All of us have dreams of our own. It is impossible when listening to or reading about someone’s own background not to compare yourself, at least a little. No one really knows what is going on (my mantra) and therefore we continuously wonder whether our path is even worth validation. It is nice when the background doesn’t intimidate your own, and in fact, comforts you. This is what I needed, and found, in Just Kids. It is okay to doubt. It’s okay to disregard advice you can’t relate to. It’s okay to pour all the money you make in order to hold up a promise for your future, even if things don’t go as planned. Feel trapped in your own skin. Wonder what to do about it. You are not the only one.

In an interview last week, I was asked to name a book I’d recently read that really left an impression on me. Excited immediately, I told the interviewers about Just Kids. I’m not so sure I explained my response clearly enough, so here it is. A much better “reader’s report” on a book that I plan to regard always, as very close to my heart.

One app that is a useful supplement for content review: MCAT Question a Day.  It is available for both iPad and iPhone in the App Store and best of all, it’s free!  It is a basic science content question app that gives you a new practice question each day.  The app has been around for two years, so you can also do all of the previous questions available.  This cool app also tracks your progress (% of questions in each subject correct) and allows you to access “SmartStudy Questions” which are questions that highlight your weaknesses.  While the app is really basic, it keeps me engaged and my mind thinking about the MCAT even on days I am not studying heavily, just by running through a few basic questions.

The other app that I have been using consistently is Flashcards Deluxe, and although it does have a $3.99 price tag – it’s worth it.  One thing I have seriously neglected is committing basic Physics equations and Biology terms to my long-term memory over the years.  This flashcard app allows me quickly and easily to upload flashcards from excel spreadsheets over the internet and download them instantly onto my device.  I’m now able to throw away my huge stack of ratty old paper flashcards and carry around 5000 terms and equations with me wherever I go, which is extremely useful when I am waiting for the train or stuck in traffic.

Below is my list of prep materials

• Princeton Review Hyperlearning Biological Sciences Review 2010
• Princeton Review Hyperlearning Physical Sciences Review 2010
• Princeton Review Hyperlearning Verbal Workbook 2002
• Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Workbook 2010
• Examkrackers Biology 7th Edition
• Berkeley Review Organic Chemistry
• Berkeley Review General Chemistry
• Berkeley Review Physics
• Examkrackers 101 Verbal
• Examkrackers 1001 series – General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology and Physics

I am still anxiously awaiting my Berkley Review books, after mailing in my order form (yes – MAILING) last week.  Hopefully they will be here soon, or at least I will get an e-mail confirmation of some sort…

I was a little bummed not to hear more off of Static Prevails, and not one off their EP, Stay On My Side Tonight (ahhh, I love ALL 5 tracks and the composition of the album!)  But all in all, a good show, a decent introduction to their new album and newer tunes.

Tonight is my last training shift at the bar I’m likely to work at 2 or 3 nights a week come next week.  I am eager to figure out a schedule, my life requires tight scheduling the next few months, with weekend trips to New Orleans, State College, and again to PA for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, being a bartender does not mean weekends off (especially if I’m planning on making money).

And with that, I’m off into the streets of NYC.

Eli

1. “I think the message is not coming out well” – That is it. No more information on which part of the message is not coming out well. Read it 100 times and you will still not find it.
2. “Sounds generic” – Ok. Are you going to tell me what can make it sound specific?
3. ” I don’t know, but something is missing” – That is a great review point
4. “I guess punch is missing. Its not giving a wow feeling” – Wow
5. “Who is the target audience for this? May be we can make some more fine tuning if we get clarity on this” – Oh yeah? Please check your email or go to the beginning of the document
6. “This needs more work. Let us discuss sometime tomorrow” – Ohh, I thought you said you needed this document as of yesterday
7. “Perhaps we should send it to few more people and get their feedback” – Perhaps you don’t have time to review or perhaps you are not confident to comment
8. “I think we should show some quantitative benefits in our case studies” – Well yes, please give me the numbers and I will update
9. “Few fonts look different. Also, did some language corrections” -As mentioned in my email, English and font check happens after all the reviews. But, what about content review?
10. This takes the cake – a response comes on the final day of review “Is this the final draft or you sending one more? Please send me the final version and I will send my comments” – Speechless

I don’t mean to say that all content reviewers do this, I have had the experience of working with some of the best in the business. But when you see any of the above mentioned points in your reviews you know what to do. Please feel free to share this blog with them.

