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To Run Is Fun
I nearly gave up running last summer. I couldn’t get rid of this nagging knee pain. On top of that, I was still a bit cautious about my heart rate and blood pressure fluctuating. There was more anxiety and pain than there was pleasure.
Amelia picked up the running shoes where I had left them. She’s gone from anti running to hardcore runner within the last year. She’s been accompanied by a good friend and running partner, and together they banged out several races last summer – one of which was a half marathon. They are both training for a 25k this spring, and I would be surprised if they didn’t run a full marathon by the time summer is over.
Historically, I was the runner in our family, which isn’t saying much. The longest road race I’ve ever been in was a 5k, and that was last summer (which hurt far more than I care to admit). I ran a 10k as part of a triathlon, but that’s the extent of it.
Amelia and Jen have been a bit of an inspiration over the past year. They ran through the cold winter months, and they are both in great shape for a rockin racing season. So, a few weeks ago I picked up the running shoes again in hopes to tag along for their 25k. So far, no real knee pain to speak of, and my heart is playing nicely again. Two thumbs up.
Amelia and Jen just started a running blog. Be sure to check it out: www.torunisfun.com
Their first half marathon
Detroit’s Eastern Market Photo Shoot
This past weekend I was invited over to Detroit’s Eastern Market to challenge my photography skills and my ability to stay warm. Retha Fox (from Moments Captured by Retha) was gracious enough to let me tag along with her and Jean Mathewson for an afternoon of shooting. Retha coordinated two beautiful faces for the photo shoot, Joey and Gina, who were such good sports to weather the bitter cold for us!
I’ll be honest, I felt like a fish out of water. Both Retha and Jean are pros, so I was the rookie on the team. Plus, most of the photography I’ve done has been candid, due to the fact it usually involves children running around. So working with models was a stretch for me. Lucky for me though, Joey and Gina were easy going and a pleasure to work with. After watching Retha jump in and make a few shots happen I found enough courage to make a few of my own.
I had such a great time shooting this weekend that I’m going to organize something similar on the west side of the state for late February. If you’re interested, please let me know!
Event Photos
Horsing around in Photoshop
Major thanks to Retha for putting this event together and to Joey and Gina for standing in for us!!
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iTunes and HTML5
Apple has been hinting at some of the killer things we can do with HTML5 and CSS2/3. Here is a quick example they rolled out within iTunes.
Click here to view the iTunes source.
If you missed the holiday giveaway, then click here.
Hello Hurricane
Hello Hurricane arrived in the mail this weekend, in all of its vinyl glory. I took it over to the recording studio at my folks office and put in on the turntable, sat back, and enjoyed an amazing new record.
Switchfoot has been my favorite band since they’re debut album “Legend of Chin“.
There is a different vibe this time around. This album feels more personal. It tires me out when people try and inject meaning into art that may or may-not be there – but this album is incredibly deep.
Love seems to be a growing theme in Jon’s lyrics – the idea, theology, practicality, loss, hope… however you want to pin it. I first noticed it in his solo albums, and was pleased to hear it echoed in this new record. It’s not for pop radio and way too deep for church radio to grasp.
There are some albums in life that are better left un-diluted by pop and church culture. This is one of them.
I hope you buy this album. It’s an investment into yourself you wont regret, and shouldn’t live without.
Mess of Me
Understanding Context at 30,000 Feet
I’m consistently amazed at the disregard many of us Web professionals have for context. It’s an easy trap to fall into. We have an idea, deadline, list of requirements, or technology we need to execute on, so we jump right in. One thing we need to be mindful about when we make that jump is context.
Context was there before the chicken or the egg
There is an inherent set of influences on context that must be considered, and those are the ones that the user brings to the experience. The user establishes, albeit hard to accurately measure, the initial context in which your site/app/content is interpreted through. They have a unique background, geographical region, life experience, and world view that shapes the way they move about your work.
Understanding, thoroughly, your own message goes a long way in effectively bridging the initial gap that inherently exists, but that’s not enough. We must also be sensitive to the cultural, social, and individual influence, each user brings to the experience. 1
Context starts before your content is loaded
One of the major assumptions we tend to make about context is the media device our content is going to be rendered on. Understanding the device aught to drastically influence the way we design the user experience.
