Everything is Middleware.

At its most simple, middleware is a medium that connects two separate sovereign entities. So that can mean anything from a computer API (e.g. what connects your blog to your newsletter) to language itself that exchanges thoughts between human beings.

What is the Middle?

I love that the word combines the meaning of the space that’s in between all the other spaces, with focus. In fact, these are two of my biggest obsessions…

My background is in culture work, as I was part of one of the world’s best company cultures of all time. And culture is really just everything that exists between people, invisibly. It’s the beliefs, values, expectations, communication… all the interlocking pieces.

And focus, well, I’ve been a productivity nerd for a long time, and you can probably guess that’s it’s because I have lacked focus. Hence, the obsession.

What are “wares”?

Wares are our products, arts, crafts, and the intangibles such as a service, or “software” or “hardware.”

And this is another obsession of mine — creating, and inventing.

The intersection

But I’ve always found focusing directly on one thing (like my field of culture) to be too “on the nose.” I like to be inspired by crossover inspirations, the way Steve Jobs analyzed the design evolution of a Mercedes to figure out the next iPods.

I believe that culture is a lagging indicator of the technology that shapes us. And I believe that opening the connection between technologists and culture creators will be the most fascinating use of my time.

And I want to “find the others.”