If you’re not in a field like this, it’s possible that many of you are involved in online training or teaching (I’ve been both an online teacher and student myself). If that’s your situation, you might want to explore how using Colaab could enrich your students’ online learning experience.

There are a few web apps in this space, but there’s room for improvement. This one really got my attention when founders Paul McGinness and Bob Thomson showed me their demo at LeWeb ’08 in December.

For one thing, compared to the others I’ve seen that serve a similar purpose, this app is far superior aesthetically. The UI is elegant and clean, with a rich interface thanks to Microsift Silverlight 2. Its features are so smooth that I wish I were part of a team of designers of anything at all so I could upload images and scribble on them with my team. But alas, I work primarily in the verbal space. Still, since I happen to be right in the middle of overseeing the design of the site, logo and some collateral material for my own project, I decided to upload some of those files and see what Colaab is about.

I started by creating an account, choosing the full-featured free plan that comes with 50 MB of storage space and one workspace with 10 users. Upon login, I was immediately prompted to create a workspace.

Within the workspace, you store and manage your resources (the files you are collaborating on). However after creating the workspace, I ran into a little bump. How to add resources to my workspace was not immediately evident. I clicked around and eventually discovered that I had to click on the workspace block that had appeared in the dashboard after I created it. Maybe there was another way, but I didn’t see it. (There were a couple of moments like that, but the learning curve is not daunting.)

The workspace includes an integrated IM feature, and discussions are displayed in the upper part of the right-hand panel. The lower part shows which users are participating. Without having to refresh the page, you receive notification of others’ comments and messages and when team members log in or out. As you might expect, when members make annotations on the files, all those who are logged in see them, also without having to refresh.

You can go to the Colaab site for more annotated screenshots, or watch their demo.

Colaab has offered a special deal for Web Worker Daily readers. The first 500 who sign up using the invite code WWD can have the “Starter” package for a year for free (normally $288). Mac and PC users welcome!

The application is already impressive and it has loads of promise. They’re still in beta, and eager to hear from their users. They’ve integrated the easiest feedback system I’ve ever seen (click the word Feedback in the upper left of the page and a nifty little form appears). So do try it out and let them know what you like and don’t like, and what you’d like to see!

If you want to compare Colaab to some of the other apps in the design review space, you can look at ConceptShare, proofHQ and Octopz. Another is ReviewBasics. I was mildly entertained by the fact that you can leave feedback on their demo as you would if you were working in the app.

So I did.

If you’re not in a field like this, it’s possible that many of you are involved in online training or teaching (I’ve been both an online teacher and student myself). If that’s your situation, you might want to explore how using Colaab could enrich your students’ online learning experience.

There are a few web apps in this space, but there’s room for improvement. This one really got my attention when founders Paul McGinness and Bob Thomson showed me their demo at LeWeb ’08 in December.

For one thing, compared to the others I’ve seen that serve a similar purpose, this app is far superior aesthetically. The UI is elegant and clean, with a rich interface thanks to Microsift Silverlight 2. Its features are so smooth that I wish I were part of a team of designers of anything at all so I could upload images and scribble on them with my team. But alas, I work primarily in the verbal space. Still, since I happen to be right in the middle of overseeing the design of the site, logo and some collateral material for my own project, I decided to upload some of those files and see what Colaab is about.

I started by creating an account, choosing the full-featured free plan that comes with 50 MB of storage space and one workspace with 10 users. Upon login, I was immediately prompted to create a workspace.

