Dec
10

Links of the Week: Dec 10th Edition

Strained my eyeballs reading stuff this week. Let’s dig in:

6 Reasons Why Social Games Are the Next Advertising Frontier

Image via Mashable

One of my @Du4.llc clients develops episodic social games, and their data confirms how effective engaging, in-game ads can be. A lot of people pooh-pooh advertising in the social age on general principle, but given a certain degree of innovation, I think there’s still a place for them.

5 Predictions for 2011 From IDC

None of these are particularly eye-opening, but IDC’s expectation of 25 billion mobile apps sold via various app stores is something to think about. We’re moving to an app ecosystem where simple web tools that enhance users’ lifestyles are becoming a ubiquitous part of life. Imagine where that could take us in 20 years where we’ll be downloading apps directly to implants attached to our five senses. I’m not seeing much in app futures right now, but the premise is sound.

When Futures Thinking Meets Design Thinking

So one of my favorite reads is Venessa Miemis‘s blog emergent by design. Venessa is the first futurist-in-training I’ve met who sought a formal education in futurism. I got to meet her at Stowe Boyd‘s Social Business Edge earlier this year in New York, and I was blown away by her innate creativity and motivation to discover what’s next. It’s people like Venessa that we should be listening to as they punch through the bubble of the present mundanity and shape positive visions of the future. In this post, Venessa describes Jamais Cascio‘s (another AWESOME futurist you should be paying attention to) process for Futures Thinking. It’s a process I’m going to put to work on some of my client projects. For more, Venessa posted a follow-up called 3 Tools for Futures Thinking and Foresight Development that examines some things that can help you put Futures Thinking into practical application.

Always Be Thinking About These Things

Some excellent advice for creatives, independents and misifts from Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity. AONC is actually one of the coolest looking blogs I’ve seen in a while, and I’m having fun navigating Chris’s community and discovering old works of his. His commentary is soul food for creatives and wanderers.

Friday Five: Leading Digital Ethnographers

Every time I get ready to delete my content feed for Edelman Digital, they put out something like this. This post is a really great roundup of researchers conducting studies into the emerging field of digital anthropology. Each one has taken a slightly different approach to the task of segmenting internet users for study, and there are some fascinating links to their stories and work contained within. As an aside, last year I worked with a social networking research team at a company called Detica. My teammates were young, talented analysts with digital research aptitudes, culturally relevant skills in other languages, and a whole lot of code-monkeying savvy. Our work was very similar to what Edelman describes as digital anthropology but my teammates – ever the AWESOME crowd – coined the term “netnography” for the type of work we were doing. One of these days, I’m gonna get that to stick somewhere…

Why Wikileaks Is Good for America

4channers Go After PayPal, Swiss Bank in Defense of Wikileaks

I could go on and on with links to commentary about Wikileaks’ recent diplomatic cable dump and the subsequent storm of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against it and in defense of it. This issue is probably one of the most fascinating communications events I have ever experiences. I’ve been on both sides of this debate. Having worked in the Pentagon and understanding the necessities of operational security, I’m on one hand appalled by Wikileaks’ behavior. (Moreso, I’m appalled by the inflammatory anti-American statements Julian Assange has made, but that’s a separate issue.) On the other hand, I’m loving the debate this is creating about what government transparency really is and can be. In this world where some podunk, know-nothing ass-clown NCO can lift the entire SIPRNET via CD-ROM and get it published to the Internet, can the federal government truly afford to continue adhering to default security classification just because they don’t want to deal with information getting out to the public? I’ve certainly been in situations where documents were classified for political reasons and not actual security, so the motivation to break down barriers to transparency is understandable. I just don’t think the way to do it is the Wikileaks way.

Even more fascinating in this situation has been 4chan and the Anonymous community of hacktivists basically declaring war against the internet outposts of Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon, and any other online service provider that cut off its services to Wikileaks. This constitutes a citizen-galvanized retaliatory strike against perceived injustice, and most of the U.S. govvies I know who are monitoring this issue are literally left scratching their heads. I’m also astounded that the U.S. military, its component commands, and even its contractors have virtually stuck their heads in the sand to avoid dealing with the implications of Wikileaks: some defense outfits I know of are scared to death of mentioning Wikileaks in public conversations because they think they’re going to get hacked and lose their security clearances.

