Next week, I’m delighted to moderate a panel that includes some of my favourite bloggers…and Denis. Also featured on the panel are Mathew Ingram, Anastasia Goodstein, Leigh Himel, and Sean Moffitt. I’ve added all the links to the blogroll on the bottom right of this page.

Here are some interesting recent posts from each. Mathew teaches us an important lesson about “accepting changes” before sending your business plan to a VC. You know, to avoid the people you want money from to read stuff like:

• “Segal used to work for Microsoft so skip the name dropping, save it for the afternoon meeting, they are clueless about Redmond.”
• “When you talk through this point on your slides, make Chanukah jokes, he is Jewish and will get them”
• “I’d delete this section since we don’t have these features on the roadmap and haven’t figured out how to code this unless you believe the investors won’t catch this.”
• “VCs are typically stupid when it comes to this section so be prepared for a dumb question blizzard.”

Read More »

Tags: Blogroll blogs

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The St. John river has flooded, leaving at least 42 streets underwater. With much of the area evacuated, a useful Google Maps mashup has been created to help people monitor the situation (click on the thumbnail).

Tags: Google mash-ups

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Well, Grand Theft Auto IV was released last night at midnight, which means that there were people lined up to buy it. From where I sit, dressing up like Niko Bellic is less geeky than Dumbledore and certainly better than dear Jar-Jar. Some of your co-workers may be a little sleepy if they spent the wee hours commiting mayhem in Liberty City.

The game has great reviews so far as well as the typical hoopla about inappropriateness of the material.  Thing is, adults make up a huge percentage of the gaming population and some games are just not made for children — just as the Godfather (parts I and II), Silence of the Lambs, Pulp Fiction, and the Usual Suspects are all considered great films, but not ones that you would watch with your tween.

What’s the wikinomics angle? User-generated content delivered through “walkthroughs” are a huge value ad to the game and the best ones are prepared by volunteers. Below is an excerpt from a study that Alan Majer and I conducted about a great walkthough creator “named” AggroSk8ter.

Read More »

Tags: Video Games collective intelligence customer co-creation gaming online gaming

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Friend of New Paradigm, Alexandra Samuel, has been nominated for a Webby award in the social networking category.

She developed the  online community for Vancity Credit Union, which New Paradigm faculty member Sean Moffitt wrote about in his Wikibrands project:

VanCity is Canada’s largest credit union, with $12.3 billion in assets, more than 354,000 members, and over 50 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and Victoria. Its successful brand is based on a corporate culture focused on a triple bottom line of impacts: investment, environmental and social responsibility.

Broadcasting its brand values and leadership is more an announcement of its “heart characteristics,” than any form of strategic campaign. The organization is as interested in making its community work as it is in making money. CEO Dave Mowat explains, “We believe that an integral part of being a smart provider of banking services is being a good neighbor and community leader. We just can’t have one without the other.” Read More »

Tags: citizen participation community social networking

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When you are punching messages into your blackberry from the dance bar — are you working? If you are working, does that mean that you can charge overtime rates.

An article in today’s Wall St. Journal discusses the issue. From the article:

The next front in the ever burgeoning field of wage-and-hour litigation? Blackberrys, according to a story in the National Law Journal.

According to the story, litigation could be “just around the corner,” filed by employees who will claim overtime for all the hours they’ve spent typing away on their Blackberrys, cell phones, or other communication devices.

“We’ll see it; it’s only a matter of time,” said Jeremy Roth, a lawyer in the San Diego office of Littler Mendelson. Roth said he has cautioned several clients about the issue in the last year, advising them to get policies in place. Added Roth: “Before there was at least an argument that no, the employee is not being truthful when they say, ‘I did all this work after hours.’ But now, that swearing contest is taken out of the mix.”

Strategies for employers could include requiring permissions to use a blackberry after hours or making an explicit agreement that the freedom of working remotely comes with an implicit agreement that hours get stretched (or, hey, N-Geners you can’t have it both ways). Or, as someone posted in the discussion section of the article:

The receipt of an email or the ringing of a phone do not require a response. Instead of suing, how about ignoring?

