December 2006 Archive

Spent the early part of the morning going over the media tempest that is John Edwards’ Announcement (tho it had already been “announced” on his website yesterday). I read the email that Edwards sent - and watched the video at YouTube and was intrigued by the frankness that Edwards showed. He has learned a lot from the 2004 Campaign and seems to have taken the time to invest in infrastructure (his suite of sites is one of the most complex and intertwining - I will have to do a post on this issue) and connecting with the voters on the red meat issues. But it seems as though he has not gotten off of the standard playbook of Democratic politics.

It’s About Vision and Hope, not Dispair and Dismay
It is funny - I watched Edward’s video at least three times - and as I relistened to it, I began to hear the words that Edwards was aiming for - he has taken John kerry’s National Service doctrine (which I and others are majorly in favor of) and built One Corps. But, in the first listening to the the video, I felt the sadness and disappointment in our country’s efforts - the loss of honor, moral certainty and other failures of the previous administrations. I kept looking for the positive - and seemed to hear it in the concept of “making change happen locally”. On all of the esoteric global issues - I heard good phrasings - but was not inspired. I did not feel the leadership that I see when I look at the Clinton Global Initiative. While these is a sense of corporate gloss at the website, there is still a sound of hope and results that I hear in the written word on their site. OneCORPS has a terrific agenda and drive, but the marketing language needs to be tweaked in the right way.

And, not to suggest that the Republicans are right - but reading Washington Whispers from earlier this month, I was somewhat impressed with Frank Luntz’s critique on the Repubs problems and what they can do about it for 2008. While I could easily see this as a marketing message for the Repubs to use to recapture the House and Senate, what I do see is the seeds of cooperation that could actually effect real change in government. The focus on “stewardship”, “vision” and “results” - these are things we (as the electorate) hunger for. I would rather elect a person to Congress for what they can bring to our future, not to slap down or punish another person. Someone told me that it is about adding positive energy, not negative. I would suggest that Edwards and others start talking in the tones of Clinton and Reagan - lead with a vision, a majestic honor (not too syrupy, please) and then follow with how things are wrong, why they are wrong and how to fix them.

Granted, being an engineer, this has appeal to me - and it is funny, just writing this post reminded me of the article in the WSJ on the differences between Chinese politicians and American politicians - engineers are often focused on solving the problem, politicians are focused on mitigating risk so much so that they sound like they are equivocating. John - draft a vision, build upon your OneCORPS with sound experiences and a plan and then you can see what happens next.

Next post: build Starfish, not Spiders

Tags: John Edwards, Frank Luntz, Power+of+Words, Clinton Global Initiative, Campaign 2008

Care of an English friend:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

At the time when the Jewish community is celebrating the holiday of Hannukah and the ongoing clamor from the President of Iran over the “myth” of the Holocaust, a story is being run on 60 minutes tonight that might shed some “evidence” on this “myth”:

At cbs.com:
(CBS) One man holds his fate in his hands: a list of inmates — his name among them, but crossed off — who were sent to a notorious slave labor camp few ever emerged from. Another holds the very card he signed as a teenager upon his entry to a concentration camp. A third sees a form the Nazis created to track the mail he never received in Buchenwald because the rest of his family had already been murdered at Auschwitz. All three Holocaust survivors are viewing for the first time the records the Nazis meticulously kept on them and 17 million other victims of Hitler’s Third Reich.

Their stories and other revelations from the secret archives previously closed for 60 years are part of correspondent Scott Pelley’s report, this Sunday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. ET/PT on 60 Minutes.

Is there something else that needs to be shown as to the reality of the horrors of those times? How can the decimation of 17 million people be a “myth”? Is there something fundamentally wrong when a story can be misconstrued and facts be rearranged in such a way that they can lead credence to such impossibilities? Just because of a position of power, can a person be assumed to be “correct” just because they claim a “fact”?

