Wikigate

So, the joke update to John Seigenthaler Sr.'s bio on Wikipedia that linked him to the Kennedy assassinations appears to be the "magic bullet" to broaden the awareness and understanding of wikis. Go figure.

Prior to Wikigate, I posted under construct 1 in Bob (a friendly document discussing constructs to improve electronic communication) that the new world of pervasive publishers would require FDA like categorization to let people know the grade of information they were dealing with. I even mentioned Wikipedia. Go figure.

I hope there is not a rush to "reform" the world of wikis. If there is, one would think blogs would be next.

*** Gamma content (and proud of it) ***

Meet Bob

After further reflection, the concept of a "manifesto" is a tad beyond the intellectual octane I could realistically offer. So, I am broadening the scope, and diminishing the nomenclature, of the content formerly known as the "E-mail Manifesto". Meet...

BOB
(A friendly document discussing constructs to improve electronic communication)
version 2.0

Whereas - Freedom without accountability results in bad things...
Whereas - Markets and scarcity promote thoughtful actions...
Whereas - Keystroke distribution is becoming a profound element of communication...

The following constructs are proposed:

Construct 1: Content categorization

While many different categories could be used improve finding and organizing information - breaking electronic communication down into three major groups would be useful in a world where everyone is a publisher (even Fabio):

Alpha content - Fully vetted content that has only come into being after rigorous review (example: www.thomas.gov )

Beta content - Content that has been open for review/comment/modification by a diverse audience (example: Microsoft support forums)

Gamma content - Pure opinion, conjecture, or rambling (example: this blog)

Wikipedia probably falls somewhere between Alpha & Beta

Construct 2: Market Valuation

All electronic communications should be subject to user feedback/rating and prominently display the current aggregate rating.

Construct 3: Universal monthly e-mail allotment is assigned to each individual (no family plans at this time)

Structure

Each individual may send up to 100 e-mails a month
Rollover concepts apply
Accounting is on an inbox basis (an e-mail sent to 10 people = 10 e-mails)
When you are out, you are out... Bub!

Benefits

Less e-mail (duh!)
Fewer hoaxes and chain letters
Greater judgment applied by all e-mail senders
Better quality of life for all e-mail users

Unintended, but still fully welcomed benefits

A burgeoning black market for selling excess e-mails (e-mail ebay)

Feel free to link to this construct with this spiffy graphic...

Note: Please help me out and e-mail me (kelly.thul@gmail.com) any additions/suggestions/enhancements. These e-mails are exempt from the construct 3 quota. I am aware of the hypocrisy of this approach, but I am at peace with it.

Deep search

Actions speak louder than words. http://50.lycos.com/ provides a weekly snapshot on what people are searching on.

Take a few minutes to review the list. I believe Lycos declared that "Janet Jackson" was the most searched upon term in the history of the internet after her Superbowl malfunction (I have no idea how that could be proved or disproved, but it sure sounds cool to say).

As I post this, this list is as of Nov 5. I would stop back and check the Nov 12 list. My bold prediction....

"Carolina Panther Cheerleaders" is going to have a VERY good week.

Far better than "Samuel Alito" I expect.

Infer what you wish from that.

Memo to Ken Williams

The difference could not be greater on how the "last out ball" was handled by Paul Konerko verses the Red Sox player who is "loaning" the 2004 ball back to the team.

Hits and runs can come from anyone. Class from a shrinking few.

Sign Konerko.

Now.

Apologies

Sorry for the baseball skew in recent posts.

If the past is any indication, I should remain quiet for 88 years or so now.

Pierzynski rules

On the eve of what will hopefully be an enjoyable World Series for White Sox fans, I thought I would suggest some communication lessons taught to us by Professor A. J. Pierzynski in the American League Championship Series:

Lesson 1: Sometimes "what the heck" is an effective strategy

Two outs in the ninth inning of Game 2. Two Strikes. Bad pitch. Bad swing. You're out... well kinda. Maybe not. A. J. thought the ball might have been trapped, so he ran to first base. Called safe - and several other things by Angel fans.

Lesson 2: If they don't hear the message, the message didn't exist

Game 4. Greeted warmly at Angel Stadium, Pierzynski commited catcher's interference. Or did he? The ump didn't see it and Steve Finley went "whee whee" all the way to an out at first base.

Lesson 3: Details matter

A. J. had an out call at first overturned in Game 5, because the ball was in the mitt, then the pitcher decided to pull it out, and then whack Pierzynski with empty leather. The three second rule for dropped food did not apply. Safe.

