Death and Resumes

A coworker of mine heard of someone who's hiring based on blogs and online profiles. Considering that the resume is a medium that has existed with little change for decades, it seems a good move. An 8.5 x 11 sheet of text is an outdated presentation platform and certainly someone with interest in modern design and technology would be able to represent themselves better with an online identity. However this could represent a barrier to honesty in our online lives.

For the most part it appears people are far more open about themselves in an online setting than elsewhere, so I would imagine a new level of honesty would be brought to the employment process. As we become more conscious of the extent to which our lives are digitally discoverable, we will probably come to a conclusion as a society to either live our lives as if we are constantly surveilled (to be on a constant interview as it were), to accept that we all have our personal foibles, or to hide/manipulate details of our lives. I would like to see us become more accepting and honest of ourselves as full rounded people and not pretend that the polished exterior is the only side to us (though I would always advocate only bringing the polished exterior to the workplace); however, the cynical side of me thinks we are more likely to be more honest, but to continue to censor the presentation of ourselves.

I think it stands to reason that most people have some embarrassing moment they would like to erase. Certainly you would not blog about it or link to it from your profile. But increasingly it will exist out there to be found and I think acceptance makes the most sense. Obviously sometimes we are strained, but for the most part, an interview should be a two way process. You should figure you want the job for the job, not some hyped image of it and the job should want you for you, not some image. Long term an honest representation is for the best.

Therefore while I think the internet presents (at least for tech related jobs) a better presentation of ourselves as a resume, I think we should forget about it day to day, but make big decisions with regard to it -- much like mortality. Now and then we should contemplate our death, but we would be paralyzed to dwell on it constantly. I certainly do not mind lumping resumes and death in the same do not disturb box.

Some notes from itechne at TOC

[still going through notes from O'Reilly TOC...]

Computers process data, but we are not yet at the time where data is semantic and they understand it. There are some tools to work towards this with web data, but because they help the computers more directly than the humans we don't see the value. Truth is if enough sites were semantic then search results could be better and we would see a human benefit to helping the computers. In the end it benefits us to change the human readable form of the web to a computer readable form.

RSS, XML, and mash ups are only steps towards a semantic internet. We can not yet pivot table all of the data. For instance it is not trivial to pull a trip site into your favorite rental car site.

Rich content is thought of as having no structure, but in fact it has a deep complex structure.

The Economy

We took our distantly related friend (who's brilliant and self-sufficient at 100 years old) out for dinner and grocery shopping yesterday. She being a young woman in the Great Depression, we asked her about what she thought of the current economic situation. Having just read Upton Sinclair's The Money Lenders and possibly influenced by it, she said every 80 years the rich get caught being greedy and suffer a little and the poor suffer greatly for ten years. It started the last time with mortgages defaulting just like this time. From her point of view it was much the same before in that it was a slow moving storm that some saw in the distance and others went about their daily lives. I'm not sure what the metaphorical equivalent is to boarding up the windows before a hurricane, but the time is surely ripe for another humanitarian like Sinclair to take on the powers that be and explain to the masses just what happened. I can't help feeling a mixed melancholy in looking at his picture though. He at once seems so determined, thin, brave, weak, and inspiring. Did he make a difference that lasted 80 years? Did he just chase the evil into hiding or are these just new and different devils? Or is none of this so simple and the problem of good and evil is that in the end neither really exists? Maybe the caption beneath Sinclair should be an old thought: The greatest battle you can ever fight is the one you will loose.

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OHNY: Flux Factory >> Living Room

We participated in Open House New York (OHNY) and did it the best way for our first time with a Flux Factory tour in a big yellow school bus. The bus took us to a number of spots on the tour and it was a really great day. We ended up at Flux Factory (which was a scary time because they were loosing the space, but according to their site things are looking around).

Someday I may share our pictures (the picture on the right is FF's), but I wanted to at least mention how great Flux Factory is and encourage you to learn more if you're interested in arts organizations.

OHNY: Flux Factory >> Living Room

We have wanted to participate in Open House New York (OHNY) but the past couple years did not work out. Yesterday we decided a bus tour put on by Flux Factory was too much to pass up. The tour was called Living Room and brought us to some great locations on a yellow school bus. The most amazing stop though was Flux Factory. Started by a group of philosophers it is an artist live/work space that excites the imagination. I'm both impressed with what they did and surprised that it seems such a rare occurance. Why are there not hundreds of communities like this given the high concentration of interest in the arts in the NYC area, the ridiculous cost of real estate, and the number of ware house type buildings?

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