To explain self-serve ads to customers, Reddit turns to a cartoonist
via reddit.com
(via Darren Barefoot) And another online service turns to a popular cartoonist to help explain something. I’m hoping this is a growing trend.
28 Apr 2010
Datadotgc.ca – A citizen-led beta for government data
Who’s Sharing?
via datadotgc.ca
This is a terrific volunteer initiative led by my friend David Eaves. Instead of waiting for the federal government to build an open data portal (which, given the current federal government’s attitude to openness, could well be a long wait), the Datadotgc.ca team has done it themselves, tracking open datasets, profiling ministries and agencies that are doing a good job of sharing and giving a little kick in the pants to those that aren’t.
I also love that the site doesn’t just list datasets, but offers opportunities for visitors to contribute their time and help build the site.
The development team includes a number of people including the people at Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, Luke Closs, and a number of fantastic coders from the Open Knowledge Foundation. There are also some great people over at the Datadotgc.ca Google Group who have helped scrape data, tested for bugs and been supportive in lots of nice ways.
Cartooning his way across the USA
via youtube.com
I’m enjoying this video series from Seattle PI cartoonist David Horsey, chronicling his travels across the USA in the company of award-winning photographer Nancy LeVine.
By the way, the man has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his cartoons. Two. Crikey.
20 Apr 2010
Gamestorming
via gogamestorm.com
Quite apart from the great drawings, this blog is invaluable, centering around games and exercises you can use to gain ideas, improve processes and better understand your business or organization.
Sunni Brown’s drawings, of course, cap it all off perfectly. :)
Climategate Claptrap, II
At last! The controversy is over. It turns out the “scientific” claims promoted for decades by whiny self-righteous liberals were a lie, a fraud, a con–and we don’t need to change after all. The left is humiliated; the conservatives are triumphant and exultant.
The year is 1954, and the “science” that has been exposed as a “sham” by conservatives is the link between smoking and lung cancer. Welcome to Tobaccogate, as Fox News would call it.
via thenation.com
A great article looking at the history of how well-funded interests sow unfounded doubt in scientific evidence.
19 Apr 2010
Slideshare features our blogging e-book (and shows one way to motivate participation)
I just got an email from the fine folks at SlideShare, letting me know they’ll be featuring our free e-book on getting value from blogging on the front page of their business and management section for the next day or so.
Which is great. For the e-book, that means more people will see it and, I hope, read it. And for me, well, I have to admit I’m a sucker for a combination of third-party validation and increased attention.
Actually, a lot of people are. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to motivate participation by offering prizes (“Win yet another iPod shuffle!”)… and in fact, contests do have a lot going for them.
But don’t underestimate the value of singling someone out, and giving them a higher profile, even for a little while. Discovering you’ve written the “Comment of the Week” or uploaded one of the “Photos We Like” can go a long way to making sure you contribute again – and maybe put even more effort into it next time, and encourage others to join in.
Better yet, the rest of your users will see there’s an opportunity to gain a little prominence, and they’ll be motivated to contribute more.
Getting featured is terrific, and the email I got from SlideShare is the icing on the cake. And the sprinkles on that icing? This paragraph:
P.S – Why not blog/twitter this and let the world know about this awesome masterpiece you have created?
Apparently that paragraph works, or you wouldn’t be reading this post today.
P.S. – I wonder if they’ve thought of hyperlinking the Twitter suggestion, so you could just click on it to tweet the good news to your network.
18 Apr 2010
This is the age of miracles and wonders
It’s a small thing, I know. But one of the fine little pleasures of this era is posting a cartoon, and then watching it get retweeted on Twitter. Especially as the evening goes on, and the North American tweeting dies down… and I start to see people in India pick it up.
I’d imagined a lot of things 30 years ago when I was cartooning in high school. But this really wasn’t one of them.
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