Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Forget me … support my friend and the United Way

Published
by
Ehren
on September 29, 2007
in Aspirations, Mentions and Unthinkables
. 0 Comments

Thank you to those who have been very supportive of my climb so far!

A friend and fellow colleague at work is one of the most active people in the community I know. She’s very socially conscious about her impact on the environment and the people around her. She has been involved with various community events and has been raising money for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) by climbing the CN Tower just this past summer, and is running in the CIBC Run for the Cure.

I was forming a team at my company to climb the CN Tower for the United Way and as soon as I approached her about the idea, she jumped on board almost immediately. Unfortunately, she’s been so active in raising money that she likely may not be able to raise the $50 in time for October 10th which is the deadline for the requirement to register in the team climb. I’m hoping that there are some fifty or so people out there who can donate $1 to sponsor her climb.

Please help her join the climb … support the United Way!

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The Cause, the Will and the Climb - CN Tower Climb 2007

Published
by
Ehren
on September 27, 2007
in Aspirations, Interests, Mentions, Ponderings, Unthinkables, fun, hiking and policy
. 0 Comments

The Cause

I never always enjoyed hiking.  That is until I got into photography.  In fact prior to photography I hated nature because nature bothered my allergies and I considered them the source of my allergic reactions.  Photography opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at the world and a different philosophy altogether.  It ultimately led me back to nature where I found myself urning to be in lush green areas and feeling the winds brush against my face atop the mountains.  This is the case only because of two reasons.  One being that I am fortunate enough that my family has always made it a point to travel around and see or experience new parts of the world no matter how close or far.  The second being that if I were not able to pick up a camera and begin experimenting with taking photographs, I would never have ended up enjoying nature like I do today.  Today I tolerate my allergies and only recently found out that in some remote areas where the air is truly clean, my allergies are practically non-existent.

The Will

Fast forward to today.  I have had the opportunity to hike in many different areas and I’ve recently had the chance to hike in the mountains of New Hampshire.  What’s the big deal you might say?  Well, not everyone has that opportunity and I believe that everyone should have the ability to grasp that opportunity if they’d like to.  Often social and economic circumstances do not allow for people to even give a second thought to hiking.  When has walking in the wilderness become a luxury?

The Climb

Therefore I decided to climb the CN Tower this year in an effort to raise a modest amount for the United Way.  I’m also hoping to assemble a team at my workplace to raise more money together.  I hope everyone out there will support my cause or the United Way and help contribute to our community — even if just a few dollars.  If you can’t spare a dollar, no problem … let out a cheer (or roar!) in support of my climb and that’d be just as good :)

Here is where you can go to support my climb up the CN Tower!  Many thanks!

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Chapters Indigo and Social Media

Published
by
Ehren
on September 24, 2007
in Interests, Mentions, Ponderings, books, ecommerce, fun, marketing, reviews, technology and web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Alexa Clark wrote a piece for One Degree today about Indigo going community and while I am intrigued and somewhat not surprised that Chapters Indigo would dive into social media, I am disappointed that there has simply been more of the same in the world wide web ever since Facebook’s growth exploded.  Businesses have been keen on capturing the attention of users on social mediums and the whole web 2.0 trend.  I don’t think it works (at least not in the way that many businesses are going about it) and even if it does, I believe the cost of development outweighs the outcome.  Especially for corporate entities to attempt to invade the web 2.0 realm.  I guess Chris Anderson just might disagree with regards to the long tail but … maybe not?

While social mediums like Facebook provide a universal platform and forum for book lovers, readers and people in general to share common or different interests, consumer-oriented social media do not necessarily work that effectively. It is true that people who do not use social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace would be more likely to use the social media functions that Chapters Indigo have introduced today but I fail to see how that is truly extending their website’s reach. Just some random thoughts:

1. Users already have to sign in and setup numerous “profiles” for the many social media that they are apart of … why make it yet another one? Why do I have to set up everything all over again? Why should I?  How do I benefit?  (Also noted by Alexa)

2. Creating a social medium on your own website is making the assumption that people come to your website for the function of sharing. Unfortunately, the Internet is not driven in that manner, especially when you are talking about highly competitive web 2.0 applications. True, you can alter the function of your website but what for? Focus on what your website is good at and extend it with a Facebook application instead. I can see Indigo is planning for that but I still feel that a lot of their new developments were an unnecessary investment. The whole idea behind web 2.0 is decentralization … not the other way around. I go through web 2.0 applications and websites extremely fast. There are so many sites and if the site does not hook me within 5 minutes, it has lost my vote … very similar to any book in many ways.

3. When moving into the realm of web 2.0, think bigger and beyond Facebook.  Every company wants to make use of the social graph.  However recently there is a lot of talk about social graph aggregating but only for the use of allowing individuals control their own data. Will this be possible?   It should be.  Jump ahead of the game and let it happen.  Let users decide how they can manipulate, extrapolate, analyze, and showcase their own data.

I’m not absolutely saying that this venture by Chapters Indigo into social media is a bad idea, but it is an old one and somewhat overused.

I think Futureshop had the right idea with integrating some aspects of web 2.0 with selling online. Trying something different that makes it truly unique from other web 2.0 e-commerce websites, it introduced videos and forums that potential customers could interact with in addition to online staff that would be of assistance. It isn’t that this formula works for everyone but it was right for Futureshop, I just don’t have that feeling for Chapters Indigo and it’s newly introduced social medium. Not yet anyways … we’ll see.

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Some Rocky Inspiration

Published
by
Ehren
on September 18, 2007
in Mentions, Ponderings, fun, history, philosophy, travel and video
. 0 Comments

In a good sense that is …

During my recent trip to Pennsylvania, we explored Philadelphia for a couple of days. Philly is quite the city full of political and labour history. Definitely would go back to check out what I didn’t have time for. One thing I did get to do is visit the Museum of Art.

