#listen i am a huge believer of the idea that consuming flawed media and understanding why it is bad is a good thing that we should be doing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eirikrjs · 6 years

Note

What's your writing process like? You're so eloquent (even when answering tumblr asks ... the serious replies, anyway) and it's inspiring me to get to that level.

Awesome, I’m happy and flattered to be an inspiration! Never had my writing described as “eloquent,” so thanks for that! :)

So, I typically write for three different formats, each with its own approach but with some commonalities.

#1: Tumblr posts

Answering Tumblr asks first and foremost always starts with the good intentions to actually delve into the ask backlog. In reality, this almost never happens and I default to the first page in my inbox. It’s not technically writing but choosing asks is key to this whole process. I love ones I can answer in a sentence (or image) or two but many involve taking the time to research or fact-check. I like those too, but if they require too much of an involved effort they are more likely to go unanswered, as I only have so much time. Lately I’ve only been able to do Tumblr stuff after 11PM EST. Though I want to put much of the blame on Tumblr itself because if there was a way to tag or favorite certain asks for later (and save drafts of ask replies), I’d get a lot more done. But hey, it’s a site made mostly for sharing images, so what can you expect?

Ask frequency varies but since this is perceived as a Shin Megami Tensei blog, activity naturally increases around the time of new SMT releases, where I can get 10 or so asks a day, especially if I’m active that particular day. Since we’re in the middle of an SMT drought, activity has really dried up. I still try to answer an average of three per day.

As for my actual writing and style, I personally perceive myself as a slow writer. I believe this is so because in real life I tend towards being a perfectionist with most things I do. I proofread an average length post of 2-3 paragraphs at least three or four times. One of those average length posts will take me about 20-30 minutes to write, more if there are images involved.

Another self-perception is a preference for direct language and communication. That’s why I was surprised you called my writing “eloquent,” as I like to be straightforward and succinct, workmanlike. That said, I also am sometimes frustrated that my English lexicon isn’t grander than it is, so I often use a thesaurus to brush up. But it’s never about interjecting superfluous flair or purple prose but instead the right word that could stand in for three or four others and create better sentence flow.

#2 Long-form articles

Many of the articles I’ve written grew naturally out of Tumblr posts and asks to lengths that would be inappropriate for the Tumblr format, compounded with the problem of Tumblr’s limited (read: single option) image formatting.

When I start work on long articles, I usually go analog and write outlines and other notes in a notebook. Being away from a screen and listening to music helps stimulate my brain. Music is especially important but mostly for #3, below.

After jotting down what I plan to achieve, I often jump right in to Word or Google Docs and start writing the real text for whatever my head wants to spill at that particular moment. However, I burn out quickly here because, more often than not, I like to have properly cited sources to back up my claims and, like the Tumblr asks, researching can take a while! It’s not just about finding sources and pasting in the right quotes but understanding their context and ensuring they are used appropriately in support of an argument. It’s like every college paper I ever did, only I’ve actually cared about these!

Revision is key, as is being willing to trim dead branches. For example, from initial concept to publication, it took me around 10 months to finish all three parts of SMT’s Identity Crisis. Within about three months I had an article that was about 70% "finished,” but it was meandering and amateurish. It had a clear thesis but an inconsistent voice. It was difficult to do but I wrote a new draft that cut out much I previously thought important. It was the right call, the new draft, the current text, was clearer and better delineated. Subsequent articles have logically taken less time to write as I’ve gained experience with the format, all but the Odin one this past summer; it took me almost a year after I kept piling on new ideas, observations, and the silly notion to simultaneously reveal a website and a long-secret project.

All the same vocab and proofreading rules from #1 still apply, though scaled appropriately. I must have read the finalized Identity Crisis a few dozen times before it was published--and I still found typos much later, to my chagrin!

