I walk you through roasting coffee at home with a WestBend Poppery air popcorn popper and bean from Sweet Marias and dig into the promise of RSS as a distribution channel. Intro: Tod Maffin & Sean from I Love Radio. Listen to Roasting at Home [13 min]
Monthly Archives: October 2004
First Crack 04. Better Coffee and the State of Reality TV
I give you some tips on making better coffee at home with the Melitta Mill & Brew 10-Cup Coffeemaker, Black, coffee shops strategies in the Twin Cities, and rant on the poor state of reality television. Featured in PodCat’s Best of Podcasting Oct 29 Listen to Better Coffee and the State of Reality TV [22 …
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A Systems Thinking Overview
As an introduction to the perspective Working Pathway’s brings to your project, I present this excellent overview of systems thinking from the late Donella Meadows: Dancing with Systems. Here are some highlights to get you started: “Before you disturb the system in any way, watch how it behaves.” “Aid and encourage the forces and structures …
Cost of Stolen Towels Comes Out of Marketing Budget
A couple years back, Amazon attempted two things: Advertising in print and on television. Charging for shipping. They found little return on the first, and a found a huge backlash against the second. Amazon now finances their Super Saver shipping with their advertising budget: NY Times – Amazon Tries Word of Mouth Holiday Inn just …
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Sales Clerk Shops Competiton With Customer
Until now there were only 5 responses you’ll receive when asking a store clerk about an item: “Yes, we have it. Allow me to get it for you.” “Yes we have it. It’s in aisle 4, I’ll show you.” “Yes we have it. It’s in aisle 4.” “No, we don’t carry it.” “No, we don’t …
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Success Comes in Small, Cheap Projects
Instead of spending milions of dollars on “The Superbowl Ad”, why not spend that money cranking out beermat campaigns, till you find one that really works? Using beermats in small, test markets, you could easily create 50, 100 (500? Who knows?) campaigns for the price of one decent Superbowl/TV commercial. It would be a simple, …
5 Tips For Better Customer Interviews
The easiest way to collect interesting, usable data from a research effort is to blend into the background of the subject’s life. Media journalists know this – that’s why they’re embedded in the presidential campaigns and in the military actions. To give honest unselfconscious, response, subject’s need to be comfortable with researchers – as peers, …
First Crack 03. Bad Technology
Murphy’s Law struck all my gadgets today including my PowerBook, Jabra Bluetooth Headset, and iPod. As an added bonus, I rant on the shortcomings of Bluetooth. Listen to Bad Technology [26 min]
First Crack 02. There Are No Users
The line between “user” and “developer” is blurring daily. Through participatory media, the people formerly known as “users” are effecting and developing the media they care about. Listen to There Are No Users [3 min]
Six Step Process to Motivate Others
In a highly collaborative working environment, the traditional hierarchical relationship between employees doesn’t exist. The result is peers making requests to one another to move their respective projects forward. More akin to a volunteer organization than a button-down for-profit business. The best volunteer organizations use a 6-step process to motivate peers in assisting. This is …