Mark Thompson - The Japan Times

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Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson is the managing editor of The Japan Times, where he has worked since the birth of HTML. Once upon a time, he was on the features desk and wrote regularly about culture and technology. He can be found on way too many social platforms, including Mastodon, Post.news, Bluesky and Threads.

For Mark Thompson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jul 28, 1999

The little claimer that could

While companies, especially computer makers, have been eager to promote the Internet as a global bazaar and amusement park rolled into one, they are quickly learning that there's a little more to it than that. The tools that are supposed to help the customer are the same ones that can empower the unhappy consumer. Likewise, a slick new Web site can do a lot for customer relations, but if the support/complaint department isn't up to snuff, the damage is already done.

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jul 14, 1999

Lost and found fnords

The Net is a terrific reference tool. There, I said it, the obvious. It's like stating that you should use a saw to cut down a tree. But have you ever tried to do an online search for the currency of Bhutan in the 18th century, who did the music for "The Third Man," the meaning of CLEP, DHCP or DQMOT or the current time in Reykjavk?

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jun 23, 1999

On the fringe of the fray

I had dinner with two friends last week and eventually the conversation came around to the Web (I generally try to avoid the topic in polite conversation but what can you do?). Anyone overhearing our conversation might have thought we were a trio of hopeless geeks, or digerati wannabes, but the truth was we really weren't talking about the Web. The topics were what we had read on the Web, the same way we'd talk about the content of any other media. The fact that we could do so without acknowledging the media itself seemed encouraging

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jun 16, 1999

Vocal as we wanna be

"The process of tying two items together is the important thing," wrote Vannevar Bush in a seminal essay titled "As We Think," published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1945. Bush described a hypothetical device that would allow the storage and retrieval of data, the memory of mankind. It would be constructed of associative "trails," which future generations could consult and further enhance with new information. He called it "memex.

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jun 2, 1999

But are you experienced?

Remember how online art used to be one of ballyhooed features of our new and improved lives on the Internet? We talked of visiting faraway museums, browsing rarely seen masterpieces, hyper-annotated with curatorial notes and historical contexts. Similarly enticing was the promise of new media and art site-specific to the Internet

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

May 19, 1999

Voices in the machine

In the hyperaccelerated world of "news," my topic -- the Littleton, Colo., massacre -- may seem dated. But in living rooms, classrooms, legislatures and, of course, on the Net, the aftershocks are still reverberating

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

May 5, 1999

Looking for something?

Run a Web search and what do you get? Often it's a lot more than you bargained for. I'm not talking about the reams of irrelevant, redundant and irretrievable data that often gets tangled in your throw net. (You should know by now that you're bound to get a certain amount of this stuff no matter how you phrase your query or what search engine you use.)

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Apr 21, 1999

Under your skin

Take a second, forget about trash-can icons and QWERTY keyboards and ponder the real interface -- our future interaction with technology. How will we navigate the infosphere in 10 years? Will we use mouses or cursors controlled by biofeedback? Will our browser windows be square and scrolled or dynamically controlled by content, or even our retinas? And what will be the architecture of the infosphere and how will we search it (or how will it be searched by our agents?)?

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Apr 7, 1999

I am what I spam

Tom Clancy couldn't have weaved a better web of suspense and intrigue. It had everything: a villain working under a string of shadowy aliases; news hype mixed with general chaos; an FBI manhunt led by expert freelance bloodhounds

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Mar 24, 1999

Degrees of separation

You could say they have an affliction. You've probably bumped into them on the street. That is, they bump into you, because they often walk with their eyes fixated on their task, oblivious to any obstacles in their path. You've definitely overheard them chatting on trains, in coffee shops, perhaps even in neighboring toilet stalls. Call them what you like: Cell-heads, the Mobile Mob, the Keitai-zoku. They're everywhere. They're hooked to the cellular Net. You might be one of them

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Mar 10, 1999

And the winners aren't ...

A stunned Webmaster rises from his seat, shaking his head in disbelief. As he makes his way to the aisle, fellow programmers and designers pat him heartily on the back and shake his hand. After accepting his trophy from a cybercelebrity, he stands there speechless, and finally says with a trembling voice, "Mom, Dad, Mr. Spock ... this is for you." He air-kisses in the direction of his sponsors and exits stage left

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Feb 10, 1999

You've got e-mess!

Calling the Internet a borderless world isn't far from the truth, but try saying that every time you get an e-mail you can't read. You know, one of those buggers that is full of incomprehensible code or one that has a mysterious file attached that refuses to open no matter how hard you click it.

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jan 27, 1999

Links you can trust

In the past few months, this column has addressed the trend of "portals," those jump-station sites where you're supposed to begin your journey onto the Web. Although Wired.com hasn't officially become a portal, it is where I often begin my Web sessions. I go to read Wired's superior tech features, but there's another reason: At the bottom of their top page they feature pointers to interesting stories at other tech news sites. Since I like Wired's content there's no reason why I shouldn't know its perspective on other sites

LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA

Jan 13, 1999

We ski, Web ski

I've got a problem, and rather than just let it smolder, I figured the best way to confront it is to go public

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jun 13, 1996

Hallo Spaceboy, welcome back to Earth

The man is back — back in Japan and back from the brink of mediocrity.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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