Disqus - Latest Comments for brianfrank

Re: Agile for Thinkers: How I’m Using Workboards to Organize My Creative Work

Brian Frank — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 13:21:25 -0000

Thanks Phronk. The full-time job has been my biggest challenge too. I used to just naturally do this in my head but that bandwidth is gone. If you buy groceries at Superstore I think they have whiteboards there (that's where I got mine), but I'm just using a wall for this.

Re: A Stroll with Jacques Barzun

Brian Frank — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:05:43 -0000

Thank you, I'm glad this found an appreciative reader or two.

Yes, I guess I should have mentioned, I did go back and finish and enjoy A Stroll with William James. I still go back to reference it or read it for pleasure from time to time.

Though I now regret not owning a copy of the Reader (I've relied on the library's), and will probably rectify that very soon.

Re: http://mtblog.ca/post/9751969939

Brian Frank — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:03:36 -0000

Wait… outside the window a guy in a jump suit is shooting sticky spider web strings out of his arms and swinging from building to building, and people complain that how the girl sits is unrealistic?

Re: INTPRSN - Ask me anything

Brian Frank — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:57:38 -0000

I took out a book on it a few years ago and didn't find much use for it, for me anyway. I prefer the granularity of the MBTI. I find it easier to understand how the types relate to each other -- and more importantly, how a person might go from being one type to another as circumstances change.

I did an online test just now to give the Enneagram a second chance and it pegged me as an Enthusiast. The description didn't describe me any more accurately than any one of the others would have (maybe 25% right on and 25% way off).

I can understand that different systems might suit different people better though -- it might just be that my differentiating characteristics align better along the MBTI than anything else.

Re: Do I Have Your Full Attention?

Brian Frank — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:25:01 -0000

One of my favourite parts of Infinite Jest (of the parts I've actually read) deals with this, kind of hilariously: http://kottke.org/10/06/dav...

Re: What Does Your Phone Know About You? More Than You Think - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:23:35 -0000

The point about having a UI that doesn't explicitly reference file structure is interesting. Like in the same way that it's morally easier to harm others through an intermediary (e.g. the trolly problem), opaque/abstractness of the interface leads us to discount risks which we should rationally rate more highly.

Re: http://intprsn.tumblr.com/post/4777829494

Brian Frank — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:16:48 -0000

No doubt. It's a tough balancing act... There's always more to learn to help resolve different communication styles (I've found theory useful but practice/experience is best -- at least in my, um, experience).

Re: http://intprsn.tumblr.com/post/4777829494

Brian Frank — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:53:35 -0000

Yep, that's the one I got too.

Re: Design Thinking Is A Failed Experiment. So What's Next? | Co.Design

Brian Frank — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:57:21 -0000

I'd add that aversion to systems isn't merely a quality of creativity but the whole definition.

Re: Why I Have Principles

Brian Frank — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:45:45 -0000

Click on the *Haidt link* -- and then *this one too* (which I also *blogged about* :)

You're right, I think. Haidt's whole thing is that "conservative" and "liberal" (and "Christian" and "atheist," etc) are manifestations of people's broader moral dispositions towards authority, purity, freedom.. and some others. I don't fully agree with his precise framework but it's as good first crack at it.

[Sorry for those corny asterisks around the links. Evidently my style sheet needs tweaking.]

Re: Why I Have Principles

Brian Frank — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:33:04 -0000

I think Jonathan Haidt might be who you're thinking of -- though I'm not sure if he quite goes as far as saying "pre-determined."

Re: Actually, This Is the Best Pringles Commercial (Starring Brad Pitt) - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:30:17 -0000

Looks like something one might have seen on MTV in its golden age (when it was a music channel).

Re: Corporations Try to Ride the Sheen Machine on Twitter - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:02:48 -0000

I think it makes explicit what marketing has always done. Part of me likes that it's more out in the open, concrete and easy to call out -- and I hope our hyper-exposure is making us more immune, i.e. media literate -- though the transparency of it does feel more insulting.

Re: Revealing the Man Behind @MayorEmanuel - Alexis Madrigal - Politics - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:25:17 -0000

I wish I followed from the start. I missed everything up until Tim Carmody's storifies last week. Really enjoyed those and this excellent profile.

Re: Risque Wii Game Begets Most Embarassing Videogame Ad Ever - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:11:49 -0000

I have nothing against sex toys, it's just sorta funny to see a Nintendo product evolving into one.

Re: Oh Nokia…

Brian Frank — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:04:20 -0000

Interesting. I haven't paid much attention to this stuff in... too long. I've always thought of Nokia as having randomly stumbled on a magic formula that was perfect for a few years around 2000, but when the market broadened they spread themselves too thin trying to keep their ridiculously large share.

