The semester's best presenter

The Web 2.0 professionals who spoke in class this semester were all very helpful and interesting. They had a broad range of experience, discussing the social web from different angles, and with varying opinions about security, usefulness, and the future. A common thread I drew among most of the speakers was how very new Web 2.0 is. There was a general sense of uncertainty about how quickly technologies will be adopted, and what trends we will see coming down the pike.

There was one speaker who stood out in this group. Erik Van Ommerman seemed to have the most confidence and intuition about how Web 2.0 fits into business and our social world, even across generations. While all of the speakers were very smart and professional, they seemed like newbies compared to Erik.

It may be that the difference I noticed was more due to his experience in speaking about the topic than his relative knowledge. Erik, unlike the rest of our speakers, gives very regular presentations on Web 2.0. Because of this, his main points and slide deck flowed seamlessly. It was the long Q&A that cemented, to me, his genuine understanding of this space.

At first, Erik piqued my optimism (which is normally very high anyway) by discussing some aspects of Web 2.0 that may generate a real improvement in our society. He talked about how online exposure gives consumers some real power over corporations. He used the example of the Kryptonite U-Bar debacle to demonstrate that individuals can “call out a bogus company.” He said the social web is forcing companies to be more genuine in order to appeal to customers; that customers are reacting to customer feedback and asking for even more.

Then, he tempered this optimism. When I asked if these online checks-and-balances could lead to the end of propaganda, he said that it may actually be a better way to spread propaganda. He gave examples of companies who are positioning commercials to look like customers, and paying bloggers to “review” products.

Something else I liked about Erik’s presentation was the way that he said things. His presentation generated sound bites that continue to resonate in my mind. Some of my favorites:
“Employees are people too… we cannot forbid people to do things that are part of normal life.”
“We don’t seek truth – we seek entertainment”

As for the future of web 2.0? Erik agreed that rich content mobile will be big soon. He also said that he sees a trend in backward crossover – bringing virtual experiences into the real world. Some examples are online/real life weddings, and using the virtual world to help treat people with real phobias.
Erik also has some hope for the growth of the social web. He said that, as people spend more time online and less watching television, the amount of information will grow exponentially. Giving the example of wikipedia, he demonstrated what a small percentage of our overall “free” time has been dedicated to creating this powerhouse of information. He said that, if we would all just spend one hour per week updating content online, virtually everything in the world could be documented in Web 2.0.

BIGstage

Yep - that's me as ghost lady



And now, here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Yes, this is my silver screen debut.. ok, it’s a remake.. I mean.. well, I was basically photo-shopped in.. but it’s cool, right?

Welcome to BIGstage – this company creates an avatar from your picture (Much quicker than setting up Second Life), then puts your face in the movies! Ok, a snippet of the movies, or maybe a video-greeting card (VidiGreet).

The promise is that you might just become famous – if your video is spread virally by all of your friends and theirs. The cost, of course, is FREE.

I think the coolest part is what’s in it for BIGstage! Finally, an internet company has figured out that using Web 2.0 technology to help us interact online with the project will appeal to us MUCH better than a bunch of banner ads. Also, by putting our face in these videos and sharing them with our friends, our friends have a trusted representative pitching products to them. This is what it’s all about.

As far as I could tell, they didn’t have much to advertise yet (C’mon ad groups, there’s a GOLD MINE here). I surmised all of this from their Overview page (more here http://bigstage.com/CMS/company). I couldn’t have said it better myself:

Consumers Enjoy Brand Engagement That Includes Them
Big Stage Entertainment makes advertising and promotional marketing truly personal by offering a brand experience that is as unique and memorable as each individual. Using Big Stage Entertainment’s BackStage™ application and array of integration solutions, clients and partners can create innovative interactive experiences that allow consumers to create @ctors and engage with brands by inserting their @ctors into branded content on the Web, in video games, on mobile devices and out-of-home video via kiosks and connected screens. The company’s integration solutions include an expanding array of free and priced technical resources, including APIs, widgets, design references and instruction sets that power @ctor portability into a diverse and expanding range of digital media environments.
Once consumers place themselves into content offered by a brand, that experience can be shared with friends and family through pass-along links to email, blogs, messaging and social media networks, offering a simple yet powerful way to build emotionally-driven brand relationships, as well as drive both trial and loyalty with consumers.

Indecisive? Try Hunch.

The advent of the internet is called the “information age.” We use the web to help us make decisions by easily finding information about things that would have been out of our reach a generation ago. This is obvious with research material – we are no longer limited to our local libraries’ catalogues, we can find information from books and journals around the globe.

Web 2.0 adds to published information, helping us make decisions based on others’ ratings and comments. If ten people dislike a new restaurant, I probably will too, so I can decide not to go there. If a bridesmaid’s dress gets a 4 ½ star rating from 244 amazon users, but the top 5 ratings state the dress is larger than the size chart suggests, I will buy the dress a size small. Their experience leads to my decision.

But – what about tough decisions, like whether to buy a Mac or a PC if you are looking for a new laptop? There are too many opinions on this one to sort through the user reviews, and there is too much information published by Apple, IBM, CNET, and other experts to determine which is really better for me.

There is now an online tool that helps people make these decisions - Hunch. Hunch quizzes users on their likes and dislikes, then helps them figure how to handle an unknown. Their algorithm is based on other users’ similar responses.

For instance, Hunch has determined that the choice between a Mac and a PC can be based on whether a person likes to dance or not. Dancers prefer the Mac.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/17/people-who-switch-to-macs-like-to-dance-and-other-strange-hunches/

Only problem so far, I haven’t been able to try it - I’m still waiting for the invitation to come through in my email account.

More good information about Hunch from the Hunch fact sheet http://www.hunch.com/fact-sheet/:

“What problem does Hunch solve?
Our long-term goal is for a user to be able to come to Hunch with any decision she is pondering, and after answering a handful of questions, get as good a decision as if she had interviewed a group of knowledgeable people or done hours of careful research online.
“Eventually, when Hunch gets good enough, we hope users will trust it to make an informed decision without having to turn to lots of external time-consuming sources of information.”

“Hunch uses machine learning to get smarter in two ways:
“User contributions train Hunch to be smarter overall. Contributions can take many forms, from correcting a fact that Hunch got wrong, to suggesting new decision topics to feature, follow-up questions to ask or decision results to propose.
“The more Hunch learns about each individual user's personality and preferences, the better Hunch can customize decision results for that user. It's like a friend getting to know someone's taste and preferences over time, so they can provide sound and trusted advice.”

Poor attempt to personalize

I got my “mine.” magazine, which I first discussed in this blog. Wow – seriously disappointing.

I knew they were going to customize Lexus ads to fit me. This was about as personal as junk mail. They even highlighted with a lighter color those sections of the ad that had been obviously mail-merged. I’ve had some experience with mail-merging, so this is what it looked like to me:
“The All-New 2010 RX. Now with more [FName] [LName].”
“It’s easy to locate the best [Destination1]s near [City] with our new voice-activated Navigation System.”

I had high hopes that the money Lexus put into this effort would have been better spent on tools to actually personalize the ads. This was plain key ring-style personalization.

