Trafcom News

Oops. Don't forget to proofread

Many of us chuckle at the grocer's apostrophe ("banana's for sale") or the poorly executed handwritten sign ("Closed Sundaes"), but probably insist on a higher standard for governments and would-be governments.

When this advertising piece from Ontario's Progressive Conservatives arrived in my mailbox today, I did a double-take. Did they really forget to turn on spell-check? Who spells bureaucracies like this? Eeek.

Gee, the Ontario election may be more interesting than I thought.

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Alternatives to the dearly departed Flip camera

I wanted to name this post the  “Requisite blog post about the death of the Flip camera,” but I refrained. Sort of.

Many communicators and social media denizens are lamenting Cisco’s announcement to cut loose its Flip pocket camcorder division.

There’s even a group online attempting to Save the Flip.

But let’s assume that they’re closing it, and not looking for a buyer. What do you do?

If you already own a Flip, you keep using it until it croaks. If you don’t own a Flip and you want to do simple and quick videos, you have plenty of options.

There’s the Kodak Playtouch video camera or the Kodak Zi8, among others.

If you have an iPhone 4, you already own an HD video camera.

Purists will tell you that the problem with many consumer video “solutions” is the audio. And that’s true. With a unit like the Flip, you may capture fairly decent video images, but the audio will be pretty terrible. There are remedies for this.

Most of us are not buying professional video cameras that allow you to hook up an XLR microphone. But even consumer cameras and some smartphones will let you capture good audio.

With my two-year-old Canon FS100 camera, I can hook up a dynamic mic on its audio input port. On my iPhone 4, I can feed in audio via the iRig mic.

In the worst case (and I have done this), I can record the video on whatever I have, and then capture the audio on a dynamic mic and my Samson Zoom H4, then marry them in post-production. It can be done.

What about a tripod? I’m a huge fan of tripods, since I’m easily nauseated by shaky video. If you buy a handy gadget from iStabilizer, you can attach your iPhone 4 to your existing tripod mount. 

So, the bottom line is that there are numerous solutions that can fill the void left by the Flip. Let’s thank the Flip for making video more popular, particularly within organizations, and then bid it adieu. OK?

Has your news consumption changed?

I woke up this morning, retrieved my damp copy of the Globe and Mail from the porch, and read the ongoing coverage of violence in hockey, which covered the front page. Normally I would have driven to the Y and switched on CBC Radio One – catching part of the news report – but skipped the gym this morning out of a need to babysit my sump pump during the deluge that has turned the Greater Toronto Area into a soggy mess.

As a result, it wasn’t until I logged onto Facebook and Twitter that I learned of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  My friends and contacts were linking to mainstream news coverage, photos, videos and more. Because of the timing of the disaster, it was not in the Globe; and because of my own neurosis, I didn’t drive to the gym and hear a CBC report.

This is not the first time that social media “news” has trumped traditional news outlets for me. I remember when the plane landed on the Hudson River and transfixed us all. At the dentist’s office later that day, I remarked on it to the hygienist, who had no idea what I was talking about. The radio station blaring in the office played top hits, not news.

To me, social media not only speeds delivery of the news; it also personalizes it. After I posted a link to the New York Times article on Facebook, my friend from Tokyo, Kaz Amemiya, president of the IABC Japan chapter, commented that he was all right, but that a nuclear reactor was in danger.  Twitter friends in the U.S., Canada and Europe chimed in with reports about their relatives in Japan. Later, I learned that Google had reacted to the tsunami with a Person Finder tool.

The days when we gleaned all of our timely information from the morning paper and the six o’clock TV news are long gone. We still rely on the mainstream media for their coverage of worldwide events, but it’s our own networks that often alert us to it. Individuals on the ground then augment that coverage on Facebook and Twitter. It’s the combination of citizen journalism and traditional coverage, along with the immediacy of social media, that I find fascinating. What about you?

James Franco: not the best brand ambassador

I confess that I watched less than one hour of the Oscar festivities last night, but one thing struck me: Choosing someone to represent your brand or company is not an easy thing. Yes, this thought occurred as I watched the wooden, squinting James Franco in his role as co-host with the vivacious Anne Hathaway.

Franco may be a talented actor and creative artist, but when he plays the role of himself, he falls flat. At least he did in the awards telecast.

I’ve seen this happen within organizations. “Let’s put John in front of the audience. He really knows the new product inside and out.” Sure, but can John speak? Is he persuasive? Does he have an ounce of charisma? That’s what matters in this situation, not his technical expertise.

In corporate settings, media training is often the answer. Most people can learn to be better presenters.

