Links, January 2011

Forever

Mandy Brown on digital permanence.

Jan. 17, 2011 perspective publishing webdev

Today You, Tomorrow Me

A nominee for Reddit’s best comment of 2010:

Just about every time I see someone I stop. I kind of got out of the habit in the last couple of years, moved to a big city and all that, my girlfriend wasn’t too stoked on the practice. Then some shit happened to me that changed me and I am back to offering rides habitually. If you would indulge me, it is long story and has almost nothing to do with hitch hiking other than happening on a road.

Read the whole thing; it’s a wonderful story. Let’s all just be nice to one another, OK?

Jan. 14, 2011 inspiration

Bibliotype

Craig Mod:

Bibliotype is a (very) simple HTML, CSS and JS based library for rapid prototyping long-form typography and reading on tablets.

Launched in conjunction with his thoughtful A List Apart article.

Jan. 11, 2011 design ebooks publishing webdev

The Web Is a Customer Service Medium

Paul Ford:

I sometimes chat with people in the book- and magazine-publishing industries. They complain to me about the web. They worry about what is being lost. […]

The web, they are a little proud to admit, confuses them. They say: “We gave away all those short stories on our website but it sold no books.” Or: “We built a promo site for our famous author who does the crime novels and it was just a total boondoggle with no traffic.” Or: “The magazine can’t get enough pageviews, even after we hired the famous blogger. Now management wants to make people pay for access.”

“Look,” I say, “maybe you’re doing it wrong.”

“But,” they say, “we tweet.”

That’s when I tell them about the fundamental question of the web.

Jan. 6, 2011 community publishing webdev

Chris Ballard on Pop-A-Shot

For SI.com:

I have witnessed some unlikely sights in my day, but this was surreal. There on TV was Kobe Bryant, perhaps the most competitive man alive, losing a shooting contest. Not just losing, either, but getting his ass kicked. By a short, bald, middle-aged busboy.

Jan. 5, 2011 basketball sports