Julie Ruff

How social media fueled unrest in the Middle East

This panel very quickly turned into a conversation featuring representatives from Al-Jazeera English, NPR, MSNBC.com, Reuters and other media organizations. Social media isn’t responsible for revolutions. No one is arguing that here. Only 5 percent of people in Libya, for example, have Internet access. But it does play an important role. The conversation bounced around […]

The word is 'geogame'

“Location-based game” is a mouthful. Zach Saul and John-Paul Walton, founders of Dokobots suggest instead the term “geogame.” A geogame “uses technology to augment the real world.” Most people are familiar with the top location-based social media tools, Foursquare, SCVNGR and Gowalla, but Saul and Walton said geogames have great opportunities to grow beyond simple […]

The only constant is change. From the advent of movable type to social media and the cloud, technology has always changed the way we tell stories, and it always will. A relatively new movement of journalists (hacks) and technologists (hackers) have come together to learn from and inspire each other. Together they combine their skills […]

My SXSW Picks for Saturday, March 12

Picking the best panels of any day during SXSW is so subjective as to be nearly impossible. So instead of pretending to know the interests of the average SXSW badge holder (is there such a thing?), the following is what I plan to do. You can follow along if you like or leave a comment […]

Preview - 'Eat Tweet' and other book readings

If ever there were someone who should eat her words, it’s Maureen Evans. All 140 characters. Also known as @cookbook by more than 65,000 Twitter followers, Evans regularly tweets whole recipes she’s boiled down to the character limit. Her recipe shorthand is so good, she even has space for periods. A typical tweet: “Monster Cookies: […]

Preview - Customer care, 140 characters and beyond

Rob La Gesse’s official title at San Antonio-based web hosting company Rackspace is Chief Disruption Officer. And he wears it with pride. Formerly the Director of Customer Development, La Gesse earned the new title after waking up Rackspace Chairman Graham Weston in the middle of the night to address a customer complaint. For La Gesse, […]