30 April 2009

David's Green Picks of the Week

Some interesting items this week. I may decide to merge Green Picks and #blogmonday - I'll ask Mark about it.

The Obama Effect: Is Clean Energy Outperforming? by Tom Konrad. In a word, yes.

America's Most Polluted Cities by Rebecca Ruiz. Poor air quality affects quality of life, which affects choices for jobs, and so on.

Anti-Green Economics by Paul Krugman. The left's economic Eeyore makes an interesting point.

Macca's Meaty Letter To Pammi
by Gordon Smart. Pretty sure this is my first link to a UK gossip column. And yes, it's a bit silly. But it's green.

28 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 8

We're making great progress and inching ever closer to 80 countries. We've blown past the first goal of 80 bloggers. Since the last update we've added Qatar, Cambodia, Denmark, Indonesia and Belgium to the list of countries. I count 206 posts from moms from or in 41 countries and representing 7 languages. I'm also aware of bloggers in two other countries who have said they plan to participate, and through the tags we're reaching into countries such as Thailand and Niger. I'm fairly certain I haven't found all the posts - "trackbacks" aren't as reliable as I'd like them to be, and I noticed some bloggers aren't linking back to Catherine so they're a bit harder to find.

I also think Catherine's original post is getting filled up so much with comments I'm thinking blogger has some issues keeping track of all the links. The people at Global Voices Online continue to demonstrate their awesomeness, reaching out to bloggers and providing coverage in many languages, all while managing very demanding day jobs. They continue to amaze me.

This continues to be a largely expat, mostly English-language phenomenon, though we're now up to 7 languages. That may be simply because of the circles these bloggers travel, it may be that language barriers are fairly substantial in the blogosphere, or it may simply be that expats are active bloggers.

Additions since the last update:

Denmark: Mads & Kelli
Indonesia: The Milk Bar
Cambodia: Forty-Two
Qatar: Starting Up
Belgium: Heaven is in Belgium
Ireland: Secret Diaries of a Wannabe Yummy Mammy
France: Peperuka
Canada: Dispatches From The Failed Mommies Club, Miss Columbina, Reflections in the Snow Covered Hills
USA: JJ Lasberg, Graceful Creative, A Simple Family, for a different kind of girl, Barriers, Bridges and Books, Baby & Mom Blog, She Laughs at the Days, Oscarelli, Homeschool Etc
Singapore: Me, My Hubby & Our Baby, aalochane
Finland: puhti, On sus
New Zealand: tiny happy, speckled egg
UK: 280 Days Later, 3 Bedroom Bungalow, Little Mummy
India: Five Senses, Everyday Life, sloc's home (our second dad), Violet
Australia: The Adventures of Deep Kick Girl Down Under
Japan: Illahee's blog
Malaysia: Sew & Stitch

As always, if you don't see your post here or at the delicious links page, or you're aware of one that isn't here, just let us know via comment or email.

I may start liking Mondays

Just got back to town late last night and there's a big "World According To Mom" update coming soon. I have to show some props to my pal Mark Story for coming up with #Blogmonday (and of course, the link love). I am very pleased to be part of his inaugural step here and I'm looking forward to rumaging through the links, and I'll be offering my own suggestions.

Mark seems to be focused on the social media "blog about blogging" crowd, and that's cool. There are a lot of those. Frankly, most are crap from people who don't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic. ("Twitter" is not a strategy.)

Besides Mark, Here are four people who actually get it:

Susan Getgood
Kami Huyse
Todd Defren
Jason Falls

Go read them if you want to know what's what. I hope to have more elaborate posts on this stuff soon...

24 April 2009

Breather

I'll be traveling on Monday, so updates for The World According To Mom will resume later in the week. I'm almost certain we'll have more than 200 posts by the next update (we may have them by the end of today). Check out the original post from HBM and the Global Voices Online coverage for more.

Meantime, here's a shout out to the guy who writes Digital Metropolis, who told me in confidence that this is his all-time favorite song EVAH, but really likes it a capella...

23 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 7

Slowly but surely, we're creeping toward 80 countries. The global mom meme that started with Her Bad Mother adds New Zealand, Turkey and Japan to the list. (Apparently all it took was calling out the Kiwis.) The 80clicks delicious links page now includes 172 posts from bloggers in or from 36 countries and features posts in six languages.

There are 44 countries to go before we reach the goal, and I think we're in very good shape. There are still a number of countries I considered to be somewhat "easy gets" when this started - Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, and Mexico - plus dozens of countries where we'd certainly find at least one blogger. So if you know a blogging mother in any of these countries, please let us know.

The Global Voices Online team continues to be amazingly helpful and supportive. They've referred a Russian-language blog as well as brought in a number of French-language posts. They're even doing outreach within their impressive network.

