Over at Boxtank, Geoff and Emily point out that opponents of the new Wal-Mart in Lincoln, Nebraska have some concerns about what those damn kids will get up to in the yard:
“If you have never lived close to a large retail establishment, you cannot possibly imagine all the problems that would be coming your way. Don’t ever expect to have a yard free of trash again. Don’t forget to plan for the after-hour parties that develop in the parking lot with noise, fights and empty beer bottles and cans. Plan for the cars that will park in your drive or in the street when the party group starts dividing up to make out in their cars.“(Letter to the Editor, Lincoln, NB)
Really? I’d be more worried about the retirees setting up camp in the parking lot.
Not only does Wal-Mart’s open welcome for campers to spend the night undermine local campgrounds, it encourages septuagenarian intercourse right in front of the garden centre.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not see Ralph Furley’s “o face” - especially through the back of a shaggin wagon covered in two tone siding.
Nick Robinson, of the BBC delivering the Philip Geddes memorial lecture at Oxford University this past Friday:
“Many politicians are angry that at election time viewers saw and heard more of me, Marr & Boulton than them. Let’s be clear why this came about - because audience research suggested viewers wanted “a trusted guide” – a sort of sherpa to get them up the cliff face of political jargon and obfuscation.
Small step from them – learn, as Andy Marr memorably put it, to speak “fluent human”. Small step from us – cut back on pointless “two-ways”. We have too often replaced politicians who don’t speak fluent human with reporters who don’t either.
All too often – as Broken News has painfully reminded us – a two-way is an excuse to put the word “Live” on the screen next to a man who says “As I said in my report…” who’s standing somewhere where something did happen but stopped happening many hours earlier.”
So, the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions is working with BlogAds to send 25 bloggers on a five star trip to Amsterdam. As Henry describes it, these bloggers will participate in a custom ad package tailored for their specific blog styles and voices, as well as contribute to interviews to be featured on a standalone website. There’s no commitment to write about the trip in their actual blog.
Fine. Henry is quite upfront that this is a custom ad package, not the traditional “send a freelancer to our new hotel in Bali so he’ll write a puff piece for Parade” junket.
Steve, though, inflates the idea:
“…I am a fan of blogger junkets - if you can afford them. I think they have a lot more potential than traditional media junkets to build buzz because you can do things with bloggers that the press would frown on.
… So, blog junkets are empowerment programs. Now I am not saying that blogger bribing should be your primary goal here. However, if you remain transparent and can walk the fine line between helping bloggers and engaging them in a real dialogue to get feedback (warts and all), you’re going to build word of mouth. As always, remain ethical, truthful and transparent.
What’s in this transaction for the blogger? Is it only a free trip? Even if they’re completely transparent about the arrangement, are well profiled bloggers actually willing to trade their valuable brand identity, hard-earned reader trust and perceived editorial independence for a trip and some ad placements?
Isn’t this junior varsity league behaviour? This is the sort of “pay for play” crap that’s always pitched to corporate PR staff. With this deal, a boxload of shiny vanity pubs for the corporate waiting area are replaced by a couple of blog posts?
Don’t get me wrong - I can see the value in the transaction for the sponsor/client. It’s a good idea to pitch as a public relations consultant. But I thought blogs were beginning to build some editiorial credibility?
Somewhere, a magazine publisher is wetting his pants thinking of this arrangement. Chinese wall between advertising and editorial? GONE! He can only imagine a freelancer writing his feature for free, their only compensation the free minibar almonds and ogling the rich girlfriends at the pool bar!
Via Jefito, drunkatwork gives us the theme songs from The Brady Brides, Alice, Angie and Joanie Loves Chachi.
Of course, virtually any theme song you could want can be found at mythemes.tv. Like the anodyne stylings of thirtysomething.
Or classic ads, like this fantastic 1982 jingle for Tab cola.
John Dickerson continues his subconscious obsession with celebrity photos, this time with a discussion about the hierarchy of glory walls:
Do you even stop to think of the literacy skills among your target audience? What about the application of effective design to speed understanding? Maybe can apply some of the important work being conducted in the pediatric community to simplify consent forms.
Frankly, parents have a heard time interpreting relative levels of risk. And the poor communications skills exhibited by most doctors doesn’t help.
“At the University of Michigan, Dr. Alan Tait has been working with colleagues in the department of anesthesiology to develop an improved consent form aimed at parents with low literacy skills whose children are facing surgery.
