Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Slate.com launches video version of magazine
Looks like slate.com (one of my favorite online mags) has stopped taking baby steps with intermittent video features and has joined the online video party full bore.
Slate says the launch of SlateV (V for video -- no points for clever naming) is intended to fill "the sweet spot between cnn and youtube." And to bring their "irreverent wit, sharp intelligence, and counterintuitive insights" to the online video space. All the major magazine features are now video casts.
Hopefully this doesn't mean they're going to discontinue the print versions. In today's multi-tasking work place it's much easier to peruse an article in small chunks, than to stop/start video segments.
Only time will tell if SlateV is ahead of the curve or just a failed attempt to make a great online print-style magazine into a CurrentTV series of video-mag shorts.
Slate says the launch of SlateV (V for video -- no points for clever naming) is intended to fill "the sweet spot between cnn and youtube." And to bring their "irreverent wit, sharp intelligence, and counterintuitive insights" to the online video space. All the major magazine features are now video casts.
Hopefully this doesn't mean they're going to discontinue the print versions. In today's multi-tasking work place it's much easier to peruse an article in small chunks, than to stop/start video segments.
Only time will tell if SlateV is ahead of the curve or just a failed attempt to make a great online print-style magazine into a CurrentTV series of video-mag shorts.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Serendipity vs. Blowback (random thoughts on a friday)
"Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer's daughter." -- Julius Comroe Jr.
Every decision and subsequent course of action has unintended consequences. Some times these effects result in positive discoveries (serendipity); other times they have negative reactions (blowback).
My favorite example of serendipity is Louis Pasteur's discovery of the vaccine. Pasteur was studying chicken cholera. He had previously isolated the bacteria and prior to taking a holiday he left specific instructions for his assistant, Charles Chamberlain (our hero by chance), to infect the chickens with the latest cholera culture. However, Charles forgot to administer the bacteria and left for vacation instead.
Upon his return he exposed the chickens to the now month old bacteria. The chickens took a slight illness, but soon were healthy again. After re-exposing the healthy chickens to new (and full-strength) cholera bacteria he discovered that they were completely resistant. Vaccination had been discovered. One of the most important discoveries in recent human history was basically the result of a mistake. Vaccination was discovered because Charles Chamberlain was in a hurry to get out of the lab and on a holiday.
On the other end of the spectrum is blowback. Blowback as a term originated in Military Intelligence circles to refer to the negative un-intended consequences that arise from clandestine operations.
Perhaps the most relevant current example of blowback in today's era is Osama Bin Laden. Everyone is well aware of the US involvement in funding anti-soviet forces in 1980's Afghanistan and many have noted that Osama was a US creation, but it's not really that simple.
Originally from Saudie Arabia, Osama Bin Laden left college and joined the afghan independence fight in 1979. By 1984 the independantly wealthy Bin Laden was in charge of an anti-soviet group called MAK (Maktab al-Khidamar); MAK was a primary recipient of support from Pakistani Intelligence Service (PIS); which in turn was a favored agency through which the CIA funneled money into the afghan resistance. With CIA assistance the PIS is estimated to have trained 80,000+ Afghan mujahideen for anti-soviet operations.
But, despite the billions of dollars that the US funneled through PIS into groups like MAK -- it was an estabilished rule that US officers should avoid direct contact with the mujahideen and that they would not have direct oversight into how the money would be distributed.
Thus the US made a calculated decision to outsource it's management of funding of the anti-soviet afghan insurgency to the Pakistani Intelligence Service. Obviously the Pakistani Intelligence Service had very little motivation to ensure that the money was distributed to those whose long term goals aligned with US interest. Thus bin laden rise to prominence was a result of US funding and pakistani decision making in allocating those funds.
Through his leadership in MAK; Osama Bin Laden built a personal network and by 1988 he had split off from MAK to form a islamic military operations that is group now known as Al Qaeda. Without the support of the US and PIS it's entirely possible that Al Qaeda would've never been created.
Every decision has unintended consequences and those effects can alter the course of history. What decisions are you currently mulling over? Are there consequences beyond what you imagined? Can you even prepare for something that's not even on your radar screen?
Every decision and subsequent course of action has unintended consequences. Some times these effects result in positive discoveries (serendipity); other times they have negative reactions (blowback).
My favorite example of serendipity is Louis Pasteur's discovery of the vaccine. Pasteur was studying chicken cholera. He had previously isolated the bacteria and prior to taking a holiday he left specific instructions for his assistant, Charles Chamberlain (our hero by chance), to infect the chickens with the latest cholera culture. However, Charles forgot to administer the bacteria and left for vacation instead.
