Time's 2006 Person of the Year is "You," which is to say, everybody: "The many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing." The tools of this revolution have come in no small part from Six Apart, a 2002 startup that helped enable the blogging boom with its products. And co-founder Mena Trott, who rose to Internet fame with her own blog, DollarShort, has become a strong voice explaining the role of personal blogging in today's culture.
Trott and her husband Ben developed Movable Type for their own use in 2001, but it became immensely popular and they dove in full-time. By the time they were preparing their blog-hosting service TypePad, investors were knocking on the door. In 2004, the company grew from seven employees to 50, with Mena Trott serving as chief executive, as well as an interface designer. Today, having acquired LiveJournal and introduced rich-media sharing platform Vox, Six Apart's software gives online voice to millions of people and organizations worldwide.
“Like Ms. Trott, Vox is unpretentious and accessible. ... She increasingly has the attention of elder statesmen who are baffled by the rise of blogging and need help in 'getting it.'” — The Economist
In January, Suw Charman-Anderson declared March 24 Ada Lovelace Day — a day to celebrate female role models in technology. She asked other bloggers to help her celebrate “a woman in technology whom I admire.” Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is best known for writing a description of the Analytical Engine, a mechanical general-purpose computer designed by […]
Continue readingTo celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers — artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women. Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers: The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi […]
Continue readingA founding mother of the blog revolution, Movable Type’s Mena Trott talks about the early days of blogging, when she realized that giving regular people the power to share our lives online is the way to build a friendlier, more connected world. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, California. Duration: 16:58.) < Watch Mena Trott’s […]
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