Allegory

There is a reason why it took big business so long to figure how to use the internet in a way that does not make them look foolish  (compare the sites here with their sites now). People are afraid to take risks. If we weren't, then everyone would be an avant-garde street artist. There is a reason that peer pressure is the focus of anti-drug and underage drinking campaigns. Not only do employees of companies have to overcome their own fears of failure, but then that have to convince their higher-ups that their crackpot idea is not actually a crackpot idea. And now the higher-up has to go to his own higher-up with the exact same idea and exact same goal. 

It's really nice to point to things like the Cluetrain Manifesto and tell companies that they should implement these kind of ideas if they want to succeed on the internet, but not only do you have to convince them that it would work, but they then have to actually implement them in a way that is not only true to the Manifesto, or whatever set of ideas you have, but also makes them money.

Huge corporations make a lot of money. They will always make a lot of money, whether or not they use the internet effectively. While it is true that the internet can make these companies more money, why risk the embarrassment of failing on the public stage if you can let someone else take the risk and still make money off it (think of the iphone and all the companies that are now making iphone clones). 

Ten years in the making.

"Companies are spending billions of dollars on Y2K."

"The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
Copyright © 1999, 2001 Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger.
All rights reserved. "

All of what these 95 Theses hold true for today. It's been ten years since Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger collected these here, how can these problems still exist? If companies were exhibiting a lack of willingness to communicate and cooperate together then, how entrenched must they be in their ways today? 

We really do love the Dutch

Although you can't read this, unless you're Merel, it says that the Dutch company Lego no longer has exclusive rights to lego blocks.

" "The European Department of Justice has decided that the Danish company Lego does not have exclusive rights to the lego building block anymore (sorry, it's in Dutch). Lego went to court after a Canadian firm had made blocks that were so like lego blocks that they even fit the real blocks made by Lego. The European judge decided that the design of the lego blocks is not protected by European trademarks and so anyone can make the blocks."

If true, hopefully this will open doors for people interested in inexpensive bulk purchase of bricks of specific sizes and colors. Perhaps at long last I can build a life-sized Hemos statue for my office. "

The Sims

I totally agree that Will Wright is correct in saying that The Sims is a parody of consumerism. If you have ever played the game, especially if you have played the game without cheats, it is so hard to keep your sim happy. In fact, your primary goal in the game is to keep him happy. They have a a list of primary 'needs' and each one is matched to a meter that shows how fufilled that particular need is. It is complicated to the point that it is not fun for me to try play the game with a whole family of sims because as you would imagine it is exponentially harder the more sims you need to follow.

Medias

To best conceptualize the current media setup I would say that it was a combination of industrial media with the intent of reaching out to millions, and tactical media aimed at much smaller demographics. I feel that these two names fit the best because the mainstream media, because of the internet, no longer can carefully and deliberatly reaserch a story, but must find whatever they can about it and publish that before someone on the internet or in another media firm gets the story. The tactical media is looking at stories in a much smaller scope. They do not have the resources to reaserch big stories like thier industrial counterparts, but they want their stories to still have a big impact with the demographic that they aim for.

Digital Media

Before Barack Obama gave his victory speech, there were pundits heralding his use of the internet and how it was probably the biggest reason he won the election. Now, these pundits were mostly refering to his use of online fundraising on his website, I think that it was internet media in general that helped him. He ran a extremely grass-roots campaign, but I also think that it was an extremely tube-roots campaign (if you'll allow me to invent that phrase). What I mean by that is people, not necessarily even connected with his campaign, were able to post on blogs, and forums their opinions on the candidates. If you look at the demographics (here and here) it wouldn't be unbelievable to say that Obama conected with the youth vote through the internet.

So I feel that the more time that passes, the more people will be saying that the internet is now essential to any future political campaign.

Afraid

I've been watching some of the speeches our Presidential candidates have been having today in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and I was thinking of how angry half the country is going to be come November 5th. I had read in a NY times article on Friday that half of the people who had chosen a candidate were "scared" about the other candidate being elected.

Think about it.

"The survey found that opinions of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain had hardened considerably, as 9 out of 10 voters who said they had settled on a candidate said their minds were made up, and a growing number of them called it “extremely important” that their candidate win the election. Roughly half of each candidate’s supporters said they were “scared” of what the other candidate would do if elected. Just 4 percent of voters were undecided, and when they were pressed to say whom they leaned toward, the shape of the race remained essentially the same."

No matter who is elected thet are immediatly going to have one of the worst presidential approval ratings if you ignore current President Bush. Not only that, but either way the economy looks like its going to get worse before it gets better. Plus the aftermath of the new President's influence on the war in Iraq. 

Am I alone in this worry? Because no one I know has mentioned it to me, and I have not mentioned it to anyone else either.

I really mean think about it, I would recommend not replying immediatly after reading. Unless, of course, if I am not alone.