Liminal states
type: channel
description: embracing apparent contradictions, diversity and change
date: 2022-10-03T04:45:20Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: “Diversity-Friendly Software”: a SXSW proposal!
items: Sarah Jeong on Online Trolling and Harassment
items: Notes from Underground: Tribal Convergence (New Year’s Weekend 2015/2016)
items: DRAFT: Women writing about technology: a reading list for the new year
items: Galactic: New Year’s Eve 2013/2014 at the Atrium
items: Restore the Fourth: Grassroots civil liberties activism is back and better than ever!
items: Happy Birthday Get FISA Right: Looking forward to what comes next!
items: TSA Comments due *Monday*, 11:59 p.m. Eastern
items: Day of Action, Monday, June 17: Tell the TSA to End Nude Body Scanners
items: Tell the TSA what you think about nude body scanners!
items: A Rainbow of Light: Replenishing at the Atrium
items: Notes from Underground: The Dark Before the Dawn
items: Anti-TSA video goes viral!
items: A tidal wave in progress? I â™¥ Innovation at the Women 2.0 PITCH Conference
items: Notes from Underground: Digging Out
items: Blog for Choice Day: What will *you* do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?
items: Quite a contrast, which seems like a good thing to me: New Year’s Eve 2011/2012
items: Happy f—ing Bill of Rights Day
items: Notes from Underground: Eclipse
items: Be an ally, not a hater (part 3 of “A Crucial Time for Diaspora *”)
items: Notes from Underground: NanoEvolution
items: Notes from Underground: IllumiNation, Travelling, and Transition II
items: Road trip! Bringing the #privchat community to Diaspora *
items: Temporarily disabling comments …
items: Time for a break
items: Protected: Sneak Preview (DRAFT)
items: In chaos there is opportunity (part 11 of Diversity and Google+)
items: Notes from Underground: Equinox+One and Solitude
items: The Trend is in the Wrong Direction: Reflections on the Field Trial (part 10 of Diversity and Google+)
items: Talk about a hostile environment (part 9 of Google+ and Diversity)

“Diversity-Friendly Software”: a SXSW proposal!
type: item
date: 2016-08-24T21:58:28Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: Originally posted on the TapestryMaker blog Update, October 10: the proposal was accepted. Yay!Â And, thanks! SXSW’s “Panel Picker” opened for voting today, so it’s a golden opportunity to check out the session Shireen Mitchell and I proposed on “Diversity-friendly software“. Â Voting counts for 30% of the score on a proposal, so if you’re interested […]
encoded: Originally posted on the TapestryMaker blog Update, October 10: the proposal was accepted. Yay!Â And, thanks! SXSW’s “Panel Picker” opened for voting today, so it’s a golden opportunity to check out the session Shireen Mitchell and I proposed on “Diversity-friendly software“. Â Voting counts for 30% of the score on a proposal, so if you’re interested please vote for it – and pass it along! Here’s the description: Itâ€ s time for software to embrace differences (not just tolerate them), and see diversity as a strength. Most software today works best for people like the teams that create it, and embeds biases against women, African-Americans, Latinxs, LGBTAIQs, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups – and it’s even worse at the intersections. So the industry is primed for change. This session discusses current examples, “best practicesâ€ that teams can immediately leverage, and emerging ideas from projects that have focused heavily on diversity. We also discuss the challenges and how to overcome them – and chart a path to the future. And here’s a short video I did with some more information

Sarah Jeong on Online Trolling and Harassment
type: item
date: 2016-06-18T17:27:48Z
creator: jon
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: blocking
subject: harassment
subject: muting
subject: trolls
description: Notes from an Ars Technica Live discussion with Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Fariva
encoded: What to do on a Wednesday night in San Francisco?Â BART over to the Longitude tiki bar in Oakland, of course, for a discussion with Ars editors Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar and journalist Sarah Jeong (author of “The Internet of Garbageâ€) about online trolling and harassment!Â I had just been working on a wiki page with a handful of links about muting, blocking, and tools for people to protect themselves online as reference material for next weekâ€ s presentation on Supporting diversity with a new approach to software, so the lively discussion was particularly timely The discussion covered a lot of ground, and itâ€ s certainly worth checking out. Here’s the summary on Ars’ site, and I’ve got the full video below. In this post Iâ€ ll focus on the topic of technical approaches that can help with harassment — although as Sarah pointed out, none of these are full “solutionsâ€. Â Still, incremental steps help, and combining enough of them could make a real impact. Sarah gave a couple of examples of technologies that help: shared block lists on Twitter, and Riot Gamesâ€ use of impromptu “juriesâ€ of other players when somebody is reported for violating League of Legendsâ€ code of conduct. Both of these innovations are forms of crowdsourced moderation: rather than having the site watch and control everything, they distribute the responsibility (and the workload). And both have had a positive, albeit limited, impact. Shared block lists on Twitter are particularly interesting in that the initial implementations (BlockBot, flamin.ga, and Block Together) came from the community, rather than Twitter. Harassment and abuse has been a problem on Twitter for quite a while, and the companyâ€ s attempts to deal with it have often missed the mark — see for example Leigh Honeywellâ€ s Another Six Weeks: Muting vs. Blocking and the Wolf Whistles of the Internet, describing Twitterâ€ s disastrously bad first attempt at implementing muting. So when it came to shared b…

Notes from Underground: Tribal Convergence (New Year’s Weekend 2015/2016)
type: item
date: 2016-01-04T06:09:37Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: For the first time in years, we rang in the New Year at a psytrance party in SF — Tribal Convergence at the Gingerbread House!Â Michael Liu, Witchdokta, and the Mendo Organized Chaos crew had done a great job putting the party together, and the place looked amazing. Â We found a cab with no problem […]
encoded: For the first time in years, we rang in the New Year at a psytrance party in SF — Tribal Convergence at the Gingerbread House!Â Michael Liu, Witchdokta, and the Mendo Organized Chaos crew had done a great job putting the party together, and the place looked amazing. Â We found a cab with no problem (just say no to surge pricing and exploitative business models!) and got there just as Galactic Illumination started their set … I had been in a reflective mood for the last few weeks, spending lots of time with tarot cards. And fortunately there was decent cellphone reception at the Gingerbread House, so my online tarot journal on TapestryMaker (the social network/community software Iâ€ ve been developing) was right there there at my fingertips. So as I enjoyed the vibe, I looked back over these recent readings and reflected some more … Overall, it was a good year for me. I got more into tarot than I had ever imagined: three tarot conferences, going to the Seattle Tarot Meetup fairly regularly, several online workshops, a half-dozen professional readings, winding up the year by working with James Wanless on Fortune Circles, and so much more. And it’s been very good for me. Especially over the last few months (when Iâ€ ve been focusing a lot on the Temperance card), I feel like my lifeâ€ s much more in balance than it has been since I canâ€ t remember when. Even though I still feel like Iâ€ m in transition to whatâ€ s next, I have a much clearer picture of what I want. And TapestryMakerâ€ s certainly making good progress!Â True, thereâ€ s plenty of room for improvement in a lot of ways; but thereâ€ s some stuff itâ€ s really good at. Like doing tarot, for example, especially at psytrance parties :)So I started by meditating on a few cards representing different aspects of the life I want: the World from Obscurity, the Eight of Cups and Four of Wands from Barbara Mooreâ€ s Steampunk Tarot, the Ace of Wands (Ecstasy) from Jamesâ€ Voyager deck, and the Three o…

