Well before the Internet went mainstream, I was fascinated with the manipulation of brands and their logos. So it would make sense that I have been following the topic of “Brandalism” since the mid-nineties, long before ICANN, or any other organization monitored the web on behalf of brands on the three Ws. Having recently been at the epicenter of the most recent Snickers/Snckrz buzz, I decided to look back at how the “Internet” and media reacted to this in the past. I love that the conversation these days can remain on the native platform considering that as recently as 2007, the “Brandjacker” had a completely different modus operandi, and was viewed as nothing more then a cyber-squatter.

Sure, the Internet is capable of malicious attacks on brands and celebrities but sometimes, when the stars align… there can be a moment of pure genius. So, for it’s Moment of Zen, an act that would make Robin Hood proud. Hats off go to POKE!

Note: In the spirit of the content in this entry the image by Matt Cioffi was re-used without permission

As I’m putting together Walls Come Tumbling Down, the talk that I am giving this year at @media 2009 London and An Event Apart, I wanted to share some of my notes on how the current recession will affect the way that web designers and developers work. Back in the mid-nineties, I helped to bring digital photography to Europe. I know that it probably seems odd today, but then, despite how exciting the technologies were, no one wanted digital photography. Photographers clung to the idea that digital cameras were not up to the quality of large-format film cameras, despite clear evidence to the contrary. This was reinforced by colour reproduction houses and advertising agencies who told their clients that digital could not replace film, at least not for a while. In the face of overwhelming evidence, they clung to their familiar workflow processes, backwards and forwards, trial and error. No one, not even Kodak, was selling digital cameras. (When I was writing this talk, I remembered an

annual report from the mid-nineties where Kodak insisted that instead of pushing forward with digital, they would make more by selling one roll of film to everybody living in China — true undoubtedly, but ultimately short-sighted.) There were two individuals, I was lucky enough to work with both of them, who made professional digital photography in Europe possible. In doing that they didn’t just sell cameras, they changed several industries in the process. One of those people, Jo Simons, saw the bigger picture and realized that no-one would benefit from digital cameras eliminating film processing times and costs, it was fast and cheap. For the same reasons, little would be gained by eliminating scanning. (These were the two main sales arguments for digital cameras at the time). Jo realized before anyone else, that it was the moving of responsibility and control of colour from the end of the repro process to the beginning, in the photo studio, combined

I go to a website and read an article. Man, that was really great. I’d like to comment and ask the author a question. I scroll down… 384 comments. Ugh. Screw this.

This seems to happen more often these days. I only have so much available cognitive time I want to invest before participating in a conversation. The longer the amount of time, the greater chance I will give up. The problem is, this doesn’t relieve my desire to comment or ask a question, just my desire to participate. But there is a fine line between investment and work. What’s the average reader to do when faced with a glut of comments that precede them? Is there a way to make comment threads more useful, and more usable?

Where We Are

Authors spend a good chunk of time and attention writing articles, but so little attention is given to the conversation that happens afterward. Most of the time readers are left

to fend for themselves in a comment wasteland. As the comment count soars into the tens and hundreds for an article on a popular news or personal website, the chances of anyone reading both an article and the comments that follow before contributing plummet. This doesn’t stop people from commenting, but after a certain point, most people appear to be commenting blindly. They acknowledge they didn’t read all the previous comments. Sometimes they even apologize if they are raising a duplicate question or point. Doesn’t this just exacerbate the problem?

Hey, Over Here!

When I am reading a personal blog, I often look for highlighted comments from the author in a thread. If an author comments on his or her own post, it’s usually to respond to an important question or point raised in the ensuing conversation. When that author’s comments are highlighted, they form a natural series of milemarkers in the discussion; chances are if something important happened, the author came back to address it. Skimming through the author’s