For those of you that have worked with me, you know I'm a visual thinker. If there is a whiteboard in the room, I'll use it. Need to explain something, I'll doodle it. That's why I enjoy David Armano'swork so much.Adopting from those such as Edward Tufte and with the visual feel of old school Business 2.0/ XPlane, he takes relevant business ideas, or just life in general ideas and brings them to life. The Power of the Pictogram.
As of now, Wolfram|Alpha contains 10+ trillion of pieces of data, 50,000+ types of algorithms and models, and linguistic capabilities for 1000+ domains...Running on supercomputer-class compute clusters, Wolfram|Alpha makes extensive use of the latest generation of web and parallel computing technologies, including webMathematica and gridMathematica.
You enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and growing collection of data to compute the answer. This is a 'thinking" computer engine and it's one important step towards artificial intelligence. Cool, but scary in the Terminator sense of things.
I was relating to my colleague, our resident User Experience Designer, that my daughter wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. Ugh. He shared a case study with me that speaks to the experience that is said Cheese.
In Conifer's language, too many 'hotspots' and not enough 'brightspots' - respectively, where the user experience breaks and excels.
We all wander through this world, passing other ships in the night. But, we are not alone. This social anthropology essay was the "Winner of the '09 Diggie Award for Best Picture" - a made up thing for students of Michael Wesch. Still, I had an 'aha' moment.
A dear friend of mine was at the Springsteen concert tonight in #YYZ.It reminded me of a road trip when we met The Boss. +++ A few years back, Rob and Salvatore (Sammy) - who are huge 'Springheads' - got wind of a potentially intimate show. I tagged along. We packed up in Toronto and headed for The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey - the NJ boardwalk version of CBGB's. It was a benefit show without said Boss on the bill. But, we had a hunch. He only lived a few miles away, a big supporter of the cause and the Joint (where he and Bon Jovi got their start). So, we were hoping. +++ A border strip search, leftover sandwiches, and a few hours later we rolled in. To the venue we went, via hotel and the Organized Gypsies... +++ Our enthusiasm ebbed. But then, we first spotted Patti, then Bruce - NY Jets cap pulled down - behind the mixing board, pulling slowly on a Rolling Rock. He was smaller in person, but rippled with vitality and was quietly dangerous. Like his music, he appeared as a working man after a long day - clear eyes, taught, ready to ambush. He wanted a beer and to be let out. To do his thing...
Still, he was gracious when we spoke to him.
Then, he got up on stage. He got bigger, but he didn't take over. Played rhythm guitar for one song... It was more about the fact that his Ford truck was parked out back, just like everyone else. And, that he chatted with us just like you would with someone else in a bar. And, that he carried his own guitars. +++ To the Organized Gypsies: One of those road trip guffaws that turns into code for friends. I had just returned from Ireland and was used to 'tinker caravans' in the countryside. When we arrived in Asbury Park, there was an open field between our hotel and the Pony. Full of makeshift tents and open fires.
Me: "Hey, look! Gypsies!" Sam/Rob: "It looks like a Civil War re-enactment thing to me". Me: "Yeah."
Other than Sammy's Leopard-spot gitch, that was the funniest moment of the weekend. And, we got to meet the Boss.
This is me explaining Twitter to a client, in the dark (excerpt and anonymized):
"To Twitter and some context. Simply, it's a social networking platform akin to Facebook and MySpace. Only it's a little different. Similar to the 'Update your Status' in Facebook, entries are only 140 characters. You 'follow' people's updates (tweets) and people follow you. You can see what it looks like here: http://twitter.com/john_hutchings. And you can learn about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
I registered on your behalf because Twitter could and should be part of your online brand marketing and PR strategy. I didn't want anyone else to scoop up your Twitter brand. And you can do it in house, but we recommend leaving it to an expert in Social Web and PR.
Here's why/how: 1. It's the fastest growing social web application. Users have trebled in the last two months to 15 M unique visitors in the US alone: http://www.quantcast.com/twitter.com 2. Celebrities like Aston Kutcher have over 1 M people following them. Crazy. http://twitter.com/aplusk 3. It has significant business applications 4. It indirectly influences Search Engine Optimization for www.website.com"
I have a friend/client that needs a new website and I'm helping him out. I've got the RFQ and IA almost ready to send to tender. But, I'm not a PM anymore, so I need a team (virtual or otherwise) to do the PM, design and build. It's a pretty straightforward endeavour. For obvious reasons, current employees of my current employer need not apply. If you're interested in details, contact me: john@consultconiferous.ca. That is all.
For those of you that have worked with me, you know I'm a visual thinker. If there is a whiteboard in the room, I'll use it. Need to explain something, I'll doodle it.
