Abbotsford Today » The Net

The Net: Great Time To Be A Journalist

The Editor — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:07:57 +0000

Steve Katz, publisher of Mother Jones, made an insightful comment on journalism in the modern era in an interview with The Vancouver Observer this week.

“It’s a great time to be a journalist. It’s a lousy time to get paid to do journalism.” – Steve Katz is the publisher of Mother Jones.

He went on to talk about independent media, open communication and Hollyhock 2013 June 5 to 9.

Check it out.

Your Information Is Not Secure

The Editor — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:10:31 +0000

By Michael Geist. Thousands of government breaches point to the need for reform. As Canadians focused last week on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the RCMP arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack Via Rail, the largest sustained series of privacy breaches in Canadian history was uncovered but attracted only limited attention.

Originally published 1 May 2013, TheTyee.ca

Canadians have faced high-profile data breaches in the past — Winners/HomeSense and the CIBC were both at the centre of serious breaches several years ago — but last week, the federal government revealed that it may represent the biggest risk to the privacy of millions of Canadians as some government departments have suffered breaches virtually every 48 hours.

The revelations came as a result of questions from NDP MP Charlie Angus, who sought information on data, information or privacy breaches in all government departments from 2002 to 2012. The resulting documentation is stunning in its breadth.

Virtually every major government department has sustained breaches, with the majority occurring over the past five years (many did not retain records dating back to 2002). In numerous instances, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada was not advised of the breach.

Most vulnerable departments

Some of the most vulnerable departments are those that host the most sensitive information. For example, Citizenship and Immigration Canada suffered 161 breaches in 2012 — more than three per week — affecting hundreds of people. The department only disclosed the breaches to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada on five occasions.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada famously suffered a massive breach last year — 588,384 individuals were affected — but less well known is that the department has had thousands of other breaches over the past few years. In 2007, a breach affected 28,651 people, yet the Privacy Commissioner of Canada was not informed and the department is unsure of whether the breach resulted in criminal activity.

Virtually no department has been immune to security breaches with nearly 100,000 individuals affected by breaches at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 2008, almost 5,000 individuals hit at Fisheries Canada with no reporting to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and just under 200 breaches at the RCMP affecting an unknown number of people.

If a similar situation occurred involving a major Canadian bank, retailer or telecom company, there would be an immediate outcry for tougher rules on mandatory disclosure of security breaches. Yet the federal government plays by different rules, with no liability and no legal requirements to disclose the breaches.

Calls for reform repeatedly ignored

Successive federal privacy commissioners have urged the government to reform the badly outdated Privacy Act to at least hold government to the same privacy standard that it expects from the private sector. But those calls for reform have been repeatedly ignored.

Most recently, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart identified 12 seemingly uncontroversial reforms, including strengthening annual reporting requirements by government departments, introducing a provision for proper security safeguards for the protection of personal information, and creating legislated security breach notification requirements. None of the recommendations have been implemented.

In fact, Canadian privacy failures dot the legislative landscape. Bill C-12, the Canadian private sector privacy bill intended to implement reforms that date back to hearings conducted in 2006 lies dormant in the House of Commons. A review of the private sector privacy law that was required by law in 2011 has seemingly been forgotten. Anti-spam legislation passed in 2010 and touted as a key part of the government’s cybercrime strategy is stuck as Industry Minister Christian Paradis dithers on the applicable regulations.

No institution has greater access to the personal information of Canadians than the federal government. The public entrusts it to keep their information secure and to take all appropriate action should a security breach occur. The latest revelations indicate that the failure to live up to that trust is spread across virtually all government departments and to the political leaders that have failed to introduce much-needed legislative privacy safeguards.

Dog Bites Woman, Man Bites Dog

The Editor — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:43:50 +0000

From Gawker. A woman in Iowa is recovering from injuries sustained by a dog attack, but it could have been much worse — if her husband didn’t bite back.

Caren Henry was out walking her own dog when, “This dog came racing across this yard, a big dog.” The dog knocked her down and started biting her face, seriously injuring her nose.

As the attack was happening, Caren’s husband, Laine, was driving by. He immediately sprang into action:
“Caren turned and looked at me and I seen her face was nothing but blood, so I bit the dog literally in the nose and he let go and I grabbed our dog and I grabbed her and I put them in our pick-up and took off,” he told the local NBC affiliate.

