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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention

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Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, Bite-Sized Edits, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

  1. How to Win the Clash of Civilizations – The Wall Street Journal. "The late Harvard political scientist, Samuel Huntington, talked about the ‘Clash of Civilizations,’ a model of global conflict that is in sharp contrast to the idealistic Western view of nations living in harmony. As this Wall Street Journal piece points out, Huntingdon’s model matches what we actually see around us, and its an inconvenient truth of global politics. I don’t like what Huntingdon has to say – I hope against hope that we can all just get along – but it’s a good, albeit hawkish, read in an era of Ground Zero politics." (Alistair for Hugh).
  2. Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners – The New York Times. "Last week, Foodie’s foodie, Tracy Lee, launched her Dishcrawl startup here in Montreal. Tracy can seduce anyone with her lascivious descriptions of how she’ll devour a colorful morsel you’d never think twice about. She knows that when it comes to food, the description’s the thing: well-placed adjectives matter more than well-chosen herbs and spices. So I’m going to set aside my shame at choosing two mainstream media pieces this week, and point you at The New York Times article on the marketing of menus." (Alistair for Mitch).
  3. On Wikipedia, Cultural Patrimony, and Historiography – booktwo.org. "Alistair once said (to paraphrase): ‘Printed books should be back-up copies of the real book, which is online.’ Most people image that the book/digital shift is all going one way: books disappearing as they become bits. But the ever-brilliant James Bridle sees things differently, and creates lasting print objects out of digital ephemera, in this case every edit made to the Wikipedia article, the Iraq War, between December 2004 and November 2009. I’m not sure if the twelve-volume collection is for sale, but it is a wonderful piece of our history, our historiography, captured in one, physical, place: a book." (Hugh for Alistair).
  4. The New Science of Morality – Edge. "This is a bit of a cheat, because it’s a link to a bunch of talks (video and audio) about radical advances in our understanding of how morality works, from leading psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers. This stuff is, I think, some of the most exciting research happening today." (Hugh for Mitch).
  5. A virtual counter-revolution – The Economist. "This is a long (and very important) read. We tend to forget that with all of the evolutions of the Internet it is becoming a very commercial marketplace – which was never the intent. This article looks at the changing and fragmenting world of the Internet and how it is edging ever-closer to a moment of an extreme power struggle between big corporations who are all vying for your pocketbooks. Does that sound sinister? It may very well be." (Mitch for Alistair).
  6. 5 Lessons From Longshot, a Magazine Made in 48 Hours – The Atlantic. "This is one of those amazing stories of people who just love what they do. Longshot is a magazine that is created, produced and published in 48 hours by a very small core group of people with lots of volunteer help. It’s also the perfect mixture of traditional media and new media. This quote from the article sums it up best: ‘I spent 48 straight hours with a crew that ranged upwards of 50 people and included contributions from dozens more. Every single one of us cared deeply about the design and content of words on pages. We love making media and whether it’s print or digital, it’s just what we do and we’ll continue doing it.’" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now, it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

17 comments

  1. Wow, diverse friends and interests there Mitch. And yes, you’re a master at getting me to comment whenever I happen to drop by.
    Actually, the link I “discovered” this week would seem pretty irrelevant to most, but it’s an RGB tool. http://www.rgbtool.com/ Basically, it has the interface of Photoshop and allows you to pick up hexadecimals. Since I dabble in Web design this keeps me from having to open up Photoshop every time I want to match/pick/find a color. Time saver!

  2. I hope it is OK to promote a study I’m trying to make together with some people I know from the project management profession.
    http://corporategeek.info/study-image-project-management-profession
    The Study on the Image of the Project Management Profession wants to understand how other people view project managers and their importance in delivering organizational goals.
    So… if you have worked in projects, interacted with project managers, please help us out.
    Thanks a lot to all who take 2min of their time to help us make a solid study.

  5. Great links — I really enjoyed the NYT article on menu design. The psychology around where you position your most profitable item caught me off guard.
    What to share, what to share…how about this? http://bit.ly/9T84w6 It’s an infographic on internet memes via My Name is Kate (http://mynameiskate.ca/) If nothing else it’s a bit of fun and a trip down memory lane.
    Of course the chart may only apply to memes for Western civilization. Can anyone share a similar chart for the other World Civilizations?

  6. Another great list Mitch, thanks.
    You would NOT believe how much psychology goes into creating and engineering a menu for a restaurant, so I enjoyed that link especially.
    Here’s something that got me thinking this week. It’s not an entirely new idea, but I’m really enjoying the angle as it particularly hits home. John Jantsch interviews Sarah Petty.
    http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2010/09/01/creating-a-boutique-business/
    Actually though of your agency when I was listening.

  8. that’s great. I have re-read chapter 8 of that book at least 5 times and always find a new nugget of an idea. Much like another book that I keep close at hand that shares a title with this blog.

  10. I have to say this is one of my favorite editions now of the zillion bloggers I read daily. Thanks for the always thought-provoking list–it’s a “never deleted before reading” issue!

  12. Great post! I recently discovered the SPOS podcasts and am working my way back through them on my long commutes.
    I saw this short, simple article via @BrettGreene: How to clean up your social media mess in 5 simple steps (http://socialmediatoday.com/ericfulwiler/176158/how-clean-your-social-media-mess-5-simple-steps). It’s simple enough but, sadly, I think we’re still at the stage where companies are skipping some of the most basic steps to repair their online reputations. Think Nestle and the countless other failed responses to social media-based feedback.

  16. How optimistic of you 🙂 Anyone entering the realm of social media, or PR in general, needs to acknowledge that they may eventually screw up. I don’t think companies are spending as much time planning in the event of negative feedback or issues in general, and then tend to disappear rather than address the issues. A little planning – even if never implemented – can go a long way online.

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