June 28th, 2007 Rachel
Rob, you rock. I’m proud of you. We’re proud of you. And it’s freakin’ wicked to be working with you.
The MetaBrainz Foundation and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are pleased to announce the first phase of a partnership to offer more detailed music information and personalized music recommendations on the BBC’s music website http://www.bbc.co.uk/music…
In the first phase of this relationship, the BBC music website is using MusicBrainz data to
supplement its artist profiles and album reviews with discography and track list information. BBC’s /music web staff will also be participating in MusicBrainz to add and improve the MusicBrainz data.
Booyah…
Posted in Computers, MetaBrainz, Music, News | No Comments »
June 6th, 2007 Rachel
Okay, at least tries not to end them…or, oh I don’t know…cause seizures.
As much criticism as this logo has received, we’re talking about it, writing about it and minus the health risks, it’s unveiling has certainly not gone unnoticed. Seth Godin’s title ‘Actually it’s just a jaggy picture‘ has been my favorite so far…because it is, and that’s something anyone who’s taken a linguistics course or majored in communications/journalism can forget about. All the brilliant reasons why a logo says so much about a company and all the clever hidden messages that everyone crafted up during the millionth brainstorming session…might all be moot. Susan Genelius brought this up and referenced Drew McLellan’s article on branding. It’s not just about how much you like your logo/brand/website. The way the consumer sees or, ahem, reacts it is just as, if not more important.
Okay, that was reference soup up there. But some good resources on a topic that I quite enjoy. Also, if you’re just looking for some fun experimenting with fonts (another one of my little obsessions) check out 1001 fonts. All free, and a decent number of them are available for Mac (though not all…too bad).
Posted in Learning, Marketing, News | No Comments »
December 17th, 2006 Rachel
Interesting choice, Time.
But while we contribute…and sometimes saturate or overwhelm…are we really in control?
I like the decision, I like it a lot more than Babwa Wawa’s 10 Most Fascinating People, but I’m not entirely convinced it gets past the romanticism that it mentions. Favorite quote:
Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom.
How powerful is that massive crowd? Well, if this story over at Think Progress is true, then it’s got at least one politician publicly up in arms:
John McCain has made clear that he doesn’t like the blogosphere.
Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles.
My fingers are crossed this isn’t the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth…but I’ve been wrong before (and blogs like this one would probably piss me off too if I couldn’t figure out what to do without grabbing a big stick).
Bloggers are a touchy bunch…a politician is on shaky ground to begin with when dealing with the frank transparency and rapid fire link lovin’ (of fact or embellished fact) that can kill something, including a campaign, faster than newspapers alone. While I definitely commend taking a stand for what you believe in…taking such a direct line against ‘em is a risky, risky move…
Did I just prove Time’s point?
Update: I like the way Jeff Jarvis puts it. Well said.
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December 16th, 2006 Rachel
At dinner recently, we got to talking about Best Buy’s radical restructuring of the workday. Restructuring? Sorry, I meant turning it into play-dough.
At most companies, going AWOL during daylight hours would be grounds for a pink slip. Not at Best Buy. The nation’s leading electronics retailer has embarked on a radical–if risky–experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.
You have to read the whole article to fully understand the whole background leading up to this decision, and certainly this wouldn’t work for every company. There’s also the undeniable fact that sometimes, regardless of your needs/desires/other commitments, work will sometimes get in the way. Need to take a call with London? First thing in the morning, before you’d generally be at the office, may be the only (or most considerate) option.
But at the same time, I can think of at least a few people where this kind of anti-structure could have a tremendous impact on how efficiently their time was spent. Some people just work better in the wee hours of the morning. Other people are straight 9-5ers, who put their all into those eight hours and then turn it all off when they get home. And for mothers I can’t think of a better way to alleviate the scheduling conflicts that may only come up at the odd 8:30am dropoff, 3:00pm pickup times. If you could get 5 hours of solid office time complete while the kiddies are in class, and another three after dinner while they’re doing homework…?
All of a sudden the dream of being a woman who “has it all” seems a little more possible and a lot more manageable.
This isn’t to say such a scheme wouldn’t have it’s drawbacks. At the table was the one side of ‘Really, would you want people on your team who you wouldn’t feel comfortable allowing this kind of flexibility?’…on the other side was ‘How on earth do you measure results outside of things like ‘Sold x number of widgets this week…’?’
The truth, I think, lies somewhere in between. For some people, that flexibility and added responsibility to manage your time because no one else is going to do that for you would probably mean just sticking to the regular old 9-5 schedule, expect for maybe the odd dentist appointment. Others would probably yelp ‘Woohoo!!’ then realize a month in that they’ve accomplished nothing but are really caught up on current movies.
But as a whole? I think this kind of structure has promise. We’ll see what Best Buy is saying in a couple of years.
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