My NYTIIH Score, Year Two

Posted by Jacob Harris Wed, 27 Dec 2006 20:05:00 GMT

It’s that time of the year again, when the air gets a certain crispness, snatches of holiday song fill the air, and everybody communes with their friends and family, joined in warmth by their shared commitment to one thing: figuring out their New York Times Year In Ideas Hipness score. For those of you who missed this last year, I’ve started the personal tradition of reading through the New York Times Magazine’s annual Year In Ideas issue and tabulating how many of the collected phenomena I had known about beforehand. This is no mere game; a sufficiently high score is the only thing that allows me to still bask in the comfort of being “with it”, so please appreciate the seriousness of this moment.

I’ve been a bit late coming to the game this year (it’s been a really busy December), but now is the moment of truth and a big game day question: Now that I actually work at the Times, how will that affect my score? On the one hand, I am that much closer to the elitist, liberal, intellectual mindset the Times is so renowned for, so that should conceivably help my score. But – and I am painfully aware of the irony here – I find myself with so much less time to read the news these days now that I’m actually working for it, which might detract from my score.

If you’ve never read the Year in Ideas issue, give it a gander and see how much you recognize. I’m sure there will be some things you recognize a little, some you’ve known for years (as the picture shows, I’m very aware that shipping containers explain everything), and some things that will completely surprise you. And if you’re feeling competitive, tally up your score and see how intellectually hip you are. My results follow:

There you have it. A total score of 46 out of 74, for a NYTYIIH score of 55.4%! Given the wide-ranging scope of ideas, this might seem decent enough, except last year I scored an impressive 65.38%. Oh the humanity! I guess I’m now longer the idea hipster/coolhunter I thought I was. But can you do better?

Posted in Silly | Tags ideas, nytimes | no comments

Moving On

Posted by Jacob Harris Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:37:00 GMT

Eight years. That’s how long I have worked at Alacra, starting fresh out of school in the heady days of the first web boom. Eight years is an astounding length of time to most programmers, conditioned to a revolving door approach to employment, and it is a testament to what an interesting and nurturing place Alacra is that I’ve been here this long. Furthermore, I’m hardly an anomaly among the developers, most of whom have been here well over five years too. It’s a place where people like to stay, and it feels more like a family than an office sometimes. But I am now leaving. Alacra’s been my only post-college job, and it’s simply time for me to try something new.

Next week, I will start working at New York Times Digital. Yes, that New York Times that is delivered to about 1.5 million readers in dead tree form. That number might seem impressive in itself, but 50 times that number of users read the online web version, meaning I will be working on apparently the most popular online news site in the world. Yow. No pressure there. Seriously though, I am looking forward to the challenges and I hope to learn a lot of new skills on the job. The new office building will also be pretty sweet when it opens.

Still, the change is weird. It’s definitely been a strange two weeks in this liminal zone, and I am filled with conflicting emotions. I am sad about leaving all my colleagues at Alacra, but enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead. It’s an exciting time.

Posted in Career | Tags alacra, nytimes | 3 comments

Calculate Your NYTYIIH Score!

Posted by Jacob Harris Mon, 19 Dec 2005 18:08:00 GMT

For the past 5 years, the New York Times has graced with an annual roundup article titled The Year In Ideas. The issue actually came out last week, but it’s a sign of my recent workload – and the excessive number of holiday parties I had to attend – that I only read it on the commute into work today.

It actually was rather boring. Not because of the ideas themselves, but because I had actually read many of them before on various blogs and other geeky websites (Sometimes, I long for a service like “del.icio.us” for feed subscriptions just so I can share how hip the feeds I read are). I am not an information omnivore by any means, but it was apparent that I was cued into some of the same idea sources as the editors of the New York Times. Which led to an idea of my own. Since the New York Times has declared its Year In Ideas issue to be an annual tradition, I’m going to start my own personal tradition of tabulating my personal New York Times Year In Ideas Hipness score (or NYTYIIH for short). The methodology is simple. Look at every idea listed and if you had heard of it before reading in the Times, give yourself a point. Okay, let’s get started then.

The following table lists the titles of the ideas in the 2005 Year in Ideas issue with bold ones being ideas I had encountered before. I know some of the titles are cryptic, but you can take that up with the New York Times editors and not me.

So, what is my final score? 51 out of 78, which gives me NYTYIIH score of 65.38%! I’m quite pleased with myself this year; since I have just started, I can unabashedly call this year’s score my personal best. Can you beat me?

Posted in Meta, Silly | Tags ideas, memes, nytimes | no comments