DRAFT: Women writing about technology: a reading list for the new year
type: item
date: 2015-12-28T00:03:23Z
creator: jon
subject: reviews
subject: social sciences
description: Draft!Â Feedback welcome! If you want to get straight to the list, feel free to skip the backstory. If you’d prefer to start of with a great example of why we need lists like this, read on 🙂 Inspired by Bill Gates, the folks at Y Combinator (YC) published a year-end reading list. Jared recommends […]
encoded: Draft!Â Feedback welcome! If you want to get straight to the list, feel free to skip the backstory. If you’d prefer to start of with a great example of why we need lists like this, read on Inspired by Bill Gates, the folks at Y Combinator (YC) published a year-end reading list. Jared recommends books by Steve, Philip, and Dan; Kevin recommends David and John; Michael, Daniel and Elon; Paul, Marshall; Matt, Michael; Justin, a different John … hey wait a second, I’m noticing a pattern here! To be fair there is one exception: YC associate Amy Buecholz recommended Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. But then it’s back to business as usual: Luke recommends Neal and Andy; Daniel recommends Charles, Noam and Shimon; Geoff, Yuval; and Aaron, Andrew. Maybe it’s time for Shelley Powers to write a post about how Guys don’t recommend. It turns out I wasn’t the only person to notice this pattern. On YC’s site Hacker News, roastbeast’s observation was immediately downvoted to the bottom of the thread. The comments are much like they usually are when gender issues come up on HN. The most popular response: Or, from one of HN’s highest-reputation commenters Sigh. No, it’s not irresponsible to highlight a systemic bias. And more generally pointing out marginalizing behavior doesn’t create an obligation on the person pointing it out to deal with it. If YC wants to try to overcome their reputation for sexism, it’s up to them. That said, a list of technology writing that’s skewed towards women sounds like a good thing! Â And somewhat to my surprise, I wasn’t able to find one with some quick searching. So I decided to write one up myself. The thing is, I didn’t read a lot of tech books in 2015. So with the exception of the opening essay, this is quite literally a “reading list”: a list of books I’m going to read. If you’ve got interests similar to mine — social media, startups, software engineering, computer security, and diversity …

Galactic: New Year’s Eve 2013/2014 at the Atrium
type: item
date: 2014-01-01T05:33:40Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: “It’s the happiest I’ve seen you since I can’t remember when …” — more than one friend, to me, October-December 2013 Indeed! The last few months have been great: working on an exciting project, and (finally!) hanging out online at a positive, diverse, site with interesting people and great discussions. And even though 2013 as […]
encoded: “It’s the happiest I’ve seen you since I can’t remember when …” — more than one friend, to me, October-December 2013 Indeed! The last few months have been great: working on an exciting project, and (finally!) hanging out online at a positive, diverse, site with interesting people and great discussions. And even though 2013 as a whole was difficult , there were plenty of good times; and excellent progress on my resolutions like spending more time with friends and family, meditating regularly, reducing stress and sleeping better. So no wonder I’m happy! <img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3548" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;" alt="DSC00605" src="http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DSC00605-300x146.jpg" width="199" height="96" srcset="http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DSC00605-300x146.jpg 300w, http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DSC00605.jpg 640w" sizes="(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />The first two-thirds of the year was pretty challenging. Things happen for a reason, though, and I certainly learned (and grew!) a lot. Even though it turned out not to be a great fit for me, the role of “Senior VP of Products” running an international engineering and product management organization was incredibly valuable experience – including areas like mobile and web service development that were new to me. And while the family health crisis that cropped up just as I was leaving the job wasn’t a lot of fun, it was very fortunate that it happened at a time when I could prioritize what really mattered without feeling like I was letting people down at work … and even more fortunate that it resolved the way it did, with a full recovery! After all the turmoil, it’s been really good for me to roll up my sleeves and do some programming again. Of course there’s also the usual frustrations: learning a new platform, database, and programming environment, all of which have their share of quirks…

Restore the Fourth: Grassroots civil liberties activism is back and better than ever!
type: item
date: 2013-07-04T23:51:01Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: privacy
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: fisa
subject: getfisaright
subject: gfr
subject: restorethe4th
description: It’s the Fourth of July, and we’re fighting for our civil liberties. — me, in 2008, to the Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right mailing list Five years later, grassroots civil liberties activism on social networks is back and better then ever. Back in 2008, we were organizing online, trying […]
encoded: Restore the Fourth rally on the Federal Building, NY Itâ€ s the Fourth of July, and weâ€ re fighting for our civil liberties. — me, in 2008, to the Senator Obama – Please, No Telecom Immunity and Get FISA Right mailing list Five years later, grassroots civil liberties activism on social networks is back and better then ever. Back in 2008, we were organizing online, trying to stop the disastrous FISA Amendment Act, and Barack Obama had just responded to our open letter. We lost that battle, but the fight goes on … and today it went to the next level at Restore the Fourth‘s rallies across the country: New York In New York, 500+ people filled four blocks. DC featured an all-star cast of speakers, 400+ people, and 20 news organizations. In SF, the 300+ people wound up the rally at 611 Folsom, the home of the famed room 641A. The Salt Lake City rally ended with a march on the NSA’s Utah data center. People turned out in Raleigh, Charlotte, Portsmouth, Louisville, Rochester, Boston (tweeted by the state police), the Alamo (!), Kansas City, Cedar Rapids, Philadelphia, Denver, Wichita, Birmingham (with a ton of local press) Syracuse, LA, Dallas, Atlanta, Tulsa, Gainesville, Harrisburg, Carson City, Reno, Chicago, Portland, Austin, Midland, San Diego, Saint Louis, Indianapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Sacramento, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Iowa City, Asbury Park, Houston, Hartford, Chattanooga, Huntington Beach, Savannah, Tempe, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Seattle, Redmond, Lansing, Bozeman, Missoula, Olympia, … Coverage on NBC, Fox News, The Atlantic, Reuters, CNN, CNET, Mashable, CBC, the Christian Science Monitor, the Times of India, Buzzfeed (with the “40 best signs“) and dozens of local TV stations and papers. Update, July 5: more from the Washington Post, the Guardian, ThinkProgress, VentureBeat, Firedoglake, Newsmax, Hullabaloo, Â All Things D, Nextgov, an AP video, RT, the Daily Caller, the Sydney Morning Herald, US News and World Report, and Vice. How co…

