The Difference Between Consumers and Customers Part Three

I’ve always found the Cathedral and Bazaar metaphor compelling. Movie theaters, newspapers, television, radio, magazines are all cathedrals. The publishers place an artificial separation between them and the audience/consumers/eyeballs/gullets for their complete, discrete, highly-produced artifacts. One-size fitting all. Weblogs, Wikis, Bulletin Boards are bazaars. Down in the dirt. Personal connections, relationships, conversations, building-blocks. Each new …

Apophenia – Seeing Patterns that Don’t Exist

I first heard the word ‘apophenia’ in Moira Gunn’s interview with William Gibson almost a year ago. Since then, it’s meaning has come to mind more than a couple times – though I had forgotten the word itself. In each instance, I’ve Googled for what bits of the word I could remember – yet came …

Why Conferences Should Be Free

Earlier this week, Lori and I were talking about the crazy $500-$1,000+ ticket prices for industry conferences. Considering the you’d have to block the time off your calendar, close up the shop, and book travel, the additional admission cost seems like a good way to artificially prevent people from showing up. At every professional-related meeting …

Web 2.0 is a Second Chance At Fulfilling the Web’s Promise

The promise of the web has always been frictionless communication, ease, speed, and joy. Yes, the term “Web 2.0” is “a big, vague, nebulous cloud of pure architectural nothingness”. The lack of it’s specificity is a problem. I’ve also heard the cynical: “Web 2.0 is Javascript.” Five years ago web developers failed at fulfilling the …

This Blog Isn’t Paying My Mortgage…Yet

We didn’t win the lottery last night. Thankfully, Tim from Winecast sent over the How Much is Your Blog Worth calculator based on the AOL-Weblogs, Inc deal. Looks like I’m well on my way to easy street…as long as I keep typing…..must keep typing….fingers burn…must keep typing… $57,018.54 – GarrickVanBuren.com $ 6,774.48 – FirstCrackPodcast.com – …

Help, Help, I’m Not Being Oppressed

There’s a renewed DIY/independence/hacker vibe going around, Dave Slusher says it needs a name. I agree. From my perspective, this vibe is about all of us making effective use of cheap tools – to serve our own individual/custom purposes first, and offering the finished product to others to extend and enhance. I hesitate to use …

Starbucks is Ideal for Lazy Vacationers

The wife and I spent this past weekend in the middle of Wisconsin. We’re both particular about our coffee and we both enjoy joking about measuring distance in Starbucks. At home, we prefer local roasters like Dunn Bros or White Rock. But you don’t know the relief we sighed when Wausau got their first Starbucks. …

A Suggestion for Shareware-ing TV and Movies

I’ve got a handful of password-protected PDF files. I can share those files with anyone, back them up on as many computers or discs as I’d like. If I want to actually read them, I need the password. The password cost me a $10 or $50 or what have you. I’d like to see this …