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SOPA and PIPA: Whose rights are we protecting?

January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Wikipedia anti-SOPA page

The NY Times article (In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Old) by Jonathan Weisman on the proposed anti-piracy legislation in Congress  highlights the conflict between old and new business models. The battle of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) bills signals the changing times.  It suggests that public understanding of media use is shifting.  It highlights the reallocation of  political heft, dollars and lobby power from the old to new economy.  It also shows the power of the new communications model of many-to-many.  When people are connected across networks, rather than isolated in buckets, word travels fast.   Weisman quotes John Feehery, a former House Republican leadership aide, as saying: “... the Internet world, the social media world especially, can reach people in ways we never dreamed of before.”(p.2) It also shows how fast politicians' ideologies move when they fear losing votes. In my mind, the article leaves … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Politics & Policy Tagged With: , , , ,

Communicating the Value of a College Education

January 13, 2012 By 4 Comments
Conversation

The following are the notes from my presentation as part of a panel on “Communicating in the New Normal” at the College Board 2012 Colloquium held in Newport Beach, CA January 7-9.  I was part of very august company: moderator Phillip Ballinger, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment and Director of Undergraduate Admissions at University of Washington at University of Washington, Marie Groark, Executive Director of the Get Schooled Foundation, and Millree Williams, Executive Director for Public Affairs Strategy at the University of Maryland. The New Normal: The Changing Communications Landscape The need to explore new models was the emerging theme of the Colloquium.   I’d like to take us up to 20,000 feet for a minute and talk about the new model of communications and the media landscape that is the new normal. How many of you use Facebook personally? Compare this 30% to this number: 96% of your target audience, people aged 18 to 35, is on social networks.  The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Emerging Technologies, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

Dangerous Method: Engaging but Not Satisfying

December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Spielrein and Jung

The film, A Dangerous Method, is an ambitious effort to portray the complex and tumultuous evolution of the relationships and theories among the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, his protégé Carl Jung, and the patient-turned-psychoanalyst, Sabina Spielrein.  The movie is beautiful and engaging but not very satisfying.  But then, it is based on the untidiness of real life, and titans of western thought though they were, Freud and Jung were still human beings.  The film is well worth seeing, but be prepared to come out thinking 'huh, interesting' rather than 'wow!'  Dangerous Method succeeds as a largely nonjudgmental chronicle of impassioned people and big ideas that unfold over time.  In taking this long and very human view, however, it sacrifices emotional force, and leaves mostly ambivalence.  It's greatest moment is the glimpse of Carl Jung through the eyes of Spielrein as someone wanting to look beyond the dark side of the psyche into human potential. Few figures … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Psychology Tagged With: , , , ,

Transmedia Storytelling: Meaning Comes from the Ability to Share, Explore, and Discover

December 2, 2011 By 2 Comments
story-globe-sticky

Transmedia storytelling is not just for telling stories. Thanks to social technologies, the principles that drive transmedia storytelling ensure that it will emerge as the basis for effective communication and engagement. Transmedia — using multiple channels of communication and technologies — is unique in that it allows stories and messages to be constructed in the same the way we make sense of the world around us. Transmedia storytelling works like the brain thinks -- constructing holistic meanings from bits and pieces of information and experience. We show ‘who we are’ through words, actions, and physical clues like clothes or hairstyles, not a sign around our necks that tells our ‘story’ like the synopsis of a TV show. Our brains create stories out of the patterns we uncover around us; it is the natural way for us to process information. Meaning comes from our ability to explore, share and discover. As technologies advance, why should our use of media be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Brands & Identity, Emerging Technologies, Transmedia Tagged With: , , , , ,

Reverse Mentoring Won’t Work

November 30, 2011 By 1 Comment
No Respect Taken, No Respect Given

The Wall Street Journal reports that reverse mentoring has finally cracked the workplace so that senior executives can learn more about technology, social media and the latest workplace trends.  Great idea, but reverse mentoring won't work.  It violates the very premise of a social media environment that it purports to address.  Mentoring must be about a two-way flow of information and respect.  What organizations need is collaborative mentoring. Reverse mentoring is exactly the wrong way to think about knowledge exchange in an organization.  We live in a time of social networks and peer-to-peer connectivity.  Calling it reverse mentoring implicitly supports the linear and uni-directional exchange of information and existing organizational hierarchies.  Reverse mentoring won't work because it challenges not only the existing hierarchy but essentially tells someone who spent years developing skills that it's not good enough.  Whether that's true or not, it's not how you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology Tagged With: , , , , ,