New additions since the last update:

New Zealand: 2 B's mommy
Turkey: a pink canary's nest
Japan: Gaijin Mama
Finland: ripaus inkivaaria, Blueberry Fields, fridulina, lapset nukkuu
USA: The Making of a Mum, sarah-ji, Ryan & Michelle +3, Kodimeow Kronicles, A Mother Is Born
Canada: The whole ball of wax in a nutshell, Pengelly Pastimes
UK: A Brief Aside #14, English Mum
India: Life is a box of chocolates, Crazy mum, A Celebration called Life, Inexplicably, Motherhood and all that jazz
Pakistan: Rites Of Passage
United Arab Emirates: A Goofy Mumma's Happy Blog
France: Eclats
Singapore: Moppet Tales
Australia: Liferightnow, Blurb from the Burbs

As always, if you don't see your post on the list, let us know by comment or email. This is really shaping up to be quite a project.

22 April 2009

Beyond Bizlex: John Calipari as Kentucky's Next Economic Stimulus

The Lexington media has dedicated more prominent coverage to John Calipari's arrival as the University of Kentucky men's basketball coach than it did to President Obama on election day and the next week.

So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and write a column for Business Lexington about the new coach. I think this guy has the potential not only to bring the basketball program to its former prominence, but give the community a real shot in the arm.

This is a bit risky - the last two successful basketball coaches in this town left shortly after I wrote columns about them. So if John Calipari suddenly leaves, I suppose it's my fault.

Obligatory Earth Day Post

Each year I celebrate Earth Day by NOT sending lousy pitch emails to green bloggers about how some company has decided to use recycled paper or compact fluorescent light bulbs to demonstrate "bold leadership" on the environment.

If you need Earth Day as an angle to talk about the environment, you're probably a poser.

And if you waited until this week to talk about your Earth Day communications strategy, you're probably an idiot.

So my green picks of the week:

A Very Smart Plan for Federal Smart Grid Grants by John Petersen
Congress Begins "Mother of All Climate Weeks" by Brian Merchant
12 Endangered Animals That People Still Eat by Alex Felsinger

And remember - even if you're sending Earth Day cards on recycled paper, a tree still had to die.

21 April 2009

Where WOMMA Has It Wrong

I got a note yesterday from a friend in the PR business asking my take on the FTC's proposed guidance on "sponsored conversation" online. I got a similar question from another PR pro at my social media presentation last week. Essentially the Federal Trade Commission is considering imposing penalties on bloggers and/or advertisers who make false or misleading claims about products online.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association has been very active in the rulemaking process here, and that's a good thing. I think they're spot on when they insist that bloggers and/or marketers and advertisers fully disclose any financial arrangement related to a blog post or a product review. I also think that people (no matter where they work) should be held accountable if they knowingly make false or misleading statements that have a financial impact. WOMMA's comments to the FTC are based on their ethical code, which is generally sound.

There's one part of their ethical code (pdf) that poses a serious problem, however:
We stand against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier, or one of their representatives to make recommendations, reviews, or endorsements.
WOMMA certainly wants bloggers to review products - online product reviews are very valuable. They will certainly continue to ask bloggers to review products. They just think it's unethical to pay bloggers for them. I think this is because another model exists, one with which marketing & PR types are comfortable - traditional journalism outlets where an employee of a publication draws a salary as a "reviewer" and doesn't take compensation from companies. (Of course, that publication takes ad revenue, but that's another story.)

But here's the thing - BLOGGERS ARE NOT JOURNALISTS, no matter how inconvenient that is for marketing people. They aren't compensated for their time by a third party. They've spent their time and resources building a following as a personal publisher (hat tip to Bicycle Mark for that term) and now WOMMA wants the value associated with that following and the credibility of the blogger to help market a product. In exchange for that item of value, WOMMA is prepared to give - what, exactly?

I see the issue in three hypothetical discussions between a PR/marketing person and a blogger. First, the conversation as it typically exists today:
PR guy: Hey, love your blog. I noticed a lot of people read it. I'd like you to take this product and tell your readers what you think about it.

Blogger: Thanks, this is somewhat interesting but I'm not inclined to give you a free ad on my blog, and my time is worth something too.

PR guy: OK, if your time is worth x and you spend y time, here's xy. Just disclose this payment, please.

Blogger: Cool. I'm on it. Send me the stuff.

Now here's the conversation under WOMMA's code of ethics:
PR guy: Hey, love your blog. I noticed a lot of people read it. I'd like you to take this product and tell your readers what you think about it.

Blogger: Thanks, this is somewhat interesting but I'm not inclined to give you a free ad on my blog, and my time is worth something too.

