Disqus - Latest Comments for spxdcz

Re: Curation nation

spxdcz — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:33:26 -0000

I (respectfully) disagree.

The modern use of the word 'curator' is applied to those who filter/select/edit/aggregate/choose/collect/whatever-but-not-curate content, not the content owners. That's going to be a very difficult thing to change. Web apps are now beginning to use the labeling 'Curated by' and 'Curator' in their text, in the context of people who can easily select and re-publish *others'* content (see: Pinterest).

These people cannot be - and, anecdotally, have no intention of being - owners of or responsible for the original content. 'Curators' are the middle-men, the filters.

We can't now change who 'curator' refers to. Few people think that the original content owner/creator is the 'curator'. So by perpetuating this term, are we not confusing the situation? If the 'curator' is, in the traditional sense, the person who 'cares for' the lifecycle of the content, yet the term is referring to someone who has neither the technology nor the ownership nor the inclination to do so, we aren't putting the onus on anyone. We are just muddying the waters with mixed terms and definitions.

Re: Curation nation

spxdcz — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:16:25 -0000

Having worked closely with the museum and gallery sector for 10 years, I have to say that I find the term 'curator' both naive and insulting.

A curator does more than filtering, or even 'filtering with a theme', or editing, or whatever the new 'curation' is. As I said in a tweet yesterday, one of the main differentiating factors for me is that a 'real' curator *cares for* (not 'cares about') their collection. It's not a ephemeral 'choose it, post it, next one' relationship, which so many of the modern 'curators' seem to do.

A museum/gallery curator has a long-term duty of care over their collection; it's not about constantly looking for the next acquisition, looking to get the next set of 'curated' information out. Of course, curation is a whole lot more (including training, outreach, documentation, research), but to simplify the matter I like to use this 'care for' topic.

I'm all for language changing and evolving - I'm with Stephen Fry on that. Language isn't sacred, we should be pleased to see new ways of using old words. But a curator is something specific. Like the 'citizen journalism' of old, it can be a degrading term to the professionals who have spent years training to be a real curator/journalist, and understands all the nuances of the job.

If we want to be playful with words, can we perhaps not choose a different word that doesn't hold such specific meaning in the first place? I guess we don't have a choice now - the internet meme gods have spoken - but just thought I'd register my discomfort with it! (Though, if it does 'stick', I reserve the right to start using it in blog posts for SEO purposes!) :)

Re: The Advocate / Enemy Conundrum: What a Smart Company Would Do

spxdcz — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:58:12 -0000

I've just discovered a far smarter post than mine about this by Jeremiah Owyang called "Companies Should Factor ‘Social Influence’ Into Total Customer Value" which you can read over here: http://www.web-strategist.c...

There are lots of interesting points in Jeremiah's post, include the discussion of 'different types of influence' that need to be accounted for: in his example, Robert Scoble has influence in the tech world, but not in high-end fashion.

Also, it seems from a quick search around the web that the name for this new breed of product is called 'Social CRM' (or sCRM)'.

Re: The Advocate / Enemy Conundrum: What a Smart Company Would Do

spxdcz — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:40:40 -0000

Thanks for the excellent, insightful response.

Of course, it was naïve of me to imply that all companies should put customer service as their first priority. A company producing fire extinguishers should never focus its efforts on winning PR from mistakes.

I suppose my blog item was written with a particular type of company in mind (though I never articulated it!) - the type of business where the production and delivery of the actual product/service is fairly straightforward, and where an additional service is always needed to support customers. For example, ISPs and similar internet services businesses (domain name sales, hosting, etc). In these businesses, the actual product is fairly similar from one company to another. One company in this industry who has already focussed on support is Rackspace - http://www.rackspace.com - and from my experience with them, it works.