The county has no vicious dog ordinance, so the dog who attacked Caren does not face the threat of being put down.

[source]
Image by David Bell Halliwell

The Net: Our Favs

Editor — Sun, 05 May 2013 06:00:06 +0000

UPDATED 05/05/13 – Thirteen New Sites Suggested – We’ve added some new sites to our reader favourites and one new site to our own media sites that we follow regularly. Take a look through the list. You can’t avoid finding something interesting.

One of the great things about the Internet is that you can browse sites from all over the world, on just about any topic you find interesting. Most people have spent hours surfing the web using search engine query terms and keywords to find websites devoted to subjects which fascinate them.

Note: See Reader Suggested Sites At The Bottom Of The Post

Today Feature Site: The Buttry Diary suggested by Today writer Shaheen Shivji

One of the great criticisms of the web from the uninitiated is that there is so much information out there it is impossible to sift the gems out of the garbage. We’ll help the uninitiated get started and provide a forum for the rest to share good sites they’ve found.

Know Of A Great Website?

If you know of a great website you’d like to share with the rest of us, use the comments box below or simply email us at: editor@abbotsfordtoday.ca

Specialized sites, hobbies, books, kite flying or just making sense of things on the Internet. Share you wisdom …

While this can certainly be true at the outset there are several sites that have stepped into the breech and have become ‘go to’ sites for those interested in news and information that is topical, useful, interesting and truly new.

The great experiment that is the Internet, while allowing for an enormous amount of junk to exist on the web, has also introduced the ‘babbling bazaar’ philosophy best enunciated and portrayed by Linux – user generated content and user moderated critiques.

Some of the media sites with an international scope we visit regularly are:

BoingBoing.net
Described as the most well-known group blog in existence it is a blog written by more than one person, each of whom is known as an editor. These editors live all over the world and submit posts on anything from dog grooming to art, music, news, videos or flying cars.

Digg.com
This is a news site run by its users. Visitors to the site can either ‘digg’ (like/support/recommend) a story or ‘bury’ (dislike/not support/ not recommend) it.
The headlines are always changing because new stories appear and users vote on their ‘diggability’

Gawker.com
Gawker bills itself ‘Gossip from Manhattan and the Beltway to Hollywood and the Valley’ and carries some pretty amazing stuff. Funny, satirical, edgy the site provides the complete antithesis to the TV nightly news.

BBCnews.co.uk
Still the granddaddy of balanced international news sources the BBC News site pulls us out of our navel gazing North American centered world and tells us some of the fascinating, entertaining and frankly disturbing news that is going on out in the real world.

The Telegraph
One of the grandaddies of British and World journalism still provides some of the best international and European coverage available.

en.canoe.ca .
One of the original Canadian Internet news sites

huffingtonpost.com
The one and only

BlogTalkRadio
Silas Kain is doing something unique and worthwhile on Internet Radio. He wants to get Canadians and Americans talking … to one another. Check it out every Thursday night at 8 pm PST.

Locally much of the web is still in its infancy but there are a some great blogs, and sites devoted to more than the chain newspaper narrative.

No Strings Attached – Laila Yuile
langleypolitics.com
With Langley Township Councillor Jordan Bateman and Sam Politics Kirk.

plugouttunein.com
Owned and operated by Fraser Valley’s Alexandria Mitchell, the site says it is all about “Powering down, and tuning in to the issues that are facing us today. In other words it’s about paying attention to our planet, people, and the world around us.”

thetyee.ca
BC’s home for news culture and solutions. Without a doubt the best source for online news and culture in BC.

The Breckenridge ZoneAbbotsford’s home for all matters related to politics, homelessness, poverty and topics of general interest from James Breckenridge.

vancouverobserver.com
An alternate look and news, culture and sports in the big city.

thecanadian.org
Started by Rafe Mair and Damien Gillis the site with the words, “We must be, in the circumstances of today’s appalling media, be our own media and I hope you’ll see this website as a major step in the right direction. It is.

rafeonline.com
The advocacy site Rafe started and still runs about provincial affairs and the truth behind the headlines.