All this begs for more thought, so I may develop a separate post about in the near future. I definitely think Wikileaks is forcing us to redefine what we consider “free press,” “mainstream media,” and notions of transparency. It’s just going to be a long, ugly debate getting to any kind of common ground.

Anonymous's OPERATION PAYBACK call to arms (Image via Gawker)

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Nov
20

Posthuman

Work lately has been forcing me to think about existential things. I’ve recently closed some client work that’s necessitated heavy research and reading into texts and ideas that really unsettled me. Much of my unease has to do with philosophical turmoil in that some of these ideas force me to take a really hard look at HOW I believe and not just WHAT I believe.

Image courtesy of Immortal Humans

(Belief being what it is, I shy away from ideological combat as much as possible. I find I can never come to a mutually settling agreement with those who believe in something so strongly that even rational conversation about those subjects become laced with emotional poison. I feel there is such disdain for rationalism these days that it makes more sense for me to listen, review, reflect, and pontificate only when I have a solid grasp of the issues involved. Of course, that’s a lot harder than it sounds. Hence my predilection for comic books, explosions, zombies, and tits.)

Cover of

Cover of Ilium, courtesy of Amazon.com

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the term posthuman, which is something I first heard about from sci-fi comic book writer and futurist Warren Ellis. Ellis used the word as a more apt descriptor for superhuman or super powered heroes in his comics. Posthumanism is a different concept, however, in that it considers an evolutionary state of mankind that’s difficult to conceive but generally regarded as improved or evolved past our current state; hence the “post.” I’m most interested in the science fiction concept of posthuman. In Dan Simmons‘ Ilium and Olympos, posthumans are a race of humans who have evolved so far beyond what we perceive as normal humanity that they became super-powered gods who eventually manipulated time, space and probability to play out their whims (in these books, that took the form of a recreated Trojan War). (Ilium and Olympos actually post so many interesting and thoughtful questions, I could spend weeks getting to the bottom of them.)

So I’m thinking about all of this in terms of a question: “Where are we going?” From here, from our myopic view bound by present perceptions of time, I’m falling deeper into the well of contemplating our shared future. Or futures plural. In some cases, the existential questions brought on by increasing degrees of ideological combat in today’s perception space lead me to feel more and more pessimistic about the future. So I’m what I’m trying to do is link the unfortunate human realities of the present to something much more rewarding, scientific and dynamic… something posthuman.

None of this thinking is taking the form of actual product at this time, save for blog entries like this. I have a rough idea for combining some of this thinking about posthumanity with socio-political observations about the present into some type of narrative. This would be a lot of fun to produce, but I need to spend a lot of time ironing out the theory into a story. An AWESOME story, at that.

On that note, here’s a more specific list of some of the things that have inspired this line of thinking. If you have any additional recommendations for study, please let me know in the comments.

More to follow.

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Jul
13

Engaging in a “Now Media” Continuum, Part 5

And now, the final video from my MountainRunner Institute talk at the “Now Media Seminar.” Let me know what you thought!

You can also find the slides from this preso by following this link.

Jul
12

Engaging in a “Now Media” Continuum, Part 4

Here’s Part 4 of my MountainRunner Institute talk from the “Now Media Seminar.” HOWF!

Also, you can follow this link to see the actual slides from the event.

Jul
11

Engaging in a “Now Media” Continuum, Part 3

Here’s the third part of my MountainRunner Institute talk from our “Now Media Seminar” on July 6th. Hope you dig!

Jul
10

Engaging in a “Now Media” Continuum, Part 2

Here’s the second part of my MountainRunner Institute talk from July 6th’s “Now Media Seminar.” Enjoy!

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Jun
10

Video: Du4 Talks Twitter Gov

I figured after all of yesterday’s conversations about the Twitter Gov Liaison position, I figured I owed everybody a “statement of purpose” of some kind for my candidacy. What happened instead, however, involved a broken camera, a bout of nausea, and two very angry cats.

So instead, here’s some “good enough” footage from my FlipCam where I talk about some of my thoughts on the job, the federal government, state and local government, citizens engagement, and a bunch of other stuff.

Thanks for watching.

