A smile can help build a company

I know a man who communicates so well with his engaging smile and a lively twinkling in his eye.  He views the world as a place filled with goodness and love. Despite a recent, deep personal loss and a life-threatening medical condition, his positive life force shines on all those around him.

What does this special man possess that most of us seemingly do not? A true love of people. Faith in the providence of God. The willingness to find good in others. And the unwillingness to focus on the bad.

What does this have to do with marketing, you say? Everything, I reply.

We have to express the joy in our hearts for the people, products and services we represent and sell. We should view our clients and their prospects with respect; talk to them honestly, with a genuine interest and concern in honestly meeting their needs; and always welcome those we serve with a smile that reflects their importance in our lives.

Whether in your personal or business life, a positive, cheerful outlook is contagious. A consistent, positive attitude wins friends and bodes well for the building of true, long-lasting relationships.

A happy man, a happy customer, a happy worker. Yes, I can tell you happiness does make the world go round.

Thanks, Dad. You may have just helped to launch a successful company.

Inside the head of a communicator

The Character of communications
There is an old Irish proverb, “The work praises the man.”
I love this because it is so obvious. When you do good work, when it hits the mark, you don’t have to talk about it. Your work is recognized by others. This external praise is real….and it is a high. When this happens, it makes you want to keep on smiling, and keep on turning out a level of work worthy of such accolades.

I like to take this proverb in a different direction, “The work reveals the man.”
It is the integrity of your work that communicates to the world who you are. It is the subjects you choose to talk about, how you present them and how you respect your audience. Once again, you don’t have to brag about your work, it will stand on its own for others to judge not just your talent, but also the person reflected in the work.

Communications is my passion
No matter where I am or what I am doing, I always find myself observing the details of all forms of communications – an ad, a book jacket, a menu design, company collateral, a movie, a road sign. Anything with a graphic design and text. I mentally review, analyze, often redesign or edit the message, applaud the outstanding ones, and file them in my head for possible future applications. I love to keep abreast of  the trends in design and evaluate the marketing campaigns of successful companies in the marketplace.

I’ve worked in the field of communications for over 25 years, both as a marketing manager and as a consultant. I’ve started up marketing functions, headed up departments and acted as a full-service agency in the fields of manufacturing, professional services, education and consumer goods. My goal was to become a vice president of corporate communications for a manufacturing company. But when I came to CT from NY, the tide was on its way out for these firms with production going overseas and the building compounds of once proud names of American industry giving way to shopping centers, condominiums and parking lots.

So, rather than fight the times, I chose to work in high tech industries, service firms and education. While it wasn’t my original plan to acquire a wide range of experience in different fields, I can honestly say now it was worth the ups and downs. There is no other way to see firsthand how so many industries promote their products and services.

Interactive communications is my master
I am by nature, a tactile person, and so I love the print media. Creating a compelling and cohesive company story on paper from business cards to data sheets to brochures to annual reports is deeply rewarding. From the initial comps to the first sheet off the press, I find the process exhilarating.

However, even more exciting today is the new challenge of digital interactive communications. Using the computer, which I have considered a trusted companion since the early eighties, to communicate with and involve others in the process not only levels the playing field but opens it up to almost endless possibilities. And with today’s ever expanding portable devices and the digital clouds, my office is everywhere, and always ready, to service the needs of my clients.

Seeing is believing

Tower Generator of Canton, CT was looking for a sales tool that would showcase their turnkey installation of a large, commercial generator. They wanted it to demonstrate their company’s extensive capabilities to expertly handle every step of a highly complicated, labor intensive installation.

A glossy brochure (too static) or a half-hour movie (too long) wouldn’t do the trick. But thousands of photos with plenty of action and foot-tapping music would drive home the point – we’re the company you can trust to do the job. How to show 27 days in just 3-1/2 minutes? Why, a time-lapse of course.

So I spent my summer days shooting; my nights editing, and delivered an effective sales tool that both Tower Generator, my client, and Cummins Power Generation, a leading manufacturer, wanted to show to their prospective customers.

Time lapse of installation of large generator to protect corporate assets
Four weeks of on-site shooting for a client, Tower Generator, shows the work progression of installing a powerhouse of a generator designed to protect the people and assets of large businesses. The commercial building was a 55,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters.

To learn more, read the case study (with my photos).
[Yes, we also produced a written sales tool to explain all the details. It really makes you appreciate the well-tuned choreography of such a big installation. It appears on both websites as a pdf for easy sharing and printing.]

It’s good to be back!

The glory of the sky

It’s been a while since my last entry, so I need to play a little catch-up.

I began my blog for a class when I was attending school for my master’s degree in interactive communications at Quinnipiac University. It was personally & professionally rewarding to learn new technologies and create multimedia projects that enhanced my skills. And all the while, working full time. Hectic…sometimes just plain crazy…but well worth my time and effort.

