James Doria

A guy who loves to work with information technologies and study hard. Currently lives in Boston.

[jamesdoria]

"Intelligence is not fixed. We are smarter on some days and duller on other days. We sometimes get excellent ideas several steps above our intellectual pay grade."

Eric Maisel in Why Smart People Hurt

[jamesdoria]

A long line in Boston Apple Store

[jamesdoria]

Music in every corner of Boston :)

[jamesdoria]

Open House of The Tech!

[jamesdoria]

What will happen next? Amazon and The Washington Post

It's very exciting.

Jeff Bezos (Amazon) buys The Washington Post newspaper.

On the other hand, it was expected. More and more, the money is in the hands of digital companies/executives.

I think the news is not about the acquisition per se, but what will happen next. Maybe IT Washington Post department got a new "sponsorship" for their projects. Perhaps, Jeff Bezos will innovate and change the process of Washington Post.

It will be interesting. The problem of newspapers was never about technology or content, but about the process. In other words, the problem of newspapers is not WHAT they do, but HOW they do.

Due to having a long-term mindset, Bezos is an executive that has experience in changing and innovating processes.

It will be very cool.

[jamesdoria]

Boston

[jamesdoria]

Why Wikipedia is so good

It's the thesis defense season at MIT Media Lab. It's interesting to discover new things and meet new people.

Last Wednesday, Mako Hill, from Debian project, presented an investigation about peer production projects.

Hill tried to get answers about why some peer production projects are successful and others not, like Wikipedia that became a huge success (attract a lot of contributors with high quality). And, Nupedia that was a fail.

The Wikipedia's success can be explained by many reasons. Here are some premises that he found in his research:

* Wikipedia works with a familiar product (encyclopedia).

* Most resources are dedicated to content production (and not exclusively to the technological side).

* Low barriers to contribution (transaction costs are lower in the Wikipedia).

* It's simple (complexity scares people).

* Low social ownership of content/production/work products.

* Familiar goals.

Another aspect interesting found by him is that with an increase mobilization in a peer production project, there is an increase oligarchy. It's a kind of trade-off.

I think the most interesting conclusion is that Wikipedia is not so disruptive. Actually, its success can be attributed by a consistent mix between familiar and unfamiliar aspects.

A lot of disruption at once can intimidates users.

To sum up, Hill shows us that peer production demands new types of studies. A very interesting and provocative thesis.

[treehugger]

10 best gadgets to have in an emergency

[jamesdoria]

When it comes to customer service, social media plays a strong role, and you have a duty to engage with your customers on social media platforms. And advertising on social media platforms will likely contribute to brand awareness. But as far as driving online sales goes, social media is an astoundingly ineffective channel. If you want to grow your online sales, the evidence is clear: SEO and PPC are where you need to invest.

Barry Adams in Social Media is Dead; Long Live SEO

[jamesdoria]

Creative people don't exist

David and Tom Kelly from IDEO agency went to MIT to talk with us about innovation and creativity. Much of the talk was based on the next book written by them - Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All.

Tom is very communicative and David is more introspective. Both are fantastic.

Here are some highlights:

Innovation

- Measurement is the main question of innovation. But the real question is timeframe. What is the best: short-term or patience for a long-term mindset? Tom and Kelly believe in a long-term. The problem of innovation is not see the long term.

- It's better to work with innovators than with innovation.

Creativity

- In a organization, creativity can't be produce in silos (like a department of creativity). Creativity is everyone's responsibility. Everyone should be creative in a company.

- 'Creative people' don't exist. Creativity is not something restricted to silos (artists, writers, musicians). Engineers can be creative. Once you hear the the world isn't divided into creatives and non-creatives, you start to think it can be cool to think creatively.

- Creative is not the default setting in the adult human brain. Sometimes you have to choose it, because at some point in their lives some people opted out of thinking they're creative.

Learning (this the part that I mostly agree with Tom and David)

- Teaching each other is an important and effective learning process. It is a way to learn new things. At MIT, we are encouraged to teach each other. The same thing can happen in a company. If you want to teach someone, you have to read and research more. It is an interesting and rewarding process.

[jamesdoria]

Excellent Talk! David and Tom Kelley from IDEO.

[jamesdoria]

Boston in the summer!

[jamesdoria]

Boston Public Library