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Showing posts from May, 2020

Why do we need to create new words?

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An “authorism” is a word, phrase or name created by an author or journalist; a literary neologism. It was coined for the express purpose of giving a name to a book Authorism: Words Wrought by Writers Language, words and labels, are a common and creative invention of humans which enables us to shortcut detailed explanations. A dog is a short cut for mammal, fury, four legs, barks, teeth, friend, scout, alarm, protection to name a few. However, our choice of words; because they are a shortcut often lacks context and relationship.  We also use words to express and influence feelings and behaviours.  Love, for example, can mean, or be interpreted to mean many propositions depending on context and relationship. The 2019 update to the New Oxford Dictionary brings in the words “agender” and “intersexual” to help define better and enable more nuanced conversations about sexuality and gender identity, as society has words without the specific context and better words help us avoid conflict an

How and why does exponential stop, break or fail?

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There is a really simple part to this that we know or can imagine. Below is what exponential looks like as a single graph - Wikipedia gives us some fabulous coverage   However, what happened before the exponential curve and what happens at the end of the curve.  What conditions led to the curve starting and what conditions mean the curve changes at some point in the future.   Both before and after having three possible options It is just a small part of a much larger curve and the more you step back from the right now data and have more data over time you are able to see that this is just one massive curve that is a continuum (green) The previous curve reaches a plateau and a period of time enables the readying of the next curve.  (blue) The reduction in entropy (more order) that is a direct result of any curve has to be fully dispersed (return to chaos ) in full or in part before another curve can start (yellow), so the same/ similar resources can be used

The future of work - a paradox.

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The future of work is a question that is perpetual, as when ever you reach the new future of work, in the future, you need to think about the future of work.  For each generation, the future of work holds something different as they spring from the education world into a commercial mess.  The current #covid19 crisis has highlghted that work is an activity and not a place. The future of work in : 1960 was wanting to be more loved 1970 just hung on to your job 1980 was beat the competition, the end justifies the means 1990 be digital 2000 more, faster and cheaper 2010 was be more innovative 2020 I want to be useful and valued Right now, May 2020, hope in a future is a starting point 

Can brands step back into the void left by influencers and celebrities?

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Have you noticed that with a crisis and a focus on key workers and health, influencers and celebrity have become less important?  Did you notice that the products and services they endorsed, prompted and demanded you trust are not on your essential list? Did you notice that you did not notice that they were not there? Brands had definitely given ground, in terms of who the consumer turned to first, to social media influencers as we’re finding that the marketing KPI gave better value.  However, we also knew that whilst cheaper and somewhat more effective in terms of income generation per pound spent, this new middle person had also removed brands direct reach. The question, do or can brands step back into a direct relationship with consumers, do they want to and what would it mean?   Many did not have data on consumers and used social influences as a way to get data they could not imagine about their users, but has that access channel to the data been broken and where do brands turn to

In the context of AI, can a dog feel disappointment?

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This strange question needs to be unpacked and to confirm no aminal was hurt in the writing!  This post is NOT addressing do animals feel emotions.  Anyone who has had a mouse to an elephant can easily answer that question; animals do present what humans interrupt as feeling and emotions. Can a dog feel disappointment is the wrong question!   If the question is, can a dog feel doggy-disappointment, surly the answer is yes?   What is doggy-disappointment, we don’t know as we are unable to determine the gap of expectation between what the dog thought they were getting and what actually happened.   Why is this important? What do we really mean when we ask when we think about, “can a dog feel disappointment?”  Is it, can a dog process the same feelings and emotions as a human as we understand disappointment?  We project onto the dog what we think and understand, without knowing what the dog does understand.  Given that emotions are chemistry/ biology and our chemistry/biology is very diff

Can we thrive on the dark side of the moon?

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Image: Andrew McCarthy   https://www.instagram.com/p/B--9AFgJZ4-/ We know there will be normal on the other side of the lockdown and recession, but what is it and how will it be different? In seven weeks of lockdown, we have experienced seven years of process alternations and digital adaptations. If COVID19 had not emerged we would not have undertaken such digitization changes in such a time frame.  This pandemic has only just begun given the history of HIV which has just had its 40th birthday and SARS at 15, both complex viruses neither have vaccines.  We lack data right now and most of our actions are based on human hope and wishful thinking for better outcomes than the worst-case scenario. A new landscape It almost feels like we have been living on the lite side of the moon, seeing and understanding the layout of the land, its structure, our infrastructure and our connections.  The global pandemic has forced us to move to the other side of the moon, the side with no sunlight and w

Exploring the winding path from consent being requested to consent being given

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The purpose of this post is to explore the topic of CONSENT, which I have been writing about for over 6 years. I have unpacked consent in many articles and have concluded that as we unpack each layer of consent, we find that it is not what you thought it was. CONSENT is a mix of technology, ethics, policy, law, requirements, economics, data, marketing and trust to name a few. There are three paths leading from consent being requested to consent being agreed by the user. Path 1 is that you use your design skills to manufacture the users consent, using colour, fonts, buttons, processes with the intent to gain consent without interfering with the real business purpose. Lowest possible barrier. Path 2 is where we depend on each team (marketing, sales, operations and tech) doing their own thing and determine their own methods to gain and confirm consent to satisfy their requirements. Confusion often becomes evident Path 3 is where the organisation designs consent to be aligned to its own

An observation on the outcome of privacy

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The heated debate about privacy and rights has raged for years. More recently we have added verbs in front of the word privacy to open up a more nuanced reasoning that there is not one privacy. I remain thoughtful about data privacy and personal privacy as they end up with the same outcome which is that you are tracked and tracked in a digital world, even though the process flow to get to the same outcome is fundamentally different.

Qualifying our view on why we share and don’t share data!

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The question, “Is peanut butter good or bad for me?” frames many of the issues with questions that we pose. Peanut butter is neither good nor bad per say but a binary question ignores the complexity of the response that is needed. Is sharing data good or bad misses the complexity of what we believe, however qualifying why we do and don’t share data enables us to explore a more nuanced response. Fundamentally any question about sharing data should embrace two different starting positions and understand their impact on outcomes irrespective of agreements; we either believe that sharing data (in this case right now) increases value or decreases value. Why we share data Why we don’t share data I believe in transparency Transparency is a lie It will improve communication Communication will not improve I trust you I don’t trust you As a sign of commitment Sharing is not commitment Value for me will be created You will get the value I have nothing t