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February 19, 2008Is Harper's Magazine borrowing money, or is Desirable Roasted Coffee a bank? It won't be both.
WTF is it with the magazine industry these days? Are they that much in trouble? Why does Harper's Magazine -- or any magazine -- need a loan from Desirable Roasted Coffee? Or you? Do magazines need positive cash flow badly enough to risk losing almost certain future cash flow, on the chance they can borrow it now from current subscribers? Today, I received an email request for a loan from Harper's Magazine: Dear ALLAN JENKINS: And now renewing is even easier, all you have to do is click on the link below, choose your renewal option, and you're done. It couldn't get any easier. This 12-month loan is on top of the 10-month loan I have already made them. I mean, I have already paid them a 12-month subscription (which is a loan), and have received two issues to date. I find it pretty damned cheeky to come around asking for a loan extension when the "interest" (that is, my evaluation of the product) has not even been assessed. But let's move on... Oddly.... coincidentally.... who knows? ... I also received, today, through snail mail, this missive from Roger D. Hodge, Editor of Harper's. Dear Subscriber, Although I know it isn't customary for the editor of Harper's Magazine to write to you about renewing your subscription, I'd like to think that with someone who already subscribes to the magazine, I'm talking if not to a friend then at least to an acquaintance. Even if your subscription doesn't expire for another five or six months, most readers need several letters from the magazine before taking the trouble to renew, which is very expensive for us and annoying to you. Having read quite a few of your complaints on the subject, I'm not unmindful of the notion that the magazine might be running some sort of scam. The suspicion is unfounded. Any money earned as interest on early payments dwindles to a pittance by comparison with the money spent (for paper and postage) on the mailing of the additional renewal notices. If the magazine can reduce its cost, it doesn't have to raise its subscription price, and we both share in the triumph of thrift. As to the continued worth of the magazine [Here, Roger helpfully notes all the advantages I noted when I subscribed in the first place]... and if you can take a moment now to send us your renewal, I won't have to write another letter. Hodge's plea is even more... icky. While Green's was a bald grab for money, Hodge's is a baffling confession topped with a lie. "I know you think we are running a scam, but you're wrong. We make only a little profit badgering you into subscribing early. If we can get your money early, we don't have to ask for more later. We both profit, and I know that sounds real silly, but water can, actually, run uphill." (OK, I made the last part up). Well, in any financial transaction, someone profits. It's not Desirable Roasted Coffee, in this case. So we ain't biting down here. But why do they sign their names to it? Both admit their mails are annoying. I don't know about you, but if I know a mail is going to annoy a customer... especially when asking for business.. I don't send that mail. Why on earth would Hodge and Green? And I sure as hell don't ask clients for loans ("I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today!") How could Harper's have done it different? I'd like to hear your ideas, either here or on your blog. But here are mine: Or what? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:20pm in Business, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Journalism | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) March 28, 2007Kathy Sierra death threats are no basis for blogger code of conduct
Kathy Sierra, a prominent blogger, has received what she sees as death threats from other bloggers-- and takes them seriously enough to cancel speaking engagements and call on law enforcement. If you aren't already familiar with the story, I urge you to visit her post, which has attracted 1000+ comments in just a few days. But carry a strong stomach -- this is seriously ugly, offensive, putrid stuff. That some of the offenders -- or facilitators -- may include other famous bloggers simply makes the story worse. I am deliberately not linking to the alleged offenders/facilitators because, quite literally, this is a case for the police. But the inevitable calls for blogger codes of conduct miss the mark. Tim O'Reilly calls for one in a BBC interview, but with tens of millions of bloggers, in every country, he's farting in a hurricane. No code of conduct will ever be agreeable to all bloggers -- 99% will never hear of the topic, anyway -- and no code would ever be enforceable. I posted a Code of Blogging Ethics more than two years ago. That code gets a lot of traffic, and I hear, from time to time, that it inspires new bloggers. But I am particularly happy most read why I posted it. In it, I argue that any "code of blogging ethics" is pretty much a contract between the blogger and the reader -- enforceable by the reader's very powerful tool of dismissing the blog on the spot. At the time, I quoted Jeff Jarvis: "We don't need a committee. We don't need an authority figure or moral guidepost. "This