The magazine also disappointed me. They totally got it wrong. Because I had to sign up for 5 out of 8 choices (3 of which I didn’t really want), I couldn’remember which I had signed up for. I think I signed up for Time, Real Simple, In Style, Money, and Travel+Leisure – in THAT order. I was really hoping that at LEAST the order I put my choices in would be considered – like, more articles from Time and fewer from Travel+Leisure. It wasn’t.

I may have signed up for Food & Wine instead of In Style. However, I’m totally positive I didn’t sign up for Sports Illustrated or Golf Magazine. What came in my “mine.” was Travel+Leisure, Real Simple, Time, In Style, and Sports Illustrated. WHAT?

The articles didn’t seem to be “picked” for me either – I think they were picked for this magazine. They were all very short, and had lots of references to stuff you can find online. One whole article (in In Style) was about jeans you can have custom-made online. I understand that a lot of what we do includes using the web, so I am used to articles referring to websites, but these articles seemed to include more “.coms” than most.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the ridiculous advertising for the magazines I had selected. Before each set of 2 short articles, an entire page was dedicated to pointing out exactly which magazine the articles were from. White space and a bold magazine title. I don’t care about the magazine, I care about the content! That’s why I wanted “mine.” instead of each magazine! What a total waste of money.

This should have been easy. Use my name, location, and survey answers to send me relevant articles from the magazines I chose. Determine whether personalization is successful by asking me if I want to pay to keep subscribing to “mine.”

When I wrote this blog, I thought “mine.” was an attempt by a magazine company to sell more magazines by leveraging some of the lessons online companies have learned, and tools they use for personalization. Now, I think this is just a big ad to sell more of the same magazines – without any customization.

Wow, what a miss.

DIY customer service – GAACK!

Ok, I actually love the fact that companies have reduced their overhead by providing customers with the ability to “help ourselves”. This goes for populating content online – including forums, rating sites and wikis, as well as self-checkout at Home Depot and check-in Kiosks at the airport.

These are all great because, if we run into more trouble than we can handle, it’s no big deal. On a forum, we can simply refrain from posting, or ask our question someplace with a more user-friendly application. In the grocery store, we can press the “Help” light, and (after a short wait) a clerk will override any errors we may have caused (.. normally this is due to the fact that we buy super-clearance, and these items are not normally logged in the inventory system. One checker still rolls her eyes whenever she sees us J)

The point is, we can do it ourselves - until we need help.

This is NOT the case with DIY over the phone, though. I can’t stand hearing Comcast’s recording with “simple step-by-step instructions” about how to reboot my modem and router. I KNOW! REBOOT FIRST! I don’t call Comcast when I need to reboot.

I went down another slippery slope today with a call to Linksys. First, I tried to avoid their “self help, at your own pace setup” by talking to a customer service rep. He took a case number for me and promised someone would call me back, which didn’t happen. Two hours later, I went for the recording. Overall… it worked. But, the first thing it had me do was reset my router. Apparently, this was a bad idea. Then, it didn’t tell me how to add security to it.

I ended up calling over to customer service anyway. After asking me LOTS of aggravating questions that had nothing to do with my SIMPLE problem (what’s your name? Phone number? Email address? Address? Serial number? What time did you call before? And on.. and on..) I said, “Hey – I just want to set my router up like I had it before, with a name I recognize and a password so the security is enabled.”

Then, she asked if I had pressed reset. “Yes, your automated system says that is the first thing to do to set up the router.”
“Maam, you must never press the reset button if you want to keep your Router ID and password.”
Why am I getting in trouble for following their directions? Anyway, that chore is done now (15 minutes of work and 3 hours of hassle), but it made me think – can’t we do this better?

For instance, I love customer service "chat" that is available online. We could have something like this on the phone as well. There could be an "opt out" key - like "if this has nothing to do with your problem, press 9." That way, we wouldn't get stuck in LOOPS of unhelpful audio. Also, if there was an "I don't get it" key - like if the instruction was garbled or didn't make any sense "if you need a better explanation, press 5."

Another thing that would help SO MUCH on the phone would be if you would get the customer service rep first - instead of the maze of select-a-question. Seriously, if they would spend 5 seconds sending us to the right place immediately, people wouldn't be so frustrated after spending 20 minutes pressing buttons to dead end on menus that don't make sense.

The reason this is relevant is because customer service is even MORE important when customers do MOST of the work ourselves. When we need help, we are REALLY in a bind. It's not just because we didn't reboot.

Everybody Stream!!

I love streaming radio.

I know everyone is ga-ga over streaming video, and I agree that it’s great to see TV online for many reasons. However, my television gets great picture and sound. I can put it anywhere I like, and this will be the case.

As many of us experienced as children, though, this was not always the case. Anyone remember the rabbit ears covered with aluminum foil with a hanger sticking out to try to catch a couple of extra signals?

Well, this is STILL how most of us listed to radio. Yes, Satellite radio is available, and HD radio is finding its place. However, when my alarm goes off in the morning, I’m getting fresh radio waves. If I roll over juuusssttt right, I can actually hear what is being said through all the white noise.

This is one of the reasons we have radio streaming over the computer for the rest of the day. We can HEAR it! Better than that, though, is the incredible variety available at our fingertips when we stream radio online. Pretty much every radio station in the US (and many other countries) has an online stream available.

We can catch radio from different places, and in different time zones. This is handy when a syndicated show is on at different times across the nation. Even the best 1980’s short-wave can’t beat this clarity!

A new utility I would love to see would be a tv-guide-like website for streaming radio. This would show the hundreds (thousands?) of different radio stations available online, and their daily show list for a week. You could set it for your time zone and see what is available and when. Then, when you miss a syndicated radio show, you could look up the next time zone it’s in and listen to it from Cincinnati or Seattle or Honolulu. (you wouldn’t need to wait for any pod casts to be posted)

Streaming TV can’t beat streaming radio because there is nowhere near this amount of availability from TV stations. Radio is still a much more free and available form of media!

Google Docs – Spreadsheet.

It’s no secret, I’m a spreadsheet geek; an MSExcel geek to be more accurate. Today, I took the plunge and decided to try out Google’s spreadsheet application.

At first, I was pretty impressed. Not only did it handle all of my normal functions like sumif and vlookup, it even had a little hovering function template. It has lots of formats for numbers, though it is oddly missing the ability to manipulate the number of decimal places to display (you can do all of them, 2, or rounded to 0) unless you add a formula to round to a specific number of decimal places.

Also, there are many tables and charts that excel does not have, which can give a report serious pizzaz, or function as more than a spreadsheet. There are pictorial graphs (worms, chocolate, money all in the size of a bar chart), and there are moving flash graphs. There are also internet-savvy charts, like word-clouds! To function as more than a spreadsheet a Google gadget will produce a Gantt chart, with just task titles and dates. An org chart can also be created by listing manager’s names in one column and subordinates names in another (multiple columns = multiple levels).

However, there is an enormous barrier to using Google Spreadsheet if you are an analyst like me – there are not enough fields. The regular table only has 100 rows and columns to “T” (2003 Excel has 65000 rows and columns to “IV”, and even this is limiting, so I heard 2007 Excel has 100,000 rows). There are not many major trends that can be analyzed in only 100 rows, nor can an analyst find historical data within only 100 rows.

You can add up to 500 more rows, but no more columns. When I added the rows, the spreadsheet crashed.