“Using simpler, friendlier language is just the first step,” Dr. Tait said. The form in one experimental survey of 305 parents was vastly preferred by those who read well in addition to those with low literacy skills. It also used a larger typeface, shorter paragraphs, illustrations and bulleted points to help clarify the message.
Elsewhere, health literacy specialists are working on audio or video consent forms - interactive audiotapes or DVD’s that can be navigated at a patient’s own pace via a telephone keypad, a touch-screen kiosk or an inexpensive DVD player.
Most rely on live-action vignettes and colorful images instead of dense blocks of text to explain complicated concepts like the risks and benefits of different types of blood pressure medicines or asthma inhalers or the ins and outs of glucose monitors used for diabetes.” (NYTimes)
David Perlmutter thinks aloud about the interplay between political bloggers, the online exchange of ideas and information, and the carnivorous appetite for new speech fodder by politicians.
Yet another retailer has started asking for my phone number, “so we can serve you better, sir!” I like shopping there, but not enough to let them track and target my purchasing habits. The very dutiful image of a dedicated shopper, I hand over my cell phone number - with the digits transposed at random. A cell phone that has outward call display blocked, so that it doesn’t even show up in reverse directories.
There isn’t much dedication in the clerk’s request, a clear sign that they’re used to getting questions - and sometimes abuse - in response. I wonder if I could just feed them a 555 number? Would the cashier care? What about 867-5309? Would they even notice? “Geez. That’s a popular number?”
Somewhere, there has to be a data warehouse filled with purchasing, market and demographic information about consumers who feed 867-5309 into CRM solutions. What does all this data reveal about these conscientious objectors from the “customer personalization” trend? What sort of purchases ARE THEY making? Are they high income, low income? Devoted to fair trade products, or more likely to buy 99c hot dogs from late night convenience stores?
And how many of them owe late fees to their local Blockbuster? (”i just can’t seem to reach this guy!)
“Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?
You give me something I can hold on to.”
I’ll tell you who’s collecting information on Generation X consumers called Jenny: car manufacturers. Christopher Sawyer wrote about Honda and Ford’s attempts to profile the target consumer for their new Civic and Fusion models:
“Six years ago “Jennifer”, a young woman now in her 30s, was Honda’s 20-something target for the 2000-2005 Civic. Now Jennifer is moving up to sporty mid-size cars, though sticking with four doors for practicality. And — even more amazing — she is abandoning Honda for Ford. Now Honda understood what had happen to their beloved Civic, and why so many formerly loyal customers had abandoned Honda for car makers with more exciting wares. One need look no further than the 2006 Honda Civic concept to realize that Honda learned its lessons from the “scientific” approach used to develop the present Civic to know it must trust its gut, and only look to the marketing studies for validation.”(Automotive Design and Production)
One-to-one marketing seems an appealling concept: personalized marketing messages tailored just to my liking! Discounts, personal mailings and special sales just for “members”! Yes - in the right hands.
In the wrong hands, you’ll end up drinking from a firehose of direct mail and telemarketing, all vapidly fed by an uninterested retail clerk.
Technorati: personalised marketing demographics CRM
It was inevitable: Toyota is busing beating the Big Three auto companies at home and abroad, and now they’ll be fielding a team in NASCAR’s Busch series and Nextel Cup series. If you listen carefully, you can hear the good ole boys yelping and muttering even as Ford and GM keep layering rebates, discounts and employee pricing on their SUVs and trucks, barely keeping out of bankruptcy.
The car of choice for the challenger? The Camry. Toyota will provide the manufacturing and technical expertise, and the teams will line up sponsorship.
It will be interesting to see how this affects the smaller Nextel Cup teams who already find it difficult to build, test and field a multi-car team. Even the dominant team is beginning to whine.
NASCAR likely won’t change their mind, though. As one racing site reminds us: ” Where will NASCAR go? Straight to the bank as usual. Never forget, this is not a Sport, it’s Sport Entertainment Business.”
As the Conservatives seem poised to assume power in Canada for the first time in 12 years, I stumbled across this comment from David Cameron, the leader of the Conservatives in United Kingdom, earlier this month. Either Cameron has a fondness for John Hughes movies, or his speechwriter is a smart alec Generation X type.
