The Matrix, MOOCs & Autodidacts

I Know Kung Foo

The first time I watched the Matrix I distinctly remember turning to my mother and asking - "um, what just happened?" I was a tad lost. One cannot fully appreciate this film without watching it a few times. Only on my fourth viewing did I begin to suss out the dizzying layers of metaphor. Apparently, for example, every individual actor or behavior in the matrix virtual world can be related to a computer process.

This genre-defining trilogy offers us much more than in-your-face action and gravity-defying rimless glasses (but seriously, how cool would they be if they weren’t “matrix only”). This film leaves us with an enduring commentary on the relationship between humanity and technology.

While I could take this entry in possibly 10 to the 12th (10^12) different directions, I have decided to focus in on how people go about learning in the matrix. 

This is what we need right now to save the world. The closest thing we have to it for now is video.

Enter the MOOCs and Autodidacts 

Have you ever heard of Coursera.org or Edx.org? They are what are known as MOOCs - massive online open classes. They offer free content in class formats in almost any subject under the sun. Example sites such as Coursera.org have set course beginning and end dates and offer certified accreditation - where your own computer will take a snap shot of you to verify YOU are taking the class and also analyze your writing patterns to make sure YOU are in fact writing the assignments. 

While some people argue MOOCs are hyped, I wonder how close this model is coming to "matrix type" learning. In this system people simply pick and choose exact subjects they need to learn on an as-needed basis. While I'm not suggesting that we can plug ourselves into the jack behind our heads (not that that is ruled out), I mean to argue the education is evolving. With the invention of computer precision and intelligence, certain knowledge areas have become superfluous - while other subjects become easier to learn than ever as content is more readily available. The only part of the equation we cannot yet influence is pure experience in a subject area and the psychological power of tangible degrees. 

How long until we forgo college programs altogether and simply start our professional careers earlier? In this future, we would begin our jobs and learn new required subjects as job demands arise. Instead of skills being pushed out from universities they would be pulled by the market - much more sustainable and adaptable. After all, now a days there really is nothing stopping individuals from learning anything aside from pure laziness - everything can quite literally be found on the internet.

This is the age of the Autodidacts, the person who best is able to teach him or herself will be successful. Career advisors always say it is best to never stop learning in your field. If you can't find or afford the content out there in the real world it is waiting for you online. Go find it!

Scene from the Matrix.

Evil Marketing Tactics & Organ Donation

The Dark Side of the Force

Is marketing evil? 

Over the weekend I read an article by Michael Serazio about "Why Marketing has become like Guerrilla Warfare" In the article he talks about how marketing has become more covert and underground. He argues that the line between content and advertisement has been blurred - it is no longer separate (TV Show vs. TV Ad) 

“Much the same is now happening in marketing. Thanks to a confluence of technological change, commercial clutter, and audience habits, the old advertising-media model for campaigns has been falling apart in slow motion. Consumers are more adept than ever at avoiding anything that looks like advertising. And whether or not agencies and corporations want to admit it, the necessary recourse has been to create content that doesn’t look like advertising.”

— Serazio

He talks about the marketing warfare metaphor "conducting marketing campaigns". I have to take pause, as this is a very dangerous argument. I talked about this linguistic phenomenon where certain metaphors are built into languages in a previous blog post.  In my argument I made a connection between the English of "time being money" (spend time, waste time, buy time) and American culture. I however understood the limitations of my argument. The marketing as warfare linguistic metaphor argument raises many questions: Is this metaphor only built into English? Was this metaphor created before guerrilla style tactics existed? Is this metaphor more a symptom of the business as warfare metaphor in English - with marketing being one department?

Serazio also bemoans the ever popular online content curation platforms such as huffpost. Their popularity has come at the cost of the "more trustworthy" hard copy resources, he gives the example of Newsweek going out of business. 

This article left me wondering - is marketing evil? Is guerrilla marketing evil? 

Marketing is Inherently Empty

I think that Serazio makes a couple good points. Marketing has changed - become covert, clever, gone underground. The line between advertisement and content has indeed blurred - look at the new "sponsored" Facebook posts that show up in your newsfeed.  I know that the word "evil" needless boils down or simplifies Serazio's argument - however is this method inherently evil?

At the end of the day, marketing is inherently nothing, zilch, goose eggs. Marketing is simply a vehicle that assumes the traits the the driver, nothing more. It is a medium of communication. 

Here is a great example of how the nature of marketing depends on its subject. 

Organ Donation: Ogilvy Brazil

Problem : Thousands die each year in need of an organ transplant

Behavioral Resource : Brazilian sports fans are known the world over for their fanaticism, dedication and craziness

Solution: Utilize this natural resource to re-ochestrate the discussion on organ donation

Tactics: Guerilla marketing

Outcome: Higher donation rates

Watch the video. 

Confira os resultados da campanha de doação de órgãos. Ação foi criada pela Ogilvy & Mather Brasil.

This campaign is amazing and really demonstrates the potential of marketing - especially in achieving altruistic goals. While not all marketing is so wholesome in the sense that it touches such humanitarian goals, it shows that marketing is inherently empty. However is marketing ethically required to be overt, to let you know of it's existence? I think not. Sometimes in order for marketing to be effective it needs to blur the lines and sneak up on you - it just shouldn't lie to you in the process.

Marketers are in the business of adding value to life, marketing is not about deceiving or hiding the truth - such marketing is unethical. A good ad should not tell you lies and state facts that are otherwise blurred or untrue. Marketing is in the business of finding that little bit of perceived value hiding under your nose and taking the fullest advantage of it.