Within the workspace, you store and manage your resources (the files you are collaborating on). However after creating the workspace, I ran into a little bump. How to add resources to my workspace was not immediately evident. I clicked around and eventually discovered that I had to click on the workspace block that had appeared in the dashboard after I created it. Maybe there was another way, but I didn’t see it. (There were a couple of moments like that, but the learning curve is not daunting.)

The workspace includes an integrated IM feature, and discussions are displayed in the upper part of the right-hand panel. The lower part shows which users are participating. Without having to refresh the page, you receive notification of others’ comments and messages and when team members log in or out. As you might expect, when members make annotations on the files, all those who are logged in see them, also without having to refresh.

You can go to the Colaab site for more annotated screenshots, or watch their demo.

Colaab has offered a special deal for Web Worker Daily readers. The first 500 who sign up using the invite code WWD can have the “Starter” package for a year for free (normally $288). Mac and PC users welcome!

The application is already impressive and it has loads of promise. They’re still in beta, and eager to hear from their users. They’ve integrated the easiest feedback system I’ve ever seen (click the word Feedback in the upper left of the page and a nifty little form appears). So do try it out and let them know what you like and don’t like, and what you’d like to see!

If you want to compare Colaab to some of the other apps in the design review space, you can look at ConceptShare, proofHQ and Octopz. Another is ReviewBasics. I was mildly entertained by the fact that you can leave feedback on their demo as you would if you were working in the app.

So I did.

The age old mantra ‘content is king’ still applies when attracting big audiences. So why is content still an afterthought in many web development projects?

Granted, the content production process has become more complex over the years as audience expectations and preferences develop and shift. Many of the websites originally set up with a traditional ‘one-to-many’ approach to publishing web content are adopting a more ‘read-write’ participative approach, where user generated content complements a site’s dedicated editorial output.

But even with the added challenge of catering for audiences that demand the right to re-write, re-package and share content, site owners dedicate far too little time or resource to content strategy development. This error, if left unchecked, can lead to severe delays in a site’s launch.

So, In a bid to dispel some of the common misconceptions about the content production process, we thought it worthwhile to outline some of the core components required to ensure its smooth running.

When talking about what the content production process consists of, it’s often helpful to compare it to other more well known elements of a site’s development – like technical development. As teams can often find themselves dealing with complex legacy materials, the same principles often apply.

As with technical development, content production can be vastly improved if a number of measures are in place before build even begins. Obviously, these measures don’t have to apply to every web development project, but more often than not they should include:

• Content strategy or content specific brief
• Sitemap and wireframes
• Content outline specification
• Sufficient lead in time
• Keep your site relevant

Content strategy or content brief

A pretty obvious one this, but when it comes to defining a website’s content elements – namely what content will be required for the site’s functionality and features – things can sometimes get a little sketchy.

Many site owners still assume (or should that be ‘hope’?) that the content part of the job will only involve some form of cut-and-paste – whether from an old website, Word document or an entire content database table. If only this were the case.

A content audit is a document which benchmarks the effectiveness of existing editorial against organisational objectives or key audience requirements and expectations. Clearly, the findings of this document can help vastly improve the quality and effectiveness of a website’s editorial. Document included in this audit normally also include a spreadsheet which transcribes the current sitemap to a tabular format and gives each page a description, status rating and so on.

For example, if the full picture of a site’s editorial content is unknown – particularly after years of amendments or neglect by marketing departments – key stakeholders may run into problems when it comes to identifying which content areas need updating before integration into the site’s shiny new architecture. Put simply, without a content audit, organisations are in danger of focusing the majority of effort on technical features and the look of a new site, only to fill it with out of date or off-key editorial.

Sadly, it’s this eventual realisation – often near the end of the production cycle – that causes many sites to be delayed. Granted, it may only be words, but the reality of hurriedly re-writing an entire website’s copy (the average site hosting around 20,000 words) is not something your internal stakeholders will thank you for.

Avoid under estimating your content needs by producing a dedicated content strategy – preferably one which answers difficult questions. Briefing documents should provide guidance on tone, language, audience and timings, but why not try to apply some rigorous journalistic questioning to your brief’s content approach, namely: what, where, by when, how, why and – perhaps the least most asked question – by whom in which department?