I guess the professors thought I was doing a good job, too, because they awarded me their prestigious “Faculty Award for Academic Excellence, Masters in Interactive Communications”. It was an unexpected honor because this is my passion – it is part of me and something that I love to do…maybe even have to do.

Being recognized by industry professionals made me blush as well as wear a big grin. But while awards are appreciated, creating programs to help businesses meet marcom (marketing communications) challenges is what keeps me smiling. It’s so good to be back!

[Photo by Colleen B. Reilly]

Describing Interactive Communications

You’re invited to a short audio story about interactive communications

Technology: tool or master?

MUSINGS ON TECHNOLOGY
#1 – The evolution of man as a thinking individual capable of acting as one of many for the common good is not readily obvious or easily discerned. Because we, as a species, have been here on planet earth a mere spec in time as compared to, say the dinosaurs, our evolutionary progress is harder to recognize. I wonder if time is the only factor, or are we as good as it gets?

#2 – No matter how advanced technologies become, we still seek the basic human component – companionship, friendship…It’s obvious Adam still needs Eve.

#3 – Technology is the great equalizer. It brings information, once unavailable, to your fingertips. With information comes power and control. It’s no wonder so many people in high places wish to place restrictions upon its use.

#4 – Mobile technology mixes space and place. You can be physically located in a particular place, but can simultaneously occupy many different spaces (depending on how many other people you are talking with) at the same time. Numerous virtual realities. It’s rather a god-like experience.

#5 – People are considered connected to an event, even if not physically present. For this behavior, you used to be marked absent.

#6 – Users always find new ways to apply technology unthought of by their designers. No matter what technologies are emerging, users will tailor them to fit their specific needs.

#7 – Do we really need all of this information inundation 24/7? When do we sleep? Don’t you sometimes want to shut down, sneak away to be alone, if not just for a little while?

#8 – I like writing in longhand, running a sharpened pencil with soft, flowing lead across the clean, smooth feel of paper. You lose the tactile feel with the hardened plastic of a keyboard. You get one step further from natural materials, one step closer to becoming one with the machine, with the tools of technology.

#9 – It’s a seductive trap technologists set up for us. Give us your money, we have a device you can use without too much thinking involved. We are expecting machines to shoulder much of our responsibility for simple, everyday tasks. I fear technology will replace man’s using his brain. It will make him braizy (brain lazy).

#10 – I don’t believe technology has made, or will make us better people, or collectively a better society. However, the computer and the internet have exponentially expanded our abilities to communicate with anyone, and seemingly everyone, around the globe. So, with an open, two-way, interactive system to talk to each other, to easily discuss any topic, to promote acceptance of different ideas and points of view, perhaps faith in a positive use and outcome for technology is worth serious consideration.

P is for personal

Your zip code, m’am?
A few years ago on a sunny, summer day I was shopping at Linens and Things where at the checkout, a young girl was training to be a cashier. As I moved up closer to the cash register, I was determined to make a stand for my rights. And so when the young cashier asked for my zip code, I happily replied “90210” (the 5-digit mark of the U.S. Post Office for Beverly Hills, CA and also the name of a hit television series about beautiful, young Californians.)

The young girl looked at me in awe, assuming I must be one of the chosen few to live in such a celebrated paradise (I was flattered). A smile crossed my face as she started to enter the prized numerals into her machine, that is until the stern-looking, older woman standing behind her flashed me a dirty look and said in a rather condescending tone, “She’s not from Beverly Hills.”

No, no I’m not. Not even close. But that’s not the point. At the time of checkout, it should not matter where I live. That’s personal… and I’d like to keep it that way.

A personal crusade
The battle for my personal information is one in which I have become a daily warrior, fighting off annoying but persistent invaders for another piece of me. Linens and Things was just another skirmish. I won the battle, lost the joke. They never did get my right zip code, but it’s the war ahead that frightens me.

It wasn’t always like this. Although Radio Shack was one of the first retailers to require your phone number before you could purchase a 99-cent battery, it is only in the last few years that just about every store attempts this for at least one extended period during its annual business cycle. If a company wants to ask me to participate in market research, and not appear as a demanding, intrusive bully, then I might consider it. But this is not how it is done. And for the life of me, I cannot understand why.

When first asked for my zip code or phone number during visits to other stores, I would answer no, I don’t care to participate. The result, and this is the truth, was one of the following: a) a dumbfounded look because the cashier didn’t know what buttons to press, b) a noticeable downward shift in attitude toward me, or c) just plain rudeness. I noticed that if you played the game with their rules – they ask, you respond– then you were treated with respect. Tired of rude behavior, I decided to answer….but incorrectly. I gave up on 90210, too obvious. Instead I choose the farthest state and area code from their store and felt a bit of satisfaction with throwing off their database. I also felt sad.

I shake my head every time I hear people complacently respond to these unnecessary questions. When did we start sharing our personal information with strangers? Why have we become so complacent that we tell anyone who asks exactly what they want to know? Where can we hide when everyone knows where we live? Who wants to be a lemming anyway? We all know where that leads.