“A few days after becoming leader, I was asked whether I wanted to replace Blairism with Cameronism and what the difference was between the two. The truth is, I’m not interested in either. That’s because I don’t believe in ‘isms’.
Words like communism, socialism, capitalism and republicanism all conjure up one image in my mind: extremism. For politicians to stick rigidly to an ideology is to court disaster.” (Conservative Party website/Mail on Sunday)
What? That sure sounds like Ferris Bueller:
“I did have a test today. That wasn’t bullshit. It’s on European socialism. I mean, really, what’s the point? I’m not European, I don’t plan on being European, so who gives a crap if they’re socialist? They could be fascist anarchists - that still wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism - he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: “I don’t believe in Beatles - I just believe in me”. A good point there. Of course, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus - I’d still have to bum rides off of people.”(working script)
Some analysis of Tory reaction to Cameron’s piece by the New Statesman: Tory “leader writers sounded as if they had discovered mouse droppings in a relative’s kitchen.”
Given a choice between a politician and a hockey player, most Canadians will make a move for the guy with less teeth. Politicians who try to weeze da juice of the national sport usually end up looking out of place and decidedly unathletic (unless they’re Ken Dryden).
One candidate in the current national election found a way to marry the two at last night’s Ottawa 67s game. Out in front of the arena, a young volunteer was handing out brief flyers explaining the Conservative Party’s proposal for a tax credit based upon the registration fees paid for youth sports activities like hockey, swimming, soccer and skating.
A message that should resonate, aimed at a potentially receptive audience. Sitting directly in front of us was a complete PeeWee hockey team and their parents. Families could be seen throughout the arena. The 67s are a minor hockey team that emphasizes entertainment and links to the community.
There aren’t any $2 million contracts for naming rights for the arena. The place is full of ads for sub shops, accountants and construction companies. Sure, minor hockey still comes up with the occasional embarassing promotion. On the whole, however, these teams survive by selling space for targeted messages by local companies.
This was a political message, but it was squarely aimed at the people who normally attend minor hockey games, and promised real benefits.
Oh yeah - of course the flyer included a picture of the smiling Conservative candidate as well.
What, exactly, is wrong with Florence Henderson? “Our test markets didn’t respond as well to her as Hal Linden,” said a spokesperson for Cigna Health Care. Hal “Barney Miller” Linden has pushed out FloHo as the star in the ads for their Medicare prescription plan.
But what do Cigna’s test markets have against Carol Brady? Does the boomer generation still think she coddled Marcia, at the expense of the other girls? Maybe she should have seen that whole Mike Brady batting for the other team thing coming? Or maybe her modern parenting style still repels the over-70s dependent on Medicare?
Or is it Hal? That moustache. The suit vests. His calm confident control of the squad room. Crime didn’t win in his precinct - unless Fish was on the case. Could boomers and septuagenerians alike see Hal as a crime and punishment figure? A trusted neighbourhood cop looking out for them? A reliable pimp for prescription drug plans?
Or is he just a poor man’s Gregory Peck?
(Cigna quote from Stuart Elliott’s NYT newsletter)
Technorati: pharma advertising boomer
Paul Wells points to the growing bandwagon trailing behind the Conservative party leader:
“Greetings from the record-breaking third emergency media bus the Harper campaign has laid on, in response to higher-than-average interest in what the Calgary MP is up to this week.
That’s right. The first bus is for electronic media. The second is for print. And the third is for stragglers and slow learners, including me, the guy from CJAD, and Rick Mercer. Fortunately Bogdan the techie has this thing wi-fi’d up, so I can blog inanely.”
I was puzzled by the news that Starbucks had struck up a distribution deal with Lions Gate fims - as was Church of the Customer.
The marketing strategy associated with the deal seems suitably low-key for the coffee chain, but I can’t help but think the growing number of ancillary products sold at Starbucks - cds, dvds - will erode the admittedly false atmosphere of calm reflection currently valued by authors, bloggers, self-employed professionals and the status-conscious?
“… Starbucks baristas will get to preview the film in hopes they will create buzz among customers. In early April, the chain will begin in-store promotions, ranging from advertising on cup sleeves to spelling-related trivia games on its chalk boards, and pastry case displays featuring words spelled in the film. (Globe & Mail)
How long until Starbucks offers movie promo items (organic, made from recycled products and fair trade) with every seasonal special?