Happy Birthday Get FISA Right: Looking forward to what comes next!
type: item
date: 2013-06-27T01:36:38Z
creator: jon
subject: privacy
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: activism
subject: fisa
subject: nsa
subject: patriot act
description: Cross-posted on Get FISA Right Get FISA Right started on June 26, 2008, with posts by Mardi S on my.barackobama.com and Mike Stark on Open Left. We were the first high-profile grassroots social network activism campaign in the US and got enough attention that Obama responded to our open letter. Still, we and our allies […]
encoded: Cross-posted on Get FISA Right Get FISA Right started on June 26, 2008, with posts by Mardi S on my.barackobama.com and Mike Stark on Open Left. We were the first high-profile grassroots social network activism campaign in the US and got enough attention that Obama responded to our open letter. Still, we and our allies lost that battle over the disastrous FISA Amendments Act. And since then, it’s been more of the same. Five more years of the NSA vacuuming up our phone and internet information. Five more years without meaningful oversight. Five more years of evasion and outright lies in Congressional testimony. Five more years of secret court rulings. Five more years of legal maneuvering to try to prevent EFF, ACLU, or anybody else from challenging the laws’ constitutionality. Five more years of Patriot Act and FISA reauthorization. Happy f—ing birthday. But after the firestorm of publicity in response to the recent leaks, I’m increasingly optimistic that momentum is building for a change. The NSA’s lies and evasion are getting spotlighted in major media outlets. Bills advocating transparency in the House and Senate are getting bipartisan sponsorship. The huge cost to US tech companies’ international business is pushing more and more of them to take a stand. EFF, ACLU, and other civil liberties organizations continue to fight the good fight — and the leaks (as well as the details government spokespeople have revealed in resposne to the leaks) may well have improved the legal situation by documenting standing and reducing the scope of the “state secrets” defense. As more and more details come to light, people across the political spectrum are asking whether this is really the kind of world we want to live in. And just as groups like Get FISA Right sprang to life in 2008, the next generation of online organizing is emerging in 2013. StopWatching.us builds on the past successes of civil liberties activism like the alliance between civil liberties organizations and tech …

TSA Comments due *Monday*, 11:59 p.m. Eastern
type: item
date: 2013-06-22T18:25:28Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: If you’re tired of the TSA to electronically strip-searching us, abusing and humiliating people, making kids cry, and wasting billions of dollars on technology that doesn’t actually make us more secure, make sure to file your comments by Monday June 24 at 11:59 p.m. Â You can theoretically submit comments online via regulations.gov (although as […]
encoded: If you’re tired of the TSA to electronically strip-searching us, abusing and humiliating people, making kids cry, and wasting billions of dollars on technology that doesn’t actually make us more secure, make sure to file your comments by Monday June 24 at 11:59 p.m. Â You can theoretically submit comments online via regulations.gov (although as I write this the site isn’t working), or by FAX or mail. Â See the first reply to this post for more about how to file comments. The most effective comments include personal experiences, and be specific about what you want to happen and why. EPIC recommends that commenters support “Regulatory Alternative #3″ (the use of walk through metal detectors and explosive trace detection devices) and support the right of passengers to opt out. tsacomments.net has a lot more information about the various issues. You can see my comment below; feel free to use any of the language. The number of comments sent in to the TSA matter. If the TSA doesn’t get a lot of comments, theyâ€ ll say it shows that most people donâ€ t have any problem with the body scanners or TSAâ€ s other security procedures. But if thereâ€ s a much more vocal response, itâ€ s much harder for the TSA to ignore them – theyâ€ re required by law to reply to all the issues that are brought up in the commenting period. So please, send in your comments! My comments The proposed rule is vaguely written and should be withdrawn, and the practices it would authorizes should be suspended. Â TSA should conduct a new cost-benefit analysis that fully considers the impact of body scanners and pat-downs on traveler privacy. If the rule is not withdrawn, it should be modified to adopt Regulatory Alternative #3 (walk-through metal detectors as primary screening and explosives trace detection on a random set of passengers) instead of AIT and pat-downs. AIT, as compared to WTMD and ETD, is extremely costly: the machines, training for the personnel to operate them, and the waste…

Day of Action, Monday, June 17: Tell the TSA to End Nude Body Scanners
type: item
date: 2013-06-13T17:55:11Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: privacy
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: activism
subject: tsa
description: With less than two weeks left to comment on the 'nude body scanners' in airports -- and civil liberties on the front pages -- it's time for a final push to get the word out.
encoded: With less than two weeks left to comment on the ‘nude body scanners’ in airports — and civil liberties on the front pages — it’s time for a final push to get the word out. So a loose coalition of grassroots volunteers and privacy and civil liberties organizations is calling for a “Day of Action” on Monday June 17. If you’re sick and tired of wasting billions of dollars and giving up your rights and dignity whenever toy fly, read on for how you can help — and why it matters. Effective comments – and why they matter Back in 2010, EPIC sued the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the “advanced imaging technology” (aka nude body scanners) from being used as primary screening in airports. Â The court ruled against them on most counts, but agreed that the TSA had violated the law by failing to get public feedback before introducing the machines. The TSA finally started the ‘rulemaking process’ in March this year, and the deadline is on June 24. People and organizations can submit comments online via regulations.gov, or by FAX or mail (see the first comment for information on FAX and mail). The number of comments sent in to the TSA matter. If the TSA doesn’t get a lot of comments, theyâ€ ll say it shows that most people donâ€ t have any problem with the body scanners or TSAâ€ s other security procedures. But if thereâ€ s a much more vocal response, itâ€ s much harder for the TSA to ignore them – theyâ€ re required by law to reply to all the issues that are brought up in the commenting period. Buried near the end of the rulemaking document are the four alternatives the TSA is considering for walkthrough metal detectors (WTMD), nude body scanners (AIT), and explosives trace detection: Regulatory alternative Name Description 1 No Action Under this alternative, the passenger screening environment remains the same as it was prior to 2008. TSA continues to use WTMDs as the primary passenger screening technology and to resolve alarms with a pat-down. 2 Pat-Down Unde…