Sitemap and wireframes

A sitemap is required reading for technical teams when estimating resourcing requirements and / or developing a functional specification document. The same should apply to the content production team. A sitemap allows for improved scoping, which helps with all aspects of planning and resourcing during the content production or content migration process.

This can also help to identify typical functional pages that need content, such as terms and conditions, a privacy statement or instructional text for any uploading functionality. As pages like this often fall outside the ‘subject matter’ of a site, they are often left to the last minute or forgotten completely.

Content outline specification

If you really want to help your copywriter, editor or internal marketing team produce editorial that’s on brand, on message and on budget, go beyond a simple sitemap and set aside time to produce a content outline document.

Like a functional specification document, this document provides a detailed walkthrough of the site’s copy section by section (and page by page if necessary). Minimising any confusion about tone and detailing all assumptions about content sources, length expectations and topic focus, this walkthrough document should provide any external suppliers or internal stakeholders with a rock solid blueprint of all content requirements.

Sufficient lead-in time

Like a technical team needs sufficient lead in time to produce effective code, editors need time in order to develop best practice editorial copy. As with rushed code, rushed content will not work. Avoid leaving content until the last minute, even for migration work.

Deadlines help focus everyone’s efforts, none more so than copywriters and site editors who require a minimum period of production time to produce targeted, call-to-action, SEO compliant editorial content. Help editorial teams even further by informing them of final copy deadlines – they will then be able to estimate backwards.

So, now you’ve provided your editorial teams with all of the above, only one more task remains – post launch maintenance.

Keep your site relevant

Why spend time and money developing branded, targeted content your users will thank you for, only to let it go out of date? Content can become outdated very quickly, particularly if you’re dealing with information and guidance materials which refer to timely services and offers.

Users judge your site’s content by its breadth and usefulness, but they also decide whether to trust its information by its date stamp (no date stamp at all is even less assuring). Don’t give users reason to doubt the usefulness of your site’s content – set aside resources to update content on a regular basis and they’ll be more inclined to return to your website.

  One of the comments Stuart Townsend made regarding his inspiration for the film was the imbalance between those that go hungry and those that make billions of dollars. Disclaimer:  I am not saying that people should be rich at the expense of others in need. You should fight injustices of the world. I am aware that there are problems and, yes evils, to combat within corporations. However, how ironic that here sits a guy from Hollywood dating and living with Charlize Theron. While I do not personally know her salary I am guessing that as an Academy Award Winning ® working actress she makes pretty damn good money…millions…being an ACTOR! It isn’t that acting and filmmaking aren’t worthy professions. They are and I went to college to pursue such things. If you make .85 cents on every movie ticket sold and that turns into millions then that is the nature of your business and money you rightfully earned. But taking that into consideration, please spare me the lecture on wealth distribution. Filmmaking is an effort to communicate truths and inform mass groups of people and that it is an outrageously expensive endeavor. You know what is even more expensive? Drilling and refining oil so that the world can keep production going in order for millions of people to have and keep their jobs and, therefore eat and live. The irony continued as people applauded how bad corporations are as they took pictures of the Hollywood stars from their iPhone.

Oh and p.s. Thanks Target for sponsoring this event.

Charlize Theron being smart said, “We are not anti-corporation just pro responsible corporation.”  How can a corporation be evil or irresponsible? A corporation is nothing apart from the people who make up that corporation so evil or irresponsible ultimately lies within an individual. So to answer the film’s question…apparently an individual CAN make a difference…whether good or bad. This brings me to my final point. Michelle Rodriguez was actually very well spoken when answering questions from the audience regarding film content and the research of her character. At the end she is telling us about a funny moment when she was in jail (for a DUI). At that moment she negated everything she had previously said. Don’t talk to me about corporate irresponsibility (which as I just stated is individual irresponsibility) when you just nonchalantly and jokingly refer to your own lack of personal responsibility when getting behind the wheel and putting yourself and countless others in danger with your negligent choice.

