Blog on Blog

"Corpspeakers talk to people when they want to speak, not when people want to listen." - Naked Conversations pg 4.

Don't bloggers do the same? The only difference is bloggers want to speak ALL THE TIME.

Deadspin vs ESPN

Can blogging hurt a company? ESPN prides itself on timely, accurate info. One day, I came into work and there was a rumor that Mohamed Ali had died. We went to def con 4. We started preparing shows, getting in contact with reporters and analysts, and waited in standby mode. It turns out, ofcourse, that Mohamed Ali was alive and well playing golf in Arizona somewhere. My point is that a company which encourages or allows it's employees to blog about the inner workings of said company could potentially be a hamper, or a legal and PR nightmare. Imagine if the story broke and was linked directly to ESPN? Our credibility would be tainted forever.

Unlike Microsoft, which people have had negative views of, ESPN is a company the general public like. People love the 'This is SportsCenter' commercials, but in reality, Wally the Green Monster and Big Papi aren't wandering the halls and hanging out by the water cooler... well sometimes they are, but not everyday. Could employee blogging tarnish ESPN's reputation as a hip, young sports haven and reveal it's corporate and professional reality?

I would like an internal ESPN blog, to see what the executives are up to, but I would bet everything I own it would get leaked by a disgruntled employee within a year, if not sooner. Why? We're underpaid, for one thing, and the other is psychological. Naked conversations talks about the psychological effects of collaboration, there's also a psychological affect of revenge, and of getting away with something against the rules.

I was surprised to hear about Sun Micro's blogs. When I was in high school, I worked stocking shelves at a liquor store in the suburbs of Boston, and on a few occasions I delivered to Sun Micro. At the time I noticed the tight security - it was clear they took their business very seriously and were not taking any chances of unauthorized people getting any inside information. Ironic.

Finally, this quote really struck me in our reading.

"You can make something worth talking about or you can become invisible." Naked Conversations.

I think that applies to a lot more than just blogging.

Why my blog sucks

I'm not interested in gadgets, political playground conversations, and I don't read Japaneses or Chinese. If what was said in out reading this week that "popularity breeds popularity," one could assert that unobserved blogs breed disregarded blogs. (Thompson, C. (2006). Blogs to Riches. New York Magazine, February 20. 26-35.)
If I learned one thing this from this week's readings, its that I don't blog often enough, or with enough passion. I'm interested, but its not my life. If blogging is the sex god of the Information Age, as is suggested in Naked Conversations, I've got an unhealthy sex life. (Scoble, R. & Israel, S. (2006). Naked Conversations. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 1-62) The question then becomes: Why?

Naked Conversations ends a section by stating "blogging just happens to be fun." Well it depends who you ask. I haven't found my passion for blogging yet, in fact I still sometimes find it irritating. Postings with irregular fonts and formats, no sort of fixed posting schedule, typos and punctuation mistakes (which some see as cute and conversational, I see as unprofessional and immature.) Alas, even as I write this I'm sure this post and every one in this blog has more than one spelling mistakee .)
But beyond the format and content issues, I also have an issue regarding inclusion. I feel like I'm always in search of an introduction. I am linked to blogs with no welcome, and it makes me feel like I'm wandering a cocktail party where I don't know anyone, bouncing around listening to bits of other peoples conversations until I feel awkward enough to up and leave, only to find another conversation to awkwardly intrude myself. This could be because I'm new to the game. It could be because I haven't found my blog topic of choice, or it could be because I haven't interjected and spoken my mind.

I'm no Grant Webster.
Grant and I are very different. I'm northern, he's southern. He's very religious, I'm not. He talks loud, I don't. But despite these differences, and the many others, we became friends a few years ago and keep in touch to this day. Every night, every single night, Grant takes a pen to a notebook and writes for at least an hour, sometimes more. He writes and writes and writes and writes. I asked him about it once and he said "Some people are readers, some are writers." He also said he very rarely goes back and reads this notebooks - he just writes to write.
I started a journal once, ended after about 8 entries. It just wasn't in my nature I suppose. The closest thing I have now is my old emails. They are filed away in chronological and categorical order, and occasionally I'll read some old correspondences and it takes me back to the past. My point is that for some people free writing comes naturally, others it does not. And along time ago I realized I'm the latter.

