Blog

I have been blogging about digital technology’s impact on culture and our lives since 2007. I post when inspiration strikes as I’m working on various projects.

 

How to remain calm in a sea of chaos at the workplace

My guest blog post is now live on Hiten Vyas's website all about empowering yourself. Entitled, "How to remain calm in a sea of chaos at the workplace", I share how I keep my head when times get hairy at work. I also contributed a custom illustration for the post....

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How to create compelling spontaneous video

I thoroughly enjoy attending the NSA Conference every year. And as an audio podcaster, I am compelled to record each day to include in an audio documentary for my audience. This year, however, I decided to try something different. Video! For years I wanted to create...

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I’ll be talking community building on 49Pixels Live

I'll be on 49Pixels Live with my friend, Dr. Vibe, next week. Hosted by digital media and entrepreneur aficionados, Justin Kozuch and Lindsay Munro, 49Pixels Live is a weekly podcast about technology, digital marketing and entrepreneurship with guests who are industry...

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Art gallery community management

I checked out the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa last week and was met with a complete surprise. I ran into my friends, Rob and Katherine, before getting in line. Katherine snapped a photo and tweeted: We walked into the Van Gogh exhibit...

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Who said email was dead?

Remember a while back when all the social media bloggers kept saying how email was dead? No one's using it anymore. Social media is where all the attention is at! HA! First it was Twitter who started sending me email digests. Complete with retweets from people on...

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G+ is what blogging should have been years ago

I learn fascinating new things every time I have a chat with my friend, Steve Harris. We had met for lunch yesterday and got talking about the things we like about G+. Steve mentioned that G+ is what blogging should have been years ago. G+ isn't a social network. It's...

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Flame War

Are you an Apple fanboy? An Android fanboy? Does it even matter? We sure tend to get quite passionate in the tools and brands that we use. While there can be plenty of reasons to argue about which device is better but... why bother? Looking at it from the big picture,...

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Privacy

We need to fight for our privacy as digital tools become more useful, practical and ubiquitous while shareholders continue to seek profits. Which side does the fighter in this painting represent? The concerned end user or the social networks trying to change our...

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Disruption

Like a new baby in the family, digital technology keeps on disrupting everything in life and society. Some of it is good like the sound of a baby giggling. And some of the disruption is not so good like stinky diapers, no sleep and minivans. As with the arrival of a...

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Throttling

The unfinished feel of this painting represents my frustration with trying to get my work done while ISPs continue their throttling and traffic shaping practices. And I have a hard time believing that it's a cost issue on their part. I'm not stealing movies or sharing...

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Distraction

I love social media and took to it like a fish to water. Along with its many nice benefits, there are a number of not-so-nice side affects. Now whenever I work on my art, I am constantly distracted by the urge to stop and share a photo of my work in progress with the...

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Just Like Me

No matter what shiny new network comes out, they all pretty much do the same thing. Connect people who share common interests. This painting is a homage to my online stuttering community. Growing up stuttering is quite challenging and it's most often impossible to...

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Children and Tech

I was excited when my 9 year old niece got her iPod. Now we can communicate remotely, too! Then I immediately realized all the little things we adults need to stay on top of to ensure their safety. Are the restriction settings enough? Do the adults around the child...

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Accessibility

I really can't stand bad user experience design. I also can't stand it when the mobile version of a website or mobile app leaves out core features. Or when a site isn't designed with people using assistive technologies in mind. Or when a site doesn't work properly in...

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Long Distance Communication

Technology has enabled us to communicate at long distances from writing letters to the telegraph, from the telephone to the Internet – heck even mailing audio and video cassettes in the 80s and 90s. Now with social media, we can be connected all the time from anywhere...

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An API for G+ Hangouts!

Now things are going to get really interesting! Google announced a shiny API which will allow developers to create collaborative apps for G+ Hangouts. According to the Google+ Platform website, this API will enable developers to "build games where you can see...

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Hangouts are now on the air!

I'm really excited about the roll out of Hangouts On Air to everyone. Branded pages, too. With this option enabled, you can broadcast your G+ Hangout on YouTube and archive for later viewing. Of course, you're able to also broadcast from your G+ stream and use...

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11 G+ Hangout best practices

If you've had a chance to read my previous blog post introducing Google+ Hangouts, you'd know I'm a big fan of the free video conferencing feature of Google's social network, Google+. Enticed to give a Hangout a try? With six months of Hangout participating and host...

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