tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-366559332024-03-07T11:33:01.339-08:00Electronic Music, Gadgets, Digital Life and The Opinions of bengeminii = @bitpakkitLivePA, EDM, IOT, UX, UI, XD, IA, CEM & a little MX.<br>
Created and curated.bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.comBlogger285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-21280923826001643202016-01-05T13:24:00.004-08:002016-01-05T13:24:44.578-08:002016: The Year of Emotion (our CX mission)<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2672" style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2671" style="font-size: 11pt;"></span><br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2674">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2671" style="font-size: 11pt;">We are at the beginning of another year full of boundless opportunity to continue to advocate for and improve customer experience. To kick off the new year, Bruce Temkin has published has <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tFtYyF4IlTx98X9CaN3t_IBf0Its4juui-o38Q2TXxEN6Ia8wD43Zgzi7o_dE6JnnRTKH0-QJS5QY9wDKfUDVmGhcWXYbiKsc-UUp5tPGuCiA51vYWsA9gmpUg7EqFvg8A2BGwm1e3p1g9sTsg2ZV7C445AxQUGbMhK1fHTFMUkbk7Nmny7j_FPmpMYb-LJi5-nZ5y-beyqt4-bMvRophcXx-Vcgad3vG7LyJGH4wPt1lL3srfFf6xHd6LYof96JdDEUKE_5t3CoFZFY4I47WA==&c=SekZhq2tc6MW0z9T9F5xqjXrLtQRtA2Z0W-S-eKGWP7Ub-7O5Nhc1Q==&ch=H0w_fPRI0_DMhOeGGxPOvOczUkBsVAd7DmsW3ElziVIh5q8NPrkUXw==" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2751" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">annual listing of CX trends</a> and I love that has posited that 2016 is (or will be) "<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2673" style="font-weight: 700;">The Year of Emotion</span>." Sounds great!</span></div>
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2671" style="font-size: 11pt;">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2675">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2676">
In his post for this, Bruce says, "Historically, emotion has been an underserved area-as you can see in our new infographic, <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tFtYyF4IlTx98X9CaN3t_IBf0Its4juui-o38Q2TXxEN6Ia8wD43ZqqUzJ3Yz4cso9-Lax-OzNLn8y0TahARwPlt9gOZfnM1xPldD_Yj1RnkTUiFuulb6xfr8wInYh_vFtT-hubvSX2av45JP48QemwC6rgQ4Gkf1GfFdAvgDRW_JjFfs5pnztNIecfaQThWw9voMNZIZ_69ZLbEPzQWNBA8Aj5hcEqAgikTtHycz_x7Cf62KgDRI-ferznSOvaXgfiZe2LHwEePF_JiOYzjQ3vJZzyBE-lp&c=SekZhq2tc6MW0z9T9F5xqjXrLtQRtA2Z0W-S-eKGWP7Ub-7O5Nhc1Q==&ch=H0w_fPRI0_DMhOeGGxPOvOczUkBsVAd7DmsW3ElziVIh5q8NPrkUXw==" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2677" rel="noreferrer" shape="rect" style="color: blue; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Customer Experience Needs More Emotion</a>. However, this year we expect companies to start explicitly considering emotions as part of their customer experience efforts."<br />
<br />
He has also produced an awesome infographic to help us visually-centric media consumers get emotional with this information more easily. Imagine a year where customer experience professionals end up in tears of joy for having transformed their brands and companies into the most amazing, sensitive, touchy-feely friends we need in times of duress (let's face it, we usually call or talk to customer experience with problems, right?).<br />
<br /></div>
</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2648" style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2647" style="font-size: 11pt;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv1588950431OneColumnMobile" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2646" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 400px; word-break: break-word;"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2645" style="width: 410px;">
<tr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2644"><td colspan="1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2643" rowspan="1" style="border-spacing: 2px; color: #403f42; padding: 5px;" width="1%"><div align="center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2642">
<a href="https://experiencematters.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1512_emotioninfographic.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://files.ctctcdn.com/a718174e001/3f50906a-6676-4f48-b5f4-685c855d62b7.png" height="187" hspace="0" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2640" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.361" style="border: 0px;" vspace="0" width="400" /></a><br />
CLICK TO ENLARGE</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2759" style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2761" style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2764" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2760" style="font-size: 11pt;">To back this up, he also suggests you dig into three other new pieces of research:</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2668" style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<ul id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2667" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 2px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;">
<li id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2666"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2763" style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tFtYyF4IlTx98X9CaN3t_IBf0Its4juui-o38Q2TXxEN6Ia8wD43Zphzc8FKdzH_hxQR4OkB8UeR-pNCxGuP5sBtfSVVg4je8ONLdfGuY6zUfV9F9TwOSvDS1mEhUl-O9TVmiNs2yoALKNAVdPO4POXflmAtB-wbfsOCN43uG5V9IEoH3eDa361jS1ykuSLh1Ad7Iv2NKpbfyW-lZxYJgA4uoyPwETqLiauGHre3BjQsTDv32bjM05UqmefcrdrYzC3svZy02V8=&c=SekZhq2tc6MW0z9T9F5xqjXrLtQRtA2Z0W-S-eKGWP7Ub-7O5Nhc1Q==&ch=H0w_fPRI0_DMhOeGGxPOvOczUkBsVAd7DmsW3ElziVIh5q8NPrkUXw==" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2762" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The (5th Annual!) State of CX Metrics, 2015</a></span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2665" style="font-size: 11pt;">. Positive signs of life and happiness in this one. </span></li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2766"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2765" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2780" style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tFtYyF4IlTx98X9CaN3t_IBf0Its4juui-o38Q2TXxEN6Ia8wD43ZqqUzJ3Yz4cs8cIc2HXY9EHI9THoE13vV1dLCkat2Cyz2VETYTN6Q3k-i-9a2zplqfzYW_KiR5Z-NQeRbiFWkl_sIg8jvUIfOniPMsv9VhxA6Qpuni5lM6Tzn4rrGi09KT5GByWqPP-Ni8Bo236rxeboPMrhoddbmWifvLOxqEPCEOXCWZFHaxX9JmF2fVLM5VR-O4DZpW1NZhCrBv1Jg0Q=&c=SekZhq2tc6MW0z9T9F5xqjXrLtQRtA2Z0W-S-eKGWP7Ub-7O5Nhc1Q==&ch=H0w_fPRI0_DMhOeGGxPOvOczUkBsVAd7DmsW3ElziVIh5q8NPrkUXw==" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2779" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Make Your VoC Action-Oriented</a></span>. Three words. Simple. Simple. Simple.</span></li>
<li id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2769"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2776" style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tFtYyF4IlTx98X9CaN3t_IBf0Its4juui-o38Q2TXxEN6Ia8wD43ZqqUzJ3Yz4csu1AznsuTCiqaMiFSAHqOvpfNsJYNXpMMAr6bAgdTB_DMCyw0cHgHifJ1RMIw5JmlQj4HoiAQLe_3IAfTTm-Um7lWvlXtuYCLNtetLNe0ez9sHsPdtNaenKgKat8xrGA_-CZwo_LNSWQiJUdw7-d37-FR34ZfUN0V5pgyhCVhTHsn4RHf6KHTm4wUAJKgz6GQtuKtvs_1OC4=&c=SekZhq2tc6MW0z9T9F5xqjXrLtQRtA2Z0W-S-eKGWP7Ub-7O5Nhc1Q==&ch=H0w_fPRI0_DMhOeGGxPOvOczUkBsVAd7DmsW3ElziVIh5q8NPrkUXw==" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2775" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="color: blue; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tech Vendor Client Success Ratings</a></span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1452028258990_2768" style="font-size: 11pt;">. IBM tops out the tech vendor CX ratings and there are a lot of reasons why that we should consider if we are ever forced to chip away at old blue's "Stick-To-It-ive" bottom, er top, line. My enterprise software friends will sigh here.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
Overall, this is one of my fave analysis shares ever from Bruce, and I hope we can live up to his expectations for all of this year. ;-) Pass the Kleenex.</div>
</div>
bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-17383901864800543542015-12-31T21:38:00.002-08:002015-12-31T21:38:36.682-08:00That's a rap...2015Lots of change and transformation<br />
No shortage of strange or bad information<br />
Hard to land on our feet every time<br />
Easier to say if the words just rhyme...<br />
<br />
I am reasonably surprised to be in as great spirits, with so much optimism and a sincerely big smile on my face and a warm heart here for the last few hours of 2015. I am glad this year is over actually.<br />
<br />
And I am going to kick 2016's ass to the curb to make up for the compromises and forgiveness it takes me to get here still dancing. <br />
<br />
The good news is that in all that has transpired over the past twelve months I squirreled away enough hours in the studio to get some great work to an almost done state.<br />
<br />
The even better news is that I finally have my life the way it always should have been. I learned that the light at the end of the tunnel is behind you, that what you need you always had, and that where you are going you have already been or at least seen. I forgot some important things and accepted some pretty unacceptable things that got me on the wrong track, but I am back on the high road again and I am ready to kick ass.<br />
<br />
I wish everyone all the best and I hope that we all get what we deserve in 2016. I love all my friends, all my family as it is now, and most of all I love my new old life and all the promise it holds for me and everyone around me in the coming years. Loving ourselves gives us the right to love others, and as such I can now love you all again.<br />
<br />
I love what you do.<br />
<br />
I love who you all have become.<br />
<br />
I love what we all do.<br />
<br />
I love when we do it together.<br />
<br />
I love what I am about to do.<br />
<br />
I love who I am going to do it with.<br />
<br />
Let's do this.<br />
<br />
Happy New Year.<br />
<br />
<br />bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-69447828347013214502015-10-31T16:12:00.002-07:002015-10-31T16:21:19.976-07:00Boomers vs. Millenials. Uh huh. Good one, GenX!!! BTW, that was a bit of a dick move there.Every GenX occupant knows the best defence is a good offence - that is 100% GenX right there.<br />
<br />
This is why I find it interesting that so many GenX denizens are out there on the misinformation campaign trail regarding the lockup between Boomers and Millenials. I present here this sarcastic, mostly fictitious, but amusing enough to get us to share it, if not only because we (millennial and boomers) are feeling over sensitive on this issue thanks to the smear campaign.<br />
<br />
Technically the defence will rest that any actual generational rub is directly between both GenX and Boomers - sheesh remember that?!?!?! - and GenX and Millenials, their immediate peers who are actually them down while they grab the glory up in Boomer town and take their larger share of the profits (as they always have since achieving degrees status) out of both ends of this equation.<br />
<br />
Click the vertical comic strip here on your left (should be there and should be fine as long as GenX has been approving millennial to adopt the latest and greatest web standards)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/07/09/bors-millennial-comicstrip4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/07/09/bors-millennial-comicstrip4.jpg" height="320" width="29" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
