Tag Archives: environment

How People Defeated the Open Web

The Internet began, first and foremost, as a collaboration tool. ARPAnet was designed for scientists to be able to connect with each other via asynchronous text message (aka e-mail) and change the world with discoveries.

Then, as networks of networks began cropping up and coming together, the promise got even broader. By the 1980s and early 1990s, you could e-mail someone (or many someones) all over the world even if you weren’t a scientist — even if you were a home hobbyist with a slow modem dialing up into the night.

The promise was great — the Internet was a communication tool that could Democratize, that could bring populations and communities together. When the web came along, it wasn’t very long until the technology was adapted for bulletin boards (web-based BBSes, essentially) and threaded discussion systems.

It seemed as though the promise was becoming real — anybody with a computer could participate in open discussions about a variety of topics, learning and sharing knowledge along the way.

Today, though, where are we? There are some pockets of such discussion around. But the far more common trend is the other direction. As an example, yesterday, Popular Science announced they were shutting off comments altogether on their site.

Their logic? Comments were bad for science. Why? Because anybody with a computer could participate in open discussions about a variety of topics, not learning but sharing opinion along the way.

Almost the same as the promise, but not exactly. And herein lies the conundrum: Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and in our country at least, they’re entitled to speak it. But there is no entitlement to a forum, and no entitlement to having other people listen. When we are increasingly self-selecting our information sources to conform to our own worldview, we have less and less patience for viewpoints diametrically opposed to our own.

So what does this have to do with technology? Part of it is unintended consequences — building a system that allows for basically unfettered communication in order to break down barriers for learning also breaks down barriers for opinion.

But another part is a reminder about technology’s limits. Few would argue (certainly not me) that the fault here is the technology, or that widespread networked computing is a bad thing. Rather, there’s something more societal that gives us values that permit (if not encourage) anonymous sniping and/or closed-minded trolling.

And there’s not much that technology can do about that.

Getting to Forest Height

I’ve just gotten back from a lovely vacation, spending some time relaxing and away from the pressures and day-to-day of work. While the vacation glow persists for another day or two, it got me to thinking about the tremendous value of just stepping back for a bit.

It is a truism that we often miss the forest for the trees; that is, we get so enmeshed in the detail of things that we can miss large-scale trends or broader context. That’s not to say the details aren’t important — in fact, in terms of execution, they’re incredibly important — but in isolation, they can be crippling.

Getting even just a few days away from the current project can be helpful to come back to it with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. New approaches are more obvious, as are (more importantly) new questions: Why are we doing it this way? Are we really on track to meet the intended needs? Does this all still make sense?

The tech world mythologizes the start-up work environment where everybody works 20 hours a day and sleeps in their cubicle (or works around the clock from their bedroom). There are times when that may be necessary or desirable. But I’d submit they are pretty few, and if they’re not interspersed with time for recharging and replenishing both cognitively and emotionally, you may end up confusing motion with progress.

The Importance of the Side Project

Every job has its ups and downs, not just the job of elevator operator. (Sorry, old and bad joke.) There are parts of the work that are engaging and interesting, finding answers to problems and implementing those solutions. And then there are the other parts — the prerequisites, the occasional begrudging task.

That’s where the side project comes in. Around our offices, we make sure that everyone has a side project to keep them sharp and engaged, even when the primary project might be a little stultifying. This gives our team members a chance to step away, shift gears, and focus on a different matter for a while.

It’s useful not just to provide a palate cleanser for drudgery. Sometimes, we can get so enmeshed in the norms and expectations of a specific project that our vision begins to narrow. Keeping another project on the side enables us to shift that perspective and keep our sights broad.

For some of our team, it’s a passion project — helping reach out to an underserved community through Internet broadcasting, for instance. For others, it’s a project that might end up being commercial one day, like a new and improved nonprofit management system. Still others combine the two, exploring a recreational opportunity app, for instance. (For one of us, it’s writing for this blog!)

Regardless of the specific project, it’s something we prize greatly, and I think it helps us stay sharp and balanced. Because even with the most fun of projects, there’s always a chance to get sucked in a bit too far!