Tell the TSA what you think about nude body scanners!
type: item
date: 2013-05-10T04:40:09Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: privacy
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: activism
subject: tsa
description: Airline passengers have been walking through full-body scanners for nearly five years, but only now are fliers getting a chance to officially tell the federal government what they think about the screening machines. In response to a lawsuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled that the Transportation Security Administration […]
encoded: Airline passengers have been walking through full-body scanners for nearly five years, but only now are fliers getting a chance to officially tell the federal government what they think about the screening machines. In response to a lawsuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled that the Transportation Security Administration could continue to use the scanners as a primary method of screening passengers. But the court ordered the TSA to give the public a 90-day comment period, which the agency did not do when it launched the scanning program. The TSA began the comment period online in March, and so far it has been getting an average of 26 comments a day — nearly all of which blast the TSA and the scanners for a variety of reasons. — Hugo Martin, Public Gets Chance to Comment on TSA’s Full-body scanners, LA Times, April 21 There are now over 4500 comments on regulations.gov, and sentiment continue to be overwhelmingly against the scanners. Â There are so many reasons to oppose them, it’s hard to know where to start: rights, effectiveness, cost, fairness, culture … see the Twitter Privacy chat discussion or EPIC’s preliminary analysis (PDF) for more details. So it’s a golden opportunity for the loose but broad coalition fighting for a more sensible and less abusive approach to airport security to get the word out about the commenting period and encourage people to submit their own comments. This is one of the situations where numbers are important. If the TSA only gets a small number of comments, they’ll say it shows that most people don’t have any issues and it’s only a “tiny but vocal” minority who is complaining. But if there are a lot of comments, it’s much harder for the TSA to ignore them (they’re required by law to reply to all the issues that are brought up in the commenting period). A loud enough outcry is likely to get media coverage and maybe even help politicians realize that hey, there’s an issue here that can make t…

A Rainbow of Light: Replenishing at the Atrium
type: item
date: 2012-08-12T07:16:52Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: A rainbow of light Candles and colorsReplenishing energy.A rainbow of light
encoded: A rainbow of light Candles and colors Replenishing energy. A rainbow of light

Notes from Underground: The Dark Before the Dawn
type: item
date: 2012-04-29T21:46:28Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
subject: psytrance
description: Dancing in the darkness, Your deepest desires … Do you know why you’re here? Do you think you have control? — Lexicon Avenue, Why R U Here? What a week. What a month. Hard to believe I’m back on the fast track in the Silicon Valley startup scene. Shipping!Â Hiring!Â Organizational issues!Â Interpersonal conflicts!Â Planning!Â […]
encoded: Dancing in the darkness, Your deepest desires … Do you know why you’re here? Do you think you have control? — Lexicon Avenue, Why R U Here? What a week. What a month. Hard to believe I’m back on the fast track in the Silicon Valley startup scene. Shipping!Â Hiring!Â Organizational issues!Â Interpersonal conflicts!Â Planning!Â Strategy!Â A third of my team is in Singapore, and if events had gone as planned I would have been there instead of at The Atrium last night. Alas, when I went to check in for my flight, they noticed that my passport expires in September — and Singapore (like many other countries these days) requires documents to be valid for at least six months. Sigh. Control is an illusion. Influence, however, is possible. — dialog with Alayne Reesberg, 2004 But instead, after stressful times and long hours working down in the Bay Area, it was great to get back to Seattle Thursday night. After a relaxing Saturday I was soooooo ready to dance. And talk about perfect timing: a six-hour DJ Anomaly set at The Dark Before the Dawn at the Atrium!Â Yay!!!!!! The west coast psytrance scene seems to be doing pretty well these days. I’ve been working so much that we’ve missed a lot of great shows, but I’ve still managed to see Cortex at Synchronize, Logic Bomb at Pulse, Full Power Friday at Retox. The Atrium’s smaller than any of those clubs, but it’s a lot more comfy, with two great chill areas and tasty food and drinks till late. DJ Anomaly had a lot of new tracks, and the vibe was great. By the time cinnamon rolls magically appeared at 4:30, we were both feeling happy and relaxed. I heart psytrance.

Anti-TSA video goes viral!
type: item
date: 2012-03-08T20:32:03Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: activism
subject: tsa
subject: video
description: Jonathan Corbett’s video has over 800,000 views in the last couple days, despite YouTube censoring it for a while (possibly because the title has “nude” in it). Â Â The Travel Underground thread is the epicenter. The rough chronology: the original post had a great headline Lisa Simeone on TSA News was the first to blog […]
encoded: Jonathan Corbett’s video has over 800,000 views in the last couple days, despite YouTube censoring it for a while (possibly because the title has “nude” in it). Â Â The Travel Underground thread is the epicenter. The rough chronology: the original post had a great headline Lisa Simeone on TSA News was the first to blog about it It got hot first on Twitter: 2000 hits in the first 2 1/2 hours after he posted it. A couple hours later it hit #1 on Hacker News, getting 10 hits/second. Then Slashdot, Reddit, Mashable, the Daily Mail … after which Drudge and the Guardian, CNET, The Consumerist, TSA’s less-than-compelling response threw gasonline on the flames and sparked coverage from GizModo, Wired, The Next Web, Reason, and once again Hacker News … plus lots more. Mike Masnick at TechDirt and Steven Frischling on Flying With Fish point out that there’s nothing new here: security experts have been talking about the scanners’ high error rate and vulnerabilities to exploitation for years. But video footage makes it very compelling. And the spread through the tech community highlights that the same kind of grassroots coalitions that mobilized against SOPA are possible on other civil liberties issues — like the TSA, for example, and the PATRIOT Act and FISA next time they come up for renewal. There’s plenty of other learning too, so it’ll be interesting to watch things unfold. Stay tuned!

A tidal wave in progress? I â™¥ Innovation at the Women 2.0 PITCH Conference
type: item
date: 2012-02-14T06:46:47Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
subject: diversity
subject: diversitywin
subject: feminism
subject: gender
subject: startups
description: The sold-out Women 2.0 PITCH Conference’s opening keynote features Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch,* on “Making and the True Path.”Â The rest of the sessions look great too: case studies by Robin Chase of Zipcar and Julia Hu of Lark, and the “$50 Million Panel” featuring Deena Varshavskaya of Wanelo, Leah Busque of […]
encoded: The sold-out Women 2.0 PITCH Conference’s opening keynote features Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch,* on “Making and the True Path.”Â The rest of the sessions look great too: case studies by Robin Chase of Zipcar and Julia Hu of Lark, and the “$50 Million Panel” featuring Deena Varshavskaya of Wanelo, Leah Busque of TaskRabbit, and Sheila Lirio Marcelo of Care.com. There are a bunch of intriguing finalists for the pitch competition — including Tara Hunt’s Buyosphere!Â And the judges for the competitions are no slouches either: Aileen Lee of Kleiner Perkins, Dave McClure of 500 Startups, Naval Ravikant of AngelList, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy of JOYUS … looks like a #diversitywin to me, and some great networking too! A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with Pemo Theodore, who’s interviewed dozens of investors and entrepreneurs for her excellent Why are Women Funded Less than Men?. We both had the same feeling: momentum has steadily built over the last couple years** and it feels like there’s a tidal wave in progress. The women-in-tech and women-near-tech communities are extraordinarily well networked. And the data is compelling. Here’s Vivek Wadhwa’s summary from his recent Inc article: An analysis performed by the Kauffman Foundation showed that women are actually more capital-efficient than men. Babsonâ€ s Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that women-led high-tech startups have lower failure rates than those led by men. Other research has shown that venture-backed companies run by women have annual revenues 12 percent higher than those run by men, and that organizations that are the most inclusive of women in top management positions achieve a 35% higher return on equity and 34% higher total return to shareholders. So while there’s still a long way to go, the trend is in the right direction. Kudos to all the amazing women, the much smaller number of equally-amazing guys, and the outstanding organizations like Women 2.0, the Anita Borg Institute…