Upon his return he exposed the chickens to the now month old bacteria. The chickens took a slight illness, but soon were healthy again. After re-exposing the healthy chickens to new (and full-strength) cholera bacteria he discovered that they were completely resistant. Vaccination had been discovered. One of the most important discoveries in recent human history was basically the result of a mistake. Vaccination was discovered because Charles Chamberlain was in a hurry to get out of the lab and on a holiday.
On the other end of the spectrum is blowback. Blowback as a term originated in Military Intelligence circles to refer to the negative un-intended consequences that arise from clandestine operations.
Perhaps the most relevant current example of blowback in today's era is Osama Bin Laden. Everyone is well aware of the US involvement in funding anti-soviet forces in 1980's Afghanistan and many have noted that Osama was a US creation, but it's not really that simple.
Originally from Saudie Arabia, Osama Bin Laden left college and joined the afghan independence fight in 1979. By 1984 the independantly wealthy Bin Laden was in charge of an anti-soviet group called MAK (Maktab al-Khidamar); MAK was a primary recipient of support from Pakistani Intelligence Service (PIS); which in turn was a favored agency through which the CIA funneled money into the afghan resistance. With CIA assistance the PIS is estimated to have trained 80,000+ Afghan mujahideen for anti-soviet operations.
But, despite the billions of dollars that the US funneled through PIS into groups like MAK -- it was an estabilished rule that US officers should avoid direct contact with the mujahideen and that they would not have direct oversight into how the money would be distributed.
Thus the US made a calculated decision to outsource it's management of funding of the anti-soviet afghan insurgency to the Pakistani Intelligence Service. Obviously the Pakistani Intelligence Service had very little motivation to ensure that the money was distributed to those whose long term goals aligned with US interest. Thus bin laden rise to prominence was a result of US funding and pakistani decision making in allocating those funds.
Through his leadership in MAK; Osama Bin Laden built a personal network and by 1988 he had split off from MAK to form a islamic military operations that is group now known as Al Qaeda. Without the support of the US and PIS it's entirely possible that Al Qaeda would've never been created.
Every decision has unintended consequences and those effects can alter the course of history. What decisions are you currently mulling over? Are there consequences beyond what you imagined? Can you even prepare for something that's not even on your radar screen?
Monday, June 18, 2007
Are you a bystander?
At lunch today I was reminded of the story of Kitty Genovese. If you're not familiar with the story, or the social phenomena that's named after it -- it's intriguing, relevant and disturbing.
Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was murdered in Queens, NY in 1964. As she was walking to her apartment late one evening she was approached by her attacker, Winston Mosely. Winston Mosely stabbed her twice in the back and her screams awoke her neighbors. A dozen people watched as she was attacked. The attacker left briefly and she struggled into an apartment building. The attacker soon returned and dealt her death blow.
Her case is upheld as the pre-eminent example of the bystander effect. The effect basically observes that a lone individual will usually intervene when another person needs help. However, if there are multiple people present; people are much less likely to intervene. Each bystander assumes that someone else will intervene. It's a classic case of diffusion of responsibility.
Well this effect was in full force today while I was eating lunch at a local Cuban restaurant. Outside of the window -- a mid 40's female and a mid 30's male were dealing drugs. The female would approach a stopped car, take money and then the male would make the hand off to the customer. This was in the middle of the afternoon in front of a busy intersection. Multiple people noticed the event, but nobody reacted. They observed, said they couldn't believe that they were being so obvious in broad daylight and walked out the door of the restaurant. So I called and reported the activity to the police (it's my neighborhood).
But, this effect doesn't only apply to neighborhood watches. Think about your business. How many projects are enacted without clear project ownership and accountability? How many times do executives pass down general mandates without specifying a project owner, objectives, timeline or next steps? It's often harmless and seems like a small project to the person initiating. "Let's create new landing pages", or "Let's revise our sales script." But the reality is that the project will stall until someone takes a commanding leadership role. This is because each team member assumes that someone else is handling it, communication falls apart and all your left with is shared accountability. And shared accountability means no one will take the blame. Each person will rationalize that they thought the other person was taking the lead. This is also why large project teams become highly in-efficient without experienced and seasoned leadership coordinating the multitude of parts.
So before you accept, or delegate your next project; make sure that your project team has a leader and not just a bunch of bystanders.
Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was murdered in Queens, NY in 1964. As she was walking to her apartment late one evening she was approached by her attacker, Winston Mosely. Winston Mosely stabbed her twice in the back and her screams awoke her neighbors. A dozen people watched as she was attacked. The attacker left briefly and she struggled into an apartment building. The attacker soon returned and dealt her death blow.