When did we lose the right to our privacy?
In Orwell’s classic tale, 1984, and in 2006, big brother is watching over us at all times. There is no safe place anyone can be. There is nowhere to turn, because we’ve turned ourselves inside out for all to view. It seems that those in charge – government, university researchers, corporations – can always find some professional reason why their inappropriate behavior is acceptable. For example, looking into the private lives of people using the internet through research queries. Their research of unsuspecting, unconsenting subjects (those benignly using internet search engines) to further enhance their academic reputations, company marketing efforts, etc. with no concern for the privacy of others is just one more reason why people don’t trust those in charge.

It’s the same about the question of ethics in the media. Why such a discussion carries on baffles me. Either you have morals, values, ethics or you don’t. They are not like a coat you take off when you enter a building. It is something you carry inside of you that you apply to your entire day – in personal encounters and in the work environment. It’s not something you can pick and choose.

It seems that once again, man is subservient to the machine. Professor Etzioni said that “we build technology that answers questions, so we want to test it on actual questions people are asking.” Well rather than acting like Cortes when he invaded the Aztecs, maybe researchers should ask their subjects if they want to be willing participants. African slaves were not asked. It was wrong then and it is still wrong now. You can’t take what is not yours and profit from it, even if you believe it is for the common good.

Respect for privacy
Respecting the privacy of the individual, being honest and factual in reporting the news, having respect for the personal, intellectual property of others – what do all these have in common? They represent ways in which a good society conducts itself with regard to its relations with one another. It’s about doing the right thing. It’s the golden rule. It’s the two stone tablets of Moses. It’s the social contract we have with each other to keep order and the peace.

Yet, media outlets, both online and traditional print, radio and television, can make a million excuses why they can let rumor and innuendo pervade their airwaves and pages, why sloppy research becomes fact, why political agenda, a publicist’s propaganda morph into news, why secret invasions into the personal lives and habits of others become justified by those who like to study humans as bugs under a microscope. Why? It comes down to no respect for your fellow man and his privacy.

References
Glaser, M. (2004). On the wild, woolly internet, old ethics rules do apply. Online journalism review. August 8.

Shapiro, A.L. (1999). Privacy for sale (pp. 158-165). The control revolution. New York: Perseus.

Hafner, K. (2006, August 23). Researchers yearn to use AOL logs, but they hesitate. New York Times.

More of what the world needs now

Does more equal better?
With each advancement in computer technology comes more equipment, more power, more ports, more screen, more wires, more wireless, more connections, more manuals, more choices. And more experts telling us that the more technology we have the more we can do, the more we can stay in contact, the more people we can reach, the more we are in control. This only leads me to ask more questions, “Will more technology improve our relationships as individuals, as a society, as a world? Will more technology lead to better communications?”

As a marketing consultant, I could not design a 128-page catalog for print, build a company website, distribute news releases with hi-res photo attachments, or create a multimedia presentation without using today’s constantly improving computer technology. With my trusted partner, the pc, and a suite of professional software tools, I am a one-man band who can play like a symphony. And I am just one of thousands, millions across the globe who can achieve similar feats with the power of today’s digital technology. So yes, more technology can create better communications using a wide range of media to reach, and satisfy the needs of, different audiences.

What works for the individual, will it work for the masses?
With all this power, with our individual ability to create huge amounts of high-end content, as well as respond to content created by others – individuals, corporations and media organizations – we are at a turning point in human history unrealized until today. The well worn phrase, “we are all connected’, is true. The computer and its faithful companion, the worldwide web, give us unprecedented access, at least in theory, to potentially anyone on the planet (provided they have a computer, an internet connection, and the money to pay for both). Again the answer is yes, more technology gives us the opportunity to improve our relationships near and far, and in business and in our personal lives.

With more technology, we are able to talk with the person in the next office, the next state, in any country across the ocean and around the world. And because millions, one day billions, of us can talk to one other, we are building new digital communities through blogs and forums where we share our thoughts, our passions, our collective intelligence. As a group of like-minded individuals linked together through today’s technology, we have the power to directly communicate with, question, challenge and force change on those institutions that seek to control us.

Politicians and corporate executives, once able to retreat to their inner sanctums, are now under constant scrutiny by the ever vigilant digital public. Media conglomerates, which once dominated print and the airwaves, can no longer dictate what is news, nor can they spin a story as easily as before. Digital domination by one group does not exist. There is a system of checks and balances. Imagine that, another well worn phrase, “ the truth shall set you free”, just might be true after all.

We have more power to do good, but will we use it?
This new relationship with the world’s power brokers does not have to be confrontational. Rather, by opening a dialog with each other, we can appreciate another point of view, another’s research and experience and thus make media a more collaborative and enjoyable (and maybe even believable) experience.

