3 cars have already been seized and there are more on the list. Kaizo imports (NOT related to Kaizo Photo) has been importing GT-R’s in pieces and rebuilding/titling them as kit cars for sale. They are now being seized, destroyed, otherwise disposed of. It would suck to be one of the people who poured their money into this. Next time, buy a NSX I guess.

Having worked in construction industry PR for over 20 years, I have seen the technology involved in managing communications between organisations and their ‘publics’ evolve quite dramatically (echoing technological changes  in the wider construction industry, of course).

From paper to electronic (web 1.0)

For example, when I joined the marketing team at Halcrow in the late 1980s, most of our media relations work was heavily reliant upon paper-based communications. We had word-processors (Wang – anyone remember them?), but our finished news releases were still photocopied, stapled together and then sent by post, perhaps accompanied by a laboriously labelled photograph. Occasionally, we faxed news releases to favoured journalists, or they were couriered by motorcycle messenger.

Today, it’s a different approach. Releases are rarely printed out and posted; they are more likely to be emailed, and they are also made immediately available on our website, perhaps with accompanying low- and high-resolution images (for web and print use) available for download (the Halcrow website today even has a video newsroom).

From web 1.0 to web 2.0

But even this approach may be changing. On Thursday I attended a free breakfast briefing on social media hosted by London PR firm Kaizo, and there was talk of how they sometimes pitched stories to journalists using Twitter, about digital news releases optimised for web 2.0, and how corporate blogs are becoming part of the communications mix.

While many of the fundamental skills of PR haven’t changed the advent of new technologies does mean that PR professionals have to learn some new techniques and to adapt their codes of conduct accordingly. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) recently issued new social media guidelines (as have other bodies), and – like my fellow PR Liz Male – I remain committed to  its core principles of integrity, competence and confidentiality, but have some queries about  its strictures on openness and disclosure (Liz has already started to effect some changes to publishers’ policies on deep-linking).

My web 2.0 activities are not undertaken anonymously. In my ExtranetEvolution blog, for instance, I repeatedly disclosed my BIW employee status so that it was clear that my opinions may not be completely neutral (even if I endeavoured to be so). However, such openness can make life awkward occasionally (for example, I started participating on the Building magazine discussion forums last year, but soon found myself getting ‘trolled’ by other users hiding behind user-names).

How ‘ghostly’ can we be?

The CIPR Code talks about ‘ghost’ blogs:

… members should be aware that ‘ghosting’ a blog is illegal … . The drafting of material by public relations professionals for their clients naturally has a role to play in many areas of professional endeavour. But where a client requests a blog which is run entirely, or almost entirely, without detailed oversight by the supposed author (or ‘public face’) of the blog, then there are serious questions of integrity in addition to the legal issues.

Here, I wonder where the dividing line for ‘almost entirely’ lies? Over the years, like numerous other PR people, I have ‘ghost-written’ speeches, presentations, letters, emails and comments for clients and senior company colleagues. In every case, these productions were discussed before drafting, then checked, amended and approved by the individuals concerned, sometimes with no changes at all.

I suspect such practices would still be permissable. The CIPR guidelines give some examples of social media activities outlawed under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations:

• Creating fake blogs (‘ghosting’) …

Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations the following social media practices are no longer permitted:

• ‘Astroturfing’, the practice of falsely creating the impression of independent, popular support by means of orchestrated and disguised public relations activity. For example, in the context of social media, astroturfing techniques could include the creation of a dedicated blog, posting comments on others’ blogs or on message boards, submitting supposedly amateur videos to YouTube
• ‘Flogs’ the creation of a fake blog by a PR agency or organisation that poses as a customer to promote a product or service.

Like the term itself, ‘ghosting’ is a bit nebulous, not something that is easily defined. But ‘fake’ and ‘false’ are, to my mind, clearer concepts. Something is genuine or it is fake; it is true or it is false. So long as PR people continue to ensure that the words accurately represent their clients’ or colleagues’ views and that these individuals give informed consent to their use, including on a blog, then we should be OK. But it is less than ideal.

Better still, reverse the balance. Our clients and colleagues should be encouraged to learn about blogging and to learn some basic skills so that they can use the medium themselves (this is something that I have done for BIW colleagues and for other organisations). Such blogs would then ‘be run entirely, or almost entirely, with detailed oversight by the author (or ‘public face’) of the blog‘ – effectively removing any issues about integrity.

