Eric Rice is a Silicon Valley-based new media producer and writer.

What do you do for a living?

My time is actually split between business consulting and freelance design. It can run the whole range of disciplines, really. I started in print design about 20 years ago, evolved to multimedia and web. It’s bounced from landscape and interior design to game design, to multimedia and print. How I ended up in such a wide field, I have no idea.

Do you love what you do?

Totally, and it gives me the ability to do whatever I want to do or need to do. I can travel the world, yet I home school one of my kids. It can be difficult at times, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, too.

So what’s the coolest project that you worked on?

That’s like asking who’s my favorite kid. Let’s see… One of my favorite projects wasn’t a job, but a proof-of-concept. It was in a social 3D world, where I was a host destination for a Talib Kweli music installation. I had re-designed the surrounding 3D neighborhood to showcase indie hip-hop, which would complement the Kweli project. An agency called Millions Of Us built Kweli’s place, and I designed podcast-safe music kiosks, making the whole area a kind of Brooklyn-ish ‘music alley’. The traffic was unbelievable– and of course being in a virtual place– people wanted to live there. I was ridiculously proud of that project.

So which one of your kids is your favorite then? j/k

haha.. The one not currently screaming™

How did you find Disqus?

Honestly, I don’t even remember since it’s been that long ago. It was probably through the usual early-technology-adopter blogs, although seeing it in use practically everywhere might have been the bigger influence. Even my town’s 1997-era web newspaper, which is plagued with banner ad overkill and frames, uses Disqus. I think I’m one out of two in the mass of commenters on the paper’s site that is a verified user. For the paper, it’s not a Disqus issue, it’s a web comments issue. Anonymity might have a few benefits, however I think it’s the first thing to be abused, making the conversation useless and without credibility. Newspapers have to learn ‘community’ first, then they can use the tools to foster it.

What’s your favorite Disqus feature?

I think the ‘Like’ feature. It’s a small feature, however it makes it a bit easier to rate a comment, instead of the person.

If you could add one thing to Disqus, what would it be, and why?

The pronunciation of DISQUS, heh. I’ve never thought to pronounce it ‘discuss’ since the logo visually puts the emphasis on DISQ. It’s always been like the Olympic sporting event. As far as features hmmm.. I’m generally happy with it. I don’t have any glaring OMG FIX THIS like I do with other web software. When a new feature shows up, it’s a nice surprise (like ‘Like’). I think that’s why I like Disqus– because it gets out of my way and doesn’t require me to think about it. So surprise me, I have no wishlist.

To learn more about Eric vist his website, twitter, or Disqus Profile.

Cheers,