Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Rainy-day rant

- Just because we live in one place, doesn't mean we necessarily fit the model. That's why "personalis/z/ation" needs to be just that--personal. Have defaults but let me tweak them.

- While you can gather useful information from the visitor's browser, etc., it doesn't necessarily mean that the person behind it fits the stereotype. I lived in the Netherlands and in France, but I sometimes I just wanted to read English, because it was easier. Now I live in the USA, but sometimes I want to read or watch or listen to French, or Polish, or Dutch. Or Arabic or Hebrew with subtitles.

- Everyone's saying that what's needed is more multimedia, fewer words. But you can't multitask with videos: hard to watch CNN news story and grab the main points while (mostly) focusing on a conference call or work problem--which you could do if the news story was text. Is this the end of the multitasking generation, or do we need to grow extra heads?

- We all want everything NOW. Feedback, acknowledgement, payment, response, answers, gratitude, smiles, delivery, apologies, weather, change, growth. We've lost patience. While we keep speeding everything up, let's also plant acorns, too. Some things take time to be beautiful.

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