(We’ll published links to the sites you suggest to us below. So tell us where to go!)

Know Of A Great Local Website?

If you know of a great website in the Lower Mainland that covers interesting stuff well, share with the rest of us! Use the comments box below or simply email us at: editor@abbotsfordtoday.ca

Music, Sports, Books, Food, Day trips, Entertainment, Clubs, Networking, … Tell us where to find great local content and we’ll share it!

rasblogs
Short lectures on all sorts of things that have been animated to make them easy to understand. – From MittMartin@live.com

xkcd
Here is a great webcomic. Its nerdy but would appeal to anyone. – From MittMartin@live.com

thesquamishreporter.ca
The other news in a one-newspaper town. From Editor

grooveshark

From thewalrus

stuckincustoms.com

From Today contributor Shaheen Shivji

www.stuckincustoms.com – The Best

BuzzMachine.com From Sibedaya

thecouncilclaw.ca All about Animal Advocacy, Activism, Bylaws, etc. in Mission and the Fraser Valley. Political oriented, all levels of Government, Anti-Noise Pollution, proposed Bylaws and Legislation to combat this health issue – noise. Recommended by George Evens.

Lifehacker.com Everything from great recipes to ways of migrating your Facebook account and data to Google. The latest, best ‘How To’ site.

Stumbleupon.com suggested by Today contributor Shaheen Shivji.
Policynote.ca the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) suggested by Today contributor Lily Kaetler

Alex Tsakumis suggested by Today contributor Win Wachsmann

The Buttry Diary suggested by Today writer Shaheen Shivji

Humour: Getting A Little Close To Your Cousin … Aren’t You?

The Editor — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:06:25 +0000

Every website gets bombarded with spam every minute of every day and every day some gets through the spam filters for approval or disapproval by a human.

Basically; when the filter has its doubts, it asks.

Most spam filters provide the text of the spam, its source and the link through which it accessed the site.

The telltale sign that something is spam is the language which is often/usually broken English or poorly constructed phrases which praise the writer of the post and thank the website for the useful information.

Here’s one we got last week which caused us to pause. The verbiage isn’t bad and leads one to believe it might be an actual comment on an article. Read the comment and then … look at the article on which the comment was made.

Just how much does your cousin know about your “problem” … and why are you sharing that information with your cousin???

Comment: I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post I written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my problem. You’re wonderful. Thanks!

Original Post: Health Issues: Parents! Talk To Your Kids About Masturbation

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Click On image For Full Size
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For more ‘Humour’ check under ‘Pop Voice’ in our Opinions sections or simply click here.

Where Content Goes To Die

The Editor — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 20:06:27 +0000

By Mitch Joel. Who amongst us is able to consume all of the content that we save?

Where Content Goes To Die

First published on twistimage.com 20/03/13

Long before RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook and more, I was a heavy subscriber to email e-newsletters (in fact, I still am). But I no longer have the same habit that I used to have. I used to have a folder in my email called “To Be Read.” This way, I could shuttle those many e-newsletter over to that folder and get to them when there was a moment to read. I never went back into that folder. That folder is where e-newsletters went to die. After a few months, I realized how unproductive that system was. Now, I take the time to go through each newsletter – as they come in – and bookmark the key articles. I’m definitely consuming more of the overall content, but many of those bookmarked articles also die an unlooked at death.

One little piece of data.

It’s amazing how one, little piece of data can wake us up to an entirely new reality. Forget the story you just read above and think about your TV experience. What do you think the percentage is of watched shows from people who use their DVR to record programs? The media has been told all kinds of stories: how DVRs are to blame for the challenge of television commercials and their impact. Well, how does this data point sit with you: 41% of recorded TV content is never watched.

Never watched.

Ouch. This was the news from Marketing Charts in today’s news item titled, Americans Don’t Watch 41% of Their Recorded TV Content. From the article: “Motorola Mobility has released its ‘Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer,’ containing some interesting statistics on TV and DVR usage. As noted by Nielsen, DVR usage has increased in recent years, leading networks to push for C7 ratings – and the Motorola study indeed finds that more than one-third of weekly TV viewing by Americans is recorded content, 17% higher than the 17-country average (34% vs. 29%). But, interestingly, of that recorded content, 41% is never watched, according to the study. The global average for DVR storage wastage is 36%… Nevertheless, DVR owners report spending more time watching TV than non-DVR owners. On a global basis, for example, they spend 7 hours a week watching films and movies, compared to 5.6 hours for those without a DVR.”