is a distributed world, a world owned by the whole. We are ruled by the wisdom of the crowd." To that, I would add we are also ruled by law, another application of the wisdom of the crowd. The alleged offenses against Kathy are already covered by law, if they did happen. If I threaten to kill someone on this blog, Danish law is way ahead of any blogging code of conduct. If I let a comment threatening the same stand, the law is ready for me. If I encourage, tacitly or not, an environment where threats are made, the law is ready for me. The possible sanctions of the blogosphere pales in comparison. For that very reason, supporters of a collective blogger code of conduct overreach. You can legislate, set rules, set standards only in a closed group -- the sanction being punishment by the group or exclusion from it. The blogosphere hasn't the ability and never will. The sort of thing Kathy reports is disgusting. But there is law in place to punish it, if true, which is something no code of blogging conduct could ever do. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:37pm in Blogging, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Ethics, Law | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) December 08, 2006Desirable Roasted Coffee goes on mini-sabbatical
Sometimes, you just have to get away. To renew and relax. To travel back roads and read dead-tree stuff. Go off the grid. See you all again January 8th. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:59pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) November 22, 2006Desirable Roasted Coffee: Two years old (and the draft is still a bad idea)
Whoops, it just slid right by me, Desirable Roasted Coffee's two year anniversary. After a couple of years, a blog becomes a sort of appendage... a liver spot... you know it's there, you are conscious of it, but you can't really remember when it showed up. Sort of like crabgrass, or that kitten that showed up one day. But some things never change. Charlie Rangel, the US Congressman from the Harlem and Hell's Kitchen, is calling for a reinstatement of the draft for military age men (well, 17-42). He was calling for it 28 months ago, too, when I wrote this post (the second on DRC): On the face of it, reinstating the draft -- an idea put forward by folks as different as Fritz Hollings and Charlie Rangel -- sounds like a good way to raise the specter of suburban kids going off to Iraq, thus building more suburban middle-class opposition to the war (and by extension Bush). And I am all for building that opposition. But I did my time in the military and came out convinced that a professional military -- even in a country founded by "citizen-soldiers" -- is the only way to go. Why? A professional military is a far better fighting force than a conscript military. That has historically always been true, but the advances in technology simply reinforce this. While you can, in a pinch, train a grunt to carry a rifle and operate in a squad in 3 or 4 months, that's about all you can do. You can't use OJT to train him step up to squad command (as you could in Vietnam, simply by throwing him in the jungle for a couple of months), because squad leaders now carry all sorts of technical equipment that
require time and training to learn to use effectively. And that's just at the bottom of the pyramid: the foot soldier. Anyone whose job is more sophisticated -- missile control, tanks, logistics, communication and cryptology, intelligence, electronic warfare, ship navigation, equipment maintenance -- requires many months of training just to function at an entry level. So if you reinstate a draft to round out the ranks, it's not going to be the 2-year draft you had in Vietnam (or that is proposed by Hollings); it's going to need to be a four-year draft if the military is to get much use out of its draftees. Another problem with the draft is morale. While I disagree that the all-volunteer military is made up of poor people with no choices, at least everyone in the military did choose to join. Once in the military, some are of course more motivated than others, but all share the knowledge that they are all there because they chose to be. No one is serving beside someone who is disgruntled because of being drafted, who is just marking time at best, or who is threatening morale at worst. Draftees, in short, just don't do good work. And you can see that in the present war, where National Guardsmen -- "weekend warriors" as they are universally known in the professional military -- have borne a disproportionate number of the casualties during the occupation, and have been the source for a disproportionate amount of scandal. The pilot recently censured for disobeying direct orders and thereby killing 8 Canadians in Afghanistan? National Guard. The prison police