By the way, one of the easiest ways to detect a GenX writer or pontificator is their blatant use of terms like crush, hustle, vs., etc...many GenX I know use these terms very sincerely thus affording the rest of them a grace period about as long as their entire effective career. It's our own fault - we fell for it - they left us a massive clue what they were up to and we missed it. i think they call it gamification or something like that - apparently you love it. It's basically ramification without one spelled with a G.<br />
<br />
Oh sure we have some way frickin overpaid Boomers, there's prolly about 100 or so even. Sounds like we are being over run here, right? Nope, the Boomers lost their savings when they invested in GenX back in 2000 - a fracking huge pile of it. Here in Vancouver I see more boomers any day on East Hastings than there are billionaire boomers in the entire world.<br />
<br />
Oh, and don't forget this, GenX is out there busting and jailing your millenial tattletales apparently on behalf of the boomers who didn't even know they had secrets on the internet. If only we could get our hands on the ACTUAL age data in that Ashley Madison breach, I bet we could make an interesting point. That also reminds me that GenX did reserve one special spot for Boomers in their hearts and pants - this is the generation that brought you terms like MILF and GrannyFucking - now aren't they a special bunch. I have yet to meet a millennial GrannyFucker and I am glad we got that out of our collective dialogue and that it never made it my hallowed Playboy pages. It was probably close during a management shuffle in the 90s where some upstart was railing on good old Hugh in is bathrobe about taking on Larry Flynt.<br />
<br />
There, I said it, you can kill me now, this tail end boomer just hung himself out to dry on the fucking internet, blah blah blah...do your best you tricking riot-inciting bunch of thieves and cheaters and liars. Kk, sorry honey, no not you...well, actually, hold on...we never got to guilt manipulation another of GenX's wonderful psychological gifts for the blind and suddenly overly mistrusting boomers. This is now also referred to as emotional manipulation (of the most dirty sneaky kind you can imagine), covert aggression, and other clever terms - but I will always think of it as a wolf in sheep's clothing because I grew up on Aesop. By the way millennial, good on you guys for always checking the tags when you pop them. I love you guys. You are the hope I wanted to have.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-18073674328225802832014-09-24T15:49:00.000-07:002014-09-24T15:49:22.245-07:00ThingSpot - #IoTTesting embeds from Spunge for a new IoT curation project I am working on.
<script data-hide-byline="false" data-hide-social="false" data-hide-title="false" data-nb="10" src="http://www.spundge.com/embed/notebooks/36566/saved_articles/" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript><h1>
ThingSpot - #IoT</h1>
<h2>
A collection of content curated and created on IoT - the Internet of Things - for both research and fun.</h2>
<p>
iot, internetofthings, iothealth, healththings, Internet of Things</p>
<a href="http://www.spundge.com/notebook/36566/" target="_blank">View <em>"ThingSpot - #IoT"</em> on Spundge</a></noscript><br />
<br />bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-33690240356793322622014-08-05T21:49:00.000-07:002014-08-05T22:13:01.045-07:00Innovation for independent musicians continues to up the game at ReverbNation<a href="http://reverbnation.com/bitpakkit">ReverbNation</a> has made some big changes over the past year and while I tend to focus on the larger community I have built on <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bitpakkit">Soundcloud</a>, I am increasingly impressed by the tools and options that the folks at ReverbNation are delivering. Promoting your music online is a constant effort and involves a lot of tools and services so the efficient and effective ones definitely stand out.<br />
<br />
The new HTML5 player widget is now solid and if you want to remove ads etc you can with the pro version. Here is the free version with my music.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>
<div class="widget_iframe" style="border: 0; display: inline-block; height: 320px; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%;">
<iframe class="widget_iframe" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_1826310?widget_id=50&posted_by=artist_1826310&pwc[design]=customized&pwc[background_color]=%23e3bde3&pwc[included_songs]=1&pwc[photo]=0%2C1&pwc[size]=fit" width="60%"></iframe><br />
<div class="footer_branding" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; margin-top: -5px;">
<center>
<a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/band-promotion/how-to-sell-music-on-itunes?utm_campaign=a_features_distribution&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=HTML5_Player&utm_content=widgetfooter_Sell%20music%20on%20Amazon%20at%20ReverbNation.com" style="color: #444444; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Sell music on Amazon at ReverbNation.com</a></center>
</div>
</div>
</center>
<br />
The musician's dashboard is pretty impressive. It gives you a quick view of your fan stats as well as your chart position locally, nationally and globally. You also have quick access to your inbox, social integrations, and other tools. The default layout for the artist page, which you can modify extensively, provides a ton of useful options and with a bit of planning you can build one that works well on mobile devices. Here I show my page with the Admin console closed on a desktop browser.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjtPxfj9Zy9MSJYm1hf54y04_i2MzlzSE0Yio3JMkEBWnbntS9WF2Br78RweK0fIU-2cGggkCZEnv0YttMjjy6Iv2PjJG-WiBbUwZbnoVR6gEE0ZUvgv2ipmVr44jMwuACU48/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+10.03.56+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjtPxfj9Zy9MSJYm1hf54y04_i2MzlzSE0Yio3JMkEBWnbntS9WF2Br78RweK0fIU-2cGggkCZEnv0YttMjjy6Iv2PjJG-WiBbUwZbnoVR6gEE0ZUvgv2ipmVr44jMwuACU48/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+10.03.56+PM.png" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The team at ReverbNation has invested heavily based on user feedback in the new HTML5 player by first adding better controls and adding Share, Download, Favorite, and Playlist options. Go to the far right and head down the Rabbit Hole...I leave that for you to explore.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuUbE3UbyRD3Kqe0nbS4yMAwP46d5aMlg8tVcQu-m21gzdZVym8GT5qNTZghtBWZmk79Hls2F4qcphyphenhyphen3FvxBk69I7Ji-yzGySpodsBtvd9x06thyphenhyphenOvnz74G6DWwfpHjm4eLcz/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+9.42.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuUbE3UbyRD3Kqe0nbS4yMAwP46d5aMlg8tVcQu-m21gzdZVym8GT5qNTZghtBWZmk79Hls2F4qcphyphenhyphen3FvxBk69I7Ji-yzGySpodsBtvd9x06thyphenhyphenOvnz74G6DWwfpHjm4eLcz/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+9.42.26+PM.png" height="36" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In that same vein, they have added more options to the widgets including one targeted for press clippings and reviews as well as one that automates the signup to your personal newsletter, FanReach. The other options are shown here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEcl3yHdmKzPXiBGKmdxZlUuEXkrvI5Qa6aSVBItIWiOC-UxxMBF50spHjxqqnQ8-VNnSVnIcnnbLGJnbb7tFADcMf_iwG4K9GNuC-ISViVXI8ssxCrxpvI-hPJauAY7nNXAu/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+9.42.40+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxEcl3yHdmKzPXiBGKmdxZlUuEXkrvI5Qa6aSVBItIWiOC-UxxMBF50spHjxqqnQ8-VNnSVnIcnnbLGJnbb7tFADcMf_iwG4K9GNuC-ISViVXI8ssxCrxpvI-hPJauAY7nNXAu/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-05+at+9.42.40+PM.png" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I truly hope this kind of innovation continues and I hope the community continues to grow and engage. It makes it more accessible for listeners and much more powerful and credible for musicians to consider the investment of time and effort in another tool and <a href="http://reverbnation.com/bitpakkit">community</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-37265250242991209522014-04-14T11:15:00.003-07:002014-04-14T12:15:22.069-07:00The field guide to data science<span style="font-family: inherit;">The folks at Booz Allan Hamilton have put a refreshing and well designed report on the opportunity for converting big data into big insights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="270" id="flashObj" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=2606455203001&playerID=798539107001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAuO08_qE~,vMgV1G46Z82alXKs7WDu2VwOrBzlG2Ld&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=2606455203001&playerID=798539107001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAuO08_qE~,vMgV1G46Z82alXKs7WDu2VwOrBzlG2Ld&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Field Guide to Data Science</em>, a large and skilled cohort of Booz Allen contributors provide their insights in the following areas:</span></div>
<br />
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Start Here for the Basics</em> provides an introduction to Data Science, including what makes Data Science unique from other analysis approaches. We will help you understand Data Science maturity within an organization and how to create a robust Data Science capability.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Take Off the Training Wheels</em> is the practitioners guide to Data Science. We share our established processes, including our approach to decomposing complex Data Science problems, the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fractal Analytic Model</em>. We conclude with the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Guide to Analytic Selection</em> to help you select the right analytic techniques to conquer your toughest challenges.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Life in the Trenches</em> gives a first hand account of life as a Data Scientist. We share insights on a variety of Data Science topics through illustrative case studies. We provide tips and tricks from our own experiences on these real-life analytic challenges.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px 0px 20px 40px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Putting it All Together</em> highlights our successes creating Data Science solutions for our clients. It follows several projects from data to insights and see the impact Data Science can have on your organization.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can download the full report </span><a href="https://www.boozallen.com/content/dam/boozallen/media/file/The-Field-Guide-to-Data-Science.pdf"><span style="font-family: inherit;">her</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">e</span></a></span></span></div>
bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-73551666612312816892014-03-01T12:18:00.002-08:002014-03-02T06:13:35.480-08:00Why don't we actually listen to people instead of just aggregating streams?<br />
