Giovanni Rodriguez
The ADD Theory of Public Relations
I
We’ve gone through this process before. Apple carefully stages the expectations for a media event, seeding the market with fact and fiction about a new product that’s poised to disrupt the market. In the days leading up to the event, dozens of companies are reengineering their PR strategies to draft from the announcement, or at least position themselves in a way that will make them look good, or at least prescrient, when the announcement is made. I noticed at least two companies doing this last week. First, the New York Times announced it would begin recharging its Web users for “frequent use,” a odd-but-clever reversal in the days before Apple is likely to unveil some new ideas for rescuing the media industry. Then we heard from Amazon, which announced its intention to develop an ecosystem for developers building on the Kindle, the one device most obviously threatened by the Apple tablet. Brace yourself, because this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can expect many other companies to position, reposition, and even contort themselves to fit into this week’s news-cycle.
I’m Latino2 — And You Can Be, Too
If I have learned anything about Latino communications in the past few months — the short amount of time that frames my personal “reawakening” — it’s that Latinos are quickly organizing themselves online, and the speed at which this is happening is remarkable. The folks at LatISM had a hunch last year that the time was right for an organization devoted to supporting — not dictating — this type of self-organization. And it’s all happening at a time when it matters more than ever that Latinos stand up and be counted — the months preceding the 2010 Census, a project that could have a significant impact on national priorities. But even without the census, Latinos have reason to stand up, be counted, and participate in the new conversations on Latino communications. The approach we are taking is the broaden the umbrella wide enough to allow for even livelier conversations. If you are “Latino too” — by origin or affinity (i.e., engaging with Latinos really matters to you) — come to Latino2. But don’t wait for April 30 to make yourself heard. If you can, come to our Tweetup (see details above) and take part in shaping the event from the start.
A “Senseable” World
Apologies all, for the long hiatus. This has happened to me before — the demands of my business pull me away from my blogging. But the demands were especially heavy last year, and the time I spent on the business these last few months will have some lasting benefit. Hope I can blog more in 2010. But in the meantime, I can share with you on this first day of the year where I think things are going. Not just in my business, but in the corporate communications industry in general. Things are really beginning to get interesting.
“Gaydar” Experiment Raises Eyebrows
As the article concludes, there are a number of public policy issues worth pondering here — and ponder them we will. But there are other ways that a technology company using such data can misstep: issuing “false positives.” About a dozen years ago, at a time when I was employed as a theater producer in the San Francisco Bay Area, I became a big customer of dramatic literature on Amazon. Soon after my first order, I began getting recommendations for books on topics like, oh, gay life in San Francisco. I was not in the least offended, but I was surprised to see that the mighty and famous Amazon recommendation engine was actually quite crude (at least back then). When you automate things like gaydar — or any idea for identifying people based on their explicit or implicit behavior — you not only expose yourself to public policy concerns but also run the risk of looking like a stooge. My Amazon experience was the e-commerce equivalent of the Turing Test — the idea that artificial intelligence will reach a milestone when a machine can “pass” for a human being. The false positive in 1997 simply reminded me that Amazon customer service was driven by machines, not human beings. Not a good thing for your customers to feel when you are attempting to persuade them to stop buying from people. Of course, Amazon has spent the past ten years perfecting its engine. But not without great care and expense.
The Unbundling of “Augmented Reality” — Behold the Bionic Eye
Critics of these various unbundlings claim that consumers will never allow themselves to be encumbered by new tech appendanges. But that’s what makes the contact lens so intriguing. There are many of us who would never wear glasses (too dorky). And there are many of us who would never wear contacts (too fussy). And I’d bet that there are even more of us who would never walk down the street pointing phones at people, places, and things (way too dorky). But with the options for “better vision” ever increasing, AR is beginning to look like it’s really going to happen. We’ve been dealing with the issues of vanity, usaability and technology-prosthetics for many generations. And we have learned a great deal. I trust that AR technologists and designers will get things right.
UK Apologizes for Persecuting Gay Scientist
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s formally apologized today for the country’s “appalling” treatment of WWII codebreaker and AI pioneer Alan Turning, who was prosecuted for gross indecency and sentenced to chemical castration in 1952. Two years later, Turing took his own life. Today’s announcement came following a petition that collected thousand of signatures from citizens calling for a posthumous apology.
Call Center Robots Will Answer the Most Annoying Questions
A Minneapolis company called Subjex is claiming a big first in artificial intelligence: a service that enables call centers to replicate the human voice — in text — for complex conversations with human beings…. I like the bits [in the press release] about “redundancy questions,” and simulating a call center’s “best employee.” How about the system’s ability to answer annoying questions? Much has been written about the dangers of robotic technology. But one of the big plusses is the capability of doing things that the best employee cannot — or simply will not — do.
AI Digest: 9/9/09. Hiring Spree at Robot Company.
Daily links on AI, IA and the place where social tech meets the two. Today: hiring spree at robot company; Koreans build massive robot; augmented reality apps roundup.
Nokia’s Future Product “Mix”?
For the uninitiated, augmented reality is a set of technologies that enable businesses to overlay data on top of a consumer’s view (say, over a mobile phone). The technologies have been embraced by an army of marketers and developers, mostly outside of the U.S. But with recent news that some U.S. mobile phones can now run augmented-reality applications, U.S. consumers can expect to hear a lot more about the category over the next few months. And what is Nokia’s vision? It’s a world turned on by augmented reality that doesn’t necessarily depend on the phone. That’s a rather evolved view for a phone manufacturer. But perhaps Nokia’s world, too, has become augmented.
AI Digest: 9/3/09. Robot Army Audition
Daily links on AI, IA, and the place where social tech meets the two. Today: robot army audition; augmented reality glasses; robots help kids with cerebral palsy.
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