Thursday, February 16, 2012

In the mood or need some visual design inspiration (or do you just like looking at cool, beautiful things)?

78 Artists

The first mistake of ART is to assume it’s serious

Find Beauty in Rain

Souvenirs

12

12

Zoo York

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

As you may have read, I picked up a new hobby this year.  The purpose was to get my mind onto a new topic and to get offline.  So far, I’m not accomplishing those goals to the extent that I’d like to.  If anything, I’ve done more online since starting the hobby, and that’s not entirely a bad thing.  

After getting my feet wet with the new hobby (r/c cars), I quickly felt the urge to start a site that could chronicle and document my experience.  Through learning more about the hobby, this urge solidified to a need.  Some quick brainstorming and discussions with potential contributors lead from one thing to another and RCNewb.com was born.  Shortly after the site launched, I realized what having another outlet for writing could do for my creativity.

I’ve written more than a few draft posts that were ultimately tossed out because I didn’t feel they fit the main topics of this site.  That’s a shame since I don’t like putting effort into things that don’t go anywhere.  While the creation of a new site that fits a specific niche is a bit of a stretch (maintenance, design, etc) there are additional benefits that can be reaped aside from the increased room for creativity.  I’m experimenting with different cms systemse and venturing out of my ExpressionEngine comfort zone, helping expand my technical and development and balancing out the additional content creation.

Although I could run everything under one banner, I like keeping some aspects of what I do compartmentalized.  It’s cleaner and tends to keep posts heading in one general direction, rather than shotgunning them willy-nilly.  Now it’s time to write!

Monday, February 13, 2012

This month I took a look at what I had written about and posted on my blog last year.  I was a bit surprised by a few items. First, I didn’t write as much as I thought I had (or wanted to).  Chalk that up to not enough time, too many projects, or some other excuse (because that’s what they are).  The other glaring omission from last year was the low number of social media-related posts.  Again, I could come up with reason upon reason (read: excuse upon excuse) as to why I didn’t more about every online marketers topic du jour, but it all boils down to one.  I thought people and businesses had it figured out.

I follow many brands and organizations through my social networks.  I do so for a variety of reasons and from different perspectives.  First-and-foremost, I like these companies and products.  I enjoy using whatever these companies produce and want to stay in the loop with what may be coming down the pipeline.  Second, I want to see how they maneuver and exist within these various online communities.  Do they engage? Are they responsive? Do they care?  While I do believe that people and organizations can use social networks in any way that they see fit, there are some basic, neighborly interactions that have become commonplace.  If you direct a comment to someone, it’s common courtesy to respond (unless the comment is meant to antagonize or troll).  

It’s amazing how many valid questions and comments can go unanswered or unnoticed by brands that have a presence online.  These aren’t small brands either.  They’re big, household names even (in some circles).  Yet questions and comments from their customers seem to go unnoticed.  If you’re in charge of a brand’s face online, you need to remember one crucial element of a successful social experience.  Be human.

This, above all else, is main key to success.  Listen, respond, interact, engage.  Be human.  This sounds like a broken record, and I know I’ve said and written this very message before.  I get it, I’m being repetitive.  The sad thing is, I need to be.  Here we are, years after social networking grabbed the hearts of marketers and brand managers everywhere and whispered sweet nothings of a blissful nirvana.  Social was the key to everything.  No, it WAS everything.  If only we remembered the rules.

Social media, at it’s core, is easy.  Be human, no matter how large a corporation you might be behind.  Just respond,learn, and make those interacting with you feel that they’ve been heard.  Trust and relationships are built from those things.  They are the cornerstones of any great relationship in either the physical or virtual world, yet some brand and community managers seem to have forgotten that.  Instead of using social networks to their fullest potential by building rapport and conversing with the people that buy their products and services, they’ve chosen to turn these channels into nothing more than a dumb pipe to spew out their latest announcements (and nothing more).

Again, I get that, if that’s what you’re intending to do, but please disclose that up front.  If you tout an account as being a “customer service” channel, the least you can do is comment back to someone that says good things about your product.  Chances are, there are other companies who produce similaror competing products, and are more than happy to interact and treat individuals as people.

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Whenever I feel I’m at a loss for topics to write about or am struggling with examples to peel apart and examine, from time to time, opportunities seem to just fall into my lap.  I ordered a small on-board camera to use with my new hobby and was quite happy when it arrived in the mail this week.  I’ve been looking into what camera setups people have been using with their R/C cars and decided to check out a less-costly alternative to GoPro to get my feet wet.  You know the old saying, “You get what you pay for”.  It’s true and entertaining.