I can't help myself

Go Sox Go

(White Sox, of course)

Pirate

I am fairly certain all communication philosophy can be derived from two movies...

1. Army of Darkness
2. Pirates of the Caribbean

From the latter movie, an example....

When Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is fighting William Turner (Orlando Bloom) early in the movie, he takes a shortcut to gain advantage. Bloom calls him out and accuses him of unfair play. Sparrow looks back at him and simply says "pirate".

With one world and some mild body English, Capt. Jack conveys the concept...

"Well of COURSE I cheated you dolt. Duh. Did you expect a person in the profession I have chosen to play fair? Shoot straight? Your concern is ill placed and of no concern to me."

Thus illustrating the power of concise language. A noble communication concept to say the least.

Well, this was probably a long way around talking about a clever movie scene - and not particularly useful, but...

Pirate.

(See, it works)

Self-Control

“The idea of self-control is paradoxical unless it is assumed that the psyche contains more than one energy system, and that these energy systems have some degree of independence from each other.” McIntosh - 1969

While I would hope the psyche does have more than one energy system... the "push communications" system seems to occupy the dominate gene role when compared to the "pull communications" system (apologies for the mixed metaphors and scientific disciplines)

Hug me

There are two kind of people in the world. Those who hug A LOT, and those who don't. For the huggers out there, the slightest event can prompt a full scale squeeze attack...

"Oh, you are back from the store" (HUG)
"Oh, I have a friend named Leroy too!!" (HUG)
"Did you just exhale?" (HUG)

Others of us are more selective in hug distribution. This seems to be an affront to the huggers. Lower frequency huggers (and reluctant huggees as well) are accused of having issues with human contact, a hard heart, or small pox by the hugging jihad.

OK, I made the small pox one up.

I will argue that the selectivity shown it distributing hugs does not reflect distain, but rather it shows high regard to the hug and a desire save them for the times that deserve it. Rather than the massive devaluation that results by the "if it moves, hug it" gang, the hug scarcity approach increases its value.

So thumbs up (from an appropriate distance) to those non-hugging.

Required reading

Worth your time....

www.katrina-lsu.blogspot.com/

OK, Donald Trump has a blog, and Trump University (the Fighting Mullets, I believe) is developing developing a new "women-centric" curriculum.

Hmmm.... was this a chapter in Revelations?

Man, I festo!!

E - M A I L Q U O T A M A N I F E S T O
version 1.0

Whereas - Freedom without accountability results in bad things...

Whereas - Markets and scarcity promote thoughtful actions...

It is proposed that a universal monthly e-mail allotment is assigned to each individual (no family plans at this time)

Structure

• Each individual may send up to 100 e-mails a month
• Rollover concepts apply
• Accounting is on an inbox basis (an e-mail sent to 10 people = 10 e-mails)
• When you are out, you are out... Bub!

Benefits

· Less e-mail (duh!)

· Fewer hoaxes and chain letters

· Greater judgment applied by all e-mail senders

· Better quality of life for all e-mail users

Unintended, but still fully welcomed benefits

· A burgeoning black market for selling excess e-mails (e-mail ebay)

Note: Please help me out an e-mail me (kelly.thul@gmail.com) me any additions/suggestions/enhancements. These e-mails are exempt from the quota. I am aware of the hypocrisy of this approach, but I am at peace with it.

Feel free to link to the manifesto with this spiffy graphic...

Quotes Ahoy

Wikipedia is a wonderful thing, but don't forget to check out its related services like Wikiquote.

It it is full of great material including my favorite from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

"Oh, George, not the livestock. "

Communication coefficient

The coefficient of static friction deals with how much force is required before an at rest object can be put into motion. This also means the same amount of force applied to the same object on differing surfaces will result in differing amounts of motion. Assuming equal force, a rock on an ice rink will travel futher than that same rock placed on... oh say, Geraldo Riviera

There is likely a communication counterpart to this. For each individual, a certain amount of information is required to move them (take action). The challenge is, the communication friction that has to be overcome varies by individual. Unfortunately, this means Riviera-like rock force is applied to all (even the ice-rinkers out there).

Class system

I wonder if we will need to develop a class system sometime to signal how vetted information is. For example:

FORMATIVE CLASS - Moses and God IM back and forth regarding the Ten Comandments. In the process they narrow the scope of coveting as a prohibited activity.

FIRMING CLASS - Moses posts the Ten Commandments on his blog. Some of the chosen people grouse that they JUST BOUGHT some swell graven images.. NOW what are they supposed to do? In the process, the 11th commandment (Zeppo) is dropped based on clear community feedback.