I may try to use Google Spreadsheet again, in order to finish off a report. Apparently, .xls files can be uploaded into the Google application, so I can use it for my summary findings, and create some nifty charts and graphs for the ooh-la-la factor that execs are always dying for.
Are you catching this, Microsoft?

Online Health Self Help?

Can Web 2.0 help us avoid trips to the doctor? To the wrong doctor?

The other day, I had a sore throat. The last time I went to the doctor with a sore throat, they peered down it and said I was fine. This isn’t the first time a doctor has told me I was fine, when I was sure I had a malicious bug – maybe I’m a hypochondriac.

Another route I like to follow when I feel a bump in the wrong place or have a phantom pain is the web. There is instant gratification in self-diagnosis using a symptom checker. This is much quicker than making an appointment, taking time off work, and traveling to the doc’s (besides, the symptoms have usually subsided by then anyway).

WebMD is one I like because of the cool interface – touch a part of the body that hurts, and describe the symptom:

I found out, though, that this is not the most effective website. This is an article where several symptom checkers are reviewed. Looks like WrongDiagnosis.com is the winner.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/Home/News.asp?id=52025&PageMem=2

There are stories about hypochondriacs over-hyping their symptoms (“why aren’t we going to rule out ovarian cancer, are you sure its just a UTI?”), and there are stories about people who under-diagnose themselves, and end up having awful infections that could have been avoided had they just gone to the doctor.

There are also those who, after receiving a diagnosis from a doctor, surf the web incessantly, trying to find alternative cures their doc didn’t mention.

For these reasons, many doctors loudly proclaim that the Internet should not be a place people go to for their own health care.

Docs also don’t want patients posting reviews on their medical care online. Just like Yelp!, sites that allow patients to write public comments about doctors end up with libel issues. There are even doctors that are beginning to ask patients to sign a waiver, stating that they will not post reviews online without the doc’s permission. More in this NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=102297861&m=102297852
Bottom line – I will keep surfing online for medical advice. I know that I am on the hypochondriac side, so I won’t under-diagnose myself. Also, I trust my doctor, so if she isn’t worried about a symptom, I won’t be worried either. On that note, the only thing most patients can review about a doctor is their bedside manner – that trust factor. Unless someone has received a second opinion from another doctor, or has attended medical school themselves, people should not make claims against a doc’s ability as a scientist and healer.

Yelp!

Yelp is a customer review web page, which is a great way to figure out what’s going on from locals.

This site may compete a bit with TripAdvisor, but the thing that differentiates Yelp from TripAdvisor is that the reviews are for locals, by locals. Any and all companies can be reviewed – this is not limited to “top things to do,” but includes local pet stores and hair salons in addition to restaurants and bars.

Another site that may compete with Yelp is GetSatisfaction. However, GetSatisfaction is more for customer complaints, while Yelp is all reviews – in fact, on Yelp, there are 60% positive reviews (4 or 5 stars), 20% neutral (3 stars), and 20% negative (2 or 1 stars).

The upside is clear – people looking for products and services can find them with the help of prior customers. Businesses get “free” PR from customers who want to talk publicly about their experiences.

In the middle is the way Yelp makes money. Apparently, Businesses can pay fees to Yelp in order to have a “fancier” review page, and be allowed to “thank” individual customers for good reviews. They also have the ability to highlight one review to post at the top of their Business Page.

There has been some scandal over whether paying sponsors have other benefits – like negative reviews dropping to the bottom, or being deleted by Yelp altogether. However, Yelp firmly denies that these are benefits of sponsorship.

The downside - in all open online forums, people are making public statements. If these statements are unfairly negative, the victims may sue for libel. Defamation is a tough case to make, but more than one Yelp reviewer has been sued by the business that upset them.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/161997/dentist_can_proceed_with_lawsuit_against_yelp_reviewers.html

While I understand why laws against defamation exist, I am truly concerned about the fact that a business (especially one with deep pockets) can tie up a customer (usually smaller pockets) in a lawsuit. Spreading negative reviews by Word of Mouth is the best defense that customers have against businesses that would otherwise rip them off, or sell sub-par service or products.

It seems like the only defense against this is to have the businesses who are reviewed on Yelp agree to having the reviews posted. In their Terms&Conditions, businesses could agree not to sue reviewers. Instead, the company could simply refute a disputed review.
Because social media is a conversation, companies can participate openly with customers, rather than pitting themselves against their customers!

The Web in Africa

First World nations that were present for and part of the development of the world wide web take the freedom of the web for granted. When we lose access, we complain about missed ebay bids, not talking to friends, or not being able to watch goofy videos on YouTube. But in some countries, the freedom the Web provides reaches much futher than “free shipping.” In many nations, even with minimal, spotty access, the ability to participate in the social web has hugely affected the participation of people within society. It is so powerful that oppressive regimes have spent large amounts of money and energy restricting and filtering their citizens’ access to maintain control.

The obstacles put in place by dictatorial governments can only hold the flood of information back for so long. Jonathan Gosier wrote a 3-part blog on the web in Africa, which describes some of the advances being made – technically and culturally – in some cases, in spite the efforts of government control. His goal is to encourage entrepreneurship through the use of the Internet in the third world.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_in_africa_part_1.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_media_in_africa_part_2_mobile.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/africa_democracy_social_media.php

When government can no longer control information, the people can begin to hold government accountable. In Ethiopia, the services Feedelix uses technology that can bypass government filters to keep users connected. In Zimbabwe, the civic group Sokwanele uses the web to alert citizens and the rest of the world to violence and forced “land redistribution”, while the government attempts to suppress reporting. http://appfrica.net/blog/archives/131

Perhaps because of the need for the populous to communicate above the government radar, Africa’s mobile market is the fastest growing worldwide. While there is little broadband infrastructure, VSat services can provide a signal, even without electricity.
Due to this availability, many regional social sites have popped up – Muti.co.za, which is like Digg, Sokwanele.com provides updateable maps through SMS, Amatomou is a news Aggregator, Mzaleno tracks Kenya’s Parliamentary actions.

The downside of satellite connectivity is that networks get bottlenecked and will slow down, which keeps prices high and speeds low.
Johathan Gosier writes his blogs in hopes that the developing world will notice the extraordinary potential available in Africa

The demise of Advertising is near.

Monetization is necessary for all businesses, and is becoming a sticky issue for Web 2.0 companies. Advertising revenue seems like one of the most likely strategies for many of the companies who are competing in a “Free” space. However, according to Eric Clemons, all media advertising revenue is failing, and the Internet effectively shatters any hope those advertisers would have of resurrecting it. He discusses these ideas in the TechCrunch article, “Why Advertising is Failing on the Internet.”
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/22/why-advertising-is-failing-on-the-internet/

He states three reasons for this failure. The first two are ongoing plagues, but haven’t begun to do real damage to ad revenues: 1) “Consumers do not trust advertising”, 2) “Consumers do not want to view advertising.” It is the third reason, which has changed since the popularity of the internet, that really crushes advertisers: 3) “Consumers do not need advertising.”

Professor Clemons states, “will no longer need advertising to obtain …information. We will see the information we want, when we want it, from sources that we trust more than paid advertising. We will find out what we need to know, when we want to make a commercial transaction of any kind.”