My iPod headphones broke yesterday, have you heard?
"Nothing great has been and nothing great can be accomplished without passion"-G.W.F. Hegel in Naked Conversations.
What am I passionate about? What am I overtly public about? Is there anything that fits into both categories? If not, should I just blog for the sake of blogging? My headphones broke yesterday. Does that mean their a bad design? No, they lasted over a year and worked fine while I had them. Does that mean there the best design ever? No, I'm sure there are better, maybe even at loser prices and higher quality. But that's how most of my life goes, as expected, on course, on time.
Many days of my life I feel like Groundhog Day, repetitive and predictable. But when I finally buy that ticket and go backpack across New Zealand I'll sure I'll blog...or will I? Does it cheapen the experience, being mentally chained to a keyboard, feeling obligated to brag about your experience to those back home. Or does sharing make it less of your experience? So I went skydiving, who cares? People do it everyday. If I don't think I am a good story teller, why do something mediocre just for the sake of doing it?

So fark them all....
Despite the author's praising of the holy blog, I'm still not drawn in. I'm not even drawn to blogs of those who interest me most (Michel Gondry, Alton Brown, Stephen Colbert). I'm not drawn to read blogs by or about my favorite music artists, I perfectly happy getting there new CD when it comes out, and maybe catching a show or two.
Fark.com is the only blog I read with any regularity. Its simple, entertaining, free, and funny. It also keeps me informed. I read it at work when I'm bored, and can keep my attention for up to an hour. Honestly I don't really notice the advertising on the site, but if it is making someone rich, that's fine with me. Someone out there is working hard on it and deserves to be compensated. I think I would read a blog if it filled a need in my life (like fark cures my boredom), but I can't think of another need which needs fulfillment.

Don't fail me now.
I realize this post contradicts our class assignment entirely. Our ongoing assignment is to create and manage a blog that allows us to express ourselves, create buzz, make contacts and learn new things. I certainly haven't accomplished them all yet, but as we all know failure is one of the best ways to learn, and its never too late to turn things around. While I don't agree with everything that was put forth in this weeks readings, I did find them enlightening, and they have help me come to terms with my talents, deficits, biases and attitudes. This post was written as a reaction to the reading, and my blog experience thus far, a journey that is far from over.

My iPod headphones broke yesterday.

Let me start of by saying, no, this is not another random post about how Apple sucks. I've never had a problem with the company, and I like their stuff.


The pair that broke was not the original that came with my iPod, those broke long ago. This is a second pair that I got at a Radio Shack.

I'm sad to see them go because they remind me of when I first got them, for longboarding around Seattle. I would plug them in, zip up my track jacket, and hit the streets.


The Go Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike would drowned out the cars, construction, people.


The grit from the top of my board would be abrasive against my hands and jeans as I walked up steps and steep hills, towards my starting point.
The streets were busy, people coming and going, buses, bikers, the trash piled up on the street.
I remember the the looks I would get.
The close calls.
The wind off the sound.
I remember the time I fell, and the time I stayed out and was late for dinner.
I remember the public art, the alone time.
I remember getting lost, and I remember the freedom.
I remember, the melodies, carving the sidewalk to the beat of the songs.
I could go anywhere, do anything - wow that sounded like the reading rainbow theme for a second.
I remember the time I ran over a packet of McDonalds BBQ sauce and it sprayed all over the place.
I remember how my backpack filled with stuff would throw off my balance at first.
I remember pioneer square, and the pier with it's impossible wooden planks.

I'll miss those headphones.

Down the Rabbit Hole

For my second blog this week, keeping with the Entertainment and Online Gaming theme, I watched CSI: New York tonight on CBS. We all know the drill. A murder occurs, a team of crime scene investigators scan the crime scene with fancy gadgets collecting clues, which in turn help to solve the case.

This episode however, had an interesting twist. The detective work was done both in real life, and in the MUVE Second Life, and the suspect wasn't caught in the end.

The episode brought up some interesting points - how anonymous are we in online games? What do our avatars say about their creators? What is it like to meet someone face to face after only interacting, or falling in love, online?

To be continued...

During the commercial breaks CBS ran spots promoting CSI viewers to log on and "join the team." The public was invited to participate in the investigation, and help solve the crime by examining crime scenes and using a virtual lab. I think this is a really cool idea. Not because I'm a huge CSI fan or particularly interested in criminal justice, but because never before has a TV show basically invite the viewer into the show. There have been video games based on TV shows before, and there have been online communities which center around shows also, but this is the first time I've heard of the two coming together into one experience.

I read online that the conclusion of this episode will air next spring, it's storyline to be developed between now and then on Second Life. Who knows, maybe a member of our class will have their avatar star on CBS.

