I’d like to bring to your attention an article I’ve written for Issue #3 of Contents Magazine, which tells part of an ongoing story of how millions of people across the world whose multiple grievances are not being heard by their respective leaders are using the tools they’ve grown up with to organise mass peaceful protests and to capture events–no matter how appalling–in real-time.

While I’d consider myself a keen and committed dismantler and occasional repairer, I’m no natural builder of things. What I mean is that I often lack the skills and knowledge to build something beyond prefabrication. But I believe the assembly of a prefabricated system that works as intended is a more creative operation than pulling something to pieces. While the latter schooled me in the art of classification and labelling the former taught me an even greater lesson: that it’s not the separate component parts that matter, but the evolving system as a whole.

When you’re engrossed in a good book nothing else matters. You could be chilled to the bone, within earshot of a cacophony of noise, or being tossed around like a rag doll in a train carriage, but it’s still not enough to disturb that bubble. That’s one of reading’s many beauties: the opportunity for escapism.

But what’s it going to take for you to pick up that book? You know, the one that might help you finish that essay, broaden your horizons, or increase your earning potential? The one we make elaborate excuses for not reading?

I believe this where an online book reading platform like Readmill has huge potential.

For about six months now, I’ve slowly made the transition to eBooks. I’d now go as far as to say that, faced with a straight choice, I would gladly hand over my money for an eBook over its undeniably more handsome and impressive physical counterpart. And so it was during this period of discovery when the death of Project Gutenberg’s founder Michael Hart was announced. The availability of thousands of out of copyright books in digital form from many of the world’s greatest authors still amazes me as much as when I first learned about the project’s existence about 10 years ago. It’s an incredible legacy to leave behind, and one I couldn’t help but feel should be celebrated in some way.

In what is becoming something of an annual indulgence, I’ve put together another list of articles and blog entries which have caused me to crackle and fizz with equal parts excitement, intrigue, and amusement. Take a bow one and all. The Web Is a Customer Service Medium Paul Ford, Ftrain.com, January “The days of the [...]

This is a video of my talk from last month’s CS Forum 2011 in London. I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with some incredibly smart folks, so do make yourself comfortable and watch them all, particularly the excellent lightning talks by Shelly, Matthew, Nicole, and Sara.

Back in the spring, when I first sowed the seeds of this open project, I had no idea how things would play out. I really shouldn’t have been so worried.

Let me begin by extending a huge and sincere thanks to everyone who played their part in this, particularly those who responded to the survey, encouraged others to do so, and remained patient as I worked out what to do with the results, and to the attendees of CS Forum 2011 who offered such kind words following my sole destroying (you had to be there) attempt to squeeze the last six months into 20 minutes. I can’t deny it’s been fun.

Though the finished diagram is by no means perfect, I can say with a measure of confidence that not only are these the six commonest paths today’s practising content strategists have taken to reach the discipline, but that they demonstrate the extent of our varied skills and approaches. It only serves to emphasise how much we need to continue sharing a little of what we’ve picked up along the way.

Despite failing to dangle a carrot of any real significance, a fair number of you kindly responded to my survey of web content professionals earlier this year. I’ve since prodded the resulting spreadsheet a number of times with a stick to see what moved, before detailing my findings in a series of posts. So far, I’ve revealed who and where we all are, where we work and where our talents lie, which tasks we’re more likely to take on and how closely we believe our educational backgrounds have impacted on our careers. Now, in what marks the final post of this series, I reveal what we were up to in our careers five and ten years ago and the extent to which we believe these points in time have impacted on our work today.

Earlier this year, I managed to coax a few of you web content professionals into responding to a survey. Since then, in a series of staggered posts, I’ve used the results from that survey to reveal a little more about who and where we all are, where we work and where our talents lie and which tasks we’re more likely to take on. Now, we’re going to find out about our educational backgrounds, and in particular how closely we believe it impacts on the work we do today.

Now that most of the survey results are in and the calender’s been cleared for the next week or so, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to begin work on the final diagram of this open project from next week. So I’d like to take this moment to formally invite you all to join me as I attempt to map the different paths we’ve taken to reach content strategy’s lush green fields of hope and potential. That’s the plan, anyway.