Storytelling

On Learning: Expectations are Key

In this series I explore learning -- specifically, why it’s difficult and how to get better at it. Sometimes I'll use science, other times I'll call on my decade of experience and observations on teaching a range of subjects -- both formally and informally. There's no single simple trick

Learn to Embrace Dinkiness

Last week, I mentored a hackathon for beginners and intermediates at The Cooper Union and found myself repeating the same two pieces of advice over and over again. Since programmers shouldn’t ever repeat themselves, I decided to write it down and share with the world. This advice applies if

Why I'm Learning Morse Code

I'm fascinated by Morse code. It teaches us about encoding, language, technology, and our ability to learn to communicate in a revolutionary manner. Nearly every piece of information around us has been encoded. Even language--human communication--is encoded information. Language started as an abstract concept; we needed to communicate thoughts, ideas,

Big data doesn't need to be so big

There are lots of people talking about big data these days. There's a lot of discussion about how to build apps for "web scale", and there's an emphasis on real time apps that collect comprehensive data. This article is me playing devil's advocate. I think the big data

Do we have a moral obligation to society?

I just spent 48 hours without electricity. I'm not complaining; I could have had it much worse (many people in Staten Island did) and very fortunately nobody I know was hurt or lost their home. But my experience without power got me thinking. I was sitting around in the dark