Absolutely, I'm sure an 'influence estimator' does exist in sophisticated CRM systems; I hadn't actually considered CRM systems in my post, which I should have. But I do still wonder:

1) How many businesses use a CRM system that includes this type of feature?
2) How many businesses integrate the CRM system with Support ticketing, and/or have the feature in their support system? (after all, CRM is often not used in the support process, but largely for pro-active sales/marketing). From my years of investigating Support Ticketing systems, I've never seen an influence measurement in any of the off-the-shelf products.

I'd guess that at least 95% of relevant businesses don't have access to this feature - especially the smaller players, who could take most advantage of it. I was thinking that this type of feature could be easily developed as a small web javascript widget, that could be integrated into any existing support system - just configure the javascript with the piece of HTML in each message that mentions the name/email/other identifying features of the customer - and away you go!

I'd also be interested to know (if you know?) how these CRM systems can automatically ascertain 'influence' without resorting to using the web/social media? I'm sure a CRM can be manually flagged with certain journalists or lobbyists, and even calculate the high-spenders and best value customers. But I'm not sure how else a system can automatically discover the potential influence of individual customers, apart from using extremely simplistic measures, like checking for certain titles or qualifications before/after a name, or their job title or company name. Maybe that's it. Or maybe I just don't know enough about these systems! Probably the latter.

I'd like to do some more research into this area, thanks to your comment. I might spend some time investigating off-the-shelf CRM systems and Support Ticketing systems, and do a round-up of their features. Maybe also a quick questionnaire to see who is using what, and how.

Thanks again.

Re: http://creative.leeannelowe.com/post/472225866

spxdcz — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:22:09 -0000

Thanks so much for posting about this.

You'll be pleased to know that I'm not going to let this go either! I've written another blog post, asking PayPal to stop dealing with them (http://danzambonini.com/pos... and will also be contacting various consumer-rights organisations. This seems like it's been going on for some time, and I want to stop it happening to anyone else.

Re: The Lost Identity of Music Genres

spxdcz — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:57:49 -0000

I'm going to tell my Mum about you.

Re: The Lost Identity of Music Genres

spxdcz — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:37:52 -0000

Wow, what a great response. You definitely raise many good points, and thanks so much for taking the time to articulate them so clearly.

Absolutely, you're right about my age increasing not only my tolerance of multiple music genres, but an increasing appreciation for many of them (yesterday, I listened to French dance music, a little bit of heavy metal, and some Andrew Lloyd Webber classics!).

And I'm certainly not in touch with "youth culture" any more! (Though sometimes like to think I am).

I imagine there must be some research into the changing tastes and attitudes of teenagers and music sub-cultures; maybe I'll try to hunt some out and post a follow-up.

Re: Are New York Twitter Users More Sophisticated Or Shrewd?

spxdcz — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:35:12 -0000

No, I haven't! That is an excellent idea, but not sure... it would feel wrong! Oh, the temptation!

Re: Are New York Twitter Users More Sophisticated Or Shrewd?

spxdcz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:39:02 -0000

That's a good question, but not one that I'm willing to validate by manually checking 5,000 twitter profiles! Though the steady (steeper) growth of the NY account would seem to suggest that it's a fairly organic growth, rather than a specific 'tipping point' of growth after a specific user/time.

Hrm!

Re: Considering Y Combinator (or any seed funding)?

spxdcz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:35:42 -0000

Thanks so much for the advice - some of this actually answered some of the niggling questions I had about the process.

Re: The Ten Golden Principles For Successful Web Apps

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:53:00 -0000

Look forward to reading/seeing the app!

I think I have fair idea of what mine will take, but don't think bootstrapping is an option (for this particular idea; others I've worked on have been bootstrapped). It's not a simple one-task app (it's not twitter, or twitpic, or something that could be prototyped in a day or two): it's more complicated/sophisticated, and will require a few man-months of full-time attention (not just development, but UX and design too). Though we'll see, maybe I can work out some way of phasing it...

Good luck with yours!

Re: The Ten Golden Principles For Successful Web Apps

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:24:55 -0000

Absolutely.