Content wasted.

Consumers are inundated with choices. Their choices are highly-controllable (they can record, fast forward, delete, share, etc…). They’re, clearly, not getting to it all (not even close). And, while us Marketers get all excited about new technology, new platforms and new delivery mechanisms for content, we don’t (often enough) take a step back and realize just how overwhelming all of this choice and control can be. Imagine this: 41% of all content that people are actively recording, thinking about and interested in, they’re simply not getting to… and that’s just TV.

Folks, it’s official: we have a content problem. What are we going to do about it?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image — an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. His next book, CTRL ALT DEL, comes out in Spring 2013. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

By Mitch Joel. Who amongst us is able to consume all of the content that we save?

Where Content Goes To Die

First published on twistimage.com 20/03/13

Long before RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook and more, I was a heavy subscriber to email e-newsletters (in fact, I still am). But I no longer have the same habit that I used to have. I used to have a folder in my email called “To Be Read.” This way, I could shuttle those many e-newsletter over to that folder and get to them when there was a moment to read. I never went back into that folder. That folder is where e-newsletters went to die. After a few months, I realized how unproductive that system was. Now, I take the time to go through each newsletter – as they come in – and bookmark the key articles. I’m definitely consuming more of the overall content, but many of those bookmarked articles also die an unlooked at death.

One little piece of data.

It’s amazing how one, little piece of data can wake us up to an entirely new reality. Forget the story you just read above and think about your TV experience. What do you think the percentage is of watched shows from people who use their DVR to record programs? The media has been told all kinds of stories: how DVRs are to blame for the challenge of television commercials and their impact. Well, how does this data point sit with you: 41% of recorded TV content is never watched.

Never watched.

Ouch. This was the news from Marketing Charts in today’s news item titled, Americans Don’t Watch 41% of Their Recorded TV Content. From the article: “Motorola Mobility has released its ‘Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer,’ containing some interesting statistics on TV and DVR usage. As noted by Nielsen, DVR usage has increased in recent years, leading networks to push for C7 ratings – and the Motorola study indeed finds that more than one-third of weekly TV viewing by Americans is recorded content, 17% higher than the 17-country average (34% vs. 29%). But, interestingly, of that recorded content, 41% is never watched, according to the study. The global average for DVR storage wastage is 36%… Nevertheless, DVR owners report spending more time watching TV than non-DVR owners. On a global basis, for example, they spend 7 hours a week watching films and movies, compared to 5.6 hours for those without a DVR.”

Content wasted.

Consumers are inundated with choices. Their choices are highly-controllable (they can record, fast forward, delete, share, etc…). They’re, clearly, not getting to it all (not even close). And, while us Marketers get all excited about new technology, new platforms and new delivery mechanisms for content, we don’t (often enough) take a step back and realize just how overwhelming all of this choice and control can be. Imagine this: 41% of all content that people are actively recording, thinking about and interested in, they’re simply not getting to… and that’s just TV.

Folks, it’s official: we have a content problem. What are we going to do about it?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image — an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. His next book, CTRL ALT DEL, comes out in Spring 2013. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

Old Media: National Post Wants To Copyright Headline – Boing Boing

The Editor — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:16:35 +0000

From Boingboing.net. The National Post is arguing that it is entitled to enforce copyright in the title (headline) of a newspaper article entitled: “Jonathan Kay on Richard Warman and Canada’s Phony-Racism Industry”

From Boingboing.net

Originally Posted on Excesscopyright.blogspots.ca

The National Post says in its memorandum:

62. Moreover, the headline of the article was also a substantial part of the work. The application judge erred by failing to consider the effect of reproducing the headline of the article even though the Copyright Act defines a “work” as including the title of that work “when such title is original and distinctive.”

63. The headline of the article was both original and distinctive. In Canada, the threshold for originality in a work is “rather low.” In order for a work (or the title of a work) to be “original”, all that is required is an exercise of skill and judgment by the author, which involves intellectual effort. Such exercise must not be so trivial that it could be characterized as a purely mechanical exercise. However, the statutory requirement of originality does not imply inventive originality. It is enough that the work is the production of something in a new form as a result of the skill, labour and judgment of the author.