FINALIZED CLASS - TenCommandment.com is updated and available for reference.

Podcasts redux

Just got back from a meeting with some brains significantly larger than mine.

I might have to rethink the cold water I have hurled at podcasts for internal communications.

But I am still right that connecting an iPod to most business networks is not as simple as it sounds... so there :)

BTW the US release of Dirty Diamonds is August 2

Internal business podcasts?

Podcasts seem to be quite the rage lately. For personal use, I love them. While Alice Cooper's nightly radio show has yet to appear in this environment (a flaw I am sure will be addressed if there is justice in the universe), there is still a great deal of interesting material out there.

I have heard some suggest they are the "next big thing" internally. I don't have strong feelings either way, but I do have some nagging thoughts:

1. How many employees have iPods (or similar devices) - and for those that do, how many companies will want them to connect to employee workstations/laptops... and by proxy (no pun intended) your network

2. You could dodge the iPod issue by storing the audio on hard drives, but I wonder is a world with "HR policies on tape" is really any better. While it would be cool to hear leadership speak about company results, I wonder if I would spend less time, and have better future reference information, if that insight was delivered via static web content, a blog, or (gasp) even an email.

Not sure - just wonderin'

More on e-mail scarcity

While my "provide everyone a finite number of e-mails to use each week" concept has still not caught on, I thought I would share a few more thoughts on this...

• This model would solve network problems, or at least make capacity planning MUCH easier
• Human/mental bandwidth would receive the same benefits
• This is NOT a Socialist model... that model would have "everyone send e-mails based on their ability, and reads based on their need"... which, upon further reflection, might actually be the current situation (so, in a way, I guess I am doing my own little part to spread freedom worldwide.

I also think there might be room for "rollover" e-mails in this model, but that is a musing for another day.

Canons of e-mail

Adam Smith set the following "Canons of Taxation" to determine if a tax was a 'good' tax... The cost of collection must be low relative to the yield The timing and amount to be paid must be certain to the payer The means and timing of payment must be convenient to the payer Taxes should be levied according to ability to pay Here are my "Canons of e-mail"...

• The time necessary to read the e-mail must be low
  
• The timing and action to be taken must be certain to the reader
  
• The timing of the e-mail (and any related request for action) must take into account the reader might actually have a life, job, and such... and they are not glued to their inbox in anticipation of the next missive
  
• E-mails should be sent according to ability of the reader to absorb and act

Post your feelings... you know them to be true

Unrelated, but quite fun...

http://darthside.blogspot.com/

Blogging in the big house

If you are considering use of blogs internally in a corporation, this is worth a look...

http://www.corporateblogging.info

Say what?

Say's Law says (sorry)... "Supply creates its own demand." Pretty much 110% true for blogs... n'est pas?

Game theory

As most of you have probably already surmised, I am at best a hack on the economic theory side of the fence. As I read to reduce my hack level (well, at least I am trying to), I keep coming across some very interesting things on game theory. I found a fairly unattractive, but informative starter website on this. Game theory seems just as related, if not more, to communication theory. Maybe old hat to you. Just sharin'

Risk tolerance on April 1

The financial portfolios you chose are often based on your risk tolerance. You won't select something, even with the potential of great rewards, because the associated risk is something you are unwilling to take on. Same deal on behavioral or communication decisions in my book.

So, with conservative/balanced/aggressive as our low to high risk tolerance meter, my portfolio includes

- Buying lottery tickets (balanced)
- Scoring a parking space at the front of the store (aggressive)
- April fools jokes in company publications (VERY conservative)

Feedback is a gift

A few years ago, a leader I admire, upon hearing a stinging criticism leveled against him, remarked, “This is one of those situations where I need to remember that ‘feedback is a gift.’” Framing the receipt of negative feedback as an asymmetrically beneficial economic transaction struck me as both counter-intuitive and highly compelling. Since then, I have shared this idea with many of the other leaders with whom I’ve worked. In particular, I’ve suggested that they try a technique that I’ve used with success: When hearing uncomfortable information, remain dispassionate and avoid becoming defensive by repeating silently the mantra “Feedback is a gift…feedback is a gift…feedback is a gift…”

As silly as this practice might sound, the emerging field of neuroeconomics lends support to it. According to an article in the current issue of Business Week, people too often act against their own self interests when they process information…

…[n]ot in the prefrontal cortex, where people rationally weigh pros and cons, but deep inside, where powerful emotions arise. Brain scans show that when people feel they're being treated unfairly, a small area called the anterior insula lights up, engendering the same disgust that people get from, say, smelling a skunk. That overwhelms the deliberations of the prefrontal cortex. With primitive brain functions so powerful, it's no wonder that economic transactions often go awry.