Because of this shifting paradigm, we can have an ongoing conversation, a dialog that constantly changes, thus creating a reason to revisit a site, read another print article, pick up a daily paper at the newsstand or purchase a product or service with the confidence that it will perform as advertised.

On a person-to-person level, we can use more technology to become more intimately acquainted. We can learn from one another. Using the power of technology, we can create a new model for a better world. I’m optimistic. And I want more…

References
Jenkins, H. (2006). Introduction: “Worship at the alter of convergence” (pp. 1-24). Convergence Culture. New York: NYU Press.

Felton, E. (2004). Rip, mix, burn, sue: Technology, politics, and the fight to control digital media. Princeton University President’s Lecture Series, no. 1.

Follow the Romans – Build a site that works, and lasts

Fields of Customer Reality
As the line from the popular movie, Field of Dreams, suggests, “If you build it, they will come”, is the basis for a successful business plan of growing a loyal customer base. It applies to everything – from building cars, to retail businesses, to designing websites, if you build it right, prospects will want to get to know you, choose you as their supplier, and become loyal customers.

Unlike Henry Ford’s early view of customers, “They can have any color as long as it is black”, designing your website to satisfy customers’ needs will drive them to your site, and entice them to make a return trip.

Technology is not a replacement for good marketing
Quite honestly, I don’t understand all the fuss about the “new” field of information architecture. It is a fundamental marketing principle to develop a communications program, no matter in print or digital, that speaks to targeted users. It has to be personal, answer their concerns, spark their interest, get them excited about what you do and convince them you are the best company to service their needs. So why wouldn’t a marketing manager or an information architect do this in designing online marketing communications? When you cross the digital divide, why do the basic principles of selling and buying suddenly morph? When did a seller ever want to complicate the process of luring and capturing a new customer?

As technology advances, it appears that proven marketing principles have taken a backseat to the plethora of state-of-the-art advances in web design. Too many web developers, information architects, content managers, whomever, put technology first, not the user. What you can digitally do is not necessarily what you should do. The first question everyone should always ask is, “how does this benefit the user, the prospect, all the people we want as our customers?”

Camel – a horse designed by committee….Man of War – a horse designed to win
A company website is a virtual recreation of the products, services and culture of a diverse body of individuals attempting to present a unified image. The first challenge in creating this is getting together in one room all of these different people with different agendas . The egos and perceived needs of this diverse group often supersede the needs of the intended external users of the site – prospects and customers.

Politics, rather than good marketing, often takes over the design process. As one in charge of the process and final outcome, you often morph from marcom manager to designer to diplomat at a company version of the U.N. General Assembly. And if left unchaperoned, what this group assembles can lead to visual wars for your targeted users. If visitors to your website are presented with a cluttered, disorganized layout and navigation, it becomes a battle to focus, to find what they need, and to make a purchase.

Everyone in that room should think like a builder, and sharer, of information. Call the person what title you will, if everyone does not think of the user first, then Henry Ford was right. We should all be driving black cars built by one company.

Design for production
In the world of competitive industry, new product development has evolved into a proven science. No longer do designers work in a vacuum where they make the prettiest or most techy products. Instead, the concept of “design for manufacturing” is the accepted standard. Designers must understand upfront, before they put a pencil to paper or do one mouse click, how their design will be produced. They have to know the end before they can begin the design process.

It just makes sense. You can’t have an elaborate design that can not be easily produced, just like you can’t design a complex website that a user can not easily navigate. So why all the fuss? When did good ole common sense and proven marketing and manufacturing principles not make it into the development of cyberspace?

By thinking like the targeted customers, getting inside their mindset, knowing the demographics, and most importantly dropping your preconceived notions of what you would do, development of a website should be no different then developing a company catalog. Rather than organizing the facts on paper, the information now must be digitally arranged. There are more options, like streaming video, audio, instant updates and up-to-the minute news, but it still must be laid out so that it is useful to the intended user.

No matter what you are building, if you do it right, they will come…

References
Wodke, Christina (2001). Defining information architecture deliverables. Boxes and Arrows.

Hoffman, Allan (2006). Information architects: Web builders with a sales bent. Monster.com.

Wodke, Christina (2006). Are we there yet? Boxes and Arrows. October 2.

Not me, me, me but you, you, you

It is so refreshing to read an article about using technology from an expert who doesn’t repeat and repeat industry jargon, hollow phrases, cutesy acronyms and try to impress by citing every person who is, or ever was, noteworthy in the field. I liked Steve Krup so much that after reading the first few paragraphs, I went online and bought his book, Don’t Make Me Think. I plan to do exactly what his book advocates – think long and hard about how to redesign my website to work best for people who visit it. After all it’s not about me. It’s about you.