I treat article images as levity providers, something I hope helps retain reader interest throughout what are often lengthy documents. This is influenced by the humorous alt texts often employed by defunct gaming site The GIA, an outfit that probably made the biggest single impact on my games writing. Andrew Vestal’s Vagrant Story review not only convinced me to play the game, likely my favorite ever, for the longest time I considered it the standard for a game review. When I wrote the Vagrant Story piece for Hardcore Gaming 101, I deliberately included images similar to those of the Vestal review and alt texts (which HG101 typically didn’t or doesn’t use) as tribute.

#3 Creative stuff

I rarely talk about my original creations, if ever (I mean, talk about defunct sites--but I promise it won’t always be that way), but they do exist! I’ve been writing creatively since I was 11. Much of it bad, but that’s okay! (You’ll never see that stuff!)

We’re all influenced by the media we consume and I’m no different. For me this most plainly manifests through music, historically mostly video game soundtracks. In the past I would listen separately to soundtracks from games I already knew front and back to absorb the tone and mood of the music, which I’d then turn into various ideas (still mostly in notebooks, though that’s changing). For the longest time I thought listening to instrumental music was the key to promoting pure, imaginative ideas, but since Wisdom Eternal: 1973 is technically a period piece I’ve been listening to classic rock and having just as much luck inspiring the old noggin. It also helps that ‘70s rock influenced most of the game music I like!

The previous point made me realize something: when I criticize modern SMT, for example, I’ve also been unconsciously making the statement “I don’t want this to influence me.” Though, ironically, acknowledging those flaws has been hugely influential on how NOT to approach certain things. “We are what we eat,” and that equally applies to consumed media. Some of my older creative works that I now deem to be bad were the result of a limited pool of influences, mostly JRPGs. Very much akin to light novel-caliber writing and concepts, which are often similarly criticized for their extremely narrow range of influences too often focused on literal conflict and not empathetic, realistic characterization.

This post has been going on for a while, but one last thing I’ll say about my creative writing is just how slow the process can be. It’s slower than writing a research-heavy article, just because the idea or two you need to link certain plot threads can’t always be forced out of your brain. In my case, namely the subject of mythology and religion in a narrative, it’s not just writer’s block, it’s about being well-read enough to know (Y) about a particular culture in order to solve (X) narrative problem. Ya gotta read and you gotta read the right stuff, though what the right stuff is will of course vary depending on your own goals.

This was a fun ask that took me just over 2 hours to write, so I hope it’s helpful for you! Honestly, I could have said more but enough’s enough. That said, in the past I’ve tried adopting other writers’ processes to help my own only to find I couldn’t harmonize with their methods. But it’s something you’ll only find out as you write more and better understand what methods are comfortable for you. I can attest, that can take many years. Good luck!

9 notes · View notes

awkwardbreakdance · 7 years

Text

Get ready for a ride

Regarding the Adventure Zone discourse that has erupted as of late:

I get having criticisms about racial issues. I’m a bisexual black woman raised by a family who grew up during the Civil Rights Movement. I’m extremely aware of, and have been a victim of, micro-aggression and outright bigotry.

I am not trans, latinx, nor am I Jewish, so I cannot come at these concerns from those angles

Even trying to create a 1 to 1 comparison between the black experience and those of latinx or Jewish folks isn’t possible. But I can speak of the large amount of TAZ fanart I’ve seen by creators that have headcanon’d the characters as black. Because I don’t know the creators, I have a gut reaction every time I see a black Taako being his normal rude boy self, because that is something that is heavily equated to blackness. When I see black Magnus, I feel the same way, because black people are so stereotypically violent brutes. When I see black Merle, I get sus because black men leaving their families is a HUGE stereotype. I feel these things because I feel safe in assuming (according to my typical interactions with most folks) that they have no idea/don’t care that what they’re doing can be harmful, or that it is subconsciously within them to make those connections.