We have heard a great deal about how Facebook has been experimenting with ways to earn money though targeted advertising, including programs like Beacon. People are uncomfortable with this, but it seems like Facebook is directly addressing the items that Professor Clemons is concerned about.

You can trust the advertising if it comes from a “friend.” If you are notified through Facebook that a friend has purchased a dress at Ann Taylor Loft, for instance, you know that your friend made an informed buying decision to do so. Therefore, you can trust that, if you go to Anne Taylor Loft, the dress will feel nice, be a nice color, and fit well (at least it will fit someone like your friend well).

You want to see the advertising if you are already on your friend’s Facebook page, because you are interested in your friend. This is not an in-your-face popup, not even a targeted ad, it is actual information about your friend.

Finally, you can go wherever you want to for more information. You can go to your friend, to the Ann Taylor Loft website, or to the ATL store. You decide what information you want and go get it when you want it.

The hurdles, though, are that people feel like they are being “used” to advertise for these companies. Are there better ways to appeal to consumers?

Mine – RSS goes to print?

Time Warner and American Express Co. have decided to take the online experience to print! What?

They have created Mine Magazine – an in-print (or online) magazine that is populated with personalized information for the reader, much like an online RSS feed.
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/time-incs-mine-magazine-paper-saving-printed-rss-feed

Mine magazine is an experiment. It will be 5 issues over 10 weeks, and will be free to 31,000 subscribers. All of the ads in Mine magazine will be from Lexus, but each ad will be customized to the reader’s tastes.

This may help answer several questions for the print news biz:
Has the internet engulfed the print news industry because of the customizable news? Is it possible to continue to prosper in the print news industry, if more personalized content is available? How will advertisers respond to the ability to customize ads along with content in print?

I’m an RSS lover, so signed up. In order to customize my information, they had me pick my favorites from a list of quirky questions. I’m not sure if this is just to customize the Lexus commercials, or if they will actually use this to pick articles for me.

Then, they had me pick five magazines from a list of eight. I wanted to pick three, but had to pick five. Hopefully, my selection order will play some role in the amount of information I see from each of the mags.

I understand the draw of an in-print magazine versus online news. First, it is physically easier to read paper, as there are only a few devices (like Kindle) with enough resolution to minimize eye-strain. Paper can also be read more quickly, since we are in better control of our eye movement over a static reading surface than a scrolling reading surface (though millennials may disagree). Also, there is convenience in paper – no problems are caused if coffee is spilled on a magazine, it can be easily tucked under an arm or folded into a purse. There is no need for internet access, power cords, or charged batteries.

However, the negatives continue to outweigh the positives. The news in a magazine is “old” by the time it is printed and mailed. Also, printing and mailing both use up many more resources, including paper, ink (which makes the paper nasty to compost), electricity to run the print shop, and gas. Most importantly, there is no way to get as much custom information into a magazine as one can find online.

It is this last issue that will be best addressed by Mine. Can a slightly more customized magazine tip the online/in print news balance back in the favor of the convenience and readability of a magazine?

For those who currently stand by print media, it may be an opportunity to bridge an ever-widening gap. However, many of these people stick to print because they think it is important to get news they DON’T want, ensuring that they do not become biased news consumers. They probably will not want a customized magazine any more than they want an RSS feed of leftist topics.

Overall, I think it will be a failure. I don’t think advertisers will pay the exponentially greater cost of custom printing and collating custom magazines, just for the opportunity to select a woods scene versus city scene in their advertisement.
I certainly don’t think consumers will pay any more than they currently do for magazines. We currently customize our own in-print content by deciding whether to buy off the shelf or to subscribe. People won’t pay more for a subscription just because it is a mash-up of a few they might like .. especially while most online news is still free.

Sexting: Harmless Fun, or Kiddie Porn?

Sexting is sending nude or pornographic pictures via text message. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20% of teenagers admit to sending these photos to their friends (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/sexting-why-worry).

This behavior may seem to be very normal for experimental teenagers. To the kids who are doing it, it probably seems like harmless fun. They feel a false sense of privacy sending these messages to their friends, and they may not consider the likelihood that these images can be shared with the world if maliciously or mistakenly distributed. We have discussed the ease with which a pic-message can be posted on the open internet, and/or or virally distributed to hundreds of cell phones or email accounts at a time.

This is what happened to Jessica Logan, from Ohio (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/). She sexted a photo to her boyfriend, but when they broke up, he forwarded to the picture to other friends, which eventually led to hundreds of local teens seeing Jessica’s picture. She was taunted for the remainder of her senior year. Jessica reached out to warn others about the dangers of sexting. Ultimately, the shame of this event led her suicide.

Even if teens who engage in sexting comprehend the possibility that hundreds or thousands may view their photo, they certainly don’t recognize the overall social, ethical, and legal consequences of these erotic messages.

Although the kids are acting willingly, they are not at a legal age to distribute nude pictures of themselves. Therefore, some of these teens have been charged with manufacturing and distribution of child pornography. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679588/ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2009-03-11-sexting_N.htm

This may be a harsh charge to levy. Though there is no mandatory jail sentence, convicted child pornographers must register as sex offenders, which is a penalty that follows people ominously forever. However, law enforcement officers feel the need to set examples so that kids recognize the significance of this situation.

This is uncharted territory, though, because the intent of child pornography law is to protect kids from pornographers – not to protect kids from themselves. However, we are familiar with other laws that draw this line. Minors in possession of alcohol are prosecuted. Also, statutory rape cases can be tried whether the minor was willing.

Teenagers sext messages to their friends, and their friends may be bold enough to re-post these pictures online. There is no telling, at that point, whose hands the pictures could fall into, or how else the could be redistributed.

To Tweet, or not to Tweet? Twitter, in question.

Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, recently gave a Ted.com talk on the start-up, and how it has surprised him with its popularity and usefulness.

On the other hand, satirist Brian Unger hates Twitter.

What is it that so many love and so many others despise about this popular micro-blogging site?

Brian Unger’s March 9th commentary described “The Darker Side Of Tweets And Twitter” on NPR’s Day to Day. While Twitter claims that “most of our day-to-day lives are hidden from people that care,” Brian’s position is that “Nobody Cares” what you’re doing. He considers Twitter users to be self-centered and narcissitic if they think others want to know when they are “showering, gardening, or working out – these things are boring.” He says that the people who say they care about these little things “are lying to you.”

Even those who don’t send many Tweets, but like to follow others don’t escape Mr. Unger’s wrath. He compares following a friend on Twitter to stalking someone, “but without the inconvenience of sitting outside their house on a cold, rainy night with a gun in your lap.”

Brian Unger recommends that people avoid twitter, or they will end up blogging while driving, stalking people, and talking to themselves.

When Evan Williams agreed to fund Twitter as a side project, he did not know where it would lead. It was simply based on friends sending simple SMS status messages, in order to feel more connected with eachother by sharing “moments” in their lives. He discussed uses they never expected in this Ted.com talk.

Later, they learned that Twitter could be very important. During the 2007 fall wildfires that broke out in San Diego, neighbors used Twitter to share information about what was happening with eachother. The LA Times and Red Cross got on the bandwagon and also used Twitter to dispense information, as well as to collect information to share on other forms of media.

