In-House Notes

The Atlantic's online world is a constantly growing (and improving!) empire. Because, like Jeff Goldberg, I am only a pretend blogger, doing this as a when-available sideline to "real" reporting and writing, my ideal output rate is at most an item per day. Enough info shows up to support that; any more, and I start worrying about my day-job duties, plus overloading the system.

Over the past few years the Atlantic's site has had more and more examples of the opposite approach: fast, diverse, frequently-refreshed new material. The latest is from the new head of our Tech channel team, Alexis Madrigal, who yesterday alone put up a wide variety of mini-articles -- that is, items that are reported-out and actually written, rather than just "have you seen this?" brief links. (Yes, each kind of item has its place.) I mention him because he's the most recent arrival but also because, when our redesigned site was launched early this year, I was theoretically supposed to be in charge of our "Tech Channel." Now it's a real channel, with someone really in charge -- as, for instance, Corby Kummer and Daniel Fromson are with our Food Channel.

Also, I generally am wary of headlines that are plays on familiar names or labels. Usually this kind of punning is a lame and brainless way out. (One example of a zillion: I saw an item about a suburb called Newtown, with the headline: "Much Ado About Newtown." Ugh.) But the headline on an item by Conor Friedersdorf, in our "Ideas" section, is a worthy exception.