Just because
February 19, 2008
February 2, 2008
This blog has moved to www.doughaslam.com
Lock, stock, and barrel– all the old posts and comments are there, too. Just needed more flexibility with the tpye of media I could use on pages. See you at www.doughaslam.com!
Feed URL: http://doughaslam.com/feedÂ
January 31, 2008
Buck Rogers book brings back memories
When I was a kid, my big nerd pleasure was getting big books of classic comic reprints out of the library: Superman, Batman, Flash Gordon- and this one, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. My mother-in-law picked this up for my son at an estate sale, unaware that I would go crazy for it myself.
The books spans the life of the daily- and color Sunday- comic strip from 1929-1946. It doesn’t include the 1950’s strips by Ray Bradbury, but he does write the foreword.
I look forward to reacquainting myself with Buck, Wilma and Killer Kane, and showing my son as well.
Any other Buck Rogers fans out there?
Mobile post sent by DougH using Utterz. Replies. mp3
January 30, 2008
Why so quiet on the blog?
As if you cared, dept:
Well- aside from just being too sick to have energy for a Social Media Top 5, the energy I do have is devoted to moving this blog to hosted WordPress. More soon, but the great news– to me anyway– is that my new URL will be doughaslam.com, through the magic of timely expiration of domain ownership (sorry, talented woodworking artist Doug Haslam of Calgary)!
More to come soon, though postings might be sparse until the new domain is up.
By the way– I am aware of the “WordPress for Dummies” book, but is there a “WordPress for Completely Useless Morons” book? That would be a lift for me.
January 25, 2008
January 24, 2008
January 23, 2008
Common Courtesies: Online needs to catch up with Real World
This week I was thinking about the “social” part of social media. Do we need to rein in behavior standards? I’m not talking about blog comment trolls and other social reprobates– I am thinking more along the lines of Miss Manners. Just because we are conversing online, and sometimes not in our off-line voice (but in avatars and pseudonyms), does not mean some common courtesy rules can’t apply.
One thing I have observed is the use of online invites, like eVites and Upcoming. People RSVP to events, but then don’t show up. Others don;t RSVP regrets when the invite asks them to. This is plain rude, and should not be accepted in offline life; nor should it be here. I will not outline specific examples I have seen, because frankly, in any single case I may not have all the information. So, this isn’t about calling out individuals.
Other things I have observed, both positive and negative. This is based on my experiences in social networks, so your experiences may be wildly different:
- Accounting for tone, culture and language difference: online social networks have opened us up to a lot of different cultures, and different ways of communicating. Largely, I think online communities quickly attune to the heartbeat of the group, understanding what people mean, and how their expression comes across.
- Knee-jerk responses: I actually have no problem with this. The Web actually breaks down inhibitions in some people who are usually shy in person, and in turn helps them communicate better in the “meat” world. Knee-jerks, speaking (typing) without thinking, etc., are al part of the process. So the lesson is not so much to think before you communicate online (though it’s not a bad idea), but to be tolerant of people’s mistakes. A lot of perceived rudeness is covered in the last bullet, the rest is covered in patience and thick skin.
- Too much information: I don’t mean I don’t want to know what you had for lunch today (I don’t but feel free to tell me anyway, I can’t stop you), but there is a disturbing lack of concern about the private information we put out there. Where we live, who is in our family, what we owe on our mortgages– that’s all out there to find, but that doesn’t mean we have to advertise certain information. I hold things back certainly, including information I know anyone can find, but I just don;t want to invite trouble. I can always change my phone number, email address, my blog. Some things I can’t replace. I’m just afraid there will be some incident that will scare the pants off of everyone in my online groups– I just hope not.
Hmm, all this from my observation that we need to pay more attention to RSVPs– and thank-you notes, while we’re at it. What do you think about online manners?
Technorati Tags: socialmedia, social+networks, manners, privacy, safety, communication
January 20, 2008
January 18, 2008
Social Media Top 5: I Can Hasbro? edition
- Steve Jobs’ MacWorld keynote causes a Twitter tsunami that displaces hundreds of thousands.
- I Can Hasbro? The popular Facebook game Scrabulous infringes on the Scrabble copyright. Who knew? OK, everyone knew, but perhaps Mattel/Hasbro missed an opportunity to co-opt a popular knockoff,rather than attack it- just as they missed an opportunity to do it first.
- TV-B-Gone, made (in)famous by Gizmodo at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, spawns a cottage industry:
- Relative-B-Gone; not looking forward to family gatherings? Zap ’em! Future upgrades will include selectivity in case you want that favorite cool cousin to stick around.
- Troll-B-Gone; someone pestering you on your blog? Zap ’em! Ok, maybe you can do that already…
- Bullshit-B-Gone; executives/colleagues/people you know spouting buzzwords and insider geek language? Zap ’em! Make them speak plain English, or whatever language you prefer (Engrish and Pig Latin features coming soon)
- Bush-B-Gone; for yardwork, AND for liberals! Zap ’em!
- Lenny Kravitz-B-Gone: special edition for me. Never could take his derivative crap music. Zap ‘im!
- PR blogger Jeremy Pepper calls out his brethren for spreading “truthiness,” or “blog truth.” I’m just doing my part with the Top 5 every week. What, you expect us to be journalists or something? It’s not like we have to worry about half-baked blog posts coming back to bite us in the ass when our clients get targeted by bloggers– oh, wait…
- The hunt is on for a 2008 successor to 2007’s “Social Media Starfish” (via Scobleizer). A few candidates, and why they might be cooler:
- Social Media Kraken: ever see a starfish attack a submarine or a sperm whale? didn’t think so.
- Social media shark: your blog is a shark- it must keep moving, or it dies.
- Social media sasquatch: just thinking of those crazy beef jerky ads with the idiots (trolls) who torture the sasquatch (blogger), who actually never inflivcts any real harm
- Social media unicorn: because the stuff we can;t do yet is always the coolest.
Guess we’ll have to give this some more thought
Technorati Tags: socialmedia, MacWorld, apple, Steve+Jobs, Hasbro, Scrabble, Scrabulous, Facebook, TV-B-Gone, CES, Jeremy+Pepper, Social+Media+Starfish
*photo via IcanhasheezburgerÂ
Doug Haslam: Gischeleman's Blog 