Archive
April 2002’s Posts.
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Take some time away from work
The Europeans have been doing this for a longtime, and I have been a quiet proponent of the ideas as well: taking a month off to recharge one’s batteries.
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Canadian New Media Awards finalists; CodZilla update
The 2002 Canadian New Media Awards finalists were announced today, and although I wasn’t a finalist for my nominated category of Best Educator, my buddies at ThinData were. The Toronto Web design firm is nominated, for the second year-in-a-row, in the Best Employer category; and CEO Chris Carder is a finalist for Best Volunteer.
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On- and offline reading
Gotta love the weekend rituals. First read the Globe while drinking some coffee (today’s mug: a two-cupper from promoting excite.ca), then grabbing my email and reading the latest Netsurfer Digest, from whence these came:
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Text ads; Sympatico rate hike
Last September, usability expert Jakob Nielsen wrote a column on how to milk text ads for all they’re worth. When Christophe Bruno tried to do the same, in a more poetic manner, Google pulled them.
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Wired vs. Shift; rich media
Lynn Crosbie’s latest Globe column is a nice, lay-person’s introduction to two magazines that seemingly cover the same topics—Wired> and Shift.
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Mike Bullard and Steve Mann
Went to the taping of Mike Bullard’s show after picketing today. During my time on the line I’ve read a few books, the latest being Cyborg. Written by the eccentric Steve Mann (the wearable computer guy), it’s, unintentionally, a fascinating insight into a hard-core geek’s head.
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Not online journalism
The only thing the following bits have in common is the fact there is no mention of the state of online journalism in Canada:
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Digesting the lay-offs
More on the CANOE cuts, which includes actually almost all the editorial people. Reuters says the “the sites will be used as a ‘showcase’ for Quebecor’s other media properties”. Why?
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Online media gutted
As rumoured, Quebecor cut 67 jobs from its Netgraphe division—including CANOE—late this morning. Reportedly, among the 67 jobs:
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April 15, 2002
Created a section for photographs in the Attic
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Queen’s Park sit-in
Went to OPSEU’s big protest at Queen’s Park. We’ve been on strike, for almost five weeks, and the union decided to make its presence felt as Ernie Eves was sworn in as Ontario’s new premier.
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Correct DOCTYPEs
Zeldman points out something many Web builders (myself included) have missed: most of DOCTYPEs being included in today’s Web sites are wrong. The reason? They don’t include the full URLs.
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Final days for CANOE?
Quebecor reportedly plans to restructure CANOE by eliminating original editorial content and almost half the staff.
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Spring redesigns
With the smell of spring in the air, Web sites have begun their redesigns. This site will be unveiling a tweak to its design shortly, but glish.com has unveiled a complete overhaul of the site.
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McKinsey on the online industry
Though the writing style is often dry, and the focus can be a bit to business, the McKinsey Quarterly usually has some excellent pieces about the Information Economy and online industry. For example:
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DOCTYPE clarity
If you ever wondered what DOCTYPE triggers a browser’s strict mode, Eric A. Meyer has the chart for you.
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Codzilla
Is CodZilla for real?
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Long-form journalism not Web-friendly?
Ironically, Michael Kinsley, ex-editor of Slate, has been saying in various exit interviews, that at Slate they were unable to successfully do long-form journalism à la The New Yorker. (Ironically, The New York Times published a story claiming even magazines were abandoning this style of journalism.)
View all (it might be a looong page, though)