The Elusive Fish — Creative Services

Hyperlinks may subvert hierarchies, information may flow freely and the tyranny of geography may be toppled by the Internet, but despite the marvels and wonders this communications tool affords us, it’s important to remember simple Newtonian physics are at play.

Newton’s First Law.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.

This is doubly so when that object is someone’s behind, firmly at rest in a chair facing the computer.

The rate and ease at which ideas pass along the net give it the appearance of a frictionless medium. Bookmark, email, blog and tweet this idea and it will smoothly spread across the globe.

But transforming an idea to action, aye there’s the rub. That’s where the true mettle of an idea is tested. Few ideas have the momentum necessary to propagate onward, let alone push an individual out of their chair. Getting them out the door and into the streets? Best of luck to you.

Unless your idea attains significant velocity, or is of such weight and importance, do not expect the object at rest to do anything other than remain at rest.

Y’canna break the laws o’physics, Cap’n. Plan your approach knowing that you’re not getting that rump out of the comfy chair without a good push.

Can your goals be achieved through the propagation of an idea?

Every Creative Commons licensed work is an invitation to share that work. By passing along the work, you also spread the idea that the sharing of intellectual property can have value. You bring awareness of the Creative Commons and, along with it, the larger ideological issues that surround intellectual property and copyright.

Seth Godin talks a good deal about this in his book, The Idea Virus. Don’t worry about having to get up out of your chair. Seth has made a copy available for download, free of charge. In making his book free and available, he makes it all the more likely that you’ll divert your time and attention towards his ideas. The greater his ideas take root within the business culture, the greater the demand will be for his thoughts and opinions in future. Future book sales and consulting gigs made possible by the spread of an idea.

Can you defer, delegate or eliminate the need to physically move?

Getting folks to dedicate an afternoon towards making pies for bake sales in support of the local hospital is far more difficult than wresting a cheque out of their hand. Far easier, still, is allowing folks to make a one-click donation. Take Child’s Play, for example. Each December, the gaming community rallies to raise toys and cash for children’s hospitals around the world. The idea is quickly spread throughout the community by way of links, banners and badges. But the giving of toys is made easier still by way of wishlists on Amazon.com and cash donations via PayPal. Last year, they raised over $1.3 million.

And speaking of Amazon, has buying ever been easier? I log in and immediately find what I’m looking for. If I’m ready to buy, one-click and it’s on it’s way to me. If I’m not sure, reviews from other consumers help firm my decision or push me towards an even better purchase. I don’t have to wander aisles, hunt down sales clerks or wait in lines. In but a few days, the products will arrive on the doorstep. Their new gadget, the Kindle, even saves you the trip to the doorstep and satisfies that desire for instant gratification by downloading the book directly into the machine, any time, any place.

If you can’t, realize that you will need to build your idea into something of significant substance or to such a velocity that there is no choice but to take action.

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There has been a meme floating about social media circles that the measurement of value of new media is not in how many you get to listen to your message, but rather who it is that listens to your message. A podcast that’s listened to by a handful of C-level executives is of more value to a supplier of that business, than one that’s listened to by hundreds on the shop floor. A political blog that’s reaches a single individual in a position to create change is of more value than one that hits thousands of the unwashed masses. A vidcast about better techniques in washing that hits a thousand of the unwashed masses is better value than if it hit a million sparkling clean folk.

You get the idea. Matching your message to the person you most want to hear that message, or to a person best suited to amplify your message, is where the value lies. It’s not how many you know - it’s who you know.

But there’s something even more valuable than having your message heard. That’s having your message acted upon. I will take having my words sway one individual to action over landing upon a million deaf ears any day.

When you set words to the screen, speak into the mike or step in front of the camera - you have a moment of opportunity to reach someone. A chance to make a difference in their life.

Sometimes that difference is small. You gave them a chuckle on an otherwise dreary day. You sent them into a moment of quiet reflection and thought. You convince them to click a link or to take a look at something or to register for some new service.

Sometimes the difference is huge. Your words cause someone to change the course of their life. Inspire someone to take a leap. Propel them out of their chair and out into the streets to bring about an actual change in their own life and the life of others.

In most cases the changes are elusive and near impossible to track. Someone quotes your words at a dinner party. Someone is humming a podsafe tune you introduced them to on the subway ride to work. Someone stays up late into the night reading a book purchased on the strength of your recommendation.

Now when you can match your message to your optimal listener and spark them into action … then you’ve really won the day.

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The Global Geek Podcast has been on my playlist for several months now. There were a few other podcasts I’d planned on talking about before swinging around to Knightwise and Dave, but their recent special edition bumps them up in the queue because this is just too good to not share.

