The most important things are not things.

The most important things are not things.,
originally uploaded by Maney|Digital.

I caught a glimpse of the lid of this guy's MacBook while I was walking through the Austin Convention Center at SXSW this past weekend. Fewer truer words have been said.

The most important things are not things.

The most important things are not things.,
originally uploaded by Maney|Digital.

Going F.I.S.H.'ing at My Alma Mater

Late last week I had the opportunity to catch up with one of my favorite -- and most influential -- professors from Trenton State College (which is now named The College of New Jersey, but will forever be known to me as TSC). Her name is Kim Pearson (follow her on Twitter here).

As an undergrad, I took Kim's classes every chance I had. And, while I'm sure her classes were built on some level of formal curriculum, I never noticed it. How many professors turn their Professional Writing classes into full-scale PR agencies that help local non-profits? Yup, that's what I thought.

That's one of the reasons I was excited when she reached out to me on Facebook to talk about a project she's been working on. Funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Broadening Participation in Computing Program, Kim and her colleagues are developing a pilot program intended to increase the participation of members of underrepresented groups in the computing sciences by exposing middle school-aged students to interactive journalism. The program is called the Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers, a partnership between faculty and students of TCNJ and Fisher Middle School in Ewing, NJ.

One of the program's first projects is called F.I.S.H. -- Fisher's Interactive Stories Here. The stories on F.I.S.H. are conceived, reported and produced by middle school students. Not college students getting ready to enter the workforce. Middle school students.

This is an important program (so much so, that I recorded a video for Kim that she put on the site). Let me repeat: This is an important program. The lines between computing and writing (to really boil the disciplines down to their basics) are no longer blurring...they've blurred. Reporters at institutions such as The New York Times are now adding cameras and microphones to their standard-issue pens and pads. Software developers are now as cognizant of how their tech will be used as they are of the ones and zeros that make the products work. Teaching children early -- before they hit high school and college, where it is too late in the learning process -- is critical.

We hear often about the need for America to re-focus on teaching science and math. The Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers does just that...and more.

Off-Topic: My friend the ski model

OK, maybe my friend Steve Keller isn't a professional ski model in the same vein as those who huck themselves off cliffs for the cameras, but he *is* the face of Steamboat on their web site, in ski mag ads and even in one of the world's greatest magazines.

Sir, your reputation precedes you

First, if you're an up-and-coming communications pro (or even a weathered old geezer), you'd do well to subscribe to Rafe Needleman's "Pro PR Tips." The C|NET vet has posted more than 100 rules from inside the head of one of the tech industry's most-read journalists.

Take, for example, this one from the other day:

Tip #103: Agency, Shmagency: "I don’t care that much what agency you work for. What I care about is the company you represent."

Now, you can argue that the calling cards of a small number of agencies will open otherwise hard-to-crack editorial doors (a reflection on consistently great hiring and training than on size and perceived power). However, even though the card might be able to open the door, it's the story and personal relationship that gets your foot inside.

I've heard a lot lately about the power of personal brands. It's a discussion good PR pros should heed. It doesn't matter whether you work for IBM or Joe's PR Shop, it's your personal brand that makes you stand out.

Yeah, you. You talking about my brand?

Image via WikipediaFor those who still think what happens on blogs, Twitter and other social media networks is nothing more than a marketing echo chamber, think again.

I posted an entry to this blog yesterday that included links to the great online video work Ford and GM are doing. I also included a line about "the ever-present knock of death" at the auto industry's door. While I'm no fan of the bailout -- and recognize that Ford didn't stick its hand out for public funds -- the work Scott Monty and Christopher Barger (and their respective teams) are doing is worth noting.

Now, I don't pretend that this blog gets a ton of traffic. Scoble I am not. However, no sooner did I hit post when a comment from Scott appeared to clarify Ford's position on my death-knell comment. Again, in the wide realm of blogs out there, I'm quite sure Maney|Digital is somewhat low on the totem pole of authority and impact for the automakers.

Which is why I wanted to highlight Scott's actions. Somewhere in his toolbox, Scott has a trigger to alert him to any time Ford is mentioned on the web. It doesn't matter whether it's a Scoble-sized mention or a lowly Maney|Digital-sized one. What matters is that Scott didn't let a potentially (and unintentional) negative comment about his company sit idle for others to see.