A Whole New World

By the time I got home from work, finished reading a few articles for class, and made my way to my computer, I was getting tired. It was about 3:15 am, and I figured I would spend ten minutes or so checking out what all the hype was about on SecondLife.com


After creating and verifying an account and downloading the necessary software, I noticed something odd - I was no longer tired. In fact, I was really exited. This came as a complete surprise, because until that moment, honestly I couldn't understand the appeal of Second Life, and other multi-user virtual environments (or MUVE) online.


I would ask myself, why would people put so much time and effort into a virtual self? Wouldn't that time and effort be better used improving one's own, real-life self? Are the users so desperate to escape their existing reality that the only place they feel comfortable is in a virtual skin?


But after reading Pine's article "The Experience Economy," and logging into second life myself, I think I am finally starting to see the appeal.


Like so many things in life, it's not simply the intrinsic value in which we find value. Yes Second Life is a computer program, but it's real appeal is the feeling it can give its users. As Pine describes on page 17, "Manufacturers must explicitly design their goods to enhance the user's experience as well - essentially experientializing the goods - even when customers pursue less adventurous activities. Automakers do this when they focus on enhancing the driving experience." In other words, its not just the miles per gallon that sells cars, its the wind in your hair.

With this in mind, I started thinking beyond the concept of walking around a virtual map or dressing up in virtual clothes. Now I'm starting to realize it isn't the medium that's important, its the message, emotions, and connections being made. For the truly engaged user, it is not interacting with a keyboard and screen, but rather other people and environments. The same way a book can take us to another place or a phone can connect us with others far away, MUVE should be looked at as a tool and toy of human desire.


But the barrier between the real world and the virtual is far from crystal clear. I ran into interface and bandwidth issues, and about a half hour in the entire program crashed. I may not have gotten lost in Second Life, but I could finally see how people could.

While my experience within Second Life may limited, I can assure you I'll go back for more. I have a feeling virtual online worlds are still in their infancy, and as an interactive communication scholar, I am exited to see what the future of MUVE have in store.

That, and there is just something so cool about being able to fly.




Pine, B.J., & Gilmore, J.H. (1999). The Experience Economy. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, pp. 1-26.

Game On

White Paper Proposal
Intro to Interactive Communications
Trevor Brightman and James McVey
October, 2007


Our White paper will be written by Trevor Brightman and James McVey, graduate students enrolled in the Interactive Communications program at Quinnipiac University.

Problem We feel advertisers are not effectively utilizing the full potential of in-game advertising. There is a large demographic engaged in on-line, networked video games to whom advertisers could reach with real time, streaming advertisement triggered at specific times, relevant to geography, space and time.

Audience This paper will be directed towards the heads of major advertising agencies that are looking for new and cutting edge ways to reach the large and important male demographic of 18-34 year olds, as well as other non-traditional avid gamers.

Key Ideas:
· Our area of study should focus on the advertiser’s developing audience – the multiplayer environment created by networked game consoles.
· Developments in Internet and compression of audio and video technology should allow for real time advertising in networked console gaming in the very near future.
· It is our goal to become experts on this concept, study it in theory, analyze the benefits and risks, and hopefully see it into a working reality.
· In-game advertising is a growing phenomenon. People are spending more time actively engaged in video games, and advertisers are recognizing new and novel ways to reaching these people.
· Our preliminary research has shown advertisers are projected to increase spending in video game advertising like never before, and we intend to provide insight into a new channel through which to deliver their adverts.


Preliminary research sources

Experts in the area In our preliminary research we have found two companies that are leading the way in the field of in-game advertising, and the heads of which we consider experts in the area.

IGA Worldgroup: CCO Darren Herman and CEO Andrew Sispoidis. We feel these two are experts in the field because according to their website their company, IGA “has run static ad campaigns, real-time advertising and dynamic in-game advertisements.” These individuals are leading the way for new technology that is integrated into games, and thus their work will be helpful in our research and writing.

Massive, INC: CEO Mitch Davis has helped develop a video game advertising network and who believes “you want to reach those guys [18-34 year old males] in prime time, there's only one place to do it, and that's video games." His experience, combined with his focus on the importance of target audiences will help us get a pulse of the industry, and give us insights into where it is headed.

Articles, publications, and websites

Some of our most critical research will come from a thesis published in 2006 at LSU which measured player perceptions of advertising in online games. It is important to our research to identify potential pitfalls of placing non-native ads and information into games, and this article provides hard evidence to help us navigate around such pitfalls. An example of a subject matter in this thesis is brand recall by customers and customers attitudes towards in-game advertising.