force who became torturers? National Guard. Hollings and Rangel point to a draft military as being more "equitable". Equitable for whom? The soldier in the field? The taxpayer? Not them. Instead of reinstating the draft, the best bet is to increase the incentive to join the military. Unfortunately, in its zeal to run the war on the cheap, the Bush administration is running the other way. Schools and PXs on domestic bases are being shut down, making it harder and more expensive for military families. Education benefits are being held back. Pay is slipping again. Americans are going to have to accept that they may need to spend more on manpower. Clinton and Bush both leaned toward the idea of "more technology, fewer people", which works to some extent, but not if you cut manpower too far. And that's what Clinton and Bush did. Expanding and reforming the professional military is not particularly popular right now, and never has been in Democratic circles. But if you think of the military as a tool, why would you not want the best one you could get? The tool is now being used in the wrong place for the wrong reasons, but the next war may be one that we really do want to fight and win. Two years later, I have little to add to that post: the draft is simply a dreadfully bad idea. Yes, I know Rangel's real aim, and I agree with it: make Congress decide whether it really wants to pour cannon fodder into Iraq or not (Rangel knows full well that most of his eligible constituents would never make it past the recruiting sergeant). But I think raising the idea of a draft is a bad one: 30% of Americans support the idea, generally for bad reasons, and there's no sense in giving them momentum. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:16pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee, Iraq War | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) July 18, 2006Desirable Roasted Muffins
Stuff that disturbs me and pleases me. Rob Walch "interviews" Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) about net neutrality. It's not a real interview. It's heavily and selectively edited clips of Stevens' speech to his Senate Committee on Science, Technology, and Transportation, interwoven with Walch's opinion. While I agree with Walch on the issue, this "interview" is cheap, tacky snarkiness. But the video is pretty funny, I have
to admit. Hat tip to Shel Holtz. Virginia Postrel explains why she doesn't do daily blog posts, and why you shouldn't either. A treasure trove of research papers on blogging. You know blogging is mainstream when graduate students show up to explain it to the rest of us. I think anyone who does their thesis or dissertation on blogging should be condemned to a life in academia, but that's just me. Hat tip to Constantin Basturea. Todd Ziegler asks "When Should Political Campaigns Blog?" I like his answers, and they will be tested in the US in 2006 midterms. Shel Israel asks "Will Blogging Change Politics?" and answers "Of course." Pretty much the obvious answer. Curt Rosengren wonders how we can overcome the "fear of failure, being wrong, and looking stupid." He's looking for comments and advice, so trot over there and offer yours. I'm on my way. Giornale Nuovo, an incredibly erudite and imaginative blog by "Mr H," is giving away books again. If you are reading this, you are probably too late... but visit the blog, anyway. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:08am in Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) June 13, 2006Chat #5 at Better Desirable Roasted Communication Café Podcast
What do you think? Agree with us? Disagree? Drop your comments on this post, or send a Waxmail to ‘comments at commscafe dot com’. Download [8mb] and listen right now, and don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed to catch every sparkling discussion as Allan and Lee pass the coffee pot around. And if you are an iTunes user, you can find our podcast on the iTunes Music Store (for free, of course!). Our next chat is planned for Thursday, June 15. Drop by! Technorati Tags: Donna Papacosta, John Wagner, PR industry ethics, Allan Jenkins, Lee Hopkins Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:18pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee, Podcasting | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) May 31, 2006Light blogging ahead
Stale coffee? Not here. But we have to invigorate the beans from time to time. Reboot 8.0 starts tonight with a harbor cruise. I'll be doing that, the first day of the conference, and the dinner tomorrow night. I'd love to be on hand for day 2, but my friend Christine and I will be headed for Vancouver, for IABC's annual conference. I haven't attended in three years, and the last two times I did attend, my days were largely taken up with meetings about the governance of IABC. This year, I am going simply to enjoy the platter of speakers. Neville Hobson has asked me to be a part of his panel discussion on Sunday, along with Shel Holtz. That should be fun -- I've never walked away from these two knowing less. I see both conferences as private time, so I will not be blogging directly from either conference, unless time allows. But I will pull together notes on the other side. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:13am in Conferences, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) May 23, 2006Better Desirable Roasted Coffee Communication Café: Show #2
Better Desirable Roasted Communications Café Show #2
Download [8mb] and listen right now, and don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed to catch every sparkling discussion
as Allan and Lee pass the coffee pot around.
Agree with them? Disagree? Drop your comments on this post, or send a Waxmail to 'comments at commscafe dot com'.
