PR from the Beach

Knowledge Engines inch us closer to Wikipedia immersion

Google's announcements today of its latest projects - the Knowledge Graph - sounds fascinating but takes us closer to a world history written according to Wikipedia. Google admits that much of the 'knowledge' powering their new search results - see their video below - is sourced from Freebase, bought by them in 2010, who in turn got heaps of data from Wikipedia and other data bases around the web.

My question is, if the source information is pulled out of areas such as Wikipedia - which is, despite their best efforts - still prone to inaccuracy, 'editing-out' and edit wars - how long before our history and the things we are 'allowed' to find are either rewritten, rubbed out or removed from actual experience or alternatively distorted by indiviual perspectives that can manipulate the systems?

It all sounds very useful and I am sure it will be. But - and it is a big but - the Knowledge Graph is filled with bear-traps and Orwellian group-think. It might seem that our knowledge is 'extended' by this -  I fear wisdom is being left behind.

 

Creating a Social Business? Remember to ask the right questions

Lost count of the times you've struggled a bit when someone has said: "What are we going to do about social media"? 

Rest easy - because that's the wrong question. The question that today's leadership teams need to be addressing is this: "What do we need to do to create a social business"?  Of course, that question needs to be proceeded by 'Why do we need to create a social business'?  I hope you'll find some signposts to that answer here.

Disruptive technologies come, go - and stay around for a while. Books, telephones, televisions, the typewriter, all changed the way business was conducted.  For the main part however, those technologies were initially retained by few and used as a means of command and control. Hierarchical organisations employed disruptive technologies to increase profits, shareholder returns and, of course, power.

The speed of change and access to the latest disruptive technologies means that they can't be retained or held by a few. Although moves are afoot to try and change this, for the time being at least, the combinations of change, access and low-cost means that the notions we had of business, leadership and social order have changed. Expectations are different. We have not only a right to choose, but a right to demand, cajole, influence and - in some cases - insist.

Social media changes business for good. And not simply 'good' in terms of finality. 

The 'good business' of the future will be just that. Good in terms of its impact on society as well as its contribution. Financially sound and sustainably grown. The integrated reporting and global reporting initiatives will make all organisations accountable for their actions - financial, environmental and societal. In order to report performance effectively and truthfully, many organisations will have to turn themselves inside out, changing from within and working out how, once changed, they can meet their business and organisational goals.

Given the seismic shift in the financial world markets since 2008, it is extremely likely that G3 and other integrated reporting guidelines will become mandatory. South Africa is the first country to have made integrated reporting a legal requirement. This type of initiative, combined with the force of social media, creates a new style of business in which listening comes first.

The new business won't just make and sell things.  It won't even declare itself by putting its ingredients on the pack. The new business will have full support of the community in which it operates.  The resources it uses will be tracked to origin. The packaging - QR code or otherwise - will explain exactly where, how and why it fits into people's lives. It will declare its own risks and benefits in equal measures. It will create and foster a clear understanding with its user community who will report back publicly on their views, experience and satisfaction with the product or service and make suggestions for improvement.

The user will be able to choose how, where and when they make their purchase and whether they do that with hard currency - currently under threat - or network credits. If they are bought with network credits then the network too will assume responsibility as part of the new supply chain. Those supplying goods and services through the network will be held to terms and conditions and, if they are found to be in breach, will be cut off.

Each stage of the process will be designed to foster the trust of all the stakeholders involved. Monitoring and implementing the process will demand a new skill set from everyone involved, not least the organisational leaders who will have not just organisational reputations to defend, but their own personal ones as the line between the profession and the person gradually disappears.

That's one scenario - but keep in mind that it isn't simply social shift we are witnessing. It is a business shift as well.  Welcome to the Brave New World.

This post is taken from a piece I wrote at the back end of last year - and in discussing social business with a few people today, thought I'd dig it out and put it here for them to have a read. Hope it gave you some food for thought too.

2012 - Work it from Anywhere

If you are looking for the latest technology developments to dazzle your friends - or yourself - then look no further than the International Consumer Electronics Show which has just kicked off in Vegas.

One thing's for sure - the interconnectedness of the technologies now available means that we have moved right into a year where we can work anything from anywhere. I can switch on my aircon in NZ - even if I was in Vegas - or turn on the home monitoring micro-camera from the office to see the faces of those who have just triggered my house alarm. I can tap my credit card on my ultrabook to pay for stuff and turn my phone into a gaming console for a quick play while I wait. 

Here are my top five 'most excited about' announcements so far:

1. Intel is to bring gesture based computing to its new ultrabook technology (think Minority Report)
2. Acer unveiled the world's thinnest laptop
3. Huawei reveals its ultra-thin smart phone
4. TV shifts to OLED technology
5. Tobii Technology's eye tracking system that allows users to scroll, play and navigate using their eyes alone

If you like checking out the new and you can't get across to Vegas in the next couple of days (I wish) then you can follow the updates and breaking news on CESweb.org/news or check out the YouTube channel from CES Unveiled. 

