Suddenly, Completely

This is an assignment for a class I’m taking about“digital service teams,” such as the US Digital Service. The prompt is: “What do you think of the use of digital service teams in government? Are they effective? If so, how so. If not, what would you suggest instead?” I…

I’m writing a response post as part of a course in which I am currently enrolled,DPI-659: Media, Politics, and Power in the Digital Age, taught by Nicco Mele.

Our readings and discussions over the last week have been about who controls what we see online. We have…

I’m writing a response post as part of a course in which I am currently enrolled, DPI-659: Media, Politics, and Power in the Digital Age, taught by Nicco Mele. This post seeks to summarize, analyze and synthesize the first six chapters of Here Comes Everybody…

Optimistically, Atul Gawande lays out a case for the future of big, standardized medicine. I think he’s right to be hopeful. His example of The Cheesecake Factory is instructive, and hospitals should be able to serve patients better by adopting some of the…

The Cybermind may be here, but we should not let it contaminate our conversations:

This curious feeling of knowing has settled over most of us. In a group, someone always seems to be “checking” something in the conversation, piping up with handy…

According to an excerpt and a thoughtful review, the recent book by Christopher Hayes, The Twilight of the Elites, touches on questions of democracy and control. His general thesis contends that our current meritocracy (the purported societal reliance on smarts and ability) will ultimately be corrupted too…

In my last post I wasn’t too clear on how I wanted to interpret the point from Gordon Wood. His article noted that the founding fathers were not amateurs when it came to self-government, and he attributed some of their success to that fact. This goes against the…