Sep. 4th, 2011
In May 2008, due to organiser confusion, I spoke with Leisa Reichelt at the first second next conference (flipping through my own blog reminded me that I missed next07). The conference was organised by Sinnerschrader, my employer at the time, and after meeting Leisa at reboot the year previous, I put in a good word for her and got her invited. The confusion was that I thought I’d agreed to soften the language barrier, and give Leisa whatever help she might need. The organiser thought I’d agreed to present with Leisa.
I’d never spoken at anything bigger than a group of mates at the pub, and would’ve described myself as someone with a “please shoot me now” level of stage fright. But by the time I found out what was expected, it was too late to back out. I threw some slides together, Leisa and I met at a café on the morning of our preso and mashed our slides into one deck, and off we went. Leisa was already an old hand, which helped me immensely, I had my “shoot me” moment, got past it, and by all accounts I didn’t embarrass myself. It felt like it was over in seconds, the audience laughed and nodded when they were meant to, and there were even a few people waiting to ask me questions when I left the stage.
Despite being “shoot me” nervous every single time, I’ve spoken at three more conferences since then and plan to do it again in the future. Why would I do this to myself?
To understand it better than I could ever explain it, read “Big Deal: On Being Famous to Almost No One” by Robert Hoekman Jr.
Robert was far more ambitious than myself and wrote numerous articles, five books (before this one) and ended up becoming a bit of a rock star in the web design & user experience world. He was flown around the world regularly to stay in top hotels, attend expensive parties and get up on a stage for an hour and talk about his work. And it destroyed his life.
“Big Deal” isn’t a book about web design, user experience design, or how to get a conference speaking gig. It’s a brutally honest account of Robert’s quest for what he calls “micro-fame”: to live an exciting life in exciting places, to win a seat at the cool kids’ table, to be adulated and validated by a bunch of intelligent strangers, and what achieving it all cost him in the end.
Sounds pretty glum, right? Luckily Robert’s a talented author, so it’s a pleasure to read - I flew through it in about six hours. Beyond that, at the cost of his marriage and friends, he discovered plenty of wisdom we’d all do well to keep in mind. Despite the rise and fall which is most of the story, it’s an optimistic book about keeping your eye on the things that make life liveable, and being mindful of why you’re doing what you do. I learned a lot, and am reconsidering my decisions and plans because of it.
Regardless of which industry you work in, if you define yourself by what you do, you should read “Big Deal” and learn from Robert’s mistakes. Should our paths ever cross at some conference, I look forward to buying Mr. Hoekman a beer to thank him for his honesty and courage.
Big Deal is available for Kindle or iBooks.
What do you think? Leave a comment…
Jun. 17th, 2008
From the time Sumerians first scratched pictographs into clay tablets, we’ve created content by making our thoughts physical, be it on stone, sheepskin or paper. That’s around 5000 years of sealing our ideas in atoms, which are pretty resistant to change. No surprise that so many people still think that way about their sites after only 15 years of web history.
Books Are Beautiful, But…
Although I’m more often than not online, I still have a few meters of books, full of stories I love. There’s no replacement for a beautifully printed object you can hold in your hands, or the feeling of a story unfolding through the turning of pages. No matter how much I love books as objects, I pick up a book, read it, put it back down, and unless it was extraordinary, I don’t remember it after a month. Making a book is the work of one person over months or years, and when it’s done, that’s it. You can correct and change by publishing a second edition, but does that change the first edition? In other words, a book is the exact opposite of the web. I know, this ain’t rocket science. Stick with me.
A web site is not a book—it’s not finished and perfect once it’s online. Most of us working online every day know this. Some web colleagues—or maybe just their clients—don’t seem to have made this leap quite yet though. There are still plenty of books in the web. They’re beautiful, funny and entertaining, but after I’ve spent a few minutes looking at them, they’re back on the bottomless shelf, and the chances of me thinking about them again in two days (web time’s faster y’know) are close to zero. (aside:thankfully for my colleagues earning their daily bread with sites like these—if not their clients—it’s also close to impossible to actually measure their success in anything concrete like sales or even ROI).
If you’re working on a site so that you can put it online and forget about it until the next relaunch, you’re publishing. You’re making a book in bits instead of atoms. And if you ask me (I know, you didn’t) that’s not what the web’s there for.
The Web is a Garden
Truly good sites—sites that are in any way relevant to the world of the web—are gardens. They grow, in many cases faster and wilder than anyone can hope to follow. So what can you do to help your site along? Duh. Stop “publishing” and become a gardener, of course.