Here's some honourable mentions, including 'print your own objects' now available for the consumer.

 

A neat scanner mouse that will cause more copyright havoc no doubt...

 

And for a general round up of things green, comfort-inducing 'work it from anywhere' innovations, here's their taster:

 

 

Sorry state of Facebook news shares

Facebook published its 'top 40 list of most shared stories today - and what interesting reading it made. Dominating the shares were stories via CNN and the list, unsurprisingly, has a heavy US bias. It will be interesting to see how this Facebook list has changed in November 2012 when the social graph apps have been in use for more than a month or two.  I suspect we'll see more European media shares for starters, with a bunch more online channels.  Sadly, I don't expect to see much change in the type or style of the majority of stories that are shared - performing cats, oddball photos and laughing babies have dominated news cycles for decades. Online channels just show that some things never change...

Returning to the Beach...

I have to confess I have sadly neglected this blog over recent weeks, simply because there has been a lot to do offline and, I have to confess, I do spend more time on Twitter than I should when I get round to blogging. Probably not the best approach, as there is a lot more to be said than can often be contained in 140 characters, but I have an early New Year's Resolution to be more regular in terms of updates on here.  

One thing you might like to have a look at is the Global Alliance survey on advocacy and the future of the profession, which you can find here and which I would urge you to complete if you are involved in public relations and communication management.  The survey is only open for a few more days - so take a look and help shape the future of the profession. For the sake of transparency, I am currently secretary of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, so I am hoping that as many practitioners and academics as possible will take part.  The survey results will inform part of the agenda for the next World Public Relations Forum in Melbourne, Australia, which will take place this time next year.

Mount Ruapehu Timelapse

Brilliant timelapse photography from Jared Brandon. No comment to make on it - just absolutely worth sharing and watching. Stunning.

Mt Ruapehu Timelapse from Jared Brandon Productions on Vimeo.

 

Air New Zealand talk social media on social media

Couple of good clips from Air New Zealand this week. Firs one below takes a quick  look at their use of social media. The second is Rob Fyfe talking about how the stories, the channels and the way they intersect change approaches and engagement.  It's long, but worth sticking with.

 

Making it personal: The Air New Zealand Brand - wierd wacky or inspired? by Rob Fyfe from Creative New Zealand on Vimeo.

A Tweetview of #PRINZ11 - PR: Art or Science

We need more than Kiwi ingenuity to be ready for kick off

I know there are huge life-and-death concerns in the world right now but, at a local level, I find myself worrying more and more as to whether or not we will be ready for kick-off come the Rugby World Cup on September 9 this year.

I love New Zealand, I love rugby, I love Auckland and Invercargill and all the places in between. I also know it is tantamount to treason to profer criticism of either New Zealand's ability to do something or rugby. But looking around, I am not confident that we will be ready to the standard the rest of the world expects come the big day. 

Today's New Zealand Herald  looks again at the financial cost of hosting the event here. Me, I'm worried about the cost to our reputation.  There's the big tent thingy going up on the waterfront, the stadiums that are not equipped to deal with the demands of the world's sports and other media, there's the inoperative countdown clock  just opposite Britomart. Then there's the whole business of accommodation, transport links to venues, overpricing, no eftpos at stadiums and (whispers) the normal potential for the weather to be atrocious in September and October.

Whether we like it or not, the world has high expectations of international events of this kind and looking around the country four months out, I wonder if we will meet those expectations or fall dreadfully short. We rely on people coming here. Tourism is, we are told, one of our economic cornerstones. Yet this showcase event looks scarily unfinished at a time when we should be adding polish to the preparations, not still struggling with the infrastructure.  The long term risk to our reputation is far greater than the initial financial deficits being reported. If those coming - or not - for the Rugby World Cup - are not happy with the provisions and preparations for their arrival our tourism industry will be affected for years to come. 

It is naive to think that it is just a sporting tournament even though that viewpoint is the one most heard. If you have any doubts about that, cast your mind back to the debacle in India last year during the Commonwealth Games. September's event is a world showcase for the entire country so we need to see some leadership - and some real action - in order to be ready for those we have invited to come. 

If I had invited visitors from across the world to come to see me in September, the rooms would be ready, beds counted, meals planned, transport sorted and entertainment organised.  All that would be left to do four months out would be a tidy up in the garden just before they got here.

Looking at the event from the inside out, it all looks very piecemeal, disjointed and uncoordinated. From an event management point of view, this is not a good look, nor good operational practice. I am willing someone, somewhere to create a rounded picture for fans and visitors alike of what they can expect - something that doesn't exist at the moment.  