Re: http://www.scottcourtice.ca/post/3012159156

Brian Frank — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:39:26 -0000

Thanks for posting this. It's reassuring that the process is being broadened. I'm kind of curious what suggestions have been put forward as 'easy stuff' for business expansion and job creation.

Re: Translated Excerpts from Egyptian Activists' Action Plan - Alexis Madrigal - International - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:24:02 -0000

Re: "clearly the only site that contains this information," note "the Guardian UK ran a summary of it earlier today."

Re: Translated Excerpts from Egyptian Activists' Action Plan - Alexis Madrigal - International - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:41:45 -0000

They have snitches identifying lawyers in the crowd but not already tipping off police to these tactics? People in hoodies, carrying spray cans and pot lids wouldn't have already attracted attention?

Re: So this SEO copywriter walks into a bar…

Brian Frank — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:23:27 -0000

Thanks Paul. Interesting that it's a little different. Case of different people having the same idea, in different places, at the same time?

There are some more variations listed & discussed here: http://www.theatlantic.com/...

Re: Twitter's Best Joke: An SEO Copywriter Walks Into a Bar... - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:23:46 -0000

When I was looking into this I thought a lot about how we've always had "walks into a bar" and "how many x does it take to change a lightbulb" jokes but never really felt the need (or had the means) to know who came up with them first.

Re: Community and Context: Thoughts on Closing Comments - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:32:29 -0000

The WikiLeaks saga is really highlighting the role of trust, how we maintain it, etc. Lanier ended on that note but maybe he should have started there.

All of the big players are acting as if they can assume a certain degree of trust. In the past we had fewer options of who to trust so most people (not everyone, of course) tended to trust authority -- whether in government, the press, or whatever. People didn't always agree, but at the end of the day most people just shrugged and accepted it (unless it was important enough to take action). But now new alternatives are constantly coming up and a lot are pretty compelling. The US government's response to WikiLeaks shows they're still assuming more trust than is warranted; it's kind of insulting: "let's just cover ourselves up again so we can carry on with the puppet show."

I'd say Assange is making the same mistake -- like he thinks he's automatically entitled to our trust as long as he espouses high-minded principles. I think the same is true of Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann and others: like they've attained a degree of authority once-and-for-all, at which it's sufficient to stand up on a platform waving one article around to incite partisan sentiment. But then when someone else incites a crowd against them they react in essentially the same way as the government: pull the curtain back, fortify the position, and keep talking down (when at all).

It's their right to act like that if they want -- and it works to some degree -- but it's increasingly risky (or decreasingly effective). With the internet, virtually anybody can use leaks to disrupt WikiLeaks or pull a Michael Moore on Michael Moore at any moment -- and then others can come along and do it to those people, and so on in a potentially infinite loop.

And then we really wouldn't know who to trust. I think the way out of that loop -- which I've learned largely from reading people like Jay Rosen -- is that everyone has to assume an obligation to constantly re-earn trust (instead of re-fortifying it) through everything we say and do: give people the means to verify and scrutinize sources for themselves, demonstrably adjust according to criticism, admit to mistakes and show corrections, etc.

Lanier's piece and this discussion about comments provides a good juxtaposition. (I liked the comparison to David Attenborough.) As Rosen pointed out, there's no way for us to follow up and see for ourselves exactly who or what Lanier is criticizing. He just assumes (like Moore and Assange and Joe Lieberaman) that he's already trust-worthy enough that he just needs to make the right gestures and readers will take his word for it. And by not linking and opening comments he signals that it's ok for "nerd supremacists" (whoever they are) and other potential harm-doers to do the same.

I'm not naive enough to think the internet will eliminate demagoguery -- in fact I worry that Lanier is right; the internet might even enable a more dangerous kind -- but merely talking about hazards matters less than how we talk about the hazards and get on with learning the best practices: e.g. this post and the discussion with it have been excellent -- looks like the whole experience has been a net win.

Re: See Who’s Using the Internet to Make Life Less Meaningful

Brian Frank — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:55:21 -0000

Yep, you just nailed it.

#meaninglesscomments
#stolenjokes

Re: Literary Writers and Social Media: A Response to Zadie Smtih - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Brian Frank — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:50:03 -0000

Thanks for the mention. This is exactly the kind of thing I've been trying to write for years -- though there's no way I could have written this. Like Cynic said, there's a great deal to like. Tough to imagine this not having a serious effect on the conversation about culture & tech. I'll be astonished if anyone can read this and still write something like "Generation Why?"

Re: How to Lose Elections and Alienate People

Brian Frank — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:56:45 -0000

Sup Allison! I seem to get quite a bit of traffic via "Laundry Cafe" searches.

Like you, I don't think many politicians really represents any very significant change...

Stay tuned, I might have more to say on that.