Companies which aren't monitoring what's being said about them online do so at their own peril. While the overall impact of a single negative post on a site the size of Maney|Digital probably won't make much of a difference, the cumulative effect of others seeing it, posting on it, linking to it, will.

Do you know what they are saying about your brand?

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Blog Graffiti: 2009 Kickoff Edition

Random thoughts to get 2009 off to a blogging good start:

Will this be the year RSS sees wide mainstream consumer adoption? Check out Louis Gray's post on the death of the bookmark for more.

Look for more widespread use of video in corporate communications efforts this year. Despite the ever-present knock of death at their door, GM's Christopher Barger and Ford's Scott Monty seem to be leading the way.

Talk about air cover: Dell's Andy Lark uncovers a flow chart of how the U.S. Air Force responds to posts and comments in the blogosphere.

According to The Peronsal Branding Blog's Dan Schwabel, who you know will be as -- if not more -- important than what you know in 2009.

Will our children know what a newspaper was? Not if the trends found in a recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press continue. According to the Pew study, 59% of Americans under the age of 30 say they get the majority of their news from the Internet, up from 34% in 2007.

Meat Clouds and Serverhuggers

About a week ago, I posted my roster of The 2008 Cloud Computing All-Stars (I'll be updating this shortly with new players and possibly a poll). Botchagalupe followed it up this week with his inaugural 2008 Cloudies Awards. My favorite category is his Best New Cloudy Terms (of which his top two for 2008 are Meat Cloud and Serverhuggers). Watch for Appistry (Disclosure: They are a client) to make a run at next year's Cloudies based on what they are doing to help enterprises cloud-enable their applications.

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Picture This: I'm a photo contest winner

About a month ago I came across a post in my RSS reader about an annual photo contest the guys at A Good Beer Blog were running. I'm an amateur photographer and, on a whim, decided to submit a couple of shots I had lying around on my hard drive. And, lo and behold, one of them was chosen as a finalist. My prize: Lew Bryson's newly-published guide to New Jersey breweries!

If you like beer, check out the blog. If you like beer and photography, check out the other finalists.

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The 2008 Cloud Computing All-Stars

One of the most talked about technologies of 2008 was unquestionably cloud computing (okay, maybe not unquestionably...this is the tech industry, afterall). Cloud computing -- from consumer-level apps such as Facebook to big company entries such as Microsoft's Azure -- dominated a good part of the tech conversation over the past year.

And, like most hot technologies, a number of key players emerged. While my role in cloud computing flirts primarily around the periphery (i.e., I don't write code), I am close enough to the conversation to notice which players seem to sit at the epicenter of the discussion.

Among the creme of the crop are five who I believe make up The 2008 Cloud Computing All-Star Team:

1. Jeff Barr (Amazon's web services god)
2. Michael Sheehan (GoGrid evangelist extraordinaire)
3. Reuven Cohen (Enomaly founder and Cloud Camp instigator using open source to make the cloud elastic)
4. Sam Charrington (Appistry VP using cloud application platform to put a hurt on the legacy app server market)
   
5. Chris Gladwin (CEO of Cleversafe and the guy behind one of the hottest cloud storage technologies of '08)

Which cloud computing players would you recruit for your all-star team? Let me know in the comments.

[Disclosure: Appistry is a client.]

Taking the First Step: RSS Readers

ReadWriteWeb blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick quoted me in a post earlier this evening highlighting a number of social media tools those in the industry (read: early adopters, geeks) first introduce new users to:

PR pro Mike Maney says he starts with an RSS reader (specifically, NetNewsWire from Newsgator) because it's "amazing watching people immediately grok the power of the web coming to them."

If you aren't following Marshall and the gang at ReadWriteWeb, you're missing out on some of the best, most insightful reporting in technology today.

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Big Sister, Little Sister

Unlike her old man, my youngest daughter was blessed with a head of thick, long hair and naturally curly hair. This past Wednesday, she donated 24 inches of it to a great organization: Locks of Love.

Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that turns donated hair into high quality hair prosthetics. Their mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

Like her big sister, Allison, Taylor's excitement grew as her hair grew closer to reaching the required eight inches for donation. Unlike her sister, who has very fine hair, Taylor was able to donate three ponytails.

Both girls, I am proud to say, made the decision to help others on their own. More importantly, both realized the positive impact their charitable acts would have on the lives of others less fortunate.

Yes, a proud day to be a father, indeed.

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Turkey for Me and a Turkey for You

Update: If you're having trouble with the image link below, please try this one.

Thanksgiving is a big holiday for me. It's the one holiday where family -- immediate, extended and those you pick up along the way -- get together to, well, give thanks for what we have. For me, that traditionally means tons of people crowded around a too small table with kids relegated to a makeshift table in the living room, uncles crashed on the couch and Detroit football on the television. Tradition. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Until today. This year, we broke with tradition -- and for good reason. Friends set us up with passes to the 34th Street bleachers in front of Macy's for the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Rick and John, thank you once again!). I posted images here.

We got an early start, lucked out with the weather and enjoyed the floats, marching bands and balloons streaming by right in front of us. The girls even got to see Miley Cyrus and Miranda Cosgrove up close.

(For the record, I was able to keep some of the tradition alive by crashing on my sister-in-law's couch after the parade -- and after some great turkey -- while the Cowboy's played on the television.)

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Let the Flakes Fly

What better way to get ready for the flying white stuff than with a few shots of yours truly enjoying the deep and fluffy of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Web Linkage: GM + Marquette Basketball + High School Soccer

It's a big day on the web for two of my closest friends:

• First out of the gate is this video on the impact of the auto industry bailout produced by GM's social media team, led by Christopher Barger.
• Former Marquette basketball team manager and Cracked Sidewalks blogger Tim Blair penned this piece on the Golden Eagles for NCAA FanHouse.

Me?  The best I could do this morning was rank 8th on the all-time list of scorers in Hackettstown High School soccer's history.

The Front Fell Off

There's usually nothing better than a client who stays on-message.  Take the spokesperson in this video, for example.  Try and guess what message he wants to make sure people hear.

Repurpose with a Purpose

Image by b_d_solis via FlickrOne of the things I advocate to my clients is the concept of content repurposing. To put it more simply: What else can we do with the content we have beyond its single initial purpose?

For example, in the process of drafting a press announcement, most PR pros ask subject matter experts roughly the same set of 10 questions to get to the heart of the news. They then turn that interview into a press release (I'm being parochial on purpose here). Given the tools we now have at our disposal, why couldn't we simultaneously do the following:

• Capture the interview as an mp3 or on camera and post it as a pod/vidcast?
• Repackage the interview into a Q&A?
• Tweet good quotes as teasers?

The idea is to do more, to get more, out of the content we have and the content we generate. For more, check out this post from SHIFT PR's Todd Defren.

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From the crayons of babes...

I'm thinking it might not be a good thing that I watch and read the news around my children (Image courtesy of my 8-year-old daughter):

All votes are not equal, really

Image via WikipediaThere are people in this country who should not be given the privilege to vote.

Today's Wall Street Journal is carrying a page one story about a trend among working class women to support Barack Obama's presidential bid. The impetus behind this shift (this demographic supported McCain until recently) is the belief that Obama will do more to help the middle class through the current economic crisis.

What's troubling is what these voters believe they have to sacrifice in their new support. A couple of highlights from the WSJ story:

• "They may have to get over race."
• As U.S. economic concerns intensify, ranks of blue-collar females are reconsidering everything from Sen. Obama's policies to their comfort level with his race."

I'm sorry, but if you are an American who still needs to get comfortable with someone's race, your prejudice and ignorance precludes you from casting an informed and meaningful vote.

On second thought, I'm not sorry. I'm appalled.

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A Tale of Two Women (The difference between Hilary and Sarah)

Image via WikipediaAt one time, there was a powerful woman running for one of the highest offices in the United States. I -- like many others -- held her up as an example of what was possible to my young daughters.

Today, there is a different woman running for one of the highest offices in the United States. I -- like many others -- hold her up as an example of all that is wrong with politics to my young daughters.

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