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Programmer Debugged

I am a programmer, not a writer. If I have to write, here are the results:



< script language="some_script_language">

Blogging( some_name );

function Blogging( some_name )
{
    var return_text = "";
    
    if( some_name == "Valerie" )
    {
        return_text = "";
    }
    else
    {
        do while ( return_text.length => long enough )
        {
            return_text = write_blog_article( some_name );    
        }
    }
        
    return return_text;
    
}


</ script>

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The Revolution Will Not Be YouTubed

We’re living in a very interesting moment in history. By now, most are aware of the media wars; publishers, the recording industry and broadcast television have been pitted against the gaming networks, mobile app stores and the Internet in general, and we’re starting to see signs of a clear winner. Plummeting CD, DVD, newspaper and magazine sales have many long-time industry executives more than a little scared.

They should be scared – their inability to innovate and adequately capitalize on the Internet as a distribution model has turned them from media sharks into guppies.

To make things worse, the implementation of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology and industry executives’ continued attempts to change legislation on digitally distributed products has only turned public perception against them, shedding light on their obsolescence and exposing their desperation.

They’re fighting for what they think is their only option to maintain the livelihoods they’re used to while withholding much more than access to the entertainment we want. Their dominance in these traditional industries has allowed them to be the gatekeepers of culture, controlling our options and turning what used to be mediums for sincere artistic expressions into franchises that can be sold with predictable results.

So what’s so wrong with that? If it sells, people obviously like it, right? What would the world look like without the current guardians of pop culture? We would definitely risk losing the talent and expertise of producers who know how to take unknown child-stars like Britney Spears and Justin Bieber and turn them into platinum-selling performers. With networks going bankrupt and advertisers moving swiftly to the ‘net, actors - the cast of Friends, for example – would no longer be able to demand millions of dollars per show. This would likely lay waste to gossip and glamour programs like MTV Cribs and TMZ as the coveted title of A-lister becomes less relevant.

Are you struggling to see what’s wrong with that picture?

In a world without middle men, independent artists would rule. Other than the obvious allure of having a fan base, the beauty of a true indie artist’s world is that they can produce art for the pleasure they derive from their craft – without expectation or desire to be rich and on Hollywood Access one day.

Theirs is a world where a video series lives or dies based solely on the decision of the creator (in dialogue with fans), a world where albums and music videos are only as popular as the viral world will allow. We the people hold the power. We choose what we want.

I’m probably committing pop culture blasphemy by wishing for the burning of rags like People and Star. But consider the repercussions. No longer would scores of tween girls aspire to be rich and famous like Paris Hilton or Miley Cyrus. Hopefully, they’ll instead wish they could sing as well as Leslie Stevens and write songs as well as Emily Haines.
I’ll admit it’s as naïve of me to believe that such a Utopian world could exist as it is to think one day most of YouTube’s content won’t be made up of Star Wars Kid mash-ups, that creepy gopher and little boys punching their Dad in the crotch.

It’s an oversimplification to think that self-interested billionaires will disappear overnight and that advertising will eventually cease to manipulate the perceptions of our easily influenced youth. As a result, sincere art will probably never completely replace the units-sold model that dominates our culture now – not in my lifetime anyway.

I still believe that there is a revolution coming, one in which the art forms of today – music, video, fashion, literature, and others – will all be revolutionized by the social structure of the Internet. The old guard will eventually give way to the new, and that change just might save North American culture…

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Witnessing History

Congrats to Heritage Winnipeg on another Doors Open. Having worked on a number of heritage projects, I have found myself flush with newfound awareness of where I live. Winnipeg’s history is pretty interesting, and the fact we get to witness it every day is testament to the efforts of Heritage Winnipeg and other built heritage advocates.

History is a trip that I enjoy because we live IN it, every day. Every street, building, and person for that matter that has been on this planet for a considerable length of time offers up soooo much of a story. Unfortunately, most people blithely ignore opportunities to enrich their lives a little by simply learning about their surroundings.

History was one of the classes that did not bring on REM during my school days. I have always found a fascination with the characters that have been associated with historic events and achievements. The closer to home, the better.

Never satisfied with knowing just who was involved, I eventually wanted to know why they were involved. This curiosity sparked a lifelong addiction to biographies which invariably triggered the where, what and how.

