A thousand people in the street (millions online)

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Steve Mays

I’ve been thinking about the disruptive power of the Internet. How it can undermine institutions. The record industry, publishing, and media come to mind. I’m sure I could come up with others if pressed.

I’m hoping for even more chaos. Clearly, our two party system of government is broken and I’d really like to see some chaos there. Why not three or four or more political parties? Hard to make a case that our government could be less effective than it is.

The Obama campaign really showed the power of the Internet to raise money and coordinate millions of supporters. I hope we see more of that but with the power on our end of the pipes. I have no idea how this can or might come about but the first step has to be sand in the greased gears of our two party system.

The world is not flat?

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Steve Mays

Until the fifteen hundreds, people knew the earth was flat. But it wasn’t. Everyone was wrong. It probably took a long time for that new reality to sink in. A life time, perhaps? Makes a boy wonder if there are things I believe —I’m talking about the most fundamental things here— that are just wrong. Like, the sun does NOT circle the earth.

How do you wrap your mind around something like that? Your senses tell you one thing, but the reality is something different. Will there be something as jolting as “the earth is round, not flat” in my lifetime? How will I deal with it? Many would —I believe— choose denial. “It’s just not so. Uh uh, no way.”

If I’m just flat out wrong about some fundamental belief, do I want to know the truth. Remember, we’re talking the-world-aint-flat kind of truth here.

I do. As painful and unsettling as it would surely be, I want to know. And then I’ll try to keep it to myself.

Biocentrism

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Steve Mays

I’m reading a mind-stretching book. Biocentrism by Robert Lanza (with Bob Berman). I wouldn’t know where to begin describing what this book is about. Like John Sebastian said, “it’s like trying to tell a stranger ’bout rock and roll.”

The authors are very good at explaining the most complex concepts. Here’s a little riff on Time:

“Imagine that existance is like a sound recording. Listening to an old phonograph doesn’t alter the recording itself, and depending on wherethe needle is placed, you hear a certain piece of music. This is what we all the present. The music, before and after the song now being heard, is what we call the past and the future. Imagine, in like manner, ever moment and day enduring in nature always. The record does not go away. All nows (all the songs on the record) exist simultaneously, although we can only experience the world (or the record) piece by piece. We do not experience time in which “Stardust” often plays, because we experience time linearly.”

This book is not for everyone. If you have too much “reality” in you life to think about the possibility it’s all “in your head,” you can take a pass on Biocentrism. But it will get a spot on my nightstand as one of those books I’ll have to read again and again.

The authors, however, are very good at explaining the most complex concepts. Here’s a little riff on Time:

“Imagine that existence is like a sound recording. Listening to an old phonograph doesn’t alter the recording itself, and depending on where the needle is placed, you hear a certain piece of music. This is what we call the present. The music, before and after the song now being heard, is what we call the past and the future. Imagine, in like manner, every moment and day enduring in nature always. The record does not go away. All nows (all the songs on the record) exist simultaneously, although we can only experience the world (or the record) piece by piece. We do not experience time in which “Stardust” often plays, because we experience time linearly.”

Leaving the Information Age

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Steve Mays

http://blog.joeandrieu.com/2007/09/22/leaving-the-information-age/

Leaving the Information Age

I missed the Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age but have been pretty much in the thick of the Information Age, so I was a little startled to learn that it was over. Or nearly so.

David Wienberger pointed to an essay by Joe Andrieu titled “Leaving the Information Age,” written in September of 2007. It makes a compelling case for the the idea that we’re nearing the end of the Information Age:

As cable television and the Internet invaded our homes, we began to find that we could satisfy many of our wants and desires through Information rather than physical goods. It was liberating, intoxicating, and led to one of the most outrageous economic bubbles since the heyday of the Industrial Age triggered the Great Depression.

Similarly, the Information Age is, (surpise!), defined by MORE information. More channels. More telephones. More email. More websites. More advertising. More media.

And in a (perhaps) surprisingly short period, we now find ourselves echoing a new version of the mantra that ended the Industrial Age: “Enough! We don’t need so much Information!”

Mr. Andrieu makes the topic much more interesting than your junior high history teacher.

I missed the Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age but have been pretty much in the thick of the Information Age, so I was a little startled to learn that it was over. Or nearly so.

“As cable television and the Internet invaded our homes, we began to find that we could satisfy many of our wants and desires through Information rather than physical goods. It was liberating, intoxicating, and led to one of the most outrageous economic bubbles since the heyday of the Industrial Age triggered the Great Depression.

Similarly, the Information Age is, (surpise!), defined by MORE information. More channels. More telephones. More email. More websites. More advertising. More media.

And in a (perhaps) surprisingly short period, we now find ourselves echoing a new version of the mantra that ended the Industrial Age: “Enough! We don’t need so much Information!”

Mr. Andrieu makes the subject of “ages” much more interesting than your junior high history teacher. Well worth the read.