No trick, only treat
His common sense and user friendly approach is very, very attractive to me. It mirrors my philosophy of how to behave in life and business. No tricks, just simply, “Treat others the way I want to be treated.” When designing websites, or any other marcom programs, you must get into the mindset of your target audience. In this case – the intended user of a website – you become the demographic and react like the user, not the maker. It’s not always easy to be objective about your creation, but to achieve success (as defined by lots of hits, returning viewers, and increased sales) Krup’s advice is exactly what every website needs.

Visual hierarchy – designing for success
Krup brought up an important point about working with designers. While talented, many designers want to create something different for the sake of being new, or unlike proven industry standards. While a cutting edge design might win art director awards, it won’t necessarily win customers. The criteria in judging a site’s design is that (just like the book), you don’t have to think about it. How well you understand the user’s needs and how well you design it to satisfy those needs will determine the success of your website.

A good example of this was several years ago when I consulted for a company who had just printed their new product line brochure. The photography was beautiful, the layout was crisp, the copy was dead on, but it was so difficult to use. Instead of the normal 11 x 17 layout with 2-page spreads, this brochure was 30% smaller in size and folded out to almost 6 feet in length. Once it was opened, you never quite knew how to fold it back up. Sort of like a Rand McNally map. The spreads were difficult to read because depending on how you folded it, you had to figure out what picture went with what text. It was not designed with the user in mind. God only knows what that designer would have done to a website.

Turn a ? into a !
This all seems like common sense – putting the user first – but according to Battleson, Booth and Weintrop in their library usability study, it was only a little more than 10 years ago that the user’s needs stepped to the forefront in website design.

It’s hard to imagine that software developers put people last, But then again, they do tend to worship the machine. However, in today’s increasingly internet-based marketplace, there are competing sites for just about everything. Consumers of information or products and services can go anywhere in the world to get what they want. If for no other reason, this reliance on the web should make the proprietors of every website take the time to invest in a design hierarchy that prioritizes information on the page and makes it easy for users to quickly see what they are looking for and where to go next. Users should never have to question how a site works: they have to be wowed!

The website that respects its users and invites them to come in, is friendly, easy to navigate. Now that’s where I, and many others, want to be. It’s like having the choice to visit one of two different homes. One family has plastic covered furniture and the other family has deep, plush couches and soft rugs on the floor. Which house do you want to visit? Where do you want to relax for a while? Where it is designed for the user, where else?

References
Krug, Steve (2000). Don’t Make Me Think. Indianapolis: New Riders, pp. 1-39.

Battleson, B., Booth, A., & Weintrop, J. (2001). Usability testing of an academic library web site: a case study. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27(3), 188-198.

A stream of technological consciousness

What if technology stopped advancing?
Without further advancements in microchip-based technology, would we survive? As a society? As educational institutions? As businesses and health care organizations?

One of my worse nightmares is that as a society, we give up all thoughts, all choice processes to computers. I refuse to go down that path. I enjoy using my brain to figure things out, especially everyday issues like time (don’t own a digital watch), and calculating the change when I make a purchase. Little things yes, but these are mental processes I control. If I can’t remember what photograph I took with whom on what day and where, then it just couldn’t be that important. I’m one of the few people without caller ID. I like to be surprised when I answer the phone.

We are not machines
Even the strongest of us have a limited capacity for thought, emotions, reactions to external stimuli. It’s one of the reasons we require sleeping almost a third of each day to recharge our complex but fragile systems. We’d explode from overload if we did not.

Unless you need technology to continuously record your physical functions, it seems unhealthy and unnecessary. Blood pressure is easy to chart, but it changes constantly throughout the day as we experience life. A constant monitoring of body systems would probably be the cause of more strokes and heart attacks, just from worrying about how our body naturally reacts to what we put it through every day. While some of these microchip-based healthcare technologies are good for high-risk patients, we don’t need an ubiquitous, electronic friend always nearby, or inside.

What about human advancement?
It seems that so many of the articles I read promote the advancement of technology without considering if we really need it. Maybe it’s time to rethink about how advancing technology effects people. Do we really need to compartmentalize and categorize every moment in our lives with 24/7 microchip-based technology, digital photography and social media?. Total recall didn’t do so well for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie of the same name.

I want it to be my choice of how I use technology, how I will record and use digitally stored memories. My life is not a television show to be recorded, played back or viewed by others. It is a unique period of time that I am here, that you are here, that we all are here on planet earth. Technology should be one of the many tools we use to make our lives easier. Just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we should.

Technology is just a tool
I just don’t think it’s that important if we have the storage capacity to hold 80 years of personal memory, data, a lifetime of thoughts, if we have not improved the person doing the recording, or the people we are recording. None of us is a research project.

But still this brings me back to how do advancements in technology benefit human development? If as humans, we are still violent, irrational, unkind, selfish, and any other deplorable human trait you wish to include, how much has technology helped us? As Charlton Heston called out at the end of the movie, Soylent Green, “It’s people.” I honestly prefer advancing people to machines. Let’s focus on that.