Technorati Tags: Allan Jenkins, Better Desirable Roasted Communications Cafe, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Creative Class, Lee Hopkins, Richard Florida, Constantin Basturea Read more "Better Desirable Roasted Coffee Communication Café: Show #2" Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:56pm in Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Podcasting | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) May 08, 2006Stuart Bruce gets free coffee for a year
I guess Stuart Bruce thinks Desirable Roasted Coffee is actually a coffee company, because he's sure rushing for a free bag of beans. Stuart stirred blood a while back in his Popular Blogs Suck - IMHO post, a response to Daniel Bernstein's laughable trial balloon that blogging in PR should be left to an elite defined by Bernstein (that Bernstein falls for the Strumpette hoax, hook-line-and-sinker, burning all his cred, is not something I'll dwell on). Thanks, Stuart, for including DRC in the 33 top blogs on your reading list. You won't be getting a crate of coffee, sorry. But I'll try to be worthy of your list next year. Technorati Tags:
Stuart Bruce, Daniel Bernstein, Desirable Roasted Coffee Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:02pm in Bizarre & Unexpected, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) February 28, 2006“Don’t Stop” Business Innovation Conference asks Desirable Roasted Coffee to blog (and I said “yes”)
I love all my clients, of course, but I have particular affection for the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. My other clients are typical businesses: the halls are buzzing with folks rushing around to the next meeting, wrapping up from the last meeting, whacking out emails about that meeting, slapping their foreheads as they read the minutes from that other meeting they were too busy to attend. Now, I don't want for a moment to imply that people at my other clients aren't "gettin' it done" -- they most certainly are -- but over at CIFS, you tend to see people just sitting quietly reading books. Staring dreamily out of the window. Writing books. Because what they do is peer into the mists of the future and report back what they think they see. And not just for some ivory tower purpose; no, no -- their job is guiding businesses (including some of my other clients) into the future. Pretty cool job, when you think about it -- being paid to think. As Seth Godin et al note in the Big Moo, most of us run around all day frantically putting out fires and responding to other people. Just having an hour or two a day to think, to imagine, to wonder what if, would be immeasurably valuable for both ourselves and our companies. So imagine having that for a job! So when CIFS asked me to blog and podcast from their upcoming Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow conference, I didn't need a second invitation. I'll contributing to the Don't Stop blog leading up to the conference, too. Client Gitte Larsen posted her interview with speaker Adam Morgan, director of eatbigfish. Here's a taste: "Why is it important continually to think about tomorrow?
Adam Morgan: There are probably obvious answers to that, but my interest is in challengers. I think one of the things that characterizes continuously successful challengers rather than those who fade away after a while, is that they are very restless people, naturally, and they are continually looking and searching for new opportunities to reframe the way they engage consumers on the respective markets. I think that restlessness and hunger are some of the things that certainly characterize continued success..." Indeed, I believe that restlessness and hunger are two of the very few motivators for innovation -- whether you are a corporation or a home gardener.
Technorati: dontstop01, CIFS, Copenhagen, Denmark, futures studies, Adam Morgan, eatbigfish, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies
Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:18pm in Conferences, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Management, Politics, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) February 23, 2006My five favorite clicks... what are yours?
Update: the interview and the click list are published, both in Danish. I was recently interviewed about social media by Karen Grønkær Kjeldsen for eJour, an online-magazine of the Danish School of Journalism. I was afraid I would irritate them, since I have always believed (and said in the interview) that journalism is something you either can do or can't do, and training won't make much difference. But they seemed ok with that, and the interview has been published They also asked me to contribute to their "Mine bedste klik" (My best clicks) site, where they ask someone, once a month, to talk about his or her favorite sites. Now that was an honor. Here's the English translation of what I sent them Allan Jenkins Communication consultant, blogger at the PR blog Desirable Roasted Coffee.
I read 350-450 blogs -- some every day, some once or twice a month. Here are five of my 30-40 "must reads."