Her case is upheld as the pre-eminent example of the bystander effect. The effect basically observes that a lone individual will usually intervene when another person needs help. However, if there are multiple people present; people are much less likely to intervene. Each bystander assumes that someone else will intervene. It's a classic case of diffusion of responsibility.
Well this effect was in full force today while I was eating lunch at a local Cuban restaurant. Outside of the window -- a mid 40's female and a mid 30's male were dealing drugs. The female would approach a stopped car, take money and then the male would make the hand off to the customer. This was in the middle of the afternoon in front of a busy intersection. Multiple people noticed the event, but nobody reacted. They observed, said they couldn't believe that they were being so obvious in broad daylight and walked out the door of the restaurant. So I called and reported the activity to the police (it's my neighborhood).
But, this effect doesn't only apply to neighborhood watches. Think about your business. How many projects are enacted without clear project ownership and accountability? How many times do executives pass down general mandates without specifying a project owner, objectives, timeline or next steps? It's often harmless and seems like a small project to the person initiating. "Let's create new landing pages", or "Let's revise our sales script." But the reality is that the project will stall until someone takes a commanding leadership role. This is because each team member assumes that someone else is handling it, communication falls apart and all your left with is shared accountability. And shared accountability means no one will take the blame. Each person will rationalize that they thought the other person was taking the lead. This is also why large project teams become highly in-efficient without experienced and seasoned leadership coordinating the multitude of parts.
So before you accept, or delegate your next project; make sure that your project team has a leader and not just a bunch of bystanders.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
So Kevin Willis just came in our office
A 7 foot tall 12 year NBA veteran just stopped into office to check out the inside and see if it was available for rent as a retail space.
It's been a bit of an odd day...
It's been a bit of an odd day...
What creating a great meal and an effective website have in common
IT ALL STARTS WITH THE CONCEPT
A great meal starts with a concept. And as with all good concepts it should relate to the target audience. Want to cook a valentine's day dinner for someone special? Base it on a love story like hero & leander. Prepare each course to represent an aspect of the narrative. Start with the fire (spicy pineapple carpaccio), then incorporate something from the sea (scallops on a bed of roasted yellow pepper grits?) and end it with darkness (dark chocolate truffles coated with creme anglais). Make it cohesive and have it build-up to a climax.
But, know your audience. If you're target audience is your fiancee's parents -- then leave behind the fancy food and go for comfort. Don't scare them. Make them comfortable, make it memorable and make it tasty. Go for homemade mac & cheese, hamburgers that ground with foie gras for extra richness and a simple broccoli saute or maybe smashed potatoes.
A website should work the same way. Start with the concept. Take the EarthLink DSL & Phone microsite. The audience skewed a bit older, so it had to be approachable. The product was a bundle of two completely disparate products with different value propositions (speed & savings). So how could we communicate the positive nature of a bundled product. How do you communicate that they are better together than apart? We decided that the phone and the modem had fallen in love. It wasn't a bundle; it was a marriage that saved you money. And the creative execution worked.
PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL
The french refer to proper pre-cooking prep and planning as mise en place. It ensures that everything you need is set in place and at your finger tips. This means when it comes time to start cooking you don't waste valuable time chopping, measuring and washing. You can focus on the goal at hand -- cooking an ingredient to perfection.
The web world is very similar. Before we start a project we develop creative briefs that outline the project's target audience,their goals, the business objectives and the website requirements. Then we develop site architectures that show navigation flow. After that we develop wireframes that outline content and navigation on a per page basis. Only once all this planning is set in place do we start the design process. This means the designer can focus on creating an effective design without tons of back and forth on content requirement etc.
Does this process mean that it takes longer to come up with the initial concept? Possibly. Does this process mean that we're more efficient with our designer's time and can nail down a viable design concept on the first try? Definitely.
THE EXECUTION SHOULD BE SOLID
All the planning in the world can't save a badly cooked dish. Cook your pork chops to burnt and no amount of prep will make them tender. The same goes with web design and development. An ill-conceived concept can't be saved with planning. A confusing and ugly layout can't be salvaged through multitudes of documentation. It may cover your ass and show you're reasoning, but it won't help the end product.
If you're a professional in this industry there is no excuse for bad execution. It either means you didn't focus properly, you didn't allocate the proper amount of time, or you're not really a professional.
