Every year since I started this blog, I’ve been naming several people every year as my Persons of Internet. These are people who have made a strong impact on me during the year (Persons of Internet is a play on Person of Interest, after all), and also people who I expect to see and hear more from in the years to come.
Rather than explain anything further (other than to say that, like in 2011, I’ve settled on 5 “Persons” per year), I’ll reveal the list now so that they can hopefully start to have a similar impact on you in the days, weeks, months, and years to come as well.
I had the chance to meet Erin Feldman through one of last year’s Persons of Internet, my good friend Michael Schechter. I’ve been following Erin’s work over at Write Right and she even did me the honour of “chibi-fying” me this year. She’s speaking at South By Southwest this year and while 2012 was a rock-solid year for her, I can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for her – and for those of us who enjoy her work.
James Gowans is a fellow Canadian and he’s been doing some pretty stellar stuff online for a while. But his interactions over at App.net (you can follow him here) really helped me take even more notice of who he is and what he does. He has experimented using his iPhone with as little beyond the stock apps as possible, chronicling his progress over at his blog.1 James is one Canuck I’ve yet to have a beer with (although he did recommend a fine one to me this year), and in 2013 I am going to make every effort to make that beer drinking excursion happen.
Over at The Geek’s Companion, Devir Kahan has been posting more and more interesting stuff as the year went by. He adds a completely different voice to my RSS feed because of how he approaches what he offers, and I think that 2013 will be an even better year for Devir and his site – he’s one you should definitely watch..
Discovered rather late in 2012, Nick Wynja has made a serious impact on what I read – because I’m reading more of what he delivers (which hasn’t happened very often in recent years with many people). His blog, Hack/Make is truly excellent; the design and content are top-notch. I’m so glad I found his work, and while I don’t let many sites infiltrate my inbox, Nick’s is one that not only lands there – it gets read there.
Cal Newport has been someone I’ve read for a long time, but his latest book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, made such a strong impact on me in the later part of the year that he simply has to be on this list. Not that he didn’t deserve to be on both the 2010 and 2011 lists, but this year he was just so good that he couldn’t be ignored by those well beyond my level either. Cal is incredibly smart and insightful – and he unleashes content that is profoundly powerful every time he hits “publish” on his blog. If you’ve yet to get his latest book, you need to do so. If you’ve yet to subscribe to his blog, you need to do so. He is just too damn good at what he says and does to be ignored by anyone.
1 I’m a fan of experiments, as you know.