Looking at today's picture, I fear it will take a heck of a lot more than Kiwi ingenuity between now and September to give the rest of the world the welcome it expects - and deserves. Because there is an awful lot more to do than just tidy up the garden.

Cri-du-coeur for real communication as Cloud outage crashes confidence

Last week - and this weekend - saw major outages at Amazon and Sony. Gamers hoping to get down to some serious wins over Easter were struck by the fail - highlighted here on the Playstation blog, while Amazon's super fail affected sites far and wide, most notably, Quora, Hootsuite and Reddit.

Amazon's latest health reports show that things have improved since the problem occurred and, realisitically, this kind of thing is bound to happen as increasing numbers take to the Cloud as a means to manage server demand. Mistakes happen, sites get attacked, someone unplugs the wrong connection. What counts is the ability to keep customers, users and other stakeholders informed, up-to-date and confident that you can fix the problem as quickly as possible.

If your web presence is your main communication channel and you are rendered invisible by someone else's crash, what can you do?  Hidden among the acres of copy written in the last few days, probably the most useful is over at ZDNet, where Phil Wainewright has some salutary lessons for the user.

But what of the providers themselves?  What lessons should they learn? The greatest cri-du-coeur has been that Amazon failed to communicate clearly and effectively with its customers during the crisis. Personally, I'm not surprised.  Without exception, today's web giants are, I believe, appallingly bad at communicating with their users. For many years they were able to shield themselves behind remote access walls, responding only to emails (eventually), with very little human contact (if at all) and, in latter years, using minimal statements on blogs and webwalls to update users in a crisis. But believe me boys, (as mostly boys you are)  a blog post does not mean you have 'communicated', created trust, understanding or cemented the necessary forgiveness to maintain your licence to operate.

Anyone who has ever tried to communicate directly with Facebook, Google, Amazon or other large web corporates will know exactly the level of frustration I am talking about. In a world where instant two-way communication is the lifeblood of a system that champions trust, engagement, transparency and the user as the vital ingredients of the service mix, our web giants are lacking in their ability to generate and maintain the kind of real relationships they tout so readily on the global stage but which they spectacularly fail to deliver at a user level. 

Their technology may be great but the business model - as far as their public relations and communications is concerned - is more akin to the impenetrable walls of corporate non-communication circa 1950. And we all know how that turned out.

Some day soon, the big guys are going to have to wake up to the fact that they can no longer hide behind nerdy geekdom when it comes to good communications practice. If they don't, then some day soon, they'll suddenly find their licence to operate withdrawn by the users, customers and stakeholders they fail.

Fabulous - if fixable - code is not enough. You have to talk, respond and act and engage - just like the rest of us.

Earthquake changes communications landscape

If there is an organisation left in New Zealand that has, post-February 22 - failed to appreciate the power and potential of online and social media then seriously - we need to talk.

The ferocity and scale of the second Christchurch earthquake meant that organisations were forced to leave 'old' communications processes behind and venture in to uncharted waters as the urgent need to communicate outweighed entrenched opinions of how 'communication' should be undertaken. 

I take my hat off to all those involved in the post-quake communication, many of whom were having to deal with both the professional and personal aftermath of the quake. 

For some, that meant learning to use 140 characters or less while under great stress, for others, it was simply about saying 'I don't know - but I'm finding out'. 

I would particularly salute Christchurch City Council's communications team and the many volunteer techies who built valuable and vital web platforms - sometimes in hours - so that people could access information that helped them towards the basic necessities of life.

Lots of people will, in the months to come, pontificate on what was good and what was bad, the lessons to be learned and so on.  As for me, I think that unless you have lived through such an experience, you can't legislate one way or another. Those involved have done the best possible job in extreme circumstances with what was to hand. 

Post-quake communications will continue to be vital for the Canterbury region for many years ahead, long after the world at large has switched its gaze elsewhere.  Christchurch communicators - and all of us involved  in this line of work - are in this for the long haul. So Kia kaha. And well done.

More Power to the Neighbourhood

We should never underestimate the power of the neighbourhood and how simple community actions can change disaster to hope, dictatorship to democracy, isolation to engagement.

These last few weeks we have seen the power of local action resonate around the world but it has to be said that for many people, involvement with their local neighbourhood is, well, far from what it should be.  A cuppa and a chat next door is, in many places, a thing of the past with next-door-neighbours simply strangers who share the same postcode. The excuse? Mostly the excuses are reasons for not going round - that we're busy, we work odd hours, there's a lot going on, they're not around when we are and so on. Often what we need is an excuse to go round in the first place and break the ice.