The Global Geek is a weekly show featuring news, reviews, opinion and insight into tech, the net and webby 2.0 goodness. Dave Gray Skypes out of Queensland, Australia to co-host Knightwise in Belgium, giving the show a truly global perspective. I have to say, it’s the chemistry between the two hosts that makes this program stand out and above other shows of a similar ilk. Listening to their banter puts me back to the days of sitting with my own friends in a coffee shop to the wee hours of the morning and geeking out over the latest tech news.

But episode 35 is something altogether special. Dave and Knightwise pull back the curtains and show us how it’s done. From the moment a show is uploaded to the uploading of the next show, the two take us step by step, day by day through the process of pulling together a show. We learn about the applications they use, the resources they rely upon and provide unedited glimpses into their preshow planning. And for anyone who was ever intimidated by the thought of flubbing their lines on mike, the blooper reel at the end of the program shows just how some post production can make all the difference.

If you’ve ever thought about podcasting - or even if you are currently podcasting - or if you are a listener to podcasts and ever wondered just how it was done, then the Global Geek Podcast ep. 35 is a must-listen show for you. And after listening to that valuable resource, be sure to subscribe for their next show, because the Global Geek Podcast is a great program.

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I just finished listening to what may be the last Gilmore Gang. There won’t be another one again. At least, not until the next one comes out.

Many of the people I’ve tried to share the concept of podcasting with have responded with an underwhelmed, ‘sooooo it’s just a bunch of people talking? How much more boring can you get?‘. I can see those types rolling their eyes were I to try my introduction with an episode of the Gilmore Gang. There’s no snappy jingles. No musical selections or interludes. No major editing. You get the hurumphs, the ums, the static, the sounds of heavy breathing and of participants washing their dishes. It’s just a bunch of people on a conference call.

And it is exactly what is why I love podcasts.

The value of the Gilmore Gang isn’t in the surface qualities, nor entertainment value - though it can be quite entertaining at times. There’s interesting perspectives to current news and events in the tech sector, and who better to provide those perspectives than regular participants such as Dana Gardner, Dan Farber, Michael Arrington, Jason Calacanis, Hugh MacLeod or Doc Searls. But the value doesn’t come from the news and op ed either. With the Gilmore Gang, the value is the conversation.

Take a bunch of smart people with unique insight in their industry, throw them in a room together and then sit back and listen. What you’ll get is a distillation of the most relevant insights and a more clear view of the future than you could hope for otherwise. Other mediums can’t do this. Time constraints or the need to constantly interrupt for commercial breaks absolutely ruin the flow of the discussion and moderators all too often cut short discussions before they have a chance to bloom into something special.

Listening to the Gilmore Gang is very much like the better, headier, late night coffee shop talks I used to have within my own circle of friends. There isn’t an episode where I don’t come away with something to churn about in my head or that doesn’t give me a new understanding of how this networked, online world of ours is going to affect the way we communicate and do business. I’m just on the periphery of this industry. A communicator, storyteller and marketer who uses the web as a medium and a tool; but I know that what I’m learning from these conversations is going to put me leaps and bounds ahead of the game.

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Finding podcasts that deal with social media, tech in general or the future of the net is easy enough. The challenge was to find a discussion of where the web is now and the practical day to day design for the web. A few searches eventually landed me on boagworld.com the weekly podcast by Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington of Headscape. I glanced through the shownotes of their past episodes to get a sense of what the show may be like, but the Ornery Boy image was proof enough for me that it would likely be entertaining. So I subscribed and downloaded a few episodes and was not disappointed.

Not only were the two hosts entertaining, but damn’d informative as well. The first episode I listened to was dealing with briefs and proposals. Other episodes would cover topics ranging from accessibility to web stats to project management to Flash to Web standards. Sometimes I disagree with their take, but more often than not I find the discussion an affirmation and voicing of my own views on web design.

If you build websites, if you’re having a website built, if you are in any way, shape or form responsible for the upkeep of a website - Boagworld is a must listen.

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I had heard of podcasts prior to For Immediate Release, however this was the show that sold me on their value. It was fellow HPCA members Donna Papacosta and Peter West who tipped me off to this show. I began by making regular trips to the site but soon was downloadeding a podcatcher so that I didn’t miss a single show.

Twice a week Shel Holtz, from his home in Concord California, and Neville Hobson, from his home in Amsterdam, Holland, connect with one another via Skype and discuss how technology and social media affects the communications profession. This show, remains the bar against which I judge all other podcasts: excellent content and tremendous production values. Shel and Neville have a very natural repor with one another and are a pleasure to listen to. But the value of the show is not just the invaluable opinions and viewpoints of the hosts, but the thoughts and discussion of the entire FIR listening community. This is truly a ‘conversation’ where the direction of the show is determined not just by recent events but through the comments left on the show’s and hosts’ respective blogs, through audio feedback and through contributions from correspondants around the globe.