While it would seem that I view technology as a foe, it is just the opposite. I love technology. I couldn’t do my communications job or the photography I love without its benefits. I’ve worked with computers for more than twenty-five years, and I eagerly look forward to technological advancements in the future.

I believe, quite simply, that technology is just a tool. Like a knife and fork, an automobile, a buzz saw, a great pair of sneakers. It helps me achieve a goal, accomplish a task, save time, reduce cost, easily connect with other people. But it does not dominate my life. Instead I want to live in real time, in real space, with real people and real technology that advances the world and the people who live in it.

References
Czerwinski, M., Gage, D.W., Gemmell, J., Marshall, C., Pérez-Quiñonesis, M., Skeels, et al (2006). Digital memories in an era of ubiquitous computing and abundant storage. Communications of the ACM, 49(1), 45-50.

Kangas, E. & Kinnunen, T. (2005). Applying user-centered design to mobile application development. Communications of the ACM, 48(7), 55-59.

Business not as usual

Getting closer to the decision makers
I used to own a white 1987 Volvo 240, a silver 1984 Volvo 240 sport model, and a maroon 1982 Volvo 240 wagon. And I spent more money rebuilding each of these cars because Volvo couldn’t seem to make them right the first time. After years of becoming a close friend with my mechanic (always a bad sign), I decided to write up a list of my frustrations. One page turned into another, and another until I had written a five-page, single spaced tome which I entitled, “25 Reasons Why I Love to Hate My Volvo”. It was not a friendly letter. After all, I was not a satisfied customer. But it was factual. Sarcastic, funny I thought, but definitely full of undeniable car facts.

Well, I mailed the letter to Hans-Olov Olsson, then president and CEO of Volvo North America, to his corporate office in northern New Jersey. And then I forgot about it, that is, until one Saturday morning when the phone rang and it was Hans. Putting my sarcastic thoughts on paper was one thing, mailing them was a bolder move, but now I was voice-to-voice with the man I seriously wanted to have a conversation with. I took a deep breath and said hello.

Hans was laughing. He said he had just finished reading my letter and 85% of what I said was correct. I had to stop myself from asking him, “then why did you only make 15% of the car right?”. He said my letter was very technical and he would forward it to engineering. We joked about his company’s negotiations to buy Renault. I told him they were unsafe cars and offered to lend him my Volvo. He finally said he didn’t want to lose me as a customer and offered to give me a free, two-week test drive of the new (at the time) 850 series.

All in all, it was a very pleasant ten-minute conversation with a major corporate executive. I had stated my concerns about his product; he told me his company was making improvements; and he made me an attractive offer. Our conversation was frank, and funny, just the way I like it. We listened to each other. Our two-way communications worked.

I never did get to test drive the new model Volvo. At the end of the call, Hans connected me to his secretary and his offer never materialized. But it didn’t matter. The fact that a company president took the time to read my 5-page letter and picked up the phone to talk won me over. I believed what he said, and to this day I still love to like Volvos.

Blogging: a new way of doing business
At the time, this was a rare and unexpected response to a customer complaint. Back then, as well as now, business as usual did not include a personal response from the CEO. A form letter from customer service was the best anyone could expect. But today, blogs are changing the way companies do business.

In Naked Conversations, authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel share their interviews and insights of how today’s executives and company personnel are changing the way businesses connect with their customers. They have found that in order to be successful and remain competitive, companies have to “shift the focus from products to relationships”. (1)

One blog that has been successful is Fastlane Blog which features GM chairman Bob Lutz. By talking directly to customers and prospects, his goal is to reinvigorate interest in GM cars and boost sales. Imagine that, you can talk to the man who led the successful Viper team at Chrysler. What better way to understand a company than through the ongoing insights of its upper management team? My phone conversation with Volvo’s CEO was just a one-time experience. With blogs, the opportunities for personal communications are unlimited.

Making the human connections
If you study the nature of man, you see that we have very defined traits as humans. We seek out the company of other humans. We need to share and communicate. This doesn’t suddenly change when people come together in a business environment of buying and selling. In the end, it is human connections that drive commerce. Businesses who build and maintain these relationships with blogs have a market advantage and will stand out among the crowd, be trusted, and be successful.

Citations
1 Scoble, R. & Israel, S. (2006). Naked Conversations, John Wiley & Sons, p.15.

A Play on Worlds

You’ll never hear “Come out and play” again
It’s the twenty-first century. It’s time to play “inside” a virtual world, a place…

…where you are free to try new things without serious consequences (unless being kicked out of a game for a few days for bad behavior bothers you)

…where the play environment looks familiar, but the laws of physics are anything but law (you can fly, survive long underwater walks without oxygen, be half-man, half animal)

…where you can travel anywhere in a virtual universe and still remain part of the same game

…where you never see the real people you play with

…where you can be whomever you want to be ~ a rule follower or a rule breaker

…where the game never ends. You can play at any time of the day, all day, every day all throughout the year

…where after experiencing a virtual reality game like Second Life, playing will never be the same

Sound like fun? Millions of people think so, and the numbers of online players grow larger every day. Today, as more colleges use interactive websites in their courses, “playing” has come right into the classroom 1 (right where most students would probably like it). Who ever thought professors would encourage us to “play” at homework?

