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March 31, 2005

Only Connect

David Weinberger is a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Institute for Internet & Society. Co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Small Pieces Loosely Joined, he writes about technology, philosophy, and marketing. His closing presentation at Freedom to Connect recast the concept of connection in a critical yet inspiring way. What follows is a partial transcript of his remarks:

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Posted by Heath Row at 4:29 PM | 1 Comment

The Ignorant Network

John Perry Barlow is a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. At Freedom to Connect, he riffed off of organizer David Isenberg's concept of the Stupid Network by offering a call to action to develop what he terms the Ignorant Network. What follows is a partial transcript of his remarks:

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Posted by Heath Row at 2:28 PM | Add Comment

Creating Connected Communities

This afternoon at Freedom to Connect opened with J.H. Snider, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, moderating a panel discussion. Participants included Varinia Robinson, program manager of Wireless Philadelphia; Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press;
Dewayne Hendricks, fiounder of the Dandin Group; and Harold Feld of the Media Access Project. What follows is a partial transcript of the discussion:

Continue reading "Creating Connected Communities"

Posted by Heath Row at 2:01 PM | 1 Comment

Interlude: Freedom to Connect

When you're organizing a conference, the little things matter. And I'd like to note two of Freedom to Connect's details that have really made the gathering a rich experience. First of all, the venue. Held at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in "downtown" Silver Spring, just outside of DC, the conference has benefited by the theater's facilities, design, and atmosphere. They even added the event to the scrolling digital marquee out front.

And musician in residence Andy Stein has been a real highlight. A founding member of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, Stein has also played with Asleep at the Wheel. And on April 2, he's playing a sold-out Prairie Home Companion show in New York City. His punctuation music, traveling music before and after sessions, alerting participants that things are about to begin -- as well as a Cajun duet yesterday with Terry Huval, who's an accomplished fiddler in his own right -- have contributed a lot to the overall vibe of this high-minded covention of telco visionaries.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:54 PM | Add Comment

What's Incumbent upon Incumbents?

After a short coffee break, Freedom to Connect participants reconvened for a panel discussion moderated by Kevin Werbach, former editor of Release 1.0 and an assistant professor of legal studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Participants included Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America; Andrew Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project; and Jay Stanley of the ACLU. What follows is a partial transcript of their conversation:

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Posted by Heath Row at 11:50 AM | 1 Comment

Today's Hypocrisy Medal Goes to...

Charlie Trotter. Congrats, Charlie. He's winning the award today for his sanctimonious and apparently false stance against foie gras production. The Chicago Tribune ran a story on Tuesday outlining the controversy surrounding foie gras production and the dust that Trotter had kicked up in the restaurant world by publicly stating that he had stopped serving foie gras in his restaurant because of the inhumane treatment that the ducks and geese suffer (for the uninitiated, they're force-fed at a young age to fatten up their livers).

Trotter could have won the award on Tuesday (and might have had my computer not crashed halfway through a post) because he doesn't exactly bath himself in glory in the Trib piece. He won't serve foie gras in his restaurants but he wouldn't come out and call for a stop to foie gras production. He labeled the animal-rights activists who want to restrict foie gras production "idiots" and "pathetic" (of course, Trotter calls so many people idiots in the Trib story you practically need a scorecard).

Continue reading "Today's Hypocrisy Medal Goes to..."

Posted by David Lidsky at 10:12 AM | 1 Comment

Extreme Commutes

Chuck's entry yesterday brings up an interesting point. The U.S. Census Bureau just released its most recent study of how long it takes people to get to work. The bad news? The average American spends more than 100 hours a year commuting to work. Here are the top five states -- with the longest commute times:

Continue reading "Extreme Commutes"