Notes from Underground: Digging Out
type: item
date: 2012-01-22T22:07:12Z
creator: jon
subject: Personal
subject: psytrance
description: To ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered … We will save you We will save you We will save you From your selves — Robot Revolution (Say no to SOPA remix), Virtual Light vs. Wizack Twizack vs. ?, San Francisco over the holidays was a lot of fun but by early January we […]
encoded: To ensure your future, some freedoms must be surrendered … We will save you We will save you We will save you From your selves — Robot Revolution (Say no to SOPA remix), Virtual Light vs. Wizack Twizack vs. ?, San Francisco over the holidays was a lot of fun but by early January we were really glad to be back in Washington. We got there Thursday afternoon and spent the next few nights at The Atrium: psytrance Thursday, stompy darkwave on Friday, and then more psytrance on Saturday at Brightness. The next week it was a darkwave set Wednesday, psytrance Thursday … happy 2012! Saturday, it was all night psytrance at Gibbous/Deadly Snow. The drinks were strong, the snacks were tasty, the place looked fantastic, and DJ Anomaly was on a roll. Monday night was stompy darkwave at Dead Snow … hey wait a second, I’m noticing a pattern here. SnOMG! After six inches of snow followed by freezing rain, the Seattle area took a couple of snow days. The Atrium was almost empty Thursday night, and still pretty quiet Friday for Icy. And despite a huge victory for grassroots social network activism (yay Tumblr!Â yay Reddit!Â yay RedState and DailyKos, together again for the first time! and yay for everybody else who got involved on SOPA and PIPA) my mood wasn’t great either. Â During the week, I had decided to put Qweries on hold for the time being. Â Sigh. A friend of mine made the great suggestion that I write down my frame of mind, and when I read it over I was surprised how negative it was: frustration, disappointment, and beating myself up for decisions I wish I had made differently. Â Intellectually, I know that it doesn’t always go smoothly: startups are hard. But emotionally, it’s clearly taken a toll on me. Fortunately, DJ Anomaly was once again headlining on Saturday night — psytrance at Digging Out. w00t!Â After a few days cooped up, people were ready to dance. Â And as always, the lights, music, and vibe lifted my spirits. A couple of hours into the evening, I wa…

Blog for Choice Day: What will *you* do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?
type: item
date: 2012-01-22T19:34:32Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: bfcd
subject: blogforchoice
subject: feminism
subject: politics
description: Today’s the anniversary or Roe v. Wade, and this year’s Blog for Choice Day topic is “What will you do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?”Â Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but reproductive rights remain under assault. The Obama Administration’s hand-wringing before finally denying an religiously-affiliated hospitals an exemption from the requirement […]
encoded: Today’s the anniversary or Roe v. Wade, and this year’s Blog for Choice Day topic is “What will you do to help elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?”Â Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but reproductive rights remain under assault. The Obama Administration’s hand-wringing before finally denying an religiously-affiliated hospitals an exemption from the requirement that they provide contraception, and the strident anti-choice rhetoric from all the Republican candidates, show just how far the window has shifted. It’s time to move things back. Here’s what I’m doing: My vote and my volunteering time are “in play” in 2012. Â Along with civil liberties and LGBTQ issues, one of the things I’m judging Obama, Cantwell, gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee and other candidates on is how assertively they’ll fight for women’s right to choose. And I’ll continue to raise awareness, with friends online and off, and discuss the issue. Yes, I get in people’s face when they make excuses for anti-choice politicians — or downplay the importance of the issue. [I’m looking at you, Ron Paul supporters.] What are you doing?

Quite a contrast, which seems like a good thing to me: New Year’s Eve 2011/2012
type: item
date: 2012-01-03T06:51:53Z
creator: jon
subject: Personal
description: 2011 wasn’t the year I expected it to be. But while it’s easy (and depressing) to look at what didn’t happen, one of my resolutions was to take a more asset-based thinking approach to life. If I look at what I — and we — accomplished this year, it’s pretty impressive. — NanoEvolution In keeping […]
encoded: 2011 wasnâ€ t the year I expected it to be. But while itâ€ s easy (and depressing) to look at what didnâ€ t happen, one of my resolutions was to take a more asset-based thinking approach to life. If I look at what I — and we — accomplished this year, itâ€ s pretty impressive. — NanoEvolution In keeping with the goal I overachieved on the most in 2011 (“spend more time with family and friends”), we decided to spend a quiet New Years Eve at home hanging out with a few people … most of whom got sick and cancelled. So it was a very low-key wrap-up to 2011 and start to 2012, quite a contrast to the last couple years. Which seems like a good thing to me. Time to move on This year was the most I’ve journalled since 2004, and it’s been interesting to reread the posts as I’ve been editing DJ Anomaly at the Atrium. 2011 started out great guns, but then there were some big “pivots” both professionally and personally. Startups are hard, and some key things really are out of my control — Google’s stubbornness on the nymwars for example. And overachieving on “friends and family” goal took a lot of time and energy. So while I did a pretty good job on my resolutions, my progress against other goals wasn’t what I had hoped. Sigh. More positively, though, things are in a good place as we head into 2012: After a lot of groping around, Qweries is on track for a minimum viable product and a killer go-to-market plan: privacy, diversity, startups, zombies, RAWRRRRRR! The network of people who have heard a bit about Qweries and like the idea continues to grow. While the writing I’ve been doing is far from a finished product, there’s plenty of grist for the mill for Change the World and Make Friends Doing It and no doubt some other projects. Creatively, DJ Anomaly at the Atrium is the best poetry year I’ve had in a long time. And most important, my connections with the people I love the most, the elements at the core of my world, continue to get richer and more magical; and new frie…

Happy f—ing Bill of Rights Day
type: item
date: 2011-12-15T16:47:17Z
creator: jon
subject: political
subject: privacy
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: bill of rights
subject: civil liberties
subject: ndaa
subject: sopa
description: Both houses of Congress have passed the #NDAA codifying indefinite detention — and Obama’s happy with the language, so won’t be vetoing it. Meanwhile even as I write this, the House is debating #SOPA. Remember back in 2006-8 when the Bush Administration rammed through PATRIOT Act reauthorization and FISA? Obama was on the right side […]
encoded: Both houses of Congress have passed the #NDAA codifying indefinite detention — and Obama’s happy with the language, so won’t be vetoing it. Meanwhile even as I write this, the House is debating #SOPA. Remember back in 2006-8 when the Bush Administration rammed through PATRIOT Act reauthorization and FISA? Obama was on the right side for a while — at least until July 2008, when he broke his promise to filibuster. Now, he’s continuing and building on Bush policies. Senator Chris Dodd was heroic on FISA; now, he’s working for the MPAA and using China’s internet policies as a blueprint for the US. And how about Patrick Leahy, bulwark of civil liberties — and co-sponsor of the Senate equivalent of SOPA? It’s not that I think the Republicans are any better on the whole. Both parties have a few standouts on civil liberties — Wyden, Nadler, the Pauls. But on the whole, the political establishment continues to show itself remarkably unconcerned with Americans’ rights. Here’s hoping that in 2012 we’ll start to do something about it.

