Let me try out a theory on you. Not sure if it makes any sense, I'm one of those people that needs to write what I think, (and then discuss it with you), in order to get things straight in my head. And this NYTimes paywall thing is really bugging me.Physical things that exist as single-use conduits of information (paper books, paper newspapers, paper magazines) and physical places that are ...

Towards the end of Steve Dublanica's hilarious and information filled Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity, the author provides a list of people known as "bad tippers". To my chagrin, both academics and information technology workers made the list. Does this mean that academic technology are the worst tippers on the planet? One thing that I am sure of ...

When will you pay for digital content? If you are in the information business, and education is an information business, it probably makes sense to spend some time thinking about this question. I just answered that question for myself, giving Audible (really Amazon), $229.50 of my money in exchange for 25 audiobook credits (works out to $9.18 a book).So I'm willing to give Amazon (Audible) ...

I am lame at Twitter.The Twitter EDU world is divided into (at least) 3 categories:Awesome Twitter People: People like Eric Stoller (see below) who authentically leverage Twitter as a new medium for communication, collaboration, and community.Lame Twitter People: Folks like me. We use the tool badly, don't take advantage of Twitter's ability to forge new connections and provide real time ...

Would Unfamiliar Fishes be assigned to read in a history course?Would Sarah Vowell by hired as a history professor?Probably no on both counts, and that makes me a little sad.Sarah Vowell writes great history books. Unfamiliar Fishes traces the long-term results for the Hawaiian people, and monarchy, of the decision of a few New England evangelists to move to the archipelago in the early 19th ...

I read somewhere a few years ago (maybe in Pink's Free Agent Nation, maybe somewhere else), that many jobs would soon resemble movie industry jobs. None of us would work for a single employer. Just as the studio system is dead in Hollywood (except perhaps at Disney), the time when actors and directors worked for a salary and made the movies the studio bosses chose, soon the "salary model" would ...

People who work with information, folks like you and me, are constantly in danger of becoming obsessed with jobs that involve working with things. The reason I love chef books is that the job seems so tangible. You work with your hands and your brain to create something, a product that can be tasted.Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton, ...

Jeff Bezos loves the NYTimes paywall.Here is what Amazon will do:1. Create the Amazon Book Review Section:Starting March 28th, the NYTimes Book Review will loose some of its power to drive (or destroy) new book sales. This is an opportunity for Amazon. Today I go to the Book section of the NYTimes to decide if I should invest my time and money in a new book (which I will then purchase as an ...

Full disclosure - I am an ECHO customer. We installed Echo360 to as a presentation capture system for the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program in which I work on. The reason we chose Echo360 for our new blended program was that: a) we liked the appliance based model (reliability, security etc.), b) we liked the Echo360 player and the ability to create and publish multiple file types to ...

Warning. If you read My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe as audiobook, and listen while walking across campus, you will inevitably end up looking like a crazy person as you break out into uncontrollable laughter just as a tour of prospective students and their parents passes you on the green. I'm just saying.Other Dangers of Reading My Korean Deli:If you buy ...