And ask yourself where you would be and what state the world would be WITHOUT corporations. Keep this in mind and, at least, be willing to acknowledge your own hypocrisy from time to time.

Parcel delivery firm UPS is global. It’s big. So this may explain why one of its vans had the following strapline:

‘Synchronising the world’s commerce.’

Huh?! Was this dreamt up by committee?

Why ‘synchronising’? Has it got something to do with how its business straddles multiple timelines? And how it’s so efficient that differences in time zones are, er, managed seamlessly. Like, they’re so good, it’s like, as if global commerce, like, works on one timeline?

Nine times out 10, client style guides for editorial provide obvious top level advice on how to write. There, I’ve said it.

A ‘style guide’ should provide guidance on in-house formatting conventions (e.g. whether to use an upper or lowercase ‘g’ in government). But where these docs often fail is when they get on to the more conceptual / wooly ‘tone of voice and language’ section.

Sure, there’s the odd paragraph on how tone and language should ‘embody our brand values’ (no matter how vague they are – ‘Our approach can be described as burnt ocre – not just brown’). Rarely do you see practical guidance on how to pitch the tone of copy.

Good tone of voice docs provide ‘before and after’ examples of copy. Or they build up a picture of someone tangible. One teen advice magazine I wrote for said to pitch copy as if it’s being explained by a friendly and trusted older sibling.

But what other elements make a good editorial style guide / tone of voice doc?

Has a style guidelines doc ever taken your breath away? No – I’m serious. Like, when you open the guidelines, you start reading, and you start hearing the music from Scanners and start choking. Like some lost / deleted scene from the original Evil Dead, which they edited out because despite being ‘one for the copywriters,’ it was a bit unbelievable…like THAT impressive.
Anyone..?

BUT…BUT…BUT…BUT…

Should we keep children away from the most interactive age since the Fall of the Tower of Babel?

I participated in this very discussion with a group of mothers. Their reactions were equally divided between the opinion that children should participate versus the opinion that children should wait to achieve a certain measure of maturity.

I think germane to the discussion is where exactly are our children going?

“Disney’s ToonTown is cool.” my nine, soon to be ten, year old explained to me. Its a place, sponsored by Disney that allows users to take on a toon persona. They walk around and fight/engage with other toon kids. I’ve not played, personally. I decided I am going to have to though.  Instead, I set about being a parent.  I wanted to know the security policy and they parental controls that Disney provided, especially since they are marketing ToonTown directly to our kids.  I want to be honest here, I did not find much at all.  In fact, all I did find was there FAQ.  I was a little put off, to say the least.  I am going to wait to be contacted by some fan out there to tell me somewhere else I might be able to go to find this information.  I think what disturbed me more was the fact that they were cautioning older players to be patient with the younger players who had a penchant for walking around asking every Toon if they could be friends. (The object of the game is to create toon relationships.)  I was most disturbed by this because, I wanted to know what was older versus younger?  What is the age spread?  Do I need to be concerned by my eight year old interacting with an eighteen year old?

Okay, to be fair, I have not yet contacted Disney for an interview.  I am more concerned with what is openly available for the “Everyday” parent who is seeking to protect their young Interactors safe.  If I am going to advocate that all children need to be involved in this media…if I am going to advocate that keeping a child “safe” online is to engage with the child as they are interacting…I need to be able to advocate for the businesses who are actively keeping our children safe.

That being said, I found some really good sites–that are being popularly visited by our kids.

First on my list is Club Penguins.   I think they thoroughly arm parents with the “hows and whys” of their site.  They add parental controls and a response forum where, us, parents can interact.  Furthermore, its free to get in and try it, the cost comes in upgrading your membership.  So, it lowers the threshold of “who” can participate.  Finally, they have an open “Contact Us” policy.  Again, that is very important for protect the kids.  I want the availability to say, “Hey, look at this user they seem a little suspicious.”  or “Hey, I have a suggestion for a new feature that I think would be great.”  This level of interaction with the company from the parent will do alot to ease the transition of parents skeptical of these virtual worlds.  Check out their policy for yourself and let me know.