What does being a gardner mean? First of all, before you start with your new relaunch project, as client, agency, designer or developer, trash your publishing attitude. This means your site will never be “finished”. And yes, this is a good thing for everyone involved. Launching a site is only sketching out your garden and planting seeds. If that’s all you’re prepared to do, you’re planting fail and your garden’s already dead. If, however, you’re planning on tending what you’ve planted, the fun’s just begun.
To start with, build your site from the outset to be searchable, linkable and shareable. The less your site is like a book—the more open, distributable, changeable and participatory it is—the more sun and water your garden’s going to get.
Next, make sure your site encourages discussion. Give your audience tools to talk about you, your content and your products, and to talk with you. And although it may seem counter-intuitive to you, strangely enough the more the discussion takes place elsewhere the more you’ll benefit. And it’s about the discussion, which means you’ll have to talk back to them, and expend energy tracking and participating in the discussion, wherever it occurs. You’re hosting a garden party, and your guests will wander. Deal.
If you’ve planted and tended your garden successfully, the next and most harrowing step lies before you. Give up as much control as you can, without letting your fan-hoarde destroy your beautiful garden. If you’ve managed to get your web audience interested in you, you now, in a sense, belong to them. They live in your garden, and you can’t evict them without losing quite a few brownie points. Instead, pay attention to them, what they want, and how the use your site. Plant what they need, and trim it all so they continue to enjoy it.
Gods & Peasants
Publishing as we know it started with monks copying manuscripts of the Lord’s Word for the few who could afford a copy. Therefore, forgive me the religious metaphors, won’t you?
If you’re still “publishing”, you’re a god, handing The Word down to the peasants. Unfortunately for the publishing gods, there are more and more gods online producing their own content and participating in discussions, and fewer and fewer peasants passively accepting what the publishing gods are feeding them. That is (slightly over-dramatised) the power of the web. Some of the old gods are trying to protect themselves from the new behind ever thicker walls, but the web’s true gods are those with the wildest, fastest growing gardens, which are completely open to the public. The walls of the publishing gods are ensuring their own irrelevance. Once these walls crumble, the publishing gods will look over the rubble and no longer recognise the landscape revealed, and the new gods, the “edglings”, will not recognise them either. On which side of the walls are you standing?
Are you a publisher or gardener?
This expands a small part of my talk from the next08.
Ironic note: to get this online I clicked the “Publish” button in WordPress.
What do you think? Leave a comment…
Nov. 1st, 2007
In two days I’ll be flying to New York, to visit friends and family and take part in the Future of Web Design conference. If you’re an English speaker and avid reader living in Germany, one of the first things you think about after booking a flight to America is cheap books. And if you’re a sci-fi and fantasy fan (if you’re not, feel free to change channels now) you get excited about a visit to a huge, well-stocked shop in New York dedicated to your favourite books.
To help alleviate me of my guilt at having anything at all in my wallet, I compiled a list of all the winners of the big sci-fi/fantasy awards in the last 10 years. Could be something that’d be interesting and useful for readers like myself, so here it is. Those books I’ve already consumed are crossed out.
World Fantasy Award
- 2006:
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
- 2005:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- 2004: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
- 2003: The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce
- 2002: The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
- 2001: Declare by Tim Powers
- 2000: Thraxas by Martin Scott
- 1999: The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich
- 1998: The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford
- 1997: Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack
All winners…
Nebula Winners
- 2006: Seeker, by Jack McDevitt
- 2005: Camouflage by Joe Haldeman
- 2004: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 2003: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
- 2002: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- 2001: The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro
- 2000: Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear
- 1999: Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
- 1998: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
- 1997: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda McIntyre
All winners…
Hugo Winners
- 2007: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
- 2006: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
- 2005:
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- 2004: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
- 2003: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
- 2002: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- 2001:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
- 2000: A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
- 1999: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
- 1998: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
- 1997: Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
All winners…
British Fantasy: The August Derleth Award
- 2006: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
- 2005: Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
- 2004: Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
- 2003: The Scar by China Miéville
- 2002: The Night of the Triffids by Simon Clark
- 2001: Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
- 2000: Indigo by Graham Joyce
- 1999: Bag of Bones by Stephen King
- 1998: Light Errant by Chaz Brenchley
- 1997: The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
All winners…
What do you think? Leave a comment…
