One True Sentence

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Rachel Boyman.

Hello out there! It’s been a long day (and still going!) so I’m going to keep it short and sweet tonight. Plus, I spent a bit of the day reading the posts of my fellow DR. WHAW contributors — I love seeing their picks! Here we go…

DR. WHAW? – May 13, 2010

1. Facebook and Twitter Are On A Collision Course. And We’re In The Middle by MG Siegler

Compliments to TechCrunch on this headline — and though I think Facebook and Twitter are still providing slightly different functions for different types of users, the internet is a fast-paced place, and if I start spending more time on Twitter than I do on Facebook, it’s only a matter of time before I’m going to want to incorporate the features I like from both sites onto the one I’m spending more time on. The analogies Siegler uses are a bit awkward, but you get the point.

2. Putting a Price on Words by Andrew Rice

I’m not sure if this was in last week’s NYTimes magazine or in the one coming up (again, the subscription dilemma) but just a really interesting look at the ways online news organizations are exploring different pay-for-content models. Users love free content, content-providers can’t afford to give it away, and a simple profit-sharing system with writers doesn’t seem to work either. Depressing.

3. Dear Mark Zuckerberg by Robert Scoble

Oh Facebook. We love you truly madly deeply, but Scoble is right — between the privacy changes + criticism from trusted leaders on the Web — you’ve broken our trust. And as everyone who’s ever lost trust in another knows, once you break it, it’s tough to get it back without making real concessions to change.
4. America’s Tweethearts by Vanessa Grigoriadis

I’m not sure how I missed this Vanity Fair piece (its times like this that I consider purchasing or subscribing so I see the real hard copy of my favorite magazines) but I stumbled upon it when looking at Julia Roy’s website. I think the tone of the article is a bit mocking, but I think it’s kind of cool that one’s twilebrity factor is, in this case, in direct proportion to usage and engagement.

I’m afraid that’s all for me tonight — it’s been a long day, my brain is fried and I’m just seeing on Twitter that a suspicious vehicle in Union Square has led to NYPD to investigate. Ah, the perks of living in downtown NYC. On that note, g’night kids. Stay safe.

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Rachel Boyman.

I’m ready to start pretending its Friday, so here goes kids!

DR. WHAW? – April 22, 2010

1. Facebook’s Instant Personalization is the Real Privacy Hairball by Liz Gannes

All day (and yesterday) I kept seeing tweets on the latest developments from Facebook/f8 – it was driving me crazy that I didn’t have time to sit down (figuratively speaking) and digest it all. Since I use Facebook primarily to connect with friends and family, my profile contains a significant amount of information based on who I am and what I say – which is why I’m particularly concerned about protecting my privacy – and this is why.

2. Debunking the Myths of Telecommute by Sylvia Marino (as told to Patricia R. Olsen)

I’m slightly envious of my friends and family members who have the option of working from home when they need to, making it really easy to fantasize about how great working remotely could be. This perspective from a female executive at Edmunds.com exposes the misconceptions behind telecommuting and reveals the cons that people often overlook.

3. This is What a Tweet Looks Like by Sarah Perez @rww & @raffi’s Map-of-a-tweet

I saw this a couple of days ago and just found it fascinating. I’m no “web ninja”, so an inside look into what a tweet really looks like in code on is pretty freaking cool – it also makes me feel like I’m reading a foreign language.
4. Is This Retweetable? by @Sheamus

Once you join Twitter, it doesn’t take long to notice who understands quantity vs. quality when it comes to tweeting, especially when it comes to retweets — just today I realized that some of the people I follow are better sources of news than the actual news organizations they’re linking to – kind of an organic filter.  Seeing retweets that clog up my feed or repetitive “metweets” make me more aware of what I’m putting out there too.

5. Peace in the home: Sharing an iPad with Your Spouse by Michael Rose, tuaw.com

This might be kind of an odd choice considering it revolves around 2 things I don’t have: an iPad and a spouse, but Rose’s breakdown & clever link inserts were both educational and engaging.  It was a really interesting read and I felt like I learned a lot about user experience on the iPad that is transferable to other devices.

6. 53 Life Lessons from Homer Simpson by Steve Scott

A fun compilation here — this advice is wrong enough that in certain contexts, it sounds right. For example, life lesson #10 (“Son, this is the only time I’m ever gonna say this. It is not okay to lose”) could be interpreted as ‘failure is not an option’ or ‘never give up’…see what I mean?

7. Tweet Tweet Boom Boom: How Tech Start-ups Like Foursquare and Meetup Are Trying to Overthrow Old Media and Build a Better New York by Doree Shafrir

Finally, if you haven’t seen this piece from New York Magazine, it’s worth a read. It’s a bit NY-centric, but it really chronicles some of the more well-known start-ups in NYC and adds additional perspective following this like-minded NYTimes dealbook piece.

That’s all for me – as I say in real life: TTYL!

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Rachel Boyman.

Hellooooooo out there!  Behold the latest round-up of things I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work (but really, really, REALLY wanted too). Enjoy & catch ya next week!

DR. WHAW? – April 1, 2010

1. Looking at the iPad from Two Angles – by David Pogue

The NYTimes’ Pogue is quite possibly my favorite columnist – it’s not just what he says, it’s how he says it. This column offers a 2-in-1 review of the iPad: one for techies, the other for regular folk the rest of us (I’m sorry to say I fall in the latter category). For all the iPad hype, there are some interesting points of contention in here that I didn’t know before reading this (for example that it will likely take years before many Web vids are viewable on the device because it doesn’t support Flash). I won’t spoil the rest—it’s worth the read.

2. 8 Easy Ways to Network on Twitter – by Cindy King

This has been on my list for a little while now and I finally dove in. Nicely written post about using Twitter as a networking tool (though I think it’s silly to think that you could confine Twitter-use to networking only) and good tips on making “real” connections.

3. First Person in Line iPad by Brenna Ehrlich at Mashable (thanks to Steve Myers @myersnews for this)

Back in grad school (do I throw that line into at least every DR. WHAW post?! I really did learn a lot Anyway, back in grad school, I heard about this guy, Greg Packer, who seeks opportunities for media coverage as a “man on the street”. Problem is, he’s not–he’s just a guy who is constantly trying to appear as though he is!  I can’t decide if I find him amusing or outrageous or strange. Maybe a combination of all 3. [For more on Greg Packer’s crusade, check out this Wall Street Journal article or Wikipedia piece.]

4. Do Media Literacy, Digital Literacy and Social Media Literacy Intersect? by Katlen Tillman

Very rich post (and Venn diagram!) on the overlap of understanding, using and managing in a digital-communications-driven-world. Although at times I don’t feel completely comfortable using social media tools, at the crux is one’s ability to communicate authentically, which as Tillman says, “enables relationships to create bridges of engagement through dialog and storytelling”. Isn’t that what both traditional and new media are striving for as we develop and create with these new-fangled tools?

5. 100 Days of Happy

I just heard about this blogger via a good friend and it’s the ONLY thing that has made me feel slightly better when dealing with some heartache recently (never before had I done a Google search on “how to fix a broken heart” – sad, I know). This twenty-something is blogging her way to happy by performing a daily act of happiness (as simple as taking a break to work on a crossword or as grand as constructing a fancy undergarment—to me, that’s fancy). It’s one thing to will yourself to move forward, but it’s quite another to dedicate time to blog about it as well, esp. in a way that others find inspiring (including myself here). Someone get this girl a book deal – stat!

That’s all for now – I think next week I’m going to throw in some items that I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work (but really wanted to) and instead added to my ‘favorites’ which is now filled to the brim. Happy (almost) Friday out there!