Brian Oberkirch does it again. Thanks Brian for calling out the pink elephant in the room that is largely being ignored in our industry. --K


Identity Is a Mashup at Like It Matters: "There is a well-intentioned but wrong-headed meme running buckwild again. I sidestepped it in the fall, was reminded of it again watching Powazek v. Champ on identity politics in the Blogumentary, and now it’s back. I have some thoughts.

The short version of the argument goes: we want more diversity (narrowly cast in this thread as ‘women’) in technology, and the people who stage tech conferences are failing us by providing insufficient ratios of men and women speakers, thereby perpetuating the inequalities we’re trying to overturn.

This is an ongoing debate (as it has to be) though the argumentation tends toward the self-righteous, self-evident mode: look at all these white boys on the roster. What are they thinking? I think we can do better. I think we have to do better.

Starfish Rising

Mainly, I think we have to get diversity right because it will be a condition of success in the Web to come. The next few years will see the triumph of nuance over brute force; smart swarming and mashing up over lock-in; a million small victories. You won’t pay attention to diversity issues to assuage your liberal guilt; you’ll do it because it’s good for business. Because the winners will have emotional empathy; be able to identify with users; quickly read the tea leaves and respond accordingly; will cede control to members and co-create unexpected products.

Story continues here.