In case you missed it …

In an effort to provide a bit more value to you, my loyal followers (as well as those that stumbled upon my humble blog my chance), here are some links to things I’ve come across (well, actually Google came across them and sent them to me in an alert).  At any rate, from Google to me to you:

Univision Interactive Media debuts Hispanic-targeted ad network

Comcast and HSN Announce National Rollout of “Shop by Remote“

The International Olympic Committee designates The Canadian Press as the National Olympic Photo Pool for the 2010 Winter Games

From word of mouth to ‘word of mouse’, K&V Media forays into digital space

IAB Launches “Privacy Matters,” Its First-Ever Consumer Education Campaign

Pilson To Discuss Future of Sports TV Industry at League Summit Keynote

There you go, an icy-cold six pack of links (and you don’t even have to be 21 to enjoy them).

Dream the Impossible Dream

Racing toward the Halftime Break (NASCAR SuperTruck Series presented by Craftsman reference) of the inaugural Masters in Interactive Media season, the time seems ripe for the proverbial “looking back” to evaluate how far we’ve come (and in some cases, how far we still have to go).

With the 2009 NASCAR season over and the awards banquets in the rear-view mirror, I got to thinking about Jimmie Johnson winning four-consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, something never done before in the history of the sport.  That idea – something never done before – parallels what we’ve been discovering during the inaugural iMedia campaign.

On a daily basis, my cohort and I are regularly asked to do things that have never been done before.  From designing new interfaces to concocting levels of interactivity never even dreamed of before, we are blazing the interactive media trail, testing the limits of technology as well as our own.  This set of circumstances is not unique – it doesn’t exist just in our graduate school environment — by and large, that is the way of the world.  The break-neck pace of technological, scientific and artistic development is redefining the boundaries in which we work and play.

Venturing into uncharted waters such as we are elicits reactions from excitement to terror.  Discovering what is around the corner, not knowing what is over the horizon taps into some people’s spirit of adventure while at the same time playing on a common, often deep-rooted fear of the unknown.  Whatever the case may be, this is arguably the most incredible time to be a part of the media profession; standing on the cusp of what can be considered the most open and creative time in communications history, a time where we truly can “dream the impossible dream” (who would have thought I could reference NASCAR and Man of La Mancha in the same blog post).

Many may ask if we are better off because of it all.  At this point, only time will tell.  We may be approaching the Halftime Break of the inaugural iMedia season, but this is only the beginning of what will be a long and prosperous future of racing in the media/communications profession.

Giving Thanks for the “Miracle of Media”

(Note:  The post builds slow, but stay with it)

Sunday means race day, so I was tuned in to ESPN on ABC for the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Phoenix International Raceway, the penultimate race in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Listening to the radio broadcast of the pre-race ceremonies on Motor Racing Network (since I was in my car at the time), I heard something that got me thinking.

During the invocation, when going through the typical thanking God for the facility, the beautiful day to race and the fans in attendance, mention was given to the fans not at the track but joined ‘us’ through the “miracle of media.”

To be honest, at first I chuckled.  I had never heard media referred to as a miracle, let alone in a religious setting.  However, being the budding interactive media professional that I am, the prayer got me looking at my chosen life from a different perspective.

When you think about it, what we are able to accomplish as media professionals is arguably nothing short of a miracle.  The technologies behind being able to:

• reach millions upon millions of people simultaneously
• span across time and distance, bringing people together
• create programs, websites, interactive games
• instantly have your message – be it tweet, blog or video – published
• give the audience choice and control over their media experience
• and the list goes on …

The programs, tools and technologies we sometimes (ok, usually) take for granted enable us to do amazing things, unimaginable just several years ago.

I’m going to stop short of getting all “evangelical” on you, preaching the word that our media is a miracle, deserving of our prayers of thanks – I am not one to push religion on anyone.  Nor am I going so far as to say we in the media are doing “God’s work” – an idea that frankly is presumptuous and overflowing with hubris.

Consider this an invitation to think about our chosen life’s work (media) in a different way.  Whether or not you drop to your knees and start giving thanks to whatever form of Higher Power you believe in, that’s up to you.

Double-file restart, shootout style

As you may have noticed, I’ve restarted my blog — making a few changes in an effort to liven things up and personalize it a bit more.  As you also may have noticed, it is still early in the race, so more “restarts” may be coming.

With the formalities properly dispensed, on to the compelling content you’ve been anxiously anticipating.

They say you should write what you know; find something you are passionate about and go to town so-to-speak.  Personally, I really would like to know who “they” are since “they” seem to have quite a bit of power … but I digress.

Let’s see … I could write about NASCAR – I like it and I’d like to think I know a bit about it.  Not exactly the right forum for that, yet.  Next!

