Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #139

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Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

  • How Luther went viral – The Economist. "Hugh and I spent some time this week telling the world why the future of books is their interfaces, now that everything is digital and everyone is connected. So it’s good to know that viral sprawl has been going on for a few centuries, at least. In the shadow of the Arab Spring, and subsequent rethinkings, the Reformation has a lot to teach us. Not the least of which is headlines: was Luther’s ’95 theses’ the precursor to ’23 romantic movies revised for honesty’?" (Alistair for Hugh).
  • Take A Minute To Watch The New Way We Make Web Headlines Now – The Awl. "The fine art of headline writing has fallen prey to the harshly trackable world of the Web. Turns out, we love lists of numbered things (‘promise me 11 things, I will at least read three of them.’) But there’s more — headline trends wax and wane, as we first find a new angle, then let it lapses once readers get wise to our manipulations. ‘Here’s the real reason…’ and ‘Meet the man who…’ are a weird dysfunction indeed." (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Symbolic representation and working memory in chimpanzees – YouTube. "This chimp reads and counts. Seriously." (Hugh for Alistair).
  • Goats Yelling Like Humans – YouTube. "What can I say, it’s been a long week!" (Hugh for Mitch).
  • Clayton Christensen Wants to Transform Capitalism – Wired. "As the years wane on, we tend to look to brain heroes who have done the thinking that transcends both time and fads. Clayton Christensen is one of those minds. Without question. So many brands find themselves stuck and it’s amazing to think how they have fallen or are trapped in The Innovator’s Dilemma. The book was published in 1997… you would think companies would know better. Sadly, we do not. As this article highlights, Christensen has been through a lot: ‘In July 2010 he suffered a debilitating stroke that left him unable to speak. But within weeks he was using Rosetta Stone to reteach himself the English language, and within months he had begun writing again. His recent book How Will You Measure Your Life? came out last year, and a new work, The Capitalist’s Dilemma, is due out in 2014.’ This is a great Q&A with Christensen who understands the power of disruption and what we must do to get through it/avoid it." (Mitch for Alistair). 
  • ‘I need rules’ – Columbia Journalism Review. "Many thought that Jonah Lehrer was on the verge of Malcolm Gladwell fame. Everything was pointing in that direction for the 31-year-old. He was a recognized name, bestselling book author, a journalist for some of the world’s most respected publications and he had a thriving public speaking business. It’s the kind of life many people (like me!) would dream of. It all came crashing down, when it was revealed that he had made up quotes and plagiarized some work. In his first public appearance since the self-destruction of his career, Lehrer spoke to an audience at a Knight Foundation event. It turns out that everyone got some shrapnel from this bizarre event. Read this article and ask yourself if the world of journalism is working overtime to punish Lehrer and everyone in his path. It would seem that apologies may only work when you’re a celebrity without the title of journalist attached to it." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.