Study

This is where I write, about my reading and more, where I cultivate ideas. Rather than a neat list of articles, think of this as a scattered collection of notes. This is public thinking via the best medium: writing.

• Digesting ideas

  Some things you don’t understand from the get-go (2018)

• On Mark Zuckerberg’s “personal challenge”

  Some things you can’t, and shouldn’t, solve alone (2018)

• Notes on The Prince

  Some Machiavellian lessons on life (2017)

• The Canadian Digital Service’s first show and tell

  A summary and some recommendations (2017)

• The mind as a muscle

  Exercising it hurts just as much (2017)

• Readability troubles on Canada.ca

  Two small ideas for improvement (2017)

• Walking routes

  A list of (roughly described) routes that I enjoy (2017)

• Therapeutic things

  Reminders of what I find relaxing (2017)

• No more (accidental) noise

  Taking a social media break (2017)

• Earthworming

  Ursula M. Franklin’s advice for social change (2017)

• Nature’s musical tastes

  Wendell Berry observes nature’s “patient ear” (2017)

• Ursula M. Franklin suggests some readings

  Selections from The Real World of Technology’s bibliography (2017)

• Work isn’t the whole thing

  Two notes from Frank Chimero on keeping life in perspective (2017)

• Manguel’s tribute to dissatisfaction

  Putting into words the role of an essay (2017)

• Documenting drafts: Hit and Miss #2

  A peek behind the scenes of my editing process (2017)

• Sunday mornings

  Establishing rituals (2017)

• Reading with a pen

  Observations from years of writing in my books (2017)

• Learning to code by failing safely

  Thoughts on my talk at WordCamp Ottawa 2017 (2017)

• Transparency theatre

  Saying the thing is not doing the thing (2017)

• “I wouldn’t” by John Vance Cheney

  A perfect summertime poem (2017)

• Quantifying reading

  What Goodreads can teach us about databases and shared understanding (2017)

• On things left unfinished

  Manguel reminds us that a book is never truly read (2017)

• Tracey Lauriault on data at Ottawa Civic Tech

  Living in an age of data, we must critique the technology spread throughout our lives (2017)

• Paying for news

  Dave Winer offers an interesting proposal to pay for news from multiple outlets (2017)

• Stop reading, start writing

  Bayard pushes us to understand ourselves by seeing reading as the impetus for writing (2017)

• Zinsser’s thesis

  Saying a true thing again and again (2017)

• Wafting Westminster

  Frustration with the House reform process (2017)

• Why not design school

  Michael Bierut answers the question I receive most often (2017)

• Named colours

  The folly of subjective references (2017)

• Doing the real work

  The illusion of work, versus the act itself (2016)

• Stop hiding links

  We should celebrate the fundamental building block of the web (2016)

• Designated typist

  Anne Lamott on letting your subject talk (2016)

• The Cherkewski View

  A personal website manifesto (2016)