Twitter users have created conventions to make the tool more useful, which Twitter has subsequently pulled into the software to make it more user friendly. One example is tagging convention #tag. This allows a search term to be easily found using the Twitter search feature. During the gas crisis, Atlanta Twitter users coined the convention #atlgas, so people would Tweet where they found gas and the price. This connected many people who did not know eachother, and lent a real-time helping hand.

Also, Twitter can be used to allow people who cannot attend a convention or event to tap into the Tweetosphere of that experience by searching for the #tag that is often posted for attendees. This way, people stuck at the office can still hear the conversation and goings on, experiencing it from afar.

Finally, many applications have been developed to make Twitter even more useful. Tweet clouds, twitter analytics, and approximately 2,000 others allow users, followers, and anyone who is interested to find valuable information in this micro blog.

So, should you join Twitter? It really depends on your friends. If they will update you with interesting or important information, or if you are part of a pretty large group and they will make plans using the site, it’s a great idea. It may also work for transient office groups to easily keep the team abreast even on the go.

However, constant status updates can be a bore. If you follow a friend who’s ego encourages them to post “eating pepperoni pizza,” you may find yourself responsible for knowing the most intricate details of their day – while you are just trying to get through yours.

Skittles’ New Method

New method for Social Media Marketing … have the Social Media BE your marketing!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/skittles-twitte.html

Skittles revamped their web page to show streaming Tweets about #skittles. This experiment may or may not have boosted Skittles’ appeal to their target market, but it certainly caused a bit of a raucous on Twitter.

Some people blamed the Skittles stunt for slowing Twitter functionality. Many, many people sent notes with the Pee-Wee’s Word of the Day included so that they could get some free airtime on both websites. Others sent both positive and negative comments about the candy itself.

Did Agency.com accomplish any marketing ROI for Skittles? Yupper - Increasing the number of times a potential customer thinks about the product certainly is success! By getting people to type #skittles into their tweets, they added a kinetic element to their advertising. Also, the rumor of added airtime spread like wildfire among Twitterers and their friends – totally viral advertising. Way to go Skittles.

Will this last? Will it spread? Well… it probably won’t take too long before the posts are too raunchy or negative to send Skittles packing. Censoring the posts may work, but may turn off Twitterers. People are probably going to get bored with seeing Tweets on the Skittles home page announcing that “Ron Hubbard Hates Skittles.”

On the other hand, many people will continue to be willing to type a product name over and over for 15 seconds of social-web fame.

With a product as popular as Skittles, the advertising-by-microblog may not actually sell more candy. Most of these blurbs don’t remind the market how tasty or refreshing skittles are; some of the posts are downright negative. Re-posting social media may work better for products that need to create broader awareness.

Newer products could probably benefit more from capturing streaming Tweets. For instance, this may be more effective if M&M Mars were to launch a new type of candy or a twisted candy (like chocolate skittles). Visitors encouraged by the Twitter posts may be encouraged to 1) remember the name of it 2) type their own post 3) tell their friends about it 4) try it.

I also think that time limits will be needed. It is important to keep the Twittersphere hopping. Things that are constantly available get old, and old is no good for social media. Trends are so important that bloggers should know that they can only abuse this outlet for a limited time.
--- Quick update! Skittles still has a link to the Twitter feed called “Chatter,” but the main page is now the Wikipedia definition for Skittles --- J

Citi Got Scammed!

http://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-caught-up-in-nigerian-email-scam-2009-2

One of the topics we have discussed in class a few times is Nigerian Email Scams. We’ve all seen them, and none of us were duped. Citibank was, though!

A Nigerian living in Singapore and his posse convinced Citibank to wire $27 million to his accounts! The money came from the Ethiopian Central Bank. The scammers did a bit more than send a too-good-to-be-true email. They found out bank officials’ names and sent authentic-looking documents to Citibank. They even managed to “pose as bank officials” to get the transactions approved.

Unfortunately for the crooks, major wire transfers from government central banks are a bit more difficult to handle than Grandma’s $15K check. The bandits’ banks weren’t able to process the transactions, so their banks contacted the Ethiopian Central Bank. When the Central Bank didn’t recognize the transactions, the scam was exposed.

In this case, jail time is likely. Individuals are usually not so lucky. In fact, under certain dollar thresholds, some identity theft is not even investigated. This is frustrating, because the thieves know how to work the system, so they just steal more and more account numbers, spending whatever they want, with little concern for recourse.

In many cases, credit cards (or accounts) are stolen, and the credit card companies insure these, so customers usually get their money back pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when the funds are tied to a bank account, even if it is insured, the wait to receive a refund can be about a week. This happened to a friend of mine who is a teacher and doesn’t have credit cards. The theft prevented her from paying bills and even buying groceries.

The funny thing about Citibank being the target is that Citi is known for being a very paranoid bank. Every time I use my credit card someplace new, or to buy something I haven’t purchased before, I get a phone call to make sure I really made that purchase. Citi did this on their own behalf as well. They called bank officals for each of the accounts these funds were transferred to. Unfortunately, their security policy got caught in a feedback loop – they called the fake bank officials whose names and numbers were included in the fraudulent request for the wire transfer!

This hits home with me because I just got a letter from my bank that my debit card information was compromised – between May and November 2008! After scanning all of my major purchases between those dates to make sure my account wasn’t breached, I called the 800-number to activate the card. There was no bank identification, just a message asking for my card number and SSN. Nuh-uh! I called the bank directly instead.
Stay safe.

Legg Mason Presentations

Gretchen – LOVE the SUIT!
Freaked me out with stories about how easy it is to track someone down, mostly with information available online and with a touch of privy that comes with being a lawyer. Yikes!

I’ve been on the “open” band wagon for a long time, and even I am starting to feel a bit heeby-jeeby about the conglomerate effect of all of these little bits of info.

Luckily, I haven’t had to use these skills at work or personally – my stalker days are behind me.

Rob – Freaked me out with the “special” flash drive. Also with pointing out that there are websites (legal?) where anyone can sign up (for $) to crack Microsoft passwords. Not sure how this is legal. However, I think of a locksmith in the physical world, whose tools are a few little metal rods and the know-how to use them like knitting needles to pop a lock open. I guess it’s the same.

If someone were to point out all of the easily exploitable areas in my home (locked and unlocked), I would say that I already know the risks and am willing to accept them. Maybe this is harder to fathom on the computer because I am less aware of what is exploitable (unlike an open lock on a door).

I have already discussed the security breaches that may occur when unknown drives are used in a computer. We already knew that this was a bad idea, but we didn’t understand why, so Rob’s speech was helpful in driving this point home.

If the point of these presentations was to scare us a little, it worked!

On the other hand,
Rob and Gretchen – It was neat to hear the career paths that both of these presenters took. Something our prof and presenters have in common is that they didn’t know they would be Web 2.0 professionals until they wound up there. Hearing these stories makes the prospect of working in that space seem more attainable.

Something I really enjoyed, because it was a casual presentation among friends, was hearing more of the “people” aspect of these jobs. It made these positions less mystifying to hear the interactions that take place within and among the various departments.
Everyone I have met from Legg Mason is impressive – smart, passionate about their work, and team oriented.

Who is smarter about geography – Google Earth or Wikipedia?