First thing I knew of and noticed was the constant flow of tourists who flocked to the statue of Rocky. Posing with Rocky Balboa was one of the primary attractions but not only did it seem that Rocky inspired people to pose, people ran up the stairs of the Museum of Art reenacting the scene in Rocky, and people would applaud and smile each time a group of people raced up the stairs. Some people were so enthused that they almost fell down the stairs!

Nevertheless, I find it interesting that Rocky inspires so many … for better or for worse … the character appeals to the nature of many Americans as well as those around the world who have watched the movie. I didn’t run up the stairs though … I just walked up and enjoyed the view at the very top of the stairs.

On the topic of inspiration … I’ve somehow found the inspiration to dive into linux and experiment with Ubuntu. I have to say I haven’t tinkered with command lines since DOS on PCs, but I am enjoying the opportunity to play around and explore the Linux environment which I have not yet done before. Hopefully my patience will still remain after a week …!

Now since we’re on the topic of inspiration, a neat little site called Should Do This has come up. Feel free to wander on over and suggest what Ehren should do :)

Here’s to Rocky!

Rocky Statue in Philadelphia

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Map of Humanity

Published
by
Ehren
on September 15, 2007
in Interests, Mentions, Ponderings, Unthinkables, design, fun and philosophy
. 0 Comments

Ran across this today.  I would definitely get one … if only I had room in my room or office to put one up.  I love visualizations…

Map of Humanity

I wonder where would I be … ?  Click on map to go to SLG Publishing’s website for more info.

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Why does work always arrive all at once? Must be the season …

Published
by
Ehren
on September 15, 2007
in Ponderings, Unthinkables, fun, philosophy and work
. 0 Comments

Ever wonder why work always arrives together? This occurs regardless of where you work.

In school –> assignments and exams arrived together
Reason: Teachers and professors don’t care how much other work you have. Exam time apparently is a set portion of the year and you must generally accept it.
Reason (in case you’re a teacher):  Students arrive en mass and herding sheep is likely easier and less stressful as you don’t need to plan for homework.

In fast food –> customers arrived together
Reason: Everyone eats around the same time …

In retail –> holiday and back-to-school seasons brought more customers
Reason: Huge sales promotion declaring big savings for customers and general urge to buy or receive presents

In an office –> somehow size of each task just keep growing and the task list never seems to end
Reason:  Unfortunately management almost never knows what you are doing and will ultimately demand more and add more to your growing list of tasks (see above) because part of their roles involve seeing new opportunities for the company

In the freelance realm –> clients seem to appear simultaenously, rather than staggered
Reason:  It depends on the field, but if you’re talking about the web … that’s easy — trends

In the factory –>  the production lines are mysteriously increasing in speed and quality control gets angry more frequently
Reason:  Sales has gone up –> management has ordered an increase in production –> production managers need to make quotas and thus crank up the speed on production lines

That’s all I can think of at the moment.  These just came across my mind when I was wondering why I was suddenly so busy!  I’m sure you can relate and add to the list.  Now if we could only keep this in mind when dealing with others, when we go for lunch, pass work along, assign homework, delegate tasks, and so forth … perhaps the world would be a little tiny bit better …

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Indigo Chapters throws on some video

Published
by
Ehren
on September 10, 2007
in Mentions, Ponderings, books, marketing, technology, web 2.0 and work
. 0 Comments

Yesterday I ran across the Indigo Chapters website while looking for some textbooks for school and I saw that Rick Mercer was coming out with a new book. Apparently he is coming out with a book that contains the text from select number of rants from the Monday Report. It sort of reminds me of some books that are coming out that are really compilations of blog postings.

Promotional Stuff

Anyways, I noticed that Indigo Chapters put up a link to video on Rick Mercer’s book page which was meant for promotional purposes. The first thought that came to my mind was that it was cumbersome and awkward to download a Quicktime file in order to view a short clip of what Rick Mercer had to say about his new upcoming book. Wouldn’t it have been better for Chapters to simply embed a YouTube clip or simply embed a flash player to make it easier for visitors or potential customers to view the short video clip?

Rick Mercer’s Book Page on Chapters

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Google Book Search Unveils Share Feature

Published
by
Ehren
on September 6, 2007
in Aspirations, Mentions, applications, blogging, books, marketing, technology and web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Over the past year, HarperCollins and Random House have introduced their own custom developed “sharing” feature for many of their books so that people have the ability to share an excerpt of a book on their blog or website.  Unfortunately for many Canadian publishers, there has been no sign of a solution that would provide them with the same competitive edge — at least not without additional funding that would allow for them to compete with the larger publishing houses (who are often also subsidiaries of multinational corporations).

People knock Google a lot for what they do against the publishing community, but from my perspective Google has done more for smaller presses in a smaller amount of time than any additional funding could have done for Canadian publishers.  Google and numerous other Internet revolutionaries have levelled the playing field for any company, small or big, to be successful.  Why is this ultimately the way things should be?  Because it helps the customer.  What use is a great product if a customer can’t find it?  What use is a great product if a crappy product is overshadowing it with its million dollar marketing campaign?  The bigger picture and vision is out there for Canadian book publishers to grasp, we just have to get around this whole hurdle that we keep trying to get our heads around, and that is absolute control.  No one, no organization and no company can have absolute control any longer, it is just not viable — not even for Google.

Google has introduced an excerpt sharing function that allows for people to share excerpts from books in the public domain.  I think this is a great beginning and I hope they will build upon this idea to allow publishers to do the same.  By doing so, the edge that larger companies have had will diminish and at least Canadian book publishers regardless of size will have a voice that is somewhat equal in volume.

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