Notes from Underground: Eclipse
type: item
date: 2011-12-11T21:23:31Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
subject: psytrance
description: End-of-year schedule overload led to an intense week, complete with meetings trickling over to the weekend. Sigh. Â But Friday afternoon was sunny, so I knocked off early and went for a walk in the woods. After dinner I took a short nap and a good thing too. What leads to a pivot? You don’t just […]
encoded: End-of-year schedule overload led to an intense week, complete with meetings trickling over to the weekend. Sigh. Â But Friday afternoon was sunny, so I knocked off early and went for a walk in the woods. After dinner I took a short nap and a good thing too. What leads to a pivot? You donâ€ t just wake up one day and decide to do something entirely different. Itâ€ s a gradual process. — Tara Hunt, The Pivot (or How to Learn Humility in 4 Steps), Inc. Yeah really. It had been a week of feedback and reflection (as well as action), taking stock of where things are with qweries and thinking about what next. Â The consensus from my friends and advisors: I still can’t say just what “it” is that’s so transformational. Sigh. Startups are hard. It’s frustrating because even though I can describe the opportunity, the underserved audience, and key requirements for a differentiated product … people don’t seem to put a lot of value on any of it because I don’t yet know what the answer is. Â Fair enough. It’s all too abstract. Â What is qweries building and how is it so different?Â Um … Maybe it’s a mistake to position qweries as a Q&A site. Â It’s a ridiculously cluttered space, and most of the stories aren’t real happy: Yahoo! was never able to monetize Answers successfully; Cha Cha and Mahalo hemorrhaged money; Answers.com got wiped out by Google’s algorithm changes; Quora seems to have hit a wall. True, there are successes like Stack Overflow and Naver’s Knowledge iN; but they’re the exceptions (and people in the US tend to discount Naver anyhow). Â So perhaps it’s time to pivot and look at a new category. In any case, it’s clearly time for a “minimum viable product”: get something out there and see what people’s reactions are. Â As for the bigger picture transformational stuff, good solutions are clearly out there, they don’t defy the laws of physics, and I can describe a process for how to get there from there — and a short-term low-investment technology base …

Be an ally, not a hater (part 3 of “A Crucial Time for Diaspora *”)
type: item
date: 2011-12-09T21:18:00Z
creator: jon
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: diaspora
description: CONTENT WARNING: This post discusses some dark subjects including depression and suicide. The past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us here at Diaspora*. It is unbelievably painful to lose such a close friend and collaborator as Ilya, and we want to […]
encoded: CONTENT WARNING: This post discusses some dark subjects including depression and suicide. The past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us here at Diaspora*. It is unbelievably painful to lose such a close friend and collaborator as Ilya, and we want to thank our countless community members, friends, family, and professional contacts for all of your support as we try to take care of ourselves and plot a course for Diaspora*â€ s future. We are forever grateful to the amazing community of people who have stepped up to help us get things back in order. — Maxwell and Daniel, Diaspora * is Back in Action Diaspora * co-founder Ilya Zhitomirskiy’s idealism, passion, and vision touched so many people — even those who like me who never had the pleasure of meeting him in person. So many moving tributes have been written that there isn’t much I can add. My heart goes out to his friends, family, and colleagues. “Thereâ€ s something deeper than making money off stuff,â€ he said. “Being part of creating stuff for the universe is awesome.â€ Ilya, quoted in the New York Times obituary It’s gratifying to see so many people in the community reaffirm their commitment to the vision in such difficult circumstances. Now that the core team is back in action, after a few weeks for grieving and replanning, it’s a natural time to step back and look at what’s next. First, though, there’s something I want to get off my chest. Ilya struggled with depression, and the stress of people like you constantly badgering him and pestering him and constantly making him feel like nothing he ever did was good enough certainly did not help his situation. — Ilya’s roommate David Kettler, on Diaspora David was responding to some particularly nasty trolling with this comment, but I think the point he makes applies a lot more generally. Whether it’s due to cynicism, envy, or ageism, From the beginning, along with the excitement Diaspora *’s attracted a lot of negativity. Of course just like any project, th…

Notes from Underground: NanoEvolution
type: item
date: 2011-12-04T05:18:56Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
subject: psytrance
description: Yeah really. DJ Anomaly keeps getting better and better, the crowd was totally into it, the lighting made everybody look good, and at 5 a.m. cinnamon rolls appeared as if by magic … epic indeed! We had both spent most of the week sitting and working so had a lot of pent-up energy. D had […]
encoded: Yeah really. DJ Anomaly keeps getting better and better, the crowd was totally into it, the lighting made everybody look good, and at 5 a.m. cinnamon rolls appeared as if by magic … epic indeed! We had both spent most of the week sitting and working so had a lot of pent-up energy. D had hit her milestone and had that “I’ve earned it” feel. I had gotten a lot done as well, evaluating potential platforms for the next iteration of qweries, although wasn’t as thrilled with the results: most of the options have glaring problems like “doesn’t work on mobile phones or iPads”, “logging in via Twitter doesn’t work”, or “sends passwords in plain text through email”. Really?Â In 2011?Â Oh well, it is what it is; and by the time we got to the Atrium I wasn’t thinking about technology. Instead, I was in a reflective mood. Over the last 48 hours I had talked with several friends from the past — well, they’re still friends, I just don’t see them as often as I did about five years ago, so it brought back a lot of stuff. And as always, the music triggered memories: Astral Projection and being a scientist in an irrational world, S.U.N. Project at the DNA Lounge, Penta and Cortex and Dutch and New Years Eves, the Pesky Neutrinos and Nymwars remixes from earlier this year … 2011 wasn’t the year I expected it to be. I hate it when life gets in the way of life. But while it’s easy (and depressing) to look at what didn’t happen, one of my resolutions was to take a more asset-based thinking approach to life. If I look at what I — and we — accomplished this year, it’s pretty impressive. S o rather than lamenting the sad state of software, the sexism of Google+ (and Apple) (and Hacker News) (and …), and the way social networks like Diaspora * (or Google+ for that matter) never seem to pay attention to moderation, when I woke up this morning I realized that I was focusing much more on the opportunities for 2012. Which leaves me in a much better frame of mind! Not to sound like a brok…

