Comments on: The attention economy is exhausting.

By: Dervala

Dervala — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:32:23 +0000

Another reason I’m bummed to have missed ETech–would’ve been fun to meet you.

By: Jeremy Zawodny's blog

Jeremy Zawodny's blog — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 16:14:12 +0000

ETech 2006 Thoughts

I spent the last 2 days in San Diego at O’Reilly’s ETech conference. Last year I spoke about the then recently launched Yahoo! Search Developer Network (not YDN), but this year I was just there to hang out. No talk. No booth duty. No agenda. I took n…

By: Ole' Dad

Ole' Dad — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 17:53:29 +0000

The cognitive science article that your friend mentions is very interesting! It’s also very technical so only “cog sci geeks” are likely to be able to evaluate it. (Why, yes, thanks, I’ll be happy to!)

It is indeed a fine study, very well done, but be careful about “overgeneralizing” the results. It has long been known that attention manifests “pop out” effects, where some stimuli literally pop out from surrounding clutter. This is the opposite of the effect found in the new study; sometimes clutter HELPS see a novel item!

Is clutter always bad? Nope; it depends on the nature of the stimulus, the kind of clutter, and the goals of the observer. Just like one’s confidence that they’ve made the right call. “Attention Consumers” (love the term) just aren’t going to have it all THAT easy! (Gotta’ go — incoming email!)

By: You Mon Tsang

You Mon Tsang — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 06:45:38 +0000

Good to run into you at ETech. ETech is really unlike any other conference I have attended: it is very raw and very exciting.

Bruce Sterling’s speech alone forced me to tap into brain reserves that have been inactive since college.