How to define “play”
Over fifty years ago in 1950, Johan Huizinga, a Dutch historian with a deep interest in physiology, attempted to get serious about play by trying to define it. He concluded that:

* Play is voluntary. We do it at our leisure.
* It is not real life; it is pretend. It is an illusion, a magic world.
* It is limited by time and place. It occurs in a marked off space.
* There is beauty and tension in play.
* Play has rules, but it has no moral function.
* Play creates a temporary order.
* Play has a beginning and an end.

He also thought it was necessary.

Although much of his research still holds true, perhaps some of Huizinga’s observations need to be re-examined for players in the twenty-first century. How could he have predicted that “play” would evolve into people engaging in virtual reality games on networked computers with a limitless number of people from around the globe, all at the same time? Whew!

New ways to play
Second Life is a perfect example of how technology has changed the way we play. Unlike the traditional definition of play as having a cycle of start to finish, the purpose of this game is to create a make-believe life. 2 And life by its very own definition is continuous, unpredictable and thus always changing or capable of constant change. Virtual lives have a beginning, but their end is questionable. The game lives on and on, and on.

Unlike conventional forms of play, time is irrelevant in virtual play. You can drop in for a few minutes, or stay the whole day. You call your own timeouts. Since it is conducted in cyberspace, it is a digital “playground” . There are no marked playing fields, no traditional boundaries.

But even though the way we play is different, the humans who play remain the same. Since anyone can play in the virtual game world, you should expect the wide spectrum of human behavior. Rule followers, rule breakers. Polite behavior, outrageous rudeness. It’s all there. Just like in real life, people make it interesting.

The business of play
Today, even businesses are learning to play. They must in order to compete in a technology-driven environment. The internet has forever changed the landscape of buying and selling. The interactive world is here, and a company has to understand cutting-edge technology and know how people use it for their benefit.

Many successful businesses are heading in the direction of a virtual world by creating a unique setting or “play” experience for customers when using their goods and services. As societies around the world have perfected their manufacturing techniques of transforming raw materials into finished goods, many products have become commodity items with little differentiation. What separates one brand from another is how you “experience” or interact with a product.

To succeed, you must “play”. You’ve got to offer customers, or as the Disney Corporation prefers to call them, “guests”, something more than a mere transaction of money for goods or services. You have to connect with your target audience on an emotional level so that they experience a relationship with you, if just for a moment in time.

With all this talk about the modern morphing of simple play, I must say that I still prefer a restaurant that lets customers eat peacefully at their tables, and not have dancing, jungle animals burst into song in the middle of the appetizers. But then, I also prefer to play with real people.

Citations
1 Kennedy, Brian (2004) Creationism, The New Republic Online, December 8.

2 Walker, Jesse (2005) Games People Play, Reason on Line, August 29.

3 Ricketts, Camille (2004) Virtual Reality Check, The Stanford Daily, January 20.

Huizinga, J. (1950) Nature and significance of play as a cultural phenomenon (pp. 1-27). Homo ludens: a study of the play element in culture. Boston: Beacon Press.

Pine, B.J., & Gilmore, J.H. (1999) The Experience Economy. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, pp. 1-26.

Second Life ~ The first time around

I’m not a gamer. The first micro-chip-based game I ever played was Pong, which at the time I thought was pretty cool.

Myst Video, A flyby of Riven..

Since I really prefer being a booker, I haven’t purchased many games for my pc. I have tried some, like Myst which I really enjoyed (although cheat sheets seem a necessary tool if you ever want to get to the next level.) I’ve tried racing games, like Need for Speed, but I really need a steering wheel to take a turn at 150 miles per hour.

I must admit that I have a weakness for playing backgammon with anonymous partners from around the globe, so I am probably ready to advance from junior monopoly to the full version at this stage.

I just don’t have the attention span to enjoy spending hours playing these somewhat mindless games, but now that I review my computer gaming history, I can see that perhaps what I need is a more stimulating amusement to keep my interest.

When asked to sign on to Second Life, I thought, “why not, maybe it’ll be interesting. But what the heck is it?” The answer? Well, nothing like I expected. It’s a 3-D, interactive life simulation game where you need money, just like in real life, to purchase land, homes, clothes, entertainment, etc. And, you get a simulated body called an avatar whose dimensions you can adjust. Oh if only life simulated art!

Two interesting aspects I first encountered were that you are not alone in this world, but are one of its many residents, and you can fly! Since I’m a new member, I’m still testing my wings in the sky and with the bitmapped people on the ground. I was a little disturbed on my first foray into Second Life when I saw so many other fellow inhabitants. I kinda wanted to explore on my own. But this particular aspect makes the game very interesting because anything, anyone, can happen.