Posted by Heath Row at 10:06 AM | 4 Comments

The "Great" Debate

To kick off the second day of Freedom to Connect, Charlie Firestone, executive director of the Aspen Institute, moderated a debate about how to create a "better" regulatory regime. Participants in the debate included Rick Whitt, MCI's Senior Director of Global Policy and Planning; Tim Wu, a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School; Randy May, a senior fellow and director of communications policy studies at the Progress & Freedom Foundation; and James Gattuso, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. What follows is a partial transcript of their discussion:

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Posted by Heath Row at 9:57 AM | Add Comment

An Internet Rant

Can I urge in the strongest possible terms that somebody over at Roadside America get off their butt and start hooking up their items to a map? It's a friggin' travel site, for goodness sake. Even Jane and Michael Stern, whose primary preoccupation is food, do a much better job of telling you where the sites they recommend are. That is to say, they actually do the job. Over at Roadside America, they don't bother at all. Their only nod to geography is the "roadtrip" concept, such as the boring tour, and listing by states. But it's so impractical as to be worthless.

These guys would have the premier website in the country on oddball attractions if they'd get off their butts and hook up the sites to a map. Their book would've been a lot more interesting if anybody thought they could actually use it on a trip. How hard would that be? Not very. It might have been hard when they started a decade or so ago. But not now. Haven't they heard of Yahoo maps? GPS? Even if they put little numbers on a paper map and posted them once or twice a year. Anything.

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Posted by David Lidsky at 7:22 AM | Add Comment

March 30, 2005

Road Test

So I'm taking the train to work this morning to avoid getting stuck in Chicago traffic for 17 hours when I come across a New Yorker story about people doing just the opposite. They're looking for traffic. Driving into the teeth of the monster that is New York City gridlock, ostensibly to determine the worst route into the city at the height of rush hour. It was Ford's idea, though, so it's a little more complicated. All the vehicles were Hybrid Escapes, which happen to get great mileage in slow-moving traffic. Not that this was the point of the exercise. Of course not.

Last year, while reporting on the Escape Hybrid, I participated in a similar event. Guest drivers (One was Kevin Bacon, which raises the important but tangential question, does driving the same SUV as him qualify as a six-degrees connection?) took turns driving the new vehicle around Manhattan to see how far it would go on a tank of gas (the answer: 576 miles on 15 gallons).

What do you think of the marketing-as-research approach - effective, harmless, disingenuous, or something else altogether?

Posted by Chuck Salter at 8:04 PM | Add Comment

Networks for Small Blue Planets

Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications Inc., moderated this afternoon panel at Freedom to Connect, which concentrated on the telecommunications challenges and opportunities outside of the United States. Participants included Brian Condon, CEO of the Access to Broadband Campaign, Farooq Hussain, principal of Network Conceptions, Rahul Tongia, a research engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, Daniel Berninger of Tier1 Research, and Rebecca MacKinnon, a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. What follows is a partial transcript of their wide-ranging conversation:

Continue reading "Networks for Small Blue Planets"

Posted by Heath Row at 4:11 PM | 2 Comments

Three Freedoms

Everyone involved in this afternoon Freedom to Connect panel moderated by Jerry Michalski is extremely bright and experienced, but the discussion didn't explore beyond what they've already addressed in their work -- much less previous conference appearances. That said, the combination of perspectives -- the religious, the journalistic, and the social -- was somewhat useful. Participants included Rev. AKM Adam, a professor at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Dan Gillmor, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter, and Scott Heiferman, cofounder of Meetup. What follows is a partial transcript of their discussion:

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Posted by Heath Row at 2:35 PM | 1 Comment

Counterpoint: NBC's "The Office"

I'm going to come right out and disagree with my colleague (and editor) David Lidsky on the American version of the workplace sitcom, "The Office." Simply put, I think BBC's was better - and there are some analogues to be found in other business ventures.

First off, I watched the second episode last night - and make no mistake, the show is funny... Better than any other half-hour comedy out there, in my opinion. But the original was, well, original. (It beat out "Arrested Development" and "Sex and the City" for two Golden Globes, remember?)