YOUR GUEST'S HAPPINESS MATTERS THE MOST
At the end of the meal only one thing truly matters. Are your guest's happy? Did they asks for seconds? Did they brag to their friends about what they experienced. The same thing goes for the web. People always talk about viral in regards to the web, but at the end of the day the most viral thing in the world is a great experience. Did it make you smile, did it make you laugh or cry? Was it memorable in positive manner? Would you send it to a friend?
A great meal starts with a concept. And as with all good concepts it should relate to the target audience. Want to cook a valentine's day dinner for someone special? Base it on a love story like hero & leander. Prepare each course to represent an aspect of the narrative. Start with the fire (spicy pineapple carpaccio), then incorporate something from the sea (scallops on a bed of roasted yellow pepper grits?) and end it with darkness (dark chocolate truffles coated with creme anglais). Make it cohesive and have it build-up to a climax.
But, know your audience. If you're target audience is your fiancee's parents -- then leave behind the fancy food and go for comfort. Don't scare them. Make them comfortable, make it memorable and make it tasty. Go for homemade mac & cheese, hamburgers that ground with foie gras for extra richness and a simple broccoli saute or maybe smashed potatoes.
A website should work the same way. Start with the concept. Take the EarthLink DSL & Phone microsite. The audience skewed a bit older, so it had to be approachable. The product was a bundle of two completely disparate products with different value propositions (speed & savings). So how could we communicate the positive nature of a bundled product. How do you communicate that they are better together than apart? We decided that the phone and the modem had fallen in love. It wasn't a bundle; it was a marriage that saved you money. And the creative execution worked.
PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL
The french refer to proper pre-cooking prep and planning as mise en place. It ensures that everything you need is set in place and at your finger tips. This means when it comes time to start cooking you don't waste valuable time chopping, measuring and washing. You can focus on the goal at hand -- cooking an ingredient to perfection.
The web world is very similar. Before we start a project we develop creative briefs that outline the project's target audience,their goals, the business objectives and the website requirements. Then we develop site architectures that show navigation flow. After that we develop wireframes that outline content and navigation on a per page basis. Only once all this planning is set in place do we start the design process. This means the designer can focus on creating an effective design without tons of back and forth on content requirement etc.
Does this process mean that it takes longer to come up with the initial concept? Possibly. Does this process mean that we're more efficient with our designer's time and can nail down a viable design concept on the first try? Definitely.
THE EXECUTION SHOULD BE SOLID
All the planning in the world can't save a badly cooked dish. Cook your pork chops to burnt and no amount of prep will make them tender. The same goes with web design and development. An ill-conceived concept can't be saved with planning. A confusing and ugly layout can't be salvaged through multitudes of documentation. It may cover your ass and show you're reasoning, but it won't help the end product.
If you're a professional in this industry there is no excuse for bad execution. It either means you didn't focus properly, you didn't allocate the proper amount of time, or you're not really a professional.
YOUR GUEST'S HAPPINESS MATTERS THE MOST
At the end of the meal only one thing truly matters. Are your guest's happy? Did they asks for seconds? Did they brag to their friends about what they experienced. The same thing goes for the web. People always talk about viral in regards to the web, but at the end of the day the most viral thing in the world is a great experience. Did it make you smile, did it make you laugh or cry? Was it memorable in positive manner? Would you send it to a friend?
Rising Crime Rate in Atlanta. Blame ice cream sales, or do we just need more feet on the street?
If you live in Atlanta, you've probably noticed a raise in violent crime over the last 3 months. Every week a new murder leads the media coverage train. So why is crime in Atlanta on the rise (22% up from 2005).
Is it a national trend? Possibly, the national violent crime rate is up 3%, but we're way ahead of the curve in that regards. And it doesn't appear to be seasonal --as I've tried to rationalize it that way to my slightly paranoid fiancée.
Historically the murder rate has always trended positively with an increase Ice Cream sales. In poly-sci 101 this was known as a false causation -- ie. correlation does not imply causation. Murder Rate really trends with the weather. As the daily temperature increases so does the murder rate. And when the temperature goes up, so does ice cream consumption. These two completely unrelated phenomena are actually correlated on the same variable. This was covered in depth in the excellent book "Freakonomics."
So, now the question is what does all this have to do with Atlanta. Well, there's another trend that is worth looking at, and that has to do with the number of police officers actively patrolling a city. It may not be a surprise, but Atlanta has dramatically fewer police officers per 1000 people than other, safer major metropolitan cities -- Atlanta currently has 3.5 police officers per 1,000 residents vs. 4.5 per 1000 in New York (according to creative loafing). Combine this with a dramatic increase in the ITP population over the last five years, which is leading to rapid gentrification of lightly policed areas, and now you have a potent mix for violent crime.