In the more than 150 episodes of FIR, there’s not one that fails to inform, enlighten or challenge those of us who make communicating our business.

The show can be found and subscribed to at http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz

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Aside from when I’m inadvertantly stuck on transit, I’ve been doing a lot of running to and fro between the suburbs and downtown Toronto these past months. Normally this would be time that I’d be spending noodling away on the desktop computer and listening to a podcast. When the backlog finally reached the 5GB mark, I realized it was high time to purchase for myself a portable player. While I had certainly been eyeing the iRivers - specifically for their support of the OGG Vorbis audio format - my impulse buy landed with a clearance sale on the 512Mb Creative Muvo. In a week I’ve managed to get fully caught up on three of my programs and whittle the backlog down by a gigabyte. I figure by summer’s end I’ll have fully cleared away the backlog and find myself in the odd position of having days without anything new to listen to again.

In the meanwhile, I thought it might not be a bad idea in the coming days to share my subscription list and give my raves and reviews for each of these fine programs.

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Take a lit match. Hold it up to the wind, or drop it to the concrete and it will extinguish. But if you carefully place it amongst kindling, tend to it and feed it, it can become a roaring fire. At a certain point you can sit back and enjoy the flames… but don’t rest on your laurels too long or you’ll have little left but some glowing embers and ash.

If you have a blog… then for heaven’s sake, blog. But don’t just limit yourself to your own blog. Explore the greater community and participate in the discussion. If you have a podcast, get yourself listed in all the directories you can. Supplement it with detailed shownotes and/or a blog. Listen and comment on others podcasting in your field. Participate in the discussion. If you have a wiki you have to add material to it and a forum needs you to post to it again and again. A website that just sits there is going to just sit there.

This is a dismaying notion to many who thought they were done with their website after cutting the cheque. They expected that you could simply build it and they will come. But the truth of it is you have to feed the fire.

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A recent survey by The Diffusion Group states that the relevance of portability in podcasting is overstated. Their findings show that only 20% of downloaded podcasts are transferred to a portable device. It’s worth noting that there is another survey by Podtrac which is less dramatic but still show 41% listening on their computer.

The authors of the study seem to find that number surprising and state, “perhaps we should reconsider our understanding of podcasting - what it is, what it does, how it does what it does, and how it may impact the distribution of Internet media. In other words, let’s go back to the drawing board and start from scratch.”

There’s absolutely no need to start from scratch. As many of the commenters to the original post state, for most of us who listen to and create podcasts, portability was never a defining aspect of the podcast. I don’t own a portable device myself but listen to about 10 - 15hrs of podcasting a week on my desktop. The beauty of audio is that you can multitask. As I work on an illustration, or fiddle with stylesheets or sift through my feeds, I can be listening to my programs. A downloaded MP3 vs streaming audio means that if I miss something I can zip back a few minutes and pay closer attention.

My own thought is that the defining aspect of a podcast seems to be the use of RSS to automatically deliver the files, and that opinion seems to be backed by the comments left for the study’s authors not to mention the wikipedia entry on podcasting. But what is driving the growth in podcasting is the underlying ‘my media - my way’ philosophy. Listen when you want. Listen how you want. Whether that’s at 2 am in front of the desktop, 7am on a burned CD over the car stereo during the morning commute or 7pm at the gym with your MP3 player. It’s your choice.

tip of the hat to Donna Papacosta whose tipping her hat to Steve Rubel.

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The Silicon Republic reports that podcasts are overtaking radio stations. I believe in the power of the podcast and love to shout ‘huzzah’ as well as the next guy, but folks… seriously. Podcasting has not yet surpassed radio. Not by a longshot. Podcasting has not, as some blogs are beginning to report, achieved in two years what radio took 100 years to reach.

Compare if you will:

• A podcast is a single program, maybe a half-hour’s worth. The program may be daily, but odds are it’s weekly or biweekly.
• A radio station is at least 18 hours or so of programming, each day, every day.

So for every station we would need 252 weekly programs to be the equivilant. Assuming all 38000 podcasters are active and haven’t faded, that only puts us the equivilant of 150 statio (about number of Jazz stations in the US). But I guess ‘Podcasting now outnumbers Jazz stations’ isn’t quite as catchy when trying to hook a media outlet into running your press release.

Compare also:

• A recent study puts the podcast audience around 3 million people downloading at least one podcast a week. That’s worldwide.
• In the United States alone, there’s about 6 million people who tune in to a classical music station at least once a day. 94% of Americans listen to the radio at least once a week for an average listening time of 20hrs.

Now - podcasting is growing at a phenomenal rate. But it’s not going to surpass the radio any time soon. Not when almost a third of the folks in North America - never mind the rest of the world - do not have an internet connection or a computer.

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