My BF and I have been putting together this spherical puzzle of the earth (it’s awesome – snort!) http://www.megabrands.com/esphera/index.html

Truth be told, I’m not really a puzzle person. Those kitties and waterscapes that are usually the subjects of puzzle prints are (yawn!) not quite engaging enough. This was different because I wanted to learn more geography (I think I was absent that day), so we started in.

At first, it was pretty easy. We pieced together the big continental blocks with telltale coloring. Africa was first, naturally. We had a setback when the curved pieces wouldn’t stay in place, but quickly resolved it by binding them together with clear nail polish. South America and Australia followed, then North America, Europe/Asia, and finally Antarctica.

Then, we started learning. We pulled up Google Earth and had a lot of fun watching the globe spin around in realistic satellite imagery, pointing us to our next jigsaw need. The Caspian Sea, Bulgaria, and Suriname all found their spots in the world.

Shortly, we were left with many, many (many many many) blue pieces and huge gaps in the globe. It’s true – the earth is mostly water. Luckily, there are multitudes of tiny islands dotting the seas, which helped guide us.

Not so lucky, Google Earth stopped being so useful. It didn’t have a clue about where we should snap in the piece that said Nuku Hiva. It didn’t even know the very western-sounding Johnston Islands!

Where to next? Wikipedia! Sure enough, listed by some caring soul was the location of Nuku Hiva, along with history, demographic information, and geography. How could Google forget this very important island? Herman Melville wrote a book based on his experiences there! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuku_Hiva

Does this mean Google is really just a stuffed shirt company, focused on the masses and totally unconcerned about our island neighbors? Probably not. What it really means is that the understanding of all of us individually really is so much more powerful than even the greatest goliath company filled with the smartest people. We really matter.

Nuku Hivaites, thanks for helping us finish this puzzle.I’m totally getting the fishbowl next.

My Hometown - 2.0

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me to find blog sites focused on my new hometown of Laurel, Maryland. One of them is a blog by the City of Laurel, and another is set up as a local online newspaper, but interested citizens set up the other three. This surprised me – why do people care so much about reiterating the local news?

I liked it, though! It made me feel some kind of community spirit that I haven’t had since I was a kid. We used to have block parties, where somebody would set up some fold-out tables in the middle of the sidewalk, and all of the neighbors would bring a pot-luck dish. The kids would play hide-and-seek endlessly, and the adults would sip beers and chat late into the evening. We knew every family in the neighborhood, and people would really go over to their neighbor’s houses to borrow a cup of sugar (ok, it was in Hawaii, so it was normally a cup of mayonnaise).

These blogs are filled with hope in addition to information. The blog Laurel 2020 is focused on plans for future development, and hot-button issues, like the future of slots. The author set up a google map to show future locations planned apartment communities, the planned Konterra Town Center, and the Laurel Commons (which will replace the Laurel Mall). Other blogs are Laurel Connections and South Laurel News.

Do these blogs just replace a local newspaper? I have to admit, I much prefer a quick update in my RSS reader to picking up the weekly (usually soggy) papers thrown on my driveway. I usually deposit them directly in the recycle bin. However, it offers more than those papers, because the opinions are better rounded. Not only do the authors read several local papers, they personally attend council meetings and experience life in this city. The commenters also add flavor, sometimes with insight and other times with sheer frustration.

This feeling was resurrected in me by those bloggers. I have felt more “at home” in Laurel than any of the other places I’ve lived as an adult, and now my sense of community spirit has been solidified by the obvious care that these bloggers have for our home town.
Pot luck anyone?

Café Press: User Generated Commerce

Ever have a great idea for a t-shirt? My boyfriend claims he came up with “save the boobies” as a breast cancer awareness slogan long before he saw the now- famous bumper sticker “save the ta tas.”

The problem is, it costs a lot in overhead and then marketing in order to sell your witty ideas, right? Café Press is all about turning your t-shirt, bumper sticker, poster, calendar, CD, book making skills into quick cash. Just like everything else in the Web 2.0 world, it is free free free!

Check out their “Start Selling” blurb:

“You can sell
Merchandise you design including t-shirts, posters, mugs, bumper stickers and much more.
Books printed on-demand. Learn more
Audio and Data CDs. Learn more


What CafePress.com does
Gives you a FREE online shop to promote your products
Produces each item when ordered using our unique print-on-demand technology
Handles all payment transactions including major credit cards
Ships your products worldwide
Manages all returns/exchanges
Offers customer service via toll-free phone and email
Sends you a monthly check for your earnings on sales!”

How can this possibly work? When a customer orders a book, greeting card, or other printable object, Café Press grabs the item and ink, prints it up, and sends it off. The customer pays for the item, and Café Press splits that loot up – you get paid for your creativity, they get paid for stuff and shipping.

Next time that funny phrase comes to mind, don’t “Tweet” it – instead, head over to Café Press, and let your quick wits make you cash!

I perused their product line, and was pretty impressed with the variety of wall calendars with lovely photos and drawings.

My favorite product is the CD of “favorite campfire songs” for sale for $6.00. Wait – did my grandma put that up here?
My favorite story was about the woman who uses her proceeds from Café Press to walk in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer walk every year.

GAS: Pay-Per-Click=Green Donations

Green Any Site – GAS – is a website that is using the power of Pay-Per-Click advertising to benefit the environment.

What a great idea – “recycle” some of those advertising dollars back to the environment! We are so bombarded online with annoying ads constantly reminding us to buy-buy-buy. The reason they are there is to fund the web site you are visiting. “Real Estate” – just posting the ad on the site – turns some revenue, but the big bucks are in click-through, and bigger bucks if you make a purchase as a result of a click-through.

This is due to sales affiliations. Online retailers will pay a percentage of the price of the item purchased using a click-through link. For instance, if I was enrolled in Amazon’s affiliate program, I could write this blog all about the greatest invention ever (sliced bread, right?) and provide a link to purchase it on Amazon. If you click the link and buy it immediately, I get a portion of that sale. I don’t get a portion of any of the other items you add to your cart.

GAS takes this concept a step further. They provide a little “bookmarklet.” Before adding anything to your “cart” when you shop online, click the GAS bookmarklet. This sends the notice that you clicked-through GAS to make that purchase. Keep clicking the bookmarklet as you add stuff to your cart, and when you make the purchase, a portion of the sale is paid to GAS. GAS then donates 100% of the profits to the organization that registered users have voted for. This month, that company is Conservation International.

How much money are we talking about? This varies with each online retailer’s affiliate program. For Amazon.com, see the Referral-Fee Rates below:

I see two big questions here – first, is this fair to the “little guys”? Shouldn’t advertising revenue go to the site that you actually linked-through to purchase? Second, is this fair to the “big guys”? Will the Amazon’s of the world shut down GAS as soon as it gets popular? It seems likely that they’ll notice the link added to every item in a person’s shopping cart pretty quickly.

I think I’ll “green” my purchases whenever I go directly to the shopping site (which is most of the time), but not when I legitimately click through from another site. I’ll use it as long as it’s around – probably not for long!

The Digital Age: Does Anyone Care About Privacy Anymore?

John Palfrey, author of "Born Digital" was interviewed about privacy concerns on “The Digital Age.” His research shows that the “Digital Natives” of the Millennial Generation are often not concerned about internet privacy – until it is too late.

