Web sites trade links as currency, pointing readers' attention to valuable content. Meanwhile, a network of independent curators has sprung up on sites like Twitter and Facebook, directing those valuable clicks to handpicked sources. By creating uncertainty about whether those links will work for all visitors (readers might have used up their metered allowance for the month), The Times will dissuade the sharing of links on blogs and social networks. Popular blogs like ours will seek out other sources to link to...
January, 21 2010 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
From the New York Times Room for Debate Blog: Initially, any new information medium seems to degrade reading because it disturbs the balance between focal and peripheral attention. This was true as early as the invention of writing, which Plato complained hollowed out focal memory. Similarly, William Wordsworth’s sister complained that he wasted his mind in the newspapers of the day. It takes time and adaptation before a balance can be restored, not just in the “mentality” of the reader, as historians of the book...
October, 16 2009 • 0 Comments • 0 Faves
From the New York Times - To the Editor: Many Americans get health insurance through their employer. So if they become chronically ill to the extent that they can’t work, they lose both income and access to health care. That fact alone ought to be enough to scrap our current system and come up with a universal plan for everyone. The rich probably can’t even imagine the plight of being seriously ill and having no help available. But how dare anyone condemn plans that would assure coverage for everyone. Who among...
August, 25 2009 • 1 Comment • 0 Faves
Former jazz pianist. Work at Tisch School of the Arts. Live in Brooklyn, NY.
