Monthly Archives: June 2005

Jonathan Schwartz on executive blogging

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Jonathan Schwartz –president and COO of Sun Microsystems– on executive blogging:

“If you want to be a leader, I can’t see surviving without a blog. It’s as important as having an e-mail account and a mobile phone. It doesn’t count if you delegate the task of maintaining your blog to someone on your staff.”

Schwartz says that too often, communicating with employees and business partners is like a game of telephone. You speak to a group of people close to you, and they speak to their teams, and so on and so on. With a blog, “you hop through 12 layers of management to get directly to someone in New Zealand.” It also opens up a channel for receiving feedback and ideas from that employee in New Zealand.” [Fast Company]

I have been (gently) lobbying the COO of our company to consider blogging. He’s a smart and funny guy (neither necessary for blogging) and would be very good at it. But it is a bit like having a puppy. A lot of work and sometimes messy.

Perfect Day in Seattle

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No-sweat e-ticket check-in. Barely had time to take off my shoes before I was through security. Zero delay on the flight to Seattle. And now I’m sitting in the bar of the Edgewater Hotel, sucking down micro-brews (and free wi-fi). Christ, can life get any better?

On Wednesday, I’m meeting The Other Steve Mays for drinks. Tomorrow we do Pike Place Market. Watch for photos.

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova

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“A teenage American girl, living in 1972 Amsterdam, comes across an ancient book in the library of her widower father, a former historian and now a diplomat. The book, blank save for an illustration of a dragon and the word Drakulya, contains a cache of faded letters all addressed to “My dear and unfortunate reader.” Thus begins a search for the truth behind the myth of Dracula, a search that crosses continents as well as generations.”

— The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

My first Dell computer

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My 3-year-old Gateway started freezing up so rather than watch it suffer, I called Dell and told them to send me the biggest, badest box they had (listing the specs would be in bad taste). I unpacked but didn’t set-up and boot-up. It’s just sitting there. Untouched by viruses. Loaded with the very latest software. Perfect. Pristine. I almost hate to fire her up. Is there anything on this corporal plane closer to rebirth than a brand new computer?

“Podcasting Is Not the Next Mass Medium”

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In an article titled “Podcasting Is Not the Next Mass Medium,” David Coursey (Publish.com) poo-poo’s the idea of podcasting (and blogging, for that matter):

“Personal Podcasting, like personal blogs, is a fad and will fade. Just like personal sites were a fad in the early days of the Web. People experiment because content creation can be fun, sort of like finger-painting was back in preschool, but people also run out of creative energy, and the maintenance of a site, blog or Podcast becomes a chore. And the content gets boring, and the audience goes away.

I’ve been in the media all my professional life and have spent years trying to understand audience behavior. I can’t always tell what the masses will like, but I am pretty good at calling losers. And as a mass medium, Podcasting will be one of them. “

Three comments: First, that Mr. Coursey has “been in the media all my professional life,” might be more liability than asset in understanding what’s happening in the world of new media. Second, I’m not sure there will be such a thing as a “mass medium” in the future. We’ve been part of the masses. Now we want to be individuals. Third, the photo posted with his column makes me want to bitch-slap him real hard.

Jeff Jarvis on “citizen media”

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“…new world of weblogs and citizens’ media is all about possibilities — many of them unrealized, I grant — while the world of the big, old media is increasingly about worry: fretting over declining revenue, resources, audience, quality, trust. That is one good reason for big media to embrace the small, rather than trying to recapture the old: It’s optimistic, energetic, new, open, growing, and fun; it’s the medium in the better mood and that’s catching. In short: Bloggers make better barmates.”  — Full post here

Next week at Gnomedex, I will be surrounded by lots of bloggers and new media types. I’m looking forward to 3 days of optimism, energy, fun. The future is here and I’m loving it.

Jeff Jarvis on “Freedom Center”

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Mr. Jarvis is so right when he calls for “the truest expression of American freedom: commerce.” Instead of a “Freedom Center” (at the site of the World Trade Center), he wants to see life:

I want to see stores that sell scanty clothes, no burkas allowed.
I want to see restaurants that serve liquor.
I want to see movies that show anything, even sex.
I want to see bookstores that celebrate free speech.
I want to see stores selling products from all over the world: the fruits of globalization.
I want to see life there. Defiant, unapologetic life.