The magazine and website for Advertising Age appears to be one of the leading industry publications addressing current trends in the business, and will be used in our research for industry news, trends and stats.

Online, the websites gamautra.com will be used to take advantage of their wide selection of news releases and articles that deal with all aspects of video gaming. The Massive Inc, and IGA Worldgroup websites will also be consulted for their data as it relates to implementing advertising campaigns within video games.

Preliminary schedule

Over the next 8 days, Trevor will be looking at pertinent information on industry websites while James will focus on the industry publication and academic journals. We plan to meet twice before the upcoming 10/30 deadline and have our bibliography completed by 10/29. Trevor will be lead author, and other duties will be assigned as we move along. We have also initiated contact with some of our “industry experts” and hope to be in contact with at least one of them before our presentation.

This Space For Rent

Advertising is everywhere. It is the driving force behind broadcast TV and radio, it's sprinkled along our highways and websites, and, in some cases, even covers our skin.

But before James and I meeting tomorrow night to discuss our white paper presentation, I wanted to ask my classmates what they thought of the concept of "in-game" video game advertising?

Would you be deterred from buying a game if it had an excessive amount of product placement?

Would you be more willing to live with in-game advertising if it dropped the cost of the game? Or better yet, made games free?

With the changing media environment, advertisers are increasingly willing to try new means to reach their target audience, and it is my belief that video games represent a space with major potential for advertising.

Thoughts?

Brotherly Love

Anyone who has been to the streets of Philadelphia probably noticed one of it's most unique and artistic charms - the many outdoor murals.

I'm in downtown Philly this week, and walking around I've noticed the dozens of works across neighborhood after neighborhood, and they inspired in me an idea, which in turn inspired this post.

Earlier in this class we discussed mash ups in their various forms, a popular version using Google Maps. It dawned on me today that the sheer size and scope of this city's public art could be creatively integrated into a Google map showing the location and a digital preview for the user to enjoy.

This could benefit new artists by giving inspiration and ideas. It could also making it easier for existing mural artist's, such as David Guinn their fans to enjoy their work. It could benefit tourism by simply showing people where to find that which they may be looking for. And it would just simply be fun to look at.

In my online research I have found other websites, such as this, which have documented murals in the city, but I have be unable to find a clear, visual based map with which to explore.

I ask any of my readers with Google Maps mash up experience if they are interested in creating such a site, and if so to contact me. Aside from the fun of getting outside and taking pictures of some amazing art, I think creating such a mash up would be a rewarding and informative experience that relates to Intro to Interactive Communications and the other class I'm taking this semester, Visual Aesthetics.

Open Doors or Close Minds?

On-demand Generation

I am an product of my environment, and I am inpatient. Today we live in an on-demand world. We don't wait to hear our favorite song of the week on the radio, we download it and play it on our Ipods. We don't rush home to watch the latest episode of Rock of Love, we Tivo it and watch it at our convenience. Or, if the first 5 minutes don't grab out attention, we delete it and move on to whatever captures our attention next.

What does this do to our relationship with News? Do our centralist attitude and limitless sources open doors to a plethora of information the wealth of which the world has never seen? Or do our futile and picky attitudes hamper our ability to expand our views beyond those which are convenient, attractive and self-assuring?

The Village Green

WZLX in Boston is a classic rock FM station that I would listen to at work back in high school. The bands I would hear would inspire me to download a collection of music ranging from Led Zeppelin to Elton John to The Beatles. Through a variety of sources, I did research of the bands I liked, took recommendations, and downloaded other artists I had never heard. Somewhere along the line I discovered The Kinks (and you should too). Now, their 1968 album " The Village Green Preservation Society" is one of my all time favorite albums.

My point is that although we have discriminatory tastes, they can help us reach places we would otherwise have never found, and that can be a good thing. Perhaps by recognizing these different tastes, while acknowledging our lack of online patience, we could intelligently face the future of online news.

Trails and Tribulations

Earlier in this class we talked about the notion of trails and paths, which allow us to follow one idea to the next, researching and expanding our way to a better understanding of that which interests us (this was also the inspiration for hyperlinks found across the web today).

If there could be a central, neutral hub as a starting point - a user friendly, reliable and dependable website that presents equally different viewpoints on subjects and encourages the reader/user to form their own opinions, instead of conglomerating with someone else. As with me finding The Kinks, I believe the best approach is not to present two, completely different viewpoints in contradiction to each other (classic rock mixed with today's pop for example) but rather to present two or more similar, yet different viewpoints, (70s rock with the British invasion) to allow for a more comfortable, subtle shift for the user.