Be mindful that the user may not have much of a choice in the technology your content is delivered on. If you’re building an application that helps farmers regulate or monitor their water use, then you have to consider that many rural areas don’t have broadband, and may not have internet access apart from their cell phones. If you’re working with a non-profit that provides resources for those with disabilities, you must consider screen readers, brail machines, and large font displays. On that note, if you’re working with anyone in the education and government sectors you need to pay attention to 508 accessibility laws. 2
When we present content it’s important to understand where the user has been. In some cases, this can have an immediate affect on the types of content we deliver. For example, if someone enters your site via Google, and they land on part 3 of a 3 part series on “The Political Climate on Social Networks” it would be extremely beneficial to the user to be made aware of that, as well as direct them to what they’ve missed. Understanding their history can also be used to help float useful and meaningful content to the surface of your site as the user moves about. For example, if you know your user has been shopping for children’s books for the past few clicks, it may be helpful to surface a book to a featured section of the site that just won an award in children’s literature. Understanding where a user is headed is crucial to delivering a meaningful user experience. If you know a user is going to end up in a registration process, or a checkout process, or some sort of “next step”, we can affectively guide them in that direction, and inform them along the way. 3
Understanding context helps us close the loop in a users experience. Being mindful of this helps build trust and loyalty, as well as differentiates a quality experience from an average one. 1. It should go without saying that your message needs to be culturally, socially, and individually relevant based on your target audience. The more specific you can be, the more gracefully you can communicate. 2. I’ve worked in university and government life for over 10 years, dealing exclusively with the Web, and I’m convinced we all need to pay attention to 508, whether we’re mandated by Congress or not. IMHO. 3. I recently bought a pair of boots from the “world’s leading provider of apparel and accessories for the country/western lifestyle” and was annoyed that nowhere in the purchasing process was I made aware of how to take care of these boots. Even after they showed up at my door there was still no care instructions.Context has history
Context a future
Context matters
News I Would Pay For
First off, my thoughts go out to those in the news/media industry. They’re blurry-eyed and dazed from a 1-2 punch from the internet and the economy. A lot of sharp and thoughtful people are looking for work or changing careers because of… well, a lot of reasons.
I work for one of the largest media outlets in the US (albeit a sub-sub-sub company) and I know there are a lot of great minds dealing with the subject, but I thought I would toss in my 2 cents.
I love The Wall Street Journal. I’ve always considered it a publication worth paying for. I know they have taken a lot of heat because they have locked away pieces of content that’s been reserved for paying customers. I’m not here to debate whether or not that pay-to-play is the future of the internet (37 Signals seems to be doing just fine with a pay-to-play model). What I want to offer up is a different approach to the established subscription model.
I’m not going to dive into what I think is wrong with the age-old model of media subscription. Instead, here is an idea that might be worth kicking around.
News the iStockphoto.com way – but less complicated.
Option one: Give me unlimited access status. Charge me a monthly fee or even annual. Give me a discount for doing so.
Option two: Let me buy news credits in quantities of 10, 20, 30, etc. Each “locked” news story is 1 credit. The more credits I buy, the cheeper the price-per-credit becomes.
Option two explained
iTunes pioneered the “buy only what you want” way of doing business online. I think one of the driving success factors behind that is because the experience is controlled in iTunes. Each micro transaction is pretty seamless – which would be harder to pull off when consuming news. Do I really want to hit my VISA or Pay-Pal every time I want to read a news story? Maybe?
BUT, if I could set myself an allowance, or buy credits, I could still be in control of the news I was willing to pay for! I could see my available credits and choose whether or not the news item I’m about to click on is worth the money. I am in control!
While I’m there buying news, be sure to keep track of the news I’ve purchased so I can refer to it later. Oh, and make sure it’s easy for me to gift a story to someone too!
Once I’ve used up my credits, make it easy (like iTunes and iStock) to get more.
Take it a step further
What if I could buy an unlimited subscription across news networks? OR what if I could buy credits I could use across news networks? I have 50 Fox credits and can use them on Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, etc. (maybe even local news?)
I would pay to get quality news, and I think there are a lot of people that would be willing to do the same. The threshold has to be low; both with commitment and cost.
Kick it around.
Mobile Web Means More When It’s Personal
It wasn’t too long ago that I considered my CSS to be efficient enough for mobile devices. After all, a well structured document degrades nicely when the styles are removed.
Then I moved back to my hometown, Nashville. Nashville, Michigan. One thing we don’t have here in Nashville is broadband. Ok, so they have broadband in town, but not on the outskirts.
Now that I’m officially back in rural America, and connecting to the Internet with my cell phone, I acutely feel the legitimacy of having a mobile version.
It’s more than just stripping down the graphics, JavaScript, and CSS. It’s about delivering a feature set and content that is relevant to a mobile device.
Gmail is a great example. The full browser version of gmail would never load on my cell phone. The mobile version, however, is perfect for my cell. It utilizes my phone’s number pad for the keyboard shortcuts. I can quickly delete, archive, and send email. It’s simple, light and re-factored into an ideal mobile web application.
I’m currently working on a massive undertaking at work and trying to get my head around the relevant aspects of this project as it pertains to the mobile world. Without the lack of broadband I would have never considered such an undertaking.
Don’t get me wrong though, connecting to the WWW via my cell phone still sucks. It just sucks less when it’s designed and built for a mobile device.
The Fail Whale is Coming
I’m not really adding anything new to the conversation here, but I can’t see myself or anyone I respect, Twittering in a couple of years from now.
First of all, how long can an ecosystem support that amount of spam and narcissism? At some point, I think the emotionally mature will abandon that environment for something a little more authentic. Or maybe not. Personally, it seems hard to maintain.
Of course, there are those that say it’s a great source of timely information. Which may be true. I can’t help but wonder though, why do we put our trust in the mob (crowd, masses, etc). Just because it shows up on Twitter doesn’t mean it’s important OR true. Not even if it gets retwated 1000 times. How many celebrities have died and then not died and then had a death do-over on Twitter thus far? It tiers me out.
It’s a lot like Macaulay Culkin; entertaining in the early 90s… and then you realize you’re not 12 anymore, and neither is he, and you just want it all to stop… before you hurt someone.
Until the Fail Whale eats us all: @kedrhodes
The Muppets: Stand By Me