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Two out of the last three DVDs I got from Netflix were scratched in such a way that a key scene was not watchable.

I went to call them to see what is up. They give you a code on the site to enter on the phone.

Who wants to bet that the code is a primary key between the web analytics cookie and and the phone system. Clever.

My friend Allaire Diamond, who is working on a mobile application wildcrafting mashup that helps people use technology to engage with the environment, got into Wired recently. Enjoy.

I hate to be a downer on the news industry. Especially because I have a lot of friends who work in it. But when people start suggesting that a new technology is going to help the news industry out of the slump, I gotta throw in my two cents. Worse when my point is proved by the people being the New York Times. I’m sure I have some screwups in here so please feel free to correct me via the comments below. Read the rest of this entry »

Video, as a content type, is gaining traction with online marketing for a variety of reasons: inexpensive equipment, cheaper bandwidth and hard drive space, the appearance of several viable dedicated video community sites and the advent of blended search results in Google. So, to put it mildly, lots of people are exploring video at the moment.

If you’re putting talking heads into your video, perhaps getting a video reference for your great work and so on, the following video by Burlington, Vermont’s Bill Simmon will be very useful. In this video Bill covers how to deploy the industry standard 3-point lighting technique to achieve the following:

1. Put enough light on the subject of your video (the person being interviewed) with a “key light.”
2. Use light to keep the subject from blending into the background with a “back light.”
3. Use light to keep the shadows on your subjects face from being too dark and dramatic with a “fill light.”

Bill uses a controlled studio and professional lighting equipment. This is probably beyond the means of most DIY online marketers experimenting with video. However, with a little creativity you should be able to apply the concepts he introduces using your own materials to improve the quality of your videos.

3-Point Lighting Explained! from Bill Simmon on Vimeo.

If you are fortunate enough to live in Burlington, VT and you’re interested in making better video, Vermont Community Access Media (aka VCAM) offers classes regularly. The above video was filmed at one of their classes. How’s that for cable access awesomeness?

Here’s a bonus link: An article about lighting houses.

One of the most fun theater institutions in Burlington, Vermont is the Spielpalast Caberet. A bunch of the town’s dancers, theater people, musicians and so on get together an create a burlesque show of pretty women dancing in very little clothing while an absurdist and random plot weaves through the night.

This isn’t a strip show and is pretty tame by comparisons to other shows that fall into the burlesque revival genre. But you can count on seeing some Bob Fosse inspired dance numbers, hear some unbelievable singing, and expect to be confused and surprised throughout the evening.

Not that you’ll need any help enjoying the show, but if it’s your first time to the Spielpalast here are a few suggestions:

Dress up

Not mandatory but everyone else will be dressed up. And it’s more fun that way. The scene is usally vaguely 1920s-1930s style so if you’ve been looking for an excuse to wear that fedora or flapper dress the time has come.

Arrive early

There’s a cocktail hour ahead of time and actors, actresses and volunteers will be in character from the moment you arrive. Give yourself a little time to relax into the atmosphere. Also, the seating is general admission. All of the seats are good, but in case you really want to sit in the middle or near the aisle or whatever you’ll want to get there in time to get in early. The show is interactive, so if you sit near the aisle prepare to be interacted with.

Bring cash

There will be numerous opportunities for you to buy memorabilia throughout the evening and you’ll want something.

Read the handbill

The background of each of the dancers, the band and players is all in character and worth reading.

Have fun and enjoy this #BTV specialty!

While I was in New York recently I had the opportunity to hang out with my friend Ben. Ben works as an arborist for the city of Brooklyn and is currently working to negotiate sidewalk alterations that will be helpful to older trees which are starting to strain against their concrete boundary. It’s pretty cool stuff. But that’s not what I want to share with you about our conversation.

Ben, who besides speaking for the trees isn’t a Luddite or anything, referred to our current technological existence as the post-wonderment age. It used to be, when you’d be out walking and consider seeing a movie or a band or whatever you’d say something like “I wonder what’s playing at the movie theater.” Now, instead of wondering, we just whip out our post-wonderment devices and beam the information in. This observation got me thinking about how easy it is to access information today (even with my non-phone post-wonderment device: an iPod Touch).

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. –Albert Einstein

In the absence of knowing something, we imagine multiple realities and possibilities. We can make plans based on whichever variations of these possibilities seem most interesting to us, creating multiple futures. When we lack the time and space to actively wonder about something, I wonder what happens to our ability to innovate and generate new things.

