I: On Top of the World
I’ve always wanted to save the world. When I was younger, and more messianic, I thought I might have to do it all myself. As the world knocked sense into me, I…
Introduction: Magic Pudding
To effect change within governmental institutions, you need to be conscious of two important limits. First, resources are always at a premium; you need to work within…
This article will be published in the Blackwell Companion to New Media Dynamics.
Introduction: The Age of Connection
Anthropologists have appropriated the word ‘toolkit’ to describe the suite…
With every day, with every passing hour, the power of the state mobilizes against Wikileaks and Julian Assange, its titular leader. The inner processes of statecraft have never been so completely…
Introduction: In The Beginning
Back in the 1980s, when personal computers mostly meant IBM PCs running Lotus 1*2*3 and, perhaps, if you were a bit off-center, an Apple Macintosh running Aldus …
I: No Fate
I started using the World Wide Web in October of 1993. To say that the Web was primitive and ugly at that early date is to miss the point completely, making fun of a baby just emerged…
(Warning, this analysis is essentially a huge spoiler for The Social Network. You may not want to read this until you’ve seen the film.)
I am a serial entrepreneur. At various times I started…
Introduction: Olden Days
In February 1984, seeking a reprieve from the very cold and windy streets of Boston, Massachusetts, I ducked inside of a computer store. I spied the normal array of IBM…
At the close of the first decade of the 21st century, we find ourselves continuously connecting to one another. This isn’t a new thing, although it may feel new. The kit has changed – that much is…
I: Paper, works
At the end of May I received an email from a senior official at the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. It was End of Finanical Year, the official…
I: The Comfy Chair
Back in 1978 – when I was just fifteen – I begged my parents to let me enroll in a course at the local community college (the equivalent of TAFE) so that I could take ‘Data…
I: The Drive to Connect
Recently I spent a weekend in Melbourne visiting my good friends Darren and Leah, whom I’ve known since I first moved to Australia. Last December they conceived, and in…