64. Something that is “distinctive” is “serving to differentiate or distinguish; peculiar to one person or thing as distinct from others, characteristic; having well-marked properties; easily recognized.” Something that is “distinct” is “distinguished as not being the same; not identical; separate; different in nature or quality.”49 The title of the Kay Work possesses these qualities, distinguishing the Kay Work from other newspaper articles, and in so doing is distinctive.

65. The headline, “Jonathan Kay on Richard Warman and Canada’s Phony-Racism Industry”, clearly demonstrates creativity, originality and distinctiveness, including the distinctive and original concept of a “phony-racism industry.”
(footnotes omitted)

This position, if adopted by the Federal Court of Appeal, would have startling and potentially absurd consequences. The automated extraction of titles (i.e. headlines) is the very basis not only of Google News and other news aggregators but of Google, Bing and other search engines. Every scholarly article is full of cited titles.

Not to mention Twitter, in which a very large percentage of tweets are nothing more than automated quotations of newspaper article headlines, blog titles, etc. with a shortened link.

Editor’s Note: Alright everybody – start writing headlines so we can all start suing the National Post …

For more ‘Our Favs’ on The Net simply click here.

10 TED Talks To Help You Re-imagine Your Business

The Editor — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 04:48:12 +0000

By Mitch Joel. Thousands of very lucky individuals are seated in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center as you are reading this and they’re having their minds blown by business leaders, scientists, innovators, agitators, inventors, designers and artists at TED 2013.

As TED 2013 Takes Place, Here Are 10 TED Talks To Help You Re-imagine Your Business

First published on twistimage.com 27/02/13

By Mitch Joel. It’s happening right now.

Thousands of very lucky individuals are seated in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center as you are reading this and they’re having their minds blown by business leaders, scientists, innovators, agitators, inventors, designers and artists at TED 2013. TED (which stands for Technology Entertainment Design) has become a brand name in the past few years as they have uploaded their archive of 18-minute presentations from their highly exclusive annual event which started in 1984 as a one-off, but became an annual ritual in 1990 to TED.com. Originally available only online, the speeches are now distributed and broadcasted on TV, radio, podcasts and even on Netflix.

I have been fortunate to have attended the annual conference since 2008. Pushing the brand further, TED is now a global community of people with the same interests as the foundation’s tagline: “ideas worth spreading.” Independent organizers are encouraged to run their own events (called TEDx), there is an annual TED Global event, a TED Prize for individuals with a vision to change the world for the better, TED Fellows and more extensions of the brand than you could imagine for an organization of this nature. What people don’t seem to understand is that the famed TED Talks, while inspiring and informative, wind up being only a fraction of what the true TED experience is all about. From the hallway conversations, to coffee breaks, dinners, parties and even the people you run into in the hotel gym, TED is an experience that helps businesspeople unlock a new way to think about the work that they do, where they are going as leaders and our collective role in the evolution of the world. In the spirit of TED 2013 – which is happening this week – here are 10 amazing TED Talks that will get you thinking differently about what your business could be, how to be a better leader and how to become a better global citizen:

Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability. There is a reason this talk by researcher Brene Brown has been seen close to eight million times. Are characteristics like empathy and love a key ingredient in the making of a successful leader? Her latest book is called, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead and her area of study includes vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. Her presentation will get you to think differently about what it means to be a true leader.

Julie Burstein: 4 lessons in creativity. When we think of creativity, we often think of art, but creativity permeates everything. Julie Burstein started to define and uncover what creativity is and how it affects our culture through the creation of Public Radio International’s Studio 360 radio program (which was hosted by novelist Kurt Anderson). She published her first book, Spark: How Creativity Works in 2011 and now hosts her own podcast, Pursuit of Spark! Watch this TED talk to inspire more creativity in your work and personal life.

Susan Cain: The power of introverts. Like to read? Like private time to do your work on your own? Do you think that collaboration is over-rated? Would you rather spend time alone than out at a party? According to Susan Cain and her incredibly popular book from last year, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, you may not be alone… and if you are, there’s nothing wrong with it. It turns out that some of our best thinkers and innovators are introverted. This TED talk will get you thinking differently about the work space that you create, the people that you hire and how you motivate them.

