Occam's RazR
communication. community. cognition.
Silent Shifts
Jul 19th
“If you can get everyone in the village to take a step, you have in fact moved the mountain one step closer.”
Spaghetti Code
Jul 6th
My first computer experience was with a friend’s Altair do-it-yourself kit.
My first formal computer experience was the TRS-80, Model 1. We couldn’t wait to play with the brand new Model II, which had a floppy drive.
The first we owned was the Commodore VIC-20, then the 64. I remember typing programs in letter for letter from the back of “Compute!” magazine.
Back in those days, you didn’t have the space to be inefficient. And manual debugging was a pain in the rear.
We used to refer to “Spaghetti Code” as those programs that were patched together here and there, with no clear flow or documentation. As young programmers, we’d noodle around until we got something to work, even if we weren’t sure why. But you could pretty much forget about diving into someone else’s program and understanding it. More >
The Music In Me
Jun 20th
“We’re all just symphonies of singular ids; sometimes we are harmonious, and sometimes just a cacophony.”
A Custom Scoop of Goodness
Jun 6th
I’ve known the people at CustomScoop for a few years now. Jen and Chip (and the others who have been part of the Media Bullseye Roundtable, like Doug and Sarah…) They do good work, and have been among the few who have provided real thought leadership in emerging communications, without succumbing to hype.
It’s fair to say I would never have been on their radar if it hadn’t been for my work with the American Red Cross, and the integration of social media with disaster-related communications. That’s why I got a message from them about a week ago. After waves of killer tornadoes in Alabama in April and Missouri in May, Jen reached out to ask me about the logistics of helping out, in the way they best knew how.
CustomScoop is giving away 100 media monitoring packages for disaster-related non-profits.
Having been on disaster assignments, I can’t begin to tell you how helpful that can be.
In the heat of disaster, gathering up clips and analyzing them for reputation management issues can be pretty low on the priority list. And trying to go back and compile them in the waning days of an operation can be spotty at best, and impossible at worst.
The offer from CustomScoop is for disaster relief organizations, and comes with no strings. Additionally, it’s not tied to any particular geographic area. (Jen and I talked about this days before the tornado hit Massachusetts, very close to home for the CustomScoop crew.)
It just goes to show that no matter what you do, or what your skills, there are ways to support those who suddenly find themselves with every need imaginable.
TV Catching Up to Me?
May 19th
About a year and a half ago, I put forward the novel idea that cable and satellite providers needed to step up their offerings. Shows are increasingly becoming commodities, and there are other ways to access them, in whole or just the good parts.
Now, it looks like DirecTV is taking that first step. A new feature will link the DVR to Facebook and Twitter accounts, allowing you to share what you are watching and recording with your circle of friends.
Not quite the same as uploading clips, social sharing, and the resulting ad revenue generation. But it is a start.
(Given the number of social services starting the develop around the fringe of the viewing experience, like IntoNow and GetGlue, the window for that first step is rapidly closing.)
Expect to see even more convergence.
