communication. community. cognition.
Archive for November, 2009
Attack the Puzzle
Nov 30th
How do you attack a jigsaw puzzle?
Odds are, you are constantly staring at the box it came in, looking for the bigger picture. You’re probably searching through the pieces, separating the edges and isolating those all-important four corner pieces.
Then, you start matching similar colors, and jamming and wedging whatever fits.
Not my wife’s Aunt Marjorie.
She’s more organized than that.
She has developed her own system, classifying the pieces by general shape. There are “pieces with two outies and two innies,” and “three-outie one-innies,” and “stars.” Some pieces have the odd “foot” in them.
Marjorie has them all laid out by shape, because when she needs a foot to fill a gap, she doesn’t want to look through a bunch of three-outies.
After separating the pieces by general shape, she lays them out on cardboard palettes, where she can at a glance spot the color she needs from the sheet.
It’s odd to me to see four palettes of puzzle pieces stacked on top of each other — but it works for her.
I can’t say whose system is more efficient, because I don’t know how long she spends sorting and organizing her palettes. I can say that her method is more efficient for her, and she has a lot more experience putting puzzles together.
It’s definitely something to keep in mind, that we often just jump into tasks and projects the same way we’ve always done, and never thought about the existence of a better way. Likewise, we never really benchmark the cost of organization and structure, to be sure it is providing value.
The Accidental Tourist
Nov 27th
Usually, I have a good idea why people come to this site.
I use the free Sitemeter tool to track hits, and as I generally have low traffic and no ads, that’s decent enough for me.
Sitemeter tracks the last 100 visitors, and let’s me know (among other things) the page they hit, how long they stayed, what site they were on when they clicked over, what operating system, which city — a treasure trove of information.
(For instance, a lot of my traffic comes from search engines, so I can tell when people are looking for “Chocolate Covered Cockroaches” and coming to my site.)
In the last week or so, I have seen a lot of traffic from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And in the last couple of days, a similar spike from Tema, Ghana.
A couple of years ago, the spike in Saudi traffic was almost entirely centered on my “Live Nude Girls” post, but in this current wave I have no clue. The Riyadh and Tema visits are clean, no trace of the info.
It’s quite possible those are just compromised proxies, and I am being auto-scanned for vulnerabilities by overseas hackers. And, with that in mind, time to boost my security settings…
That’s why it pays to pay attention to these sorts of things.
Social Media is History
Nov 25th
There. I said it.
This notion of “citizen journalism” and “conversations” and “participation” is history.
And here is the proof:
This is a “blog post” from Amos Doolittle, from the year 1813, called “Brother Johnathan Administering a Salutary Cordial to John Bull.”
In it, our protagonist (Brother Johnathan) is forcing foul swill down the mouth of one of her majesty’s finest Redcoats. Poor John Bull pleads for mercy (click on the picture for a closer look):
“Oh, don’t force me to take it, Brother Johnathan – Give me Holland Gin, French Brandy – anything but this D—-d Yankee Perry – it has already fuddled me!”
To which, Brother Johnathan replies in a manner only a noble American can (if that noble American is “The Rock,” and you can “smell what he is cooking.”):
“Take it Johnny, take it I say – why can’t you take it? It will mend your morals and your manners too, friend Johnny. – Plague on you, you shall swallow it!”
The play on words here regards a naval commander named Oliver Perry, as well as a reference to pear-based liqueurs that were known to cause digestive problems. (See, I told you it was like the WWE!)
A Day at the Museum
I happened upon this piece at the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is currently showing “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” on loan from Yale through January 10, 2010. It has hundreds of pieces from the John Trumbull collection, and the fact that these pieces are on the road is a story in and of itself.
Trumbull was a great painter in his own right, and collected a lot a long the way. He willed it to Yale, with the provision that the collection must stay intact and on site, or else it automatically reverts to Harvard.
When Yale wanted to do massive renovations on the building housing the permanent collection, much of it needed to move. Lawyers from both schools reached an agreement that as long as the renovations were underway, that parts of the collection could travel without penalty.
As I am not as wealthy or well-traveled, I can’t say from personal experience – but the Birmingham Museum of Art has a reputation for taking great exhibits and making them even better. Most of the curators from traveling exhibits marvel at how much care Birmingham puts into the display – (that’s “plating” for you foodie-type Iron Chef fans.) They say their pieces have never looked as good as they do here. During my brief visit, we were told that word had gotten out in Arizona, and there were an extraordinarily high number of visitors from Tuscon who were frequenting the loaned display. Who knew?
While the exhibit is fascinating from an artistic perspective, there is much for the communicator to appreciate.
What’s Old Is New Again
As much as we like to bemoan the state of our media, we’re pretty tame in our manipulation of images and events. The textbooks will tell you that the science of Public Relations began with Ivy Lee just a century ago, but that doesn’t explain the work of Paul Revere in “The Bloody Massacre.”
Historians will tell you that the firing-squad nature of the picture likely bore no resemblance to the reality of the Boston Massacre – but that fits right along with today’s “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” (Not to mention the white-washing of Crispus Attucks, who was black.)
Looking at pieces like these, you can’t help but think about the agitation caused by those ruffians, those partisan bloggers who skew reality to stir up trouble.
We’re in the midst of some fairly partisan times. Which is nothing new.
Our media is in a shambles. Again, this is nothing new.
What is new is the ability to reach around the world immediately, instead of with more deliberate pace. Or, as Peter Shankman puts it, the ability to be famous for being globally stupid in an instant.