PR guy: Sorry, paying you to review this product violates my code of ethics.

Blogger: But you had no problem asking me to provide you a service for free. That's some code of ethics you have there.
Of course, that means we'll be seeing a lot more of this conversation:
PR guy: Hey, love your blog. I noticed a lot of people read it. I'd like you to take this product and tell your readers what you think about it.

Blogger: Go away.
Most bloggers are not journalists, but many are entrepreneurs (often women entrepreneurs), and I think this is something the FTC must consider as they develop guidance on this issue. They have a right and an obligation to protect consumers from false or misleading statements that influence commerce, regardless of the forum. But because they're FTC, they should recognize that online personal publishing technology has brought about a new self-proprietor business model that doesn't really resemble a traditional trade or consumer publication - the "review blogger." FTC should consider the restraint of trade issues that threaten a new generation of technology-inspired entrepreneurs - bloggers.

Online moms don't have a trade organization fighting for their rights at the FTC. Marketing companies do. The FTC is right to insist on disclosure and accountability. Here's hoping the FTC looks out for the small, often mom-based business and entrepreneur as well.

20 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 6

It's been another busy few days for the global mom-meme launched by Her Bad Mother. We've surged past the first goal of finding 80 moms - we're over 140 and rising. Now there's that thing about finding bloggers in 80 different countries. That's still a challenge - we're at 32 (UPDATE - 33, see below). The full list of posts that I've found is here. For this update we're adding bloggers from three new countries to the list -- Singapore, Finland and Pakistan -- plus a number of bloggers from countries we've already found.

The people at Global Voices Online have been outstanding. They've reported on the project in English, Spanish, French, and Bangla. (BANGLA!) This should prove very helpful because we're only slowly pushing through language barriers. (Our first contribution in Finnish is in this update.)

We've gotten many posts from the US, Canada, India and Australia, which isn't all that surprising. Now comes the hard part - finding more countries. I expected things to start getting challenging after about 25 countries, but I'm pleasantly surprised that some of what I think are the more "gettable" countries are still out there. (Time to step up, Kiwis.) I've also noticed bloggers in countries like Turkey, Russia, Denmark and Jordan have been tagged.

The delicious links page is already proving useful. Teachermommy in Michigan (USA) already thumbed through the list and picked out a few of her favorites. I hope we see more of that, and I hope the moms start linking to and chatting with each other.

Here are the additions since the last update:

Singapore: Squiggles Mom
Finland: lista asioista (in Finnish and English)
Pakistan: mom on the outside, babe on the inside
India: Sunny Days, where the mind wanders, sur notes, The Munchkin Blog, Life of Our darling Prince, Bringing Up Adi, Musings from Mumbai, Word Junkie
Australia: Life with Pipette, A Memory Forever, Baino's Banter
USA: Red Pen Mama, Hortus Delicartum, Daisy Bones, This Wabi Sabi Life, Sundar Narayanans Travelog (our first dad!), Enjoy Indian Food, Winkie's Way
Egypt: Living in Egypt
China: tiny tidbits
Spain: Expat Mama (yes, that problem again, I know)
South Africa: Mom de Plume
UK: Notes from Inside My Head

As always, reach out if you don't see yourself here or on the delicious links page.

UPDATE: Make that 33 countries. Add Portugal to the list. Mae da Mafaldinha joins the fun, in English and Portugese. And thanks to the comment, I learn the GVO coverage in French is already having an impact. Gabi in France tells me she read the coverage from Global Voices and joined in on her blog, I Love You Baby. Julie Adore, a "Russian Mom in France," does as well on her blog, conveniently titled Julie Adore. Not sure to call this our first "Russian" post yet.

17 April 2009

Obligatory Baseball Post

Have a great weekend.

David's Green Picks of the Week

A handful of items this week. Envirobloggers, brace yourselves for the avalanche of lousy Earth Day email pitches from PR flacks...

A New, Open Source Model of Car Design Emerges by Paul Smith. Paul is one of those people who stays a step ahead of everyone else on environmental entrepreneurship. He's looking at collaborative design ideas for the next clean car - and frankly, I'm not sure why we didn't think of this before.

Florida Announces World's First Solar-Powered City by Ariel Schwartz. Obviously cool but the drawings have sort of a "Logan's Run" look to them. Creepy. And while I think it's great that we're building things that rely on renewable energy, two things come to mind. First, Florida is kinda overbuilt right now anyway. Second, even if the power you use is renewable and clean you don't want to depend on just one form of energy. One of our problems right now is we're too reliant on oil. Solar is better, but a diverse portfolio of renewable energy is best. The whole "solar-powered city" seems a bit gimmicky.