All The World Is A Story

November 20, 2011 By 2 Comments
2011-11-20-tree-in-book-square-250w-storybook

Transmedia storytelling is rapidly becoming the new ‘must have’ in marketing and entertainment.  Its adoption is slowed, however, by the confusion over what exactly it is.  Like most things, there are lots of definitions, but with transmedia storytelling, it’s easy to be distracted by the promise of the wide array of tools and get caught up in the romance of ‘building out a storyworld,’ — and end up overlooking the substance.  Good transmedia storytelling starts with the story. The story doesn't live in the storyworld.  The story starts with and lives in the brain.  The brain is the vehicle for engagement.  Successful transmedia storytelling provides the brain with multiple vehicles for participation.  Participation creates immersion because we ‘buy in.’ It is a renewable energy source because it creates the motivation for continued engagement. If you mention ‘Transmedia Storytelling’ to aspiring artists, their eyes light up and their minds fill with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cognition, Psychology, Transmedia Tagged With: , , , ,

10 Keys to Good Interactive Apps for Pre-schoolers

November 17, 2011 By 7 Comments
ostory animals

Social media has redefined "participatory" in all kinds of ways.  Social technologies and easy-to-use tools have changed fundamental assumptions about how we interact with everything, not just each other.  It's time we get used to the idea that kids these days think media is for interacting and not watching.  Parents can take comfort in knowing that interactive technology, when developed well, allows a child to actively engage in their own learning.  One such app, Wendy's Giant List of Things to Do for the iPad, has 10 qualities that would make Piaget proud. The current generation of toddlers is growing up with the expectation that media allows active play and, more excitingly, that information is something they can interact with, explore, manipulate, and share.  This attitude will be a big plus when they are old enough for science class.   Easy-to-use technologies like the iPad with its touch screen are encouraging development of interactive apps and books that are fun and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Interactive, Psychology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Social Networks: What Maslow Missed

November 8, 2011 By 7 Comments
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model, developed in 1948, resonated across many disciplines, from business, technology and education to its field of origin, psychology.   It spoke to potential and to positive conceptualizations of human motivation.  As popular and widely applied as this model has been, however, insights from the use and adoption of social technologies like Facebook and Twitter, combined with increased knowledge about brains and networks, show that our understanding of Maslow’s model misses the mark in a very fundamental way.  It doesn’t give enough credit to the role of social connection. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs captivates us because it brings a sense of order to the chaos of human behavior.  Psychologists, educators, parents, and marketers have been trying to figure out what influences behavior for a long time.   In contrast to the behaviorist’s carrot and stick, both widely employed and frequently discredited, Maslow’s hierarchy has a nice … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Psychology

Unlikely Heroes: Resilience with a Dragon Tattoo

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
2011-10-24-lisbeth-salander-rooney-mara

Hollywood's remake of the film from the bestseller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"is scheduled for release just before Christmas.  It comes on the heels of the 2009 Swedish film versions of the Stieg Larsson's Millenium Triology*.  While not exactly family fare, I loved Larsson's books and I'm not the only one eager to see how Director David Fincher handles the material.  The marketing build-up to the December release, concern about the explicit sexual violence, the casting intrigues, and the inevitable comparison to the Swedish versions have, however, eclipsed the true power of the book -- the psychology, particularly of Larsson's complex anti-hero, the anti-social, computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander.   The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo furthers this discussion. The soon to be released anthology published by BenBella  and edited by fellow PT blogger Robin Rosenberg and Shannon O'Neill, is collection of essays (including mine) examining the psychology of Lisbeth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Positive Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

Transmedia storytelling: It’s the story stupid!

October 21, 2011 By 4 Comments
once upon a time pen

We need a new name for 'transmedia storytelling'. It seems like all the excitement about big transmedia storytelling projects has made it the buzz term du jour. But somehow, in all that excitement, the fundamentals have become obscured. It's important to remember that in 'transmedia storytelling,' that 'transmedia' is an adjective. 'Storytelling' is the noun. The transmedia part of transmedia storytelling is like building a musical score the way a conductor employs different instruments in an orchestra. Each instrument doesn't sound the same or play the same notes but if performed well, is beautiful on its own. Together they create a whole new experiential space that transports us by opening the door to our emotions and imagination. Transmedia storytelling, like a symphony, creates a collaborative and immersive story ecosystem that is new, engaging, and exciting. It takes tremendous creativity, talent, and, literally, orchestration, to pull off a transmedia storytelling project. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Media & Networks, Transmedia Tagged With: ,
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