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Jun
09

Andrew Wilson’s Top 10 Requests of the Twitter Gov Liaison

I mentioned in a prior post that Andrew Wilson had taken the first meaty stab at a list of requirements for the new Twitter Government Liaison. I want to spend time directly addressing his thoughts, because they are true AWESOME gold.

The United States Congress approves federal fu...
Image via Wikipedia

Andrew rightly calls for people to submit and discuss ideas about the Gov Liaison’s duties. His overarching theme though is that those duties are non-political. This seems to fly in the face of Twitter’s original requirements in the job listing, but in actuality, Andrew is trying focus people on the more important issues of connecting citizens to their representatives in DC and at the state and local levels through discussions of open government. Tools are just tools, as Andrew says, and it’s up to us to responsibly figure out how to employ them to the best benefit of everyone.

On to Andrew’s list. (Warning: this will be a longer post than usual.)

1. Please engage, in a transparent manner as possible, with the federal, state and local employees that are using these tools to get their input, ideas and concerns. This is a community with no end to thoughtful, innovative leaders… and listening to them will benefit everyone.

I can’t stress the importance of this enough. Twitter fosters engagement, so the Gov Liaison should be blowing it up with AWESOME, connecting with folks like the ones Andrew mentions, the Gov 2.0 crowd, and anybody who has some insanely great ideas. You can bet your ass I’ll make this happen if I get the job. This is a great community to be a part of, and I would demand that level of engagement from Twitter.

2. Please use your position to help raise awareness about section 508 (accessiblity for people with disabilities) so that EVERYONE can access Twitter. This includes having Twitter throw its weight around, when possible, to get 3rd party services to develop compliant and accessible services and add-ons.

I actually need to get a lot smarter about 508 and really get an understanding for how this affects government leaders and workers in the workplace. I do think there’s something to be said for Twitter using its throw-weight to push policy and legislative change where needed. This is something I’ve found way too many companies in DC unwilling to do.

3. Please make sure to devote enough attention to state and local government concerns. Some of the best and most innovative uses of social media are at the local level and I firmly believe that social media is most powerful when it reinforces and enhances existing (in real life) connections.

This would be a hallmark of my work if I got this job. I got jazzed seeing all the cool hyperlocal innovations from state and local folks at the Gov 2.0 Expo a couple weeks ago. But I think the federal government could act as a change agent to help more communities adopt Twitter for innovative local use. We’ve just got to educate some people and get some others voted out of office. ;)

4. Please make (or work with the Library of Congress to make) an archiving and access tool that would be truly useful for government employees and, in particular, policy makers.

Done. I too want to see quick and easy access to all of Twitter’s data when anyone wants it, anytime. I’ve participated in some research projects in the past where my team designed analytics to run on captured tweets, and the hardest thing was just capturing the tweets in the first place. We need to figure out how to make that data access easy and available.

5. Please help establish a quick and transparent process to get “Verified” on government accounts.

This is a must and a quick fix, in my opinion. Especially if the Gov Liaison duties are getting govvies on Twitter in the first place, we should be able to verify very fast.

6. Please create a public directory (perhaps with some associated metrics) of federal, state and local accounts

Does this already exist somewhere? I know I’ve seen sites like Govloop and GovTwit try to list tweeting govvies, but I’m not sure it’s comprehensive (especially at the state and local levels). I bet we could police that up pretty easy with verfied govvie accounts and develop lists. This may even help folks understand the Byzantine organization of our government.

7. Please develop some more robust off-the-shelf metrics to help measure engagement. Facebook Insights would be one model for this and perhaps access could be tied to verified government accounts.

I’m guessing Andrew wants to measure the engagement stats on govvies? That’s a pretty interesting method for accountability. Having spent some time helping develop algorithms to measure influence on Twitter, and now seeing easy-to-use, free measurement tools hit the web (like Edelman’s TweetLevel), I think it’s important that we use commonly available and individually modifiable tools versus sinking money into colossal objective systems. The latter way leads to government pork like Future Combat Systems. What Twitter could do is start organizing the creators of some of these tools and promoting specific accountability measures tailored to the agency or politician of choice.

8. Please be available when emergencies occur to help government use Twitter in the most effective manner possible. AND publicly post lessons learned, best practices, a related archive of tweets and possibly links to any relevant research on the issue.