No doubt NBC was aiming for something like the HP/Apple iPod partnership; Let us in on the deal and we'll all make some money. But what we've got here is more like NBC's Dell to BBC's Apple - or perhaps just Lexus's Toyota: a more-accessible, less startling reproduction intended for a broader audience with different tastes. Which is why, like Dell, NBC is going to make a lot of money. (And, knowing NBC - which just sold a lump of its soul to Volkswagen - my spidey sense says some of "The Office's" revenues will come from product placement. Just a guess.)

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Posted by Lucas Conley at 2:15 PM | 22 Comments

Beyond the Freedom to Connect

After the lunch break at Freedom to Connect, Jeff Jarvis, proprietor of BuzzMachine interviewed First Amendment Attorney Robert Corn-Revere. Their wide-ranging conversation addressed how legal precedents in the broadcast media world could affect use of the Internet -- as well as how new technologies are policed. What follows is a partial transcript of their conversation:

Continue reading "Beyond the Freedom to Connect"

Posted by Heath Row at 1:56 PM | 0 Comments

Lawful Entry

There has been a plethora of companies involved in lawsuits. Just this morning, it was announced that Blockbuster was settling over their confusing 'No Late Fees' advertising. Of course, it is only $600k and will barely dent their bottom line.

Earlier this week the company Immersion won a settlement against Sony. Microsoft settled out of court with Immersion in 2003 and paid $26 million (and bought a piece of Immersion) to use vibration in their game controllers. Sony decided they would take it to court and roll the dice. It now seems like a bad bet, to the tune of $90 million.

These two suits are quite a contrast. The Blockbuster suit involves the public directly, and settled for so little. The Sony suit is with another company, and reaches $90 mil. Part of the reason for the disparity is that Sony has been selling their DualShock controllers for years and the Blockbuster snafu is recent. But I wonder how much of it is because corporations can afford to drag such lawsuits out. Shouldn't the public get their due process as well? Maybe if the public made more of a stink such consumer settlements would be more than crumbs.

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 1:29 PM | Add Comment

The Fight for Local Freedom to Connect

Jim Baller is the founder of the Baller Herbst Law Group, a national law firm based in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis. The firm represents local governments and public power utilities and specializes in telecommunications, cable television, and high-speed data communications. Terry Huval works as director of Lafayette Utilities System. Their dual presentation at Freedom to Connect covered opportunities to advocate for high-speed access on the part of local governments and utilities -- as well as a specific case currently underway in Lafayette, Louisiana. What follows is a partial transcript of their bump-set teamup:

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Posted by Heath Row at 11:46 AM | Add Comment

Attacks on the Freedom to Connect

Susan Crawford is an assistant professor at Cardozo Law School, where she teaches cyberlaw and intellectual property law. Crawford is also a fellow with the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C.; serves as a fellow with the Information Society Project at Yale Law School; and is active with the Internet Policy Project of the Aspen Institute. Her morning talk at Freedom to Connect addressed some of the challenges to free connections that people bring upon themselves. What follows is a partial transcript:

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Posted by Heath Row at 10:21 AM | 1 Comment

Who Are These People?

Lee Rainie works as project director for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. At Freedom to Connect this morning, he shared some of the results from the project's recent research, addressing the demographics of people online -- but also, how people are using the Net. What follows is a partial transcript of his talk:

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Posted by Heath Row at 9:55 AM | Add Comment

Fight for Your Right

David Isenberg is the organizer and host of this week's Freedom to Connect gathering, where I'll be reporting from for the next two days. His opening presentation, a high-energy, at-times poetic call to action, addressed the need for better access to the Net -- and what people can do next. What follows is a partial transcript of his remarks:

Continue reading "Fight for Your Right"

Posted by Heath Row at 9:36 AM | 1 Comment

The American Office: Better Than the Original

You heard me. The creators of the American version of The Office have done what's almost impossible in business: They've developed a copycat product that's better than the original. This usually doesn't happen because copycats tend to be lazy and only out for a quick buck. They're not interested in quantum improvement. But if last night's episode on NBC, the single funniest comedy I've seen on television since Seinfeld circa 1993, is any indication, The Office is not only a critical home run but it's viewer-friendly enough to be a hit eventually.