Environmental Politics On Twitter: Who To Follow by Tim Hurst. Yeah, ok, so I like the guy. But you have to admit this is handy.

Future Now: Solar Plug-in Stations by Preston Koerner. Yeah, ok, so I like this guy too. But maybe the solar-powered city guys might want to take a look at this.

A Vision for High Speed Rail by the White House. There's already $8 billion in the stimulus bill for this. Ten high-speed rail corridors will compete for this funding. If they pull this off, it's going to make a difference for years to come.

16 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 5

Her Bad Mother's global mom-meme continues to grow. Now that bloggers from Ireland, the Netherlands, and Malaysia have joined in, I count more than 110 posts in or from 29 countries, and I know posts from more countries are on the way.

Global Voices Online continues to be enormously helpful - Solana Larsen published a story and issued the call to her global readership. I think that brought more attention from a global audience. I still find only posts in English (save one in English & Spanish) so I'm not sure that the meme will break much of a language barrier. We still haven't seen posts from countries I thought would join quickly - Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland and Brazil, to name just a few - But I do know bloggers in places like Turkey and Pakistan have been tagged and/or are drafting posts.

One cool feature I haven't mentioned before - the 80clicks delicious page has an RSS feed so bloggers can easily add links to the blogs on the list as they're updated, or you can build rss widgets, or you can put the feed in your reader of choice.

Here are the additions since the last update:

Norway: American in Norway, Being More Through Having Less
USA: Don't Ask Me, I Just Work Here, Neurotic, Yet Classy, G's Blue Eyes, ana na uwr, a life reconstructed
Ireland: Irish Mammy On The Run, Jen's Rantings, Arty Feminist, mammydiaries
Canada: Kami's Khlopchyk
Sweden: Happysilly
UK: Diary of a Mad Mammy (she's in Northern Ireland)
India: The Mad Momma, Eve's Lungs, Of This And That, It's A Mom's World
Malaysia: Twopointthree kids, Sixpointsix ideas on raising them
Netherlands: Diligent Candy
Australia: Frog Ponds Rock, Life Or Something Like That, Memoirs2Cherish

As always, if you don't see yourself here (or more importantly at the 80clicks delicious page) just reach out via comment or email. And thanks to all who have participated and reached beyond borders!

UPDATE: Apparently I missed Beneath the Wings in Israel. Thanks to @mominisrael for letting me know via Twitter!

15 April 2009

AP Has Already Lost

The Associated Press has launched a very aggressive campaign to protect its intellectual property - and its revenue - from other online sources, particularly blogs. The campaign features some angry, if a bit cliche, language from its current Chairman:
We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories. We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more.
AP, Please don't sue me.

Julian Sanchez at Ars Technica posits another point of view on the subject, and John Aravosis at Americablog points out that AP may not be practicing what it preaches.

I had a long diatribe planned about technology and social media and journalism and economics and legal theory. But I'll spare you all that drivel and ask one thing of AP.

I'd like AP to provide some examples of what they think constitutes "fair use" of their content. If they won't, then they just can't be taken seriously.

This is an organization that tried to charge bloggers $12.50 for using as little as FIVE WORDS from an article. And this is an organization who threatened to sue people for using the embed codes AP provided when they posted videos to YouTube.

I realize AP is "non-profit," but when litigation (or the threat of it) is at the core of your business strategy, you've already lost.

13 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 4

The momentum continues for the global mom-meme started at Her Bad Mother. I've found more than 85 moms in 26 countries all sharing what they love about being a mother. Here are the additions I've found - and I stress "I've found" because I'm almost certain there are a number of posts I haven't found yet:

USA: so-so stephanie, Mommy Needs 5 Minutes, Here Only, Toni Johnson, Keep it Together, Zebrabelly, Life As I Live It, It's My Life - Now or Never, From Here To There And Everywhere
Canada: A little bit of Momsense, Frog and Toad are Still Friends, Loulou's Views, Canadian Mom (something seems to be wrong with this link)
Italy: An American Mom In Tuscany
Korea: Expatriate Games, Domestic Bliss in South Korea, A Quest for Cuteness, Mama Seoul
South Africa: Supermom
Sweden: annapernilla, at hanna
India: The not-so artful dodger, Hip-Hop Grandmom
France: Poppy Fields,
Bahrain: Hypnotic Verses
China: Notes from an Escalator, Email From The Embassy
Morocco: Planet Nomad

The meme remains dominated by expats so I'm still trying to find the right standard for countries. In this case the bloggers in Italy, Bahrain and Morocco are all American, and at least one of the bloggers in Korea is a Canadian expat - but they all seem to have something that convinces me it's ok to list them in that country.

