Roland-Allen.com

Home of the author of THE NOTEBOOK: A HISTORY OF THINKING ON PAPER, available now

Notes from my Beginner Computer Literacy Class Part 1 - Alex’s Writing Journal

Helping the uninitiated navigate this brave new digital world

On Writing #3

Periodically I like to gather various observations about writing, and share my perspective.

WE ALL WE GOT

Welcome to We All We Got: A Digital Green Book for the Culture—a guide for navigating the ever-growing wave of digital manipulation aimed at dividing, deceiving, and discouraging Black communities.

Understanding the influence of digital technology on human cognitive functions: A narrative review

In the era of rapid digitalization, the widespread integration of digital technology into various aspects of daily life has sparked significant interest in understanding its impact on cognitive mental processes. While the emerging data suggests that its influence may be positive or negative, the depth of evidence regarding neurobiological mechanisms remains limited. This review aims to synthesize previously published studies and develop a comprehensive framework that systematically categorizes digital technologies, the cognitive functions they impact, and developmental stages around the concept of neuroplasticity, while clearly illustrating their interconnections. Despite acknowledged limitations, through an exhaustive approach, this paper intends to offer a dynamic perspective on the effects of digital media on the human brain, before the onset of addiction.

Blogroll – Manu

I believe we should all blog more and connect more with strangers. There's not much I can do as an individual. I can offer to be your first reader, …

Build the web you want to see

My website, James’ Coffee Blog, is now over five years old. I seldom thought about how old my website was until recently, when I looked and realised that years had passed since the single black-and-white HTML page that comprised my site. “Hyperlinks are my friend,” I said, in a playful tone whose message foreshadowed my deepening appreciation for the web and what the web could be.   Five years on, I find myself as invigorated about the web as I was at the beginning. I started what would become James’ Coffee Blog interested in blogging, seeing a personal website as a way to share words on the web. Those words would help me nurture my passion for writing. My website could, I learned, be a place for me to grow and experiment as a writer. Having a website encouraged me to ask the question what could I write today? Whether or not I published what I wrote, I was writing. I was making something. I was proud.   My passion for the web is fuelled not only by my own experiences writing, but by seeing what others make. Seeing others’ websites, I have asked myself questions like How did they make that?, spurring my interest in web design. Web design is a topic I would later find the motivation to study in greater depth.   I have been delighted by stories that people have shared, eliciting reactions in me from I see myself in this to That was fascinating! Blog posts on personal websites have made me curious, they have made me feel seen, they have satisfied my interest in learning – they have opened up new worlds, from the technical to the poetic, from the introspective to the collaborative.   When I was thinking what would be a good fit for The Good Internet Magazine – a publication whose very existence makes me excited about the future of the web – a question came to mind: “what have I learned over the years that a new web weaver would find interesting?” Here is my answer to that question.  

Announcing Pace Layers

The inaugural issue of Long Now’s new annual print journal synthesizes the most important learnings of our first quarter-century.

Pace Layers 02025 Annual Journal

Long Now’s annual print journal explores the ancient past and distant future of the present moment through essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, and visual art. The journal takes its name and shape from Long Now cofounder Stewart Brand’s pace layers framework — a tool for thinking about how civilizations work. [Learn more about Pace Layers](https://longnow.org/pacelayers/)

supernote-cli: pen, paper, and a pipe

A recent  NYT piece  argued we need a mental fitness revolution to combat the cognitive decay caused by algorithmic feeds and generative AI. It's an efficient one-two punch. If you're not brainrotting on short form video content, you're outsourcing all of your thinking to an LLM. The result is a kind of cognitive strip-mining. What's left requires active defense. For me, one way of defending that capacity for deep work is with a pen on e-ink. Whether it's annotating a paper or starting a sketch from scratch, I'm intentionally making room for focused thought. My army of clawed Claudes and Codexes will just have to wait.

Letting things build

This week I put together a reading list for my digital aura series. I recall starting to write around Thanksgiving — but when I looked back at my reading, I’d started reading for it months earlier. (No wonder it’s felt like such a big endeavor!)

Publishing is fucked. The ATmosphere could save it. | Paul Stephenson | Offprint

Building a future for publishing that keeps authors and readers at its heart.