“A team of scientists have finally bothered to do a study, crunch the numbers, and come to the same conclusion as everyone else – blocking pirate sites does nothing to stop piracy.”
via Scientists Confirm That Blocking Pirate Sites Does Absolutely Nothing | Gizmodo.
“Being proud of your work and showing some self-esteem and confidence will get you a long way in life, but at the office, sometimes it’s the ability to forgive yourself and learn from your mistakes that’s more valuable than pure ego. Self-compassion can help you learn and grow, which is key to succeeding in any career.”
via Self-Compassion is More Important to Success than Self-Esteem at LifeHacker
Great opinion piece by Andy Burkhardt [Information Tyrannosaur] advocating librarians becoming more entrepreneurial!
“…a browser designed with the social media lover in mind: RockMelt.”
via Information Space | RockMelt: A Social Web Browser.
This might be the most controversial piece I’ve submitted to UX Magazine. I gathered together an entire digital design agency to survey 20 years of Internet history and choose the five most important breakthroughs from a user experience perspective. Tears were shed. Blood was spilled. And in the end we compromised on six.
via The Six Greatest Breakthroughs in UX History | UX Magazine.
The most promising aspect of the deal – and one that I hope will set a precedent – is that it was concluded through Smashwords’ acceptance of a simple document [pdf], “Statement of Common Understanding for Purchasing Electronic Content.” The keystone clause underpinning the Common Understanding’s resolutions is: “The Library affirms that it will comply with U.S. Copyright Law.” It subsequently specifies in clean and commonsense language what that means: i.e., purchase is not a transfer of copyright; the library will loan one copy for each ebook copy purchased; and it will not make derivative works such as films or translations. It affirms DCL’s right to make archival or preservation copies Copyright Section 108c, and the ability to make accessible copies available to the reading impaired Section 121. The whole document does not cover two pages. There is also a handshake agreement that should an author or publisher publish material through Smashwords without necessary rights and the library owns that title, then Smashwords will issue a request for the library to remove that title from its collection. The library will receive a refund for its purchase.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 4 years to get that many views.
infophile 