What to do? Well, Chief Pennington needs to start making his mark. He's re-organized the narcotics force and supposedly been tackling corruption. Now it's time to go back the basics. We need more cops on the street and we need better communication with rapidly gentrifying communities.
Its not rocket science, but it will make our city safer and ensure that ATL can continue it's rapid growth.
Is it a national trend? Possibly, the national violent crime rate is up 3%, but we're way ahead of the curve in that regards. And it doesn't appear to be seasonal --as I've tried to rationalize it that way to my slightly paranoid fiancée.
Historically the murder rate has always trended positively with an increase Ice Cream sales. In poly-sci 101 this was known as a false causation -- ie. correlation does not imply causation. Murder Rate really trends with the weather. As the daily temperature increases so does the murder rate. And when the temperature goes up, so does ice cream consumption. These two completely unrelated phenomena are actually correlated on the same variable. This was covered in depth in the excellent book "Freakonomics."
So, now the question is what does all this have to do with Atlanta. Well, there's another trend that is worth looking at, and that has to do with the number of police officers actively patrolling a city. It may not be a surprise, but Atlanta has dramatically fewer police officers per 1000 people than other, safer major metropolitan cities -- Atlanta currently has 3.5 police officers per 1,000 residents vs. 4.5 per 1000 in New York (according to creative loafing). Combine this with a dramatic increase in the ITP population over the last five years, which is leading to rapid gentrification of lightly policed areas, and now you have a potent mix for violent crime.
What to do? Well, Chief Pennington needs to start making his mark. He's re-organized the narcotics force and supposedly been tackling corruption. Now it's time to go back the basics. We need more cops on the street and we need better communication with rapidly gentrifying communities.
Its not rocket science, but it will make our city safer and ensure that ATL can continue it's rapid growth.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Do we really need another blog?
This is a blog named after a quote I once read. It's from a gentleman named Bill Bernbach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bernbach).
EDITOR CORRECTION: The quote is actually from Jay Chiat; another great advertiser, but I didn't feel like re-writing the post or re-titling the blog. Sometimes you just have to roll with your mistakes.
Anyway, Bill Bernback is the guy that came up with Volkswagen Beetle's "Think Small" ad campaign. Quite possibly the greatest ad campaign of the 20th century. I remember seeing those ads in a book on advertising when I was 20. They made the profession seem clever and almost noble. A profession that took a company's differences/strengths and turned them into something unique and special that was worthy of admiration.
Thinking small was really about thinking different. My perception was that Advertising was cooler than the I.T. industry and it appeared to reward merit more than politics and public affairs (my original career ambitions). That's why I got into the interactive marketing industry and that's why I decided to start neboweb (http://www.neboweb.com) out of my brother's guest bedroom 4 years ago. Thankfully we're far from the guest bedroom and we now have the type of office most often seen in HBO sitcoms. It used to be an art gallery and it's in the warehouse district of west midtown Atlanta. What a cliche. As vonnegut said, "We must be careful because we often become what we pretend to be."
This blog is about thinking different and somewhat about me. Hopefully that's a plus and not a minus. I appreciate your time and will try to make it enjoyable. After all do we really need another blog?
EDITOR CORRECTION: The quote is actually from Jay Chiat; another great advertiser, but I didn't feel like re-writing the post or re-titling the blog. Sometimes you just have to roll with your mistakes.
Anyway, Bill Bernback is the guy that came up with Volkswagen Beetle's "Think Small" ad campaign. Quite possibly the greatest ad campaign of the 20th century. I remember seeing those ads in a book on advertising when I was 20. They made the profession seem clever and almost noble. A profession that took a company's differences/strengths and turned them into something unique and special that was worthy of admiration.
Thinking small was really about thinking different. My perception was that Advertising was cooler than the I.T. industry and it appeared to reward merit more than politics and public affairs (my original career ambitions). That's why I got into the interactive marketing industry and that's why I decided to start neboweb (http://www.neboweb.com) out of my brother's guest bedroom 4 years ago. Thankfully we're far from the guest bedroom and we now have the type of office most often seen in HBO sitcoms. It used to be an art gallery and it's in the warehouse district of west midtown Atlanta. What a cliche. As vonnegut said, "We must be careful because we often become what we pretend to be."
This blog is about thinking different and somewhat about me. Hopefully that's a plus and not a minus. I appreciate your time and will try to make it enjoyable. After all do we really need another blog?
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