Technorati: Danmarks Journalisthøjskole, social media, eJour, Mine bedste klik, Karen Grønkær Kjeldsen Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:37pm in Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Journalism | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) January 22, 2006Copenhagen bloggers gather for brunch; end up shouting
Update: Neville writes about us and publishes photos. You get a bunch of opinionated bloggers together, and there's going to be words. Loud words. Friend Neville Hobson was in town this weekend, & while Copenhagen is reeling under the worst snow/ice storm in a couple of years, missing a chance to trade ideas with Neville is pretty much unthinkable. A big chunk of the serious Danish blogosphere thought the same -- Froda & Bindslev, Jacob Bøtter, Trine-Maria Kristensen, and Henriette Weber were also there -- so we spent Saturday afternoon at brunch together. Loud, opinionated, shouted (in enthusiasm) idea-rich conversation plus scrambled eggs and coffee? That's a sweet deal. Neville pulled out a sinister little recording device and made us each cough out some sort of contribution to For Immediate Release. But we all did our part to boost Shel and Neville's ratings. Some of the others brought cameras, and Neville had a mike. I'll post the links when they are published. Good to have seen you all! Technorati Tags:
copenhagen geeks Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:19am in Bloggers, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) December 08, 2005Desirable Roasted Coffee goes on retreat
Picky Desirable Roasted Coffee readers will have discerned a paucity of posts this month. "Coffee getting weak?" some have asked. Some of you have even intimated there's some sort of latte thing going on (perish the thought!). Even the Antipodean doyen stirred himself. Here's the low-down. I'm putting Desirable Roasted Coffee into retreat for the rest of the month. Yep, no coffee for you! Not until after New Year's, unless I just happen to find a tip or a pointer that I cannot resist. Until I get back with a full pot of Navy Joe ... January 1, I promise ... take a look at the "Ideas" section of my blogroll. Most of the writers there have nothing to do with communication and.. yet... they all communicate with grace and power. A lot of us could learn from them. Just a tip. What am I doing in the next three weeks about Desirable Roasted Coffee? Looking again at purpose. The point. Snarkiness vs. whatever the opposite of snarkiness is. Considering podcasting -- and how would that be different? Reading every post, every comment, and every trackback in the last 14 months; printing random parts, and asking folks for feedback. Including you. If Desirable Roasted Coffee bores you to tears, write me -- and let me know why. If you have DRC on your reading list, I'd like to know why. If I have ever made you throw up your hands in frustration or nod your head in agreement, I'd love to know why. And if I've done neither -- oooff.... let me know about that, too. All confidentially. Or you can comment here. For the next three weeks... be good, my friends. Allan Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:14pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (1) November 16, 2005Steve Crescenzo takes aim at Desirable Roasted Coffee... sit down, Steve, you're making the dog nervous.
Steve Crescenzo knows no greater joy in life than channeling the late Dr. Thompson in the service of corporate communication. But was it an attempt at gonzo'ism that led Steve to turn his big gun on the Coffee? Petulance issues? Flatulence? Bad hair day? Well, Steve doesn't know me, but those that do will be chuckling at that line. As one of my ex-wives used to say, "It's supposed to be a house, Allan, not a goddamned bookstore." I should be on Jeff Bezos' personal holiday card list. Let's look at how Steve says I got on his "last nerve" (and...which one was that?). [Jenkins] was talking about how he doesn’t read anything in print anymore. Well, he
actually says he reads two daily newspapers in print, but only because they are
so “hopeless” in digital form. “But as soon as they wake up and provide RSS
feeds to subscribers, I won’t touch their paper form,” he writes. No, I never said I don't read anything in print anymore. In fact, 80% of what I read is in print. Like most of us, I prefer to read articles, analyses, literature, cookbooks, letters and Christmas cards in print. Who wouldn't? But -- at five in the morning, when I start my working day -- I want to see the news now. Since my newspapers hit the doorstep at 6 or 7 am, I'd much prefer to read them online -- rather than waiting for paper? That's hardly a rejection of print. I say something else that gets Steve's back up; I'll repeat it here: “In fact, I find myself furious and disgusted every time IABC’s Communication
World comes through the door. . . . Since I have written for CW, I know the
article appears weeks or months after the blogosphere has thoroughly dissected
the issue. Any day of the week, any IABC member can go into the blogosphere and
find 50 better articles than CW publishes in a quarter. Note to IABC:
Communication World is a benefit only for those who don’t use the Internet.” Steve believes the blogosphere is just for mutually-congratulatory bloggers stroking their egos. Boy, is he wrong. Are 98% of blogs crap? Yep, leaving about 400, 000 out there that aren't. And, yes, in the PR/comms/advertising part of that 400,000, you generally see better articles, sooner, than you will see in CW. It's just a fact. And -- at the risk of exciting Steve's first stroke -- better and sooner than you will see them in Ragan's. Steve rounds out his post with what can only be called a self-stroking tribute to his own reading habits. He loves Newsweek and Time -- fittingly, he reads them while getting stoned on Margaritas, realizing intuitively they are fit only for illiterates -- and he likes his New Yorker in bed. Me? I got out of that habit when Tina Brown was editor; it was just too kinky. But it's nice with a G&T -- in the den with all the books. Steve chose to read my post in the most selective way imaginable. He also chose not to link to it, ensuring his readers would not be able to make their own notes. And he doesn't accept trackbacks (so his readers will never know of this post, either). Come on, Steve. Do better than that. The Doctor would have. Update: I see friend Shel Holtz has weighed in, and so has John Wagner. New reader? The original article that excited Steve is here: http://allanjenkins.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/11/will_you_read_y.html
Technorati tags: Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:52pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Books, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Journalism, Public Relations, Writers | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (3) November 09, 2005Happy birthday to Desirable Roasted Coffee
Desirable Roasted Coffee is a year old! And I didn't even notice. Some dates simply slip my mind. I can tell you the date I started my first company (September 17, 1990), but couldn't tell you on a bet my oldest friend's birthday (sometime in August). So it doesn't surprise me that the first anniversary of Desirable Roasted Coffee's hard launch happened last month. Without me noticing. The opening post (As good a reason as any), on October 7, 2004, was about a subject that is both old news and, tediously, still news. Why is this not surprising? A 15-month study by the Bush Administration
confirms what most people have come to expect, even while the top of
the Administration tries to pretend otherwise: Iraq had no WMD. The first communication post came five days later (Can Corporate Blogs be Conversations?), the complete text of which was: Friend Shel Holtz looks at some basic philosophy underlying what I call "bandwagon blogging" -- that is, the rush by CEO's to have their very own blog. That's probably the shortest Desirable Roasted Coffee post ever, and it's all been uphill or downhill since then, depending on your view. Along the way, there have been a dozen or so posts I suspect I should have watered down. I can think of a dozen or so that I should have made, or should have fired up. But comments, which outnumber posts considerably, keep me pretty straight. There's a bunch of people I wouldn't have "met" had I not started writing Desirable Roasted Coffee: Lee Hopkins, Jeremy Pepper, David Parmet, Josh Hallet, Trina-Maria Kristensen and Robert French come instantly to mind. And even though I have known Shel and Neville and Gunnar, and Eric for years, I certainly "talk" with them more regularly because of the blog. (At the very least, I can assure myself that, if I don't give my readers value directly, I give it to them by linking to some pretty ace communication thinkers). So... that's it! No cake, ice cream, pappadams or champagne -- but you'll get over it. And now I'll dive into year 2. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:20pm in Bizarre & Unexpected, Desirable Roasted Coffee, History | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (7) | TrackBack (0) October 25, 2005$46,000 and a cup of coffee will get you Desirable Roasted Coffee
Just kidding... we don't blog for benjamins at Desirable Roasted Coffee -- everybody knows that! But this nifty applet believes the Coffee is worth nearly $47K. Yeah, like I can take that to the bank. Tip of the hat to the Antipodean Wildman. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:37pm in Blogging for Benjamins, Blogging for the Sheer Hell of It, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) September 22, 2005I've Been Invited to be a MarcomBlog Contributor: I'm Standing in Tall Cotton, Now
Robert French has done me the signal honor of asking me to become MarcomBlog's 10th contributor. Wow. MarcomBlog is based at Auburn University's Department of Communication and Journalism, and is a collaborative effort between the students there and the contributors. And Robert. The purpose: To actively involve students in conversations with
practitioners from around the world. Blogs offer a unique opportunity
for students to converse with professionals they never would have met
before. Why not harness the power of CMS to bring people together.