There are only two reasons why anyone's made such a fuss about Ricky Gervais' The Office here in America:

1) Anglophiles who are always going to think British stuff is better. To which I say, I think there's a Red Dwarf marathon going on. Why don't you go watch it?

2) Americans have been so starved for a good comedy about the workplace that even a British show that has all the comic timing of a dry martini is sought out and cherished because According to Jim isn't speaking to them to make them feel better about their miserable jobs.

I watched last night's show on NBC twice and then I watched the BBC pilot. Want to why the American Office is so great and better than the British version? Keep reading.

Continue reading "The American Office: Better Than the Original"

Posted by David Lidsky at 8:42 AM | 86 Comments

March 29, 2005

Do Fries Go with That Shake?

I just met with Tom Wilson, the President of Allstate Protection. He had a lot of interesting things to say about how he's trying to transform the culture of his organization. We started talking about what it means to educate one's employees, and he told me a funny anecdote that, in my mind, summed up perfectly the difference bewteen education and training.

A customer goes into a McDonald's and orders a milkshake and an apple pie. The cashier says "Do you want dessert with that?"

That, people, is the downside of training. Education, by contrast, requires actual thinking and reacting to what the customer has actually said. Anyone else have insights on how to go beyond training to education?

Posted by Jennifer Reingold at 4:27 PM | 5 Comments

A Union of Opinion

I suppose I was tempting fate, discussing unions here. That musing got a flood of comments. It deserves a look: some call unions corrupt, and others call them godsends. Name calling began, partisan politics entered the equation, and I watched over in shock. Even when I posted a follow-up comment, 'I am not so naive to think that unions can't abuse their power. And I am not so jaded to think unions are only power-hungry committees who want to control the world' the fur continued flying unabatedly.

This shows me two things: our FC Now readers have opinions and have no qualms letting it be known (which is a good thing). And that there needs to be a real discussion about unions in business ethics. Some comments applauded Wal-Mart for saving money and passing those savings on to their customers. Others lambasted the retailer for abusing their employees. Clearly, this is an unresolved issue.

Everyone agrees that transparency is a good thing, or running a green business, but the ethics of unions and employee rights is mired with confusion and rhetoric. How can we approach this issue and start a real dialogue? Any suggestions?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:35 AM | 5 Comments

March 28, 2005

Photo Sharing and the Return of the Flip

I got an email a little while ago that the company that owns NetZero and Classmates.com (the almost 1960s sounding United Online--what, no Amalgamated?) is purchasing PhotoSite, a photo-sharing website, from Homestead Technologies. On the heels of the news that Yahoo bought Flickr and that HP purchased Snapfish, we now have what we in the journalism racket call a trend.

Frankly, I'm a little depressed. With the emergence of Flickr (and a far inferior PhotoSite, among others), I thought we'd moved away from the idea of photo-sharing as a secondary or tertiary feature in a portfolio of photo-related commerce. Photo sharing as loss leader or afterthought. I thought photo sharing, which had been revived as a business within the last year, was going to be another example of a dot-com boom era idea that failed only for poor execution, not because it wasn't sustainable as a business.

Continue reading "Photo Sharing and the Return of the Flip"

Posted by David Lidsky at 9:55 PM | 4 Comments

Corporate Shrink: Question of the Week

When does it make sense to leave a family business that's not managed well? Tell the Corporate Shrink what you think.

Posted by Heath Row at 6:20 PM | Add Comment

Humor? Hardly Know Her

A Company of Friends member in Philadelphia recently shared this with other area readers:

James Thorson, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has devised a Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale, which has been used by both researchers and clinicians to measure individuals' level of mirth. The test asks things like whether you use humor to cope and whether your friends consider you a wit. Thorson's research has found that "those who score high on a multidimensional sense of humor scale have lower levels of depression and higher levels of purpose than those who score low in humor.

