My own piece of the Internet
 
Tag: <span>blogmore</span>

Tag: blogmore

A letter to my local Member of Parliament about Mandatory Data Retention

Here is a letter I will be sending to my local Member of Parliament, Mr Jason Wood. Dear Mr Wood, I write regarding the Mandatory Data Retention bill, Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 and would like you to clarify your position. I have deep concerns about the proposed scheme and request that you vote against it in Parliament. My first concern is that metadata is not adequately defined in the proposed legislation. Moreover, the Attorney General and Minister for Communications have repeatedly failed to define metadata. If the most senior members of your government cannot explain …

Connecting the digital dots

Digital means many things to many people. To some digital describes the nexus between new technologies and marketing/business resulting in new ways to connect consumers and marketers. To others digital is an ethos. It describes a new way of working, conceptualising ideas, seeing the future, and testing, learning and iterating. Digital involves a different way of doing business. For Steve Sammartino there is no digital. Sammartino believes that technology is innate, that there have always been technologies which help us do things better, faster, differently. For him a digital strategy is just a strategy. People come first. Digital is just a set of …

Tell the truth or show empathy

Telling the truth is powerful. It’s also one of the hardest things to do if you’re an empathetic person. Most of us who are capable of empathy and not psychopaths don’t like making people feel bad, sad, or angry. But it isn’t always possible to make people feel good. Sometimes as part of my job I need to make someone feel bad about their strategy, their product, their approach, their ideas, their website. The way I approach this is to stand in the space of truth. Being committed to telling the truth means you’re not settling for an emotional debate between right …

Why we still need a minimum wage

My first job was as a dish-pig in the long since closed Yarra’s Restaurant in South Yarra. I got $10 cash per hour and a knock-off drink. The hours were long, the work dirty, and the chefs were either belligerent or incompetent. Sometimes both. I rolled up hungover one morning and was told, “don’t bother”. While it was a relief, the consequences weren’t great, with rent and bills due.

The myth of being indispensable

When you first get a job, you turn up early, take instructions, work diligently, keep your head down and try and do your job as best you can. If you do a good job, one day you might make team leader, become a manager, and help other young people develop up through the system. The story is the same whether you work in a factory, an office, a parliament, a kinder, or at home answering service requests for an international software business. Work hard, develop skills, be awesome, save money, raise kids, buy a house, retire to praise, go on a cruise, …

What would Seth do?

Seth Godin is an Internet legend, the master of short, focussed and very entertaining paragraphs, an author of an incredible 17 books, and a revolutionary into the transformative force of technology. It’s probably not fashionable anymore, but Seth is an inspiration. A free thinker, a visionary, an amazing communicator. Seth is the man unafraid of bright coloured glasses whereas I am petrified. Seth is a man who can write huge lists to inspire, provoke, and get you to act. He is a reminder that you can smash down the mighty walls with creativity, words, and a little lot of pizazz. If …

What wearables need is a unifying purpose

The hype about wearables is pretty relentless. At the latest CES, smart watches (I know wearable watches, what will they think of next) were everywhere with CNET calling it a “swarm of smartwatches”. I’ve been lukewarm on smartwatches and wearables because nothing I’ve seen justifies the buzz. There hasn’t been an iPhone/Tesla/iPad moment when I’ve thought, Wow, I need that. The reason is that the manufacturers don’t seem to be clear about the problem they are solving. Wearables and smartwatches need a purpose. Sure there are fitness and health apps, the Samsung Gear smartwatch that could be a genuine phone replacement, but, well there …

The world is becoming more unequal, so speak truth to power

When I first saw  the HTML title of the tech blog Pando – Speaking truth to the new power – it grabbed me by the throat. Recently Oxfam have announced that by 2016 the combined wealth of the richest one percent will be greater than that of the other 99 percent unless serious action is taken. To be part of the 1% you need to have $2.7 million in assets or hidden in your mattress. This is some pretty serious coin. In Australia, according to the ABS, the wealthiest 20% of households have an average net worth of $2.2 million. Again, this …

Learning how to ride a bike

I was nervous to start with. So was Gabe. The training wheels were off, it was dusk, and there was a warm breeze blowing in from the bay tousling his hair. He was desperate to become part of a club he had been obsessed with from his time wobbling around in nappies. He was desperate to start riding. He wanted to be mobile. I said, Gabe I’ll hold you so you can get the feel of the bike and balancing. Remember to keep your head up and to keep peddling. He nodded and we started. I ran alongside holding him and gently letting …

The importance of poetry

Poetry is important. My wife is a poet and fights against those who think poetry is irrelevant and an outdated mode of expression. WordPress say that “code is poetry”. Poetry helps kids learn how to read better – Dr Seuss.