When I see people going for the McElroys’ throats, I get it, but I don’t. I understand being disappointed by seeing a part of yourself portrayed a certain way, believe you me. But the McElroys have constantly put themselves out there to try and do right by their incredibly diverse listener base. All of them have done so much to be transparent and try and do the right thing. Off the top of my head:

Retcon Taako’s taco quest and his last name; also Lup’s name

Attempt to rectify the “bury your gays” with Hurley and Sloane

Explicitly established POC/LGBT NPCs in canon

I understand that it is frustrating to see certain played out tropes/stereotypes. Don’t get me started about the fact that there are 2 women whose deaths have been for the advancement of a man’s character.

But I ask that you all remember that this started out as a bullshited DnD podcast that none of them thought was going to last this long or have such an impact. They created characters with familiar stories, ones of lost loved ones, lost connections, lost fortunes and fame, and those stories came about through the McElroys’ personal worldviews, ones that they have attempted to adapt so that more than just people like themselves could appreciate. And that is a hell of an endeavor. The story isn’t perfect; no piece of media ever will be. And that’s why thoughtful discussion is important. Consume the media, understand its flaws and why they are such. But I have never seen anything, any fandom I’ve been in before, have creators that have so attentively listened to their fans with open hearts. I want you all to think on your fandoms. How many of them have gone up in smoke because the creators were so dead set on things being one way, or were so far up their own asses about their perfect narrative?

TAZ is nothing like that, and I believe with 100% certainty that the McElroys have never come from a place of hatred or racism.

So, to all you people (a lot of whom I’ve seen being white folks who are truly and greatly out of their depth/out of line for crying racism over POC voices) who are prepared to burn everything down because one artists non-canonical representation of Taako has green skin, or because Lup and Barry being canon isn’t true LGBT representation because it’s a straight ship (or are upset that the ship is getting more attention than gay ships), the people who raise the McElroys up on this impossible to reach pedestal (let’s be honest, you guys are like this with them because you found some non-threatening white dudes that are uwu smol soft boys or some shit) only to shit all over them when they don’t reach your standards:

The way ya’ll are acting, I honestly hope Griffin doesn’t make another campaign. He’s put so much heart and soul into this and people nit-pick him to death over it. He’s trying to do right by all of us, but for some reason, he’s not allowed to make mistakes along the way. People have complained so much that I can’t imagine that they’re having as much fun with it as they should be. Griffin was so nervous about this arc coming out that I don’t understand how he managed to work up the courage to do it. These dudes are some of the MOST receptive to other peoples’ concerns, but there is a line, one that a lot of you crossed. Bring up concerns or let them know how you feel in a respectful manner? Yes! Please do, it has been the driving force of positive change and some wonderful story elements. Make assumptions about them, harass them, or call them things that they aren’t because you don’t know how to conduct yourself? Absolutely not.

#the adventure zone #taz #taz discourse #honestly this is insane #like i've been watching critical role (another dnd podcast) and there's been nothing like this in the years it's been going #i get that it's important that everyone feel safe and welcome but jesus christ ya'll

2 notes · View notes

andersa · 5 years

Text

Fully Automated Luxury Communism *IS* Our Future

I have been planning to write on this topic, but a recently featured article in OneZero inspired me to kick it off now. This is my rebuttal.

In his analysis of the book Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani, Robin Whitlock wrote an article that he felt outlined the reasons why Bastani is incorrect in his belief that one day (perhaps sooner than we may realize), the world will transition to a one-world, communist-style form of government. I haven’t read Bastani’s book, but, I have been an avid supporter of this concept for nearly a decade after watching the movie Zeitgiest: Moving Forward.

Over the years, I have also engaged in conversations about this topic with literally thousands of people, and most of them repeat the same fallacies over and over in their denial that such a thing could ever possibly happen. I have found that many people have several cognitive biases that hinder their ability to look forward into the future and see what it could potentially look like.