I think the Gov Liaison should be more than just available. I think he should be the point man for such issues. There are tons of lessons to be learned from the State Department’s engagement with Twitter, lessons that Twitter itself could take a leadership role in collecting and publicizing.

9. Please expand your government cases studies beyond the USGS to highlight best practices by school districts, local governments and state agencies, as well as federal agencies.

Totally agree. Like I mentioned above, there are tons of case studies to be made from State’s AWESOME work, San Antonio’s traffic and transportation program, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s bus notification systems, and many others. It would have been great had I this job at the Gov 2.0 Expo, because I feel like there so many cool stories of local governments using Twitter to solve communication problems with their citizenry. Those stories would have made good captures, but it’s not too late!

10. Please partner with the Open311 standard to increase visibility of inter-governmental efforts to create a universal API for access to non-emergency services, and work with law enforcement and emergency services agencies on use of geo-location capabilities for emergency reporting and response.

Getting back to open government, this is definitely a partnership worth pursuing. Twitter’s value as an emergency response tool is, I believe, so far untapped despite being so promising. I have not read much about Open311, but I’ll start getting smarter on it ASAP. ;)

There are some additional thoughtful ideas from some of Andrew’s commenters as well, like standardizing hashtags for specific gov agencies, engaging better with African American constituents on Twitter, and a wiki for best Twitter practices in government. Suffice to say, I don’t think any of these things are impossible. In fact, I think most of them are pretty easy to do if we can catalyze the right communities. I just hope I get selected as that catalyzer. :)

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Jun
09

Hey, Twitter! Government Liaison? How ‘Bout AWESOME Government Liaison?!

So I decided to do it: I applied for Twitter’s Government Liaison job.

Despite how much I’ve shat on government in the past, I’m really excited about the prospect of being “the Twitter guy” in DC. I have a lot of fun on Twitter. I like the short, true-to-life conversational aspect of the form. Twitter is such an ideal, simple cannon for quick, bite-sized bombs of AWESOME. All of us peeps in DC need a little more AWESOME, and I see Twitter as an objective delivery device more and more every day.

Now, this is a public policy position. It’s obvious from the job description that Twitter wants to develop an influential presence amongst policymakers in our fair government. There is a huge opportunity here to build some connective tissue between legislators, policymakers, commercial folks, a host of non-governmental organizations, state and local government, and citizens. I want to show Congress how AWESOME we can make our global communities. I want to show people some of the AWESOME things happening in government they never get to see or hear about. I want to connect with more people, more often, mo’ bettah.

Can Twitter provide that connective tissue? You bet your ass. And for those of you following me on Twitter, you know how much I love it. Twitter is AWESOME. It is insanely great, to use Umair Haque‘s manifesto. I want to show more people how to use it to help them achieve great things. That’s why I’ve put my hat into the ring for Twitter’s Government Liaison job.

But who just applies for a job and leaves it to fate? Not this guy.

I would LOVE having people’s support on this. If this isn’t worth doing big and AWESOME, it ain’t worth doing. So I’m asking for YOUR HELP. Here’s what we’ve gotta do:

  • First, get a Twitter handle if you don’t have one.
  • Show your support by tweeting “@Du4 for Twitter Government Liaison!” or something like that.
  • Tag all your tweets with this hash: #Du4TwitterGov
  • Link back to http://mustbeawesome.com.
  • Participate in the coming discussions on Must. Be. AWESOME!!! about the job.
  • Tell your friends and family on other social networks.

Image courtesy of zoominfo.

I’ll start churning out thoughts, discussion, pingbacks, and other commentary that’s beginning to surface about Twitter’s entry into the gov arena here at Must. Be. AWESOME!!! Campaign Headquarters. To start, check out Andrew Wilson’s Top 10 Request for the New Twitter Gov Liaison. I’ll comment specifically on Andrew’s call to action in a subsequent post. Wouldn’t it be SUPERCOOL if this started as a simple job application but BLEW UP into a movement of some kind?

There’s probably someone insanely more qualified for this job, but I WANT IT. I want it like I want OASIS TO GET BACK TOGETHER. Like I want JOHN LENNON TO COME BACK FROM THE DEAD AND DO BATTLE WITH SARAH PALIN. This could be SO. COOL.

I hope you’re as excited about it as I am.

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