Blogging the Tsunami

Good article this morning in the New York Times (registration required) about the role of blogging in bringing instant news of the tsunami disaster.

For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs.

The so-called blogosphere, with its personal journals published on the Web, has become best known as a forum for bruising political discussion and media criticism. But the technology proved a ready medium for instant news of the tsunami disaster and for collaboration over ways to help.

Bloggers at the scene are more deeply affected by events than the journalists who roam from one disaster to another, said Xeni Jardin, one of the four co-editors of the site BoingBoing.net, which pointed visitors to many of the disaster blogs...

"(Blogs) are helping us understand the impact of this event in a way that other media just can't," with an intimate voice and an unvarnished perspective, with the richness of local context, Ms. Jardin said.

That makes blogs compelling - and now essential - reading, said Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University and a blogger. Once he heard about the disaster, "Right after BBC, I went to blogs," he said.

The article mentions several blogs that are covering news of the tsunami:
BoingBoing.net
WorldChanging
TsunamiHelp
Sumankumar

Spirit of Christmas

Thanks to Johnnie Moore  and Rob Paterson for the link to this wonderful story...

Happy holidays, everyone!

Texas weather

This is so Texas... yesterday I rode my bike in sunny 70-degree weather. Today it's snowing. Go figure.

Bottoms Up

I know I've been rather quiet lately, but I've been percolating on a shift in my business direction. I'm fascinated with the idea of the ecology of business (everything's interconnected; no boundaries between internal & external; brand = connections) and I'm working to expand some of these ideas into seminars/workshops with a new colleague who's got hands-on experience building customer communities. Part of the equation is a bottom-up approach to business versus the traditional command/control model (actually, bottom-up will never replace top-down, but there should be a balance between the two). 

More to come on this subject as I get my thoughts organized! But I do have a favor in the meantime...

My memory drives me crazy; I have a great memory for facts, but I can never seem to remember where I read them. I know I read an article within the last two months about Google's bottom-up approach, but I can't remember where I found it. If you happen to know, could you post a comment? Thanks!

Marc and Tom

I get the occasional generic press release from well-meaning PR folks thinking that I'm a media outlet. And normally I just hit the "this is spam" button. But the one I received today was exceptionally creative. Check out the web site and view the PSA. Pretty funny. I can't imagine these guys being out of work for long.

Out of Work Advertising Creatives Launch Their Own

Public Service Announcement Pleading For Work

New York, NY, December 17, 2004

—Copywriter

Marc Guttesman and creative/art director Tom Millar teamed up with director Joe Leih to launch www.marcandtom.com, a website featuring a tongue in cheek public service announcement that showcases their skills as well as their need for employment.

The clever PSA features actors portraying Guttesman and Millar trying to succeed in a series of non-advertising jobs but failing miserably because their advertising skills are too ingrained. In one scene, Millar, as an elementary school teacher, criticizes a 5-year-old student’s drawing and marks it up with a red sharpie. In another, Guttesman, as a court stenographer, rewrites a prostitute’s testimony to give it more punch. The spot ends with a voice over asking the viewer to please hire them because they can’t do anything else...

Freelance blogger wanted

One of my clients is starting a blog but doesn't have the internal resources to maintain it. This company is also launching a blog tool that they're reselling (it's very feature-rich; I'll blog on it after it launches). So the responsibilities of the freelance blogger would be to:
1. Maintain the corporate blog content and build traffic. I'm guessing 3 to 4 posts per week.
2. Provide customer support on the blog tool (answer questions, etc) and post tips/tricks on the corporate blog
3. Be the primary liaison between the client and the company who owns the blog tool; providing customer feedback,  prioritizing upgrades/modifications, etc.

At this point, we don't have any estimates on how much time #2 and #3 would take, since the tool hasn't been launched. I imagine this will start off slow and build up to (potentially) a full-time gig. If you're interested, please send me an email with links to blogs you've authored, how long you've been blogging, why you think you'd be good for the job, and your rate. Send your email to jriceatmantrabrand.com. 

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey... We just closed it out and I'll be notifying the 3 winners today!

I'm back from my vacation... I spent over a week at a silent retreat in Santa Fe. It was fantastic, but it's taking me a while to get reacclimated to the "real world." I'm now working on client site in beautiful Boulder, CO. Nice place to travel for business.

Client survey

One of my clients is a provider of personalized email service (ie. bob@smith.net). We're seeking to better understand people's opinions about email and potential interest (or non-interest) in having a personalized email account.

Would you do me a huge favor and take the survey? You'll have a chance to win one of 3 free email accounts ($25 value), and it should take just a few minutes of your time. You'll be directed to the sponsor's home page at the end of the survey, if you're curious.

You can access the survey here.

thanks!

On vacation

I'm headed to Santa Fe until December 9th... no cell phone, no computer and definitely no internet access. I'll be ready to blog when I get back!