I could write about interactive media, since I live and breathe it on a daily basis.  Wait though, I don’t really “know” it (yet) — I am in the process of learning all about iMedia (short for interactive media).  I can share with you what I learn along the way, like today’s nuggets on web analytics.

Took in a lecture earlier today by Mark Tosczak, Account Supervisor at RLF Communications, and it was all about web analytics.  It may be a brave new world of interactive media, but it is still media, and in the United States that means it is commercial and needs to make some money in order to be viable.  Web analytics is a means to that end.

According to the Web Analytics Association …

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage

Basically, the more you know about your site (how it works, how effective it is, etc.) and the users that visit, the better equipped you are to leverage your web presence to turn a profit.  After all, the media business is still a business.

Tosczak, as a public relations and marketing professional, has developed five commandments when it comes to web analytics –

1. Your metrics shall be tied to your goals (measure stuff that relates to what you are trying to do)
2. Evaluate results, not activities (it doesn’t matter what you actually do, what matters is did it produce the desired effect)
3. Thou shall understand the data (don’t just throw around terms and numbers without knowing what they mean)
4. Don’t trust computers (know and embrace that web analytics is an inexact science, seek other data to supplement and put all the analysis in context)
5. Always measure (without it, you can’t answer the fundamental questions — ‘are we achieving our goals?’ or ‘what results has this produced?’)

Hmm … guess I know a bit more than I thought I did.  Hope you learned something too.

Till next time, here’s hoping you stay in the groove and out of the marbles (I managed to write about NASCAR after all).

My Secret “Interactive” Television Show

With the final meeting of the minds that is F2F Friday (on Monday), I’m going to get a little selfish and comment on what I shared, as lowbrow as it may be.

Ladies and gentlemen, the future of television has arrived … sort of.  Comedy Central debuted a new 30-minute program titled “Secret Girlfriend” the beginning of October that may be a harbinger of television to come.

Based on the atomicwedgietv.com series of the same name, “Secret Girlfriend” breaks the so-called fourth wall, shot entirely from a first-person perspective making you, the viewer at home, the central character of the show.  The supporting cast plays to the camera, engaging you and speaking to you as if you are there.

The show follows “you” and your two roommates/best friends – Phil (described as “aggressively laid back … always pushing … to the limits of partying”) and Sam (described as being “up for anything, anytime”).  Phil and Sam run a fledgling viral video business, looking for that next hit that will bring them fame and fortune (and women).

Speaking of women, two attractive young ladies round out the cast of characters in your life — Mandy, your crazy ex-girlfriend and Jessica, the cute and cool “girl next door” you meet on a beer run in the series premiere.   One of “your” chief concerns is keeping the existence of Jessica (and her lesbian roommates) a secret from Mandy (hence, secret girlfriend … though Jessica has a long distance boyfriend when you meet, so she technically isn’t your girlfriend, but who’s counting).

Every episode is shot entirely from your point of view and is divided into two, 11-minute scripted “mini-sodes,” essentially long-format versions of a webi-sode where the series got its start.   Texts and video messages on “your” cell phone help at times to drive the plot forward, adding another facet of the program that plays directly to you, the viewer.

Comedy Central has a section of it’s website dedicated to “Secret Girlfriend,” adding to the content and connection viewers can have with the show.  Some of the features include:

• deleted and extended scenes from the series
• an online dictionary defining the shows various “brocabulary”
• a profile for Sam and Phil on Comedy Central’s sister site Atom.com

There is a “Secret Girlfriend” game, When Booty Calls, where players set off on “a wild adventure in search of fun and getting laid.”  And no online presence would be complete without a Facebook connection, and “Secret Girlfriend” has it with a personality quiz “Who is Your Secret Girlfriend?”

So, why am I telling you about a 30-minute show on Comedy Central, especially one that panders to the basic male desire of looking at hot chicks?  Well, I believe this kind of programming is a signpost on the way to interactive television.

Comedy Central took an Internet program and adapted it for mainstream television.  In the coming years, as more people take to the Internet to produce and watch content, more of the cutting edge and ground-breaking ideas are going to be found mining the online video sites rather than the writer’s room at the studio.

Also, the show is constructed and shot from the first person perspective, with the supporting cast playing to the camera as if it is you, there with them.  From that point, it is not too hard to imagine a simple A/B choice for the home viewer/main character built into the story, and lo and behold, interactive television.

Sure, it may not be the most intelligent program on television, but it just may be a sign of what is to come.  Just make sure it doesn’t stay a “secret” for long.

(Excerpted in part from www.comedycentral.com)

Privacy … Fail

Came across this disturbing bit of news on the privacy front (thanks to my fellow iMedia revolutionist Paul), posted 11/4/2009:

Facebook and MySpace security: backdoor wide-open, millions of accounts exploitable

Naturally, having an account on both sites, and being a minor privacy expert thanks to my research topic, this caught my attention.