The technology industry loves to take very meaningful words and terminology and reduce it's meaning and depth down to a shadow of it's former self for the purposes of first strike advantage or developing market share. <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Having broken ground in social media, but now spreading across the digital landscape is another one of these bold misuses of the English language - the concept of Listening. The first instances of Listening technology that I saw (a few years ago) were essentially streams of data from multiple sources, typically filtered by brands or account names. When the volume of data was too much to read, these streams gave way to trending reports based on keyword analysis, geography, sentiment (we should probably talk about how this word has lost it's way also) and other aggregating factors that help us do amazing things, like derive averages. Oh, we love our averages in marketing. I always say that if you want to do something average, base your strategy on the averages you get in your reporting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWYKT1Jt1CCPXTPP2AtbGyel2_at3FL5HpZSnDS6WVhRxN6ADpcY2mqw5yQfa6BDc8qHTcvCl69LJxSNdsxJ5Ejm5UJKWU5hFUZSfjONY6fZfCVM2CYdiDUSvslVgXd6uyCpV/s1600/listening-babe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRWYKT1Jt1CCPXTPP2AtbGyel2_at3FL5HpZSnDS6WVhRxN6ADpcY2mqw5yQfa6BDc8qHTcvCl69LJxSNdsxJ5Ejm5UJKWU5hFUZSfjONY6fZfCVM2CYdiDUSvslVgXd6uyCpV/s1600/listening-babe.jpg" height="320" width="304" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Aggregating, reporting, analyzing, filtering, mining - any of these would have been a better term than listening. But Listening made it sound so active, so enticing, so concerned and empathetic to the needs of people. Listening it was. One small problem - it was very selective hearing.</div>
<div>
<br />
To me this begs the question - why not actually listen? Why don't we actively listen? We have the capability. Let's borrow from the psychology and personal improvement gurus and build out some inter personal skills based on real human capacity and concern.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #696c6d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 60px;">
<strong><a href="http://thinksimplenow.com/relationships/how-to-really-listen-to-someone/" style="color: #91bd45;" target="_blank">How to Really Listen to Someone</a></strong> By Tina Su. “<em>Everyone desires to be heard. When we listen to others, we validate their need to be acknowledged and understood. Deep down inside, we all want to know that we matter, that we are important.</em>“</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #696c6d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 60px;">
<strong><a href="http://thecreativeorganization.com/creativity-and-listening/" style="color: #91bd45;" target="_blank">Creativity and Listening</a></strong> by David Intrator. “<em>There sure is a lot of talk about listening.But in our contemporary world there doesn’t seem to be much listening going on.Which is really no surprise, considering how noisy life’s become. Add to that the clamor that naturally goes on inside our heads as conscious human beings, and listening becomes a near impossibility.</em>“</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #696c6d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 60px;">
<strong><a href="http://communicationnation.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-listen.html" style="color: #91bd45;" target="_blank">How to listen</a></strong> in which Dave Gray shares his 10 commandments for listening. “<em>If you want to be a better communicator learn to listen, and more importantly, listen to learn.</em>“</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>"Validate their need to be acknowledged and understood." From putting some basic acknowledgement in place to truly honouring and earning the digital opt-in, this particular facet of empathy is a great guideline for what we can with big data when we break it down into the conversations we want to have with people (marketers, people is another word for customers)<br /></li>
<li>"Listening becomes a near impossibility." So much noise. So much clamor. If we want to hear someone we are going to have to shut up for a minute. Stop broadcasting. Start having conversations. It will change your, I mean their, life.<br /></li>
<li>"Learn to listen, and more importantly, listen to learn." I do honestly care whether or not you had lunch today, but I don't need to see a picture of it. It's not about hearing every single thing that goes on, it's about the cues and clues to inform and propel the conversations we need to have. When we listen to learn, we can do something with the things we hear.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
This might seem obvious, now that I've written it down, but trust me it's not. This particular area is prone to some of the buzzword-laden, inauthentic, myopic discussions I have ever had with product managers and marketers. Trust me, I was listening. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-47517534765000319262013-03-20T08:57:00.002-07:002013-03-20T08:59:33.051-07:00The Digital Marketing Tube MapA interesting breakdown of the digital marketing space in the form of a tube map has been put out by the folks at Hallam Internet. Tube maps are likely the first successful infographics and to many folks in the UX space they represent an important user experience that effectively abstracts a complex reality.<br />
<br />
Digital marketing is indeed a complex reality in need of better user experiences. Take one please.<br />
<a href="http://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Digital-media-tubemap.jpg"><img border="0" height="451" src="http://www.hallaminternet.com/assets/TUBEMAP_HALLAM_INFOGRAPHIC_FINAL_72dpi.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
Read more in the original post at <a href="http://www.hallaminternet.com/2013/digital-marketing-tube-map-a-guide-to-internet-marketing/#ixzz2O5zcJj00">Hallam Internet</a>.bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-46849706824031429332013-01-17T19:24:00.005-08:002013-01-17T19:28:59.652-08:00Constant Social Disruption<i>I was interviewed by <a href="http://twitter.com/threefirstnames">Ryan Joe</a> from <a href="http://www.dmnews.com/">Direct Marketing News</a> for a 2013 social marketing tech trends post that was <a href="http://www.dmnews.com/the-constant-social-disruption/article/276559/">posted originally on January 17, 2013</a>.</i><br />
<br />
In the post I talk about three areas of particular interest to marketers that will influence the way in which brands invest in and use social media tools: using analytics to better understand social consumers and ROI, geo-location, and greater use of paid social media like Twitter's <a href="http://www.dmnews.com/twitter-debuts-promoted-tweets-virgin-america-starbucks-among-first-to-use-service/article/167885/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #ec2027; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Promoted Tweets</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;"> or Facebook's </span><a href="http://www.dmnews.com/sponsored-stories-could-make-marketers-love-facebook-likes/article/194956/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #ec2027; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Sponsored Stories</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.59375px;">.</span><br />
<br />
Excerpts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>On ROI:</b> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4em;">“Marketers are still looking at likes and followers as those are the foundations of the social environments,” Watson says. These metrics are an easy way to measure how many people are using social to communicate with a brand. “But now we've expanded it to look at traffic sources and actual interactions we're having with customers across platforms.”</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This speaks to a maturity in the analytics that enable this sort of insight, as well as marketing departments hiring more tech- and socially-savvy marketers familiar with tools that allow brands to see customer journeys more holistically—many of which begin and end on a social platform. Consider a public complaint about a lobster roll tweeted to <a a="" class="_hootified" href="http://twitter.com/#!/@AuBonPain" style="border: 0px; color: #ec2027; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">@AuBonPain</a>, an emailed apology and voucher, and the customer's thankful comment on the Au Bon Pain Facebook page.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For brands, the ultimate benefit to having this 360-degree customer view is that they'll be able to understand customer lifetime value. “Being able to look at the difference of revenue per user from a social customer versus customers on more traditional channels,” Watson explains. “And what impact do clicks really have on the bottom line.”<br /><br /><span style="color: black;"><b>On geo-targeting:</b> </span><span style="line-height: 1.4em;">Geo-targeting is becoming so common in social media, it's practically table stakes at this point. Global brands have local presence and can optimize campaigns for specific geographies. “I don't think [this capability] is just coming from Foursquare,” Watson says, “but from mobile ad providers, LinkedIn, Twitter, and it's an expectation at the ad-network level and publishing-provider level.”</span> </span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's this latter area where geo-targeting has yet to catch on, Watson explains. The way ad networks geo-locate—by a device's IP address—makes it difficult to implement the capability, especially because there aren't any industry-wide standards. By contrast, social networks typically geo-locate based on where a user says he or she is, and publishers do the same based on an in-house database that describes where their users are. Both, of course, might have accuracy issues—but at least it avoids the complication of a single user owning three different connected devices and thus, three different IP addresses.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4em;">“Geo-targeting should be table stakes,” Watson says. “But until it's fully integrated into the ad networks, and multiple ad purchases [under] one set of geo-targeting rules can be deployed across multiple publishers, it's still a work in progress.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; line-height: normal;">We also had a good chat about paid social augmenting content marketing and more traditional demand gen efforts. Read the full article here: </span><a href="http://www.dmnews.com/the-constant-social-disruption/article/276559/">http://www.dmnews.com/the-constant-social-disruption/article/276559/</a></div>
bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-19001614239652670462012-08-29T12:20:00.000-07:002012-08-29T12:23:38.619-07:009 social stats for marketers<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.smk.net.au/images/sized/images/uploads/Owl-570x380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.smk.net.au/images/sized/images/uploads/Owl-570x380.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
HubSpot has been banging the pots loudly at Inbound (where a lot of my marketing team from <a href="http://hootsuite.com/">HootSuite</a> is there as the Presenting Sponsor, speakers, dressed in a giant owl costume, etc)<br />
<br />
