Elaine Aitken's web clippings

Ever wondered what it’s like to be an engineer inside Facebook? We got an exclusive interview with Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at the company, who has previously been named one of the 50 most important people on the web, to ask him how he gets things done in an organisation that’s not only growing fast - but also setting the pace when it comes to a lot of web implementations.

Schroepfer is in charge of a team of 500-odd developers who do everything on the site

Ah, he makes it sound so simple - I’d love to know more about what infrastructure supports this development arrangement, and what their investment in automated testing has been. It’s a bit of an obsession for me at the moment.

From a presentation at the Blackbaud Conference by Chad Norman and Melanie Mathos. Nonprofits and social media folks can add their favorite social media tactic by using the hashtag #50smt and it will be aggregated here, powered by RowFeeder.

Coming Out in the Sciences: Part I—After 50 Years in the Lab, a Reproduction Expert Leaves the Closet

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 9:00 AM Monday, Oct 11, 2010

Story and interview by Steve Silberman

Neena Schwartz is a legend in reproductive biology. A trailblazing endocrinologist, she helped map the pathways of communication between the brain and the reproductive organs, uncovering the crucial role of a hormone called inhibin in regulating ovulation. She has also been one of the most outspoken advocates for women at the lab bench, co-founding the Association of Women in Science in 1971, fighting for equality in the face of pervasive old boys’ networks, and mentoring generations of scientists at Northwestern University.

Throughout this distinguished career, however, Schwartz has borne the burden of a secret—she’s gay. […] Now retired, Schwartz explains in the book that she is coming out with the hope that her story will “provide young gay scientists or other professionals with a lesson of possibilities for success and happiness without such splits in their lives.”

An interesting story of feminism in the world of science in the 1970s.

Some of the best feedback we receive are the real-world stories of how people have used Google to make an impact in their lives or the lives of others. We’re constantly amazed at what people can do and have done with our technology—from making a life-saving diagnosis to reuniting with a long lost love.

When i talk about using storytelling as a means of knowledge transfer, people often ask for examples of where this has been used, so I was pleased to find this examples from Google.

Contents Not Verified

It seems a bit strange to me that the media carefully warn about and label any content that involves sex, violence or strong language — but there’s no similar labelling system for, say, sloppy journalism and other questionable content.

I figured it was time to fix that, so I made some stickers. I’ve been putting them on copies of the free papers that I find on the London Underground. You might want to as well.

…

Have some ready for the next cancer scare / dodgy science data / fake exclusive you come across.