I still prefer my electronic board games, but during the past week, I find myself entering this new world to see what I can learn, and have fun at the same time. I can always use a bookmark to save my place….

Managing Freedom

Weapons of mass instruction
An army, the size of which the world has never seen, is amassing across the globe. These are warriors of a new age. They don’t wear uniforms, march in cadence, or take orders from any commander. Their weapon of choice fires no bullets, but yet has the power to take down a U.S. presidential candidate or make the leaders of a nation of 1.3 billion people tremble at their advance.

Their chosen weapon of mass instruction is the keyboard. Connected via the internet, millions of technologically equipped fighters march forward in blogs, user forums, websites, podcasts, online chat rooms, sharing their thoughts, their files and determined to use interactive technology for self-expression and sharing their point of view.

What makes this technology-reliant army so determined?
They fight for freedom – the freedom of the individual to express himself; to form groups of like-minded people to exchange information and ideas, discuss events shaping our world, share personal stories, or simply exchange recipes.

For decades, the major media outlets – newspapers, television, radio – had absolute control over what news and information was disseminated to their passive audiences. Thanks to this growing legion of global information warriors, the battle for a free flow of information is won. In response to expanding internet services, coupled with a dramatic rise of independent thinkers around the globe, the media has been forced to reconsider how they define and communicate the news. Today, with the rise of computer mediated communities and more interactive news websites, users can customize portals with content they want to see, develop their own blogs, RSS feeds and hyperlinks, and create their own specialized online communities.

The internet: a polarizing threat to some
Some observers, however, consider this freedom to choose news and group associations as a potential threat to democracy. Cass Sunstein former government attorney and writer on first amendment issues readily admits to the growing influence and freedom of the internet, but is afraid of what it can do to a democratic society.

He believes the internet can encourage extremism, and that our democratic process becomes polarized when citizens join online communities and presumably shut out opposing points of view. In his opinion, “groups of people, especially if they are like-minded, will end up thinking the same thing they thought before, but in a more extreme form, and sometimes in a much more extreme form.”1

Meanwhile, others like Sheizaf Rafaeli and Fay Studweeks, authors of Networked Interactivity researched computer-mediated communications and discovered a different result among group users. They found that they are “generally less confrontational; conversations are more helpful and social than competitive. Interactive messages seem to be more humorous, contain more self-disclosure and display a higher preference for agreement.”2

Can freedom be both good and bad?
I had to read his article, Democracy and Filtering, twice, probably because I didn’t think the author properly reconciled his disparate point of views. He spends about 90% of his time taking a hard stand on how damaging and potentially a threat to democracy internet websites and blogs can be, and the last several paragraphs run counter to his entire argument. He wants it both ways – freedom for individuals to choose, and someone force feeding us another point of view. That’s not freedom. That’s someone with influence in government who thinks he knows better than the country’s citizens.

Throughout his writing, Mr. Sunstein praises the power of the internet to “increase the opportunity for people to read and write on an extraordinary array of topics”, but hints at some form of government control.

In response to the question, “What business does the government have regulating the Internet?” in a 2001 interview on Republic.com, Mr. Sunstein replied “In fact government already regulates the Internet, a lot… At a minimum, the government regulates the Internet by creating and protecting rights of property… In these cases, and many more, the government has the same business on the Internet as it does everywhere else.”3

Faith in freedom
The question that seems to confound those that like to rule us – government or media – is how to define freedom in a democracy? I’ve always believed that I have a good mind; one that can absorb information and make an intelligent decision. I neither need, nor want, a stranger with a title telling me how to judge an issue. I really like what one of the first freedom fighters,Thomas Jefferson, wrote about this issue:

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”4
~ Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789

Like many of those in power, I don’t believe that Mr. Sunstein trusts individuals to reason for themselves. He assumes that because one has a strong belief, that one will not learn about other points of view. Where humans are concerned, where haven’t there been excesses? But the power to do good vastly overshadows overblown concerns of unchecked hatred and violence. Have a little faith in man, my brother.

Freedom is meant to be challenged. Whether someone picks up only the sports page, joins a vegetarian forum, or creates a blog about a new political party, it is the collection of our differences and our ability to interact with one another and learn in the process which makes our freedom so valuable to the future of global democracy. Blog on!

Citations

1 Sunstein, Cass R. (2004) Democracy and Filtering, Communications of the ACM, December, Vol. 47, No. 12.

2 Rafaeli, Sheizaf and Sudweeks, Fay (1997) Networked Interactivity, Journal of Computer Aided Mediations.

3 Sunstein, Cass (2001) Cass R. Sunstein, Author of Republic.com, Princeton University Press.

4 CharlesCurley.com (2006) Thomas Jefferson: Patron Saint of the Internet, Thomas Jefferson Letter to Francis Hopkinson 1789.