Often, they believe it will look and behave very similarly (if not worse) than what we have today, maybe just with a few more gadgets to play with. In fact, most people are completely unaware of their own biases, let alone that there are 175 known biases that influence our rationale.

Of course, the most obvious is the negative connotation that the word “communism" brings to mind. Immediately, the thought of walking skeletons forced into labor camps spurs a knee-jerk reaction to immediately stop listening to any argument that can even remotely be deemed “pro-communist". But, just to touch on some of the other common biases that influence this conversation (and most people’s daily lives) are:

Declinism- when we remember the past as better than it was, while simultaneously believing the future will be worse than it likely will be.

Just-World- Many of us who live in developed nations like to believe the world is a just place. It makes us feel secure. To think that somewhere in the world someone is dying of hunger, can overwhelm us with guilt if we think about it while we enjoy an expensive meal at a nice restaurant. So, we chase away the guilt by reminding ourselves that we work hard and we’re good people, so we deserve this nice meal. Anyone who doesn’t have access to such things is just not trying hard enough, so they get what they deserve. Of course, this bias can cloud our judgment of other people and their situations. It helps to cloak the madness of the system we have built. It’s also a bias that politicians tend to exploit to get you to vote for them, and one that makes people believe the world in the future will be pretty much the same place it is today.

Belief & Confirmation Bias: Our beliefs shape our perception. After all, the human condition requires we believe in something for it to be real. When one believes in something, they will find or fabricate as much evidence as necessary to support that belief; likewise for something one does not believe in. Our brains automatically default to our belief structures when analyzing nearly any subject. And, it can sometimes be difficult to examine the evidence with an open mind that may challenge those beliefs.

Dunning-Kruger: The more you know, the less confident you are. Fools rush in without understanding. The wise understand how little they know and pause for consideration.

Framing: It is amazing what a frame can do for a portrait or painting. The right frame really makes the piece pop and increase the appreciation of those beholding the piece of art. The same goes for our brains. Major media, consumer data companies, and marketers understand how their piece of art is framed MATTERS. A LOT. It is often seen that they will frame things in different ways for different consumer tastes and preferences. It is an extremely easy way to manipulate the masses. And, once one recognizes this bias, one begins to see the frames around everything.

Familiarity: Our comfort zone. Whether in the physical sense or the literal, most of us have a pretty small comfort zone surrounding every aspect of our lives. If something encroaches without permission, or we are challenged to venture outside of our zones, it can be stressful and uncomfortable. While the huge world outside of our zones can be harsh and unforgiving, it can also hold the key to amazing new discoveries in all areas of life.

Self-Attribution: A common example of this is when working in a group, you feel like you’re doing more than everyone else. The interesting thing about this is: if you ask 10 people in a group if they feel like they’re doing more than others, you’ll likely get 9 responses that support their belief they are working harder than everyone else.

Sunk-cost: You’ve invested a lot of time, effort, and money into a project (or your career). But, it’s not going as you had hoped. It’s difficult to walk away from something that is not serving its intended purpose.

Anchoring: This is when you’re so focused on one goal, that you miss out on opportunities to have a better outcome because you refuse to deviate from the initial goal.

Survival: The celebs (and capitalists) make it all look so easy. Like anyone can go to Hollywood and become a huge star. But, what we often don’t hear about are all the failed talent who just didn’t get the right break into the industry. If one does not succeed, one is simply failing at trying hard enough (similar to the Just-World bias).

There are many others that fit into this conversation. The ambiguity effect (avoiding options where the outcome is unknown), anthropocentric thinking or anthropomorphism (common in discussions about AI), attentional bias (marketing and constantly being told capitalism is the best way), and so on.

But, even FALC supporters are sometimes clouded by their own biases. In addition to the few of the above, automation bias (excessively relying on automated systems which can give erroneous information that overrides correct decisions) is one. Berkson’s Paradox ( The tendency to misinterpret statistical experiments involving conditional probabilities) is another. And, especially the Bias Blind Spot (the tendency to recognize bias more in others, less in oneself).

