens have something as good or better.
Trying to find the video also made me realize that Youtube is providing a vital preservation service. You see the Whiz Kids episodes were never released, not on DVD, not even on VHS. You won't find them in any library. Anywhere. But there it is, in 10 minutes chunks3, captured and uploaded off a grainy, noisy videotape recording.
Cultural Artifacts, preserved... for now.
The Whiz Kids - Tech Role Models of the 80s
2 min read
Reading this passage from Ready Player One1 I was reminded of a major influence that I had all but forgotten:
It was a Friday night, and I was spending another solitary evening doing research, working my way through every episode of Whiz Kids , an early-’80s TV show about a teenage hacker who uses his computer skills to solve mysteries. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, Chapter 18.
So I was prepared when I was recently asked "What brought you here?" (in relation to technology). My answer? ... The Whiz Kids. I can directly trace my interest in online services to that white-hat hacking, war dialing, speech synthesizing, BASIC programming gang of kids2. I can only hope that today's teens have something as good or better.
Trying to find the video also made me realize that Youtube is providing a vital preservation service. You see the Whiz Kids episodes were never released, not on DVD, not even on VHS. You won't find them in any library. Anywhere. But there it is, in 10 minutes chunks3, captured and uploaded off a grainy, noisy videotape recording.
Cultural Artifacts, preserved... for now.
- RP1, soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg.
- It was also probably the first time I ever heard about the NSA ("No one knows if they even exist")
- Here's a full Full Playlist
A reminder from Vint Cerf about the importance of digital preservation
1 min read
A reminder from Vint Cerf about the importance of digital preservation
It seems inescapable that our society will need to find its own formula for underwriting the cost of preserving knowledge in media that will have some permanence. - vinton cerf - We're Going Backward
I've seen this firsthand. Albums from some lesser known bands I listened to in the 90s are not available in digital format. When the CDs finally bit rot the music will be gone forever unless someone rips and uploads them. Some content never made the jump from VHS, also at risk of loss when the tapes degrade.
Support the Internet Archive and other efforts if you value this. Also work towards a future self-archiving decentralized web where content can live beyond the data silos they currently occupy.