Think of this as part mentoring exercise by our contributors and part
incubator for future PR/Marcom professionals. Well, I am proud to take part, though not a little in awe of the company I'll be keeping: Connect PR - David Forstrom And, of course, all the students who, if I can judge from their blogs, will be a stimulating group. In short, I'm standing in the tall cotton. And shall have to learn to write intelligent things... Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:19pm in Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Education, Marketing, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (1) September 19, 2005Trying Out the Wisdom of Crowds
"Summer Reading" is usually more of a wish than an accomplishment. But I managed a lot this summer; indeed my June Amazon shipment is wholly depleted. I like to read two or three related books in tandem, for the joy of serendiptity. That doesn't always work, but in July it did, and in a odd corner: how crowds, individuals, and society collaborate and "know". The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes businesses, economies, societies and nations. James Surowiecki. Short take: a collection of people with ordinary knowledge will generally make better decisions than any expert. The Company of Strangers: A natural history of economic life. Paul Seabright. Short take: Most primates are only minimally social. Man figured out reciprocal trust, which allows anonymous transactions. Blink. Malcolm Gladwell. Short take: if you know (about) what you are seeing, your first instinct is is the right one. If you stop to analyze, you may well go wrong. I won't give longer reviews; all three have been reviewed to death, by better critics. A common theme: Surowiecki and Seabright both support the idea that "financial" markets, composed of independent "traders" are better predictors of future results than TV pundits. One of the markets they cite is NewsFutures, where a punter can "bet" on outcomes of current events: Will Schroeder stay on as German Chancellor? Will a hurricane hit Texas before November 30? Will John Roberts be confirmed? The thinking is that players, who have definite, though small, financial incentives to bet correctly, will, as a group, bet correctly. No individual will have the "answer". But the collective smarts of 20,000 individuals, with money or rewards at stake, should be a good guide. As an example, let me show you where I am. I have a stake in NewsFutures. Here was my status a few hours ago: As you can see, I'm backing Schroeder heavily to be re-elected Cerman chancellor. I'm spitting in the wind, obviously, but the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish papers -- all of whom traditionally have very, very good sources in Berlin, are tipping a Schroeder government. Right? Wrong? I don't know. The "market" seems to think I am wrong (but since I took this screen shot, the shares have jumped from X$9 to X$29... as the US papers start to pick up on the European analysis.) I also have a stake in Yahoo's TechBuzz Game. Here, I am on less solid ground, since I am not privy to tech buzz. But I have spotted a hole: there's a hurricane market. Meteorology fascinates me; and weather that affects the South deeply concerns me. So here I've confidently invested in Rita and Stan (who doesn't exist, yet). Rita is going to be all over the papers for a week or more. Stan will or won't develop. Still, I won't lose much by giving him a wager. Now, if you've stayed with me this far, you may be thinking one of two things: What are the moral implications of "betting" on hurricane strikes (or whatever)? None, that I can see. I don't cause a hurricane strike; indeed, if it looks like the hurricane will die out, I'll take the other position. I've flipped on the Schroeder thing twice. I lost my butt on Phillippe. Takeaway: the market is heartless & makes better decisions when it is heartless. But you aren't affecting anything. Nope, just reacting with great interest. Takeaway: the "market", given its incentives, is a better news gatherer than any professional news gatherer. I have a lot of links to fill in here, and will do so over the next day. In the meantime, a Google Search will probably get you where you are going Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:56pm in Books, Communication, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Ethics, Gadgets & Toys, Smart Communities, Social Tools, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (1) Copenhagen Geek Dinner
Via Hugh "gapingvoid" McLeod comes news of a Copenhagen Geek Dinner on October 28. Did I say news? I meant excellent news. The only cloud on the horizon? I suspect we won't be trying Stormhoek. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:56pm in Bloggers, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) August 10, 2005Desirable Roasted Relaunch and Reload
Update: Friend Neville Hobson instantly spotted that I had somehow disabled the Comments function.... it's up now. Thanks, Neville! It's taken its sweet time. But Desirable Roasted Coffee is redesigned, relaunched and (I hope) reloaded for blog-bear. And I do hope all you subscribers come by, have a look, and let me know what you think. The process took longer than it needed to mainly because I have been trying to combine enjoyment of an especially fine summer with some exciting new projects that have flown in over the transom. Michael Neergaard-Holm, a good friend and even better designer, designed the new look. I'm very grateful for his help and advice -- a professional designer always works wonders. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:09am in Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (10) | TrackBack (2) July 19, 2005Evelyn Rodriquez Dispenses Sound Advice to Dot's Flowers
After a bit of vacation with visiting family, I'm returning to my post here at Desirable Roasted Coffee. I'll be catching up over the next couple of days. Just before I went silent, I read Evelyn Rodriquez's post Dot's Flowers: Lack of Ethics? How About Lack of Imagination?. Like many in the blogosphere, Evelyn was offended by Dot's Flowers payoff to bloggers like Jeff Cutler: ''No more driving
to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them,"[Cutler] wrote on his
Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and
1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal
touch." - Jeff Cutler's quote, "For a fee, some blogs boost firms", Boston Globe, June 26, 2005 (thanks Tom for the tip!) Nice recommendation any company would certainly cherish. This particular referral was made by blogger Jeff Cutler on his blog April 8th.
Jeff's never actually ordered anything from Dot's. And he was paid $5
by Dot's ad agency USWeb for the blog mention, which he neglects to
disclose. Evelyn is surprised at the banality of it all: I'm too jaded to be appalled by lack of ethics, but I am amazed by the lack of imagination.