Tags: Holocaust, Bad Arolsen, Fact versus Fiction, 60 Minutes

Cross-posted on Social Engineer

All this talk about YouTube, google’s purchase of it, and the success stories that CBS is having with syndicating content on the site (something Comedy Central has known for a while), the blogging media seems to have ignored the efforts of the majors (and other studios like TBS) in getting on board the “Internet bandwagon”. And now, with the news of a conversation rumbling about building their own YouTube, they seem to be missing out on what they have done successfully. The trouble is - they are potentially going down the wrong path - thinking from a point of fear rather than a point of plenty. If they focus solely on their revenue line, as the major music studios did in the late 90s, they could find their revenue taken by the companies who better understand the engagement of communities.

Updated: with commentary by Jeff Jarvis and Steve Yelvington, the idea seems to reek of the NCN fiasco of the 90s. (Thanks Rafat)

What are they protecting?
Trolling the web, I learned that at present 8-12% of TV households currently have some form of DVR - and by 2007, these numbers will jump to 12-24% (Nielsen). In an article on Friday, I learned that the CEO of Nielsen reported that time-shifting advertising losses could cost the networks something on the order of $600M. Consider that the magic fast-forward button (as in avoiding the commercials) will severely dent the ad revenue of the networks; what would you do if you were suddenly told you could lose 1/4th of your viewing audience? How to combat it: leave the shows up on the web.

ABC, CBS and NBC (along with TBS) are offering their major shows on the view for viewing, often the day after regular airing. Recently, NBC has taken to hosting the entire season of some of their shows (in particular, Heroes and Friday Night Lights) and all are ensuring that their viewing is incorporating advertisements at the start of every break. Each of the viewing experiences have their ups-and-downs, and I provide a quick and dirty evaluation below:

• CBS - cluttered mechanism, similar to CNN Pipeline, which seems to show the News Team influence on the Entertainment Division. Using a product called innertube which seems to be based on Real Player. Challenge when goes to full screen (harsh pixelation) and streaming can get held up.
• ABC - beautifully designed player (someone in ABC’s Design Shop must love the iChat Video Client), and incredibly rich streaming experience (almost like watching a hi-def screen). Challenge is, screen is cluttered with all of the other shows below and as your mouse drives over, the other choices are energized and distract from the experience. And there is only “big” option, no full-screen option - which could be driven by the same pixelation issues I mentioned before.
• NBC - player is minimalistic, and the design seems to have been driven by “Standards and Practice”. As with every NBC affiliate, the template is tight and the content is constrained within. The full-screen viewing is marred (in my Firefox) by the banner ad which (I am assuming the web tech team placed) takes the space in the video stream and leaves a banner-shaped object that refreshes the content in the banner region only every 30 frames or so.
• TBS - this is my favorite space (The Laugh Lab is quite an idea) and they are doing more with innovative ideas and comedy than any of the other players. Unfortunately, they are stuck with Windows Media Player - and the enlarge feature does not work for me (I get the nice pop-up, but no joy).

In my estimation, this tactic should help stem the pirating - since, much like how iTunes has reduced the number of illegal downloads by providing an easy way to get legal content for a reasonable cost, the networks have provided an alternative to downloading pirated content from the file-swapping networks by leaving the shows on the web which can be watched (with commercials) at our convenience anywhere we wish. But with their concerns of pirated content showing up on places like YouTube seems to be driving them to do what companies did last bubble (create corporate versions of nimble startups). Rather, they shoudl focus on what they know best - engage the viewer.

Interactive Laptop Viewing
All four of these networks seem to be missing out on the opportunity that people like G4 TV have caught onto. On G4 TV, we get to see Star Trek 2.0 - where you go to the G4 website, sign in, and engage with others regarding the episode that is airing at the time. Not only are you playing on the web, you are also part of the broadcast - where viewer comments are scrolled on the screen. While this has limited “cool” factor, it seems to drive a significant number of viewers to the site at the time of broadcast - reinforcing adverts and branding both on site and on the screen.

Not trying to teach something you already know, but the audience that are watching the videos on the web are doing so in front of a computer keyboard. Now, viewers are not simply sitting on the couch with remote in hand - they are sitting in front of the flat-screen monitor or laptop where a keyboard is handily available. With broadband, they are watching the video in one browser window while IMing or emailing in another. Here is where the audience and the networks can learn from what we leveraged in politics; use the web as a commons - and create a community from your viewers.

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