A few weeks ago, I received one of those rare opportunities to write for a new publication. Granted, publications–and websites in particular—come and go. But I’ve been following Medium for a little while and I was honored to be asked to participate.
Started by Ev Williams, one of the founders of Blogger, and Biz Stone, one of the founders of Twitter, Medium aims to provide a range of new and diverse ideas through a website where writing and reading are the primary activities. At the present, there are no ads, no social media functionality (though you do need a Twitter account to sign in, naturally), and no comments. The clean interface, designed for legibility and usability, makes the consumption of the website a joy.
Ev Williams writes in his introduction:
Medium is based on the belief that the sharing of ideas and experiences is what moves humanity forward. The Internet is the greatest idea-sharing tool ever imagined, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what it’s capable of.
Thus far, I have written a few pieces (you can find my bald head in a circle here), including What Not to Do to Medium, which goes into why I think Medium should change—but only slightly, at least at first. I also write a piece called There Goes the Ecosystem, about the use of ecological terms to describe desiccated technologies, and and a piece on iTunes 11 that stayed on Medium’s front page for about 28 hours.
Take a look around. These are the best of times for content on the web. I’d love to hear your thoughts.