My Name is Kate

links for 2008-11-23

2008-11-23T10:30:37-08:00

SavvyMom Holiday Crib Campaign

We were shocked to learn that The Hospital for Sick Children needs $2.5 million to replace most of its beds, cribs, mattresses and stretchers. Parts for aging equipment can no longer be found, and the hospital is spending funds to rent specialty mattresses because the older-style mattresses contribute to skin breakdown, a condition suffered by many of the tiny patients. We hope the SavvyMom community can come together to reach our goal of $20,000 to buy 50 crib mattresses for SickKids.

links for 2008-11-22

2008-11-22T10:30:35-08:00

The Dewey Divas and the Dudes

We’re a group of Canadian publishers’ reps based in Ontario, who book talk our favourite reads of the upcoming season to librarians and school teachers. We also love to recommend movies, new DVDs, restaurants, and the latest quilting or knitting shops we discover on the road. Since we read far more books than we ever have time to talk about in our presentations, we hope to use this blog to continue our recommendations, and meet other bookish travellers.

(tags: reading blog books canada ontario reviews)

links for 2008-11-19

2008-11-19T10:30:59-08:00

FCC Transition Team co-chairs are virtual worlds nuts, too - Boing Boing

Triumph of the nerds!!!

(tags: virtualworlds obama fcc transitionteam netneutrality)
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

(tags: search resource reference pictures photography)

links for 2008-11-17

2008-11-17T10:30:32-08:00

8 myths that haunt online marketers - iMediaConnection.com

Great piece by Susan Kuchinskas - a couple of good responses to the idea that since we can measure practically everything in digital, we should, as well as thoughts on agency compensation. Some good conversation starters.

(tags: online marketing digital measurement onedegree)

Lest We Forget - Remembrance Day Matters

2008-11-11T06:00:00-08:00

I grew up in Texas where Remembrance Day is called Veteran's Day. I grew up in a time of relative peace, so it was not as poignant and relevant a day as it certainly is now. It was a forgotten holiday, really.

When I came to Canada in 1990, I was mystified by the poppies until a few patient Canadians explained it to me. And then I made the connection to Jim McCrae's In Flanders Fields, a poem I was required to memorize in 7th grade history class. It was this poem that taught me about dramatic reading and performance -- that poetry was not simply rhyme, but phrasing and intimacy and breath.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Through the years, most of the places that I worked in Toronto asked that we observe a moment of silence. Typically an awkward moment of silence when phones still rang and emails still pinged and minds still chattered.

It was not until I worked at a company called ICE (Integrated Communications and Entertainment) that I appreciated the poignancy and welcome ritual that Remembrance Day could bring to the workplace and create a truly unifying, respectful and grateful experience.

At ICE, about 10 minutes prior to 11:00 AM, a few "war tunes" were played over the intercom; I remember Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy in particular (we were housed in an old brewery in downtown Toronto with four floors, so you heard this echoling throughout the entire building). Then an historic announcement about the armistice was played and annoucements by some historical figure or another. Then In Flanders Fields was read. And then began the moments of silence. Finally, they came to a close with the playing of Taps.

Phones still rang and email still pinged during this time, but it wasn't an awkward silence. Because we had gone to the trouble of setting context and presenting the conflicting emotions that run through us on Remembrance Day. Joy at the end of a terrible war. Sorrow for all who were lost (and who we continue to lose). Gratitude for sacrifices that those of us who didn't go will never really understand.

I'm grateful for this experience at ICE because I take the memory and the power of it with me to each new workplace.

I came across this video on Teena's site. Very powerful. And it speaks to why we need to take the time, awkward or not, to acknowledge those whom Remembrance Day honours.

Photo Credit: Halifax Cenotaph by jercraigs

We're Giving Away a Free Ticket to nextMEDIA in Toronto

2008-11-10T11:03:28-08:00

Over at OneDegree, we're giving away a ticket to the upcoming nextMEDIA conference in Toronto. You get access to the two days of the conference (Nov 18 and 19) as well as the Canadian New Media Awards.

This is one conference I definitely wish I was going to be in town for! I've blogged about them before - they have some great speakers lined up. I attended the nextMEDIA event in Banff last year and it was excellent.

