Archive for May, 2009
Attention, Glorious and Critical
We live in an attention economy. Which really means our attention has scattered. There is danger here.
Advertisers and news sources spend enormous resources to get our attention. They’re getting better at it, too. A lot of the ads I see these days are actually things I’m interested in. Further, constant connection splits our attention. I’ve [...]
Twitter: An Explanation
I was helping a friend out with some Twitter questions via email and thought my response to her might actually be useful to others. So here it is:
First, for 140 characters a shot, Twitter is a big topic. So I’ll stick to the basics: followers, following, dangers, protocol, and a tool.
Followers:
You will accrue followers. The [...]
Join Three Women of Speculative Fiction on Wednesday
Join me, Robin Hobb, and Louise Marley at Park Place Books on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM. We’ll be discussing our books and how science fiction and fantasy can be positive images for young adults. I hope to see some of you there. I know it may be a sunny evening, but come on out, [...]
FiRE (Future in Review) Day 4: Africa, the Oceans, Language, and Whales
The morning started with the most explicit of the conversations on philanthropy: a look at the work Pearson Learning has done in Africa, and a brief discussion of project Inkwell. The first project we saw, the Sara Communication Initiative, helps girls in Africa tell their stories, and actually brought me to tears for a moment. [...]
FiRE (Future in Review) Day 3: China, the flu, Elon Musk, and Calit2
Wow. I heard there are 87 speakers. With half a day left to go, I think we are through at least 60 of them. I couldn’t give back what they gave to me without writing for hours. So once more, here are a few highlights:
Basically, on the topic of global economics, the most time went [...]
FiRE (Future in Review) Day 2: Leadership, the Economy, Thorium, and Dolphins
So the day here in San Diego felt like sitting in the chair being hit by bullets of information. The format is that there are multiple back to back 1/2 hour segments with industry and thought leaders from around the world. I’m not even going to try to capture the day in total. But here’s [...]
In Which I am Included in the SFSignal Mind Meld
The Mind Meld over at SFSignal is a fun little exercise. I first noticed the one they did on women science fiction writers (well, I wonder why?). Anyway, I’m included in the newest one, which is about what books we recommend to people who aren’t usually science fiction and fantasy writers. Go on over there [...]
FiRE (Future in Review) Day 1: The Speed of the Atmoshpere
I’m lucky enough to be the invited science fiction interviewee at FiRE, a conference that is not only about the future but about how to actually do the work to create a future we can thrive in. Today was registration, a cocktail party on a lawn by a beach, a lovely dinner, and a dinner [...]
Updates on Social Tools for Writers
About a month ago, I posted about using social tools for marketing and connecting with folks. This post is an update to the earlier post on the topic. Then, I said I wanted to learn these tools and figure out how to use them to help me market and be present on the Internet in [...]
Announcing a New Column at Futurismic
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be doing a new column at Futurismic. The introduction to the column can be found here. I’m really pleased to be associated with the site – it’s one of the better science and science fiction sites out there right now. Futurismic comes in three pieces: blog, columns, and [...]
