Figmentations

“The global digital back-channel“…a neat catch phrase for the latest trends in information exchange and niche social networks through: blogging; on-line reviews and recommendations; search-engine data mining; cross-linking aggregators; and other interactivity technologies, etc.

Not sure if this is a new term or not…but it is new to me, so I thought I’d share.

Source: see Viewpoint article on BusinessWeek online, “The Surging Tides of Digital Torrent“, by Kevin Werbach.

Will Fortune 500 companies ever get to the point where they promote, for example, healthy lifestyles, even if there isn’t any direct financial gain to themselves? Often times when corporations appear to be attempting to promote these “well-being causes”, they come across, at least to me, as being rather self-serving, i.e., getting the consumer to buy more of such-and-such a product which will solve some kind of problem, condition, or unmet needs state.

Here’s a quote that I found to be particularly relevant in this context….

“The negative ethic forbids certain actions; the positive ethic demands certain actions. ….If the negative ethic is one of decency, the positive one is the ethic of riskful, strenuous nobility.” — quote from an essay by Philip Hallie entitled “From Cruelty to Goodness” in the book “The Moral Life” by Louis P. Pojman

Maybe some day there will be some significant role-model companies that will put their economic impact behind a particular cause even if there are no self-serving financial rewards to be achieved by it…though I guess one could consider “goodwill” to be self-serving as well…somehow though, I don’t view Oprah Winfrey’s actions in that light.

Simply nature doing its thing……

Melting Icicles

Interesting article on cnet…When blogging can get you locked up. “By Charles Cooper. Around the world, Net crackdowns are becoming commonplace. CNET News.com’s Charles Cooper asks why Silicon Valley seems indifferent.”

The quote below further clarifies….

“So it is that some Middle Eastern regimes regularly use Domain Name System redirection or Internet Protocol-blocking techniques to prevent certain Web pages from loading. It’s not difficult, and the measures are fairly effective.”

I didn’t realize that could be done…and, that it is not considered difficult to do…

“FBI Abandons Web Surveillance Technology” Well, the FBI has abandoned its IT investment in trying to create a home grown system apparently because the private commercial sector has been able to better produce adequate and cost effective solutions.

While the general causes for concern mentioned in this particular article is centered more around privacy issues and the amount of money invested, it is the “development” aspect that has caught my attention.

My only comment would be that when deciding between trying to develop a technological “solution” in-house, or to outsource it to the private commercial sector, it may be worthwhile considering the third possiblity…that would be to wait for the experts to work out the kinks and wait for the industry to be developed or mature enough so that you get more return out of your investment. There is no competitive advanatage if you can’t get the job done.

Though, one wouldn’t want to get in the habit of always waiting, since the next “latest and greatest” technological advance will always be just around the corner. But looking at industry life cycle and market maturity levels, if one can accurately assess where one is on such a continuum, then holding off, and not making huge investments at inopportune times, might be worth considering.

Though it is always easy to be the Monday Morning ArmChair Quarterback…..

Well, that’s twice that I’ve heard of this recently. One more time and there must be some truth to it. Isn’t that what they say about knowing when to believe a rumor?…something like once you hear the same rumor from three different sources, then where the three overlap that is likely the part that’s true. (Just make sure it’s not the same story circulating through different people though… )

That pertains to rumors and truths; not sure if it applies the same to theories and predictions. Let’s assume it does.

According to “The Amazing Kreskin” (in a simple entertainment article in the “Daily Record” newspaper, Morris County, NJ, Morris Life section, dated Sunday, January 9, 2005, though as of now, not yet updated on the Kreskin website (http://www.amazingkreskin.com/), anyway….Kreskin suggests that out of what’s happened with the tsunami, “…perhaps a spiritual movement will increase in the world.” I just mention this because this was also referred to by some of the religious guests on a recent Larry King Live CNN program entitled “Spiritual and Religious Leaders Discuss Tsunami Tragedy”, which aired January 7, 2005 - 21:00 ET; a transcript of which can be found at the following link: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/07/lkl.01.html.

