Brett Macfarlane

Tools: Plainview Website Presentation Software

We present a lot in our business and presentations are getting tougher.  As ideas and brands live across disciplines and we produce more and more content integrated across and within multiple mediums showing the stuff itself gets awkward.  Both to present and to sit through.  In fact if your research or creative presentations are not a struggle to piece together it might be a sign you're not thinking broad enough.  Not too often anymore I present 'a' tv ad on it's own.  Or 'a' website.  Or 'a' print campaign.  Usually they are all bundled together with a whole lot more.  And a PowerPoint or Keynote deck with frame grab of sites or a video showing site navigation are about as exciting as a presentation on Sarbanes Oxley. 

The Barbarian Group has made a gift to the industry by giving away free software called Plainview for presenting websites more cleanly without all that browser chrome.  But like most technology it will likely get used in was unintended or unimagined.  I've often though about using a blog to build a presentation as it lets you embed code and jump to sites, but it's cluttered with all the browser bling.  But with Plainview software maybe you can build the presentation, incorporating text, video, links and multiple web properties all in one.  Might just have to check that out.

Free download here.  But only for Mac.

This blog as a graph

This blog as a graph.

Data heaven

Admittedly my comments on the dumbness of numbers have been milking the fun of being a contrarian.  And there are some cool research and tracking developments happening as we better learn how to use technology itself and understand how people  themselves use technology.  For example, Microsoft's new Engagement Mapping measurement tool is very interesting.  They are not the first or only to pursue click paths and behavioral ad targeting, but with more robust software and data analytics we may have a powerful research tool above and beyond just an ad serving tool.

It's generally understood that what people say and do are two entirely different things.  In a perfect research model you would have complete understanding of what people do, without any influence or contamination (ie. they know they are being watched,) and from that map of behavior can draw conclusions.   As the web is a microcosm of the real world presumably we will be able to draw a good picture of what people are interested in based upon the web destinations one visits, what they view/do on those sites and how frequently they visit a particular site you can start drawing an strong picture of what they are all about as a person.

Do they check their bank balance online twice a day every day along with credit card balance?  And immediately after visit the apple website and Mac rumors?  You can conclude two things, they are very money conscious and are likely about to make a substantial purchase from Apple.  Add the fact they visit the Obama and Hilary sites weekly.  Layer in a couple other data aspects like IP mapping and learn they are a regular traveler and cross map that with some PSYTE data and you can start to develop very strong psychographic profiles based not on assumption or generalization based but actual behavior and interests. Then you take individual profiles and start aggregating and likely we will start developing new pods of people, a matrix of sorts, to define the modern society.  Not around geography, age or area code but actual interests, beliefs,   

All in all very powerful.  But also very scary when privacy concerns start mixing in.  Privacy will be a major wild card.  People may prove to be fine with further data collection on their lives or they may resolutely refuse.  Then again the EU' Competition Commission is proving more and more to be fearless in limiting the reach of corporations.  If you are one of the few weirdo's like me who finds competition law and regularion interesting then sign up for the BBC's Peter Day's In Business podcast, which is some of the best business innovation and technology opinion in the world in my opinion, and dig up the recent interview with EU Cempetition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.  Fascinating stuff, if you're into that kind of thing that is.  Otherwise a good replacement for whale songs to lull you to sleep this evening.

Failability of research

I've been in a number of conversations over the past few months on the digital data hypocrisy - for a medium built on data, that promises measurable ROI, the data is still very superficial.  It can tell us what someone does, by not why.  Even the measurement of what someone does is unreliable.  That's Google's argument on the  recent ComScore data.

But is it really that digital data is weak or flawed.  Or a symptom of weakness in the greater research industry.  Isn't data generally weak and flawed.  And frequently built on too many established but unproven or sophisticated assumptions.  As I've argued before, gross impressions and awareness, while important and an important place to start are not intelligent statistics when diving down to actual behaviors and attitudes.

If  the failure of predictive polling in the  current  presidential primaries can provide us any take away it's that that human behavior continues to move at a high plane the the best research out there.  And hopefully innovation and creativity will be further embraced in the research community when finding new ways to learn and understand ever evolving human behaviors.