Technorati: marketing branding Starbucks third place
McDonald’s defeated by a small town baker - in 2002. In case you missed it (and you didn’t if you read organic food blogs), the NYT essentially reprinted an article from Libération, recounting the opening of a new McDonald’s in Altamura, Italy in 2001 and its closure in 2002.
For marketers, the message is that local businesses can compete with large multinational franchises - if they compete on price AND offer a distinctive product. A touch of cultural hauteur doesn’t hurt either.
“Then there is the local food - cheap and overwhelmingly good - and the people who have eaten it for centuries and consider it as much their tradition as their history. Odd as it might seem in a corporate boardroom, they put no value on a McDonald’s in Altamura.
“The majority couldn’t imagine McDonald’s becoming an integral part of their lives,” said Patrick Girondi, 48, an entrepreneur from Chicago who has lived here for 15 years. “McDonald’s didn’t get beat by a baker. McDonald’s got beat by a culture.”
The NYT accompanies their translation with a slide show of happy Altamurans picking up their fresh foccacia (looks quite good, actually).
If you want to get the story with more of an antiglobalization, anti-industrial food preparation bent, be sure to read the original article in french: Libération.
“De nombreux mois ont passé depuis cette retraite en rase campagne de la grande multinationale américaine, mais Onofrio Pepe en rit encore :«Avec son mât comme totem, McDonald’s pensait nous assiéger ! Mais c’est nous qui les avons encerclés et bombardés coups de saucisses, de fouaces et de pain local. Nous sommes parvenus les repousser.»”
Technorati: community building artisinal McDos
Sure, it’s a faux blog - no comments, no real conversation with the reader - but Scott Feschuk’s “blackberry blog” has one of the funniest “official” posts of the campaign:
“January 15th - Day Forty-Eight: We Saw Nude-Type People Having “Relations” in a Car Last Night on a Main Street in Montreal. I’m Just Saying.
10:12 AM - Before we head west to Vancouver, with stops along the way in North Bay, Ont., and Edmonton, the PM is going out here in Montreal this morning to announce more cash money for infrastructure as part of our municipal agenda. I haven’t read the policy in great detail, so I might not be your best source of information. But so far as I can tell the basic gist is that a Liberal government will build our cities, quite possibly on rock ‘n roll. This is terrific news for most Canadian communities, but a tragic revelation for residents of Funkytown, whose disco foundations disqualify it from both federal funding and classic rock airplay.”
Ads That Suck likes Feschuk as well.
BTW - Feschuk is the Prime Minister’s speech writer, and a former National Post scribe.
Technorati: campaigning
This isn’t new for Canadians, but you “outlanders” might find the “Give ‘em the Boot II Bingo” cards funny. They’re sets of bingo cards preloaded with political, economic and colloquial catchphrases, prepared by Canada’s New Democratic Party in anticipation of this week’s election debates.
Many of the catchphrases are meant to mimic the speaking style/patterns/tics of the current Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister, whose face occupies the “free space” at the middle of the card. If you take a look, you’ll likely see some of the same words reflected in the speeches of your own CEO, CFO or Chair.
There’s money to be made here, folks. Since we - you and I - most likely write those speeches, it’s a short hop and skip from simple election bingo card to carefully arranging a rigged office pool during the quarterly conference call.
Who needs another card?
Technorati: speechwriter buzzword bingo
As much as we all think our brand would benefit from becoming a catchphrase, I can’t think Albertson’s would be too pleased about this:
“One significant concern is what Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, described in an interview as the “Albertson’s syndrome,” referring to the grocery-store chain. At the first sign of panic, all supplies disappear from shelves, something that routinely happens when there is the threat of even a modest storm.” (Pitt. Post-Gazette)
Every retail outlet is quickly stripped of anything of use or value in the build-up to a crisis. We know this because, like clockwork, Anderson Cooper and Miles O’Brien pop up at every weather event to catalogue the carts full of water, plywood and canned soup being carted out of every Albertson’s, Publix and Home Depot in the neighbouring three states.
Still, it must be frustrating for Albertson’s to be singled out, especially when the company tries to maintain a positive profile in times of crisis.
That’s from a WSJ story on the economic and social impact a global pandemic (think avian flu) might have upon an economy dependent upon just-in-time inventory management. It’s a good read.
David Akin, of CTV, has some comments about gauging the attendance at Canadian political rallies.
Elsewhere, a Hong Kong statistician makes an attempt to break down the various published crowd counts for a July 2004 human rights march.