Two of Larry’s guests, in my opinion, made some of the most interesting points. They include: Deepak Chopra and Rabbi Michael Lerner. However, the notes I made of this program include opinions from all of the guests, and are as follows:

• this isn’t a question of where was God (in not preventing this tragedy), but where is humanity (in not creating the early warning system)
• in terms of how God is defined, it was mentioned, to paraphrase, “our conception of god evolves as our consciousness evolves”…”God as a force of healing and transformation”
• what happened might not be viewed as a primitive punishment, but as an accident….perhaps the creation of earthquakes and volcanoes, etc was a result of original sin, but their activation is merely a natural scientific occurrence
• not to focus on this as a punishment for sin but focus on the compassion and generosity of people reaching out to help those in need
• this particular occurrence was also suggested as being a humbling experience….to show that we are not in control
• the call for compassion is in the fact that in addition to this tragedy, there are scores of people currently dieing from preventable causes every day…”preventable” being the key here.
• this shows how vulnerable we all are and how we need each other
• recognize the unity of all human beings and us with nature
• tikkun - to be partners with God
• the motivation of charity need not be in the name of any particular god or religious organization, that should be put aside
• pious platitudes versus true actions
• military is now delivering food versus dropping bombs
• another thought provoking concept was the suggestion that disasters might be viewed as a reflection of our collective consciousness (mind and soul) and the turbulence of the masses….that if we mend our rift amongst or withing ourselves that may have an impact on the turbulence of nature….through collective meditation and prayer…that this isn’t a cause and an effect relationship, but an inter-relatedness.

(Well, that’s just some of the notes I made in watching this program. I’m going to print out the transcript and study it a little more. Quite interesting stuff though.)

Wouldn’t that be a more comforting result though?…for this horrible tragedy to not have been in vain…but to lead to a collective unity towards looking out for our fellow man…both in southern Asia and at our home and for that matter at all homes. Helping not meddling. Let’s see if something like this can be more than what was referred to in the new movie “Hotel Rwanda” …to paraphrase…where this is something people will see and say, oh my god that’s horrible, and then just go on and eat their dinners. (See the “Clips” section of the film’s website at http://www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/main.html, see “The Footage” clip ).

But, I must admit, I too have many times been outraged about things I’ve seen or heard of on TV…things that I sometimes would really want to do something about, but honestly don’t know what to do or how to go about doing something beyond just perhaps to send money somewhere, and then, too, I forget and go on with my daily life. How do we make a change in our actions or lives when situations like this compel us to especially when life as we know it must go on as well?

Well, it seems the consumer can be well-educated, or at least have ample free access to good information, yet still not make smart choices. The most basic examples of this lie in the realm of lifestyle choices regarding: eating, exercising, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and smoking.

In addition the the Ad Council partnership mentioned in my previous blog, I notice more and more info and media attention on the need for us to be making healthier choices to reverse the growing obesity problems in this country. To name a few others, see: the Discover Health Channel’s National Body Challenge (see http://www.discovery.com/health); NBC’s reality series “The Biggest Loser”; and the many “makeover” shows that are now focused on weight loss, including another Discovery Channel TV program called “Housecalls” on FitTV (see http://fittv.discovery.com/). Combine that with more and more workplace programs to help us combat our vices, many of us still struggle with the daily battles of replacing old habits with new, better, healthier lifestyle choices.

But for those that are trying to make the change, there is still some confusing information out there. Information that we have a right to hold informers (marketers) accountable for. One example of confusing information, is the fact that not all people really realize that a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish Sandwich is not necessarily health food (at 18 grams of fat per sandwhich), though it is a better choice than a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese at 40 grams of fat each (for more info, check out the Food & Nutrition section of McDonald’s website at: http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat.html).

Here’s another example of deceptive or incomplete advertising that can deceive even the best intentioned consumers who are actually really trying to make better choices for themselves. (Since this article may not be easily accessible I’ll pull out the important parts of this blurb as published in “Marketing News” under the “Law, regulation & economy” section, page 4, Dec 15,2004 issue. This is a publication of the American Marketing association, http://www.marketingpower.com. )

“Since…Subway began claiming that three of its foot-long sandwiches have the fat equivalent of one Big Mac, …the National Legal and Policy Center…has turned to the FTC to investigate its claim.

…(T)he Center accused Subway of making misleading nutritional claims about the health benefits of its Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich. The NLPC countered that those three foot-longs have nearly four times as many calories and cholesterol as a Big Mac and six times the sodium. Subway has responded that the commerical isn’t factually misleading because it only mentions the fat content.”

So I guess it remains our prerogative to learn as much as we can about the issues that affect us (and how and by whom they are being communicated to us) and not leave it up to others who may or may not have our best interests in mind as they pursue their own priorities (which most of the time is likely money-related.) This should apply to all areas of our life, e.g., politics as well.