What it’s like to be … is a podcast about exploring the world of work, one profession at a time, through interviews with people who love what they do. The first episode about a ballpark beer vendor is really great!

December 20, 2023 · work · podcasts

USDS head Mina Hsiang wants Big Tech’s best minds to help fix the government

The most interesting part of this interview was the host’s mental model around government services. For example he asks:

The tension there that seems really apparent to me is that if you’re the person in charge of the Social Security Administration, the way people experience it is through SSA.gov. It might be that the administrator of the Social Security Administration needs to be the product manager because they’re ultimately accountable for the success of the thing that people only experience through a website or an app or something. Is that just me inventing a tension, or is that a real tension? Do those people get that they understand that the user interface of their product is the product?

She answers the product manager question, but rightly wraps the answer up by putting a more service design lens on civic tech:

Then, taking a further step back and saying, Your product is not just your website; it’s your website, as you said, and your call center and your in-person service.” And how do we stitch those together? Because, for a variety of reasons, over time, those are all managed by completely different business units with completely different technology systems, so there’s a real need to sort of pull those together and have product mindset from the top down.

I 💚 websites. I’ve been helping teams make great ones for over 25 years. It’s a passion and how I help feed my family. But I know it’s only one part of the puzzle, especially in civic tech. I suppose that’s why service design is so interesting to me.

December 19, 2023 · service design · civic tech

Ghost stories have also developed a strong connection to winter: the long nights seem to demand these tales, inviting listeners to huddle closer by the fire and imagine the terrors that lurk out there, unseen in the darkness.”

A wintry, ghostly Personal Anthology.

December 19, 2023 · ghost stories · spooky · seasons · winter

There is an interesting conversation going on over at kottke.org around the question: Where do you call home? And why? Lot’s of different perspectives. Is home a place, a feeling, a community, a culture, a physical place or the people in it? What changes your idea of home: divorce? children? aging? I think I agree with this commentor’s definition the most:

Home is two things:

  1. Home is a comfortable living space that you like, that fulfills your space needs, where you can relax, be safe, and recharge your batteries, figuratively and literally, every day.
  2. Home is a place where you are an active participant in a supportive community where people care about you, and you care about them. You see these people regularly, ideally every day, and over time, you build strong bonds with them.
December 18, 2023 · place · life

atomic research allows for the identification and tracking of insights that stand on their own but can be brought together to paint a bigger picture.

Atomic research: From reports to consumable insights

December 15, 2023 · work · ux

From: Marc Newson’s 021C Ford Concept Car has Aged Extremely Well

December 15, 2023 · vehicles

Having walked at all times of day, I can assure you that nighttime offers the best walking there is—the trees cutting sharp shapes against the sky; the lights in houses coming on, shedding light on lawns that prickle with grass.

On Walking Alone at Night

December 15, 2023 · walking

Said the Gramophone’s Best Songs of 2023

The tick-tock of time trips on and here we are again, old friends. Said the Gramophone. Best songs. By now I hope you know the drill. This world needs some kindnesses–it wants more peace, liberation, and music shared between strangers. So here’s a pistachio, a ripe pear. Here are my 100 favourite songs of the year 2023; songs I love much more than doomed submarines (or basketball).

I’m so glad this is still a thing!

December 15, 2023 · music

You know what dawned on me today? After many years of short form blogs”, I don’t want to be a blogger. I miss tumblr style/short form content. I don’t sit down and write long stories or articles.”

— Not a Blogger · BinaryDigit

December 12, 2023 · blogging · digital garden · social

A giant lava bubble. From the first moments of the historical Mauna Ulu eruption.

December 8, 2023



A Ghost Story Used as Home Security. To avoid house break-ins during their traveling spells, the owners run rumors of a weeping female voice that could be heard in the back of the backyard during particularly foggy Limeñan nights.”
ofhouses.com

December 8, 2023 · spooktober · architecture

Just in case you need some rabbit holes to fall down on your Friday afternoon.

June 9, 2023 · links

Six-word restaurant reviews. Example: tried it twice. Got stomachaches twice.

May 25, 2023 · funny

Polar Night

On May 12, 2023 at 10:24am NZ time, the sun officially passed 18 degrees below the horizon. This marked the end of Astronomical Twilight, and the beginning of the true night. We won’t see any light from the sun until August 3.

Read post paired with The Thing theme music.

May 22, 2023 · science · music · movies · cold

Jim Brown, born ineligible to play for the Redskins, integrated their end zone three times yesterday.”

From an article about Brown by Shirley Povich Source

May 19, 2023 · sports · quotes

Outlines are IA by Christopher Butler:

The text-outline as an information architecture tool is useful when evaluating the effectiveness of an existing visual design. Whenever I look at a page or screen, the first thing I do is scan it to understand what kind of information it contains and how that information is arranged.

I’ll plug all sorts of things into Workflowy (my outliner of choice) to see the raw structure. And then drag the bullets around to remix and re-organize.

May 16, 2023 · IA · text · work

Most of my friends still had mothers but the fathers were endangered, then extinct. I was surprised, though I had always known the ladies lasted longer; the fathers fooled me with their toughness; I had been duped by their jogging and heavy lifting, misled by their strength when they slapped me on the back or shook my hand.

From Disappearing Fathers, a poem by Faith Shearin.

May 15, 2023 · life · poetry

Caravans by Eleanor Crow.

May 15, 2023 · art

Cleaning out my tabs on a Friday afternoon:

  1. Science Fiction Movie Lettering.
  2. Early Computer Art in the 50s and 60s.
  3. Seattle Seahawks 2023 opponents as 90s album covers.
  4. Old School Hip Hop Flyers
  5. Dell books Mapbacks
  6. A catalog of marble
May 12, 2023 · link drop

We were now in that enchanted calm which they say lurks at the heart of every commotion

~ Moby Dick at Sea.

Art by Gerard Dubois.

May 11, 2023 · art · books

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