So, regardless of these biases on both sides of the conversation, people want to see hard facts and plausible ideas about how this future may come to fruition or why it will not.

The truth is: NONE of us know for sure.

But, there are some things that should be considered before completely shutting the door on the idea of humanity living in a Fully Automated Luxury Communist structure in the future. So, back to the original article I am rebutting by Mr. Whitlock. I seriously doubt he read the book, though that is simply an assumption. But, this assumption stems from the fact that many of his rebuttals to the concept are deeply entrenched in a capitalist mindset, disregarding the very essence of the book.

1 Assumption One

For instance, many of the government labor statistics he quotes are based on a flawed system of tracking that the US is notorious for. He also claims that automation is a “long way off and not necessarily replacing jobs”. This is also a flawed analysis due to Moore’s law. But, Moore’s law aside — some even believe Moore’s law is dead or evolving— he goes on to state that according to McKinsey digital who stated two years ago that less than 5% of jobs are able to be automated over the next decade. That is a seemingly naive assumption compared to the breakthroughs we have seen in the past two years from companies like Boston Dynamics and their amazing robots.

And, to counter that McKinsey article showing an example of a lumberjack, or construction and raising outdoor animals:

So, now we get into the cost of all this automation. Sure, it is a prohibitive factor for many, especially small businesses. For now, that is. In accordance with Moore’s law, as things become smaller and more advanced, though, the prices tend to drop. The more assistance provided to small businesses (whether by government supplementation or not), the faster these technologies will drop in price and advance.

Then, by quoting articles that are years old (2014 & 2017), the argument is made that, for instance, self-driving cars are facing major logistical and regulatory issues. Again, without considering the major advancements made recently. In fact, he very conspicuously left out Tesla in this analysis. Or, for that matter, the drone taxis that started in Dubai in 2017, and are now being adopted and accelerated by Uber and Boeing.

So, by assuming that automation is not going to replace most jobs anytime soon, we are really turning a blind-eye on the advancements going on around the world.

2 Assumption Two

Moving on to asteroid-mining. Mr. Whitlock used an article from 2012 (nearly a decade old) to prove the point that we were a decade away from identifying suitable asteroids to mine. In 2015, Obama signed a law into effect called “Space Law” allowing private companies to mine asteroids. And, the example used — Planetary Resources — struggling only to be acquired by Consensys, Inc. (a blockchain company) is an extremely poor (on purpose?) example, considering that companies like (to name only a few) Deep Space Industries, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Bigelow Aerospace, and even The Blue Origin aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos are going all-in on this concept.

In the article, he also tries to point out that these ventures being profitable are the highest concern. That is, again, a false assumption. While it is true that funding needs to happen to make these a reality, one must also realize that funding, in itself, is a fallacy. By this, I mean:

The idea of fiat currency having any sort of value is false. It can be created out of thin air. It is either simply a piece of paper or a number on a computer monitor. Nearly the entire world uses fiat currency.

Nor is the number of materials hidden in the asteroids “speculative, at best”. That is his own assumption, without any real-time understanding of how the above-mentioned companies conduct research to identify lucrative asteroids.

As noted in the original article, Mars One’s for-profit business went bankrupt (though the non-profit side is still running). That is a sign that for-profit in this sector will struggle. Perhaps an even bigger signal that non-profit will eventually win in this sector. As an added point of interest, space is a HUGE business and destined only to grow:

The point is not profit. The point is to succeed at nearly any cost.

