Alana Taylor and changeification

I get a lot of commentary in the media and especially on the web, so am used to some people thinking I am an idiot, even a moron occasionally, but this one beggars belief. Her blog talks about the future of identity and personal branding, tracking and commenting on the future in her field. So she is basically in the same space as me, or maybe a novice version of Sherry Turkle. And yet she devotes a fairly large piece to criticising the whole field of futurology, which after all, is only studying the future, so certainly includes her blog. She says futurology is not a real career. Fine, lots of people think that, though it pays very well and is great fun, so I can't think of another career that I'd rather be in. But if she thinks so, why devote her own site to the same purpose? She is clearly a futurist herslef, at least part time, even as she pours scorn on the field.

And she says my site sucks, and looks like it was produced in 1998. Sure, I've always preferred substance over style, and actually haven't changed the style since 1995 when I wrote it since it works well and generates a lot of business as it is. And I use blogger instead of some other software, and dare to spend my time thinking instead of spending my time choosing fonts and sizes and layouts. But apart from this post, I don't spend my time slagging off other web sites, blogs or other futurists, even ones that don't realise they are futurists, or indeed shooting myself in the foot.

Her main point seems to be that other futurists aren't as stylish as she thinks she is. And futurology sites often aren't kept up to date. Well, many aren't, the owners presumably have other higher priority things to do with their time. So what? There are plenty of cool and trendy sites out there, and some futures companies do indeed put a great deal of effort into producing attractively presented outputs. Some make her stuff look bland and dated by comparison. It's a free market, and not everyone thinks that their their business depends on their web site looking cool and trendy.

We all have our niche. It's a pity that Alana inhabits such a negative one. Look in the mirror Alana. Changeification is just another futures site, one among hundreds of technology impact trackers. You're in the futures industry, hopefully doing well too. So think a little before slagging it off. That you don't think my site offers anything special is fine. Not everyone likes my stuff, but enough do.