Seth Godin: The tribes we lead. Leading business and marketing practitioner, Seth Godin, imagines a world where the mass market dies. A world where mediocrity holds no economic value and he creates a vision for the world that is led by the brands that can develop, nurture and build a tribe of followers. While much of Godin’s thinking has come to bear true in our social media-induced world, this TED Talk will get you thinking differently about where you spend your marketing dollars… and who you spend them on.

James Kunstler: How bad architecture wrecked cities. James Kunstler has a problem with urban sprawl. In fact, he calls it, “the greatest misallocation of resources the world has ever known.” People look at Tony Hsieh (Zappos’ CEO) and think his investment of over $300 million to rejuvenate downtown Las Vegas is crazy. What Kunstler and Hsieh know is this: with each passing year, more and more human beings move to cities. As this continues to intensify (and it is), do we just create boring and depressing spaces or do we wake up and turn urban planning into the art form that it deserves to become? Kunstler’s presentation will make you laugh at how horrific we have been about planning our living spaces. Watching this will get you thinking differently about the physical spaces you occupy in your work and play.

John Maeda: Designing for simplicity. If you’re looking for a TED Talks that engenders every pillar of the word “TED” – technology, entertainment and design, this would be the talk. John Maeda is the President of the Rhode Island School of Design and author of the bestselling book, Laws of Simplicity. The book was published in 2006 right before this TED Talk took place. Too many business leaders fail to understand the profound power that a culture of design can instill in an organization. Steve Jobs at Apple may have been one of a few who did understand the merits of being so insanely occupied with strong design. Watch this presentation if you’re struggling to understand the merits of what great design can do to move a brand from good to great.

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world. Are you worried about your kids because they’re spending too much time on their Xbox or iPad playing video games? Jane McGonigal wants you to pay attention to what she has to say. The author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and Director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future is not only on a mission ensure that a game developer wins a Nobel Peace Prize, but a mission to help all of us understand the power and value that comes from a world where people are playing more games. Don’t think this is critical to your business’ future? Think about the power of gamification in some of the world’s biggest brands – from Twitter and Facebook to Google and Apple. All of these companies use gamification in both their products and in motivating their employees for maximum success. Watch this presentation so that you can start figuring out how to add more games to your work.

Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration. When it comes to understanding media and technology (and where it is all going), there are few smarter than Clay Shirky. In this 2005 TED Talk, Shirky uncovers what we have since come to know as truth: that the more the Internet opens up and connect us all, the more powerful we become. We have moved from a world of scarcity to one of abundance in how we share, create and collaborate with information. If your business struggles with the notions of openness and transparency, this should get you thinking differently. It’s amazing to think that this presentation took places years before the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements.

Derek Sivers: How to start a movement. If you really want your business to succeed, you need to start a movement. How many people does it take to start a movement? In this three minute presentation, Derek Sivers (the founder of CD Baby) dissects it all for you while a popular YouTube video plays in the background. It’s a fascinating examination into what it takes to get people to follow and believe in you. Hint: it’s not that complicated and it doesn’t take that much.

Don Tapscott: Four principles for the open world. Don Tapscott is one of the few people who has seen the future coming… on multiple occasions. The bestselling author, researcher and futurist will open your business eyes to the body of a world that has so fundamentally changed… and few businesses are truly understanding this change and capitalizing on it. These aren’t even big ideas like how connected we are and the pace of change in business, but rather how our connected culture is reshaping the very world we live in. This one will open your eyes and, if your eyes are already open, prepare for them to open even wider.

Which TED Talks have inspired you to think differently about your business? Please share them below in the comments section…

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for the Harvard Business Review. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

Harvard Business Review –

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image — an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. His next book, CTRL ALT DEL, comes out in Spring 2013. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

Media Future Beyond The Screen

The Editor — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:04:41 +0000

By Mitch Joel. Advertising traditionally serves a traditional purpose.