The HubSpot team have been peppering the awesome content on the interwebz at the same time and I loved their <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33529/33-Stats-That-Paint-a-Picture-of-the-Future-of-Marketing.aspx#ixzz24xqDSF7o">collection of great stats</a> that point to the state of the nation for marketers across all the areas of tech that they provide. The following nine social marketing stats really do paint a great story of where we are today and what the current opportunity is for us all to move the needle.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>1)</strong> Failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15% increase in churn rate for existing customers. (Source: <a href="http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2101515" target="_blank" title="Gartner_inc">Gartner</a>) </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>2)</strong> 37% of brands would like to use social media engagement to create customer-tailored marketing campaigns. (Source: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.getsatisfaction.com%2F2012%2F01%2F12%2Fbrands-listen-digital-age%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHjjkJaZ4W3lrzpbkpERiHdfc2nPg" target="_blank" title="forrester">Forrester</a>) <strong></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>3)</strong> 75% of B2B companies do not measure or quantify social media engagement. (Source: <a href="http://www.satmetrix.com/company/press-and-news/pr-archive/pr20120517/" target="_blank" title="satmetrix">Satmetrix</a>)<strong></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>4)</strong> 51% of the top 20% of B2B marketers generating leads through social media use social sharing tools, compared to the industry average of 39%. (Source: <a href="http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7635/RA-social-media-marketing.aspx" target="_blank" title="Aberdeen">Aberdeen</a>) <strong></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>5)</strong> 84% of B2B marketers use social media in some form. (Source: <a href="http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/7635/RA-social-media-marketing.aspx" target="_blank" title="Aberdeen">Aberdeen</a>) <strong></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>6)</strong> Marketers spend an average of 4-6 hours a week on social media. (Source: <a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2012.pdf" target="_blank" title="Social Media Examiner">Social Media Examiner</a>) <strong></strong></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>7)</strong> Currently, marketers allocate 7.6% of their budgets to social media. CMOs expect that number to reach 18.8% in the next five years. (Source: <a href="http://www.cmosurvey.org/results/" target="_blank" title="CMO Survey">CMO Survey</a>) </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>8)</strong> 60.2% of marketers are looking for analysis options, as well as other analytics options, in their social media management tools. (Source: <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33504/New-Data-Reveals-How-Marketers-Use-Social-Media-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx" target="_blank" title="SEOmoz">SEOmoz</a>) </div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">
<strong>9)</strong> Regardless, marketers still continue to struggle with integrating social media into the company’s overall strategy. On a scale of 1-7, only 6.8% of respondents believe that social media is “very integrated” into their strategy (the highest rank for the question), while 16.7% believe that it's not integrated at all (the lowest rank for the question). (Source: <a href="http://www.cmosurvey.org/results/" target="_blank" title="CMO Survey">CMO Survey</a>) </div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"><br />Check out the full article and stats here: <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33529/33-Stats-That-Paint-a-Picture-of-the-Future-of-Marketing.aspx#ixzz24xqDSF7o" style="color: #003399;">http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33529/33-Stats-That-Paint-a-Picture-of-the-Future-of-Marketing.aspx#ixzz24xqDSF7o</a></span>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-49726753801965524842012-02-18T10:27:00.002-08:002012-03-11T00:34:17.770-08:00Exploring Social Business Patterns<div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Over the past several years I have been part of a shift in marketing, design, development and enterprise software that has undergone fundamental shifts due to changes in the patterns of management and the patterns of product development and marketing. This shift, in its current iteration at the edges of my bubble, is the emergence of the social business or social enterprise as it is sometimes referred to. For now, I will use these interchangeably.<br />
<br />
In the early days at Microsoft, community and social ecosystems and the evangelist role itself emerged as answers to the need for broad, engaged conversations around complex shifts in application architecture, development and design. We leveraged forums, community advocates, content rankings and feedback and constant customer input as both an innovation and a market driver. At Adobe I was one of the first bloggers (<a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/imho/2011/05/contextography.html" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">IMHO</a> was my first Adobe blog), built the first evangelism team and worked with developer relations and marketing to leverage social ecosystem development across enterprise, agency and academia as a core GTM approach.<br />
<br />
Now at HootSuite, as my focus shifts to expanding market readiness, and hopefully market share, for our <a href="http://hootsuite.com/enterprise" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">enterprise</a>, <a href="http://hootsuite.com/partner" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">agency</a> and <a href="http://hootsuite.com/plans" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">professional</a> offerings, I have the unique perspective of flipping the mirror around and determining which of the social business patterns are going to emerge as core market drivers and to help our customers and partners understand how this has a specific and positive impact on their bottom line, market share, HR, customer satisfaction and cost of doing business.</span></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
We now stand at the brink of another fundamental shift in the way we work - shifting more and more of our activity (not enough yet IMHO) to social platforms, better exploiting our need to communicate effectively and ultimately changing the way in which we model, design, strategize, plan, implement, deliver and measure business activity.<br />
<br />
And, while many companies claim turf in this space and large and small agencies and consultancies alike move towards the space I feel like we are lacking some of the fundamentals for comprehension of a common shift in thinking and executing. I fall back on to my days in developer tools and developer relations, our work on architectural standards at both Adobe and Microsoft, and am turning up my quest for patterns.<br />
<br />
Following are a potential grouping of how we might categorize some of the social business patterns (based on several examples already available):</span></div><ul style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Business patterns of repeatable behaviour and consistent use of methodology or tools</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Technical patterns of business enablement through provision of platforms</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Integration patterns that exploit rampant connectivity, API and SDK model</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Agile patterns that embrace iteration and enable constant innovation</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Customer experience and UX patterns that redefine business models purely from the perspective of the customer/user</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">- Ecosystem patterns that both map and enable the complex systems of business without borders</span></li>
<li style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
</span></li>
</ul><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">This will be an exercise of research, accumulation, assimilation, creation and curation.</span></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />
Well understood micro patterns such as update status, share ‘object’ with connections, notifications, and direct response, in turn see increasing value through understanding and documenting the macro-patterns that form when used in conjunction with each other and specifically change an aspect of how we do business, such as how we develop, market, sell, measure or report.<br />
</span></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><em style="background-color: white;">Seeking patterns of a revolution in communication that signal the growth of the social business.</em></div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-72609725497825176232011-12-24T15:43:00.001-08:002012-01-15T11:26:15.606-08:00bitpakkit top tracks on ReverbNation for 2011<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>Throughout most of the year I have been in the top forty, often in the top ten, on ReverbNation for electronica in my region. If you are on an iDevice you can get the same versions of these tracks at <a href="http://soundcloud.com/bitpakkit">soundcloud.com/bitpakkit</a> or in the Soundcloud app.</p><p><img src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMjQ3Njk5NjA2MDYmcHQ9MTMyNDc2OTk2NDU4NyZwPTI3MDgxJmQ9cHJvX3BsYXllcl9maXJzdF9nZW4mZz*xJm89/YzYwMzk1YTJiNGVkNDNhY2FkZjAzZmUwOTQ4Y2FlZTMmb2Y9MA==.gif" border="0" height="0" alt="" style="height: 0px;" width="0" /> <object height="326" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="434"> <param name="movie" value="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/40/pro_widget.swf?id=artist_1826310&posted_by=&skin_id=PWAS1005&background_color=EEEEEE&border_color=000000&auto_play=false&shuffle=false" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><param name="quality" value="best" /><embed src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/40/pro_widget.swf?id=artist_1826310&posted_by=&skin_id=PWAS1005&background_color=EEEEEE&border_color=000000&auto_play=false&shuffle=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="opaque" height="326" width="434"></embed> </object> <br />
<img src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widgets/trk/40/artist_1826310//t.gif" border="0" height="0" alt="" style="height: 0px;" width="0" /><img src="http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=10349858&cv=2.0&cj=1" border="0" height="1" alt="ComScore" style="display: none;" width="1" /></p><p style="font-size: 10px;"><a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://bitpakkit.posterous.com/bitpakkit-top-tracks-on-reverbnation-for-2011">bitpakkit</a> </p></div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-2993511531220802372011-12-07T13:51:00.000-08:002011-12-07T13:51:21.047-08:00The Social Consumer (Infographic)The social consumer, all data'd up in the infographic below from <a href="http://www.mbooth.com">M Booth</a> and <a href="http://bynd.com/">Beyond</a>, lays out the differences between different types of sharers and purchasers. This unintentional category is getting a lot of focus lately. By unintentional, I postulate that consumers who also participate in social networks would likely never self identify as such. <p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://billcrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Science-of-Sharing-Infographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="2254" width="486" src="http://billcrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Science-of-Sharing-Infographic.jpg" /></a></div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-85476194439923467892011-12-07T13:48:00.000-08:002011-12-07T13:48:46.800-08:00The Social Consumer (Infographic)The social consumer, all data'd up in the infographic below from M Booth and Beyond, lays out the differences between different types of sharers and purchasers. This unintentional category is getting a lot of focus lately. By unintentional, I mean that consumers who participate in social networks would likely never self identify as such. <p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://billcrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Science-of-Sharing-Infographic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="2254" width="486" src="http://billcrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Science-of-Sharing-Infographic.jpg" /></a></div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-47581995273571685892011-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:002011-12-04T10:03:11.993-08:00The World of Social Media in 2011VideoInfographs shares The World of Social Media in a video infographic that snapshots much of the critical topline data we amassed in 2011.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/H61WvxOm1AM" width="560"></iframe>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-54223211184448305592011-10-31T21:49:00.000-07:002011-10-31T21:49:53.241-07:00The smartphone goes to college, every day, every class...always on.I bite my tongue and press Publish Post.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011/10/31/generation-mobile.html"><img alt="Generation Mobile" border="0" src="http://www.hackcollege.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/HC_generation_mobile.gif" width="500" /></a><br />