Is this possible? Maybe. But several problems immediately come to mind.

• There is no neutral. What we write about, (and what we don't write about), how we write about it, when and why all affect our ability to be and present ourselves as neutral. People, families, businesses and countries all have agendas that influence how the feel about the world, and how they express themselves. Understanding this is key to understanding that there can never be a truly neutral news provider.
• As mentioned above, we are the on-demand generations. We don't like to wait, we don't like to sift, we know what we want and we go for it. If there's a short cut, a way to circumnavigate around something we don't find to be of pressing importance, we'll find it.
• Peer pressure. Depending on who you are and who you associate with, asking certain questions and seeking information on a subject may be technically possible, but socially not. Imagine for example a story producer at Fox News raising his or her hand and asking "You know, maybe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has some good points, should we do a story on the positive things he has done for his country?" Not going to happen.
• Group polarization, as described in Sunstein's article, could be argued is inevitable. Is it a result of people being more informed or manipulated? We should also remember that this is nothing new, that this is nothing new - people have been furthering their ideas and agendas for as long as human communication itself.

Full Circle

In undergrad I had two communication professors with different views on journalism.

One felt that journalists stood for truth, justice and the American way. They were stewards of the people, enabling and furthering democracy the way the Founding Fathers of this country envisioned.

The other felt journalism was another tool for generating the all mighty dollar. "The business of creating desirable audiences and leasing them out advertisers," a powerful quote from Dr. Marshall.

Perhaps with the advent of personalized news, and the "power to the people" we can start to move away from the latter and towards the first, but as discussed there are still several hurdles along the way.

This blog was inspired by this week's ICM 501 readings:

Bender, W. (2002). Twenty years of personalization: All about the “Daily Me.” Educause Review, 37(5), 21-29.
Sunstein, C. (2004). Democracy and filtering. Communications of the ACM, 47(12), 57-59.
Bruns, A. (2006) Wikinews: The next generation of alternative online news? Scan: Journal of Media Arts and Culture, 3(1).

Group Think

There is talk that the Patriots will go 16-0 and Notre Dame's football team could lose every game it plays this season.

No I'm not talking about sports - I'm talking about groups. Specifically groups of people that work together towards a common goal, there by creating a team.

Why is it that some teams work and others fail? There are limitless questions and answers on this subject, and we all reflect back on personal experience as our own guides towards making teams work. There is also resources, experts and literature on teamwork, some of which was our reading assignment for this week. (Verzuh, E. (2005). Building a high-performance project team. / Lipnack, J. & Stamps, J. (1997). Working smart: a web book for virtual teams)

In my first post I spoke about how I have seen and been affected by the goodness in people, and a great example I was fortunate enough to experience a few years ago.

Green 5

In an effort to prolong the inevitable entrance into the corporate world, I entered an Americorps program after college. Americorps*NCCC is a team based service program where 18-24 year olds are organized in groups of about a dozen and work together across the country for 10 months. The teams are numbered and organized by color units - my team was Green 5.

I can honestly say that it was one of the most rewarding and most challenging experiences of my life. Going suddenly from living in my own apartment for 3 years in college, to living, working, eating and sleeping with the same 11 people day after day, week after week and month after month was quite an experience - one I will never forget.

We had our ups and downs, like any team, but by the time we graduated, I had made some of the strongest relationships of my life, and we had accomplished our ultimate goal - that of service.

Computers cant hug

As we move forward towards a truly global economy, one where the world seems to be shrinking by the day, how do we apply our collective knowledge towards effective team building and maintenance over the Internet? Can we? My mother works in HR for a software company, and she just got back from a trip to India where she facilitated team working exercises - is face to fade the only way?

As with anything new, there are hurdles and obstacles. CMC group development brings along too many issues to cover here, so I'll focus on a few. One, how can we account for different experience levels? That is, maybe some members of the team will have no CMC group experience while others are seasoned veterans? Will computer communication become so important in the future that it will require its own specific training? (instead of taking public speaking classes we take computer speaking classes?)

Another issue that comes to my mind is trust. How do you trust someone you've never met? With the lake of eye contact, and physical presence, I would foresee some trust issues being created, especially when teams are still new. In Green 5 sometimes we would settle issues with a bottle of wine, a good talk and a hug, whats the virtual equivalent?

Candice talked about the Chicago Bulls in her blog, a group that had such good teamwork and leadership it was able to dominate in it's own sphere. This inspired an interesting question - which group, if any, will be the first dynasty in the virtual world?