We would find that in a world without marketers we would all have the same goods, the same relationships and the same amount of money - but we would all be a little bit poorer. True marketing is not black magic - it is a little extra service that benefits us all. 

“Marketers are the bankers of perceived value. We are happy to deposit in your account everyday because we have our own set of economic rules. In the perceived value economy there is no inflation and supply is unlimited. We can print money out of thin air - the sky’s the limit. Demand is only driven by our customer’s imagination and in this economy we can all be prosperous at no extra cost to anybody. ”

— Me

The Plight of the TV Refugee

Houston - we have a problem! No one is watching our channels anymore. Where have all the TV refugees gone?

Who actually uses Cable TV anymore - I most certainly do not? I would argue that my generation is getting more and more comfortable with the on-demand capabilities streaming websites can provide (who wants to be told what to watch anymore?) Moving away from the you-only-have-x-channels-be-happy-socialist-dynamic, individuals are turning to online content. The extremely malleable nature of the internet has been more than capable of accommodating new viewership.  

Colorful Digital Solutions to Cable TV's Headaches

Style Haul is a youtube channel, but don't let this fool you - the channel was founded by Stephanie Horbaczewski, the former director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue. This isn't your average youtube user channel. With more than 1,800 video bloggers in 81 countries and 72 million subscribers, Style Haul is quite the online media network. In the future, Stephanie hopes to incorporate videos with online stores so that shoppers can see products in action. The popularity of this online channel demonstrates the viability of sustainable digital content distribution. 

“Not only has the internet been able to accommodate television refugees, it is constantly looking for ways to harness video more dynamically. ”

Media overload has made it impossible for consumers to read all of the content they desire. To solve this, our app turns your favorite online news, blogs, and social streams into video. We're using the latest generation in avatar and text-to-speech tech to read and present this content to you so you can watch your favorite content, passively, instead of reading it.

Another digital solution is gui.de (which for the purposes of my own sanity I will spell as "guide" from here on out). Guide's approach is to make convertible the internet's boundless amounts of written information. Instead of reading a news article, blog post or social media post, guide hopes to convert the text to speech WITH accompanying video. The videos, reminiscent of traditional broadcast journalism, give you the option to watch internet content. Instead of scrolling through the morning news as a ritual, you can cue up videos and watch the news in the background as if it were a TV show. This makes news articles more appealing and dynamic. Plus, you can choose which character reads the news to you - man, woman, child, robot etc. 

“Personally I find that impactful news stories, such Iran’s recent election, to be more compelling and relatable when they are read to me by my trustworthy kitty cat anchor...felines are just more trustworthy than humans”

With ads sales continually being dwarfed by internet marketing dollars, cable TV is slowly becoming a thing of the past.  These two examples really point to the fact that Cable TV needs to adapt - not fight against the tide. By no means is it the 11th hour for Comcast or Cox, however a change is coming.  

Cable TV has to find sustainable plans to integrate itself with online media - providing more customization, personalization and relevance to the viewer. Television manufactures have already taken cues on these trends and introduced "smart" TVs that connect to the internet and provide a greater range of materials, interface and connect ability.

It is time that cable giants stop being so lazy. It's time to wake up and smell the 21st century media landscape. 

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Who knew there was a Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity? Apparently it is an international advertising festival that people attend from all over the world concerning marketing, brand management, market engagement and advertising. As expected, there are workshops, seminars, talks etc. It sounds like the TED of marketing - can someone buy me a ticket please! Much appreciated. 

The seven-day Festival is also the only truly global meeting place for professionals working in advertising and communications, from creatives to marketers. Over 11,000 delegates from 90 countries attend seven days of workshops, exhibitions, screenings, master classes and high-profile seminars by industry leaders such as Dan Wieden, Sir John Hegarty, Bob Greenberg, Maurice Lévy, David Droga, Mark Tutssel, Sir Martin Sorrell and Tham Khai Meng, as well as people like Mark Zuckerberg, President Bill Clinton, Malcom Gladwell, Robert Redford, Ben Stiller, Yoko Ono, Debbie Harry, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Ballmer, Dick Costolo, Jeff Bewkes, Eric Schmidt, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Philippe Dauman, Kofi Annan, and Bob Geldof.

Not to mention it takes place during the summer - in Cannes - FRANCE!! Sold! 

Google, Blockbuster Movies & NSA's PRISM

Big data is here - and no one knows big data better than Google. It has access to several planets worth of information that is constantly up to date - as people continue interacting with Google's services. 

Proving this point, google recently released a white paper arguing that it had the ability to predict blockbuster movie success.

"70 percent of the variation in box office performance can be explained with movie-related search volume (such as trailers)."

Thats pretty cool. That means - if you want to know if a hollywood movie will be a success - just google search the answer (or at least see what the google-searching public has been up to). If your movie happens to be trending in advance of your release date - odds are that odds are in your favor. 

This topic of big data and access to big data has been actually hot news in the press of late - what with the leak of NSA's PRISM.

Should the government be able to track you online?

Where do you lie in the privacy vs. security spectrum?

There can be no doubt that you are leaving a digital wake behind you, as you click through the web. However a recent Economist article makes a fair point: 

Should the government know less than Google?

I hope you know by now - google has been spying on you. From your youtube views, to the content of your gmail emails - google has been painstakingly going through every word to get to know you better (just like a good neighbor).  

Don't believe me? - click this

If you are logged into your google account that link should send you to a fun little page. Here you can view what google thinks of you - specifically who you are and what you like to search. 

So the argument returns, yes the government is beefing up its online presence big time - but should google really know more about you than your government? Would you rather a private corporation hold your detailed information or a public one?