Joe

Asymmetry by Choice

Perhaps the most powerful form of asymmetric information is missing from JP Rangaswami’s post addressing whether the web is making us dumber. I agree with the core point of JP’s article, but I think he oversimplifies the argument on asymmetry in a way that misses something important about the power of information.
JP defines four types [...]

Steve Blank at the Pescadrome in Santa Barbara April 14, 2010

Steve Blank, Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur and author of Four Steps to the Epiphany, will be presenting at the Fishbon Event Lab, Wednesday April 14 in Santa Barbara. The Event Lab starts at 7ish with a potluck barbecue, followed by the presentation at around 8:30.
Steve’s startup experiences include E.piphany, Zilog, MIPS Computers, Convergent Technologies, [...]

Beyond Data Ownership to Information Sharing

Beyond Data Ownership to Information Sharing

The question of who owns our data on the Internet is a challenging problem. It can also be a  red herring, distracting us from building the next generation of online services.
The term “ownership” simply brings too much baggage from the physical world, suggesting a win-lose, us-verses-them mentality that retards the development of rich, powerful services [...]

Digital cleansing

Digital cleansing

Several folks (Matt Cutts and John Meyer, among others) have called for a break from our social networking, online everything world.
Sure.
It’s about time.

I sated myself long ago on the digital high of social networking, whether you call it Twitter, Facebook, or something else. We, the Kool-Aid drinkers, will try just about any new technical gadget [...]

A fresh breath

This last year (2009) was the most challenging ever for me, both personally and professionally. Good times, tough problems, people that transformed my heart, and ideas that changed my perspective. It wasn’t always easy, but each challenge had its own reward.
I’m looking forward to writing a bit more this year, opening the conversation up about [...]

Ephemera and Permanence — Tweets for Life

Respectfully, Doc, I think you underestimate the value of the permatweet.
I’m still haunted by hearing that users get a maximum number Twitter postings (tweets) before the old ones scroll off. If true, it means Twitter is a whiteboard, made to be erased after awhile. The fact that few know what the deal is, exactly, also makes [...]

User Driven Services: 10. Duty of Care

User Driven Services: 10. Duty of Care

10. Duty of Care
User Driven Services look out for their users’ well-being.
If a service is truly acting in our best interests, it will take appropriate measures to protect us from dangers resulting from our use of the service. User Driven Services continually work to minimize user exposure to liability, risk, and potential harm.
Minimal identity information [...]

User Driven Services: 9. Self-managed Identity

User Driven Services: 9. Self-managed Identity

9. Self-managed Identity
User Driven Services let users manage their own online identity.
Unless we control our identity online, we risk unnecessary exposure to identity theft and unwanted correlation of online activity. At the same time, online services increase the risk of attacks when using the same identifier for multiple functions.
User Driven Services allow users to [...]

User Driven Services: 8. Improvability

User Driven Services: 8. Improvability

8. Improvability
User Driven Services can be improved by users.
A closed system can’t predict and satisfy all the needs of all its users, all the time. Sooner or later, someone will eventually desire a new feature or capability beyond the resources or interest of the service provider. User Driven Services take advantage of that motivation, allowing [...]

User Driven Services: 7.  User Generativity

User Driven Services: 7. User Generativity

7. User Generativity
Users contribute to User Driven Services.

User Driven Services build on active, engaged participation in value creation. Users should be empowered to augment, annotate, and contribute to the underlying service as much as possible. By enabling users to pro-actively co-create the service experience—and to share that co-created value with other users—services tap into [...]