The most obvious way an online community is like a bar is that bars serve alcohol, and alcohol makes people loud and stupid. It actually depresses your hearing, so you can’t hear yourself talk as well, so you speak louder. And a room full of people speaking louder means a very boisterous room. And of course, alcohol reduces inhibition, so you say things you might not usually say.
The parallels to online behavior are easy to see. Online, people are much more willing to type things t...
Sideways dictionary — it's like a dictionary, but using analogies instead of definitions. Use it as a tool for finding and sharing helpful analogies to explain technological ideas. Because if everyone understands technology better, we can make technology work better for everyone.
Robbie Blinkoff is an anthropologist and professor who's been asking himself whether technology is the advancement that will propel us from "stone tools to axes" — in the evolution of anthropology, perhaps even transforming the humanities. His quest has led him to develop a new app, the Pocket Anthropologist. Find out what Margaret Mead would have done with an iPhone in this engaging presentation.