I know that other bloggers in Ireland, Italy and Norway have expressed an interest in participating, and I have also seen bloggers "tagged" in countries like Hungary, Singapore, El Salvador, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. Still, there are plenty of countries out there that are fairly well "wired" that havent joined yet, so there's a lot left to do. The people at Global Voices Online continue to help - over the weekend they identified a bunch of blogging mothers in, of all places, the Sultanate of Brunei.

That's the update for now - there will be more. All mothers in all countries are welcome to participate and tag - simply reach out via email or comment to be added to the list...

12 April 2009

SHIFT Happens 2.0

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it - Happy Passover as well.

My Uncle passed this video on to my wife and me a while back, and my wife reminded me of it recently. It seems like a good set-up for a presentation I'm giving later this week and an upcoming post on the AP IP brouhaha.



And yes, there will be more "World According to Mom" updates soon.

09 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 3

At this point more than 60 bloggers in or from 23 countries have participated in the global mom-meme that Catherine Connors launched last week. That's more than 25 percent of the goal in a very short time. We've also had one dad ask if he could join.

I'll leave the commentary on motherhood to Catherine, at least for now. I do have some observations about how this has grown so far.

First, all but one of the participating posts I've seen to date are in English. That's the language in which this started, but I'm hoping it will travel across linguistic barriers as much as geographic ones. I know the folks at Global Voices Online will be chiming in soon so maybe that will change.

Second, a lot of the participating bloggers are expats, and that is raising a number of interesting questions. For the purposes of getting 80 bloggers in 80 countries, do you consider an American expat in Germany a "German" blogger? What about an Indian mom in Switzerland? Or a Brit in Bosnia? Or a Nigerian in the USA? At first I thought I'd call them whatever gets us to 80 countries fastest, but now I'm going with the self-identification of the blogger. I'd love to know people's opinions here. Still, its interesting that this meme is "traveling" on the backs of people who do a lot of traveling themselves.

Third, I'm a bit surprised that we haven't yet seen bloggers from some of the more wired countries like Ireland, New Zealand, Finland, Korea, Japan, or Italy. I guess that means we've already gotten some of the "harder" countries.

Finally, this idea is starting to get some attention - it was highlighted on blogs.com.

I'm sending occasional updates on Twitter and the delicious page. More updates here as events warrant.

Here are the additions since the last update:

Bolivia: Capsula Del Tiempo (bilingual!)
USA: Daily Dwelling (in Germany, but identifies as US), Bethany Actually, Deliajude, life is good, And I'll Raise You 5, Whiskey In My Sippy Cup, And I Sing To Myself What a Wonderful World
Egypt: Heissatopia
France: Whale Ears and Other Wonderings, Momster
Canada: Hey, Mrs. Wilson!, Canadian Mom
Oman: Daily Dose of Me
China: Bloomin' Marvelous, Email From The Embassy
Trinidad and Tobago: Things I've Found In Pockets
India: Boo's Baby Talk, Mamma of Twins
UK: A Modern Mother
Bosnia: Brits in Bosnia (here's where I run into that self-identification issue)
Guatemala: Expat Mom

Remember, if you're participating and don't see your post included here or the delicious page, just let us know by leaving a comment and/or an email.

08 April 2009

David's Green Picks of the Week

A few good ones this week.

The Role of New and Social Media in Environmental Politics and Activism with Tim Hurst
(podcast) by Sean Daly. I've known Tim for a little while now and he's one of those guys who puts his money where his mouth is. He puts his name on the (local) ballot because he wants to be a positive force for change, and he "gets it" on social media. I respect that.

Why Going Vegetarian For One Day Will Help Stop Global Warming by Brian Liloia. Suddenly that steak & cheese is looking a bit less appetizing.

What a long, strange trip: lifecycle assessment
by Jeff McIntire Strasburg. He's one of my all-time favorite bloggers and he's working with Sundance. Very cool.

How Can We Fix the Green Trust Gap?
by Triplepundit. Some thoughts on what consumers want and how they verify that companies aren't greenwashing.

07 April 2009

The World According To Mom: Update 2

This thing is really taking off. Since Catherine launched the global mom-meme, I have found about 40 posts from moms in or from 14 different countries. Moms in at least a half dozen other countries have already been tagged, and a Korean-American mom group blog called Kimchi Mamas has put the call out for Korean bloggers to participate.

Posts are bookmarked and tagged by country at the 80clicks delicious page. It's going to get much harder to keep track of everything, so if you're participating and want to be added to the list please leave a comment either here or at Catherine's post so we can make sure you are represented.

We've already seen a lot of creativity displayed. One mom chose to describe her "five things I love about being a mother" in pictures. Another wrote a graduation speech. Some use humor. Others are remarkably introspective.

