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Notes on Turow...and some commentary

Joseph Turow
Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania

10 October 2007

-Trends within the media.
-People need to pay attention to what is happening in the industries.
-The field has been stuck looking at things that have always been there.

I've been mulling over an idea from Space Syntax research (think Architecture and Urban Planning) that people tend toward spaces from which the rest of a building is more easily accessible (Peponis, Zimring, Choi, 1990). This, some suggest, is a reason why even during a fire, people tend to exit a movie theater the same way they came in rather than the clearly marked exits on either side of the screen.

Here are two examples of techniques for visualizing "more integrated" spaces.

I've been thinking about this as an analogy for the role of popular media outlets in an era of mass choice.

First of all, I'm not sure what calling social networks a "fad" really means. Second, it just sounds pathetic when Steve Ballmer is the one saying it (hint, MS CEO). Afterall, it's the basis for one of the fastest-growing new media giants' success. But there's something more going on here than a PR move against Google.

Here's the NYTimes blog post I'm referring to (don't worry, it's short...)

Two of the highlights:

"Mr. Schmidt (Google CEO) did say that over the next year, Google is planning to use information it has about the connections between its users, something techies call the "social graph," to improve searches and other Google services."

"There have been reports that Google will not only use its social graph information for its own services but it will also create a system for other companies to use the same data -- in other words, to "out-open" Facebook."

Google beat all the other search engines in large part because they recognized the power and inherent knowledge embodied in the act of people linking to other people. Their searches were the best because they based their ratings on how people choose to link to one another (among other characteristics, I'm sure).

But from the looks of it, "Social Networking" has taken on new meaning. Now, it appears, the term refers to the type of interconnections possible in MySpace and Facebook.

But aren't these derivative as well? What made/makes them unique? The character of their databases? The content of their databases? Their "openness?"

The NYTimes ran an interesting story about the new dot-com bubble that appears to be well underway ("Silicon Valley Start-Ups Awash in Dollars, Again," October 17, 2007).

It talks a bit about how it appears that many start-ups are once again focussing on building an audience more than building profits, and that this approach appears to be attracting major interest from venture capital.

This article in the Washington Post today talks about how the "inventor" of the "electric slide" dance has been actively trying to stop people from posting YouTube videos that teach people the wrong way of doing it.

If you can't trust YouTube for dance moves, what CAN you trust it for?

I've been following the current fire situation in Southern California a bit more closely this time around, having live there the last two years. I have friends who live in some of the more fire-prone areas near Malibu and Thousand Oaks, and I know that they have had a number of close calls over the years.

I was initially browsing for information at cnn.com, but could never find a good interactive map that would help me get a better sense of where the fires were or where they were headed.

Then a friend of mine (one whose house is definitely in a fire zone) pointed me to this blog posting with satellite pictures of the area with fire information overlayed -- all generated with Google Earth.

I have played with Google Earth in the past, but this was the first time that I have seen a compelling real-world application where it provides better near real-time information that is critical to people's lives.

There's something very disturbing about seeing an older satellite images of a forest with a big red dot right in the middle, indicating "this whole set of trees is probably on fire right now."

Mattel issued another recall today , this time for its Fisher Price line. And while the din of toy recalls may be enough to obfuscate the larger problem at this point, it might not be long before American brands have a wider problem on their hands.

After all, American companies don't just buy raw materials for toys in China. We're talking people food, pet food, car parts and much more.

Now it's important to point out that Mattel has apologized to China for blaming the foreign parts for the larger problems at its company. But with the U.S. using fewer and fewer domestic raw materials. China's brand crisis may be an American crisis before long.

christopherbaker.net has an incredible video of his email social network visualization. One of those ideas with a really simple concept with huge impact that makes me want to slap myself for not thinking of it first. Beautiful UI, I might add.

Information on this amazing new cloaking technology has recently been published on National Geographics website. Hit the link below and find out how to truly obfuscate your activities from the world! Oh my nerdery knows no bounds. Enjoy.

Link

Microsoft doesnt get many things right :) ... but this is one cool piece of technology.

Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth (based on Seadragon technology) creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Agueray Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle.
Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images.

There was a simple, yet profound, article in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday related to the difficulty of truly innovating during new product development -- "A Recipe for Creating New Products: Take two completely separate categories; Combine" (27 October 2007) [PDF].

A couple of highlights:

To rejuvenate established product families, brand managers thus typically combine features of one product with those of others in the same family. This of a cellphone-cum-organizer-cum-computer-etc.

They overwhelm customers with additional features taken from related product lines. Since they believe that each additional feature represents a point of differentiation form the competition, managers find it hard to step off this never-ending treadmill. Paradoxically, in an attempt not to overextend the product line, managers overextend the product's features, leading to "feature glut" and reduced usability for consumers.

Instead of using features from many but similar product categories, cross-breeding uses only two dissimilar and even highly remote product categories to spark the conception of a truly new product.

View this video here

The phrase "work smarter, not harder" has been repeatedly ridiculed in Dilbert and all elsewhere, not because it is a poor idea, but because it is thrown like a brick lifesaver to drowning employees. It's like telling someone to be happier, healthier, and richer. What people need is a plan for doing so.

In "Making Great Decisions" the authors show readers how to achieve their objectives. They offer a better way to look at problems so that solutions are easier to find.

Speaker: David R. Henderson, Ph.D. David R. Henderson is an economics professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford. He was a senior economist with President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers.

Speaker: Charles L. Hooper Charles L. Hooper is President and co-founder of Objective Insights, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to providing health care companies with marketing and financial analysis to help them make informed decisions about their business opportunities.

The authors speak in tandem (which may not be the best way of doing this) and it does drag a little bit at times, but the gist of it is very useful.

Check this out...

It's available for download, although I haven't found a fully-open source version yet (fingers crossed...).

Skyvis Website