But Evelyn goes on to demonstrate why she "gets it" (as if that's ever been in doubt): What are some alternatives? There's plenty. Here's an off-the-cuff one for starters. Flowers are given during major life events like weddings and funerals
and as symbolic gestures that signify 'I'm thinking of you.' They're
given on special heart-felt occasions to people you're close to or
would like to be closer to: you give them to your date at your prom,
your partner of twenty-five years, your Mom on her birthday, your
cousin on their graduation from law school. These are usually
emotion-filled moments ripe with compelling story potential circling
the biggies in people's lives. I'm not clear on the campaign's budget (let's say it was 2000 X $5 =
$10000). You could announce a story contest spread over the next six to
twelve months. Award $50 gift certificate for up to 200 bloggers on
their best 'flower moment' stories. Real stories from real people. The
certificate gives bloggers a chance to establish a real relationship with Dot's Flowers. The stories can encompass all sorts of universal "I'm thinking of you" moments. There's more and it's all good. The point, of course, is that companies lame themselves by trying to use blogs and bloggers without a modicum of insight and imagination. Thanks Evelyn! Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:30pm in Desirable Roasted Coffee, Ethics, Management, Marketing | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) May 23, 2005Danish Epilepsy Association Blog Goes Live
One of my clients, the Danish Epilepsy Association, launched their blog today, just in time for their national conference tomorrow. The association already has a frequently-updated website and and active member discussion forum. Blogging -- a team blog of patients, families, doctors, and association leaders -- was a natural next step. It's one of the first patient association blogs in the world and will, I hope, demonstrate the possibilities team-blogging brings to groups and associations. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:45pm in Bloggers, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Healthcare | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) May 09, 2005NYT's Adam Cohen Calls for Better Code of Blogging Ethics
Adam Cohen's editorial in Sunday's New York Times will almost certainly cause writhing and gnashing of teeth in the blogosphere. But the offended, when they calm down, should re-read the piece closely. Cohen is sometimes off-base. But his point is sound: bloggers, in attacking mainstream media (IMSM) -- must keep ethical standards that at least meet MSM's ethical standards. (Yes, I am aware that the New York Times, CBS, Washington Post, etc, have had ethics lapses, but another's failings are no excuse for one's own). Most -- let us say 95% -- bloggers could have the ethics of an alley-cat without anyone knowing the difference. But the most-read 5% have influence, however minor, in their profession, hobby, political party. And those at the very top? If Ana Marie Cox, Duncan Black and Josh Marshall don't have huge readership on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, who does? Cohen writes: "The thing about influence is that, as bloggers well know, it is only a
matter of time before people start trying to hold you accountable.
Bloggers are so used to thinking of themselves as outsiders, and
watchdogs of the LSM (that's Lame Stream Media), that many have given
little thought to what ethical rules should apply in their online
world. Some insist that they do not need journalistic ethics because
they are not journalists, but rather activists, or humorists, or
something else entirely. But more bloggers, and blog readers, are
starting to ask whether at least the most prominent blogs with the
highest traffic shouldn't hold themselves to the same high standards to
which they hold other media." He concludes: "Bloggers may need to institutionalize ethics policies to avoid charges
of hypocrisy. But the real reason for an ethical upgrade is that it is
the right way to do journalism, online or offline. As blogs grow in
readers and influence, bloggers should realize that if they want to
reform the American media, that is going to have to include reforming
themselves." Cohen's piece goes to the heart of the "Are Bloggers Journalists?" discussion, since bloggers can't have it both ways. Courts are unlikely to allow "But I'm a reporter" claims when the blogger, on cross-examination, admits to not getting two or more sources, checking facts, revealing payments, etc. These bloggers will quickly learn that being a "reporter" has, in fact, little to do with a title, but much to do with adhering to standards. Cohen calls for bloggers to publish ethics codes. Why not? It's easy to do. I published the Desirable Roasted Coffee Code of Blogging Ethics -- a contract with readers -- because I believe to have a readership is a privilege, and a trust. Influential bloggers are far more privileged -- and the trust is greater. Pledging to a code of ethics wouldn't be a bad move for them. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:31am in Bloggers, Citizen Journalism, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Ethics, Journalism, Online Media | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) | |||||||||||
In today's chat, Lee talks about 
With 
Steve's bill of indictment against moi is as astounding and entertaining as the National Enquirer. Among other nasty things, he says "Jenkins has a thing about print. He can't stand it."