One observation, and this isn't surprising - so far all the posts I've found are in English. Our friends at Global Voices Online are constantly traveling the world and it takes time for their editors and volunteers to do what they do best - but they've also been spreading the word and they've been very helpful - many of the bloggers they identified are already participating.

Since the last update, here are the additions - and again, apologies if I've missed you. Just reach out to make sure you're included.

Dubai: Sandier Pastures
Spain: Oreneta Aground
Sweden: Fine Little Day
The Philippines: A Filipina Mom Blogger
South Africa: So Close, Expensive Mistakes and Cheap Thrills, and The Jackson Files
Lithuania: Travel Shifts
Nigeria: It Was So Much Easier When I Had Only One
Kuwait: Chocolate Mints In A Jar
Israel: Around The Island
USA: Secret Agent Josephine, My Life As A Hotfessional, Notes From a Scattered Mind, Too Many Hats, Thinking About..., Ma Vie Folle, Coastal Carolina Moms, A Design So Vast, The Mama Beth, Adventures In Paradise, Send Chocolate NOW!!!, IIDLYYCKMA, Trees And Flowers and Birds, Is There Any Mommy Out There, and Mothergoosemouse
Canada: Psychic Geek, Dutch Blitz, Blog Like No One Else is Reading, Chaos Theory, Attack of the Redneck Mommy, and A Day In The Life... One Glass At A Time
Australia: Magnetoboldtoo

This is moving so fast I'll probably just add the RSS feed of the delicious page so people can find links here without me having to write long posts, but I may still announce new countries and of course provide a list of 80 links in 80 countries when we get there.

And we WILL get there.

06 April 2009

Speech Clouds: President Obama Abroad

I just love these things from Wordle - especially when they're used as tools for comparison.

President Obama's prepared remarks at a town hall in Strasbourg:



And in Prague:



And in Ankara:



Each speech had a certain purpose. The Strasbourg remarks seemed to be about repairing the US' relationship with Europe generally and showing the world that the US has changed. The speech in Prague talked about ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Finally, the Ankara speech opened a door to the Muslim world. Rhetorically the clouds bear this out, I think.

Beyond BizLex: Mark Story

I haven't written a column for Business Lexington in a while, so I'm very pleased that I had a chance to blend a little business, a little policy, and a little social media all in one column.

Mark Story is a Red Sox fan, which clearly demonstrates his high intelligence, wholesome values, and gregarious charisma. He's also an old pal. But since my editor at BizLex doesn't want a column about 2 pals talking baseball, I figured I'd ask him about his gig as the Director of New Media at the Securities Exchange Commission.

Mark and I had a good chat about the work the SEC does on investor education - it's not the work SEC is known for most, but it's clearly a critical facet of their work. I was grateful for the opportunity to showcase this part of their mission, and learn more about how they're using social media to get the word out. Here's our Q&A transcript.

We all know about SEC's role as an enforcer, but not as much is known about the SEC's role in Investor Education. In today's economy, shouldn't the SEC promote this as well?

Without question. Investor education is one of the main focuses of the SEC. The best defense against fraud is a well-informed investor. As the Securities and Exchange Commission, we can’t tell investors which investments to make (or not make), but we certainly offer sound, unbiased advice on how to make wise choices and avoid fraud. There is an enormous amount of investor-focused information on our at site www.sec.gov/investor.shtml.

Another investor-focused approach at the SEC is using social media. While the SEC Web site receives millions of visits each month, other social media platforms present the opportunity to talk to people not just from our Web site, but on sites that they are comfortable with and where they get information. These are platforms like podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and mobile Web sites. One of my main areas of focus is to improve the quality and quantity of investor-focused information on our Web site, but also ensure that it appears in places where people already are online.

How can enhanced investor education programs improve the economy?

Our economic downturn can be partially attributed to a lack of consumer confidence. I believe strongly that increased consumer confidence will help our economy rebound — and the best way to build up your confidence in investing in securities is to have as much information as you can — in short, to be a well- informed investor.

Educating investors in good times and bad means that they can make informed and confident decisions. There are a variety of tools on the SEC Web site that take investors through the entire process: making a financial plan, determining your risk tolerance, choosing the investment products that are right for you, picking a financial professional and finally, avoiding problems and fraud.

Mainstream or traditional media seems to be focused on crisis and scandal. How can the SEC get its Investor Education message out there if the media isn't willing to cover it right now?

The SEC is 75 years old and crises, some serious and some fleeting, come and go. What is constant is the fact that the SEC has been and will continue to be a leading voice for educating investors in the United States. I take the view that especially when there is fraud in the securities marketplace, our investor education message is more important than ever. Sure, there are only so many inches in a column, but we have not wavered from our core messages of investing wisely and avoiding fraud.