Notes from Underground: IllumiNation, Travelling, and Transition II
type: item
date: 2011-11-14T04:02:31Z
creator: jon
subject: Personal
subject: psytrance
description: Why yes, I have been quiet for a while now that you mention it. We spent almost a month on the road, starting with Sacramento for a privacy coalition meeting, and SF for Olli Wisdom at Space 550. We had juggled our plans to be at IllumiNation, and it was totally the right call. Â […]
encoded: Why yes, I have been quiet for a while now that you mention it. We spent almost a month on the road, starting with Sacramento for a privacy coalition meeting, and SF for Olli Wisdom at Space 550. We had juggled our plans to be at IllumiNation, and it was totally the right call. Â 550 Barneveld is a great venue, and we ran into plenty of familiar faces from back in 2003/2004 when we used to hang out there all the time. Musically, DJ Dragn’fly was great, and Olli was Olli — not as good as his legendary 2004 (((thump)) set, but still. One of our friends was at her first psytrance party. How cool is that? The rest of the weekend was sunny in SF. We took it easy on Saturday, and I spent Sunday hanging out in Dolores park with a friend. Life is good. Monday morning, it was on the train to DC. Well, more accurately, the train to Chicago, which got there eight hours late. So we missed our connection. So we wound up on an overnight thirteen-hour bus ride to DC. Fun!Â Well no, not actually. But still, we made it; and BORDC’s board retreat (the main reason we were there) was excellent. From there it was on to Charleston to see my Mom; very weird not celebrating Halloween, but it was great to see her. And then back to SF again, and finally home to Seattle. After sleeping at four different hotels, three residences, the train, and the bus (or at least trying to, on a 14-hour overnight trip from Chicago to DC) … can I just say how good it is to be home? Wednesday evening, when we finally got back here, I dropped by the Atrium. They had been closed for a few days after their Halloween weekend blow-out, and it was fairly low-key, but it was great to be back. Â Â Friday night was a stompy darkwave set by DJ Anomaly, and then last night was Transition II. Of course The Atrium’s nowhere as big as Barneveld, but even with a small crowd the vibe is amazing. It was looking partcularly trippy Friday night, with some new UV-active Cyberdog artifacts and gorgeous flowers. …

Road trip! Bringing the #privchat community to Diaspora *
type: item
date: 2011-10-16T23:20:18Z
creator: jon
subject: Professional
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: activism
subject: diaspora
subject: hashtags
subject: privacy
subject: privchat
subject: twitter
description: It’s hard to believe but #privchat — the Tuesday morning Twitter Privacy Chat — has been going on for almost a year. CDT, Privacy Camp, and EPIC have done a great job moderating, and the attendees are a great cross-section of the privacy and civil liberties community: non-profits, privacy-focused startups, academics, privacy professionals at large […]
encoded: It’s hard to believe but #privchat — the Tuesday morning Twitter Privacy Chat — has been going on for almost a year. CDT, Privacy Camp, and EPIC have done a great job moderating, and the attendees are a great cross-section of the privacy and civil liberties community: non-profits, privacy-focused startups, academics, privacy professionals at large companies, and activists (hiiiii!). So let’s build on that success with a road trip, and bring the same kind of social networky goodness to Diaspora *! If you’re thinking that you don’t have time for yet another social network, I feel your pain; the plan I’m suggesting only requires an hour of your time. Before we get there, though, I want to talk a bit about why I think it’s worth doing. Why Diaspora *? Diaspora shot to prominence last May, as four NYU undergrads raised money on Kickstarter for a distributed open-source privacy-friendly social network project just as a Facebook privacy storm kicked off. Good timing! Eighteen months and $200,000 later, Sarah Mei and Yosem Companys have joined the core team, and there are dozens of public installations with tens of thousands of Diasporans. Liz Gannes’ Diaspora Prepares to Launch Open Source network on All Things D and Not vaporware, not a Nigerian prince on the team’s blog give an idea of the current status: an engineering team focused on getting to beta, a growing community, another round of fundraising in progress. Hanging out on Diaspora a lot for the last month, I’ve had interesting discussions with interesting people from across the world. And one thing everybody that I’ve run into so far has in common: They care about their privacy. Sounds like a huge opportunity to me. Just by getting involved with Diaspora, we’ll be helping a privacy-friendly open-source social network project during a challenging time. And at the same time: non-profits and activists can engage with the grassroots — and find people to relay action alerts as well as potential new supporters privacy-f…

Temporarily disabling comments …
type: item
date: 2011-10-10T18:40:13Z
creator: jon
subject: Uncategorized
description: I’m getting hit by a ton of spam so am turning off comments temporarily. Carry on.
encoded: I’m getting hit by a ton of spam so am turning off comments temporarily. Carry on.

Time for a break
type: item
date: 2011-09-28T20:00:38Z
creator: jon
subject: Personal
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
description: I love social networks. They’re how I follow the news, get different perspectives, stay in touch with friends — and make new ones. When people complain that online connections are just a poor substitute for “real life”, I just shake my head and tell them they’re doing it wrong. And as I’ve argued passionately in […]
encoded: I love social networks. They’re how I follow the news, get different perspectives, stay in touch with friends — and make new ones. When people complain that online connections are just a poor substitute for “real life”, I just shake my head and tell them they’re doing it wrong. And as I’ve argued passionately in Cognitive evolution and revolution, The future of civil liberties, A grassroots social network activist’s perspective, and Freedom not fear, combining social network and real world activism is a great opportunity to regain our rights online and off. But there are downsides as well. Facebook constantly changing its interface and finding new ways to violate my privacy, the arrogance and elitism of the guys running Google+ and their evil naming policy (along the incessant circling over the last few days), Diaspora*’s inability to edit posts or block obnoxious people … and the time I spend checking FB, G+, D*, Twitter, Quora, Dreamwidth, tribe.net, free-association and elsewhere. So it’s time for a break from social networks. See you in a week or two! jon

Protected: Sneak Preview (DRAFT)
type: item
date: 2011-09-27T05:00:56Z
creator: jon
subject: Professional
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: Uncategorized
subject: civil liberties
subject: diaspora
subject: nymworld
subject: privacy
description: There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
encoded: This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password:

In chaos there is opportunity (part 11 of Diversity and Google+)
type: item
date: 2011-09-26T03:43:25Z
creator: jon
subject: Professional
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: diaspora
subject: diversity
subject: google
subject: nymworld
description: I’m flashing! Back in 2006, the Ad Astra project proposed a strategy for Microsoft to outflank Google by leveraging its employee base and social technologies. One of the key insights: social computing technologies allow a company to tap into the combined energy of employees and their networks. This can be a huge asset — and […]
encoded: I’m flashing! Back in 2006, the Ad Astra project proposed a strategy for Microsoft to outflank Google by leveraging its employee base and social technologies. One of the key insights: social computing technologies allow a company to tap into the combined energy of employees and their networks. This can be a huge asset — and one that potentially grows non-linearly as a company grows. Alas, Microsoft took another approach, investing in algorithmic search to compete with Google head-on, and ceding the social market to Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.. Five years later, it’s Google in the role of a large company trying to use its size as an advantage against a more nimble competitor. If Google’s 20,000+ employees can work together effectively and are sufficiently motivated, they’ll be a huge asset in the “battle for social.” Tying bonuses across the company to success gets everybody to focus on the company’s priority. From a strategy perspective, a great move by Google. Which doesn’t mean it will work. — me, in a comment Prisms, Kool-Aid and Opportunity April 2011 One way to look at Google+ through the lens of what Robert Scoble calls the game of all games: the battle between Facebook, Google, and “own identity on the internet.” In that context, it was a brilliant move against all the other big US-based corporations run and owned primarily by white guys who are fighting over who can profit from mining our personal information and selling our eyeballs to advertisers. And in a lot of ways, it’s worked out quite well: Many early adopters prefer Google+ to Facebook, especially in some demographics like younger and middle-age guys, techies, photographers, and social media experts. With over 40 million people already signing up, Google+ is a big enough platform to woo brands, celebrities, and politicians — who, just like everybody else, often want to say things longer than 140 characters and are generally unhappy with their Facebook experience Google demo’ed how they can lever…

