Kopanas

I just have this bug. I love podcasts and I really want to take a crack at producing one. I know I am late to the game but if a couple passionate and opinionated people would like to try it out with me at worse it can be a lot of fun… at best… it can be a lot of fun!

Video? Audio? I presently consume much more audio podcasts then video. I guess it depends on the subject and if video would add any benefit to the people listening/watching the podcast. Plus, I was always told I have a face for radio! :-)

But what can we cover? Stuff I am passionate about: the web, interaction design, the software process, useful branding, how to run a business, startups, the scene in Montreal, my computer, human sexuality… (hey, people told me I had to find a hobby outside of computers so I choose human sexuality!)

Does anyone else have a passion for podcasts here? Anyone ever consider starting a podcast?

I listen to a half dozen podcasts on average per week and if their were more that caught my attention I would probably listen to more!

Since, like the looser I am, I love podcasts and talk radio so much I decided to give Audible a try. Using the following link: http://audible.com/macbreak I was able to sign-up and get one audio book for free. I downloaded “The Cluetrain Manifesto”. Let’s see if I prefer listening to books rather then reading them!

“When it comes to code, I am more anal than a good friend of mine who is gay. (And he likes that joke so to hell with the cry babies)”

I just love geeks!

from the RailsJitsu blog

You need to watch this music video… but more importantly you need to read the words that you will find in Dip.fiction written by Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am that explains why he produced this music video! I am inspired. I have hope.

I think about the future of business models a lot. The Internet has had a large impact on business, especially on any business that has historically made money off selling content in the form of information (news & articles), entertainment (music & movies) and products (software).

Kevin Kelly, of Wired fame, has written a really good article on how companies will make money off selling things that are in essence free to copy.

In a real sense, these are eight things that are better than free. Eight uncopyable values. I call them “generatives.” A generative value is a quality or attribute that must be generated, grown, cultivated, nurtured. A generative thing can not be copied, cloned, faked, replicated, counterfeited, or reproduced. It is generated uniquely, in place, over time. In the digital arena, generative qualities add value to free copies, and therefore are something that can be sold.

→ “Better then Free” by Kevin Kelly

I sure hope so. I remember about 6 months ago looking at subscribing to the magazine but at the time, if I remember correctly, it was going to cost me more then a hundred dollars a year for six issues and I just could not swallow the cost.

To my surprise, I just found out that the January + February 2008 issue of ACM’s Interactions Magazine is available to download for free so I am going to take advantage of the opportunity to check out an issue! I am writing this while I sent the issue to the printer. Ahh… it is finished… commmmmiiinnnngggggggg….

→ Download ACM Interactions January + February 2008 Issue

UPDATE: Maybe you won’t want to print it out… I don’t know if they did this on purpose but when you print out the magazine in black & white it is really hard to read the text. This sucks!

Last year I signed-up for an unlimited mobile plan with Bell Mobility and I started to play around with the “Mobile Internet” when I was out and about with my friends. One of the first things I noticed was that for a lot of the sites I was playing with the Information Architects were just taking the architecture of their current website and just shrinking the site down to fit into a smaller screened mobile phone. They didn’t take into consideration the context in which the majority of users were using their mobile browsers.

I was most frustrated with sport sites. If I am mobile, the most likely reason I am logging onto an ESPN.com is to check out the score of a game that is either presently being played or just recently finished. So why does it take 3 to 4 clicks to get to a sport score for a specific sport? And why, on top of that, do I have to return to the home page to follow then do the same path, but for another sport, o get up to date scores for another sport?

If an interface for the Mobile Internet is created with context in mind I find that the mobile interface can be more compelling to their desktop equivalent. This is simply because the mobile interface has to be more opinionated because it is smaller and can not have more then a single column layout.

TheScore’s Mobile iPhone Edition is the perfect example of a web interface done right. The Information Architect for the mobile interface I am assuming either is a sports fan or studied the needs of sports fans when they were away from their TV and computer.

