the slightly smaller rotunda

Month

May 2011

15 posts

Being an infovore - Part I

Here’s some of the tools/methods I use:

  • Instapaper - Absolutely shit-hot way to get through a high volume of articles/blog posts/what have you. When viewing a page in your PC browser, just hit ‘read later’ and then suck it all down to the Instapaper iPhone app before you get on the tube. Can have folders too (so it’s where I store recipes too for easy access in the supermarket). Costs a couple of quid, but absolutely worth it.
  • Google Docs - I keep my main action list here (divided into columns for this week/next week/sometime/personal lists). Also loads of client docs - WIP notes etc that I want to keep adding to.
  • Tweetdeck - best twitter for desktop hands down for managing multiple accounts and searches.
  • MindManager Pro - my mind-mapping app of choice (but can be a bit expensive - there’s free versions such as XMind that come close).
  • Tumblr - bunch of ways different people use, but I use to clip & bookmark quotes & stats & interesting PoV.  (Although Delicious remains my heavy-lifting bookmarking service.)

None of those are revelations (perhaps), but all are extremely useful.

May 31, 2011
#own
“Those agencies with competitive advntge will be those who have the best info-sharing ways to exploit the constant flow of news & info” —

(Yes, I’m tumbling myself, but this way I can find it again)

  Twitter / @pascoe: Those agencies with compet …

May 31, 2011
#own
“While 15 million Facebook users ‘friend’ each other per day, over 15 million users ‘like’ a brand page per day,” she said.” —Brands ‘liked’ by 150m Facebook users per day, says Sandburg - Brand Republic News
May 30, 2011
“What if your calendar worked the opposite way? All time was filled by default and people had to extract from your day when scheduling things. This would move the onus to make a case for the meeting to the scheduler rather than the schedulee. I can even imagine taking it a step further and adding a set of prompts as the person schedules asking if this meeting is really important and whether it really needs to be an hour” —The Problem with Calendars // NoahBrier.com
May 24, 2011
“Any agency or consultancy is only as good as their client relationships which is dependant on people at high levels trusting each other. This is how risks get taken and innovation is accomplished.” —A Moment of Truth for Digital Agencies
May 24, 2011
“The average time it takes UK retailers to respond to an email is 10 hours (often it can be significantly longer than that). On Twitter it is around 94 minutes (when retailers bother to reply). On Facebook it is 78 minutes. I think these are all ok, until I start to really think about it… there is scope for vast improvement.” —20 reasons why customer service is broken | Econsultancy
May 22, 2011
“Now think about tags in photos. If you’ve tagged a photo in which you’re wearing that cute pair of jeans, you don’t simply like the idea of the designer. You’ve actually gone out and put down some of your hard-earned cash for their duds. Photo tags, then, become a much stronger signal of engagement.” —Why Facebook Photo Tags Are The New (And Possibly More Powerful) Likes | Fast Company
May 20, 2011
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-15) → last.fm
  1. Kanye West (23)
  2. Julia Stone (17)
  3. The Go Set (15)
  4. Chet Baker (14)
  5. The Black Keys (12)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

May 19, 2011
“This really is a new way of doing business. It underpins our new RedMonk Analytics platform. You need to get your software hosted to better understand how people want to use it. That’s a key cloud benefit. In a SaaS environment when a customer calls something a “requirement” you’re in a much better position to push back – oh, you mean extending that function that nobody actually uses?” —James Governor’s Monkchips - An industry analyst blog looking at software ecosystems and convergence
May 15, 2011
Man seeking wiki

I’m re-assessing how we share knowledge and stats and info best in our corner of the agency at the day job.

My requirements are below - please let me know if you know of something that fits the bill, or comes very close:

  • Has wiki functionality AND forum functionality
  • Doesn’t have to be WYSIWYG editing, but can’t be all scary text-based markup to do the formatting and linking
  • Has good backup capabilities - and of both the forum and wiki components, not just one
  • Ideally using some sort of format that could be ported to another provider without too much hassle
  • Is either not a per-seat license model, or a cheap per-seat equivalent  (more than happy to pay something, definitely not expecting something for free or ad-supported)
  • Ideally hosted somewhere, but could be self-hosted without it being a deal breaker
  • Can have new info added in via email - either to specific pages, or to a collective ‘inbox’ page where people can then take and move to the best page or spot
  • Can have individual pages opened up to be public and not hidden behind a login/password  (or, to have those pages grouped as different access level).

Know of any services fit the bill?    Here or @andrewpascoe47   
Much appreciated

FYI, I’ve used Wikidot before, and it comes close - but fails on the export of forums part (& not sure about the common export format part).

May 15, 20119 notes
#forums #help #wiki #own
NEVER MIND THE QUALITY, FEEL THE WIDTH - Dave Trott’s Blog - Blogs - Brand Republic → community.brandrepublic.com

A nice post contrasting the practice of agencies using time and volume as the measure of the worth of a project or account or campaign work.

May 13, 20111 note
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-8) → last.fm
  1. You Am I (102)
  2. The Waifs (25)
  3. Florence + the Machine (21)
  4. Sodastream (17)
  5. Ben Lee (16)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

May 11, 20111 note
“In this role, Hinz will oversee the agency’s entire digital operation as well as provide thought leadership and strategic guidance for all existing and emerging digital media initiatives including display, video, SEO, SEM, mobile, social and emerging media. He will also collaborate with agency managers on the deployment and integration of MediaCom’s digital offering and lead the agency’s overall strategic approach with key growth clients, while maximizing potential within existing accounts.” —MediaCom names Jeff Hinz head of agency’s U.S. digital services - WPP
May 10, 2011
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-1) → last.fm
  1. Pearl Jam (18)
  2. Angus & Julia Stone (10)
  3. Bloc Party (3)
  4. Belle and Sebastian (2)
  5. Tally Hall (2)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

May 6, 2011
“One of the things agencies always preach to clients is the critical importance of differentiating their product. And yet, in contradiction of that advice we all try to be everything to everyone.” —The Ad Contrarian: Everyone’s Business But Our Own
May 1, 2011
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