Published in Online Spin, May 11th 2012

If I asked you to move a brick wall, how would you do it?

Would you slam your weight against it until it began to budge?

Would you get a digger, rip it out of the ground, and drop it in its new location? Would you tell me it’s impossible?

Published in Online Spin, May 4th 2012

In any given moment, we are surrounded, in vast quantities: millions upon millions of them, crowding and jostling for our attention. Some people become overwhelmed by them. Some try to create relationships with them. Some people ignore them totally.

Published in Online Spin, April 27th 2012

A few months ago, Inc. magazine taught me that the classic definition of an entrepreneur was coined 37 years ago, by Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson. An entrepreneur, he said, is someone who pursues opportunities without regard of the resources currently under control.

Published in Online Spin, April 20th 2012

Last May, we ran a TEDx event focused on the future of post-quake Christchurch. It arose from the rubble at lightning speed; in just two and a half months, we pulled together 17 speakers from New Zealand and around the globe, a roster of sponsors that ranged from big corporates to government agencies to self-employed photographers, and an on-site audience of 700 people.

Published in Online Spin, April 13th 2012

It’s only been four days, but by now, you’ve probably seen the Caine’s Arcade video. If you haven’t, I give you my personal guarantee that this mini-documentary -- about a 9-year-old’s DIY cardboard arcade getting flashmobbed -- will rank up there for the best 10 minutes you spend this year.

Published in Online Spin, April 6th 2012

Published in Online Spin, March 30th 2012

I agree that an employer should never ask you for your Facebook password as a condition of employment. Actually, they should never ask you for your Facebook password, period -- just as they should never tap your phone or install a closed-circuit camera in your bathroom. Some things are just common sense.

Published in Online Spin, March 23rd 2012

The politically correct answer, obviously, is, “Yes.” The statistically correct answer is, “Yes,” as well. In 2009, according to The National Center for Women & Information Technology, while women held 58% of professional jobs overall in the U.S., we only held 25% of professional computing positions. Similarly, while 57% of 2009 undergraduate degree recipients were women, only 18% of recipients of computer and information sciences degrees were female -- down from 37% in 1985.

Published in Online Spin, March 16th 2012

In 1999, Ken LaVan and I wrote a book called “The Real People’s Guide to the Internet.” In it, we marveled at the Internet’s size and power. “Currently, there are approximately 132 million people who use the Internet,” we wrote, “and, by the year 2000, it is estimated that 400 million people will access the Web.” According to Internet World Stats, that prediction was a bit high -- there were almost 361 million online at the end of 2000. By the end of 2011, however, that number had grown to more than 2.2 billion.

Published in Online Spin, March 9th 2012

I’ve spent the last few days reviewing entries for the Interactivity category of the Prix Jeunesse competition. The age group I was tasked to look at was 7-12-year-olds, and I was amazed -- and impressed -- by how many of the sites and apps proffered for consideration dealt with difficult topics: a mother’s breast cancer, a child’s homosexuality, a social services intervention, and even the death of a classmate.