While a beta release refers to the rollout of an early, mostly untested version of software, the beta phase (and the iterative form of software development in general) is an excellent way to pretest communications projects, too. Software development usually proceeds from a pre-alpha phase (where R&D is completed), to an alpha phase, (where core functionality […]
Blog writing is an art. Stay with me for a minute—it’s true! In its best iterations, blog writing balances a bit of the personal with a bit of the public, a bit of the closed with a bit of the open, a bit of the crosslinkedly referential with a bit of (or better, a lot […]
As anyone in the third sector knows, the 2016 election dramatically altered the landscape in which nonprofits operate. For some, these changes may even pose an existential danger. So, what’s a nonprofit to do? How does an organization strategize in the face of an uncertain future? This isn’t a hypothetical question for some of our clients, who […]
Between us, Jess and I have named four cats, five children, two dissertations, assorted books, and a business. What have we learned? Sometimes a name is instantly, exactly right…and sometimes it takes a little time to grow into. Double Shift Press…it took a little time. Actually, we researched, registered, and sketched a whole webpage around a totally […]
Are you a human? Then you are probably sometimes in the position of presenting your ideas to other humans in a manner that you hope is convincing. Maybe you regularly give presentations at work. Maybe it’s the occasional board or PTO meeting. Maybe you’re in charge of the family reunion slideshow. Or maybe you just […]
In this time of tech-induced attention-deficit-disorder, in which distraction is censorship, reading books for pleasure is both a powerful antidote and a tiny commitment to the coming revolution. Maybe I go too far? And yet, a few books over the last few weeks have given me so much…well, if not deep and democratic thoughtfulness, then an opportunity […]
Kudos if your practical streak compelled you to continue reading past that headline. The fact is, when you think of a template, you’re probably not moved to soaring flights of spiritual inspiration. But maybe you should be. After all, the word template has its etymological roots in temple, a consecrated place of worship. The closer relative […]
An appropriately few number of people know it, but I (Molly Gage, here) once completed a dissertation about the ways that bits and pieces, scraps and fragments are collected and saved and put back together. It’s called Feverish Fragments and Dis-eased Desire: The Archive as Literature. (Roll your eyes if you must, but hey, it’s a […]
Thanks to the good folks at VIDA, we now have nine years of hard data to demonstrate what’s been anecdotally obvious since the invention of the printing press: fewer women are published than men. Women writers are underrepresented in virtually every segment of the publishing world, from magazines to newspapers to books. And their books get […]
Before a fresh page turns on a new year, a conclusion to the old year must be written. I’m speaking figuratively, of course, but Merriam-Webster offers something a bit more literal. The “sassiest dictionary on Twitter” welcomed 2018 with a reflection on 2017’s “words of the year.” Although these sorts of essays are typical hot-take fodder […]