I'm not saying that the tools appeal to a particular user base (male educated techs), but that by having such a narrow segment of the population being 'in charge' of what gets created (we are the gatekeepers of the web, in some way), we tend to only be solving the problems that we can imagine and encounter in our small worlds. How many more apps do we need to put our egos online (twitter, tumblr, wordpress, flickr, facebook, etc), measure how successful they are (analytics), and let other people find them (google, etc)? There have to be better problems to solve.

Re: pitching VCs for cash, I wasn't very clear sorry: was referring to seed funding (i.e. raising funding to support the development of the app in the first instance).

Re: The Ten Golden Principles For Successful Web Apps

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:17:08 -0000

This comes back to the old cliche of 'idea vs execution', where most people would agree that the idea (i.e. different/unique) doesn't actually matter that much, it's more about the execution (as you say - 'better'). I'd argue that there's a third component too that dictates success ('context' - how does your app fit into the current technological and social environment?).

This is really what the presentation is already about (as far as I'm reading it) - how do you execute your idea brilliantly?

Re: The Ten Golden Principles For Successful Web Apps

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:07:35 -0000

Yes, good point.

I just wanted to make it clear that popularity != success. With our increasing obsession about whatever the metric of the day is (page views, fans, followers, re-blogs, etc), we often lose sight of the business-end of apps.

Especially as developers (as this presentation is geared towards), it's all too-easy to focus on the things that technical people inertly love, like solving a problem, and assume that if the problem is solved well and people like the app, then the app will naturally 'have a life'.

This is not necessarily true; if the rumours are right, then massively popular sites like Stack Overflow or even Mashable may generate the eyeballs and have the reach/presence/respect, but do they generate the cash they need to survive? It could be argued that a niche site, maybe something for people to walk their dogs in New York, used by 100 people - but generating enough cash to get-by - is more 'successful' than a top 100 website with an API but that loses money every day.

I'm actually focusing a pitch I'm hopefully going to make soon (I hope to Fred!) about this very topic. Look at the people behind 95% of the big apps on the web, whether it's Facebook, Google, Flickr, Twitter, or whatever. You'll notice a pattern. They're all white, middle class, well educated, and technical. These are the people that are deciding what the 'best problems to solve' are (and yes, I'm one of them too).

Who's to say that male, educated geeks know what the right problems are? Just because we know how to create apps, doesn't mean we are the right people to decide what gets created. Why shouldn't a nurse, or a newsagent, or a charity worker have a great idea for a successful app?

Anyway, am getting a bit off track now! Apologies.

Re: The Ten Golden Principles For Successful Web Apps

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:42:54 -0000

For me, one of the big missing things from this list is 'sustainable'. Perhaps it's implied, but the most useful, fun, programmable app in the world shouldn't be classed 'successful' if it can't make money or support itself.

Re: An Affiliate Experiment: Buy Kindle in the UK

spxdcz — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:11:24 -0000

Thanks, that's an interesting (and comprehensive) suggestion. I'd like to keep this current experiment as just a simple AdWords/Affiliate one, but I'll definitely try using that technique for a second experiment.

I assume that if you use an expired/old domain for this, it'll speed up the process (ie a domain already in the main Google index, assuming it doesn't have any bad karma associated with it)?

Re: The Increasing Annoyance of Advertising

spxdcz — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:10:11 -0000

I agree.

I think the problem is for the people who decide to advertise on personalised services like these.

At a time when advertising is trying to move from 'attention based' (simplistic, old-fashioned advertising that works by making you take notice) to 'value based' (Google AdWords are almost there to help you fulfil your task; Pepsi decide to launch the Refresh Project rather than advertise during Superbowl), it seems that whoever decides to advertise during these Spotify slots are actually doing their brand more-harm-than-good.

If the purpose is to convince you to upgrade, they may be better just sounding a klaxon for 40 seconds every 10 minutes, rather than basing it on a growing hatred of their sponsors...

Re: Who I Don't Follow On Twitter

spxdcz — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:15:44 -0000

Yeah, unfortunately I would class your account (http://twitter.com/EmptyLemon) as spam! Not that it's 'typical' spam (i.e. you're not being deceitful), just that 90% of your recent tweets have been via an API...

