“The rage against the machine is really a rage against badly imagined machines”
Brands Engaged has a short piece about J. Walter Thompson's top trends for 2014: This year looks set to see a lot of push and pull between consumers
Extended minds and tefillin
If the concept of embodied cognition or extended minds seems like a newfangled invention of philosophers who've read too much science fiction, I highly recommend this essay by Rabbi
“if there is no blood, it can likely wait:” lessons from six weeks without a phone
Author and education researcher Julianne Wurm writes about what she learned from giving up her phone during a 6-week trip in Asia. She had her laptop and iPad (both? really?),
“In order to monetize your work, you need to monetize your audience, and figure out who you can sell them to”
This is an Onion parody, but who hasn't thought about how much money they could make selling out their user base?
Design, distraction, and doctor-patient relationships
Electronic health records (EHRs) have been around for a few years. You've probably seen them, or at least seen a doctor access them: at my doctor's office every
“We can think THROUGH exercise:” Damon Young’s new “How to Think About Exercise”
Damon Young has a new book in the School of Life series, How to Think About Exercise. He says a bit about it on the Australian bookstore blog
“what would happen if we… tried to be more human in this age of digital technology?”
Toby Daniels, the CEO of Crowdcentric, makes the case for building purpose into every action: Our interactions are becoming more robotic and stiff. Our social connections have evolved into
Attention “is rapidly depleted by a public space saturated with technologies that are dedicated to capturing it”
Several years ago, Matthew Crawford published Shop Class as Soul Craft, a great book about materiality, skilled labor, and the meaning of work. Now, in between fixing motorcycles
“This is the next challenge in designing UIs: making them recognize and adjust to the contours of my attention”
Vivek Haldar wants a user interface that reflects "the contours of... attention," a phrase that I quite like: What was I doing? What do I need to do
“the Internet has invaded our lives and woven us into this intricate Web”
Lisa Kaaki, a freelance writer based in Cairo, reviews The Distraction Addiction for the Saudi Arabian paper Arab News. The Distraction Addiction is a wise and deep book.