Tags: N-Gen Net Generation employment lawsuits

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Good article in today’s Wall St. Journal describing a massive pillow fight arranged on the Internet.

From the article:

The urban playground movement is the latest example of how social media is being used to organize groups in public settings for a common goal — in this case, sheer entertainment. “The Internet and mobile phones now make it possible for anybody to organize collective action,” says Howard Rheingold, author of the book “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution” who teaches social media classes at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. “Instead of it being a broadcast type entertainment, people are making their own.”

Mr. Bracken and Ms. Kufner have organized three pillow fights in New York and two in Toronto. Among other events they host: large-scale capture-the-flag games on city streets and subway dance parties. Word spreads through social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and the organizers’ email lists. Anyone who wants to show up can participate.

The events are growing in size. A Facebook group for this year’s pillow fight in New York drew a confirmed attendance of about 12,000. Approximately 5,000 people showed up for the public whacking, dressed in everything from bee costumes to rat suits. “‘Free’ will become the new model for everything, and this is free entertainment,” Mr. Bracken says.

Videos of pillow fight and other flash mobs are here, here, and here.

Tags: Facebook community cooperation crowd sourcing mass collaboration

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I’m a serious LinkedIn user and a casual fan of the Facebook, but that’s it…I’m not hiring anymore. Fact is, the two of them do the job. LinkedIn has my business contacts and enough about me that people need to know. Facebook has now turned up most of the women I dated i high school (full disclosure: Zuckerberg didn’t need to assign a lot of server space for that). I have up to date contact info on Plaxo Plus, but I’m not going to invite people or join any groups. And it’s none of Plaxo’s damn business what “I’m up to.”

In the past week I’ve been invited to join three more networks: BlueChipExpert, Reunion.com, and Naymz (note, I am not adding hyperlinks, look them up yourself if you want). The last one bills itself as “powering reputable professionals.” Reunion.com wants to tease me with a salvo of “finding out who else is looking for me.” Sorry folks, you are too late. I’m sure you have a Powerpoint deck that you use to pitch VCs about how you only need 10% of Facebook, etc to provide an excellent ROI, but I’m not interested. If people want to find me…they can on one of the leading sites.

For those not savvy geeky enough to recognize the reference from the blog title, it is explained here.

Tags: Facebook MySpace social networking wikinomics

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Sadly, we received word that one of our regular readers and contributors has decided not to visit us anymore. I was planning on linking to the post that turned him off, but sadly, it had the same effect on the project manager of the wikinomics blog who irreversibly deleted it. Ben has been a thoughtful reader for a while and we always enjoyed his comments; see here, here , here and here for examples.

In 1960, Mad Magazine had but a single subscriber in Haiti. When he advised them that he was not going to renew, the entire editorial staff went to Haiti to pay him a suprise visit and convinced him not to cancel. Now, Ben we know you live in Toronto (because you told us, not because we did any creepy URL tracing). Our head office is in Toronto, and we want you back.

Here are some bribes ideas of how we can court you:

- an invite to one of our staff beer nights

- a spot on the guest list at our friend Lenni Jabour’s stage show

- a “gently used” copy of the Wikinomics audiobook. It was narrated by this guy…who is very cool. You should have the sound on when you visit his site.

 The blog is enjoying an upward swing…please come along for the ride.

Tags: blogs community

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Here is a cool idea that is just getting started. The Time Space Map is kind of a combination of Wikipedia and Google Map mashups. It allows people to graph historical events in a temporal fashion. The picture below shows the growth of the Inca Empire. A good description can be found here.

I’m curious to see how this map of Napoleon’s advance and retreat to Russia (considered by many to be the greatest graphic ever) would look in this application. Read More »

Tags: Google collective intelligence mash-ups platforms social networking wikipedia wikis

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Reported today in the New York Times, Hu Jia, a Chinese rights activitist was convicted of subversion for posting critical comments about the government’s treatment of peasants on his blog. Here is an example of his account of how he has been treated. From the article:

One of the most prominent human rights advocates in China stood trial on Tuesday morning on subversion charges in a proceeding that lasted three hours and centered on whether his public criticism of the ruling Communist Party represented a threat to the state. A verdict is possible within a week.

