Monthly Archives: February 2005

Content Style & Business 2 Comments

Regarding the Quest for Communication Statistics…

(UPDATE FEB. 15: Read the followup to this article.)

As you might imagine, in my work as a content and communication consultant I often get asked for research and statistics on various topics in my field.

I’ve gotta admit, I dread those questions. First of all, research and statistics are practically useless when it comes to demonstrating the value of good communication practices – since that value is generally realized in ways which, while significant, is not easily quantifiable or traceable. Secondly, most of the research and statistics I see getting tossed around in this realm are of specious quality or relevance, once examined closely.

Today I had an exchange with my colleague Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing that touched on this issue.

Here’s what she asked me…

Continue reading →

Amy's Grab Bag (quick notes), Labels and Metadata 1 Comment

Labels and Metadata Grab Bag

Here are several items on the topic of how we categorize information (labels and metadata) which caught my attention today…

TOP OF THIS LIST: D’Arcy Norman’s Feb. 4 audio post on loosely bound metadata. (Right-click that link to download the MP3 audio file. It’s 3.7 MB and run just over nine minutes.) I’ve heard the neologism “folksonomy” floating around in various circles lately. It sounded vaguely interesting to me, but since I’m already suffering from chronic learning overload, I’ve been pushing it off my radar screen.

…Until I listened to what Norman had to say on the subject, that is. Now I’m totally jazzed and motivated to learn more about folksonomies. I even decided it was time to create a new CONTENTIOUS category called labels and metadata (this grab bag is the first entry in that category).

Here’s a brief excerpt from Norman’s audio post which got me all worked up:

“I love that people are really starting to think about loosely defined metadata in addition to (not to replace) the taxonomy-based metadata that librarians use. Most people don’t really want to enter metadata. They have trouble doing it properly. Now they shouldn’t have to enter it properly, that’s the point. Librarians are good at entering structured metadata, so that’s kind of people who should be entering structure metadata. People like you and me and the rest of the world are better at putting labels on things. Labels are tags, they’re keywords. If we can let people do that and then aggregate all of those labels and tags and keywords together, we end with something that approximates (not replaces, but approximates) the kind of structured metadata that librarians use…”

YES! I love the concept of metadata and what it can do, but actually working with formal taxonomies feels like I’m trying to force my brain to act like a computer. That’s not entirely a bad thing, but it just doesn’t feel human or natural. It takes a lot of effort, and it’s very picky, painstaking work. I can’t say I enjoy it, which means I don’t do it as much as I should. I think that informal, loose metadata systems (folksonomies) not only have greater mass appeal, but also a huge untapped potential. Writers and editors especially could benefit from this, since most of us are good at organizing information but bad at thinking like computers.

Read the rest of this list…

Continue reading →

Amy's Adventures, Voices: Blogs, etc. 4 Comments

Maven Blogs: My Quandary of Self-Promotion

I’ve been listening to an interesting series of short audio posts called The Business Blogging Field Guide, by Christopher Carfi over at his weblog The Social Customer Manifesto. In this series he defines several common types of weblogs offered by organizations or independent professionals in order to directly or indirectly market themselves or influence their field.

I just finished listening to the fourth installment in this series, The Maven. When Carfi started discussing the maven blog (a term borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell’s classic book The Tipping Point), I recognized CONTENTIOUS. Yes, I guess that’s mostly what I’m doing here, mavening.

And although Carfi didn’t discuss it directly, I realized that I’m probably not the only independent professional who’s not getting optimum marketing mileage from an otherwise-successful maven blog…

Continue reading →

Amy's Adventures

I\’ve Closed Comments on Older Postings

A few days ago, I decided to close the comment function on all CONTENTIOUS postings more than 30 days old.

This is because I was getting slammed with nearly 500 comment spams daily, almost all of which were aimed at older postings. Even though I can delete comment spams en masse before they appear on the site, it was getting to be too much of a hassle to deal with that volume. I still had to look at all the spams to fish out the real comments.

