That DAM Show

I have just been listening to the first episode of my good friend Colin Birch’s latest online magazine That DAM Show.

The programme is a much needed overview of what’s happening in the world of Digital Asset Management and looks at issues here and in the USA concerned with storing and, perhaps more importantly, finding material.

The numbers are huge: the amount of material being generated by us all (text, audio, video etc) is incredible and growing. Not all of it worthy of archiving perhaps, but archiving is only a part of the issue.

I was heavily involved with researching DAM technologies and issues for a business we were looking to develop while I was running Molinare, which would have required a lot of capture, meta tagging, storage & retrieval. All fascinating stuff to me.

Sadly, back then in 1999 – 2002, the technology was still too expensive for us to make the numbers work commercially and we eventually had to put the project to one side.

Today of course DAM is absolutely central to a successful creative industry and, dull though it may appear be to some creatives, being able to put your hand on something you need quickly and accurately surely comes high on a list of requirements, even in small organisations.

That DAM Show is well worth a listen to and I wish Colin and his co-hosts success with it. I’ll be tuning in for more!

You can find it here: www.thatdamshow.com

Sorry, There’s No Way To Save The TV Business

Just spotted this down to earth article that certainly raises some key issues for any of us involved in TV today. Whether or not you agree (and for the most part I do) with the author’s conclusion, there can be little doubt that the Internet is a profound change in technology and we are only just beginning to see the consequence to other technologies that were, once, just as revolutionary. The article was written from an American standpoint, but I think it holds true for the British industry too.

Sorry, There’s No Way To Save The TV Business
The traditional TV industry–cable companies, networks, and broadcasters–is where the newspaper industry was about five years ago: In denial…

Teaching, Mentoring & being an Expert

There has been a lot of discussion on Twitter and other places recently (in my world) about teaching and mentoring. It has made me feel uncomfortable.

Perhaps you are a bit like me. I’ve done a some teaching on TV technology to new entrants to the creative industries etc, which I thoroughly enjoyed and got very good feedback from.

So why do I feel so reticent about talking about what I know?

That question has been on my mind a lot recently and I’m beginning to feel guilty. I certainly do enjoy helping people discover what they can do, assist them to understand things that I’ve understood etc etc but, at the same time I still want to hold back and hide from doing it!

Just now, while making a cup of tea and putting off going out the garden (looks like rain) the answer hit me like a used tea bag on the clean worktop.

I’m scared of looking silly because I’m not an expert.

Ok big deal, you might think, except that being an ‘expert’ on things is pretty much how I pay my bills. Maybe that is how you feel too.

What it comes down to is confidence, which stems from what we believe being an expert means.

You see in my my mind’s eye being an expert means being someone who knows virtually all there is to know about a given subject.

By that measure of course I shouldn’t be able to buy a cup of tea, never mind feed and house my family.

My realisation was this; the definition I’ve been using is rather naive, because in reality expertise is relative and contextual.

So how does that help us get over ourselves and become comfortable teaching & mentoring? Well, for me, it means changing the focus from worrying about whether or not I impress (or look stupid in front of) my peer group and concentrating on whether someone who hasn’t had my experience will find what I have to say useful.

So I am thinking how I go about crystallising what I have to offer to others and how to make it available to people who’d like it, which is a much more creative and satisfying problem to address.

Tags: Confidence, Teaching, Mentoring, Expert

What To Do With An Old Blower?

At the weekend I was given an old bouncy castle blower. I think I might use it to make a small wind tunnel but I asked my Twitter followers for suggestions.

The suggestions so far are:

• Rig up in downstairs loo as a super hand dryer
• Antisocial (but fun) quiff blasting gadget outside hair salons
• Leaf blower
• Toupee adhesion tester
• Umbrella tester
• Dinghy inflator
• Home ventilator
• Fish tank aerator (flying fish!)
• Indoor kite flyer
• Camel dryer

The Twitter Infection

Yes, it’s bad. I’ve been Twittering instead of writing my blog. Silly, tiny, ethereal scraps instantly written, instantly forgotten.

Hacking: a Childish Pursuit

Sad reading on the BBC website concerning the growth of youngsters involved in cyber crime:

“Increasing numbers of teenagers are starting to dabble in hi-tech crime, say experts.

Computer security professionals say many net forums are populated by teenagers swapping credit card numbers, phishing kits and hacking tips.

The poor technical skills of many young hackers means they are very likely to get caught and arrested, they say.”

I imagine that many of these youngsters do not believe what they are doing is particularly wrong. If they think about the ethics of it at all, they would probably justify what they are doing in a couple of ways:

1. “If the person whose card details I’m using was not careful enough to prevent its loss, that’s their lookout – they are ‘fair game’.”

   This is the same as casting the blame for a burglary on the person whose house or car was not locked; it is specious: the purpetrator is the burgler. It is a crime to take things that are not yours.

2. “We are just doing to ‘them’ what they are doing to us.”

   A simple de-humanising approach that separates ‘us’ from ‘them’ which makes ‘them’ less worthy than ‘us’ and as a consequence makes ‘them’ acceptable objects for harvesting.

Right and wrong is rarely clear, and to a child who does not have a moral code that is in broad alignment with the society in which they live, it is even less clear.
How do we ensure that our youngsters not only get told about moral responsibility but really take it to heart?

Equestrian Fun Rides and Sponsored Rides Diary UK

Jane has just updated the Riding Diary with a new section on equstrian fun rides:

FUN RIDES, SPONSORED RIDES, PLEASURE RIDES ALL of the horse fun rides, sponsored rides and pleasure rides on ONE PAGE!

Looking for a Fun Ride?Take a look at the list below!
 
The Fun Rides below are shown in date order – just click to find out more!Interested in taking part in a Fun Ride but are not sure what to expect?Take a look at the Rides listed on the Riding Diary – many have schedules or web-links where you can find out more. Fun Rides can vary in length from 8 miles to 15 miles or more. The numbers of riders taking part can also vary a lot – some of the big Sponsored Rides raise thousands of pounds for charity each year and have hundreds of riders taking part.At the other end of the scale there are much smaller rides that will often be much quieter. Often a Fun Ride will have several routes available of different lengths. And many will have jumps – but these are usually optional!

Equestrian Fun Rides and Sponsored Rides Diary UK

Tags: Equestrian, Fun Rides, Sponsored, Rides, Diary, UK

Ed Dale talks about setting up Flock

Embedded Video

Ed Dale, who’s 30 Day Challenge is usually entertaining and illuminating, especially on the social networking techniques, is a keen user of the Flock browser.

In this video he shows some useful settings to improve the browser’s performance.

Tags: flock, settings, speed, ed dale, 30dc

Team Building Days

I was talking to my Step Daughter recently about corporate life.
 
Something I had not considered, whilst busily knocking the whole idea of working for a large company, was the importance they place on team building activities and corporate days out. Reward and Recognition activities are taken very, very seriously. Whilst these are often first to be cut in a slow market, for some aspects of team building it is often seen as crucial.

Which will be glad news for one of our clients; Solent Corporate Ventures, who specialise in just these sort of team building days out, on the Solent (where else!?).

Tags: team, building, day, corporate, entertainment, awayday, away, day, teambuilding, excercise, reward, recognition

Wimbledon grass photographs

Wimbledon grass photographs

Mildly interesting technique; projecting a negative onto growing grass to produce a grass based photograph; a ‘photograss’ perhaps.

Might now be possible to take a photograph of a nicely mown lawn and then make grass with an image of nicely mown grass on it. Would that be cheating I wonder?

Tags: grass, photographic, techniques, heather, ackroyd, dan, harvey, wimbledon