As for Hollywood’s problems – I have no idea!

Failure to communicate

During the past week, we’ve seen quite a few examples of “failure to communicate” played out in the news.

In Canada, embattled Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda has been skewered in the press after apparently altering a funding document and not being honest about it. Members of the public are clamoring for her resignation, and a particularly unflattering photo of her only added to the kerfuffle.*

*The sunglasses are necessary because of recent eye surgery.

In reading about Ms. Oda, I’ve learned that she had enjoyed a career as a teacher, then as a broadcast executive. After retiring, she joined several community boards, and was encouraged to run for political office. So it appears that she managed to do well before being thrust into the public eye. Now, however, her failure to communicate may trigger her downfall. In an article in today’s Globe and Mail, a “Tory insider” is quoted as saying: “When it comes to selling the virtues of something…she doesn’t have the strongest set of skills.” The story also states that “even her colleagues and government staffers privately poke fun at her capacity to sell a political message.”

Another example ripped from the headlines: the proposed merger of the Toronto and London stock exchanges. Apparently, the Ontario government is cool to the idea. In the Globe and Mail, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is quoted as saying of the stock exchange senior executives: “Not only are they not a very good story teller, but if they have not thought through the communications of this, have they not thought through the substance of it?”

Good question! Don’t you feel this way too, when you hear someone stumble through a proposal or fail to make a salient point in an argument?

This is not just about media training; it’s about the basics of understanding your audience and being able to craft an authentic message to get your point across clearly and persuasively.

This week, Ms. Oda and the stock exchange guys failed to communicate. Big time. Yes, this reminds me of the scene from Cool Hand Luke.

 

If you are reading this anywhere except the original blog post, you may not be able to see the embedded video. In this case, please click through to the original post.

Helping Egyptian voices to be heard

As the popular uprising continues in Egypt, people are being creative about using technology to communicate. Take a look at this story in the New York Times, which describes “unedited, raw, anonymous and emotional … Egyptian voices trickling out through a new service that evades attempts by the authorities to suppress them by cutting Internet services.”

According to Geek.com, Google created this new speak2tweet service, working with engineers from Twitter and SayNow. Anyone can dial an international phone number and leave a voice mail. Messages are then tweeted with the hashtag #egypt at http://twitter.com/speak2tweet. People can also listen to the messages by phone.

I’m continually amazed by people who are so very determined to be heard.

Twitter has changed how I watch TV

I’m not a big consumer of television. A few favourite shows capture my attention: House and Modern Family among them. Others, like Mad Men, I watch on DVD. But in the past year or so I’ve found myself compelled to tune into certain “big events” on the small screen, knowing that I can share the experience with my Twitter friends.

Last night was a case in point. We decided to watch the closing ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Normally I would not pull out my iPhone while sitting on the sofa with a loved one; it seems rather rude in an old-school way. But this was different. Halfway through the closing ceremony, around the time O Canada was being mangled by a teen pop singer, my fingers were itching. After a knowing glance from my partner, I grabbed the iPhone and checked the Twitter stream. Sure enough, it was filled with witty observations from the likes of Dave Jones (aka DoctorJones)

 
Bonnie Dean

and Jian Ghomeshi

Suddenly, there weren’t just two of us in the living room taking in the show. I felt as though we were at a neighbourhood pub, sans the drunks and the noise.  I read the tweets aloud and we laughed together. Such is TV-watching in 2010.

Has Twitter transformed YOUR TV viewing?

Will this video help Adam Giambrone?

Toronto City Councillor and TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) chair Adam Giambrone is being touted as a candidate for Toronto mayor. What do you think of this video? Will it help or hinder his chances? Reading the comments, I'd have to say that he isn't off to a very strong start. Who's advising him on his communications, I wonder? He comes across as pretty lame. And of course the TTC itself has been taking a beating lately, thanks to the snoozing fare collector.

Candidates’ conference calls as podcasts?

Here’s a fascinating idea from Dave Winer via Michael O’Connor Clarke, regarding political candidates’ conference calls as publicly accessible MP3 files.

By the way, I’d be happy to show them how to add ID3 tags so that their files display properly. I’m just sayin’.

Ze Frank is back!

I'm taking a sick day today, which means I'm still working, but I'm wearing sweats instead of real clothes.

Thank goodness there's a ray of brightness, however, amid the tea cups and Kleenex. Ze Frank is back! Bless  you, BL Ochman, for alerting us.

If you want to experience excellent writing, brilliant pacing, and the smart use of a single camera for video, watch the master in action.