Another site, much more commercial, but still neat nonetheless is Webkins.   This site is put together by Canadian Stuffed Animal Giant Ganz.  The key to this virtual world is that you must own a real world stuffed animal in order to register and play.  That’s pretty cool.  Kind of like the Cabbage Patch Dolls of my age, except that in this virtual world, you can really get “to know” the fantasy animal/owner.  Webkins has an entire portal dedicated to parents.  Of course the democratization of the internet is marred by the need to purchase a stuffed animal, but barring my own “Open Source” politics, this virtual world really allows for parents “to know” what going on.

Now, just for the record, these short reviews are appropriate for only 8 to MAYBE 12–the TWEENS.  I will have a whole different perspective of safety when we being thinking about how our TEENs interact…but them interacting is not a question of parenting, that is a fact that parents need to prepare for.  So, if you do not have TEENS yet, and like myself, are trying to simply keep step with your TWEEN in preparation the TEENs, I suggest the following:

1. Let your child engage–as you engage.
2. Learn, Learn, Learn–there are great podcasts, blogs, etc that are devoted to protecting our children online.  Check out www. safekids.com
3. Get online yourself,  you’d be surprised.
4. Finally, and  most importantly, Please understand, the internet does contain content and people who are dangerous to our children.  Just like allowing them to play outside for that first time with out you on the porch, or allowing them to spend the night at a friends, its hard to know much more than you know “its time.”  At least online, you can engage in the same way you keep watch from the kitchen window while they play outside, or you call at 10:00 when you know they should be asleep.  You just…do it..heart thumping and all.

Okay…I’m done being parentally mushy.  Listen, our kids have to be out there.  Its “their thing.”  What we need to do, is be out there with them.  Today, I recommend Webkins and ClubPenguins as good ways to start.  But, technology moves quickly, so ask me again in a month.*smile

My biggest excitement about being a multi-media producer is the burgeoning interactivity of the platforms. Users are sharing pictures, videos, music. Its great. However, its still largely uni-directional. What is being developed as we speak are platforms where our content sharing is becoming less static, less uni-directional and more interactive. This latest trend has such wide-use potential in various sectors and industries. Educational. Marketing. Business Applications. Its amazing its versatility.

Back to Talkshoe.com. I had the opportunity the other day to sit in on a session of Chocolate Chats, an interactive talkcast/podcast hosted by very intelligent and witty host, Shawn Mason Spence. Her core expertise, it seems, is parenting and general commentary, however, I chose to sit in on a session entitled topic Blogging, Podcast, Social Networking etc. On this show she had three “experts” in the field of New Media, although the show quickly digressed into a shout-out for personal promotion, the format and the delivery of the show in general were great. What I enjoy is the potential that Talkshoe.com is giving to burgeoning media mavens, and Shawn Spence capitalized on it wonderfully. Her show really allowed for high levels of discourse, and yet she had the organizational tools available in her Talkshoe.com interface to keep the conversations moving and fluid. The greatest part of this utility is that you can record it live through the Talkshoe.com application. You then can publish it as you would a locally recorded and edited podcast. So, all at once its live, and syndicated. I love it.

After playing around with it myself and producing a few talkcasts, I would say the biggest hurdle is getting potential interactives to sign-up with Talkshoe.com, download the client, and really be ready to interact. I dare say, though, once they do, they will also be hooked. This is of course Talkshoe.com’s business model.

So…New Media Producers…if you haven’t done so already, stop by Talkshoe.com and see if it might just meet your needs for taking your next “live” podcast on the road with you.

By the way…I have no direct nor financial relationship with Talkshoe.com other than the occasional, though growing frequent, customer/independent producer. I’m just a fan.

1. Visit this page of the Guardian’s Eat Right website

• Read the text on the page as you normally would (or at least try to) if coming to the page anew.

• Come back to this page and read the rest of the article.

…scroll down…

How did you get on? What happened when you were faced with the wall of text? Did you skim or scroll down the page until you found something that required less effort to read?

Did you only start reading properly until you got to the first numbered / bolded bullet point?