Many people think of the SEC as the stodgy, old-school haven of CEO types who take pride in the fact that they can't use a computer. Is this an accurate assessment?

Not at all. In addition to some of the most sophisticated internal tools for managing company filings and making them available for public examination (again, providing transparency that helps investors make better decisions), we have adopted technology tools that enable us to reach our stakeholders in new ways — ways that are right for them.

For example, the SEC was only the second government agency to use Twitter (a microblogging platform that enables us to send 140 character messages to our “followers”). We have three accounts: one for investors (twitter.com/SEC_Investor_Ed), one for members of the media (twitter.com/SEC_News) and even one for job seekers (twitter.com/SEC_Jobs). Since last year, we have also developed and disseminated podcasts, audio that enables users to listen to SEC new and views when it is convenient for them — while they are at the gym, driving to work, or sitting a computer. We are going to significantly ramp up our podcasts in the coming weeks. Moreover, video is a powerful tool for communicating messages, and we are in the process of building out a You Tube channel (www.youtube.com/SECViews) to communicate with market participants.

Finally, we have built a mobile Web site (m.sec.gov) so that market participants or reporters “on the go” can get the latest SEC press releases, and other information and even search our Web site. Our efforts are based upon putting the information out in a way that is convenient and timely for people who follow us.

While many government agencies are suddenly going "2.0," the SEC is one of a handful of agencies that had a full-time "new media" position in the previous Administration. Does this give you a bit of a head start over other agencies? Are they looking at the SEC for examples of success?

I would not say that we have a “head start” because there are many smart and dedicated people in other government agencies who have done some amazing work. I think that there will be many doors opened in the coming years for use of “Web 2.0” tools and government.

What can you share regarding the SEC's plans for social media in 2009 and beyond? How will it enhance the SEC's mission?

It’s really a two part answer: what is on the short-term horizon and what is over the horizon. For the short term, we will be launching a “micro site” strictly for investors in the coming weeks, one that contains much of the excellent investor education information that we produce, but that is presented in a way that makes it easier to find, understand and digest – and is targeted specifically for investors.

Second, in the near future, we will be developing the capacity to enable our stakeholders to choose an area of interest and receive email alerts when we issue information in which they have expressed an interest. For example, if you visit the SEC.gov, enter your email address and check a box that says “Investors Alerts,” whenever the SEC issues an alert for investors, you will automatically receive an email with that alert. It will be a great way to communicate directly with investors and other market participants. Look for it in the next couple of months.

As for the “over the horizon” issue, one of my main responsibilities is to keep a close eye on emerging technologies, and when appropriate, put them to good use for American taxpayers. Anyone who claims to know what the “next big thing” is probably doesn't, but 17 months ago, who predicted that Twitter would have seven million followers? Who knew that Facebook would develop 170 MILLION members? I take my responsibility seriously to monitor what is “new and improved” in the social media space, stay up-to-date and make sure that if something appears that is useful, we consider it strongly.

Is there anything I should have asked but didn't?

Nah.

03 April 2009

The World According to Mom: Update 1

We're off and running. Since Catherine wrote her post launching The World According To Mom, we've seen posts in six countries:

Canada (obviously, it's Catherine)
USA: Somewhere in the Suburbs, Gas-Food-Lodging, Diapers and Dragons, Tangerine Times
Israel: A Mother in Israel
France: BurkinaMom in France
Australia: My Glass Half Full
China: Expat in China!

Another person actually STARTED blogging because she read Catherine's post. While I don't know what country she's in her blog is called a.k.a Mama.

We're also expecting posts from bloggers from or in The Philippines, Sweden, India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Kuwait, plus at least a couple more from Canada.

We now have a delicious links page that tags the posts by country for people to see and share and we'll update it as we find more moms participating in the meme. If you'd like to let us know you've written, leave a comment here or at Catherine's departure lounge post and you will get added.

We're going to be reaching out to bloggers who don't write in English, thanks to the great people over at Global Voices Online - they've been enormously supportive and helpful. Amira Al Hussaini and Solana Larsen have really stepped up.

I also want to thank the Israeli Consulate in New York City for being actively interested in this project via Twitter at @IsraelConsulate. A number of people have re-tweeted and expressed interest, so this is really starting to take off.

More updates soon...

01 April 2009

The World According To Mom

A while back I discussed an idea with a couple of bloggers - it would be great to demonstrate how "global" many online communities truly are. Find bloggers with common backgrounds or interests all over the world, and ask them to discuss a specific topic.

Of course, reading bloggers from virtually any country is easy today - just go to Global Voices Online and start clicking.

But what if we did it with bloggers in one specific online community, one that transcended borders? And what if that community, from a global perspective, has been marginalized in politics and media to a certain extent - despite its enormous value?