It's easy to enter the draw - just let us know (in the comments on this post) the speaker or the session you're most interested in. Enter by Thursday noon. We'll post the winner bright and early on Friday.

Do it. Enter.

links for 2008-11-10

2008-11-10T10:30:09-08:00

Tears to Remember - Judith Warner Blog - NYTimes.com

From the piece ... The election brought the return of a country we’d lost for so long that it was almost forgotten under the accumulated scar tissue of accommodation and acceptance.

(tags: obama election hope)
New Digital Initiative: Indigo Takes Wheel, Tries to Reinvent? | INDEX // mb

Thoughts on Indigo's new e-content platform. Via somisguided.com (thanks, Monique!)

(tags: canada books ebooks econtent publishing)

Meme-tastic - Susan Blackmore on Memes and Temes at TED 2008

2008-11-09T13:37:42-08:00

I've been thinking about memes lately. About the self-propagation of interesting and cool objects or ideas. I read a fair number of diverse blogs - different topics with different geographies and different audiences. Yet I find that they often post the same memes. BoingBoing is one of my favourite meme factories. And Twitter is certainly a meme replicator on steroids!

I saw Susan Blackmore earlier this year at TED and I was entranced by her presentation on memes ... how humans are meme machines ... as well as how temes have evolved - temes = technical memes. Love the ideas in her talk.

Have You Been Ph0n3d?

2008-11-08T18:22:50-08:00

Last week I attended the CMA's Digital Marketing Conference (btw .. for some great followup coverage, check out OneDegree - Alexa Clark conducted 1/2 dozen interviews with speakers - some good stuff!). One of my fav presentations was the Creative 3.0 (yeah, I don't know why they called it that either - I guess to signify the latest thing?) which had a number of creative directors presenting what the coolest, cutting-edge stuff they had seen recently is. You can check out the Tweet stream to see about all the presenters (@thornley and I kept up pretty well).

I did find Dré Labre's presentation on iPhone apps quite provocative. Both he and Adam Oliveira showed some amazing iPhone apps - but Dré made the explicit point that these apps are incredibly disruptive because a $10 app replaces a gadget that has cost between $10 and $500 - whether it's a GPS device, a metronome, a breathalizer or a simple lighter. And agencies are competing with kids in the basement (again!).

Below are his slides from his presentation - definitely worth a walk-through just to wrap your head around the implications of this - how it can change markets and marketing. Great stuff!

PH0N3D: Vanishing into thin air.

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile iphone)

Photo Credit: stephentrepreneur

links for 2008-11-08

2008-11-08T10:30:07-08:00

Sizing Up the Long Tail of Search - Hitwise Intelligence - Bill Tancer

"In summary, the long tail aspect of the search is true, but the data tells us that there may really be no head or body. When it comes to search, virtually all traffic is long tail and the word “long” doesn’t do the length of the tail justice." Some good graphs and prelim data.

(tags: web2.0 seo search research onedegree)

This post has nothing to do with marketing

2008-11-07T22:34:18-08:00

The rainy season has started in Vancouver - which means it's quite a bit colder. We don't turn on the heat in the office because both Rose and I come from the grumpy-dad traditions of "Dont EVER touch the thermostat - put on a sweater if you're cold." So layering is key.

However, my hands still get quite chilly, so my lovely wife recently knitted me these:

Now, they've taken a bit of getting used to (I'm still not 100% adept at the pinky stretch required to hit the left SHIFT key), but my hands are much warmer.

And when client work is getting a little overwhelming, I comfort myself with a little self-pitying Dickensian fantasy ...

``You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose?'' said Scrooge.
``If quite convenient, Sir.''
``It's not convenient,'' said Scrooge, ``and it's not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you'd think yourself ill-used, I 'll be bound?''
The clerk smiled faintly.
``And yet,'' said Scrooge, ``you don't think me ill-used, when I pay a day's wages for no work.''
The clerk observed that it was only once a year.
``A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!'' said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. ``But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning!''

Now all I need is a coal burning stove. And the appearance of a few ghosts.

links for 2008-11-07

2008-11-07T10:30:18-08:00

The next President of the United States - The Big Picture - Boston.com

In a vote of historic proportions yesterday, Senator Barack Obama became President-Elect of the United States of America with a 52% majority in the popular vote, and more than 349 electoral votes. Over two years of campaigning was resolved with a record voter turnout, as the Republican candidate John McCain conceded graciously at 11:20 pm eastern last night. With such a high level of interest and attention, there have been millions of words written and photographs taken of the candidates over the past year. Here is a collection of some of the best photos of President-Elect Barack Obama over the past several months.

