February 16, 2010 • 7:31 pm

I’m not wild about list posts. Apparently I’m the only one, because I’ve never heard anybody else complain about them, and blogs great and small are overflowing with “ten ways to [whatever]” posts. They’re generally quite popular, too.
Frankly, I think they’re a symptom of laziness on the part of writers and readers alike. But I do have to admit that with all the info we have to process these days, they’re sometimes better than nothing. It’s true that, as Umberto Eco (who loves lists, BTW, and is no slouch) says, they “make infinity comprehensible.” I guess people can always dig deeper into a subject if they want something they can sink their teeth into. I wonder how many do.
Anyway, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’ve been known to write a list post or two in my day. In fact, the last two I wrote for Web Worker Daily were just that: 5 Japanese words that start with S, and 3 words uttered by Mel Gibson that start with E (and might help you get a content strategy, which you should do).
Filed under: language, tech writing, web trends , blogging, content strategy, online identity, personal branding, tips, words
November 7, 2009 • 7:20 pm

I rarely try out a new site without being highly conscious of my own user experience. That’s what happens when you’ve been in startup Lala Land for a few years, write for a tech blog, and are married to a UI design expert.
Read my post Online seduction on frogblog, about being a conscious user (but mostly about how I was seduced by Squiz, and their anti-business cards).
Filed under: apps, web life , grrls, toys, Francophilia, IRL, personal branding, fun
August 29, 2009 • 12:51 pm
Everybody seems to have at least two cents to contribute to the apparently endless discussion of online identity (or personal branding, or e-reputation, or whatever you want to call it). I have plenty to say about it too; I even give talks on the topic. And since personal branding was the theme on Web Worker Daily last month, I contributed two articles that you might find interesting. Or not. But I do talk about Big Bird and pastries in an attempt to keep you from being too bored…
Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , online identity, personal branding

I was at the E-reputation barcamp held at La Cantine yesterday, where I attended a session on personal branding given by Fadhila Brahimi. In Fadhila’s session, I was primarily interested in the questions, hopes and fears of the other attendees, so that I could address them in future talks and posts about online identity and personal branding myself. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: tech events, web life, web trends , online identity, personal branding, tips
Filed under: apps, social media, tech events, web life, web trends , Francophilia, netiquette, online identity, personal branding, startuppity, tips

I like teaching and public speaking because I love opportunities to share things that I find exciting. I gave my latest talk, The Sum of Your Parts: The Importance of Online Identity, as a keynote address at the annual conference of the Society for Technical Communication – France. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: social media, tech events, tech writing, web life , online identity, personal branding, tips