Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- Information overload, the early years – The Boston Globe. "If I had a dollar every time someone used the printing press as an analogy for the Internet, I’d be richer than many of its bubble-born billionaires. What was the world really like when the press came out? Mathew Ingram pointed me at this piece in the Boston Globe that looks at the world after print. Erasmus said of printers – the bloggers of his era – that they ‘fill the world with pamphlets and books that are foolish, ignorant, malignant, libelous, mad, impios, and subversive.’ Yep." (Alistair for Hugh).
- The Men Who Stole the World – Time. "Following a week where the Pirate Bay‘s founders were sentenced and Wikileaks made thousands of secrets open to everyone, it’s interesting to look back at where the web’s wild frontier came from. Feared by every big media insider, four youngsters changed the world; but a decade later, nothing’s turned out quite like we thought it would." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Marshall McLuhan on the Dick Cavett Show in December 1970. "(Audio of) Marshall McLuhan on The Dick Cavet Show, circa 1970, with Truman Capote and Chicago Bears running back, Gayle Sayers. Talking about language, music, rhythm, television, movies, art, Nixon/Kennedy… and facial hair." (Hugh for Alistair).
- “Smart editorial, smart readers, and smart ad solutions”: Slate makes a case for long-form on the web – Nieman Journalism Lab. "Conventional wisdom has it that the web destroys our concentration, and leaves no place for in-depth writing, reading, or journalism. Last year Slate editor, David Plotz, said, stuff conventional wisdom, and started an experiment with Slate writers and copy editors, codenamed Fresca. Fresca requires every editorial writer to take four to six weeks away from their normal writing assignments, to focus on a story or a series of stories of particular interest to them. The results have been a whole slew of in-depth, long-form articles on subjects ranging from homeland security to chicklit. It’s also resulted in something else: huge numbers of pageviews – with the most popular pieces getting millions of eyeballs. Turns out (corroborated by NYTimes.com) good, long pieces get the most attention on the web." (Hugh for Mitch).
- A Silicon Bubble Shows Signs Of Reinflating – Dealbook – The New York Times. "Is it good news or bad news for start-ups when the money starts to drop from the sky (once again)? On the last go-round, we lacked several key components to making the money really count. You know, things like connectivity, a considerable amount of people online, trust in e-commerce and many other huge mitigating factors. Whether it’s a real bubble or not, it’s going to be hard to deliver an empty box in a nice package in the day and age of Social Media. Regardless, the money is starting to get stupid again. If you don’t believe this article, consider that Groupon just turned down a six billion dollar offer from Google while LivingSocial (a Groupon-like service) took 175 million dollars from Amazon. Get ready for some major excitement… and pray that it’s not just another bubble waiting to burst." (Mitch for Alistair).
- Engineering Search: The story of the algorithm that changed the world (new radio doc) – PR Conversations. "A new radio documentary on search engines will be broadcast tomorrow. Engineering Search: The Story of the Algorithm that Changed the World, will be on CBC Radio One‘s The Sunday Edition on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 (that’s tomorrow!) at 10:05 a.m. It can also be streamed live from the CBC Radio web page. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t turned into a Podcast shortly after the broadcast date. The documentary will feature commentary from Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis, Clay Shirky and many others." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.