So, we had the first ever Going Social event at Kaizo yesterday – a breakfast seminar designed as a sort of ’social media 101′ for those who are looking to learn their Digg from their Delicious.

Now, it might not sound big to you, but a presentation in front of 50+ people (all bigwigs from major brands I might add) was a pretty big thing for me – but luckily it all went off without a hitch, and the presentation was really helped by two cool little web 2.0 tools, namely Animoto and Prezi.

Firstly, I used Animoto to create some punchy little vids to drop in – much more interesting than bullet points or screen grabs. Here’s one of them, created to talk about how brands are using Facebook:

Secondly – and probably most impressive in terms of impact – was Prezi. You might not have heard of it, but it’s a new online presentation tool (currently free!) that doesn’t use slides and provides an antidote to death by Powerpoint. Weird? Yes. Cool? Definitely. Click here to see the presentation. I was going to embed it in the post with an iFrame but decided it’s better in its full screen glory.

It might not make much sense without me and Neil Hallmark presenting it, but you can have a play and see what Prezi is made of. Although the best thing to do is probably just have a crack yourself and play around. Below is a quick vid that gives you a nice insight into some of Prezi’s tricks (although I have no idea what the native language of the narrator is – it’s definitely not English!)

And it’s not just Prezi that’s finally killing the beast of Powerpoint. Slide Rocket is probably the most famous online presentation tool at the moment and loads more can be found at Go2Web2 where I find loads of gems.

Seit einiger Zeit ist mein Leben getrübt. Ja, ich leide unter schweren Depressionen und nur Kaizo trägt die Schuld. Kaizo ist ein/eine Modder/in des Klassikers Mario World für das SNES und nun fragt sich sicher der etwas Unbedarfte: “Häh? Wie hat der denn nen Konsolenspiel gemoddet und wo kauft man das dann?”

Tja, die Konsolenspiele sind nicht tot, sondern leben auf eurem PC weiter. In Form von Roms(Images der alten Spiele), die man mit Emulatoren(Programmen die Vorgeben eine Konsole zu sein) auf dem PC spielen kann. Jedem Gamer weitet sich sofort das Herz zu einem saftigen Steak, wenn die alten 16bit-Titel und die anderen 2d-Klassiker über den heimischen Bildschirm flimmern. Bedienung über die Tastaur lässt sich auch schnell adaptieren und der Spielspass ist unbegrenzt.

Doch seit einiger Zeit ist die Nostalgie-Idylle im Rom-Wunder-Land getrübt. Kaizo hat diese rückschrittige Welt unsicher gemacht und zahlreiche hartgesottene Gamer zum Weinen gebracht. Frustration und Wutausbrüche sind vorprogrammiert(Pun inteded), aber ebenso frenetisches Freudengeschrei bei den auf den ersten Blick so simpel erscheinenden Aufgaben die das Spiel stellt. Zum Beispiel: Spring auf den fünf Raketen über diesen riesigen Abgrund und lande bitte nicht auf den stacheligen Teilen am Ende. Außerdem ist Kaizo wirklich, pardon my french, hinterfotzig: Hast du einmal den superschwerden Sprung geschafft den du seit einer halben Stunde probierst, fällt dir dann auf, dass dieser doch nicht geht weil Kaizo ein verborgenes Kästchen ein gebaut hat, etc…

Die Lösung gegen andauerndes Game Over und gegen den größten Frust: Savegames! Dank Emulator kann man per Knopfdruck seinen Spielstand speichern und nach misslungenem Sprung an der gespiecherten Stelle wieder beginnen. Dies ist aber auch der einzige Luxus udn das Spiel bleibt trotzdem noch schwer genug.

Auch der Macher der YouTube-Serie “Lets play….” ProtonJon, der hauptsächlich die frustrierendsten Games aus der 16-bit-Ära vorstellt, hat Kaizo Super Mario gespielt und sein Werdegang in diesem Spiel ist eines der erheiterndsten Dokumente im YouTube-Universum.

Also probiert doch mal Kaizo aus. Spass ist trotz Frust gewährleistet und wer sich Pro nennen will muss dieses Spiel sowieso spielen. For Honor and Glory!

Stay tuned and alive and not too frustrated.

PS: Auch Ninja Gaiden 1 wurde von ihm gespielt und auch dieses Audiokommentar ist genial anzuhörn.

PPS: Wenn jemand die Rom garnicht findet, schreibt mir ne Mail!! 9mm1@gmx.net