New digital technologies are allowing us to delve into history farther and faster. The Internet is a gateway to histories, databases and photos that have long been buried in filing cabinets, scrapbooks and archives. Personal and government websites are opening up access to records that connect gaps in our past leading to interesting finds. Google Street View can show me the doorway of the train station in Ireland that my Great-great-grandfather walked through on the beginning of his journey to North America. Click here to check out an old Henderson Directory to see who lived in your house and the neighbourhood years past.

While undertaking the development of the Heritage Winnipeg virtual tour, I was able to satisfy much of my appetite regarding where history happened locally. This unique project allowed me to visit and photograph buildings that I would never have had reason or permission to ever enter. In order to develop the inventory, our production team crawled through pretty well every building in the Exchange District. Many had not had a visitor in decades. Along the way, we uncovered some interesting side-notes about the city where we all lived.

Visiting the Woodbine Hotel on Main Street, for example, we explored the basement that once housed a bowling alley that conveniently acted as a cover for an illegal booze outlet during the Prohibition era. Out the front doors and only a few feet away is the site where Mike Sokolowski slumped against the wall, shot dead by the Royal North West Mounted Police during the General Strike of 1919. Main Street itself has a very colorful history, and was the backdrop of this and many other infamous events.

The Oxford Hotel’s abandoned third floor offers a stunning panoramic view of Albert Street. One of the nearby rooms was the location of poker games regularly attended by politicians, police officials and the city elite. A bell located on the main floor would be rung by the desk manager to alert them when a raid was occurring. They would slip through a door connecting to the next building and quietly walk out the door.

During the period of 1882-85, William Van Horne, famed CPR engineer, would have walked the wooden sidewalks of Main Street. Step inside the Manitoba Club and you can probably find the room where he and James Rosser drew pistols during an argument over Rosser’s firing.

Just across Main Street from the Manitoba Club, in the Northwest Co. parking lot, you can stand on the exact spot where Canadian history took a turn. That’s where Thomas Scott’s body fell when he was executed by Louis Riel’s firing squad, igniting the wrath of Eastern Canada. Not far from that location is where the Seine and Red Rivers meet. This is where Scott’s heavily chained body is rumoured to have been slipped into the water one moonlit night.

In many buildings that were once hotels, we found abandoned rooms with old claw-foot bathtubs. There were majestic arched windows covered over by cardboard, storage, and (in too many instances) the ubiquitous false stucco facades that conceal much of the beauty of downtown Winnipeg’s built heritage.

Winnipeg is a great city to enjoy the Doors Open experience. It is one of the few North American cities that recognized the need to put up a fight to save and preserve its built heritage before it was too late. The city is in a class of its own for the many locations where you can still be a witness to history.

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We're Friends on the Internet: Meghan's Top Ten Social Media Marketing Tips

Social media marketing is a great way to reach out to potential customers and clients. It involves using services such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and many other community-based websites to raise awareness about your company. The tools offered by these sites have become incredibly powerful, allowing you to interact with clients and learn about current and potential markets.

The key to understanding this type of marketing is to remember the word 'social'. Here are some obvious (but often overlooked) things to keep in mind if you have decided to use social media marketing to promote yourself.

1) You should BLOG about that
There are about 12 billion things on the Internet more interesting than what you had for dinner. Pick topics that are entertaining and meaningful to your audience. Keep your commentary short and provide helpful links. Unless you're a critic or a sports columnist, keep biting commentary out of your writing.

2) Use pictures instead of words
Pictures are fun to look at, and fun to share. Also, it only takes a few seconds (while your boss isn't looking, for instance) to send a fun or interesting picture to ten of your friends. There is a reason sites like are icanhazcheezeburger and vice are popular. The formula is fun, cute, and accessible.

3) It's not a popularity contest
Every social media marketing site has unique tools to encourage community and collaboration. These tools make it easier to market yourself to a relevant demographic, and they can help you find willing collaborators with complimentary skills, services and products.

Just some examples:
Facebook: Tag Friends in Your Status and Posts
Mashable: How To Get The Most Out Of Twitter Hashtags

4) Connect on a personal level
Think about the kind of audience you want to attract. If they are psychology students, find an energetic psychology student to run your Facebook page. If you're trying to appeal to middle-aged housewives, set up a survey contest that will appeal to them. Offer people a reason to create a personal dialogue with you and your company, personally.

5) Engage your audience by becoming an authority
Discussion boards and forums are great ways to build a personal connection. Are you an expert at something? Does your company provide a unique service? Try offering advice (with a link back to your website) on one of the millions of forums available online. Being helpful is a really good way to make friends, and it's an excellent way to gain respect and recognition within your industry.

