-
Generative, Personal, but not Artificial
Why is Apple so allergic to the term “AI”? Yesterday’s WWDC conference was split between new OS updates and the big Apple Intelligence announcement. Just like all these articles pointed out back at WWDC 2023, once again never said “artificial intelligence” or “AI” once. But this time, they did say “intelligence”… a lot! Besides Apple…
-
Looking the other direction to learn more deeply
Have you ever noticed that in The Great Wave off Kanagawa print by Hokusai has more than 20 people in it? I certainly didn’t and the clip below from the excellent BBC series, The Art of Japanese Life, gave me a whole new appreciation for this picture. Watch starting at 36:17 to see the specific…
-
Planting seeds as a teaching mindset
“That impulse to scour away the messiness that makes life resilient is what many conservation biologists call the ‘pathology of command and control.’”— Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon, NOEMA Magazine All of my favourite learning experiences can be considered states of managed chaos. They share the trait of feeling like playgrounds where the outcomes weren’t…
Get my updates straight in your inbox
-
The pitfalls of virtual workshops
When I give a workshop in person, I don’t have to worry about whether people are familiar with the tools. Participants can focus on the activity, as the cognitive load required to use markers, Post-its, and whiteboards is minimal. These tools have clear affordances and exist in a shared space where the laws of physics…
-
I watched a YouTube tutorial. Now what?
My YouTube feed is 40% tutorials, 40% tech reviews and 20% cute animals. I consume more tutorials than is useful, particularly about music production — which is funny because I don’t even make music. I’m pretty confident I’m not alone in this. In fact, “how-to” is one of the most searched terms on Google, and…
-
Let go of anchoring bias to build more effective products
Last week, I tried a new video conferencing tool called Around created by a startup with the same name. Having recently raised $15 million in funding, their big claim is that their product can eliminate Zoom fatigue, the newly coined term for exhaustion caused by too much time spent on video calls. Screenshot of around.co…
-
1,001 terms for improving AI won’t get us anywhere
There are a lot of people out there working to make artificial intelligence and machine learning suck less. In fact, earlier this year I joined a startup that wants to help people build a deeper connection with artificial intelligence by giving them a more direct way to control what algorithms can do for them. We’re…
-
How Netflix's rating system is hurting our documentaries
After watching Seaspiracy, Netflix’s hotly debated documentary about the unsustainable practices of industrial fisheries, my mixed feelings about the limitations of the platform’s thumbs-based rating system were vividly revived. I found Seaspiracy to be sensationalist, highly biased, and in some cases factually problematic. (Since I’m not here to explain these problems, I invite you to…
-
Adding a social layer across the web
Our current model for the social internet is destination-based. We have to stop what we’re doing, head to a social media app or site, then start sharing and interacting with others. Think of these social media sites as malls and every other website as independent shops and houses in a sprawling suburb. The suburb is…
-
Keyword foraging: the key to better search tools
Before you look up something online, you might first need to figure out what keywords will help you find it. This has become a common enough occurence that the usability experts at the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) recently released a term for it: Keyword foraging. In their article, they focus primarily on how online creators…
-
We need more friction in our algorithms
Inan insightful talk by Steve Selzer, the designer and creative director paints a picture of how our “frictionless” world has long been dictated by Silicon Valley startups. In particular, the dominant formula for apps is to make them as brainlessly easy to use as possible. Need a taxi? Hail it with a button. Craving a…
-
Personalization didn’t have to suck
In an attempt to peel away from shady data practices, I’ve started using more private browsers, opting out of data sharing on websites, and logging out of my Google account and social media to minimize cross-site tracking. For the most part, the only immediately noticeable thing that has come out of this is that my…