8 Random Thoughts
Want a thoughtful laugh? Read these eight random thoughts from lists and distractions to Jayson Werth and the Super Moon.
privacy
Can Data Control Provide Ease of Mind?
More app providers and websites are providing control mechanisms in a bid to get more people to use their sites. The question is will it work?
Freaking Out About Surveillance at SXSW
The always-on quanitifed self created a bit of a freak-out amongst SXSW Interactive attendees. the movement towards the omnipresent Internet creates dramatic implications for society and business beyond extrapolating personal data to deliver context.
Breaking Up Google
Google pushes the boundaries of fair data use. Whenever it changes its algorithms, it creates tidal waves of changes across the media industry, and directly impacts every single business with an Internet presence.
Robert Scoble on Data, Algorithms and the Future of Marketing
Robert Scoble delivers an insightful interview on marketing, media and society as a whole. Learn about the Age of Context.
Get Off the Grid
Patagonia winds whisper to me like it was yesterday.
How I crave to be in the mountains walking up and down rugged landscapes, hoping to see yet another breathtaking view, some aspect of the world I never expected, and breathe in the clean cool air.
To be surrounded by nothing except the stunning wilds, untethered from the Internet, no cell phone, just an occasional group of people, most of whom don’t speak English or give a damn about me. Ah, heaven.
This was freedom, the ultimate escape from reality.
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9 Videos on the Digital Future
Happy April Fool’s Day! We now resume our regular programming…
Five weeks ago at xPotomac, nine speakers and one emcee delivered speeches and conversation starters that sparked 25-30 minutes of questions and answers each. The following nine videos are listed in the order of presentation.
Special thanks to my client Vocus for providing videography services. Vocus is hosting the Demand Success 2013 conference in Washington, DC this June 20-21. The event focuses on marketing best practices for converging media, and includes speakers like Arianna Huffington, Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi, digital journalism expert Jay Rosen, and many more. Check it out.
Please feel free to leave comments and feedback about the conference here. We’re listening!
xPotomac Introduced: BlogPotomac Legacy and Future Vision
DC’s very own Shana Glickfield (Beekeeper Group) provides the introduction to very first xPotomac. xPotomac is where the digital media future meets businesses. This groundbreaking conference features seven media technologies most likely to impact businesses and marketers in the immediate future.
This smaller intimate conference features limited attendance to ensure maximum learning and networking. Speakers will present in a tight setting with the stage centered in the round or in a horseshoe formation. Each session features a gladiator like format with 15 minutes dedicated to speaking and 30 minutes of question and answer from the audience.
Opening Keynote: Voice Search Changes the Game
The opening keynote at xPotomac was provided by Vanessa Fox. Given how much of the current web — social and content marketing included — revolves around search, voice search represents a game changer, especially given mobile use with Siri and Google Voice Search.
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Big Data, Influencers, Privacy and Other Digital Termites
Andrew Keen remains the most constant and prolific critic of digital media advances and their impact on society. His books Digital Vertigo and Cult of the Amateur have made him a bit of a pariah in some circles, and an intellectual hero in others.
He was the ideal choice to close xPotomac on February 25, as the conference discussed future technologies. This podcast offers a sneak preview, which is also transcribed below… We got into all sorts of fun things, including big data, influencers, privacy and other digital termites.
GL: Well, we’re really excited to have you here in D.C. and I can’t wait to see you. First of all, for people that don’t know you, why don’t you quickly explain your background to them and what you did with Digital Vertigo.
AK: So I’m a writer, I’m a broadcaster, entrepreneur, accountant of a company, Audio Café, I have a weekly show on TechCrunch, columns for other people including CNN, written two books Quasi Amateur, which was critical of web 2.0 and the democratization of the Internet. I just came out with a new book this year Digital Vertigo, which is critical of technology’s obsession with transparency and openness.
Some people see me as a technology reactionary. I’m not really. I’m as wired as anyone.
But, I am more skeptical of some of the social and cultural consequences and see the way in which the web continues to disintermediate both the experts and the creative class: the writers, musicians, filmmakers. I don’t think generally it’s benefitted creative people. It’s been great for entrepreneurs, great for programmers, technologists, investors and VCs, but not so great for the creative industry.
GL: In your mind, how does big data fit into that picture and what are the challenges that we’re facing with it?
AK: Well, big data is the current buzzword when it comes to describing the world we’re living in. I fear this: On the web we’ve all essentially become data. There’s an excellent writer, he wrote a cook called The Information, James Gleick, and he writes we’ve become data, we’ve become data in the Digital Age.
I think he’s right. We are distributing ourselves on the network, and I’m fearful of the impact it has both on our privacy, in terms of our identity and of our relationship with each other. I fear that the more we reveal about ourselves, the lonelier we become, the more we actually destroy the social.
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