Just a quick announcement that I’ll be presenting at Burlington’s Web Analytics Wednesday event on May 27th, 6pm at the Red Square on Church Street. The topic will be Measuring Social Media. I’ll be talking about a few of the tools I use and also why I think it’s important. Hopefully you’ll come and add some of your own thoughts.

Web Analytics Wednesday is always fun and a lot of the town’s web geeks tend to be on hand. It’s great for web analytics practitioners (finally, there’s a party where people speak your language), people who use web analytics to make decisions (like business owners) and others who just want to learn more. It’ll be geeky and fun.

I’ve been pretty busy the last few weeks. Who hasn’t I suppose. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights

Conversation with Allaire Diamond

My friend Allaire is finishing up her graduate degree at the University of Vermont where she studies non-timber uses for forests. All the foraging, crafting and other uses for land that don’t involve chainsaws. Meghan, Allaire and myself were having a tea and conversation hang out and came up with some thoughts on combining technology and social networks to help connect people to their landscape. Sort of a localism for rural environments and field observation.It’s these sort of conversations that really get me going; synthesizing two or three disciplines to see what sort of meaning and overlap occurs.

Strategy development for media property in a post-television world

I’ve been working a lot on putting all the ducks in a row for a children’s media property. Assembling all the revenue streams, operations pipelines and marketing strategy for making a business (as opposed to straight licensing to a television network). It’s a lot of fun to work on this and you’ll definitely be hearing more about it over time. I’m not withholding details to be “hush hush,” I just want to have something more solid to show off later.

Hanging out and listening

I attended a well-organized (thanks Nicole!) Tweetup where I got to talk to former co-workers, new and old #BTV twitterati and have a good time. Tweetups are fun because in many ways, the participants have so little in common: they all use an internet-enabled publishing tool. But they might be non-profit workers, PR workers, artists, general business folks, education employees etc. So there’s lots of room for mixing up ideas.

I also made it to a Last Monday Interactive event and heard the full rundown on Vermont Film Incentive and how it didn’t make it through the legislature this year. Getting ideas and insight into the process is always eye-opening. I also got to grill a great Etsy shop-owner for ideas that I’ll be using with the childrens media property.

I had a slew of one-on-one meetings, lunches and coffee dates with area tech-heads and marketers. It was a great work for socializing with the weather getting nice around here.

Helping out

I was given the opportunity to present at the Burlington Women’s Small Business Program again this year. My topic was internet marketing and I start them out at the very beginning (you need to buy a domain name and get some web hosting) and then go as far as I can. I’ll be parsing out the slides and presentation and putting it here over the next few weeks. Speaking to that group is always fun because each of the participants has a different business and focus. Hearing how they solve problems and what questions they ask helps me remember what it’s like for people who don’t have their head in the code all the time.

Reading

I plowed through Guy Kawasaki’s “Art of the Start” (for some of the pitching activities I’m involved in) and it was great. I’m probably going to be referring back to that frequently. Funny story about how I obtained the book. I went to Borders on Church Street to get it and at the checkout they did the usual “Do you have your Borders Rewards Card?” to which I said “No but I know my email address” and they took that and then when I asked about the discount was informed that they don’t give the discount unless I can remember the exact amount the discount was for. What’s the point of me being in the rewards program if I don’t get the rewards? I checked the book out of the library.

I’m also reading Osinga’s book about the strategic theory of John Boyd. Anyone who has talked with me for long knows how much I love the OODA loop. It’s great to have a dissertation on how the theory was put together, exploring the finer details.

Note: This is part of my speaking notes for the Women’s Small Business Program of Burlington Vermont.

Reach: how many people come into contact with your message.

Now that we know why we would want to use a consumer behavior model, let’s start understanding the RAECS model. The first phase of the RAECS model is Reach. Before you “reach” people, they don’t know about you or your message or your product or campaign or anything. You don’t have much of a chance to form a business relationship with them because they don’t know about your offer yet. Your message hasn’t reached them yet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: This post is part of my speaking notes for the Women’s Small Business Program in Burlington Vermont.

Getting the most from your web efforts: Understanding the RAECS behavior model

A consumer behavior model helps content producers make the right things for the right people by matching the content produced with behaviors exhibited by people coming into contact with the content. If you want to be able to measure the effectiveness of the stuff you’re making or if you want to learn from how people behave in relation to the stuff you’re making, then having a consumer behavior model is going to help. Read the rest of this entry »