(tags: politics pictures obama photos)
Editorial - So Little Time, So Much Damage - NYTimes.com

While Americans eagerly vote for the next president, here’s a sobering reminder: As of Tuesday, George W. Bush still has 77 days left in the White House — and he’s not wasting a minute.

(tags: outrageous)

Telling Your Company's Story Using Narrative, Video and Expertise (Client Plug)

2008-11-06T10:55:34-08:00

Not everyone likes to write. Or, frankly, to read. Luckily, on the internet, we can use a combination of multimedia elements to tell a story, our story. I wanted to share how a client of mine, BuildDirect, is starting to use video, in combination with their blogging, to tell their story.

BuildDirect sells high-quality building materials direct to contractors and consumers via the Internet. They have been blogging for quite a while now - from a CEO blog to expert blogs about a number of topics (bamboo, wood flooring, stone tiles, etc.). Now, they're smart and haven't been blogging just about their stuff; for example, Rob Jones [twitter], who blogs about bamboo (and who also has a wicked personal blog about music and culture) finds great examples of bamboo (a green, sustainable flooring material) in use beyond flooring or heck, even beyond building materials - bamboo underwear, anyone?

So far, this has been a pretty good blogging strategy - curating and annotating with personal expertise a collection of articles on topics related to your business.

But BuildDirect (or any business really) has another resource that they could exploit - heavy internal expertise as well as access to places that most of us can't go.

Here's something you may not know about me - I am an ardent fan of shows like Megastructures and Frontiers of Construction. So when we were talking about what the next step for BuildDirect might be in social media AND I found out they could go to the places where they quarry the travertine - well, I had visions of Travertine Dream coming to the Discovery Channel.

Not surprising, perhaps, the Discovery Channel's production budget was a little out of BuildDirect's league. However, armed with a couple of Flip video cameras, BuildDirect has started to film their journeys to their manufacturers - first up, the travertine tile manufacturer in Turkey.

And this is where the great storytelling comes in - by illustrating a descriptive blog post with snippets of educational video, BuildDirect now has a comprehensive piece on how travertine tile is made.

So smart! And this kind of content can be used for customer education, sales team education, show-and-tell at school. Also, they can take beautiful, personal images (like the one of travertine above) that they can then use online and off - so much better than stock photography.

So ... what aspects of your business can you make visible to your customers? Where do you have latent expertise that, armed with a camera, could become explict expertise and start to tell the awesome story of your business?

Bamboo Hut Image via Inhabitat
Travertine Image from BuildDirect

links for 2008-11-06

2008-11-06T10:31:33-08:00

Mrs. O - Michelle Obama Fashion

Mrs. O is a website dedicated to following the fashion of Michelle Obama. It was first inspired by Mrs. Obama’s wardrobe at the Democratic National Convention in August 2008. The site hopes to be a central, ever evolving resource to chronicle Mrs. O’s look, while providing fashion commentary and information. The site will encourage visitors to contribute tips, photos and commentary, and share enthusiasm for the budding style icon, Mrs. O.

(tags: style politics obama lifestyle fashion michelle)
2008 Election Maps

Awesome collection of election maps over at Kottke.og. h/t http://nothingknew.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/electoral-college-map-porn/

(tags: voting visualization politics infographics map)

2008 Canadian Blog Awards are Now Open

2008-11-05T12:12:30-08:00

The Canadian Blog Awards have opened for their 5th year. There was some rejigging of categories this year - some of which make sense and some of which are confusing. But hey, nominate your favourite Canadian blog and if you put it in the wrong category, the good folks at the CBA will help you figure it out.

Timetable:

Nomination period: Nov 2 - 22
First Round Voting: Nov 23 - 29,
Last round Voting: Nov 30 - Dec 7

The folks over at the CBA really do a great job organizing this. They put a ton of work into it. I'd really like to see them get a bit more traction this year. So, take a minute and spread the word about the CBA. You know the drill: stumbleupon, delicious, facebook, twitter.

Let's give them a bit of a boost this year!