He uses the analogy of getting a tattoo to describe the content that people put on the internet. Like a tattoo, people post content online in a moment when they have passion for it, without realizing that this is something they may not be able to get rid of later in life, even in they want to. Sort of a cyber-tattoo.

For instance, it is very simple for someone to take a picture with a Blackberry and instantly post the photo to their Facebook page. Once done, this picture may be picked up by any of their “friends” and posted elsewhere, perhaps distributed virally. One big difference, though, is that “friends” can’t force someone to get a real tattoo, but they can post content about someone else online, which may lead to a cyber-tattoo.

The reason this can happen so easily can be described with another analogy – it’s like people picking their noses in their cars. People perceive greater privacy online than they necessarily have. They perceive a certain level of privacy when posting online. They imagine an audience of a small group of friends. However, those friends have other friends, and friend-groups change and grow over time, so content becomes visible to more people than the user originally imagines.

It is not just young people who over-share online. The greatest risk-group are adults who use online dating sites. They share large amounts of very personal information about themselves on these sites.

On one side of the debate over online privacy are those who say – who cares? Maybe we just no longer prize privacy like we used to, and maybe it doesn’t really matter. Or, maybe it does matter and it is better to be more open and less private. Some who are anti-privacy regulations feel that sharing information fuels innovation.

However, others are very concerned about massive information sharing, and information storing. While they may be harmless in unconnected bits of data, many companies are now tying our information back together – linking our online and offline behaviors. When these bits are connected, they can show a large amount of information about us.

We know that companies want this information so that they can market to us well. However, other companies may use the information against us. For instance, insurance companies could raise our rates and credit companies could lower our scores based on assumptions made from our cyber-profiles. Check out this blog from choklatsoda - A New Type of Profiling

There is also the issue of true criminals. By allowing them to hold information about us, we are forced to “trust” these companies who are aggregating information about our lives. However, there are no regulations that they need to protect this information.

Who “owns” the information about us? Who should protect it?

Questions about Privacy

Why do people expect privacy when they post information online?
Why do people want privacy?
What do people think online privacy is?

Did people who “locked down” their Facebook/MySpace/Twitter expect an encrypted “portal” to their friends? Do they feel “tricked” that these sites are using their information for profit? Do they even know?

Do they feel like the personal information they willingly divulge is like their own “property” – that they can get information back after it’s been

Is this about friends versus foes?
Is it that we hate sales people? That we don’t want marketers “in our head,” figuring out ever-better ways to pry us away from our cash?
Or are we afraid of something bigger? Do people think that Gallup is going to stop taking opinion polls, and instead just use web analytics to judge how many people are against the War?

Or is this about our inherent problem with metadata – circumstantial evidence being used against us? Do we only want people to know what we tell them directly, and not what can be derived from our “stats” or linked to our behavior in another way?

Do we secretly like finding more out about people than they want us to know by tracing their online identity? Do we secretly like that they can learn about us this way too? Do you like it when you are googled? Do you like googling people? Do you go further – looking up real estate values and court records on people?

Is this about our thirst for genuine people – people who say it like it is and don’t have anything to hide? Or maybe about gathering near-perfect business data to further capitalism?

Are there bigger issues at stake than being “spied” on? Do the companies that store and sell personal information care about what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands? Is this a safety issue?

Is it worth it? Should we all stop posting and let Web 2.0 die? Or should we lie about our ages and hometowns and only blog about vanilla issues so that we won’t be targeted?
Is it a legal issue? Is there a middle ground?

More to mull:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/28/technology/29CYBERLAW.html?ex=1233982800&en=5556a18c088bfbe7&ei=5070
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/02/technology/02CYBERLAW.html?ex=1233982800&en=7e9844b14e6dd384&ei=5070

We Feel Fine

Ever heard of art imitating life?

“We feel fine” is data imitating art, imitating blog.

Most Web 2.0 communities rely on people to populate content, but this website uses an algorithm that requires no human involvement to create a sense of community. The software searches a multitude of popular blog sites for the terms “I feel” and “I am feeling.” Once it finds that catch phrase, it snags the entire sentence and any associated picture, and compiles the items. These feelings and images are presented in several artistic formats, resulting in a highly emotional, very personalized anthology.

In addition capturing to the sentence and picture, the program deduces other data elements to enhance empathy. The program attempts to determine the age, sex, and location of the author, and the tone of the emotion. With location and time, the program also determines the weather at the time the blog was posted. With this information, art is created. The “feelings” are presented in six different artistic movements.

Madness is a swarm of feelings, where color represents the tone of the emotion.

Murmurs presents each sentence as a gently scrolling list of feelings in reverse chronological order since their blog post.

Montage is centered on the pictures captured, with the feeling posted across the image. These can be saved and sent by clicking a link on the picture. Once saved or sent, the picture becomes part of the “gallery of montages,” where people’s favorites are displayed.

Mobs shows the feelings in representative blobs, to show a common thread. The gender, age, weather, and most-common feelings are displayed together.

Metrics shows the feelings grouped by deviation from a common population.

Mounds portrays all of the feelings recorded since inception in relative-sized mounds representing a particular feeling.

Finally, users can find feelings that represent themselves using the Panel. For instance, a user could explore depressed feelings of a 20-year old woman in San Francisco on a cloudy day.

“We feel fine” data has been collected every 3 minutes from several blog sites since 2006.

The authors of this website are Jonathan Harris, an anthropological story teller and computer scientist, and Sep Kamvar, a computational mathematician. They have collaborated on several projects that delve into peoples’ lives online.

See more about their online art:


See an even better video on Jonathan Harris, which includes his projects in Bhutan and a Whale Hunt.

TED: Ideas worth spreading

Most streaming videos can be summed up into two categories – YouTube and advertising. Perhaps entertaining, these videos are not particularly thought provoking, and are most often time wasters.

TED isn’t YouTube. This streaming media delivers lectures recorded at TED conferences around the world. They are all inspiring, sometimes funny, sometimes mind-blowing.

TED is run by a non-profit foundation, with the goal of spreading ideas that stir people’s perspectives. These talks allow people to cross-pollinate ideas with stories that inspire innovation and broaden the plane of understanding, encouraging “out of the box” thinking.

For instance, many lectures in the Art series demonstrate the innovation that occurs when art and science meet. In one story, an engineer was inspired by modern origami, and began to use computer programs to construct incredibly life-like origami creatures. Then, he became involved in applying the concepts of origami back to engineering in order to put big things into small packages, including air bags and space telescopes. (Robert Lang: Idea + square = origami)

TED Talks begin firmly in the real world. The TED foundation seeks out speakers to attend four-day conferences several times each year. These speakers include highly recognized thought leaders who have won Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, as well as emerging thinkers who have not hit the mainstream. The speakers are not paid, and the entire conference is recorded. Some of these recordings are posted online for free.

This is when TED.com goes Web2.0. People are highly encouraged to link, embed, email and show these lectures. The TED website allows comment threads on each video, and also has a tagging mechanism so that users can help rank and identify talks. Beyond basic users, those who become members of TED.com (for free) can upload profile information and connect with each other in the TED community.

The goal of TED.com is to spread ideas that help people better understand the world. Their hope is that this deeper and broader perspective will lead to new thoughts, more discussion, and perhaps a better world.