What if we could use social media to help amplify their voices, strengthen their bonds with each other, and teach the rest of the world a thing or two?

So today, together with some impressive bloggers, we're launching "The World According To Mom: Around the World in 80 Clicks."

We're going to try to find 80 mom bloggers in 80 different countries to write a post in response to a meme Catherine "Her Bad Mother" Connors develops.

I can't think of two better people with whom to try this. Catherine has been a force in the blogosphere, especially among moms, for some time now. She's giving some thought to what we'd ask moms in 80 different countries to share with the world, and providing an intellectual and emotional rudder to this project. Amira Al Hussaini is the Regional Editor for the Middle East and Africa at Global Voices - I interviewed her about her amazing project, Voices without Votes, for a Business Lexington column a few months ago. She's graciously offered to help us find bloggers in 80 countries. I'm essentially a worker bee here - part recording secretary, part dot-connector, part publicist.

Catherine was on the faculty at the University of Toronto, so she's accustomed to giving out assignments. She's developed a straightforward, inclusive and powerful meme for online moms across the world: Describe five things you love about being a mom. Amira Al Hussaini and GVO's Managing Editor, Solana Larsen, have already been enormously helpful finding online moms in scores of countries, and they've offered help with translation, an obviously critical aspect of this project.

As this progresses, I'll be posting links to all the moms in all the countries so you can actually go "around the world" in 80 mouse clicks. I'll also tweet with a hashtag - #globalmoms.

I'm hoping we get more than 80 - we'll soon see. If you're interested in participating - whatever country you're in and whatever language you speak -I hope you'll join in by writing your post, linking to friends, and letting us know by commenting at Catherine's post or here, or sending an email.

When we're completed, I'm hoping we'll have an amazing collection of perspectives on motherhood. I'm excited to see what moms across the world have in common, or how opinions differ. I'm also excited to read GVO's take on this, and Catherine's reactions once this is complete.

I realize it's somewhat odd for a man, and a PR flack at that, to help kick this off. But the "mom-o-sphere" has been the focus of much of my work for years now, and I've come to learn a few things. With all due respect to those (actually rather smart) people who consider "mommyblogs" (I don't like this term either, Liz) to be "media properties" or offer "helpful hints" on pitching them, maybe this will remind us all that online moms exist for something other than the convenience of marketing and PR people.

But this isn't about me, and it's much bigger than whatever PR flacks are talking about. . Once it starts, it belongs to all the people who participate in it and it will exist for the reasons they say it does - that's what "social media" is all about.

Seriously, people, it's not a lecture.

My Italian Grandmother's (God Rest Her Soul) Secret Family Recipie

I'll be candid with all of my readers - OK, both of my readers - I'm really upset with my mom these days.

No, she hasn't really done anything that bad or said anything wrong. My mom (and her brothers) have a proud Italian-American heritage, but they're a little comical at times. I like to say we think we're cast in "The Godfather" but we're actually more like the cast of "Moonstruck." (Movie buffs might get this.) But there's one stereotype of Italian-Americans I really wish my mom would resemble more closely.

It's her cooking.

My grandmother was the best cook I ever knew. (This may be offensive, but my grandmother's cooking totally puts your grandmother's cooking to shame. Put up an argument if you want but it won't matter.) I'm the pickiest eater ever and her food was AWESOME. I have such a love of the memory of her cooking that I still use her garlic press in the hope that I can channel her culinary spirit in anything I cook. Whenever I smell garlic and onions simmering in olive oil I still think of her.

And what does my mother do with this proud family legacy? WHAT DOES SHE DO?

She makes tofu lasagna.

TOFU.

IN LASAGNA.

This is so wrong, on so many levels, that I can't even begin to describe to you the utter pain, betrayal, and anguish I feel over this. Tofu does NOT belong in lasagna. It doesn't. There are some things you just can't compromise on in life and this is mine.

I've reasoned with mom. I've asked her to make a lasagna like grandma made. But NO. She talks all about being "healthy" and mentions something that sounds like it ends in "esterol" - blah blah blah, I don't really pay attention once she says she won't make grandma's cooking.

My grandmother - God rest her soul - is no doubt rolling over in her grave about this. So if I can't free her spirit, I'm gonna free her cooking. The key to any lasagna is the gravy. So despite the risk of being disowned by my mother and the rest of my family, I am going to publish my grandmother's super-secret, how-could-you-share-this-you-disrespectful-heathen Italian gravy recipe.

If my family refuses to speak with me again, I understand. Please realize I HAD to do this.

Here it is. Deep breath.

Ingredients: Whatever is in the house

Wake up early. Place ingredients in an old, large saucepot. Simmer all day. Serve hot.