The Future of Media Is Beyond The screen

First published on twistimage.com 19/02/13

By Mitch Joel. Advertising traditionally serves a traditional purpose. Television, radio, print, out-of-home, Internet and mobile devices all have components of advertising that acts, smells and feels the same. It either interrupts your content experience or wraps itself around it. You can look at all of the innovations that digital brought – from the Internet to social media and beyond – and while many media pundits are excited about the opportunities that could happen in places like native advertising or content marketing, the form, function and factor of advertising still does the exact same thing hat it has always done. It’s unlikely that this model will change, so businesses might soon be forced to figure out what happens when how consumers engage with these screens becomes a smaller component of their lives. Pushing that even further, many of the newer devices that are coming out (some with screens and some without) are making the traditional form of advertising inoperable.

What does that mean?

The current vogue of technology is not about the Internet as we have known it or a browser-based experiences. The hot topics du jour are about 3D printing, the maker movement, wearable technology, the Internet of things, connected appliances, robotics, telepresence and the ilk. None of these are truly media platforms. They are the digitization of other industries (beyond media) and in this digitalization, these things will be connected and will have screens with them (though some may not). Think about the Nest thermostat (an Internet enabled thermostat for your home that can help you better manage your energy efficiency). Think about the NikeFuelBand or Jawbone’s UP bracelet (both sit on your wrist and gather health and wellness information about your day to day activities). Think about Apple TV or Boxee (both connect you to the Web and – if we’re going to be raw about it – provide many entertainment services that allow you to avoid traditional commercials with ease). This doesn’t mean that advertising – as we have known it to date – goes the way of the dinosaurs. It does mean that marketers, brands and media agencies are going to have to scramble to develop newer and more interesting ways to deliver a brand’s information to a consumer.

AirPlay demonstrates the disruption.

In its simplest form, Apple’s AirPlay functionality allows you to throw your screen anywhere. If you’re using a MacBook and have Apple TV, it’s simple to toss your computer screen on to your TV screen and more. Does it seem so far-fetched that you might throw that screen over to a connected appliance like a fridge? It’s not. What about tossing your iPhone content to your car stereo? Many consumers already do this all of the time. We currently deliver ads with the sole desire to drive an impression that creates an impact that (hopefully) makes the consumer take some kind of transaction with a brand (anything from talking about it to buying it), but as those moments become fewer and farther between, what is a brand to do

The place to have the space.

What becomes abundantly clear as you start hacking away at the current media models and layer them on top of the emergence of wearable technology (it can be anything from Google’s glasses initiative to the UP band to Pebble’s watch to the pending iWatch that Apple and Samsung are rumored to be producing) is that the space that we have traditionally used to send a message continues to change, shrink or go away. Google’s AdWords still acts as a ray of hope because the company was able to devise an advertising platform that matched the media that consumers wanted to consume (in terms of context, engagement and even performance). Facebook marketing and leveraging the newsfeed is demonstrating some prowess and hope as well, but it still needs time to optimize, mature and capture consumers desire for it. To think that all of these newer and connected devices and technologies will do so as seamlessly is to have more hope for brands than I do.

What this all means.

Brands will need to not only leverage someone else’s platform to deliver their message, but they will need to build platforms of their own. Transient media moments does not equal a strong and profound place to deliver an advertising message. In short, the past century may have been about maximizing space and repetition to drive brand awareness, but the next half century could well be about advertising taking on a smaller position in the expanding marketing sphere as brands create loyalty not through impressions but by creating tools, applications, physical devices, true utility, and more robust loyalty extensions that makes them more valuable in a consumer’s life. It’s something that the vast majority of brands could never do before, but suddenly it has become an amazing white space filled with opportunities and creativity… for those who dare.

It will be interesting to see which brands embrace media beyond the screen.

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post: The Future of Media Is Beyond The Screen.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image — an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. His next book, CTRL ALT DEL, comes out in Spring 2013. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

Confessions Of A 5th Grade Punk

The Editor — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:21:28 +0000

From Taylor-Ruth’s Tumblr, a page from her fifth grade diary. She was unquestionably the most punk fifth grader she knew, and possibly the most punk fifth grader in history. If you’re trying to place the chronology here, note that Taylor-Ruth identifies as an Indiana high-school senior (she’s also a great cartoonist!).

actual diary entry from when i was in 5th grade oh my god (via Wil Wheaton)

Originally published on Boingboing.net