The self-assessment might be worth taking a look at. How do you use humor at work?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:49 PM | 0 Comments

Leading Ideas: Wherever You are... Be There

"My life has been a series of wonderful experiences. It's a pity I wasn't there for most of them." -- Portia Nelson (1920-2001) American actress

Currently, one of my clients is dealing with a series of tough issues all at once. Last week he looked like he might explode. As we chatted, it became clear that his anxiety about the future and frustration about the past were robbing him of his ability to be effective NOW. And they were blinding him to a unique opportunity the challenges presented - the chance to strengthen a key customer relationship. By the end of the meeting he laughed at himself as he realized, "The costs of anxiety and frustration are staggering!" I couldn't have said it better myself.

Something to consider:

Right now is all you've got. If you miss it, it's gone. The good news is that there's always another "right now" around the corner. The bad news is that it's easy to miss that one too. In fact, it's easy to arrive at the end of your life having spent very little time "right now." That's because it's easy to obsess about the past or the future (two places that don't even exist!) Recognize something: you've never been in the past and you'll never be in the future. You'll only ever be right now.

Continue reading "Leading Ideas: Wherever You are... Be There"

Posted by Doug Sundheim at 2:05 PM | 2 Comments

Productive Work Environments - Office Vs Cubicle

Over the past 15 years, office design has been influenced by the idea that fewer walls=better communication=higher productivity. The workplace expression of that concept has been the mass cubicle-ization of the office. But the ugly truth is that nobody has been able to measure whether this arrangement has led to more knowledge worker productivity -- or less. The only thing we know for sure is that it's cheaper.

What do you think? Are you working better in a cubicle than you did in an office -- or vice versa? Do you communicate better with your team? Do you stay home to do heads-down work?

Would love to hear your thoughts for an upcoming story.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 12:04 PM | 27 Comments

Guest Host: Brand Sense

I'd like to thank Martin for joining us last week as a guest host in FC Now. As author of Brand Sense, he brought a useful perspective on sales, marketing, branding, advertising... and even handheld technology development. I've compiled all of his entries in a special category you can access on the left-hand side of FC Now.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:18 AM | 13 Comments

Dear Mr. Lindstrom...

Mr. Lindstrom's blog entry last Friday sparked my interest. I spent a few minutes this weekend considering the problem. Though I loathe limits to free speech, he brings up a good point. Just as certain commercials are banned on television (which should be extended to pharmaceuticals), certain things should not be advertised in games. I believe this should be a function of a game's rating. While most things should be allowed in an M (Mature) game, alcohol and beer should be prohibited in games rated T (Teen) and under. I would support legislation for that.

What I don't like is legislation to censor games. Books, film and television aren't banned because of violence, but a game should be? That is what the ratings are there for. Yet, lawsuits still persist. Parents should pay attention to the ratings of the games their kids play. And legislation should be passed to make it illegal to sell games labeled M to kids. Yes the video game industry needs to fine-tune a few things, but not to the point of limiting artistic vision.

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:26 AM | 1 Comment

March 25, 2005

Regulating Games

In many countries advertisers are restricted in what they sell to kids. But gaming offers a vehicle to communicate commercial messages that will go directly to the heart of young people. Regulators have never addressed this. How can they regulate what appears in games, and what should the legislation look like?

Posted by Martin Lindstrom at 4:12 PM | 1 Comment

Can Madison Avenue Keep Up?

Madison Avenue (which once was packed with high-profile advertising agencies in NYC) hasn't come up with anything new for decades. I find it interesting that no one has mastered the art of product placement in computer games. What does it cost? Who's measuring the effects? What's the best way to develop commercial messages for games? Will this threaten the old bastions of the advertising world?