Worth the Drive
If you’re within driving distance of Birmingham, come on in and see it before it gets crowded. The exhibit is fantastic, and loaded with history. Birmingham is notorious for being a walk-in-at-the-last-minute town, so avoid the crowds.
If you’re a professional communicator and you’re within driving distance, then you have no excuse. There is too much history to absorb, and it will snap you out of the rat-race social-media bubble, and put communications back into proper perspective.
And when you get here, go ahead and find James Madison in this classic portrait:
Smoke Gets In the Apple of Your Eye
Nov 24th
via consumerist.comSmoking Near Apple Computers Creates Biohazard, Voids Warranty
By Laura Northrup on November 20, 2009 6:00 PM 138390 viewsUnless you’ve just arrived in 2009 on a time machine, you know that smoking isn’t good for you. Did you know, that smoking isn’t good for your computer, either? It’s true, at least according to Apple. Two readers in different parts of the country claim that their Applecare warranties were voided due to secondhand smoke. Both readers appealed their cases up to the office of God Steve Jobs himself. Both lost.
Back in April, Derek copied us on his e-mail to Jobs:
“I took my mid 2007 apple macbook (black) into the Jordan Creek Apple Store in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, April 25th, because I had been experiencing some issues with it overheating, and figured the fan was bad. After some initial testing, they took the computer in for work under my Applecare plan, which has over a year remaining on it.
Today, April, 28, 2008, the Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to “health risks of second hand smoke”.
Not only is this faulty science, attributing non smoking residue to second hand smoke, on Chad’s part, no where in your applecare terms of service can I find anything mentioning being used in a smoking environment as voiding the warranty.”
I know how to fix this.
People who want to buy a MacBook or an iPhone should gather the required cash and place it in an area where it can absorb significant quantities of second-hand smoke.
Then, document the use of that cash as being a part of your purchase.
See if Apple’s policy will void the transaction.
(I wonder if anyone has told Apple that 90% of U.S. currency contains traces of cocaine…)
Unearned Legacies
Nov 20th
Yesterday, I pointed out how Facebook’s automated attempts at peppering me with relevant information had the unintended consequence of creating a virtual seance – connecting with the dead. I don’t really blame Facebook per se, because no one has yet filed to archive Scott’s wall as a memorial account. However, there are still major gaps on the road to real relevance that will be critical for communication and networking, and the team that figures out the right algorithm for relevance will have the juice to dethrone anyone. This means you, Google and Facebook.
At issue is a simple invitation to related to my high school, that appeared within the ad stream:
Look up high school profiles from the Class of 1987 now. Reconnect with old friends from the Class of 1987 today.
Apparently, the ad server pulls information from my profile with regards to my birth date, but somehow ignores the actual graduation year listed in my Education section.
Yes, I am picking nits, but if you (as Facebook or as an advertiser therein) are trying to feign a personal touch, then get it right.
Relevance is the missing link to the next age of the internet, because automated relevance that works takes social networks away from being an appliance that you actively engage, and into a passive extension of your intelligence. No, this isn’t Neo wiring into the Matrix, but it’s the serving of the information that you wanted before you knew it existed to want.
There are others exploring this space. Facebook has the most eyeballs attuned to the News Feed experiment, where the most popular and clicked items in your feed bubble to the top. As Peter Shankman likes to say, however, it ought to be populated with the people I am most connected to now, not with people who are popular but irrelevant to me today. (I would venture to guess that Peter is less than happy with the results he sees.)
AideRSS tries to attack relevance through PostRank, and algorithm that grades and pulls the very best of a feed. But that is only the best as rated by others, not by your tastes and discrimination.
Google Reader recently added a setting to Sort by Magic, which takes into account new items from the feeds you click on the most, or click on earlier in browsing sessions.
There’s a lot to consider in getting it right, and a number of approaches to the recipe. As there should be, because whoever plants that flag first stands a great chance of locking down the market for several years (or getting bought out handsomely by deeper pockets.)
But I won’t believe there are enough people working on it until I see invitations to connect with classmates who graduated with me in 1986.
Digital Legacies
Nov 19th
Through all of the various revamps and stylesheets, some aspects of Facebook remain. Such as the penchant for reminders. Five of your friends are having birthdays, and here are some people that you might know based on common friends. The latest incarnation is prompts to nudge those with no profile pictures, or reminders to re-connect with people you haven’t talked with in a while.
Here’s Scott.
“You haven’t talked on Facebook lately. Write on his wall.”
Well, there’s a pretty good reason for that. He died almost a year ago.
At that time, I wrote about his passing, and about the small bit of peace Facebook afforded him. It was a vehicle for absolution, allowing him to pass knowing that old wrongs had been forgiven.
In the days and weeks after, his wall became a happy place, as friends new and old shared pictures and thoughts and memories. Scott’s profile became the scrapbook that he would have enjoyed, curated and moderated by his fiance and another close friend. Yet it is still more than a little haunting that he can suddenly pop up as active.
Willing the Virtual
At the time, none of us knew there was a way to make that transition to a memorial page. In fact, here is a great breakdown on what happens to your social networks and online accounts when you die. I never gave the topic much thought, until Adele McAlear pitched a proposal for a panel discussion at South by Southwest Interactive, called “Posts Mortem: Death and Digital Legacy.”
And even with that, I have been lax in “bequeathing” my accounts to my family, so websites and domains stay put if something were to happen to me. However, to be fair, many providers have no real provision for that, and it might not be possible to do in some instances. I’m glad that now some people are asking the right questions that stand to make the process easier on everyone.
Scott is gone, but he is certainly not forgotten. Not while Facebook continues to flash him up on the side of my screen.