3 Assumption Three

Aside from the fact that the vast majority of people are essentially wage-slaves who toil away at mind-numbing tasks to make their bosses a little richer, this entire area completely leaves out the concept of AI and quantum computing. Mr. Whitlock is stuck in his own biases that only a company can do what is being talked about and that companies can only be run by humans. While this is certainly the case today, the advent of AI is not to be scoffed at. In fact, the entire premise of arguments against a system like FALC is akin to the people who 20 years ago scoffed at the idea of having hand-held computers that we know as smartphones. It is an archaic way of thinking… Fearful, even. The truth is: We are on the precipice of technological upheaval never before witnessed by humanity. We better get our heads right to understand the challenges we will face and how to make life better for all humans as a consequence of technology. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in dystopian lives as described by some of the dystopian authors people love to quote.

This concept is not some glorified hippie utopia (utopia is highly subjective, btw) of rainbows and lollipops all day. Stop fooling yourselves and diminishing the world we live in and are about to arrive in. This is the reality we face. When people are displaced from employment and when precious metals & minerals are no longer rare, it will not happen suddenly and it will not be a hundred years away. Try the next 10–30 years, MAXIMUM, for us to really start seeing these effects. Sure, you and I may not be around to see it, but my kids will be.

We need to expand our highly myopic understanding of what is in front of us. If you don’t, others will, and it will be you who is left in the dust.

DISRUPT, OR BE DISRUPTED. That is the motto of the 21st-century.

Finally, yes, the future may be run by corporate empires. That is a scary prospect. In the near future, it may be necessary to eliminate the idea of corporations. All other details aside, the idea of competition is only a hindrance to the advancement of these technologies. Why split the resources (money, labor, etc.) between so many different companies hoping for a profit for a few individuals? In many ways, this is a ridiculous notion. It means fewer resources for each company and wasted time between advancements. This problem is becoming more and more obvious as technology advances.

And, all of this is in addition to the people who are working to cure aging, upload minds into the cloud, and make us into something else to redefine what it means to be human like the Transhumanist movement. If one doesn’t take all of these considerations into account when thinking about the future, they are doing themselves and the future a disservice. Because even though you may stick your head in the sand to avoid seeing it, millions of others are working toward this future whether they realize it or not.

There is so much more I could add to this, but then I would need to write a book… A book explaining Fully Automated Luxury Communism…

0 notes

martechadvisor-blog · 6 years

Text

4 Digital Marketing Leaders from Hasbro, Monster, Bose and Adidas share their MarTech Secrets!

How do the world’s biggest and most successful brands approach data-driven marketing, social media, content marketing and attribution? Key Digital Marketing Executives from Hasbro, Monster, Bose, and Adidas let us in on some big ideas with these crisp responses!

The Digital Marketing Leaders’ Summit is bringing together digital leaders from across the industry. We couldn’t resist asking them quick questions about digital marketing. Their responses may be brief, but there are some pretty expansive ideas in there!

BLANDINE JEAN-PAUL

SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL BRAND STRATEGY & MARKETING, HASBRO

A recent key milestone in your brand's digital marketing journey.

One of the biggest milestones one of my brand’s, Red Stripe, experienced in the last 12 months was the development of a solid global social media platform. It sounds simple, but when you are trying to make a brand global, **the nuance of trying to make your Brand relevant to consumers yet consistent to its message - on different continents, languages and cultures - is more challenging than it looks.**

The biggest mistakes you see marketers make with executing a digital-first strategy?

Saying ‘digital-first strategy’ is, in itself, the biggest mistake - because the conversation should be around being mobile-first. It’s not about serving ads to consumers on the go via mobile devices, but about creating immersive experiences that can be accessed on any device any time.

How is 'data-driven marketing’ evolving in your team?

**Data-driven marketing has evolved to social-insights driven marketing**. Brands are trying to use social media listening to stay relevant in their category and open up new categories of growth. Now, when we start discussing new ideas and strategies, we start the conversation with what is trending on social to see if there are insights there that can help guide our marketing strategy.

What are the big trends you see as we get into 2020?

I believe retail brands need to pay attention to what is happening with Amazon Go. This concept of checkout-free stores is really going to disrupt the retail space and once consumers adapt to the convenience of it (which they certainly will), it will be hard to contain this disruption. Brands need to balance being intrusive and inclusive with their experiences.

