So regular linky readers will have noticed my frequency of posting has decreased. I’ve decided not to fight this tendency, so for the time being linky will be coming only on an occasional basis. Several reasons:
Declining readership: I threw in some basic stat counters when I did my Buffy series, and readership here is showing a slow but steady decline. I don’t particularly care – but this is, I think, part of a general disengagement with blogs all over the internet as social media and the app ecology get more settled in place. It isn’t a dealbreaker for me, but it doesn’t help…
Link roundups are like old-fashioned dad don’t you know anything: As Twitter and Facebook become ever more essential to online life, it is increasingly clear that a weekly link roundup is old-fashioned. Often I’ve put a link in the post draft on Monday, seen it blow up on Wednesday, and by Friday it’s old news. Links get shared fast and individually! And while I do believe there is a role for curation (I love the Nextdraft newsletter which is delivers smart linky three times a week), I don’t think I do it well enough to stand against the trend. But you know what? I don’t particularly care about this one either.
My ipad: the real driver of change, then? It’s my ipad. Because over the last year I have increasingly moved my casual internet use on to my trusty old ipad 2. This beast is now quite old in computing terms, but it’s chugging along as well as ever. (I am impressed, Apple!) It is now more pleasant than the laptop for Facebook and Twitter and Plus and Gmail, which is most of my internet activity right now. I can even do some solid productivity on it in google docs or dedicated apps like celtx and Final Draft. (And Scrivener for iOS is coming!) But one thing it does not do well is task switching. And task switching is the fundamental requirement for assembling a linky post. When I see a link I want to grab the URL and paste it into a draft linky post, or in some intermediary spot if possible. But the ipad just strugggggles with this. I hope & trust newer ipads do it better, but I’m not looking to upgrade until I’m forced to.
So. That’s the score.
Anyway, here’s the partial draft that’s been sitting here for a month now:
“The first “job” today’s kids have to answer is, what the hell am I going to do that anyone is willing to pay me for? And each kid, increasingly, is expected to answer this alone as an individual. When poor or less-educated people do this, its called “hustling” but when it trickles upwards to the children of the 1%, its our national economic plan.” Entrepreneurship means I give up (via Allen Varney)
Fully appreciating culture without appropriation: a guide in 15 steps (I saw this all over the place)
The Grim Test, a method for evaluating published research for shady manipulations (via Michael R)
The first two phone book volumes of Cerebus are available in PDF for free download! (I’ve tried three times but the download has failed each time. Maybe you’ll have more luck?)
And, just yesterday, via Pearce and already turning up everywhere else because that’s how these things work: Disney Princesses as cats as sharks