Recent Professional Writing

Something I've been meaning to do for a while. Here's a listing of my recent professional writing.

• "To Tweet, Perchance to Dream: Dismissing Three Twitter Myths," Scatter/Gather, February 28, 2012
• Interview: "SXSW 2012 Q&A: Matthew Diffee," Scatter/Gather, February 2, 2012
• "Autofail: How Apple's Autocorrect Teaches Bad English," Scatter/Gather, October 7, 2011
• "How Egypt Got Her Voice Back," Scatter/Gather, February 7, 2011
• "Your Content Is Showing," Scatter/Gather, December 30, 2010
• "Robosketching for the People," Scatter/Gather, October 15, 2010
• "A Bah-Bah-Bah Blog Blunder?" Scatter/Gather, July 22, 2010
• "Cheaper Than a Bag of Popcorn," Scatter/Gather, March 18, 2010
• "Order Out of Nothingness: Tagging 101," Scatter/Gather, January 12, 2010
• "News That's Fit to Tweet?" Scatter/Gather, November 13, 2009
• "Blinded by Content Bliss," Scatter/Gather, August 3, 2009
• "Here Comes User-Generated Content," Scatter/Gather, July 28, 2009
• "Cultivating Effective User-Generated Content," With Bob Maynard, Razorfish.com, July 2009 [pdf]
• "Crowdsourcing Content," Scatter/Gather, April 22, 2009
• "Auto promotion: Using Twitter in the automotive industry," Headlight Blog, March 30, 2009
• "To Fabricate or Not to Fabricate," Scatter/Gather, March 12, 2009
• "Mind Your Micoblogging Manners," Slant, December 2008 [pdf]
• "Let ‘em talk: How dealership employees use message boards and what can be learned from them," Headlight Blog, October 28, 2008

Crowdsourcing Content

I have a new post about crowdsourcing content over at Razorfish's Scatter/Gather blog. One of life's little mysteries is why folks would want to contribute content of one sort or another for free in the first place. I briefly describe some incentives and also discuss framing your inquiries and networking for providers.

Speaking of crowdsourcing, Iain McDonald, the founder of Amnesia | Razorfish, laid down the gauntlet today at the Razorfish Client Summit, asking attendees to see how many results they could create for a freshly minted word, specifically "razorfunfish" on Google within a single day. A prize would also be given to the person who created the entry, which rose to the top of the heap.

Well, moments later, I noted that results were already appearing. It'll be interesting to see who comes up with the most effective means of "owning" the term. I'm seeing some pretty creative efforts already. Someone even bought the URL. Also, coincidental to the subject of my article above, someone created an entry on Wikipedia. We'll see how long it lasts.

Also: Google results for razorfunfish

AutoPromotion

I have a new article, "Auto promotion: Using Twitter in the automotive industry," on Razorfish's Headlight blog about how the automotive industry is using (or failing to use) Twitter.

Department of Shameless Self Promotion

Me and my friend and co-worker, Rachel Lovinger are quoted in a New York Times story today on the new "esplanade" on Broadway, which streams past AA|RF's office building at 1440. From the tail-end of the article:

Robert Stribley, 39, an information architect at an Internet design firm with an office on Broadway, said that he found the experience of sitting on the esplanade surreal.

“You look around and expect a truck to veer off and plow into you at any moment,” he said. “It’s not Bryant Park. You’ve got exhaust coming at you. But it’s kind of cool.”

A co-worker, Rachel Lovinger, 37, suggested a way to eliminate the risk: turn all of Broadway from Times Square to Herald Square into a pedestrian park, with no cars or trucks at all.

“If the entire thing were a pedestrian walkway it would be great,” she said.

It should be duly noted that I did not say anything of any particular portent or significance.

And in Gothamist, as well.

About Me

I was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia and now live in New York City. In between, I've found lived at various times in Charlotte, NC, Greenville, SC (where I attended the self-proclaimed "World's Most Unusual University") and Pusan, Korea. I've traveled on every continent, except Antarctica. Pretty much incapable of wearing a single hat, I'm an information architect and a content strategist, currently employed with Avenue A | Razorfish. I have degrees in journalism and English and I write music reviews (which get published) and fiction (which usually doesn't).

My writing has been featured in numerous publications, including Skyscraper, Make magazine, Pixelsurgeon, Open Sewer, Zmag.org, Creative Loafing, The Charleston Post-Courier, The Korea Herald, and Isosceles, a small poetry journal, as well as the Razorfish publications Slant and Headlight. You'll find a selection of my writing in the right rail of this blog.

Feel free to comment. To agree or disagree. We get nowhere without dialogue.

Best wishes,

Robert