Audio is to Books as Video is to Car Crashes

A conversation at last night’s PodcastMN meet-up got me thinking about the difference between audio and video.

As I see it, the goal of writing is to use the fewest words possible to illustrate the most to the reader. Density. In fact, I’m pretty sure the job of an editor is just that. In the end, chances are, the voice in your head reading this is different than the one in my head. That’s just the start. The specifics of the tiny, upstairs room I’m writing this in, with its plastic-coverd north-facing window, wall-long bookshelf, and boxes of unwanted cables is probably more comfortable in your head than in reality.

That’s the cool part.

The funniest sketch I’ve heard on Teknikal Diffikulties was a visual gag. Cayenne Chris gave just enough – then let us listeners build out the rest.

Unlike audio and text, video is a finished, self-contained product. Leaving little to the imagination. As such, it’s more expensive on all counts. From production, delivery, and most importantly – audience attention. Video demands 100% of the audience’s attention. Like a car crash on the freeway.

We all stare.

Notes on Recruiting Talent in a Knowledge Economy

As part of my work with Joe Urban, I was invited to the Minnesota Chapter of the Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Group’s panel discussion on attracting and retaining young, creative people in Minnesota.

On the panel:

My notes from the conversation:

  • Labor shortage is pending; baby boomers are leaving their careers, women and men are participating in the workforce at the same rates.
  • Cities are and will continue to compete for people.
  • 25-34 year olds move – that’s who cities are competing for. This number is shrinking overall. College-educated single women is the most attractive sub-group.
  • How the Twin Cities is doing: 5th in nation of college-degree or better with 25-34 year old. Education offsets declining populace.
  • Young people 34% more likely to live within 3 miles of a city’s center than the Americans overall.
  • Does your city have smart people living in the center?
  • Important factors in deciding on a city; “Will I be able to pursue the life I want in this city?”, “I want to be able to stumble onto the fun.”, “Is there tolerance for failure?”
  • 25-34 year olds have the most business starts than any other demographic.
  • Challenges for the Twin Cities; climate, men marrying young, it’s not LA/NY/London, cost of living is high, difficult for people to get established, too many surface parking lots. I see most of these issues common to all cities.
  • Strengths of the Twin Cities; perfect mesh of east coast sophistication and west coast flair, the great work happens in the winter.
  • We have 3 downtowns; Minneapolis, St. Paul, University. There needs to be a corridor and light rail connecting the 3.
  • Downtown Minneapolis is not Minneapolis’ best asset.
  • The skyways should be a tourist attraction
  • The warehouse district is Minneapolis’ best hope.
  • Significant leadership is required by the city government to developer a 100-year plan. (Public transit is a 100 year problem – Chicago is just starting to figure it out)
  • It’s not a question of diversity, it’s a question of ‘is the diversity engaged in all aspects of the city’
  • What if your weakness was your biggest strength?

First Crack 70. Ted Lowell from the Acadia Cafe on Being an Original Venue

Last year, PodcastMN got it’s start over drinks at the Acadia Cafe. This week, I sat down with Ted Lowell – one of the owners.

We talk about:

  • The history of the Acadia Cafe.
  • The decision to be an all original music venue.
  • What it’s like having a Starbucks across the street.
  • Riding the 75-cent pony.
  • Having one of the best beer selections in all of the Twin Cities.

Listen to Ted Lowell from the Acadia Cafe on Being An Original Venue [23 min]

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?

What I Want from Diapers – At a Glance Color Indicators

There are a number of indicators to determine if Cooper’s diaper needs a changing:

  1. Is he screaming?
  2. Does the front of the diaper feel and look full?
  3. Are his clothing, blankets, or crib wet?

As you can see, all the items in this list are what economists call lagging indicators. In addition, two of them have fairly unpleasant consequences.

Continuing my thoughts that diapers should be made for parents, not kids (i.e. 86 the cartoon characters) – I think diapers should change color based their ‘status’. Yes, exactly like those dorky Generra Hypercolor shirts from the late ’80s.

Then, I can see – at a glance if this is why Cooper’s alarm is going off.

Sure, the entire diaper changing color would be nice. I’d also be up for geo-political trivia, where the answer is displayed upon saturation.

Huggies, Pampers, Anything in R&D along these lines?

UPDATE 26 March 2007
Along the same lines:

“I was surprised at changing time with a message on J’s diaper: “My Last Diaper!” — a message from one of her teachers that we needed to bring in another batch of diapers” – Sara Brumfield via Parenthacks

What To Do with 10 Sears Ads?

Sunday Star Tribune seemed a little heavy for a boring, post-holiday, January weekend. As I culled out the handful of things I actually care about;

  • comics
  • big box electronics ads
  • “signature” – maybe there’s something interesting this week
  • “money + business” – maybe there’s something interesting this week
  • the Satellite radio article in “arts & entertainment” – complete fluff piece. Aside from reading like an ad for Howard Stern. I hope the Strib got some ad dollars for the article. More on that at the Work Better blog.

I also found:

  • 2 duplicate Office Depot ads
  • 2 duplicate PartyAmerica ads
  • 5 duplicate CompUSA ads
  • and yes, 10 duplicate Sears ads

    • I don’t know how advertisers pay the Strib and measure its usefulness, but this can’t be helpful. Plus, I didn’t page through any of them. So, doubly un-helpful.