Apparently, an application developer by the name of Yvo Schaap had been running into functionality limitations when building Flash applications for Facebook.  In his efforts to find a work-around and solve his problem, he discovered a gaping hole in Facebook security that allowed untraceable access to user profiles.  He also found the same issue when he investigated MySpace.  Both sites fixed the issue after being told of the back door security breach.

Hundreds of millions of people use these sites every day, many not even thinking twice about what they post and share with friends and family.  Imagine the violation of having all of your photos, your chats, your messages and data copied with no trace it even happened.

One of the main tenets that came from my future of privacy research is the shift in ideology from efforts to keep your information secret to being able to control your information.  With an increasing amount of our lives being lived online, an increasing amount of ourselves is residing online, leaving us more vulnerable than ever before.

Given the nature of the Internet and online mechanics, once something is out there, it is out there for good.  It appears to be that the redefinition of privacy as control over your own information is emerging as the possible operating concept of privacy in the technological future.

Rethink the Facebook and MySpace security issues in terms of control over information.  When users post their information online, they set the privacy parameters on who gets to see what information.  A stranger gaining untraceable access to your information strips that control from the user – they no longer dictate how their information is viewed and shared, they’ve lost control over their online lives.

While there are obviously still issues that need to be addressed to close the technological loopholes in security and privacy protection, there needs to be an effort to think about solutions – legal, ideological or otherwise – as we creep ever closer to total online living.

Zen and the Art of Interactive Media

As we future leaders of the iMedia revolution hurtle down the Autobahn of the media profession, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there really is an art to this whole thing.

Wait a second and hear me out on this.

With all of the technology at our disposal, it is possible to do just about anything.  Between the software programs that enable us to create something from nothing to the pieces of hardware that run those programs, we can produce what was virtually unimaginable just a few short years ago.

But the technology will only take you so far.

To truly cross the threshold between work for work’s sake and truly polished, pro-quality pieces, it takes a certain innate ability, a certain je ne sais quoi.  You could be the leading expert on Adobe Flash and know every shortcut and trick in the book, but if you lack that eye for design, that aesthetic sensibility, that artists’ soul – the interactive media you produce will not be nearly as effective.

It is a crowded media landscape out there kids, and to make sure your message is heard, you need every advantage you can get.  In the short-attention-span/sound bite world of instant information, if you are not able to hook your viewer/user/audience with an incredible first impression, chances are you have lost them.

From our graduate work getting inside the mind of iMedia, a recurring balance keeps emerging – content vs. presentation.

Without a doubt, even in the digital age, good content is always going to attract an audience.  People are not going to return to your site, use your product, click on your advertisement or tell their friends about you if what you are offering isn’t compelling, interesting and engaging.

On the other side of the balance, that good content needs to be presented in the appropriate way.  You could have the secret to the meaning of life on your site, but if it isn’t presented in an appealing, accessible, aesthetically-pleasing way, no one is going to stick around your site long enough to find your good content.

As we march on into the great unknown that is interactive media, it’s not style vs. substance or style over substance; it’s both – style and substance.

The Future of Privacy (Law) — Pt. 1

As promised, the world premiere of the futures research project “The Future of Privacy (Law)” will happen right here, exclusively on this very blog.

In a shameless effort to build suspense and anticipation for the release of my opus (so far), a teaser, in the form of the paper’s abstract:

 

The Future of Privacy (Law)
[or CSI:ID -- when your digital DNA (figurative & literal) goes viral]

Abstract:

A futures-thinking approach toward the examination of the privacy issue will be taken in an effort to out in front of the issue, to be better prepared to address potential concerns. Instead of issues of privacy being addressed proactively, in large part they are addressed in a reactive fashion. With technology outpacing the current privacy “action plans” (aka legal and structural/systemic privacy protections), large grey areas are forming, leaving key concerns unaddressed.

Many take privacy for granted, viewing it as a right, along the lines of freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. Yet, an explicit mention of a right of privacy cannot be found anywhere in the complete text of the United States Constitution. However, over the years, legal cases and Supreme Court rulings have, for lack of a better word, created a right of privacy, one that is constitutionally protected.

Investigation into the history of privacy, its development into an implied constitutional right, will establish the foundation of the idea of privacy in the United States. An examination of current literature will help establish a base of what some of the current privacy concerns are and what overarching questions about privacy protection need to be answered. Privacy opinion leaders and privacy advocates will be consulted as well, taking the pulse of privacy, looking at what the potential privacy issues may have to be faced in the future.