Interview with a GenX Snowboard Mom

KoNTRoLlED KhAoS is an avid snowboarder, tomato farmer, martini mixer, mom, and true friend. She’s a gadget geek, always near her blackberry and iPod. Like all Gen X’ers, KhAoS did not grow up blogging, but has become a frequent user of social sites over the last couple of years. This interview explores the allure of an online presence.

Q: Where did you post online first?
A: MySpace

Q: Why were you first interested in posting a MySpace page?
A: I started out while planning my 20-year high school reunion.
Many people had moved and changed their names, so I set up a personal space and a Chesapeake High School space so that people could find me easily.

Q: Which social media sites do you use now?
A: MySpace and Facebook, and I Blog on Reunion.com, Classmates.com, and my high school’s social site, chesapeakehighalumni.com.
Even a year after the Reunion, I still check all of them periodically. It has totally allowed me to keep in touch with people who I wouldn’t otherwise keep in touch with. Sometimes it’s tough to talk on the phone. The best thing about chatting online is you can’t hear my kids screaming in the background (grin).

Q: Between MySpace and Facebook, which do you like better?
A: I have preferences for both. MySpace is more fun because you can change the background, post music – it allows you to project your personality. Facebook is a more mature site. You don’t get all those bells and whistles. It seems there are more mature people on Facebook.

Q: Are your pages open or closed? Why?
A: Open. I have nothing to hide.

Q: Is there anything that scares you about having the open page?
A: No. I don’t post my kids’ names or my address. Nothing personal that would allow someone to find me. People can email me.

Q: Have you had contact from anyone you don’t want?
A: No. I’ve had people hit my page who were creepy, but you just don’t respond and they go away.

Q: How would you feel about your kids using social sites? A: My kids belong to Webkinz, which is a kid’s social site, but I only allow them to communicate with eachother. My daughter is also on Barbie.com, but I don’t let her communicate with other people on that.

Q: At what age would you allow them to use other social sites, unsupervised?
A: They would need to be 11 to 13 before they are able to use other sites. They will never be unsupervised. Too much crap can happen.

Q: Are there any particular sites you will disallow?
A: I don’t love YouTube because everything should be R and under, and they are too young for that.

Ok – the snow and wind have stopped, so it’s time for us to get back to riding the slopes!

Let’s Write a Sawng

Rivers Quomo, best known as the front man of Weezer, has studied the scientific process of songwriting, using himself as the subject of analytical experimentation. On NPR’s Fresh Air, he described this method, which may not seem to deviate much from what one would imagine a rock star’s creative process might be. However, Mr. Cuomo diligently recorded every step of his method, “intentionally varying individual elements to see what the result would be.”

One experiment went like this:
Step 1 – Take a Ritalin pill.
Step 2 – Take three shots of tequila.
Step 3 – Sit in a chair in the backyard.
Step 4 – Close your eyes and imagine the song.
The result of this particular routine was the song “Hashpipe.”



Rivers’s analytical approach to songwriting elaborates a process that most would consider a songwriter’s mystery – one that relies strictly on creative intuition. He has taken his methodological approach a step further by introducing his fan base to the process.

In March, 2008, Rivers Cuomo began posting instructions on YouTube, coaching his fans through the songwriting process to create a collaborative piece. He hopes Weezer will pick up the song for production in their seventh album, coming out next year. He estimates that at least 20 people will be listed in the credits for this collaborative song.
(NPR Fresh Air featuring Rivers Cuomo, 21-January, 2009 available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=99636767&m=99646414)

Rivers Cuomo’s collaborative process is paraphrased below:

Step 1 & Step 2: Start with a general attitude: fun and “poppy” but tough at the same time. Create a song title.

Step 3: Create a chord progression that captures the “vibe of the outcast character” represented in the chosen song title, “80’s Radio.”

Step 3b: Second round of chord progression – faster tempos, 115 bpm at least.

Step 4: Develop arrangements – use a loop of the chord progression that brings in the “tough, fun spirit.”

Steps 5 & 6: Write lyrics, try to include the word “radio” in the lyrics, but it’s not necessary. Compose a tune over the musical track.

Step 7’b: Refine the materials – bring together the lyrics, melody, and music.

Step 8: Development – take the song to your instruments, come up with a bridge or solo, and finish the song out. Make the song “pick up energy as it goes along… make it rock!”

Step 9: Revise the chords in the chorus to start on a D chord.

Step 10: Revise the bridge lyrics from “Take this all the way” to something that says more.

Step 11: Tighten the track on the sound file so it has a steady beat and crisp sound.

Step 12: Polish – Gather the “wish list.” Tell me what you think would make this track better.

Step 13: Lengthen the chorus for “lyrical substance.”

Step 14: Revise the bridge lyrics again – use more background vocal, don’t use “turn it” in the bridge, and create a spontaneous message within the bridge.

Step 15: Update the chorus to eliminate cliché in “Let the Good Times Roll” and “Tell me Go To School.”

Step 16: Final cuts
The most recent version of the song is in Step 14, at about 2:50 minutes.


My final thoughts – this is a very fun, catchy tune. I think it’s better than most of what we hear on the radio. The most important thing to consider is that, while it was a collaborative work, it had an experienced, decisive producer in Rivers Cuomo. He chose the best of the best and gave it his edge.This leads me to the biggest question – Is this really our song? Or is it his?

There’s No One as Irish as Barak Obama.

Over the course of the campaigns for the US presidency, many satirical songs pop up around the globe. Although this is a long-lived tradition, social sites like YouTube fueled the fire in 2008.

A single example is the catchy tune written by The Corrigan Brothers from Limerick, Ireland, called “There’s No One more Irish than Barak Obama.” In an interview, band member Ger said “We put the song up on YouTube and it has gone from having 25 hits in its first week to well over five thousand hits now about a month later”
(http://www.nenaghguardian.ie/news/puckane-born-band-in-line-for-us-presidential-performance-1365192.html)
The version released on YouTube is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xkw8ip43Vk.

Adding to the popularity of the song was another advent of the “Open Source” age. Shay Black, who hosts the Irish Tunes session in Berkley, California, was allowed permission to add verses. His YouTube posting is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek.

Before Web 2.0, the process to release a pop song internationally, even a “one hit wonder,” involved agents, managers, recording contracts, tours, and quite a bit of time. I couldn’t find any albums released by this band, and their 2009 tour is entirely centered on this single song. This song was posted on YouTube in April, 2008. By Inauguration Day, only eight months later, the band was playing in the Presidential Inauguration Parade in Washington DC.

An MP3 download is now available on Amazon.com for $0.99. http://www.amazon.com/Theres-One-Irish-Barack-Obama/dp/B001NJUBBA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1232729369&sr=8-1

What does this mean for the music industry?

Surely, Obama’s international popularity and ultimate election drove the media acceptance of the Corrigan Brother’s song. Also, Obama’s followers are largely known to be in the Web 2.0 space; his campaign used the social web to generate funds and spread information. This may mean that the success of the Corrigan Brothers was specific to this song, and the rest of the music industry has nothing to fear from Web 2.0.

There is great opportunity for artists online. The web space allows people to generate excitement, and to collaborate on projects. In the future, it may also mean less agency and management and more control (and more money) for artists.