Created by: <a href="http://www.hackcollege.com/">HackCollege</a>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-47566588846291960162011-10-24T11:27:00.000-07:002011-10-24T11:35:55.364-07:00Modeling the Mobile User ExperienceWorking on a story around mobile UX and I was reminded of this brilliant and thoughtful presentation from fellow Canadian, <a href="http://bryanrieger.com/">Bryan Rieger</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_1537166"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bryanrieger/modeling-the-mobile-user-experience" title="Modeling the Mobile User Experience" target="_blank">Modeling the Mobile User Experience</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/1537166" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bryanrieger" target="_blank">Bryan Rieger</a> </div></div><p>The way he breaks down the challenge of the definition of design in mobile, and reconstructs a more appropriate lexicon for us is unmatched. Worth a breeze through for the lawn chair example alone...are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-43848239097807976382011-09-23T11:59:00.000-07:002011-09-23T12:01:04.159-07:00I also like to write music...I am fortunate to have had some extra time lately between road trips and press interviews while we do some calibration and I have been using that to work on my music. I thought I would share that with you, since most folks don't know I also do this.<br />
<br />
I would really appreciate any and all feedback and you taking any time at all to listen! <br />
<br />
<img border="0" height="0" src="http://c.gigcount.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEzMTY4MDQxODgwNzkmcHQ9MTMxNjgwNDE5NzgxOCZwPTI3MDgxJmQ9dHVuZVdpZGdldF9maXJzdF9nZW4mZz*xJm89/ZWYyODMwODQ2YmI*NDA3NGJjYTdhODY5N2MzM2I5Zjgmb2Y9MA==.gif" style="height: 0px; visibility: hidden; width: 0px;" width="0" /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="415" width="434"><param name="movie" value="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/19/tuneWidget.swf?twID=artist_1826310&posted_by=artist_1826310&shuffle=&autoPlay=false&blogBuzz=buzz"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="all"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="opaque"></param><param name="quality" value="best"></param><embed src="http://cache.reverbnation.com/widgets/swf/19/tuneWidget.swf?twID=artist_1826310&posted_by=artist_1826310&shuffle=&autoPlay=false&blogBuzz=buzz" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowNetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="opaque" quality="best" width="434" height="415"></embed></object><br />
<a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/gigfinder"><img alt="Get Gigs" border="0" height="19" src="http://c2sostatic.reverbnation.com/widgets/content/19/footer.png" width="434" /></a><img border="0" height="0" src="http://www.reverbnation.com/widgets/trk/19/artist_1826310/artist_1826310/t.gif" style="height: 0px; visibility: hidden; width: 0px;" width="0" /><br />
<br />
You can find even more of my music at:<br />
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/bitpakkit">http://soundcloud.com/bitpakkit</a><br />
<a href="http://reverbnation.com/bitpakkit">http://reverbnation.com/bitpakkit</a>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-47250767350129202642011-08-04T06:24:00.000-07:002011-08-04T06:24:31.788-07:00Anna Karenina and the Consumerization ChallengeA lot of micro trends driving the move to more focus on customer experience have evolved around the theme of the consumerization of IT. According to Wikipedia, "Consumerization is a stable neologism that describes the trend for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business organizations, resulting in the convergence of the IT and consumer electronics industries, and a shift in IT innovation from large businesses to the home. For example, many people now find that their home based IT equipment and services are both more capable and less expensive than what is provided in their workplace. The term, consumerization, was first popularized by Douglas Neal and John Taylor of CSC's Leading Edge Forum in 2001 and is one of the key drivers of the Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 movements."<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="alignnone" data-mce-src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Consumerization.gif" height="360" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Consumerization.gif" width="480" /><br />
<em>This classic view of Commercialization likely needs an update. (Source: <a data-mce-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerization" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerization">Wikipedia</a>)</em><br />
This definition definitely leans on and drives towards the consumer electronics industry and is often reflective of the advanced capabilities and better user experience that we get on home devices. In part this trend is responsible for the rebound of Apple, as business users, developers and others started to choose Apple hardware based on the idea that it was easier to use.<br />
But there is a trend hidden within this phenomenon that makes consumerization too simplistic by definition. Do you remember the Anna Karenina principle, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way"? Tolstoy meant that in order for a marriage to succeed many factors had to be in place, but failure in a single aspect could spell doom even when many of the ingredients were there. In his book Guns, Germs and Steel - The Fates of Human Societies, Jared Diamond uses this to to make the point that we tend to seek easy, single-factor explanations of success. For most important things, success actually requires avoiding many separate causes of failure.<br />
Ultimately the business models of consumer electronics and services do not lend themselves directly to supporting enterprise business models. In a recent discussion with an (unnamed) enterprise security firm from Canada we were talking about the issues with securing iPad devices in a way that enterprise find suitable for storing data. What I found most interesting was that this same consumerization trend was driving adoption for cloud-based applications that would absolutely remain secure even if a device was stolen, as long as the device could merely be wiped and not accessed. Because business buyers are essentially a niche market for many consumer manufacturers there is often only a minimal bar set with essential services and often these simply extend capabilities that are already needed for consumers. Yes, others will move in the market to make things more enterprise-ready but this is a bolt-on strategy that mystifies accountability and often introduces additional points of failure.<br />
In parallel to this increased awareness and concern around consumer electronics in the enterprise there are a plethora of service types that are essentially enterprise versions of broadly adopted consumer applications. Micro-blogging platforms in the enterprise provide all the familiarity and connection benefits that their consumer counterparts offer but prevent access to the purely consumer aspects such as social games or 'interacting' with celebrities.<br />
Consumerization is by definition a process. Private infrastructure is built out to first support early adopters inclusive of distribution, support, related services and accessories. In much the same way, businesses also build out private infrastructure that is to be owned and used by the business, not individuals. When the service types overlap or collide we have no choice but to compare and contrast from both a business and personal perspective and this ultimately fosters a unique form of competitive tension. What is unique is that as end users we compare and ultimately voice frustration when things are perceived to be more cumbersome or difficult to use more than ever. The shortest route to a solution for IT is then to either define a happy medium or simply embrace the consumerized approach and work to make it enterprise-ready. Various people have observed already that users don't really make mistakes any more - instead systems and applications were not built to support their needs and that's why they fail.<br />
There are countless examples of where this has succeeded and been adopted at mass scale and now we even have examples of those wins fading in favour of new consumer-driven approaches. For example, instant messaging as a platform faces competitive pressure as people switch to more social applications that combine personal and shared messaging services. Many of the applications we use to collaborate or work together support instant messaging as well so more more frequently we see the patterns move into context of other tasks.<br />
Photo: Adobe's new Vibe micro-blogging platform, for internal use only from the Adobe@Adobe team.<br />
<strong>Everything About Everyone Everywhere</strong><br />
Right now many high-tech marketers and avid social media users both inside and outside the firewall are faced with a net new challenge. For example, we have invested heavily in Twitter and in some cases had some wins on Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, a corporate blog and other platforms to help us work better and smarter across these arenas. In the last few short weeks I have already 'circled' more than 100 Adobe employees making their move to Google+. Similar to many other organizations we immediately begin to think how we could use this platform for our brand, events and products - with the obvious choice being to do something similar to what we have done on Facebook with perhaps a little more 'blog' thrown in.<br />
It was a welcome relief to get the invite to sign up for the Google+ for Business alpha, which will launch later this year for a couple reasons. First, simply repeating what we already do somewhere else did not seem too exciting but more importantly, knowing that Google was going to focus on building a set of services that were unique and meant for businesses means that we can take advantage of that effort and thinking and not try to fit a square peg in a circle. One could argue that the consumerization essentially needs to be more complete in order for businesses to succeed on the platform anyway. And Google+ really is for people, not avatars or brands or businesses or products, but for people to share, converse and communicate in new ways. You can do this on behalf of your business obviously and many are already, but we are doing this as ourselves, as individuals. Will we always be working to consumerize IT?<br />