(Too) easy to share.
After the camera arrived on my desk, I quickly opened up the package and checked it all out.  In a state of joy, I snapped a picture of the camera box and tweeted it to Chris Sherman.  We’ve been discussing the R/C hobby for a while and on-board cameras has become a recent topic of interest for us.  After a while I glanced down at the box in which the camera was packaged.  There was a phrase toward the bottom of the box that I hadn’t noticed before.  I slowly read it, each word causing my eyes to widen and my pulse to quicken.  It wasn’t an blatantly bad message, but it was suggestive. Very suggestive.  Hilarity then ensued.

A friend of mine had also seen the picture and made a comment about the wording on the box and we exchanged messages about it and it’s strange phrasing.  I was asked, by more than a few people, where I bought the camera from.  It was purchased from hobbypartz.com, not some x-rated website as the wording on box would tend to suggest.  My guess is the wording was a poor translation to English from another language. This thought was reaffirmed when I opened the instruction manual. 

Broken phrases and broken confidence.
Aside from the amusing “marketing” copy that adorned the front of the camera box, I was was stuck with one glaring issue.  I had no idea how to turn the camera on.  I saw the power button but there wasn’t a clear indication of whether or not the camera was on (note: I was charging the camera at the time, so every light on the unit was lit up, blinking, and communicating with the mother-ship).  I turned to the manual for help, only to find frustration and more amusement.

The manual for this camera reads like nothing I’ve ever encountered before. It’s broken, in more ways than one.  Does it serve the purpose that it was intended?  It tries, but it’s (and again, I’m guessing here) translation is so disjointed and off-balance that I became lost and had to re-read many of the sections more than twice to try to comprehend what the manufacture was trying to say.  Here are some samples from the manual for your entertainment (and possible bewilderment).

After numerous attempts to understand what the manual was trying to say, I gave up on reading it and unplugged the camera from the charger.  I was quickly able to figure out which way to slide the power switch in order to turn the device on.  Problem solved. Now on to recording video.  After a few sideways glances at the instruction manual (in hopes it had been re-written while I wasn’t looking) I was able to piece together a basic idea of what buttons to press.  From the looks of it, I was able to figure things out.  What a rough ride to get there.

Mixed messages.
Trying this back to a “teachable moment”, I pose this question to those of you that are in the business of educating and training customers which, by my last count, includes everyone that runs a business.  Are you sending mixed messages to your customers?  Is the information that you’re creating for your products and in support of your products clear and understandable?  It’s clear to me that the company behind this camera is not based in the United States and they’ve taken a stab at translating their wording, both for marketing and support purposes, into English, but they miss the mark in both message and assistance.  As for their cover phrase…I have no clue what they’re trying to accomplish.  To be honest, that wording was nowhere to be seen on the hobby site or in the description (not that I expected it to be there).  If the name of the camera manufacturer would be clearly written anywhere on the box, I’d go as far as saying I wouldn’t purchase another product made by them in the future.  Both for the semi-inappropriate packaging language and the incomprehensible instructions. 

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Never before have I been so interested in an announcement aimed at the education-sector as I was with last week’s announcements from Apple.  Having children has changed that, just as they’ve changed many aspects of my life.  When the iPad was first announced in 2010, I put together a short list of areas in which it could be affective, and education was one of those.  With the launch of iBooks Author, the iTunes U app, and the updated iBooks 2 app, that opportunity has been cemented.  However, the educational benefits of the iPad have shown their face long before this announcement.

I read a post earlier this month questioning why adults are amazed when children, even as young as 2 years old can pick up an iPad and use it with ease.  Surely these are superior children that possess Mensa-quality intellect and will be running the country by the time they’re 7!  As much as I’d like to think that, again speaking as a parent, I no longer believe that’s the case.  That’s not to say I don’t think my children aren’t intelligent (or even above average). The truth is, the iPad is easy to use.  Period.  As I’ve written before, I’ve seen both of my kids use the device, navigate through the screens of apps, find their favorites and use them with ease.  So simple, so elegant, so…what’s next.

The announcements from Apple, iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and the refined and retuned iTunes U (making it’s app debut) are all amazing elements when you look at them on their own merit.  But it’s when you lump them all together that a truly-inspired vision of what the future of education could be.  While the approach from Apple locks schools into one platform and one device, it’s an approach that I’ve not seen rolled out on such a promising scale.  These items aside, I’ve seen my own children use the iPad as more than just a gaming device, but rather an educational tool.  My youngest son has two favorite apps, AlphaTots and TallyTots and after using them he’s now able to easily recite the alphabet and count to 20.  What’s the draw to these apps?  They’re engaging, they’re entertaining, and they’re able to present lessons in an easy-to-understand format.  Who knows what role, if any, the iPad (or similar devices) will play in education, but it appears to off to a good start.