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  • Information Economy: Now with Time

    Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash

    Today I saw that the Georgia Straight launched an insiders club. And one of the perks, reminded me of an idea:

    – Access to 55 years of iconic Straight stories and archives

    A quick skim through my archive, and I’m not sure if I’ve succinctly shared my idea, so here we go.

    Time & Information

    It’s no longer just an information economy. It’s an Information & Time economy.

    You want to see a new movie?

    • pay big bucks for the whole theater experience
    • or pay specifically for the streaming service that will exclusively pick it up
    • or wait a little longer, not pay for any new streaming services and hope your primary streaming service you pay for will pick it up

    Information and Immediacy are now intermingled. We juggle and mix and match to our own liking. But they are never independent. Like the classic design triangle.

    Good – Fast – Cheap
    (pick two)

    Yet outside of watching publications purging their archives from the public, and then making it all or nothing access I I haven’t really seen much experimentation:

    • You want access immediately when published ( aka the fire-hose )? πŸ’²πŸ’²πŸ’²
    • You want retroactive access to what we’ve released over last week or yesterday? πŸ’²πŸ’²
    • You want retroactive access to what we’ve released over last month? πŸ’²
    • You want access to anything we’ve released two months or older, sure… you can have that for free.
    • Oh you want archival access? Last year? πŸ’²
      • For the last 5 years? πŸ’²πŸ’²
      • For the last 10 years? πŸ’²πŸ’²πŸ’²
      • The complete archive? πŸ’²πŸ’²πŸ’²πŸ’²

    Traditional Models

    Business models are being inspired by the old models that worked.

    For the streaming wars: old TV advertising models are back hard; weekly time releases; live streaming events and shows – all of which, for the most part, people were “OK” with it and it worked.

    Now for publication cycles. Why isn’t there more. At one point there were daily/weekly/monthly releases. They could be again. It was fine by us at the time.

    I think all the old will be “new” again. We’re seeing it creep every forward, daily.

    BTW: I’m still waiting for an AI version the Talking Yellow Pages.

    Fediverse Reactions
  • Movember 2024

    Movember 2024

    It’s that time of year! I do Movember every year for their support of mental health. Let’s be honest Men don’t speak up, and we should.

    This year, is a bit different than normal if you want to watch the dailies:

    • follow along on the fediverse by following @nick
    • peruse my website here and there

    As always, please donate here.

    Progress

  • #Movember 2023

    Movember 2024 is around the corner and it’s time to look back and plan this years reverse mo route.

    But what’s this!? I forgot to post a 2023 recap. I must have been uprooting my life to move the whole family to a new city or something. 😜

  • ADHD Parent

    ADHD Parent

    I have to remind myself I’m a parent with ADHD. I considered myself mildly ADHD. For over 40 years my alternative coping strategies mostly worked.

    Then my first child. Then the second. That’s when my struggles tipped.

    I’ve been thinking about my biggest hurtles lately trying to find ways to cope. This isn’t a post to fix ’em, more a post to share the struggle.

    Split Focus: Sensory Indecision

    My first realization of the new world demand was holding my new born daughter while my 3yr old son was slowly falling backwards off a swing. Having to make that split second decision not to drop the baby while my son dropped onto the wood chipped ground. Did I make my decision based knowing he would be safe on softish ground, or was I frozen?

    Now at 5yr and 2yr it’s always a battle for who gets your attention, with all the banging screaming and repetition that comes with that.

    How do I pick, who do I pick, what should I pick, if any? I think I’ve come to the conclusion for me it’s the idea of sensory indecision. So many inputs coming at me, plus the inputs inside my head, it becomes overloaded. To much. And it it a paralysis of sorts.

    All Focus: Context Switching

    When the kids are at school I get to sink into the work day. One of the other hardest times for me is 4pm – when I say “Oh crap, time to get the kids!”

    I never give myself the right heads up, or ramp down. I always forget.

    Over the course of the next few hours I go through the motions. Trying to listen, to start planning dinners with my partner, walking kiddos around the neighbourhood knocking on doors to play with friends. But in my head, I haven’t switched gears.

    I’m still thinking about work. Problems still running around in the noggin that need a solution.

    When someone brought up the term “context switching,” I thought “Ah Ha! That’s what it’s called”.

    Remember those kids vying for attention? Yah, they don’t care about context switching.

    Add to that, they are experts and context switch mid sentence a thousand times a day; the dramatic emotional changes, the here-there running from place to place; the labyrinth of pre-logical minds. It’s a mine field of switches to keep up with. My mind ends up feeling dazed and confused like a rag doll smashing about holding onto the leash of a bear.

    No Focus: Deprivation

    I’ve tested my will power enough to know I’ve got the chops to go cold turkey on most things, and if it weren’t for that, I doubt I would be able to come close to do this.

    I’ve been able to ignore a lot of the impulses.

    Through selflessness and love for my family I have been trying my best to stay snuggling on the couch, making their lunches, getting them dressed, going for walks, instead of tinkering or doing whatever that “other thing” is roaming in my mind.

    I used to think that was a good idea. Why wouldn’t it be better to be with them instead? I’m starting to wonder and reconsider. I’ve been depriving myself, that voice, for too long.

    Some of those thoughts and impulses were things, in hindsight, I loved. I miss them. Some of them I could only do in small doses. Some I needed big swatches of time. But either way, they have been left undone and slightly neglected.

    What to do. What to do.

    “Maybe when they get older” my friends and I all say ( for many reasons ), “they’ll calm down, and you’ll get back to some balance”

    “Maybe. Maybe.” I say.

    But I don’t think that’s my answer. To wait 5 or so more years?

    So what am I doing about it? This blog.

    It’s one of those voices I’ve been ignoring. If it hasn’t been a work report, and to do lists, birthday invitation, or practising words with my son, it hasn’t happened. So, crack the knuckles and get cracking I go.


    Photo by Joshua Fuller on Unsplash

  • Creek Crack

    I think it’s safe to come back out? The kids are old enough; I’m crazy enough; now federated!

    There’s just a few cobwebs to clear off here.

    Photo by Eva Wilcock on Unsplash

    Last night I came to the realization that I was not in the drivers seat of my life anymore. I didn’t even know if I was in a car. If you prefer the analogy of the bull, there were no hands on anything. I had long been kicked off and covered in dust.

    So from 2am onward – I reassessed. Old school, quietly with a pen and paper.

    I actually haven’t really done that since our second was born. She’s now 3 ( in the blink of an eye ).

    What’s been going on for the past 3 years?

    1. A new child – first and foremost
    2. Me and my ADHD – I always have had it, but “barely”, then something changed that threw it off the rails. πŸ€”See #1 above
    3. Moving back to the Mainland – I think everyone in Canada is suffering about housing, but around Vancouver, boy oh boy that was a hard pill to swallow.
    4. Slowly getting lost in being a parent. Slowly forgetting… where did I put my glasses? I don’t know, where did you put your monster truck? Stop kicking your sister! Oh, right, you wanted a snack. Have I eaten anything today?

    Back at’er … Again.

    So WordPress refreshed. Federated settings tweaked. Moved a couple older properties into this one. And I’m putting one key in front of the other. Creek crack, clickity clack…