The CamBlog

Alexis Madrigal skewers the New York Times for a story claiming that e-books are inherently more distracting than paper books. (I’ve criticized NYT before for their alarmist stories about technology). He takes a paragraph from the story and replaces all references to technology with references to the “analog” world: The telephone lurks tantalizingly in reach. [...]

I was invited to speak at the first-ever TEDxTbilisi on February 11, 2012. I gave a talk about social media, civil society, and the dangers of making sweeping assumptions about the web. My fellow TEDsters spoke about everything ranging from winemaking to the nature of creativity. I’ve embedded my presentation here below, but you can [...]

This past week, Prague has been swept up in the 14th One World Film Festival, the world’s largest human rights film festival. The Social Innovation competition is part of One World, and focuses on the ways NGOs and activists are using new technologies for social impact. I was on the jury of this year’s competition, [...]

I’m proud to announce that I am writing for a new lifestyle blog called Herb & Lace. Herb & Lace launched on Valentine’s Day of 2012 and features women from cities across the world writing about the things they love most: travel, food, design, fashion, and more. I will be contributing every Sunday. My first [...]

My latest column for Partisans explores the use of graphic or violent imagery in journalism, especially in the wake of Muammar Gaddafi’s death. Are there cases when it is not advisable to publish pictures of death and suffering? Where is the line between education and sensationalism? I believe that good journalism challenges our preconceived notions [...]

This video is from December 2010, but before yesterday I had never actually watched it in its entirety. It was a powerful 15 minutes because I recognized some of my own insecurities in the types of behavior Sheryl Sandberg describes. One thing I noticed, whenever the camera panned out over the crowd, was that Sheryl [...]

I have a column up on Partisans about the pitfalls of the mainstream human trafficking narrative. I argue that  in order to effectively combat human trafficking, we must move beyond the simplistic portrayals common in the media and popular discourse. Currently, the dominant discourse is skewed by a semi-voyeuristic preoccupation with sex trafficking that ignores [...]

Many years ago, I had an idea for a sitcom about a roving band of conference crashers: kids who sneak into corporate events for the free snacks and SWAG. I thought the script was lost to the ages, but I just managed to dig it up. I will probably never be invited to speak at [...]

I just began writing for Partisans, an online journal of political and social commentary. My first piece, published yesterday, is about the intersection of online privacy debates and an increasingly international social media user base. As social media takes off around the world (and U.S. companies like Facebook and Twitter gradually overtake their regional equivalents), the market [...]

It’s been a disappointing summer here in Central Europe. We’ve fallen victim to a thoroughly depressing combination of fog, rain, and flat grey skies. Fortunately, the cloudy weeks have been punctuated by the occasional hot-and-sunny day. Unfortunately, the sun retreats just as soon as your hopes for a traditionally scorching summer have been raised. As [...]