ALEX SILBERMAN, DIRECTOR, SOCIAL MEDIA, MONSTER

The biggest mistakes marketers tend to make with social media marketing

Marketers make one of two fatal errors in social media marketing: they don’t measure properly, and they don’t focus enough on providing value to the customer. If you’re adding value to the lives of your audience, and measuring that exchange well, you’ll generally be pretty successful.

Approaching the ‘attribution challenge' in the omnichannel age

**There’s a theoretical right way, and a practical way to attribution. The truth is, the “right way” is to just continue to improve and build a better mousetrap than you had before.** I used to try to force every conversation to fractional/algorithmic attribution modeling (and I still think it’s the best system overall), but even that has its flaws. Overall, identify your KPIs, ensure you’re moving those numbers in the right direction, and test into as much channel specific insight as you can.

The must-have tools in the modern marketers martech stack

A social listening partner

A solid analytics instance

A robust CRM

A flexible programmatic solution

KURT HEIDEN, TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGER, BOSE

Key milestone's in your brand's digital marketing journey

Bose took a conservative approach to digital marketing, always monitoring trends before establishing new marketing methods. Establishing a social media presence was a huge milestone for us.

How is 'data-driven marketing’ evolving in your team?

We started looking at the demographics of who was buying our products and realized we wanted to reach a wider group. Gathering data on sources of brand awareness, applying new techniques of brand communication, developing more accessible products – have had a positive impact for us.

Approaching the ‘attribution challenge' in the omnichannel age

Decide if your analysis and models will come from an internal team or from a vendor.

**Be sure to factor in brand equity and its value in generating return customers as part of your analysis if you already have equity built in your brand.** (It might be helpful to quantify brand equity to balance out what attribution models show.)

FABIO TAMBOSI: SENIOR DIRECTOR BRAND COMMUNICATIONS, ADIDAS (HONORING NON-COMPETE)

How are digital marketing and digital consumers evolving?

There is a clear gap between the current way of connecting and how the consumers live their lives.

Consumers are no longer just consuming – they are creators, producers, and conspirators of global brands. **Digital has accelerated the evolution of marketing from interruptions to connections and real relationships.** With collaboration at the heart of the new era of marketing, content – meaningful storytelling - plays a critical role in building emotional connections with audiences.

**Today’s consumers don’t trust brands, they trust people — so why not humanize your brand and start to build that trust between brand and consumer?** But how can a brand be expected to authentically change when organizations are still looking at digital as a function, not as a way of working? Putting the consumer at the heart of strategies and plans is more important than digital transformation.

BONUS QUESTION!

What new skills have you had to develop to do your job effectively in the last few years?

BLANDINE: I am developing my ability to identify social trends that matter to my portfolio has become more important than reading a Kantar or TNS report.

ALEX: I’ve had to become a much better social copywriter. I’ve had to learn how to evaluate technology quickly. I’m constantly working on my analytics understanding. But the thing I spend the most time with is behavioral psychology. I’m always trying to understand why we make the decisions we make as consumers, and what that means for me as a marketer.

KURT: Our marketing team has had to adapt to explore new ways of communicating digitally, but also to reach larger numbers of people in new demographics. These skill adaptations include researching the viability of new technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for B2B sales, market intelligence research, and seeking out effective new unconventional ways of reaching target audiences.

FABIO: More than simply understanding the digital platforms, today’s marketing leader must be native to digital — approaching digital as a mindset within their daily habits as well as their brand strategies. The notion of one person leading a team and everyone else executing feels outdated. To lead in a collaborative and transparent way means to lead as a pack - a concept I like to call “Pack Leadership Mindset”. I believe this principle is the future of leadership.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

0 notes

esprit-de-corps-magazine · 6 years

Text

WEAPONS OF MASS CONSUMPTION: The Information War Is Raging

(Volume 24-11)

By Col (Ret'd) Pat Stogran

Sadly, just like my article in the last issue of EdeC, I will start off with an expression of condolence to those affected by another terrible mass shooting in the United States. My thoughts and prayers are with the casualties, families and friends of the latest tragedy in Texas.