There needs to be a shift in the approach to addressing issues of privacy. Technology is lapping the current action plans in place to handle privacy concerns. Solutions have to be more proactive instead of reactive — instead of waiting for the problems to appear to figure out a solution, there needs plans in place for the possible, having on hand methods and systems to deal with issues that arise. Technological development isn’t going to stop and privacy policies need to get out in front of the curve.

 

Check back in the coming days for the project’s debut.

 

Interested in more on privacy? Check out:

Electronic Privacy Information Center
Privacy.org
Privacy Journal

Social Media House of Horrors

Facebook.  MySpace.  Twitter.  YouTube.  WordPress.  To some in the business and marketing world, those names are as frightful as Jason, Freddy, Michael, Jigsaw and Pamela.

Grant it, with as wide-spread and as pervasive as the Facebooks of the world seem to be, there are still many folks who fail to see the benefits of the Web 2.0 world.

It is a brave and sometimes scary world, that of online social media.  There is a haves/have-nots gap in the business world between those that have taken the plunge, reaping the rewards of wading into the social media seas, and those who are still standing on the shores, the very thought of even just testing the waters with their toes sends them running for the hills.

(From an October 2009 article in PR Week):

Part of the issue seems to stem from an organizational confusion about where this new means of communication fits into the old-school business structure.  Is running social media marketing’s job?  Should PR be handling it?  What about advertising?  How about the media planning/buying department?  Companies that are in the world of social media are answering that question A, B, C & D.  Social media budgets are being formed from siphoning cash from those departments, carving out a place in the company hierarchy for the importance of the social media conversation.  Even some believe the future of social media strategy and oversight will come from some form of a PR/marketing/communications department hybrid or an entirely new “social media” division.

What are they seeing that others aren’t?  The value in the use of social media comes from the real-time conversations companies can have with their customers.  From an October 2009 article in PR Week, of companies surveyed, the uses of social media:

• 47% to manage and monitor customer feedback
• 40% to reach key influencers
• 39% to understand the consumer and competitive landscape
• 35% to create brand communities and fan pages
• 31% for media relations
• 31% for lead generation
• 28% for product launches
• 19% for product reviews
• 6% to monitor conversations

As for what lies ahead, companies see social media having more of an impact in: connection to customers, building company or brand awareness, generating sales and revenue, increasing/maintaining market share, managing corporate reputation and managing stakeholder opinions of the company/brands.

Good thing we future leaders of the iMedia revolution are getting a handle on all this stuff, huh?  Looks like there is a future for us out there after all.

Adventures in Interactivity/Interactivity by candlelight

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath for the release of “The Future of Privacy (Law),” you’ll have to wait just a little while longer.  I finally had something kinda interesting happen to me that I wanted to share.

Wandering around the brick streets of campus this evening, I came upon a curious sight.  Those of the Elon community will recognize them as “luminaries” … typically only seen on campus around the holidays.  This evening, there was a display spread out on the lawn in front of the “Elon University” sign found in front of Alamance building and Fonville fountain (seen below in a photo taken with my smart phone).

The display as seen from across Haggard Avenue

In the darkness in front of the brick and stone Elon University sign, I could make out the shadowy figures of a handful of people, four, maybe five at the most.  Not much foot traffic passed the display, although the site did garner its share of glances, looks and outright stares.  I admit, I passed the display a few times, trying to figure out what it was all about.

Finally, leaving the campus for the evening, my curiosity got the better of me, and I had to ask what the display was for.  As it turns out, it was an anti-death penalty vigil sponsored by Amnesty International.  The shadowy figures were dedicated, passionate students, braving the cool October evening for a cause they cared about, complete with letters on behalf of particular death-row inmates available to sign.

My curiosity fed, I bid them a good night and headed to my car.  Crossing Haggard Avenue, something clicked.  Being in the Interactive Media master’s program, learning to be a future captain of iMedia industry, my mind constantly resides in the state of interactivity, and I just had an interactive experience of the most rarest kind – human-to-human.

Think about it — the display of candle-lit bags arranged across the darkened lawn on the main quad of campus was meant to grab people’s attention, get them to come over and see what was going on, just like I did.  It is the same principle we speak of in class in relation to web design – you have to have something to hook the audience, draw them into your site (just like the display drew me to the group).

Once you have the audience’s attention, you can make your pitch, share information, get them to buy your product, or as in the case of the vigil, try to persuade others to join your cause.

I found it rather eye-opening, almost an epiphany of sorts, recognizing an interactive design outside the context of technology.  Maybe there is something to all those books our classmate Paul tells us about on F2F Fridays.

While we may be holed-up in class, learning to master the latest tools of the iMedia trade, it is refreshing, perhaps even liberating, to know that the same ideas of interactivity can apply to even the most basic of situations.  There’s hope for us yet.