Tag Archive for 'good'

My Inspiration Shared for 20081009

Published
by
Ehren
on October 9, 2008
in Interests, Mentions, fun and marketing
. 0 Comments

This week was a tough one for spotting things that really inspired me, but the few that stood out were priceless.

Magnetism Renewed

In elementary school, we used to have science projects and what better way to spend time with dad than for him to do the science project for me! We had this science experiments book for kids and I kept choosing to do stuff from it. Okay so he gradually made me take on all the work but nevertheless, I still remember the whole experiment surrounding magnetism and iron filings. In case you don’t know what i’m talking about — here’s a photo courtesy of School for Champions (alas, no i did not attend…it did not exist during my time in elementary school).

The idea was to actually have a magnet below the piece of paper — sprinkle the iron filings on — and then use hair spray or something similar to keep the filings glued in position so that when you remove the magnet — ta da! You’ve got yourself a natural piece of art.

Anyways, if you thought that was cool — check out these crazy magnetic fields displayed in this video because it is brilliant. Okay you’re probably asking me why I am so inspired? Simple. The opportunity to actually visualize how magnetic fields and frequencies are acting and responding to the environment is fascinating to me and if that’s a little too scientific for you — think of how people typically respond to an advertisement or a sales person or even to one another. If we can visualize the interaction in a similar manner, we can begin to understand the influencing factors — why sales people on the floor scare people like me away, or why some people adore bookstores while others (like me) dislike how booksellers have traditionally operated. Sound far-fetched? Perhaps, but I’ll leave it there for some more thought while you check out the actual video.


Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

Marketing != Good or Bad, Marketing = Ideas and Choices

I happened to over hear Sonny Gill retweet David Mullen’s call for marketers and media to wield their power for good. I guess it’s a struggle and burden that all marketing people have to carry because typically the ultimate goal for any sales and marketing role is the sell-through of a product but ultimate question would be — are we all truly profiting in the long-term by distorting perceptions and ignoring our impact on society (no matter how big or small) for short-term gain?

Perception is such a strong force in the world that it can make or break economies (just think of the stock market) — and it can do so with societies as well. So if we each have that opportunity do something greater for the world around us — why don’t we choose that over the numbers? That was rhetorical so don’t answer that …

David pointed out a number of great videos notably one called “Amy” and he states:

So I found myself asking “do marketers and media have actual influence over how consumers’ view themselves and the world around them?” I say, “yes.” That led to a bigger question. If so, do we have a responsibility to use that power for good more often? I’m interested in what you think about that.

Okay, on to the videos… My personal favorite is “Amy,” because it sums up how 99% of men feel about their significant other, even though they usually don’t believe us.

I think this is a great video and that Dove has pushed a tremendous initiative but at the same time, it is important to keep in mind that this is merely just the beginning because it is technically trying to address what we have done wrong for such a long period of time.

Getting the BIG Picture

I happened to hear Darren Barefoot over twitter mentioning some BIG photographs. Now it’s hard for me to resist checking out anything photography related so I was pleasantly surprised by some stunning photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand presented by The Boston Globe. He shares his photographs as wallpaper (although I wish I could get them at higher resolution) but nevertheless make sure you check them out for yourself — a whopping 2000 of them.

My favourite is this one here.

These photographs seriously changes your perception.

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This Week’s Dose of Inspiration - 20080928

Published
by
Ehren
on September 28, 2008
in Mentions, Ponderings and weekly inspiration
. 1 Comment

Of all the week’s that have come and gone — the past week could probably be ranked as one of the most turbulent and toughest for me simply because of daily circumstances that are beyond my control. My week just wouldn’t be fulfilled without a few drops (or waves) of inspiration.

I use a lot of different content management systems these days. However, I use Wordpress … a lot. I remember my first step into publishing a webpage, oh … way back when HTML pages with everything centered on to the page were prominent. One of the things I always wanted was an online publishing system that would be simple enough for anyone to make use of (without requiring a substantial amount of technical expertise) but also allow for people to customize the way it worked and presented content. Over 10 years or so, I’ve had the opportunity to see so many types of content management systems spring up but it has really been the idea of a blog and the Wordpress platform that has had such an enormous impact on the way we communicate. I was just surfing around and happened to notice a video that Matt Mullenweg had posted on his blog.

I like Wordpress

Going off topic for a second — I often remind friends and family that everyone’s selling something out there whether it may be an idea or a more tangible item like a product. What I like to ask myself is whether or not the idea or product has created a ripple effect in the world that will help others. It’s easy to believe that something we create will change the world, but what’s the impact of that change? How does that genuinely help others?

Back to the video that Matt had posted — an introduction to Glenda Watson Hyatt, The Left Thumb Blogger. It’s good to see the genuine impact of those many small yet substantial steps that the many people involved with Open Source initiatives and Wordpress, have made. It’s inspiring to see the opportunities that people around the world have created together for others.

Could My Spine Tell a Story Like That?

Nina Katchadourian’s storytelling via book spines was quite a fascinating discovery via twitter. I know of book covers for series tend to carry a design that cross references the different individual titles but I wonder if marketing departments will ever try to tie together the copy on book spines in a manner that can summarize the plot or topic? The different

I’ll have to try one myself sometime when I can figure out how to work in the overwhelming number of books I own by Gordon Korman and John Steinbeck.

Everyone can be a Hero

I grew up watching cartoons (like many kids in North America have) and the idea of heroism. Although one of my favourites continues to be Osmosis Jones, a white blood cell.

Fun and humour aside, a very important talk that everyone should really watch is one by Philip Zimbardo who led the Stanford Prison Experiment. I should warn that there are some pretty graphic scenes in this talk (below) so it may not be suitable for everyone. While Zimbardo emphasizes that it is the “system” that is flawed and that to prevent future atrocities, we need to inspire future generations to strive to become the everyday hero sans the super abilities and power; I think we need to accept the fact that what we do isn’t always good or bad but rather can often be both good and bad depending on how we look at the consequences and impact. Sometimes we are being influenced and other times we are influencing — I think the following quote summarizes how we should potentially make a decision:

“Do not accept anything by mere tradition. Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures. Do not accept anything because it agrees with your opinions or because it is socially acceptable. Do not accept anything because it comes from the mouth of a respected person. Rather, observe closely and if it is to the benefit of all, accept and abide by it.” - The Buddha to the Kalama People

One of the possible outcomes of inspiring children to become everyday heroes is potentially an eventual change in the way we do business. There are still so many products out there and the goal has always continued to be sell, sell and sell. In my opinion, we need to do better than that — something greater.

Another Commencement Speech

I had no idea who David Foster Wallace was until Avinash Kaushik pointed out Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005 on learning not just how to think, but learning how to control how you think.

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.” — David Foster Wallace

Whew! That was quite a bit, but I guess makes up for the past couple of weeks when I wasn’t around.

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