6) Share Implement sharing tools.
Share your Vimeo videos on Facebook. Share your blog stories on Digg. Connect what you are doing on the Internet with everything else you're doing on the Internet. This makes it easy for people to find you, no matter which online social circle they're in.

7) Don't let things stagnate
Don't set up a page with bare-bones information and let it sit empty for two years. This is the worst kind of Internet presence, and makes a worse impression than no Internet presence at all.

8) Brand yourself consistently
Every social media website has its own rules and its own structure for content, but it is still possible to create a consistent brand across all of the sites. Start with a simple, versatile logo and work from there. Look up tips online if you aren't sure about the design limitations of a site.

9) Make friends with people you think are better than you
The coolest thing about social media marketing is the ability to connect with people and companies who inspire you. This is how you will get better. You will not get better by ignoring your rivals, pretending they don't exist, or badmouthing them on the Internet.

10) Respect your audience
One of the most common mistakes I see when I research social media marketing is a tendency towards humourless self-aggrandizing. Try to be helpful, humble, and grateful for your audience. Show a sense of humour. Stay accessible. If people like you they are far more likely to give you their business.0 COMMENTS | LEAVE A COMMENT

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Rose-Coloured Predictions

As we come to the close of the first decade of the 2000s, it seems appropriate to dig around the Internets to see how people envisioned our current technological reality just as it was getting underway ten years ago.

It's obvious the 2000s can be summed up with a three-letter acronym: www. Everything else orbits around the coming of age of the Internet in all its forms. What follows is a sample of the limitless lists that are surely lurking in the corners of pundits' websites around the world. There is some gold in these links, and some surprisingly accurate statements.

Tech in 2000: The Predictions, by Wired
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1999/12/33353

"But, never let error hold us back: 2000 will have more lawsuits like eToys vs etoy, only even broader, stupider, and nastier. Large companies and/or opportunistic lawyers will be suing whoever they can -- other big companies, offshore ISPs, your mom -- for ‘stealing’ intellectual ‘property’, with both terms very nebulously and dubiously defined." Brad Bulger, Wired Digital

"Software will become omnipresent, personal, and intelligent. With the Web following us around, we'll expect all our data to come with it. Network data storage and application access will gradually replace fixed workstations. And the data following us around will be more personalized." Dr. Michael Witbrock, principal scientist, Lycos

"The Web brands that win this year will stand for something different, convey that difference simply and elegantly, and focus more on user experience than matching competitive functionality widget-for-widget." Mary Murphy, SVP Marketing Wired Digital

10 Predictions for Year 2000, by Edward Piou
http://www.ahref.com/guides/industry/200001/0101piou.html

"Weblogs, or 'blogs, will go commercial - more so than they have so far, anyway. It was only by buying the open-source 'blog Slashdot.org that Andover.Net was able to get enough credibility to IPO this past fall. More corporations (and maybe political campaigns) will turn to this format to generate web traffic and revenue."

You Can't Get There From Here: Twenty Predictions for the Year 2000, by By Robert X. Cringely
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/1999/pulpit_19991230_000403.html

"Intel and Microsoft will hit their all-time peaks of influence and profitability this year with a slow decline after 2000. Each company is already past the sweet spot in their core markets and started making mainly bad investments in a string of possible futures... I am not saying they will fail, but that they will enter a mature stage of growth in single, rather than double, digits. It's the end of an era."

Peter Cochrane Speaks 2000/1 Predictions (Video)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-60EXpjrackA/peter_cochrane_speaks_2000_1_predictions/

"When that bandwidth is available right across the network everywhere, we will see a complete transformation of the gaming industry."

"Probably the single biggest breakthrough is when we become journalists, because we will all be wearing cameras and devices that can capture any event at any time. We'll be in the street, look up, see a car accident. That can be captured so that then can be made into a news item."

Predictions, by Michael Naimark
http://www.naimark.net/writing/predictions.html

"Collaborative artworks and performances made by millions of people on the Internet emerge and evolve. But also a new form of mob behavior, "virtual street gangs," emerge as well."

"Realizing that bits have to safely reside somewhere, new kinds of museums appear, as cultural data banks. These digital collections become a boom for small, remote, and specialized museums."

TECHNOLOGY IN THE YEAR 2000 (1988, be Gene Bylinsky)
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1988/07/18/70787/index.htm

"Quite soberly, Peers and his peers on the high-tech frontiers say that by the year 2000, computers that don't look and act like computers will surround you -- shirt-pocket and notebook-like devices that respond to handwritten and spoken queries and commands, maybe even gestures."