Notes from Underground: Equinox+One and Solitude
type: item
date: 2011-09-25T19:01:27Z
creator: jon
subject: Personal
subject: poetry
subject: psytrance
description: Summer ended quickly in Seattle this year. One day it was sunny and 80 degrees; the next it was cloudy and 60. DJ Anomaly’s Thursday night Equinox+One marked the official start of fall with a great set — and some familiar faces. “Hey, I remember seeing you years ago at Infected Mushroom and Astral Projection […]
encoded: Summer ended quickly in Seattle this year. One day it was sunny and 80 degrees; the next it was cloudy and 60. DJ Anomaly’s Thursday night Equinox+One marked the official start of fall with a great set — and some familiar faces. “Hey, I remember seeing you years ago at Infected Mushroom and Astral Projection at Premiere … what’s new?” Good times! D was out of town over the weekend, so after a long day of work on Saturday, instead of going out I decided to stay home, put on a DJ Anomaly mix, and enjoy the solitude. Â At first I was thinking it would be a night filled with introspection, checking out old journals and photos and blog posts and reflecting on what’s happened and where I’m going next. But as I listened to the music, my mind wound up turning off … So instead I just enjoyed myself. I heart psytrance. Solitude (2011 remix) Candles, Grounding. Sacred space. Seduction. Goddesses I look at the candles … and experience you In the air … on my skin … In my mind … Throughout my being. I remember (or imagine) other seductive times with you, Grounded and sacred, By candlelight And other magic illumination. I remember (or imagine) Every moment we’ve spent together, And all the moments I’ve remembered, Imagined, anticipated, and fantasized about. And then I realize I’m thinking too much And watch the candles And experience you.

The Trend is in the Wrong Direction: Reflections on the Field Trial (part 10 of Diversity and Google+)
type: item
date: 2011-09-23T18:41:03Z
creator: jon
subject: Professional
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: diversity
subject: google
description: Also published on We Get Google Plus, Diaspora *, and G+ For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal. We’re nowhere near done, but with the improvements we’ve made so far we’re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce […]
encoded: Also published on We Get Google Plus, Diaspora *, and G+ For the past 12 weeks weâ€ ve been in field trial, and during that time weâ€ ve listened and learned a great deal. Weâ€ re nowhere near done, but with the improvements weâ€ ve made so far weâ€ re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups. — Vic Gundotra, Google+: 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99… 100.9/20/2011 Many aspects of Google+’s field trial went extremely well. Hangouts are clearly G+’s “killer app”.* It’s been remarkably reliable for such an early stage project: no “fail whales” and (at least for me) a lot fewer bugs than Facebook. G+ has a lot of momentum with social media experts, photographers, and 20-45-year old guys; and most of the reviews have been positive. From a business strategy perspective, Google+ has been a huge win, highlighting how many people want an alternative to Facebook. Facebook’s fighting back, copying and improving on many of G+’s features and completely reworking their profile page. But with so many users sick of the constant changes, declining software quality, and postponing the IPO, they’re in a difficult — especially with Google’s far greater resources. Advantage Google. But there are a few flies in the ointment … It’s beginning to look a lot like MySpace Google+’s minimal filtering, noise reduction, and moderation functionality is already a problem — and likely to become substantially worse as people start flooding in. Valeria Maltoni and others are seeing an exponential increase in spam. Guy Kawasaki is getting a lot of bad behavior in comments. I notice it too: when Google+ started, most of the people who circled me was interesting enough to circle back. Now, almost all the circle requests are from spammers or people who haven’t posted anything I’m remotely interested in. Unsurprisingly, it’s noticeably worse for women.** I haven’t seen any recent statistics on gender ratios on G+, but anecdotally I’m seeing more and more women c…

Talk about a hostile environment (part 9 of Google+ and Diversity)
type: item
date: 2011-09-19T10:03:36Z
creator: jon
subject: Professional
subject: social computing
subject: Tales from the Net
subject: diversity
subject: google
description: also posted on G+ and on Diaspora* I feel very let down by Google’s behavior. I had hoped to escape the heavy-handedness that is Facebook, but that is not to be. I’ll have a presence here; I have to, professionally. But the joy is gone. — Kathy Gill, Google+ As An Identity Service Is Bait […]
encoded: also posted on G+ and on Diaspora* I feel very let down by Google’s behavior. I had hoped to escape the heavy-handedness that is Facebook, but that is not to be. I’ll have a presence here; I have to, professionally. But the joy is gone. — Kathy Gill, Google+ As An Identity Service Is Bait And Switch Like Kathy, I’m feeling pretty disenchanted with Google right now. As an entrepeneur, I was excited enough about Google+’s possibilities that I was ready to make a big bet on it. Â If things had worked out differently, Kathy and I would have been starting up a G+-based business, and I would have been one of those developers eagerly waiting for the API to come out, developing and testing an app in Hangouts, sharing it with the world, recruiting all my friends to Google+ so they could use it … But no. Instead, I’m hanging out on Diaspora and having a great time — interesting discussions with a diverse group of interesting people from all over the world. I’ve stopped using Google’s search and am encouraging my friends to de-Googlify themselves. Instead of thinking about how to build software on Google+, I’m thinking about how to improve Diaspora, Dreamwdith, Friendika, Status.net and the other alternatives to Google’s and Facebook’s “identity systems”. True, like Kathy, I’m still on Google+. Â For what I do, I need to be there — and I’m more convinced than ever of its potential for activism, a topic I’ll turn to in a future post. But overall Google+ turned into a job for me. Fortunately I have some great colleagues and have some really good discussions in the break room, but still … its the kind of workplace where my friends get suspended, guys pass around photos of breasts,* and the people running it are committed to a policy that harms abuse survivors, LGBTQs, people with medical conditions, teachers, whistleblowers, activists, women, and so many others. Talk about a hostile environment So yeah, the joy is gone for me too. Multiply me and Kathy by whatever percenta…