Tech@NYU, MCC, and HOC

In my Twitter bio, I mention that I enjoy working at the intersection of tech and communication -- thinking about the policies surrounding online interaction and the digital tools we use. I have a couple of long-form essays in the works about communication and whether we should value privacy even if we've nothing to hide, but in the meantime, I'm happy to interact and work with likeminded folks. 

In that vein, I've started to work with the communications director of Tech@NYU. Personally, I'm surprised it took me until my second semester to find and befriend the community of hackers and designers. Today was DemoDay, where students gave two-minute presentations on little hacks and projects they've been working on. As a writer, I'm totally biased, but I really liked Joey Organisak's Wrdz.co.

Here, Ryan Shea gives us a Bitcoin primer: 

Not that I want to boil every experience down to the question of how-do-I-college, but I really think I underutilized the clubs and societies at NYU during my first semester -- I'm really glad to have the opportunity to befriend and work with some incredibly talented people.

I'm halfway through the spring semester and work is going well. I'm busier this semester than in the fall because of how my schedule of classes worked out. I met my advisor yesterday and, as I discussed in Soundboard, we chatted about the possibility of doing an introductory law class. Turns out that doing one wouldn't be hard at all, and we looked at some media criticism and communication courses. Steinhardt, another school within NYU (I'm in the College of Arts and Science right now) has a media, cultures, and communications (MCC) major that I might want to pair with political science. Majoring in MCC would require a school transfer within NYU, and MCC is, apparently, a fairly competitive major, but I'd be reasonably confident of being able to do it. 

Apart from that, I'm currently reading House of Cards, the book that inspired the TV series. It's set in the UK and is delightfully British -- Underwood (called Urquhart in the book) is much more Shakespearean here. My main criticism of the US TV series has -and remains to be- that Spacey plays the antagonist with far too much blind ambition. It's clear that Urquhart recognizes the ridiculousness of the situation and is far more deprecating. I've been meaning to post more book reviews, and I'll start that by reviewing HOC in the next day or two.

Just one final note -- NYers should check out If/Then, the new (and original!) musical that opens on Broadway tomorrow night. A good friend stars and the show deserves a long, happy life.