If we define it as technology-assisted one-to-many bi-directional communication (therefore ruling out the telephone, letters, and so on), I think there's an argument to be made that it was the newspaper. In the old days, particularly pre-television, local papers in particular would have a lot of mini-stories just
It makes sense that oil companies would try to frame driving a gas car as freedom. As an EV driver, I can tell you that it is not. I would prefer if we all had great, integrated public transit - but for the moment, at least, it has been an
We lost my beloved cousin Noah this week. I don’t have the words yet. But Noah, you were wonderful, and we all loved you so much. Ma used to say that she liked to think of everyone who was gone having a picnic on the beach and looking down
A really great list of foundational and/or influential writing about how to build the web, starting with Tim Berners-Lee's Cool URIs Don't Change post from 1998. #Technology [Link]
It says a lot that in areas where officers aren’t allowed to put schoolchildren in holds that restrict breathing or their ability to speak, departments take officers out of schools in protest. These laws should be in place everywhere, and police officers should not be in schools. #Society [Link]
I certainly have some thoughts that I will share. Imagine if you could allow an AI agent to create copyrighted works at scale with no human involvement. It would allow for an incredible intellectual property land grab. #AI [Link]
I was pleased to attend the Online Journalism Awards on Saturday night. Some winning highlights included: The 19th won a Breaking News award for its coverage of the Dobbs decision, including some really great data journalism. I’m proud of, and very happy for, my friends there. By the way,
I’m surprised that mandatory disclosure of carbon emissions isn’t widespread - it does seem like the prerequisite to making any change. And yeah, these companies should pay. And be forced to reduce their emissions. And be fined heavily, and prosecuted, when they don’t. #Climate [Link]
Remote workers feel less connected to company missions, but the big message here is that nobody really feels all that connected. There are no superficial answers here: the real differentiators are better company cultures where people feel truly valued, much stronger communication, and better missions. #Labor [Link]
Good commentary on the dissonance between vendors like Microsoft banning scraping of their platforms while simultaneously releasing products that depend on scraping other peoples' data. Some sort of commons agreement would go a long way here, but it won't happen while platforms can get away with this
A neat rule: union-busters must recognize the unions they're trying to undermine. The union rebound continues. #Labor [Link]
I’ve come away from the Online News Association conference with a really familiar feeling: somewhere between unsettled and frustrated. Not at journalists, I hasten to add, who are doing important, democratic work despite shrinking budgets and adverse conditions. But a little bit at the business sides of their organizations,