"When you travel, you may carry along an electronic book that opens up to display text on two facing screens. The book's memory will contain as many as 200 novels or nonfiction volumes; you just write the name of the one you want to read, and up it pops."

"The telephone of the year 2000 will evolve into what Bell Labs' Vice President for Research, Arno A. Penzias, refers to as ''an integrated information appliance.'' This would be a sleek device with a large flat screen that would allow picture-phone conferences in full color as well as offer all the other accoutrements of the information age: the ability to send and receive documents and messages, act as a full-size computer, and provide access to many information sources."

OMNI's predictions for the year 2000 (from 1989)
http://friendfaux.blogspot.com/2008/04/omnis-predictions-for-year-2000-from.html

"Computers will provide access to all the card catalogs of all the libraries in the world by the late ‘90s."

"Mass media will be more personalized as consumers use pay-per-view television to select movies. Viewers will download their choices from a "teledelivery" service, paying for the program when they see it."

"About half of all service workers (43 per cent of the labor force by 2000) will be involved in collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, structuring, storing, or retrieving information as the basis of knowledge."

The Tomorrow Show: Technology Predictions From 1994
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/01/the-tomorrow-show-technology- predictions-from-1994.html

"Printed newspapers won't exist in 40 years. Instead, the news will be delivered via a credit-card-style memory device to lightweight magazine-size tables. Full-color screen displays will have the clarity and contrast of ink on paper, with the ability to provide not only written words and still pictures but also full-motion video clips, animated graphics and sound." Roger Fidler

"Wireless communications in the future will be ubiquitous. Every aspect of our day-to-day living will be touched by new technology. You won't go outside to get the morning paper. It'll be delivered to a computer docked to your TV set, allowing you to call up only those stories you want to read on-screen. When you leave for the office, you'll remove the portable docking port where it's been collecting information and take it to your car so you can work while you're commuting. Once you're at work, you'll slip the computer out of its car holder and into a receptacle on the desktop." Jim Page, Motorola

The wrong stuff: In the future, predictions of the future will be as off-base as they've been in the past.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/01/07/wrong_predictions/index.html

Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions
http://listverse.com/2007/10/28/top-30-failed-technology-predictions/

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Bunch of Hacks Slide Around on Ice

Manlabbers took to the ice at the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club this past Saturday to take part in what is likely to become an annual tradition. Instead of gloating about our prowess at draws, takeouts, freezes, hit-and-rolls, etc., check out our “mad skills” (or is it “skillz”?) for yourself.

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So, What “Books” Are You Reading These Days?

A comfy chair, a cup of tea and a good book. The train on the way to work with the soft glow of the laptop. In class, flipping pages from your textbook on the Kindle. In line at the bank, thumbing down the screen of your iPhone. Paper and ink, pixels on screens both big and small, e-Ink on dedicated eBook Readers. How do you take your reading? Or maybe the better question is: what allows you to get the most reading done?

It's true: you can't have a dog-eared, musty, well-loved leather-bound book on your eBook Reader. Nor is an iPhone an affordable, accessible option for many (not to mention that the batteries may run out at the good part, or you'll have to turn it off for takeoff and landing). But a paper and ink book isn't one of the few objects that all people carry with them all the time. The mobile phone (and more specifically, the eBook-friendly smartphone) is one of those objects.

The promise of digital book distribution allows you to have, for example, the next "Twilight" tome (ahem) instantly appear in your hands upon finishing the previous one (because you MUST know how it all turns out with Edward and Bella). Sources like Project Gutenburg offer over 30,000 electronic titles (mostly classics whose copyright have expired) for free distribution, while retailers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon (in the US) and Indigo's Shortcovers (in Canada) are engaged in an arms-race to digitize books for their own digital platforms. And rumour has it that the superpower of media - Apple - is set to join (and perhaps re-define once again) the industry in 2010.

Add to that the overwhelming reality that peoples' attention has moved online and you can start to see what is motivating this shift. Traditional print media, newspapers and magazines are digging deep to adjust to a reality where people (especially younger generations who have never known a world without the Internet) are conditioned to go online first. This isn't news, but if most people are now comfortably digital-first when it comes to their consumption of other kinds of written media, it seems logical that the Amazons and Barnes & Nobles of this world see an opportunity in extending that digital experience to books.

