Wednesday, 8 February 2006

Monday, 6 February 2006

Wanted – A Better Gillmor Gang

I’m the first to admit I frequently listen podcasts for the guest not the host – TechNation, PodTech, Larry’s World, and more recently – Gillmor Gang.

For the latter, it wasn’t the ads that bugged me, or the hub-bub around them. I’ll fast-forward past them until a new podcast-appropriate ad format is introduced.

I completely agree with Kurtiss Hare on the ad issue:

“[Steve Gillmore] continues to rehash the same point and refuses to raise the level of discourse.”

Yes, it’s great that someone with Earthlink’s reputation is sponsoring podcasts. I’ve had mixed experiences with them (yeah for mobile phone, boo for dsl). Shoehorning radio ads into podcasts won’t change that. Especially one’s I don’t hear. Remember the fast-forward button.

While I really enjoy the high-level strategic discussion of internet and business, I’m finding Steve’s fixation on specific vendors, continual hijacking of the conversation, and insistence that 30 second off-topic ads are cool – all tiresome.

Unsubscribing from the Gillmor Gang leaves a void in my listening and I’m looking for a replacement. Something with the same format – 5 people on a conference call, same topics – companies and how they’re adapting to the changing relationship between customer and vendors, and really heated discussion.

Any suggestions?

Om & Niall’s Podsession and This Week in Tech are both close, but a little too tactial

Monday, 9 January 2006

Search Engines Not Following

There are two semantic phenomena made prominent with the advent of tagging:

  1. We use related words to describe a concept wrapped in a point-of-view.
    If memory serves, in his Ontology is Overrated presentation Clay Shirky uses “film”, “movies”, and “cinema” as an example. Each of these words describes similar, but different things.
  2. We use the same word to describe vastly different concepts.
    Take “java” for example it could be referring to coffee, code, or a country.

Surprisingly, Google, Yahoo, and MSN haven’t yet connected people with their points of view. Dave Winer suggests:

“Let me tell [search engines] where my weblog is. Then it knows what my interests are. Give me search results relevant to who I am.”

Reminds me of something I wrote about on why Google Adsense doesn’t work.

Whether it’s the words in this blog or other sites I’ve read – I’m implicitly declaring context and point-of-view every time the browser refreshes. Then it goes straight down the memory hole.

(What I’ve looked at before + What I’m looking at now) / What you’re trying to tell me = Targeted ad

Excuse me, could I get a refill on the Attention Kool-aid?

Monday, 2 January 2006

First Crack 69. Garrick Talks About Attention, Advertising, and Interruptions

Just me today to kicking off the new year with a new mic – Sennheiser e816S, a simplified production process, and a glass of Armagnac.

Things on my mind:

  • Cooper’s crying is like interruption-based advertising is like a Vonnegat story.
  • Distribution is Advertising.
  • Removing distraction for the New Year; moving status indicators to my dashboard and unsubscribing from yahoo podcasts, ruby on rails, and a pile of rss feeds.
  • Errol Morris’ First Person
  • Special thanks to Dave Slusher for remembering the story was Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron, Lewis for the bottle, Sam for the delivery, and Jeremy Piller for the theme music.

Listen to Garrick Talks About Attention, Advertising, and Interruptions [10 min]

Friday, 23 December 2005

The Government is Really in the Attention Business

Hitting shuffle on the ‘unlistened podcast’ playlist this evening I hit Steve Gilmor’s conversation with Doc Searls on Attention back in November and the just published On the Media on the NSA eavesdropping on Americans for the last 4 years.

Yes, in fact, I would like to see an AttentionTrust badge at nsa.gov (btw – why does the NSA have a Flash intro?).

Tuesday, 15 November 2005

Tag It garrickvanburen for My Attention

Erik Haugo has started a for:garrickvanburen tag over at del.icio.us for things he thinks I’ll be interested in.

Thanks Erik.

If you’re reading this right now, feel free to use that tag for the same purpose. I’m also watching garrickvanburen on Flickr and Technorati. Similarily, if there’s a podcast you think I’d enjoy – you can pop it in my Backlog station @ gigadial.

Fellow Minnesotan – jwynia just publicized the for:jwynia tag

Wednesday, 31 August 2005

Using Search Engines and Tags to Get A Specific Someone’s Attention

Scoble pointed out this Google search for Susan Dumais, look at the ad in the right-hand column. It’s less of an ad and more of a unique recruiting method. I hope this is the future of Google Ads – very specific messages targeted to a single individual.

This reminds me of the how venture capitalist Fred Wilson is using del.icio.us tags.

“He also has created a specific del.icio.us tag (“fred’spodcast”) that allows you to tag MP3s you think Fred will like and those MP3s will automatically download to his iPod courtesy of a del.icio.us RSS feed…..and created the tag “fred’selevatorpitch” for anyone who cares to push a podcast elevator pitch his way”

It’s how Feedburner got Fred’s attention.

This is method is an extension of Doc Searls’ statement on the evolving RSS subscription behavior:

“Mostly I subscribe to searches, and I keep changing those.”

I’m subscribed to Technorati searches for myself, this blog, all the software I develop, and a few keywords (like “attention.xml”). I know mentioning one of those things in a blog post is the easiest way to get me to pay attention to what you have to say.

Welcome to the direct-est of direct marketing.

Friday, 19 August 2005

Wednesday, 17 August 2005

Monday, 1 August 2005