It was this overall line of thinking that got me on to the last question there. We had effectively consumerized IT, but were we essentially bound to have to do this over and over again? To take products and services that were meant for consumers and adapt our infrastructures, policies, habits and goals such that we could tolerate its idiosyncrasies and still be effective as employees and teams and grow our businesses accordingly. Or...<br />
Are we moving into an era where we can expect others to do the work needed to commercialize and industrialize consumer patterns and practices? Are we better to take the best practices, methodologies, technologies and platforms and make them enterprise-ready such that we don't face the compromises and downsides that come with all that awesome-ness, ease-of-use and ready to adopt paradigms? Clearly the platform-as-a-service ideology has major differences when it comes to consumer and business best practices. For example:<br />
<ul><li>The notion of my personal groups of friends and family does not really translate to teams and organizations. The latter are much more implicit and ultimately need be automated. I wouldn't expect Facebook to know when my cousin has a baby, but I would expect an enterprise platform to know when a customer subscription expires or a team member changes roles.</li>
<li>My personal data is mine and while I seek to protect it in one way when I am sharing things in a personal network I have a whole different level of expectations about how my employer will ultimately protect and keep my data safe.</li>
</ul><br />
<a class="lightbox" data-mce-href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-07-26-at-12.42.08-PM.jpeg" href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-07-26-at-12.42.08-PM.jpeg" title="Screen shot 2011-07-26 at 12.42.08 PM"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1421" data-mce-src="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-07-26-at-12.42.08-PM-300x173.jpg" height="173" src="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-07-26-at-12.42.08-PM-300x173.jpg" title="Screen shot 2011-07-26 at 12.42.08 PM" width="300" /><br />
</a><em>We essentially need to have two identities but we are learning to blend them through brute force. <a data-mce-href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifl/3991841915/" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifl/3991841915/">PHOTO - Peretz Partensky</a></em><br />
I don't know anyone who thinks that the blending of work and family or personal life is perfect on social networks and this creates this sort of safe version of ourselves. We can't ultimately share everything about our personal lives with our co-workers nor can we share things with family and friends that needs to be kept internal to a company. So what we do is tame both ends of that spectrum and ultimately, from what I see, this creates an incomplete identity. But, currently its the best we have so we go with it and we select those co-workers who we feel more comfortable around to share some of the more personal things we are doing. But we rarely do this with our customers or partners for obvious reasons and here is where it breaks down. The fundamental need to engage with our customers and partners in order to realize the full value of social is handicapped before we even get out the door by a necessary and logical gate we put in place.<br />
Social as an ingredient technology has already made considerable inroads in the enterprise and is often the key to success for steering relevant conversations back into our domain. Here at Adobe we have supported this movement with technologies such as Adobe Connect and Adobe LiveCycle Collaboration Service, but we see the need to go way beyond this in terms of providing a whole solution (and we are).<br />
To me, the point of these intersections and challenges seems to be that we have arrived at a tipping point, a sort of crossroads in what is appropriate and safe and doable and we are now faced with a new challenge. We have consumerized IT but we have not (often enough) commercialized or industrialized the patterns that support this to the extent that they need to be in order to realized their full potential. Imagine that you had invested millions of dollars in a physical mail and logistics system to support shipments and communications and a new platform came along to support electronic mail and simply based on user preference you suddenly had to invest in dual infrastructure and support new security topology in order to…um, never mind.<br />
The platforms we have are already widely adopted for social brand engagement and corporate communications and even employee communications and the conversation has started. I think we have yet to see the full commercialization of consumer platforms and I think there is a lot of untapped opportunity still locked up in our inability to effectively connect these two worlds. I expect that the platforms will continue to evolve to meet this and that the focus on great user experiences based on existing patterns, cloud-ready services, easy integration points and passion for collaboration will combine with the need for security, privacy, versioning, multi-channel delivery and more to build a path for consumer technologies and services to ultimately plateau in the enterprise.<br />
More than ever with the multiple points of connection between all of us at work, at conferences, on social media and through shared information consumption, we have learned to do this collaboratively as an ecosystem. We need to continue sharing ideas, developing standards and hardening the patterns that are going to succeed and not be subject so easily to the next whim of user preference being a force for wholesale change. Adapt to adopt - or learn from the patterns we see people migrating towards and build them into our lives and work in a way that ultimately suits all aspects of our proposed lifelong marriage to technology.bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-69632138162526527152011-05-31T10:53:00.001-07:002011-05-31T10:53:19.246-07:00Contextography<div class='posterous_autopost'><p><em>Reposted from <a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/imho">IMHO.</a></em></p> <p>In today's brief customer journeys, <a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/2011/05/25/the-profession-of-customer-experience-comes-of-age/">customer experience professionals</a> are both artists and scientists collaborating on behalf of our most important benefactor. As artists we want to visualize and experiment with these benefactor touch points but there is this wall of complexity around how we intelligently scribe and simulate a million points of light from a hundred thousand journeys. As scientists we seek to simulate and experiment with our learnings and shape them into thesis or ultimately repeatable models.</p> <p>If you follow Gartner's thinking around <a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/context-aware-computing/">context-aware technologies</a>, it is clear that C- level executives need to seriously consider the disruption that context-aware technologies will have on purchasing and loyalty behavior. Gartner identifies context-aware technologies as the ones that influence consumer purchase decisions by using information about the consumer's context (e.g., location and interests) to offer more-relevant promotions, content and recommendations. Smartphones and tablets armed with <a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/2011/05/18/thempact-of-context/">context-aware apps will influence consumer spending</a> as much in nonelectronic channels (e.g., physical stores) as in e-commerce and the technology will primarily be used to shift consumer spending from one competitor to another. It does point out that is less likely that it will increase consumer spending overall. The customer journey, when taken into consideration at a touch point, must be considered in context.</p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Eliane-Strosberg/dp/0789207133"><img title="Art and Science" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61ZEMBC34WL._SS400_.jpg" height="300" alt="" width="300" /></a></p> <p>What is the taxonomy of this union of <a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/2011/03/24/the-art-and-science-of-experience-design/">art and science</a>, this cartography of a journey and ethnography of a participant, perhaps individual or en masse as an audience? What are the unifying factors and measurable, logical groups of data that we can ultimately action? We have more than enough market data to understand that context in its totality has all the facets of data needed to optimize a behavior. But context is the thing itself, what then would we call the process of understanding and leveraging the learning of context? I propose:</p> <p>Contextography - <em>n. </em>- the collection, study, analysis, measurement and resulting use of context. e.g. For the purpose of this article, <em>the user speaks</em> in italics to help you empathize with data gained through contextography.**</p> <p><em>I'm on a horse. You knew that. right? </em></p> <p>First let's meet a user and their context. In the same way that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE">Old Spice</a> imagined how women might like to see the men in their lives in order to have men in turn see themselves through that lens, we are constantly anticipating an audience and their needs, desires and motivations. I am hoping that I have anticipated your need to better understand how context is made actionable even if I am really only able start another conversation at this inflection.</p> <p>While we have gotten better at allowing users to manage their account, their profile, and even how they share their activity with other customers or users of a product or service, we also have had to learn over time to consume that data intelligently and understand patterns that emerge and perhaps express these as context. The parameters that are relevant for the context can be broken down in different dimensions. For the purpose of this short journey we will give our user, which could be me, some context.</p> <p><em>Me, the user, of course: </em>Sometimes you and sometimes me, but always everything that characterizes the customer, perhaps demo-, psycho- and ethno- graphic.</p> <p><em>My situation: </em>That which describes the circumstances in which the user interaction takes place and the process and result of interaction. Relevant parameters for this include the channel of the interaction, the device made use of, the location, and the network that is used to connect and the facilities that enable this.</p> <p><em>My history of interactions: </em>That which we know and are able to share about the relationship between the user and your enterprise. Relevant information include buying history, contracts, support cases, and any other information that characterizes the business relationship.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/05/Screen-shot-2011-05-27-at-12.01.56-PM.jpeg" title="Screen shot 2011-05-27 at 12.01.56 PM"><img title="Screen shot 2011-05-27 at 12.01.56 PM" src="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/05/Screen-shot-2011-05-27-at-12.01.56-PM.jpeg" height="143" alt="" width="477" /></a></p> <p><em>I'm at a touchpoint. It's pretty. It doesn't work the way I expected.