The good thing is that I am not the only crazy one that believes that the mobile interface is not bad. AdaptivePath’s Peter Merholz recently blogged about designing interfaces and more elegantly solidified my thoughts on designing for mobile interfaces:

What we’re realizing is that the key item of concern when designing for mobile is the context in which the device is used. What this means is that discussions of “PC” versus “mobile” are misguided, because we shouldn’t be focusing on the device. We are not designing for mobile — we’re designing for mobility.

The quote is from Don’t design for “mobile” - design for mobility.

With a couple clicks of my mouse Google sends me a daily email with a list of all the new references to CUSEC and Kopanas that Google’s spider finds from that day (or day before?). Tell me how cool is that! This way you can easily follow your brand, product, favorite sport, dog, hobby, etc. and the story people are telling about it!

If you are a real geek you should at the very least have a good alert set on your name.

On a side note, that would make for a friggn cool marriage proposal, write your proposal on a website and wait for Google to spider it and send it to your girlfriend as part of her Google Alert. Ok, maybe too geeky, how about just a treasure hunt of some sort?

→ Set your Google Alert

Am I suppose to still wear deodorant when I use body spray? Am I even suppose to use body spray on my pitts (I guess I will find out by the end of the day)? How about cologne? Do I mix cologne with body spray? I am so confused.

I am guaranteed women if I use Axe’s body spray but I want to make sure I am using it right for optimal results! Axe should sponsor CUSEC!

I guess I should preface this post by saying I am presently working as an Account Director at an interactive agency called CloudRaker. Come to think of it, CloudRaker is not just any interactive agency but probably the best interactive agency in Montreal. Yeah, I am biased, but it’s my party and I can do what I want to. (bonus points for those who can tell me where that saying comes from)

I have only been at CloudRaker for 7 months as of tomorrow but it seems like I have been their for so much longer. In a good way that is.

When I applied to CloudRaker I applied for an Information Architect position. Supposedly my CV screamed developer (which it does) so my CV was passed on to the Director of Technology who interviewed me for a Senior Developer position. During my first interview for a Senior Developer role one of the Presidents of Cloud asked me if I would consider a role as Senior Project Manager. It sounded fun so I said sure. Low and behold I was hired as a Senior Project Manager. Three months later though I was promoted to Account Director. My first 6 months at Cloud were so crazy I didn’t even really think about the direction my career was going. I was just going with the punches.

So to summarize. I applied for an Information Architect position at CloudRaker. I was interviewed for a Senior Developer position. I was hired as a Senior Project Manager. I was promoted to Account Director. I am presently an Account Director.

My first 6 months of work I would wake up at 5 AM and be excited to get to work. For the last 2 weeks I have been waking up at 8 AM and have not been so excited. That feeling really bothers me so I took a sick day and went for one of my famous 20+ kilometer walks with Yianni. Half way through my walk I finally asked myself the right question that led to my epiphany:

“If god-forbid CloudRaker closed their doors tomorrow or I lost my job, what would I apply for at another company?”

And every time I asked myself that question I answered that I would look for a job as an Experience Designer, Product Manager or Community Manager. Not once did I answer Account Director or Project Manager. That is all I had to know that it was time for a change.

It was decided, I need to re-brand myself and start moving in the direction of creating for myself my dream job. Talking to my boss was the first step, which I did on Friday, he was surprisingly really understanding considering my exquisite way with words. Re-branding my online presence is a component of the second part.

So here I am. This is the beginning of my journey to becoming the best experience designer/product manager/community manager I can become. A journey that hopefully will never end since the journey is always so much better then getting to the destination. Thanks for listening! :-)

UPDATE: I am moving towards becoming an experience designer but it does not mean I am going to be dropping everything tomorrow. I am an Account Director right now and will continue to be one for the next 6-12 months and I will be doing my job with the same passion I have been doing it for the last 3 months. So peeps at work… no stressing out… please :-).