Chiperoni ku Basel

Tag: thoughts

  • Mindblogging

    Inspired by lots of fresh air

    After lots of hours cramped in front of my books, trying to catch up with my studies, I went jogging for a couple of rounds on the Finnenbahn ( a sawdust track ) in the woods. Usually I find running around in circles boring. But today I didn’t mind cos my head is full of unprocessed data.

    And while I plodded around the loop, I thought about:

    • Twitter and the Iran election and the video of the dying woman.
    • Thoughtless re-tweeting. I find it scary the way people follow others blindly. With good intentions. But without thinking and researching for themselves. I thought of setting up a slogan such as: Think before you re-tweet.
    • How the initial design of ARPANET, to compensate for network losses, probably explains why people can still find ways and means to send out tweets and photos and videos out of Iran.
    • My Macroeconomics homework about inflation and interest rates.
    • The soothing effect the colour of green leaves has on my mind.

    The term mindblogging was coined by fellow blogger Persillie and refers to the writing of virtual blog posts while doing something else such as jogging. By default mindblog posts are always better than their written equivalent.

    Congratulations to Mlle. A.! Her blog Handmade 2.0 is featured in the current edition of t3n, a German IT and web magazine.
    Way to go!
    Next in Brand eins?

    I talked to my mom about internet connections in Malawi. She says that prices for mobile internet are getting more affordable. TNM offers USB modems. I need to research this…

  • Gaming the System

    Recommended read via Mlle A.‘s Delicious bookmarks:

    How we killed social media

    And probably a reason why many companies that are latecomers to the social media circus will never understand, why everybody is was so excited.

    Instead of following the latest social media advertising trend, my advice is: Be yourself.

    Be your-crazy-self.

    If it means only 20 unique visits per day, that’s much better than selling your ideas, your soul and well-being for 5K hits that will not return and will make you look trashy.

    Imagine 20 people walking into your brick-and-mortar shop per day.

    Don’t try to blog or post photos or twitter or upload videos or bookmark articles or share RSS feeds for advertising purposes only.

    Have fun.

    Don’t copy.

    Don’t be fake.

    Be Visible.

    Persuade with good content at regular intervals.

    When I presented a talk about blogging for content developers at an STC conference in Zurich, it was a photo collection of Nutella alternatives that Mlle A. and I started at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nutellaalternative/ that people noticed. Lots of craziness in there.

    But I’m also using my energy for other projects such as the Malawi group at Flickr:

    My talk about cell phones in Africa was well received because I’m genuinely interested in ICT developments in Africa, because now I can connect with family and friends. Which I couldn’t in the early 90s, due to very high telephone costs.

    I don’t need to push my own business. Chiperoni and all of its side streams is just a fun project to try out new technologies and practice my writing skills and keep online bookmarks. And as such I’m probably a lot freer than somebody that needs to pay their bills with their online shop.

    Consider these facts:

    Social media is really disrupting the traditional conventional advertising and news world. Maybe at the end of it, all kinds of media will be dead… new and old. C.f. my recent post on “Where are the business models for content?”.

    Search engines have become all powerful. Important facts and knowledge are getting ignored because they’re not in the search results on page 1.

    That’s why independent niche blogging is important to me. Excellent research skills are much needed.

    That’s why your point of view and your understanding of a topic can make a difference. And that’s why you should continue to blog and tweet and post photos… But IMHO the gold rush is over. It’s hard work. No quick wins.

    In a corporate environment, asking all of your company employees to digg an article or tweet by command is fake, if you don’t engage further and learn to use the new tools and make networking part of your company culture. C.f Scoble on Zappos.

    I would try to move away from “all about me and my beautiful company” kind of articles to showing your expertise and understanding for your particular part of the world market.

  • The Summer of 08

    As a gentle drizzle sets in, I’d just like to dump a couple of carefully composed poetry text snippets here at Chiperoni headquarters.

    So far this summer of 08 has treated me well. I’m spending every weekend with my latest gadget: Shooting photos with my Canon 40D. There’s a lot to learn. And try out. Especially regarding lenses and post-processing. I’m still very much of a snapshotter.

    I have noticed something:

    The memory aspect of photos has become important to me. A couple of years ago before I started blogging and flickring, I joked that I’m taking photos with my retina and one day I’ll just download the contents of my brain (bioware, wetware). But as I proceed through life, more and more of my life pictures are moving to the back of my brain. I can still access them if I want, but they are moving further back as I take care of the daily clutter. But I don’t know if the pictures will disappear one day.

    I like the way I can document one moment. With one shutter click.

    Yesterday I went to see the Fotomuseum in Winterthur. I enjoyed it immensely. The show that I liked the most was the one on Theo Frey.

    See this Wikipedia page for more infos on his biography.

    The show reminded me of a Hernando de Soto interview I read. Not so long ago, many people lived in abject poverty here in Switzerland. The Frey photos brought this time closer.

    Throughout the past weeks I’ve continued my low key fitness and jogging program. I haven’t run any races or lost any weight, but it helps to deal with stress. And the side effects of sitting hunched up in front of a laptop.

    The Summer of Ohhh Eight…
    Did you realize? This is the second last year of single digits. I didn’t know that 08 is a lucky number in China. But I feel that this summer is special. A time to remember. Dobbiamo profittare.