</em></p> <p>A user’s experience is always dependent on a defined relationship between a business activity and that user’s goals. While the experience may take many forms, there are commonalities in the approach to arrive at a final experience, and this process is the practice of user experience (UX). The disciplines essentially map to the outputs of this process and typically include:</p> <ul> <li>Interface design - the graphics and branding.</li> <li>Interaction design - the method by which users interact, e.g. touch and voice.</li> <li>Information architecture - the visible organizing principle for content and applications.</li> <li>Graphic design - the brand treatment, color palette and treatment of text and media</li> </ul> <p>Technologists, behaving like scientists, strive to have applications widely adopted are essentially questing for patterns; patterns to users means that there are functions in those applications that are repeatably useful, usable, easy to find, credible, and ultimately successful at solving an identified problem or achieving a known goal. As the increase in focus on great customer experience matures, so in turn does the practice and rigor associated with defining the patterns of engagement. It's fair to think of increased investments in great user experience as a discovery of true patterns - the right investments presented in the context required for the right happy customers and happy employees to use your apps.</p> <p><em>I know what awesome is. You and I are on the same page. </em></p> <p>Essentially, most investments in user experience within the enterprise today amount to superficial and cosmetic changes applied as afterthoughts in an attempt to solve apparent and predictable problems with the surface of the application. Often, people focus on type size, color, and other basic design, and believe that they have created a great customer experience. The reality is that this approach only goes so far in addressing problems and is ultimately going to fail since the user-focused work was started much too late in the process. Business users often make the mistake of masking the lack of user input with cool technology, and while this world of wonder can fascinate to the point of going viral, it often lacks the deep engagement intended.</p> <p><em>I don't make mistakes, you do. I recently redefined the customer is always right. I did this for you. </em></p> <p>The later in a project you invest in change, the more it costs. There are a number of methodologies in use today across the industry that are purported to facilitate user input into the design and development process - beware the linear, embrace the cyclical, and mandate the agile. In this way we appropriately recognize that users don't really blame themselves for things going wrong the way that they used to. That was convenient because it presented an opportunity to teach someone how to use a system in the way it was intended. Now the table is turned and the system must work in the way that is expected.</p> <p><em>I'm on a journey. I have a map. Embrace my journey.<br /> </em></p> <p>Many of the guidelines from analysts and industry experts have identified a key tool in this process to be a map of all the customer touchpoints across an enterprise. This map can be used in several strategic ways:</p> <ul> <li>Identify and plot persona against specific actions or opportunities.</li> <li>Understand and modify business processes in order to overcome obstacles or bottlenecks.</li> <li>Inform design and technology choices and prioritize resources against those choices</li> <li>Measure success by defining Key Performance Indicators (KPI) based on customer activities.</li> <li>Refine opportunities for increased productivity by aggregating logical groups of actions.</li> </ul> <p><em>I'm in your systems. I'm doing this fast.</em><strong><br /> </strong></p> <p>Finally, we need to reflect the outcomes of design in our application architecture. In a functional architecture we can surface this experience layer to bridge the “last mile” gap between user and business application. This layer essentially represents the presentation layer of applications (e.g., interaction models such as touch) with knowledge of domain, integration, and the associated infrastructure. True multichannel delivery is thus enabled through an abstraction of presentation that intentionally separates the channel, controls, and interaction from the fundamental underlay of business logic and application code.</p> <p>This abstraction serves a unique purpose in planning and development. By creating handshakes between the UX professionals who own the experience and developers who own the implementation of the application, we in turn empower handshakes between customers and the business.</p> <p>For example, wireframes that represent the experience layer and interaction model can be made interactive in such a way as to represent the potential interaction, and elsewhere in the team those interactions can be wired to the application and business logic. These can be tested with actual customers or users in order to further refine logic, interaction models, and general usability themes such as accessibility, both prior to implementation and over time.</p> <p><a href="http://www.zazzle.ca/ipsoft_we_suck_less_mug-168979524051926195" title="We suck less mug."><img title="We suck less mug." src="http://blogs.adobe.com/experiencedelivers/files/2011/05/ipsoft_we_suck_less_mug-p1689795240519261952otmb_400-300x300.jpg" height="300" alt="" width="300" /></a></p> <p><em>Suck less. Be awesome more. Please.</em></p> <p>A user’s experience is impacted by many things beyond our control as designers, such as network issues, device or operating system issues, IT policies, or even physical distractions. What is within our control is exhibiting a shared understanding of goals and interaction capabilities and providing this in a consistent way to support the brands we represent.</p> <p>One could choose platforms and tools that effectively reduce the time it takes for you to develop the final experience with a component model based on UX best practices. For example, here at Adobe, we are working hard to maintain a domain model that is essentially pre-integrated with relevant technology services and infrastructure, and abstract this from the presentation layer such that you can reuse or strip away and replace at whim. Not your whim, but that of your customer's oft-fickle hearts and minds. In this way you can adapt to changes in contextual trends at the edges of your business, and put your new passion for contextography to work helping to sustain and grow your business.</p> <p><em>I'm done. Listen for my feedback.</em></p> <p><a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2008/11/23/applause-machine-by-martin-smith/"><img title="Martin Smith's Applause Machine" src="http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/11/applause-machine-by-martin-smith-9.jpg" height="450" alt="Martin Smith's Applause Machine - According to the designer, the machine was created &ldquo;for when your ideas are great but no one else agrees.&rdquo;" width="450" /></a></p> <p>** Re: Contextography. I honestly had no idea that someone else had made the word up before I did but Google was helpful in setting me straight on that. Recognizing the definition potentially already in place actually helps me build on that to an expanded definition that is first of all both representative and inclusive of the user POV, and more importantly one that embraces all aspects of a digital environment, not only images of a fictitious one. I should point out that more recently I have been made aware of a definition of this term that is similar to a bibliography for a paper or thesis - essentially tracking the context of sources. I love that definition and my only regret was that I was not personally encouraged to add contextographies to my papers when I was a student many (many, many) years ago.</p> <p>I have registered the domain <a href="http://www.contextography.com/">Contextography.com</a> to build a body of research and work in the areas of definition, research and analysis of both the art and science of context. In parallel to that we will also be tracking the context conversation here - <a href="http://twitter.com/contextography">@contextography</a> (sorry to any fans of @uxpectations, that chapter is now complete for me) and I will bring the first few months of this together for a talk on this subject at the upcoming <a href="http://www.day.com/summit">Adobe Digital Enterprise Summit</a> in October. Register for <a href="https://cem.events.adobe.com/cemevent/en/vip/enterprisesummit/esmailinglist.html">VIP invite here</a>.</p> <p>Special thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/HBatAdobe">Hank Barnes</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/craigsmusings">Craig Randall</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/collsdad">Jamie Anderson</a> for additional insights and thoughts, and to the extended community for the inspiration and motivation to get this idea off the napkin.</p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://bitpakkit.posterous.com/contextography">bitpakkit</a> </p> </div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-91810244034382576242011-05-27T07:05:00.001-07:002011-05-27T07:05:42.566-07:00Data is the interface<div class="Amp_Commentary_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Post_Text"><p>Increasing user and experience designer focus on data visualization as a means to explore and represent large amounts of data has given us increasingly sophisticated understanding of this emerging interface.<br /><br /><br /><br />Both compelling and beautiful, awkward and interesting, the consumption of large tomes of data is increasingly made both accessible and actionable - and artists and scientists come together to continually evolve how we might increase the use and value of this medium.</p></div></div><div class=""><div class="Amp_Content_Outer"><div class="Amp_Top_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Source_First"><span>Amplify’d from <a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed" href="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed">konigi.com</a></span></div></div><div class="Amp_Middle_Wrap"><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div align="center" class="Amp_Content_Item_Image"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/clog_clip_cache/amplify.com/7137206E-A5C6-4000-A453-A470A0454C5E/51F12916-7365-4D82-B1E2-992D2C746BAF" alt="" width="384" height="204"/></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-2">"Artist Aaron Koblin takes vast amounts of data -- and at times vast numbers of people -- and weaves them into stunning visualizations. From elegant lines tracing airline flights to landscapes of cell phone data, from a Johnny Cash video assembled from crowd-sourced drawings to the "Wilderness Downtown" video that customizes for the user, his works brilliantly explore how modern technology can make us more human."</p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div align="center" class="Amp_Content_Item_Emb"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" height="329" width="400" wmode="opaque" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2011/Blank/AaronKoblin_2011-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AaronKoblin-2011.embed_thumbnail_r.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1152&lang=eng&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=aaron_koblin;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=media_that_matters;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=art_unusual;event=TED2011;tag=Arts;tag=Design;tag=Technology;tag=collaboration;tag=data;tag=visualizations;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" wmode="transparent" ></embed></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-4">Beautiful, incredibly creative use of user contributed hands for data-driven art. </p></div><span class="Amp_Source_Button"><a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed" href="http://konigi.com/notebook/aaron-koblin-artfully-visualizing-our-humanity?