The case of the advocate, Hu Jia, has become an international cause célèbre for many human rights groups that contend the Communist Party is rounding up dissidents to silence criticism of the government before the Olympics in Beijing in August.

On Monday, the European Union presidency called on China to release Mr. Hu and said his arrest undermined the principle of free speech enshrined in the Chinese Constitution.

Mr. Hu, 34, has publicly condemned the Communist Party for failing to fulfill its promises to improve its rights record before the Olympic Games. His lawyer said that prosecutors presented as evidence six unspecified essays written by Mr. Hu and two interviews he conducted with foreign radio outlets.

“We believe his articles are expressing peaceful views that do not concern state security but that represent criticism of the current system,” his lawyer, Li Fangping, said after the trial.

Mr. Li acknowledged that some of Mr. Hu’s comments have been “pungent,” but argued that the government should not ban speech.

There is a discussion underway at the Wall St. Journal Law Blog.

Tags: China blogs censorship olympics

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Our colleague, Tammy Erickson, who is authoring a project for our Net Generation: Talent 2.0 has recently published a book that questions whether the concept of retirement will disappear, especially for that demographic behemoth the Baby Boom. Visit the web site and join the discussion.

An excerpt from the introduction follows: Read More »

Tags: N-Gen Net Generation the net generation

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OK, first of all, let’s dispense with the myth that companies lose millions of dollars of productivity because their employees are too busy monitoring their pools (and trash talking) to do their work. It doesn’t make sense because it assumes that in absence of March Madness, said folks would be diligently filling out TPS reports instead of posting on Facebook or browsing Wikipedia (not to mention that most of the games take place outside of office hours). Speaking of basketball urban myths, Snopes does a good job of bursting the bubble on Lebron’s Powerade commerical…still, if you haven’t seen it, check out the video.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is the best sporting event of the year, IMO for a couple of reasons:

- single elimination so every team has a chance with no do-overs

- vast majority of players will never play a professional game

- there is nothing better than cheering for an underdog, especially a team that you have never heard of before

- a 12 seed always beats a 5 seed (uh, except for last year)

- for most of the small schools (all champions from admittedly weaker leagues) a single victory is the greatest thing that can happen

- 2006 George Mason and 1985 Villanova

The event is also perfect for the blogosphere. Stats and predictions (some backed by some pretty serious management science) far too geeky and detailed for the popular press are abound. Some of my favorites are here, here, and here. Also, here is a great article that scientifically tells you if a lead is safe.

Tags: blogs

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They aren’t all rocket surgeons, people.

There is a lot of brilliant content provided by everyday people on the web. I enjoy debates on the talk pages of Wikipedia as much as the actual articles.

The comments on epicurious add tons of value. People provide suggestions on how to improve the recipes or how to make the process easier (such as suggesting substitutes for bizarre ingredients…cumin shows up a lot, or reducing steps…such as using tin foil instead of banana leaves). Check out this wasabi potato dish that nicely complements miso-glazed sea bass. For those boycotting sea bass, black cod works as well.

When people can rate anonymously, you sometimes get opinions that are somewhat unsatisfying. Below is a thoughtful review of Lobster “Potpies.” Sometimes you get people that say things like “caviar is too expensive, so I substituted chick peas and wasn’t impressed.”

Here is another example, a fella wasn’t happy with his stay at the Wynn in Las Vegas, but doesn’t want to tell us why. It still, of course, counts towards the average rating as much as a thoughtful, well thought-out post. Read More »

Tags: amazon citizen participation collective intelligence

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Here is a new cool application being developed by Google Labs. It is an extension of Google Maps that provides transit instructions taking into account the time of day.