How about the crowd watching the Tournament of Roses parade?
Of course, if you’re a freakin’ compulsive/obsessive news editor, you could hire a plane and aerial photographer to document the crowd of a 2003 anti-war rally.
“… When told of The Chronicle’s survey, Alex S. Jones, the director of Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, said, “The number of people (in a crowd) is a mythical number, and now you’re going to turn it into a fact, and that won’t be welcomed.”
Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the New York Times, added, “There’s an old saying in journalism: People only see what they believe. This is an emotional issue, not a factual issue as far as most people are concerned.” …”
In this last example, the rally organizers claimed 200-250,000 protesters: the S.F. Chronicle stated that 65,000 were in fact on the ground.
Illustrates Jones’ point exactly.
Via David Jones (and Andy Lark), a pointer to 2005 Top Ten Tactics to Influence Negative News: The PR Playbook by Sharyl Attkisson. An excerpt:
2. The Mine and Pump Strategy
Without giving up one scintilla of information, relentlessly “mine and pump” the news reporter for what he knows, so that you have tools to attempt to pre-empt a story and/or get a head start on damage control. Tell the reporter you can’t possibly agree to an interview without knowing things like: Who else will appear in the story? What are the names of all the sources? What exactly did the sources say? What pictures will be used in the story? Who made the story assignment? Demand the news reporter put any questions in writing. It doesn’t matter that you have no intention of providing answers or an interview. Stringing along the news reporter may ensure you receive the benefit of his information without giving up any information in return.
It’s the new year, and I’ve heard of more basic pitch errors that I did all of last year. Three of my friends have received email pitches with the wrong name: either the wrong first or last name, never both in error. Today, I received this:
Is manipulating an Excel file that difficult? Or maybe the failure was the merge with Outlook? How about a simple test email, folks?
I can’t imagine which is worse: sending out a pitch to an entire email list with an empty salutation field, or sending out one where you’ve addressed each recipient by the wrong first name.
Update: An even worse error: Kevin singles out one pitch sent from a free email account: guaranteed to be scooped by most spam filters.
(note - the field name was coded properly. I fiddled with it so it would show up in HTML)
I don’t know whether to be flattered or dismayed that Pierce Brosnan’s new buddy/murderer flick features The Jam’s “Town Called Malice” (video) - especially in the trailer. I mean, does this mean my teenage years spent chasing down limited edition vinyl have now been validated, or should I feel that my teenage memories are being heartlessly exploited by saavy film marketers?
Or should I just damn Paul Weller for selling out?
More information on movie trailers from the LA Times.
Technorati: marketing film mod
An update on VW’s Moonraker project - a bunch of European car freaks at loose ends in California. Sort of like the teenybopper “S Club 7 in Hollywood“. Except that these twenty-three auto specialists are trying to help the German home office design a car that the average American might actually think about buying. From the WSJ:
“…The Moonraker staffers say they’ve learned a lot about American car buyers, like why storage space is so important to them and why they can never have enough speakers in a vehicle. While Germans prize a car’s driving capability and frown on eating while driving, the Moonraker team found Americans think of their cars like a second home or office.
“In Germany, it’s all about driving, but here, it’s about everything but driving,” says VW designer Reto Brun. “People here want to use their time in other ways, like talk on their cellphone. …”
“… One big revelation from Nascar: tailgating. When Jens Berger, a fan of the more-staid Formula One races, walked into a parking lot at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, he was surprised to see many of the fans there listening to the competition on the radio instead of watching the race. And he didn’t understand why they had set up a makeshift campground there. The Germans in the group never knew Americans use their cars as portable buffets tables and partymobiles, a discovery that could factor into future vehicles, such as a minivan.
(For more background, see my post from last August)
Bad rap. Dancing meat patties. A Wendy’s training video from the 80s, courtesy of the Found Footage Festival.
“Now, working the Grill, Bill, it ain’t so tough,
But first of all, you’ve got to check your stuff…
We don’t want a broken patty, that’s our guarantee …”
Good commentary on the impact of mass distribution catalogs over at Church of the Customer:
“… And that’s where the soup boils. The marketers who bombard us with unwanted catalogs are convinced their “good ideas” are just what we want. But like gang members caught in a turf war, they show little concern for the collateral damage of spray-and-pray. They’re driven by numbers, not relationships. The effects of deforestation and landfill usage don’t impact quarterly numbers. Instead, these marketers are just soul-less cogs in the business thresher machines whose ultimate customer is Wall Street and shareholders, not the rest of the world.