Jason Oke posted a nice presentation in this vein that he recently presented with cool response to research professionals.  Hopefully they didn't knife his tires.

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Focus group

The latest in the genre of videos looking at how focus groups kill great ideas.  Good portrayal of the group dynamic. 

Would be neat to see a video on how good research techniques can inspire great ideas.  But I guess that would be like the celebrity blog that focuses on camera shy, good mothers who are moderate drinkers.  Nobody would pay attention, it's not at fun.

More fun with Flickr

Some reason today is all about Flickr.  Here is a great tool for your desktop anthropology.  It is a full sortable list of Flickr Groups also providing data on growth in membership and images.  Such as this group on the colour green:

Online collaboration

Collaboration of people not all in the same room has some serious barriers.  Most they are you end up spending more time consolidating thoughts and sending out updates than actual dynamic collaboration and ideation.  We've played around with blogs (too limiting as comments don't really alter or expand the original idea/verbiage) wikis (too techie) and of course email.  But nothing has really lead to great results. 

Google released the Google Docs application today.  Looks promising and at least worth the old college try.  Here's a little tutorial explaining how it works.

desk top ethnography

65 ways to post a Facebook profile picture.

As a fun excercise go through a categorize you friend and you'll find some interesting archtypes emerge.  Just like that, you've completed some desk top ethnography.

For the record my facebook profile shot is:

30% #2
10% #3
40% #17
20% #33

PS I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought that jacket.  I was on the road, day four of a shoot.  I was tired and sense was lost.  Now I feel obligated to wear it because I spent money on it.  But I actually really kind of like it.  Yes, I know silly all this isn't it.

Procrastinatin

Wondering what people around the world are saying - twittervision.

Wondering what people are the world are doing - flickrvision.

Now get back to work...

Pimp-bucks

Next time you head into a meeting, don't carry in your Starbucks like everyother drone.  Pimp your cup and prepare them to be dazzled!

Pictures are pretty

A Flickr group of visuals for use with your anti-PowerPoint powerpoint, courtesy of Russel from a WK thing done as part of their 25th anniversary.

The Tube for You

Need that sweet video you can only find on YouTube for your next presentation but despise the idea of having to leave PowerPoint or Keynote in order to play it off a browser.  Vixy.net is a web tool that will convert to multiple formats for you to download to your computer.

Brilliant I say!

Social Animals in our Midst

The National Post, Canada's other national daily newspaper birthed by a man deemed diabolical by investors, Conrad Black, and a hero by other like me would are indebted to him starting a peppy paper that shook the dust off the staunch Globe and Mail, used to have a great weekly feature every Saturday called Archetypes: Social Animals in Our Midst.

Always a delightfully caustic description of someone you know, with a captivating illustration to bring the to life.  Sadly, I think it has ended it's run, there are only so many archetypes after all.

Nonetheless, they have cataloged the best is a fantastic book.

Wordsmith 2

This is uber techie but a very cool way of finding just that right word - the Lexical Freenet.  It is a connected thesaurus.  Essentially it search for connections, sometimes distant between words.  I love the Visual Thesaurus, but the Lexical does it one up.  Something cool about the minimalistic GUI.

As planners, we well know that people are identified by the things they buy.  And there is a subset of people who are extra particular to ensure that what they are buying is unique and makes a statement they are a step ahead.  To measure that step ahead keep an eye on a site called This Next. 

Users are given the choice of three channels, Discover, Recommend and Shopcast.  The discover section has loads of neat products recommended by peers.

Overall an interesting way of curating buzz.  A sort of Digg for the conspicuous consumption crowd.

Wordsmith

The awesome thing about Web 2.0 is innovations in basic things you never thought could be better.  Here's an example of just that for your Thesaurus. 

A great brief relies on great writing.  Word choice is paramount.  And we've all been in that place thinking of a word, knowing it only says half of what you want, but you can't think of the right one.  I think there's a word better says what I mean...