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed">Read more at konigi.com</a></span></td></tr></table></blockquote></div><div class="Amp_Bottom_Wrap"> </div></div></div><div class="Amp_Link">See this Amp at <a href="http://amplify.com/u/a13yt9">http://amplify.com/u/a13yt9</a></div><br/>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-18121049987526925292011-05-17T14:56:00.001-07:002011-05-17T14:56:18.397-07:00The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century<div class="Amp_Commentary_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Post_Text"><p>The headline says it all...can't wait for my copy to arrive.</p></div></div><div class=""><div class="Amp_Content_Outer"><div class="Amp_Top_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Source_First"><span>Amplify’d from <a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/" href="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/">adage.com</a></span></div></div><div class="Amp_Middle_Wrap"><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-0">At first, one wonders how Jeffrey L. Cruikshank and Arthur W. Schultz ever managed to write "The Man Who Sold America: The Amazing (but True!) Story of Albert D. Lasker and the Creation of the Advertising Century," when the man himself was a cipher during his own lifetime and is largely unknown today. <br /></p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-1"> <br />But then you wonder how to write a review of this admirable and well-written biography without discussing the man himself?<br /></p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div align="center" class="Amp_Content_Item_Image"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/clog_clip_cache/amplify.com/81535691-93D3-49FF-92E5-7E531ACDA7C3/94FACDD4-1568-45A2-947E-AA0AA3E617AB" alt="" width="180" height="272"/></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-3"> <br />So let's start by recapping the highlights: He discovered two of the most important creatives of all time (John E. Kennedy and Claude C. Hopkins), and revolutionized the advertising industry by the time he was 30. He was deeply involved in the Leo Frank case, was majority owner of the Chicago Cubs, helped reorganize baseball after the Black Sox scandal, helped get a president elected, ran the United States Shipping Board, and was a key player in the invention of the soap opera, in the launch of Kotex and Kleenex and Sunkist, and in the transformation of political campaigns. And, when he dissolved his agency, Lord & Thomas, in 1946, he created the iconic Foote Cone & Belding (the "FCB" of "DraftFCB") and then spent the last decade of his life donating the substantial sums of money (and marketing expertise) he'd accrued to galvanize such causes as birth control (inventing the name "Planned Parenthood") and cancer (renaming "The American Society for the Control of Cancer" the "American Cancer Society"), finally establishing the Lasker Award -- often called the "American Nobel prize."<br /></p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-4"> <br />And what have you done lately?<br /></p></div><span class="Amp_Source_Button"><a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/" href="http://adage.com/article/book-reviews/martin-bihl-reviews-lasker-story-man-sold-america/227610/">Read more at adage.com</a></span></td></tr></table></blockquote></div><div class="Amp_Bottom_Wrap"> </div></div></div><div class="Amp_Link">See this Amp at <a href="http://amplify.com/u/a138ev">http://amplify.com/u/a138ev</a></div><br/>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-72801548923719431532011-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:002011-05-17T08:50:35.602-07:00Top 10 Things That Are Not Killing Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.twilightitalia.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/top-ten-gold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://www.twilightitalia.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/top-ten-gold.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>With recent news around all of the unavoidable and avoidable activities that are killing us, I thought it prudent to ponder a list of the Top 10 Things that are not killing us. Here they go, in no particular order, with absolutely no scientific backup (also a trend on a lot of health-related posts).<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>1) Being happy.</b><br />
<b></b> Several prominent authors who seem quite happy share their beliefs that being happy is actually very good for us. Choose the physiological or spiritual POV on this activity. Just smiling may be good enough.<br />
<br />
2) Meditation or prayer. Being in touch with your spiritual self is critical to basic skills like self-awareness, confidence, empowerment and a healthy attitude (especially this last part). As long as you are not dropping on your knees in a war zone or meditating when you should be medicating this should be a sustainable priority.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Helping others. </b><br />
<b></b> It's the little things that count. Do something for someone today, no matter how small.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Contributing to charity.</b><br />
No studies whatsoever indicate any harmful side effects of sponsoring charities or charitable events.<br />
<br />
<b>5) Eating healthy. </b><br />
<b></b> Choose green, choose local, choose balanced.<br />
<br />
<b>6) Standing up. </b><br />
<b></b> I would have said sitting up straight but apparently that still kills you. It follows that if sitting is shortening our lives, then standing up within tolerable levels should not be any risk.<br />
<br />
<b>7) Great sex. </b><br />
<b></b>Actually, any sex perhaps. Assuming you are of an appropriate age, have no pre-conditions that will harm you from exertion, and like this kind of thing you should proceed at will, as available and where consent allows (of course). <br />
<br />
<b>8) Updating your status. </b><br />
<b></b> As long as you are not provoking war, political dissent or exposing your infidelity, social media has actually been proven by someone, somewhere, to be good for you.<br />
<br />
<b>9) Paying your taxes. </b><br />
<b></b> I know from experience that not paying them on time can cause stress. Since death and taxes are both absolutes, you should choose this one annually in favor of the other. If you need the money to cure a life-threatening disease, leverage your own ability to prioritize.<br />
<br />
<b>10) Celebrating success. </b><br />
<b></b> While certain forms of celebration, or activities undertaken during celebration, may have adverse health risks, the simple act of acknowledging exceptional behavior or important milestones is an important part of creating positive memories about your life. You can only partake in this activity directly while you are living, so you should think up a reason now.<br />
<br />
<b>Unofficial #11</b> - Creating a top ten list that fits somewhere in the stack of useless internet journalism that is amusing for short periods of time.<br />
<br />
<i>Disclaimer: I have no definitive proof of anything nor do I actually believe anything I have ever read in a Top 10 list.</i>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-9964563196199764702011-05-16T14:31:00.001-07:002011-05-17T08:28:46.537-07:00The hidden empire.<div class="posterous_autopost">72 slides on how Amazon controls e-commerce. From faberNovel.<br />
<br />
<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7928875"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel/amazoncom-the-hidden-empire" title="Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire">Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/7928875" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel">faberNovel</a> </div></div><br />
View more presentations from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel">faberNovel</a> </div>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36655933.post-84973684716990849972011-04-28T04:12:00.001-07:002011-04-28T04:12:51.624-07:00ROX<div class=""><div class="Amp_Content_Outer"><div class="Amp_Top_Wrap"><div class="Amp_Source_First"><span>Amplify’d from <a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO" href="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO">www.adobe.com</a></span></div></div><div class="Amp_Middle_Wrap"><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><b id="AutoGeneratedID-0">ROX: Return on Experience<br /><br />Thursday, May 5 at 11am Pacific</b></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-1"> User experience (UX) plays a significant role in why IT projects fail. UX has a direct impact on the ROI of new IT projects and often unlocks value hidden in existing IT investments. This webinar will help you:<br /><br /></p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><DIV style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:outside;list-style-image:none;"><li id="AutoGeneratedID-2">Understand how successful CIOs build a case for UX and its role/investment in your project</li></DIV></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><DIV style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:outside;list-style-image:none;"><li id="AutoGeneratedID-3">Evaluate the skillsets and knowledge required to leverage UX successfully</li></DIV></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><DIV style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:outside;list-style-image:none;"><li id="AutoGeneratedID-4">Prepare to optimize projects over time based on understanding and acting on UX issues</li></DIV></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><DIV style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:outside;list-style-image:none;"><li id="AutoGeneratedID-5">Deliver great experiences that map to both business needs and consumer demands</li></DIV></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><DIV style="padding:0px 0px 0px 0px;list-style-type:disc;list-style-position:outside;list-style-image:none;"><li id="AutoGeneratedID-6">Support your internal customers with better tools and platforms for consistent multi-channel delivery</li></DIV></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-7">Speakers:<br /><br />Patricia Seybold, CEO of Patricia Seybold Group<br /><br />Ronni Marshak, EVP of Patricia Seybold Group<br /><br />Ben Watson, Principal, Customer Experience at Adobe</p></div></td></tr></table></blockquote><div class="Amp_Content_Hr"></div><blockquote class="Amp_Content_Item" cite="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div class="TxtCntnt"><p id="AutoGeneratedID-8">Register for this webinar and you’ll receive The Seybold Group whitepaper: “Developing Apps for Improved Customer Experience”.</p></div><span class="Amp_Source_Button"><a rel="clipsource" target="_blank" title="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO" href="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=1782172&loc=en_us&sdid=IOQMO">Read more at www.adobe.com</a></span></td></tr></table></blockquote></div><div class="Amp_Bottom_Wrap"> </div></div></div><div class="Amp_Link">See this Amp at <a href="http://amplify.com/u/b10pll">http://amplify.com/u/b10pll</a></div><br/>bengeminiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685845749493982861noreply@blogger.com0