I’m Jenny Spadafora and this is my blog
12 frogs launched in October 2001.
I decided to keep a book log, reading notes, in July 2002 after the author of Virtual Marginalia gave me a little encouragement. I bought a digital camera in August 2003 and started a photo log, spotted, that October and kept it going until November 2005, when I packed it up and moved over to flickr, where you can now now see my photos.
You can also see my books on LibraryThing and my bookmarks (of a different sort) on del.icio.us. Over time, it seems more and more of my life is on the web. You can find me on facebook. Yeah, I even twitter now.
Tools
This is what I use to make what you see: WordPress, a MacBook Pro, TextMate, a Canon S3 IS, CanoScan 8400F scanner, Photoshop, and Transmit. I use Firefox to surf, and NetNewsWire to read feeds.
About Me, Your Trustworthy Narrator
I don’t believe in making a distinction between “the real world” and “the web” because both are part of my reality. People in my life who aren’t web-obsessed (including some of my nearest and dearest) are well-loved, no less so because they either are baffled by or snicker at the word meatspace. At the same time, connections I make and nurture online are important to me. I refuse to choose.
I’m educated beyond my means (just ask Sallie Mae.) I know what IA, KM, UX, and CMS mean: get an MLS and you too can kick butt, professionally speaking.
I don’t have cable tv. I do use Netflix, often to watch really cheesy TV without commercial interruption. Can’t have Xena’s or Buffy’s or Sydney’s ass-kicking intruded upon by companies hawking minivans and tampons. That would just be wrong.
I live in Boston, which means that Lisa and I are legally married, and living in the only state in the U.S. that recognizes same-sex marriage. Living in Boston also means we don’t have to drive to get around (the T ain’t great, but it works — well, except when it doesn’t) which is convenient given that a driver’s license isn’t something either of us has.
Some people think that because I don’t drive, I’m eccentric. I say there are better reasons to call me eccentric.
Day jobs
When I started this blog more then six years ago, I worked for The Incredible Shrinking Company. Then I worked for a small nonprofit. Now, I work for a giant software company. (It feels giant to me, anyway — it has more employees than my hometown had people.)
I never used to refer to any of my employers by their real names, because obfuscation seemed the better part of continued employment. Now, though, I have coworkers reading my blog, and my manager subscribes to my feed, so it seems silly not to name names. Transparency is the new black.
I work with a small team of really smart people in Intuit’s Innovation Lab. My title is Web Evangelist, which means I spend a lot of time focused on the power and potential of online communities, the whole wisdom of crowds thing — social software, blogs, wikis, and general web geekery.
(The small nonprofit was the Jewish Women’s Archive, and being responsible for their website was a good gig. JWA is doing good work, and grappling with interesting problems as they develop a virtual archive for the 21st century. I’m on their Technology Advisory Council now. The Incredible Shrinking Company, surprisingly enough, is still around. Because I don’t believe in mocking the afflicted, I still won’t mention its actual name.)
It should go without saying, but because some people might not think so, I’ll say it: 12frogs.com is my site, so it reflects what I think. My employer might agree with me, or might not. When I post things to this site, I’m speaking for myself. That’s probably the best thing about it.
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