Monthly Archives

June 2010

Focusing on…Focus

Internet, Rant, Technology, Television by
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A few days ago, I posted briefly on a New York Times article talking about the remapping of our brains that occurs when we multitask heavily or even just use computers in general. Echoing this article’s view that more media = less focus is a piece by Nicholas Carr from the June issue of Wired (which I was reading on paper, thank you very much) which discusses the distracting nature of hypertext hyperactive content.

A 2007 scholarly review of hypertext experiments concluded that jumping between digital documents impedes understanding. And if links are bad for concentration and comprehension, it shouldn’t be surprising that more recent research suggests that links surrounded by images, videos, and advertisements could be even worse.

The takeaway seems to be that we are causing our brains to remake themselves in order to deal with a wide breadth of stuff – that never goes very deep.  Bad, computers!  Shame on you, technology! Or maybe not.  Because in the exact same issue, Wired, asked two researchers of personal motivation, Clay Shirky and Daniel Pink, to discuss what is being termed (by Shirky) “the cognitive surplus.”  Their argument goes a little something like this: with more options for putting our time to use than ever before, free time pursuits will become more varied, taking forms never seen before.  Though not precisely related to the idea of focus, this statement did get me thinking:

When someone buys a TV, the number of consumers goes up by one, but the number of producers stays the same. When someone buys a computer or mobile phone, the number of consumers and producers both increase by one.

Whoa!  And it’s true – I often find myself cursing the lack of hours in the day to get caught up on my favorite TV shows when I fill my evenings with blogging, online reading or freelance design.  If it weren’t for these infernal computers stuffing my free time with their distractions, I could take part in the much more honorable 200 billion hours of television that I should be watching with my fellow Americans this year!

(As originally posted on my Instructional Technology work blog.)

48hr Magazine, issue zero

General Entertainment, Print by
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You may recall me mentioning that I had ordered my very own copy of 48hr Magazine, a super creative project that aimed to do just what the name implied: put out a magazine in just 48 hours.  Well, a few days ago, issue zero arrived in the mail and it was stupendous.

Tucking in with a bowl of leftover curry chicken, I discovered that it doesn’t take weeks and millions of dollars to produce a smart, well-laid out publication afterall.  (In fact, I think that all students should be required to look at 48hr before embarking on any school publication from here on out.)  A truly dedicated team with enough coffee, beer and donated office space – as well submissions from around the globe – can produce one of the smartest, funniest magazines I’ve read in recent memory.

If you pick up your own 48hr Magazine from MagCloud, be sure to go straight for “20 Minutes with Lady Gaga” by Rob Dubbin and “Catastrophic Black Hole Insurance Sales Manual: An Excerpt” by William Poor.  An excerpt from the latter:

Instead ask: How might a black hole affect you and your loved ones?  Who will provide for your children if you are taken by a singularity?

Moon art? Yes.

Art, Technology, Unexplained by
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During the 1960s, Bell Labs asked six artists – including Warhol – to submit drawings that were shrunken and printed on a tiny tile that was then shipped off to the moon in secret. This is the awesomest story I have ever read.

Thanks to io9 for reporting on this – and the upcoming PBS documentary on it!

Advertising right, Korea

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Caught this tonight while reading up on the new iPhone and doing some freelance work. Absolutely stunning – completely stopped me in my tracks. Shouldn’t all tourism ads be this brilliant?

Smart advertising

Cars by
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While reading Jalopnik this morning, I noticed advertisements for Pennsylvania’s Tourism campaign, Visit PA. This particular campaign has been very active, even posting banners for Fallingwater, the Warhol Museum and rafting on the Youghiogheny River in the London Tube stations that caught me off guard on a 2005 trip. What made this morning’s ads so clever was that they drew viewers in with pre-planned roadtrips – perfect for a car blog!

Visit PA’s Roadtrip-a-Matic