Re: Who I Don't Follow On Twitter

spxdcz — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:22:31 -0000

There's always Nambu or Seesmic too (I haven't checked out either for a long time, so can't recommend them, but hear they do a similar job to TweetDeck)...

You get used to TweetDeck UI after a while! But yup, it is noisy and cluttered. And eerily dark.

Re: Who I Don't Follow On Twitter

spxdcz — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:35:06 -0000

I use TweetDeck on the Mac to manage all my accounts/followers. I also use Tweetie on the iPhone, but only really to check Mentions, not really to check my main stream of tweets.

I have about 13 accounts configured in TweetDeck (which doesn't even cover all of those I run! Including bot-based ones, obviously), and currently have 8 columns in TweetDeck (I can see exactly 4 on-screen on my MacBook, so the lesser-used 4 are to the right, and I scroll over to check them occasionally). I hear the latest version of TweetDeck has better management for large numbers of columns.

My main four columns in TweetDeck are: All Friends, Mentions, DMs and "People I Know". This fourth one is the main one I check, and is a TweetDeck group consisting of more than just people I know - it contains anyone whose tweets I actually WANT to read on a regular basis. I'll check the main "All" columns now and again, and move people into the "People I Know" column if they seem regularly interesting, or if I see them mentioned/RT'ed in my People I Know column.

Luckily, I created the People I Know group before Tweetdeck removed the functionality for groups; it now seems to only support the creation of "Lists", which aren't the same, as they handle re-tweets badly (it still seems to support my previously-made group, luckily).

Even though Tweetdeck on the iPhone will sync these groups, I find the Tweetdeck iPhone app just too slow (for how I use Tweetie: just to check mentions quickly).

Because I have so many accounts, I can't possibly have a separate column for each one, so I use a twitter search column to check the combined mentions in a single column (i.e. I have a column set-up that shows any tweets that match "@twitexperiment OR @reboundfinder OR @freelondon OR @freenewyork OR @freecardiff OR @ignite_london OR @thejanuarist ... etc..." - I know this won't pick up private accounts that mention these accounts, but I can live with missing the odd tweet).

I also use http://friendorfollow.com to check who I'm following, who isn't following back, and unfollow them (unless they are a specific account that I definitely want to follow anyway, like the Barbican or TimeOut). But for 'normal' twitter users, if they don't follow me, I don't follow them.

Re: The Biggest Problem of the Web

spxdcz — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:20:04 -0000

As usual, Lloyd, you put it far more eloquently than I did! Damn you! :)

Re: The Forensics of Twitter Bullying

spxdcz — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:00:31 -0000

Also, something I meant to talk about in the post but didn't: a proposed etiquette for dealing with this kind of situation.

If you're going to unfollow someone who you have to work closely with, it's probably worth letting them know (face to face, DM, email, whatever), in a friendly manner, why you're doing it. It can be as easy as "Hope you don't mind, but you tweet far too much, am going to have to unfollow! Sorry!".

Re: The Forensics of Twitter Bullying

spxdcz — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:52:39 -0000

Thanks. I certainly know of that book, and have heard good things about it - will definitely have to check it out.

One thing I should point out (before others do), is that the statistics argument relies on the person tweeting the same thing consistently over the year. Of course, if the person's tweets change drastically, that could trigger a mass-unfollowing (assuming the people didn't want to be polite and just not include them in the relevant group on tweetdeck, etc).

In this case, you'd expect to see a surge of unfollows from other followers too, not just colleagues.

Re: Dan Zambonini

spxdcz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:02:50 -0000

I suppose I use the word 'Film' rather than the plural (or 'Movies') because I'm interested in the industry side of it too (the production, politics, and so on). Maybe I should have used 'The Motion Pictures Industry' for ultimate pretentiousness.

Re: xkcd Book Tour Announced

spxdcz — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:56:12 -0000

London (UK)?