Month: May 2004

Obsession

NYT writer katie hafner interviewed me about my blogging habits. the article doesn’t say, but it is talking about a period in early 2001 when i was very bored at KPMG..

The constant search for bloggable moments is what led Gregor J. Rothfuss, a programmer in Zurich, to blog to the point of near-despair. Bored by his job, Mr. Rothfuss, 27, started a blog that focused on technical topics.
“I was trying to record all thoughts and speculations I deemed interesting. Sort of creating a digital alter ego. The obsession came from trying to capture as much as possible of the good stuff in my head in as high fidelity as possible.”
For months, Mr. Rothfuss said, he blogged at work, at home, late into the night, day in and day out until it all became a blur – all the while knowing, he added, “that no one was necessarily reading it, except for myself.”
When traffic to the blog, greg.abstract.ch started to rise, he began devoting half a day every day and much of the weekend to it. Mr. Rothfuss said he has few memories of that period in his life aside from the compulsive blogging.
He was saved from the rut of his online chronicle when he traveled to Asia. The blog became more of a travelogue. Then Mr. Rothfuss switched jobs, finding one he enjoyed, and his blogging grew more moderate.
He still has the blog, but posts to it just twice a week, he said, “as opposed to twice an hour.” He feels healthier now. “It’s part of what I do now, it’s not what I do”.

Still growing up

My friend Teddy called me earlier: “Any plans for tonight? Yes, busy busy. Well.. I’ve got tickets for Peter Gabriel. Oh, I think I can make time after all.” So he picks me up in his Mercedes convertible, and before I know it Peter starts working the crowd. Ss a Gabriel newbie, I could focus on the gadgets: Segway-riding for “Games without frontiers”, into-a-big-bouncy-transparent-sphere-climbing and rolling-around-the-stage for “Growing up”, and some funky-low-fi-bulb-jacket for “Sledgehammer”. I liked the show quite a bit, and also the story about the growing up of an apache kid who was deserted on a hilltop for 14 days after having been bitten by a snake. I’m glad I don’t have to earn my merit that way.

Designing Trust

Trust between people engaging in economic transactions affects the economic growth of their community. Reputation management systems, such as the Feedback Forum of eBay Inc., can increase the trust level of the participants. We show in this paper that experimental economics can be used in a controlled laboratory environment to measure trust and trust enhancement. Specifically, we present an experimental study that quantifies the increase in trust produced by 2 versions of a reputation management system. We also discuss some emerging issues in the design of reputation management systems.

fodder for your next non-zero-sum game.