Article The Future of the Web, Part 1 by Christopher Butler on June 30, 2009 In his December, 2007 Techlog column, PC World Editor in Chief Harry McCracken wrote, "More than any communications medium before it, the Web is a permanent work in progress that's always new." Since I read it, I've probably parroted McCracken's line a thousand times to clients, colleagues, friends, and family to the point that many of them probably think that I came up with it. I wish I was that brilliant. Sadly, I am not, nor am I able to actually see into the future with any certainty, though that does not keep me from thinking and talking about it constantly. Read Now About
Article Prospect Experience Design Mood Boards published on June 30, 2009 At Newfangled we recently began using Mood Boards as a first step in the design process to establish the branding, design components, typography, imagery, and color palettes that will be incorporated in a site's design. Mood Boards have proven very effective, but I have found that it is essential to clarify the distinction between these boards and the designs that will follow once a mood board has been approved. Read Now About
Article Clay Shirky on Social Media by Christopher Butler on June 26, 2009 The past couple of weeks in the news have truly highlighted how influential social media are as far as how we communicate globally and spread news. From the post-election unrest in Iran to the lightning-fast spread of the news of Michael Jackson's death, social networks like Twitter and Facebook are outpacing traditional news media significantly. Clay Shirky, in a recent TED Talk, shares his thoughts on how social media is influencing the course of politics and history. The video is about 17 minutes, but well worth your time to watch: Read Now About
Article Google’s Own Tips on Meta Descriptions published on June 16, 2009 Some clear suggestions from Google's Webmaster Central Blog on best practices for Meta Descriptions. Read Now About
Article Digital Preservation or Conservation? by Christopher Butler on June 5, 2009 Last week's episode of the Spark podcast featured a segment on digital preservation, a concept I'm interested in both from an organizational and practical point of view. The host interviewed Seamus Ross, Dean of the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. In the course of his interview, Ross mentioned "Digital Preservation and Nuclear Disaster," an animation about digital preservation, and the problem of bitrot, where storage media degrades such that software can't interpret the bitstream because some information has been lost. Ross also suggested that we should be storing entire databases of information (medical records, tax returns, etc.) for posterity because historians... Read Now About
Article Protect the Future… It’s the law? by Christopher Butler on June 4, 2009 This was an intriguing bit for all you futurists out there: Andrew Revkin, in his New York Times "Dot Earth" blog post, A Push to Stop Crimes Against the Future, quotes C.G. Weeramantry, a member of the council and former vice president of the International Court of Justice, who says, "We are today using international law in a heartless fashion, for we think only of those who are alive here and now and shut our eyes to the rest of the vast family of humanity who are yet to come..." Read Now About
Article Win Without Pitching Webinars by Mark O’Brien on June 2, 2009 Blair Enns, one of Newfangled's mentors, has an excellent two part webinar series coming up that I'd recommend to any agency that is interested in sharpening their positioning in order to increase their sales close rate. "Positioning Your Firm, Part 1: Strategy" and "Part 2: Language" are sure to be content-packed webinars with some valuable and immediately implementable takeaways. Read Now About
Article Are webinars part of your marketing strategy? by Christopher Butler on June 1, 2009 I just asked this question on LinkedIn. If you have an opinion on this, I'd love to hear it... Read Now About
Article A Practical Guide to Social Media by Christopher Butler on May 28, 2009 Social media is no longer a novelty. With the number of users of various social networks rising to pretty astonishing levels (Facebook, for example, has 200 million active users globally), it's clear that we've reached a point where social media has been well integrated into contemporary human culture. Now, the trick for all of us is how to practically integrate social media into how we operate professionally, which I expect will be at times fun, confusing, challenging, frustrating, and exhausting. Read Now About
Article Notes on Our Practical Guide to Social Media by Christopher Butler on May 28, 2009 I just published this month's newsletter, which is a practical guide to social media. Whether you're already immersed in it or you're still wondering how to best integrate it into your life and work, social media has probably been on your mind lately. I'm willing to bet that whichever state you find yourself in, user or lurker, you're probably still a bit overwhelmed. My goal here was to focus on some particular tools that offer some real practical value to you... Read Now About