Guy Kawasaki, who has now launched a blog, has some good advice for anyone considering a powerpoint presentation:
… I am trying to evangelize the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. While I’m in the venture capital business, this rule is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc.
Ten is the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation because a normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting—and venture capitalists are very normal. (The only difference between you and venture capitalist is that he is getting paid to gamble with someone else’s money). If you must use more than ten slides to explain your business, you probably don’t have a business. The ten topics that a venture capitalist cares about are:
Problem
Your solution
Business model
Underlying magic/technology
Marketing and sales
Competition
Team
Projections and milestones
Status and timeline
Summary and call to action
You should give your ten slides in twenty minutes. Sure, you have an hour time slot, but you’re using a Windows laptop, so it will take forty minutes to make it work with the projector. Even if setup goes perfectly, people will arrive late and have to leave early. In a perfect world, you give your pitch in twenty minutes, and you have forty minutes left for discussion.
This just in: a study shows that “people aged 15 to 26 who saw more alcoholic beverage ads on average drank more than their peers in markets where there was little advertising.”
In related news, the advertising industry denies that the sun will come up tomorrow:
“Dick O’Brien, exec VP of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, disputed the findings. “We’ve seen over the last several decades that as alcohol-advertising spending increased underage drinking substantially decreased. The raw facts of the marketplace contradict the main finding of the report,” he said. (Ad Age, reg. req. )
What? The more advertising, the less impact? Only if every ad portrayed liquor consumption as a boring and unstimulating habit of the elderly! What’s the point of spending money on advertising then?
More realistically, “a spokesman for Miller Brewing Co. … noted that that the vast majority of youth in Roper Youth Reports cite their parents as having the most influence over whether they drink.”
I’m still holding out for quantitative work on the impact of Barney Gumble, Bill Dauterive and Peter Griffin on the drinking habits of today’s youth.
One British B2B newsletter publisher is really having trouble finding an entry-level reporter:
“The warning bells started to ring when one candidate said at his interview: “Newsletters are one step up from spam, really.” Not exactly a great start. But there was more to come.
“I want to be a PR, but I thought I might as well apply for this, ’cause, like, writing’s creative, innit.”
… One guy - who turned up to his interview unshaven, in sloppy clothes, and upended his worldly possessions out of an old carrier bag - emailed us four days later to say he thought the whole process had been “surreal” because the first question we had asked him was why he wanted the job.”
(Guardian, reg. req.)
Great quotes on the impact of documentaries (and social media in general) on our cultural consciousness below.
Katerina Cizek, writing in This Magazine, discusses the “documentary as democratic experiment, in which we can potentially all participate in the non-fiction genre, retelling and reinventing our own stories of the human condition.”
“[Errol] Morris made the case in a recent New York Times editorial reflecting on the power of video images. He was considering, in particular, the many, disparate interpretations of the videotape of a US marine shooting an Iraqi insurgent point-blank during the invasion of Fallujah. “Unhappily, an unerring fact of human nature is that we habitually reject the evidence of our own senses,” he writes. “If we want to believe something, then we often find a way to do so regardless of evidence to the contrary. Believing is seeing and not the other way around.”
In this respect, the documentary confounds and confuses the public good as much as it clarifies and illuminates. And the documentary genre—from big screens to blogs—continues its long, complicated relationship with politics, with participatory democracy, and with the truth. As the documentary gathers nuclear strength at the core of our culture, so too it converges, modifies and transforms into myriad cultural hybrids and transmutations. Banging up against journalism, music, animation and fiction, the documentary is in our collective central mosh pit, with its poetry and its flaws, mashing with the best of them, and, certainly these days, holding its own. What happens next will be up to us all.”(This Magazine)
So here’s my question: we’ve been hurriedly developing the technology to drive social media and participatory democracy into the farthest reaches of society. What tools have we developed for the general public to help them identify and interpret this mass of information, analysis and hyperbole?
Are we counting on them learning through practice, with myspace and blogger being the intellectual equivalents of the childhood tricycle?
(I know there are hard working activists trying to fill this gap … but they’re not being handed bags of money, are they? Somehow, they have to reprofile their work as Web 2.0)
© 2008 Colin McKay
|
Powered by 