Here’s how you can post a comment to an older CONTENTIOUS article…

Continue reading →

Amy's Adventures, Voices: Blogs, etc. 7 Comments

Next Week: Comment Week

Lately, I’ve been missing out on an important part of the online world: I’ve sharply curtailed the amount of weblogs I’ve been reading. This has not been a deliberate choice – I’ve just been very busy lately with client projects, and I’ve also been felled by two colds and a stomach virus so far in 2005. Any spare time and energy I’ve had has gone into writing for CONTENTIOUS and my personal life. (Yes, I do have one.)

However, I miss reading blogs as much as I’d like. Also, being a blogger, I know how important comments are to online culture. Comments help keep bloggers motivated. Psychologically, they’re more valuable to bloggers than site statistics. They’re what makes weblogs so conversational – by enabling a real conversation to occur, publicly.

So next week I’m going to use my blogging time a bit differently. Here’s my plan…

Continue reading →

Media Musings 3 Comments

Earthwatch Radio Is Podcasting Now

Back on Jan. 10 I mentioned that Earthwatch Radio (an excellent online radio show produced by Wisconsin Sea Grant) should be podcasting, too. At the time they were almost podcasting because they were posting the MP3 audio files for their shows on their web site. However, they lacked a feed that would deliver their shows directly to people who subscribed in “podcatcher” programs such as Doppler.

Well, I’ve just heard from Earthwatch – Their podcast feed is now up and running. Hooray!

Continue reading →

Audio Show, Content Style & Business, Net Effects on Society

Vermin and Compassion (Online Vermin Series, Audio Note)

Now that I’m finally recovered from a despicable, tenacious headcold, here’s another audio edition of CONTENTIOUS. This is quick recap of what I’ve been covering in my Handling Online Vermin Series, with some thoughts on the role of compassion in dealing with online vermin.

LISTEN NOW! Right-click that link to download the MP3 audio file. It’s about 2.8 MB and runs just under 12 minutes.

Show notes…

Continue reading →

Content Style & Business, Net Effects on Society

Skewers: That\’s Not What I Said! (Online Vermin, Part 5)

(NOTE: This is an installment in my “Handling Online Vermin� series about addressing people with poor online communication habits. Series intro and index.)

Skewers have a special gift for warping the fabric of online communities. They routinely skew (misrepresent) the words, actions, perspectives, or opinions of others through misstatements, leaping to conclusions, or ignoring context. Everyone makes these errors sometimes – but for skewers, it’s habitual.

Skewers usually lack information or attention. However, occasionally skewering indicates someone’s profound inability or unwillingness to listen or look beyond her own perspective. Skewers may may believe that they know you better than you know yourself.

Every once in a while, a skewer may be trying to set you up as a straw man.

Rarely is skewering motivated by a conscious intent to mislead, so counterattacks are inappropriate. However, being skewed by a skewer can be exceptionally frustrating – kind of like identity theft. When confronted, skewers tend to get rigid or silent. They find it almost impossible to admit they were wrong, even slightly.

When someone twists your words, perspective, or work online, your first response (as with all online vermin) should be to PAUSE! Evaluate the situation carefully. Ask yourself these questions…

Continue reading →

Amy's Adventures, Audio Show, Voices: Blogs, etc. 8 Comments

Female Podcasters: Here\’s Why This Matters, Adam…

Today I’ve added a couple of new female hosted/co-hosted shows to my Women in Podcasting List. The total number of shows on that list is currently 37 podcasts, plus one videolog.

Also, I was pleased that Adam Curry, probably the world’s most popular podcaster, briefly mentioned my list in his Feb. 6 Daily Source Code show (MP3 direct download) , and included a direct link to my list in his show notes. He did this at the prompting of Kim Campbell, creator of the podcasts Shakespeare Souffle and Homeschool Habitat (both on my list).

I was a bit disappointed with the way Curry seemed dismissive of the issue of women in podcasting. Here’s what he said…

Continue reading →