The inference? The “feedback is a gift” mantra works by maintaining the synthesis of negative feedback within the prefrontal cortex (where you can act on it rationally), and prevents the anterior insula from taking over (and producing instinctual defensiveness).

Jeff G.

Communications and the Laffer Curve

Professor Art Laffer developed the concept of the Laffer Curve . The Laffer curve illustrates that as you move from a tax rate of 0% to 100%, tax revenue initially increases, but will then decline at some point once the tax rate reaches a level where it chases out the incentive to work harder to increase income. The curve ends with tax rates at 100%, no one bothers to work, and tax revenue is zilch. Oh happy day.

I think the Communication Laffer Curve runs the same path. Instead of tax rates, you have the volume of communications -- instead of revenues you have understanding. Communicate nothing, you get no understanding. Communicate everything, you get no understanding. Communicate somewhere in the middle, you maximize understanding. Not helpful, but interesting.

More on scarcity

Thanks to Jeff G. for the following insightful and lucid post regarding the earlier "Scarcity Rocks" post (don't get used to this lucid thing)...

Peggy is right, to a point. Your proposal places an artificial constraint on the “email market.” But all but the most radical of free-market economists acknowledge the need for interventions to correct for “market inefficiencies.” As you described it, the prime inefficiency in the “email market” is that there is no scarcity, no tension “between supply and demand.” Economists commonly refer to this problem as the “tragedy of the commons”—a term that has its roots in shepherding.

In a situation where a number of pastoralists keep their flocks on a limited area of common land it pays each flock owner to increase his or her flock as much as possible. The advantages to the owner of the sheep of an increase in one animal would far outweigh the effect to him or her of a relatively slight degradation to the pasture caused by that animal.

The logic is therefore remorseless: each owner will maximise their herd to the greatest extent and no - one individual will suffer in proportion to his or her increased advantage. However, eventually the population will face ruin and the whole social structure of people and animals will crash.

This is a hot topic today in the field of environmental protection. Free marketers have been (correctly) complaining for years that conventional approaches to environmental regulations are socialistic and (like most socialistic solutions) have lots of negative unintended consequences. They advocate for creating markets for trading “pollution credits.” Similar to your email model, this approach involves establishing a limit on the amount of a particular pollulant that can be emitted in a specific area. This artificial cap on emissions creates scarcity and produces incentives for industry to reduce the amount of pollution it produces. You can read more about free-market approaches to environmental protection here. Your email proposal is very much analogous. Email overload is a problem in most large organizations—and it is very much a “tragedy of the commons.” Your approach would address the issue, not by centrally regulating who can send what to whom and when, but by creating a tension between supply and demand. It’s something that even a libertarian like me can love.

Scarcity rocks

I have advanced this idea to several people and it is usually dismissed quicker than most American Idol contestants.

We all complain about too much e-mail. The cure is simple and based on the principle of scarcity.

Since there is no consequence to the sender if they launch 1 or 1,000 e-mails, and send them to 1 or 1,000 different recipients.. they fire away, and away, and away.

I recommend that everyone is given a weekly quota of e-mail to introduce the prioritization that occurs when your resources are not unlimited.

Let's say I had 100 as my weekly quota. I could chose to send 1 e-mail to 100 people or 100 e-mails to different individuals... but when I am out - I am out. The best part of this approach is that I am forced to really evaluate how important it is to me to send 50 of my closest friends a picture of a cat in a sombrero.

This could introduce other neat market elements, like "e-mail eBay" where I could sell of some of my excess weekly e-mails to the communication challenged.

Any other approach requires you to depend on the judgement of others - and we all know we are smart, but those dang "others" just never seem to get it.

101 - A thought provoking 8 minutes

Marketing meets personalization meets technology meets media meets Star Wars in this 8 minute mini-movie. Well worth the time.

The Communication Marketplace

I view blogs as the best example so far of "free market" communications. It is all about supply and demand - with a little survival of the fittest tossed in for good measure.

Blogs that gain market share (readers) thrive, those that don't eventually become boarded up electronic husks of vague notions that you drive by when you end up in the wrong neighborhood.

To me, this is a good thing. While many continue to seek out the holy grail of objectively measuring the value of communications, success in the marketplace is not an all together bad proxy.

But the market is not infallible. Remember, the market is the place where Ashlee Simpson out sells Alice Cooper.