August 2014

A round-up of some of the best things that happened that month

New partnership

We launched a partnership with the Aspen Ideas Festival, featuring Judith Rodin on resilience, economist Paul Zak on the “moral molecule,” professor Ken Goldberg on cloud robotics, and director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Imagination Institute Scott Barry Kaufman on inspiration, with more to come.

Notable new writers

A number of notable writers with unique perspectives and deep expertise in their fields published pieces:

• Musician Talib Kweli Greene wrote about his experience during a CNN interview in the wake of the Ferguson protests.

• Comedian and actress Sarah Haskins published a humorous short play about a home inspection.

• Professor, author, and consultant Clay Shirky put forth his vision for the future of the printed newspaper. (Hint: It’s not looking good.)

• Donna Karan SVP of Global Communications Aliza Licht doled out straight-talk career advice.

• “Munilass” Kristi Culpepper expounded on how Detroit’s pensions will profit from the city’s bankruptcy.

• Author (for adults and teens) Todd Hasak-Lowy published a 16-minute take on Richard Linklaker’s Boyhood.

• Chief data scientist of Crisis Text Line Bob Filbin showcased new data about teens in crisis.

Media on Medium

Many figures from the media world published here in August:

• New York Times media critic David Carr is using Medium as part of his graduate-level journalism class. He published his syllabus on the platform, and students will be required to publish in a dedicated collection.

• New York Times Deputy International Editor Lydia Polgreen published a dispatch from Jerusalem, first on the Times Insider.

• Guardian Media Group CEO Andrew Miller wrote about the challenges of “going global in a digital world.”

• Long-time Fortune reporter Jessi Hempel announced her departure to Wired, while former Los Angeles Times tech journalist Chris O’Brien bid farewell to Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, former Fortune editor-in-chief Andy Serwer published an only-in-New-York story.

• Audible founder and CEO Donald Katz shared a personal remembrance of Robin Williams that he had sent to his staff. Andrew Golis also shared an update about his new app, This., that he had sent to its users.

• Former Atlantic Books (UK) publisher Toby Mundy weighed in on Amazon’s disputes with its suppliers.

• Founder and former CEO of Byliner John Tayman wrote a remembrance of journalist Jim Frederick.

• Federated Media founder John Battelle shared details about the NewCo Festival.

Books and authors

In books news, we rebranded our collection of book excerpts— now called Biblio—to be inclusive of original pieces as well:

• New excerpts by neuroscientist Dan Levitin, on daydreaming, from his book, The Organized Mind, and Saul Austerlitz, on the groundbreaking nature of The Cosby Show, from Sitcom.

• Max Bazerman, author of The Power of Noticing, believes that legacy admissions are hurting college applicants.

• Young adult author Nina LaCour wrote an original piece about trying to write a love story for LGBT teens.

• Penguin Random House has started publishing.

New groups on Medium

Companies and organizations as diverse as Mountain Hardware, General Catalyst Partners, General Assembly, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Stanford Magazine, and the Sydney Opera House have set up shop here.

Matter

Matter continued to publish provocative stories, including:

• Luke Malone’s deeply reported investigative piece on teenage pedophiles (done in conjunction with NPR’s This American Life).

• A plethora of stories from New York Magazine writers: Will Leitch’s (also of Sports on Earth) contrarian take on Robin Williams; Kevin Roose’s primer on how to wake up, which is the first in a new column, “Self-Betterment”; and Lindsey Weber’s inquest into teenage Twitter.

• David Wolman’s story about Italian seismologists tried for murder.

• Backlash Book Club, in partnership with MSNBC.com, featuring Lena Dunham, Emily Nussbaum, Ann Friedman, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Dave Weigel, Heather Havrilesky, Adelle Waldman, Marisa Meltzer and others.

Sponsored content

In brand content, Paul Ford imagined 50 years into the future for GE, and BMW’s collection, Reform, is publishing new stories on design and innovation (including one by critic Alexandra Lange) on a daily basis.

Check out Medium’s 100 most-read stories of August.