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Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent most of my adult life–and all of my professional career–working with large organizations, but I am not a data privacy alarmist. Most large organizations struggle with the basics of digital marketing and technology, never mind some vast conspiracy to manipulate the hearts and minds of the populace. It’s just too […]
Back in the early days of social media we used to laugh at clients and nay-sayers who were afraid of “losing control” of a conversation or encountering negative comments. “Pishaw!” we’d reply and then educate them on the value of starting conversations with their customers and followers. After all, the conversations were happening with them […]
In the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a war raging. It had nothing to do with the Russians, but did affect our culture for decades to come. It was The Format Wars between two competing media technologies: VHS vs. Betamax. We dig into what gave VHS the competitive edge in the format wars […]
From the not-yet-created How to Be a Good Client files: How to Avoid Creating a Monster. Anyone who has done work-for-hire in a creative field has experienced the frustration and humility of having to “Frankenstein” a solution. We try to avoid it by presenting our favorite solution in a certain order—and no matter what we […]
Tom and Derek take on the origins of “Metastential” – where does the name come from, what does it even mean? We open the conversation on the way to understanding Memes, with the context shifting and cultural relevance, with some favorite cultural themes thrown in. Where concepts overlap, there is treasure…
We’ve heard for a decade now that publishing is dying/dead as a business…multimedia publishers, Vice, says otherwise. A fascinating feature, The virtues of Vice: how punk magazine was transformed into media giant, gives insights into how these punks bucked the commonly held belief that news media is a dying business and grew from a zine […]
We like to think of the online experience as being an extension of our real life. We are who we are and while the elements that make up who we are might be expressed differently in the digital world, it’s not a drastically different person than who we really are. It’s variations and shades of […]
One of the most intriguing areas of interest for me is the steps being taken to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds. Google Glass may be a bit obnoxious in practice today but the potential for technology like that is astonishing. Watching my son play on his Xbox Kinect is another insight […]
As an element of drama, Aristotle said that catharsis is “A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear,” which makes it possible for the audience to connect with the subject and characters of the play. Without this connection, we might all look at a tragedy and collective say, “So what?” But […]
There’s something oddly compelling and satisfying about watching a man recreate the iOS interface using nothing more than MS Word. Maybe it’s the comeuppance of a meticulously branded “product design” institution? Maybe it’s the Goliath vs. Goliath face-off with uglier giant actually besting its prettier rival with its most pedestrian weapon? Maybe it’s just the […]