An inspired 'excuse' that helps us to reconnect with our neighbours in New Zealand will be running this weekend. Neighbours' Day, an initiative by Lifewise, has gained remarkable traction and hopefully, this coming Saturday and Sunday will see people popping in and out of neighbouring houses, enjoying street parties and other events designed to stimulate local community engagement.  

In times of trouble - and I can't help but think of Christchurch and its suburbs here - our neighbours are the first people we will need to both help and depend on. Surely though we should be involved in untroubled times as well?

In our uber-connected lifestyles, we are often better friends with people we have never met on Twitter or Facebook than we are with the people next door.  I know that I for one will switch off the net next weekend and head down the road armed with muffins and a determination to get to know the whole street that little bit better.  If you want to do the same, then you'll find a raft of ideas and suggestions here. You never know, we might just bump into each other en route.

Christchurch gathers in consolation

 

Yesterday's Christchurch Memorial Service saw the end of an indescribably long three weeks, punctuated by unbelievable tragedy, devastation and destruction.

Many have remarked on the resilience of the human spirit and taken great comfort from the selfless humanitarian actions of others. At this very minute, that selflessness is in evidence still at the Japanese nuclear power plant as workers - some of whom have themselves described it as a suicide mission - continue to do all they can to prevent meltdown. It is truly incredible that in the space of just one week, Japan has borne earthquake, tsunami, nuclear accident all now interlaced with frozen snow and ice.

Our own earthquake, less than a month ago, was commemorated at Hagley Park yesterday. The video above was played during the service and provides a grim illustration of the extent of the damage, as well as the task set before those courageous enough to go straight into the debris to search for survivors.  As the brave Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams were applauded on arrival at the service - and how fittingly so, being the heroes that they are - my thoughts were with their colleagues in Japan who, having worked their way through the crumbled ruins of Christchurch rescuing the living and retrieving the dead, now pick their way through the frozen carnage left by our world's most recent natural disaster.

Many have commented that watching the live footage of the tsunami was akin to watching a disaster movie, complete with amazing special effects - simply because that kind of devastation isn't something we recognise as being  'real life'. It is the stuff of imagination, not the grim reality of living nightmare. This was a real and ghastly event, sweeping away real people, real lives and real places.

The first nine weeks of 2011 have left millions of lives changed forever. My hope - and the hope of millions of other ordinary people like me - is that we can work together to help all those affected by these disasters and upheavals to rebuild and rediscover their lives. There have been thousands of heroic actions both here and in Japan and every single moment, every single action merits tribute.

We won't ever be in the same league as the USAR heroes, but we can all do something to help. As has been said: no kindness, however small, is wasted. And to all those in the services - USAR, firefighters, police offices,  paramedics and many, many others -  who selflessly put their own lives on the line, on hold or on the edge when disaster strikes, we owe you a debt of gratitude that we can only humbly acknowledge, never repay. Thank you.

Today's Storify - Dust and Courage in Christchurch

Kia Kaha Christchurch

February has been bracketed by disaster. I started the month writing about Tropical Cyclone Yasi and I'm ending it with a post about the devastating earthquake that has shaken the beautiful city of Christchurch to its knees.

But amid the sorrow and tragic loss of life, the human spirit has shone through, not just in the bravery of those entering the crumbled buildings to rescue others, or the thousands of volunteers who have flocked to help, but in the day-to-day of things - a word of comfort, an act of concern, a smile amid the wreckage, a stranger opening a door to those displaced. New Zealand has shown itself to be a national family and the first line of our national anthem has been underlined by the actions of its citizens:

"God of nations at thy feet, in the bonds of love we meet'

Aroha - love - is much in evidence, demonstrated by the actions of many. Collective worry for the thousands affected continues to deepen as we try to work forward to improve their desperate situation. 

Up here in Auckland we have running water, flushing toilets, uncracked walls and roofs intact - but even so, the disaster has touched everyone. New Zealand is a small country and without exception, we all have a friend or a family member who is involved in some way.  We have all leapt into action, doing whatever we can to help ease the plight of those whose lives have been shattered by natural disaster for the second time in six months. Whatever we do doesn't seem to be enough - so we'll do more. And we'll keep doing more until it's fixed.

Tomorrow there will be two minutes of silence at 12.51pm.  There will be a sea of red and black as people wear the colours of Canterbury. There will be tears, resolve and determination. There are still the missing to find and, as has been said time and again, everything is being done to bring them home to their loved ones.

It was a savage and brutal earthquake. It ripped apart an already injured city, trying as it was to heal after the September 4 2010 earthquake.  There will be weeks ahead to look, explore and plan what comes next, how to rebuild and how, simply, to stay while the deep scars heal. But, for the moment, it is enough to say stay strong. It will get better, the arms of the nation are open to all - and everyone will do their best. Kia Kaha Christchurch