” How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell”

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Steve Mays

This little horror story (from The Oatmeal) woud be funnier but for the sad truth that I have committed some of the client sins described here. I like to think I paid for them (on the other side) and now make a concerted effort to let designers do what we hire them to do.

I too have no idea what “pop” means but assume it is a euphemism for: “I don’t like what you’ve shown me and want you to keep doing it over and over until I do.”

“Is it too late to catch up?”

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Steve Mays

A few questions from the always brilliant Seth Godin:

“What if your organization or your client has done nothing? What if they’ve just watched the last fourteen years go by? No real website, no social media, no permission assets. What if now they’re ready and they ask your advice?

I think my honest answer might have been, “Too late.” But Mr. Godin comes through with 10 practical suggestions. I encourage you to read them all. Here are my favorites:

Start a book group for your top executives and every person who answers the phone, designs a product or interacts with customers. Read a great online media book a week and discuss. It’ll take you about a year to catch up.
Offer a small bonus to anyone in the company who starts and runs a blog on any topic. Have them link to your company site, with an explanation that while they work there, they don’t speak for you.
Do not approve any project that isn’t run on Basecamp.
Don’t have any meetings about your web strategy. Just do stuff. First you have to fail, then you can improve.

Mr. Godin concludes the problem is no longer budget or access to tools, rather it is the will to get good at operating in our new world. I have to wonder if you haven’t found the will by now, how likely are you to do so

Internet service restored

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Steve Mays

After a few misstarts, my Internet service was restored yesterday. The problem was a tiny broken wire and as I watched the tech repair it, I marveled at just how much flowed through that gossamer thread (come on, when will I get another chance to write “gossamer thread”?).

Movies, photos, TV shows, audio, conversations from a world away. It makes a boy think about the “digital divide.” Every child should have high-speed access to the net. And I believe they will. Mobile access to the Internet will continue to change the world. And for the better.

Obits on TV

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Steve Mays

We’ve been fiddling around with the Internet for about 15 years and tried lots of different ideas. Streaming audio of debate from the state legislature; oral arguments from the state supreme court; online database of accident reports format he state highway patrol; and –as the say– the list goes on. One idea could never get off the ground was Obits Online. This was back in the late ’90’s as I recall.

Funeral homes would log in to our online database and post funeral announcements. The public could search by name, date, city, etc etc. We pitched the funeral home associations in Missouri and Iowa (maybe some other states, I don’t recall).

The idea never got off the ground because most funeral homes were still trying to figure out their fax machines and were convinced the people in their communities were not using computers and were unlikely to do so any time soon.

I bring up this stillborn digital baby after spotting this story (AdAge.com) about a TV station in Michigan that’s running on-air and online obituary ads after three of the region’s four daily newspapers reduced publication to three days a week.

“For $100, the station will run the deceased’s name and photo on-air and publish a full-length obituary on ObitMichigan.com. Full-screen graphics listing names of people who have passed away are broadcast during the local station’s morning and noon shows Monday through Friday, as well as on weekend morning shows. Viewers are pushed to the website for more information about the deceased as well as funeral-services information.

The station’s owner, Meredith Corp., expects to roll the concept out to its other stations and says it is also in licensing discussions with other station groups.

At $100 an obituary, it’s not clear that WNEM or Meredith has really tapped a massive vein of cash. Revenue from obituaries “is a teeny subset” of overall newspaper-classified revenue, said Mort Goldstrom, VP-advertising at the Newspaper Association of America. Fees charged by papers can range from as high as $1,000 for a major metro to a few hundred dollars for a midmarket paper. And many small community and weekly newspapers still run obituaries for free.

WNEM started running obituaries in August at no charge, to get people familiar with the service and to work out any software bugs. Since launching as a paid service in early September, executives said, the station has over 700 obituaries in its system.

The new obituaries are also prompting a change in the way people go about their daily routine, he said. “The biggest issue that we have is the elderly people that don’t have the ability to pay for internet access or don’t have a computer. Now they see it flash on TV and those that don’t have a computer can call the funeral home and ask for information,” Mr. Luczak said.”

Having the TV station to promote and leverage the idea is an important component. I hope they make some money and provide a useful service.

Drop a text “dime” on the jerk in the row behind you

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Steve Mays

Iowa State and University of Iowa football fans can now text university staff to alert them to problems. Like some drunk ass clown sitting behind you screaming obscenities. Or a lost child or something.

They just punch in 97178, then type the word ALERT, before sending a text message (including your seat location).

Hawkeye officials implemented a new text messaging system before the season, in order to give fans quick and discrete access to ushers as well as security and medical personnel.

The texting program is part of a larger communications agreement with Learfield Sports (company I work for) and FanDriveMedia. Full story here.

smays.com

“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.” —Michel de Montaigne

Category Archives: Science & Technology

A thousand people in the street (millions online)

The world is not flat?

Biocentrism

Leaving the Information Age

” How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell”

“Is it too late to catch up?”

Internet service restored

Obits on TV

Drop a text “dime” on the jerk in the row behind you