It is still in the development stage and most of the cities where I find myself lately: Toronto, Boston, New York, and Memphis aren’t covered yet, but it is still cool. The graphic below shows the map and directions for a trip from Stanley Park to Simon Fraser University.

Props to Miss Vicky for pointing this out. Check out her blog.

Tags: Google mash-ups

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OK, we actually like Nicholas Carr. He is a smart guy, a gentleman and his blog is a must read for thoughtful debate about technology and business models. We just don’t always agree with him.

Carr has built up a nice business for himself as the hero of those who think that technology is mostly hype. He’s making a splash on the speaking circuit and has a new book The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google to follow Does IT Matter?

The latest honour that Carr has received is an invitation to join the Editorial Board of Advisors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Methinks that this has something to do with his attitudes towards Wikipedia, reflected here, here, and here. With tongues firmly in cheek, we suggest some other extracurricular activities for Mr. Carr:

- director of player development, Washington Generals

- marketing analyst zip drive division, Iomega

- party whip, International Brotherhood of Elevator Operators

Tags: wikipedia

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Look, we don’t really want to pick on Facebook. It’s sort of like tripping the prom queen. So don’t revisit posts like this, this, this, this, and this.

There was news today that the Canadian military has sent a memo advising soliders not to post anything related to their military activity…on the basis that tech-savvy members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban can study them for clues about locations, movements, equipment, etc.

Tags: Facebook

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Here is a great mashup between the movie Election and Senator Clinton’s campaign speeches…it has become a huge hit on the blogosphere…

I don’t think the producers of the movie will mind…it perfectly captures the essence of Tracy Flick.

Tags: election mash-ups

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The New York Times wrote a good article about how Wikileaks, a web site that allows users to anonymously post leaked documents has been shut down.

From the article:

[The site]… invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging “unethical behavior” by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing.

This brillliant legal mind didn’t consider that the magic of the Intrawebs, could somehow keep it going in Europe.

Great discussion on the legal blog at the Wall St. Journal (great site, btw, I referenced it in an earlier post) about the ethics involved. Free speech is a concept valued highly by free society. But should anonymous free speech be held as sacrosanct? Surely, if someone is giving the right to say whatever he or she wants, they should endure the responsibility of the consequences.

Tags: censorship fair use government lawsuits sharing wikis

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After his rather large investment in Facebook, Bill Gates has abandoned his account.

Reported in the Wall St. Journal today, Gates didn’t delete his account (word is, that is actually impossible), but he is stopped using it.

According to the article:

His problem is excessive celebrity. After Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook last year, Gates spent 30 minutes a day on the social-networking site, the Sun reports. “But he signed off after getting more than 8,000 friend requests a day, and spotted weird fan sites about him,” says the Sun, citing an unnamed colleague. The article linked above says he deleted the account. A Microsoft spokesperson tells us that Gates hasn’t deleted it, but that he has stopped using it because he was inundated with friend requests.

Tags: Facebook

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At New Paradigm, one of our perqs is getting to meet a lot of smart, creative people. Through our extended community and faculty, we get access to a lot of cool thoughts….or, “I’m not surfing Facebook, I’m researching.”

Here is a sample:

Alexandra Samuel who worked on a predecessor study of our Government 2.0 research wrote this great post comparing online communities to robot uprisings. My favourite part:

Robots reflect and amplify the worst traits and behaviors of their human creators. Robots can do all the stuff we do: perpetrate mass slaughter (Matrix, Terminator, the Day the Earth Stood Still), take away our ability to make independent decisions (2001), exploit human energy/labor (Matrix), destroy the natural environment (Matrix, Terminator), and appropriate other species’ cultural, biological and physical assets (the Borg). Likewise, the virtual being constituted by a social network can amplify the worst traits within the network: social networks have perpetrated mass frauds (hello, lonelygirl15!), turned peaceful coexisters into rotten neighbors, reduced people to whether they are hot or not, and — in an especially horrific case — even bullied at least one teen to her death.

Tags: Facebook artificial intelligence social networking

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