Posted by Martin Lindstrom at 4:09 PM | 3 Comments

Encyclopedic Knowledge

Last night, before watching the Office, I was reading a little of the first Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective book by Donald Sobol. And I was surprised how many ideas and lessons for the world of work there were in just the first three stories!

Here are some of the leading themes:

Continue reading "Encyclopedic Knowledge"

Posted by Heath Row at 2:30 PM | 3 Comments

Where Can Commercials Go Next?

Over the few past years I've been playing around with the concept of Contextual branding. The notion of sending the right message, to the right audience, at the right time. Let's make the PSP for example. For some reason it doesn't have a GPS (Global Positioning System) built in.

Imagine if it did.

You're walking down the street, gaming away, and after you've completed first level you come across an ad asking you if you want more energy. And if you do, check out the 7-Eleven you're just passing which has Red Bull energy drink on special. Type in the bar code and get another 100 points on your game.

Futuristic? Not really. Red Bull already features in PlayStation 1, and contextual messages are being tested in Australia. What's your take on this?

Posted by Martin Lindstrom at 12:26 PM | 4 Comments

The Office: Ratings Report

The incomparable Programming Insider, Marc Berman, at Mediaweek, has the overnight ratings:

The Office won the 9:30 p.m. half-hour with a 9.7/14 in the overnights and a 5.0/13 among adults 18-49 (and a second-place 11.27 million viewers). If you consider that these days perhaps 20 million viewers represents a smash hit, then it's hard to get too worked up over these numbers. They're good, not great. Kind of like the show so far. Remember that it didn't face CSI but college basketball over on CBS. It didn't face American Idol over on Fox, but rather the dead-on-arrival Life on a Stick. It did retain well over 90% of the Apprentice audience, which is very impressive. Let's see how the show fares in the ratings as well as critically Tuesday in the first episode written exclusively for the American audience.

Thanks to all who've commented on my Office-related posts so far. It'll be fun to see this continue to develop.

Posted by David Lidsky at 12:22 PM | Add Comment

Blockbuster Battle to Begin!

It seems Blockbuster Inc. backed off from acquiring its competitor Hollywood Video. Instead, Hollywood (number two in home rentals) will merge with Movie Gallery (number three). Their combined company will be a greater rival for Blockbuster (number one).

Apparently, Blockbuster thought they wouldn't get the go ahead by the FTC due to antitrust concerns. So, they just dropped the pursuit. I consider this a case of the system succeeding. Blockbuster will now have greater competition from Hollywood/Movie Gallery. And they are already being forced to give customers more value due to the success of Netflix. I think everyone wins out on this one.

Continue reading "Blockbuster Battle to Begin!"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 11:57 AM | 2 Comments

Everything's Fair Game

Television advertising is losing its absolute dominance. It no longer has the power it once had. I explored this phenomenon in another book of mine, BRANDchild. By the riper old age of 65, the average American consumer has watched two million commercials! This works out to six years of straight viewing: eight hours a day, seven days a week! Pretty scary.

Already in the current market, Hollywood revenues are roughly half that of gaming. Now think of product placement. The newest version of the ever popular Sim City has introduced McDonald's franchises into their game.

Posted by Martin Lindstrom at 5:51 AM | Add Comment

March 24, 2005

The Office: Brilliant Satire or Tired Facsimile? Discuss.

As promised, I watched the premiere of The Office on NBC tonight. (Remember that I am coming into this with only word of the legend of the BBC version; I have not seen the series on which this American rendition is based.) So evaluating it for what it is, I thought the show was very good. Not great but certainly far from the dispiriting feeling one usually gets after watching what passes for scripted comedy these days on network television.

What did you think? I want to hear from devotees of the BBC show as well as neophytes like me. I also want to hear what you think about the state of office culture today and what this show is trying to say about the way most of us work.

Click on the link to read my full review.

Continue reading "The Office: Brilliant Satire or Tired Facsimile? Discuss."

Posted by David Lidsky at