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Professional Writing for the Unprofessional Writer
The image above is for a presentation I put together for a writing course a friend of mine teaches at Boston College. My role at my company (Newfangled) involves quite a bit of writing, and so my friend asked me to talk about writing from the perspective of someone who does it in a business context, rather than as an author. I’m willing to bet that there are many professionals who have similarly found themselves writing for… -
German Internet Manifesto: How journalism works today
1. The Internet is different. It produces different public spheres, different terms of trade and different cultural skills. The media must adapt their work methods to today’s technological reality instead of ignoring or challenging it. It is their duty to develop the best possible form of journalism based on the available technology. This includes new journalistic products and methods. 2. The Internet is a pocket-sized media empire. The web rearranges existing media structures by transcending their former boundaries… -
Sustaining Innovation in Evaluation
This week marks the close of our blog series. For the past three months, this stimulating conversation has prompted a considerable amount of new thinking and pushed a number of sensitive buttons. On behalf of the IDEO team, I would like to thank GOOD for hosting this series and all of you who have contributed through blogging and commenting. We’ve certainly covered a great deal of ground—with contributions from design firms, foundations, social enterprises, and management… -
Don’t Skimp on Evaluation, Even When Budgets Shrink
This post is a response to “How Might We Emphasize Cost Effective Evaluation Tools?” Read more of the conversation here. We face a time when efficiency, cost cutting, and preparation for the tough times ahead dominate our conversations. Many funding organizations are looking at reduced income due to diminishing returns on their investments, which can mean fewer grants and a much closer eye on what is invested in to begin with. For some of the organizations I have… -
Philanthrocapital Gains
The Economist’s Matthew Bishop weighs in on Bill Clinton, Dambisa Moyo, microfinance, and the state of philanthropy. The first edition of Matthew Bishop and Michael Green’s Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World was released, as Bishop puts it, on the morning of the global economic collapse. The book, which outlines the changing landscape of philanthropy and offers a prescription for effective giving through business acumen, was received well by critics but its timing was less than opportune.… -
The Little GDP that Could (and Finally Did)
After four quarters of decline, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product finally saw a quarter of growth. The upswing from negative 6.4 percent to positive 3.5 (that’s a change of 9.9 percentage points for you non-mathematicians) since Barack Obama took office is the largest rate of increase over two-quarters since 1980. Like Megan McArdle, I’ve always been a little skeptical of looking at GDP growth as the be-all end-all barometer of our national health. Then again, Andrew Sullivan… -
SAT Scores And Family Income
Rich kids tend to score higher on the SAT. Original article: SAT Scores And Family Income
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How Might We Emphasize Cost Effective Evaluation Tools?
Emphasizing cost effective evaluation tools can get us better results with less effort, enabling innovators to do more good with a given amount of resources. In this week’s discussion, we will think broadly about the costs associated with evaluation throughout the innovation process, and suggest we rethink how we approach evaluation in order to get better results with less effort. To understand what it means to emphasize cost effective evaluation tools, let’s consider what types of costs… -
Should We Ban Advertising Junk Food to Kids?
Couple things we know. Childhood obesity is basically a national health crisis. Sugar cereals, as we called them when I was a kid, are not good for us, despite being delicious and despite marketers’ best efforts to have us think otherwise. Now, thanks to a leaked Yale University report, we can add one more factoid to he mix: Preschoolers are bombarded with cereal ads an average of 642 a year. Now, we’re not talking about ads… -
Shady Nutrition Labeling Gets Yanked
Oh, look: The FDA is actually weighing in on something of consequence. It looks like federal and state wrist-slapping has been enough to derail the Smart Choice nutritional labeling program, which is basically a way for processed-food purveyors to trick you into thinking their crap isn’t as bad for you as it is. You have almost certainly already seen the label—though you’d be forgiven for not remembering because the number of little logos and labels promising one…
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Contributing Editor
Joe is a writer, techy, entrepreneur, and all-around geek and lives in New York. His GOOD business column is "Diary of a Social Venture Start-up." 