Oh right, the experience. An often-heard criticism of eBooks goes something like this: "I love paper. I love turning pages. I love the smell. I can't read long pieces of text on a screen. Plus you can't take it in the bath." All valid, and all very real hurdles for proponents of digital books to overcome. Then there's the design. On the software side, authorial control over design considerations like typography tends to run parallel with that of typography on the web pre-CSS: limited. Typeface options, device-dependent variations in line-length, leading, tracking and more all lead to a potentially chaotic reading experience (not to mention a nightmare-inducing assignment for designers rooted in traditional book design). On the hardware side, companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble are dipping their inexperienced toes into the industrial design of their proprietary devices, to mixed reviews.

As a result of these challenges, eBook services naturally tend to focus on the positive features unique to digital distribution as reasons for choosing their products: direct, instant access to their entire well-categorized, searchable library of titles, available wherever you are, 24 hours a day. They add social elements, allowing readers to comment, rate, and share their favourites with other people. And most eBook services offer these features across multiple digital devices like laptops, eReaders, smartphones, iPhones, etc.

And so the debate around eBooks comes down to the reading experience and the access to content. Currently I sit on the fence. I LOVE books - I'm passionate about book design and typography, and the smell of fresh ink, and all those other wonderful things about paper and ink books - but I'm often guilty of never reading the books I own. I blame this on my current lifestyle, which really only allows time for picking up a book at the end of the day when I'm the most tired and least able to concentrate.

I've recently started experimenting with reading eBooks on my iPhone, using apps like "Classics" and Indigo's "Shortcovers," and I've found the ubiquity of the iPhone in my pocket has allowed me to find more time to read - a good thing! A recent morning spent at the doctor's office allowed me to chew through three chapters of Tim Brown's latest book, "Change by Design," purchased through and read in Shortcovers. Sadly, I can't remember the last time I had time to read three chapters of anything, and so the experience left me with a favourable impression of the benefits of eBooks. I can't see myself ever giving up paper and ink books, but I also have a feeling that more and more of my book reading will take place where ink doesn't exist.

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Technology and Art

iPhones do not grow on trees, but you CAN grow trees (and whatever other organic, generative art you like) on the iPhone, thanks to artists who have discovered the wonders of open source languages like Processing.

Zio - Demo 1 from Glenn Marshall on Vimeo.

My favourite iPhone app this month is ZIO, a beautiful, useless little visualizing program that allows you to use pretty much every feature of the iPhone to create gorgeous generative art. ZIO, and apps like it, usually take around a year to develop and sell online for approximately $5 a pop.

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How I Was Saved From the Corporate-Speak Sarlacc Pit*

*With apologies to George Lucas, Star Wars fans, and Lando Calrissian

Once I was on the edge of the corporate-speak abyss, in danger of being swallowed forever. It was sorta like standing on a plank above the Sarlacc pit, but more boring.**

In January of this year, that little droid called Manlab helped me escape. We work with a number of different clients that each require a distinct voice for their unique audiences. Most of our clients are looking to connect with the general public, whether it be on their website, via an e-newsletter or in print.

Before I worked at Manlab, I worked at two business offices – one non-profit and one corporate – and as such had become accustomed to “business-y” writing. Annual reports, corporate letters, brochures, stakeholder reports, etc. made up the bulk of the writing I did.

Outside of Manlab, I write a weekly freelance column for one of the local dailies. In the past four years of writing the column, I’ve learned to make sentences snappy, keep paragraphs short, and avoid bulky words.

I had never been able to write in the latter style at my day job until I started working here. Most of our work has to do with websites, so I had to learn how to write for the web. It’s not really that different than writing for a newspaper; content has to be short and sweet. After all, who wants to stare at a screen reading sprawling paragraphs of complicated jargon?

It took a while to un-learn the corporate-speak, but I had some great help courtesy of a friendly nudge in the right direction by former Manlabber Ryan Trembath. He directed me to Copyblogger, a website dedicated to helping people write for an online audience.

Brian Clark and his Copyblogger cohorts successfully create and pull together some great articles on keeping your writing short, sweet and exciting. The pieces themselves are textbook examples of what they promote – clean, concise, and to the point, with eye-catching headlines like “What Purple Rain Can Teach You About Effective Online Marketing” or “The Oscar the Grouch Guide to Building a More Remarkable Blog“.

Whether you’re writing for personal or corporate reasons, I think that Copyblogger is your best bet to hone your skills. Think of it as your master Yoda.

May the force be with you.


**Don’t get me wrong – I liked my previous jobs. Manlab is just so much more my style and speed – a bit more casual and far more creative. It also doesn’t hurt that home is a seven-minute walk away.