I love the CBC! Let me qualify that. I love a lot about the CBC, particularly the documentaries. I listen to a lot of radio — The Current, Quirks and Quarks, Ideas, Day Six, The 180, and Q, just to name a few. I also listen to BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle (English) and National Public Radio out of the United States. I don’t watch much television, but when I do investigative documentary shows like the Fifth Estate are tracked closely on my radar, and Vice, Russian Television and Al Jazeera (English) are my regular channel haunts. French language television in Ontario has some tremendous documentaries and investigative news shows, and of course the Internet is replete with reputable and legitimate sources of news, although I will admit that, as a dinosaur, I am relatively inept at tracking them down. Surfing the net feels to me more like trying to catch a wave in a swamp than carving a path inside a breaker that is barrelling to the beach, so I stick to the sites that I know to be credible or are referred to me from people I trust. I subscribe to as many or more noteworthy independent new outlets on the web, like Canadaland, The Tyee, APTN, and the National Observer, to name just a few.

You may wonder why I am offering comment on my news consumption in a column that is supposed to be about war, warfare, and military theory and doctrine. Last month I talked about terrorism, emphasizing that it should be considered an act of war and not just another word for seemingly senseless violence. That article was in keeping with a theme in this column that we must be more sensitive to the revolution in military affairs, that we are in the midst of a revolution that the military-industrial complex is acutely aware of but either incapable or unwilling to deal with. My narrative has entered into a discussion of information and cyber warfare, so I think it is useful to introduce readers to the relevant battlespace. That battlespace is inside your head!

Some people have been critical of the eclectic array of news sources I follow, particularly RTV and Al Jazeera, even CBC, arguing that I am consuming propaganda. I would submit, however, that would only be the case if I was to take anything any source has to say as ground truth. Information is as much a matter of perspective as it is accuracy and honesty of the source, so it requires an iterative process with continuous feedback and course corrections on the part of the consumer to rise above raw data and information to a modicum of understanding and ultimately wisdom and sound judgement (for more on this see my column on the DIKW pyramid in Volume 24 Issue 8).

On CBC, I dismiss everything to do with politics and politicians unless there is corroborating evidence from other sources. However, I find that the vast majority of their programming, particularly on the radio, whether it is economics, culture, crime and corruption, national security, and even the arts, offers their audience tremendous insight into the changes and challenges to our society. I look to Russian Television and Al Jazeera to tell us everything that our own governments and corporate media outlets are reticent to tell us, just as I check in on MSNBC to find out what Russia is up to in their information and cyber operations against the United States. Of course, that information is revealed through criticism of their presidential incumbent and cries of foul against Vladimir Putin. I take everything I see and hear with a grain of salt, and everything that RTV says about Ukraine and the Baltic States is treated with a pound of salt.

I am always on a quest to increase my knowledge and understanding of the issues and therefore ready to modify my opinions when new evidence is presented or when someone points out flaws in my reasoning. Consequently, my opinions and inferences are as fluid and flexible as my sources might appear to be obscure or unorthodox, and often critical of and contrarian to status quo to the point of being considered by some as unreasonable. Mais, c’est la guerre!

From my interactions on social media, particularly Facebook, I like to see what issues are pertinent to my friends, fans and followers. I am grateful for the array of articles they share on various issues, some of which are hugely informative, but a great deal of which is clearly biased and of dubious credibility. The problem is that biased and incredible information is virtually an epidemic in the world today. Indeed, anybody with a smartphone and a Google account can establish a web presence that appears on the surface to be highly credible while, in reality, they are often sources of misinformation and disinformation. The former refers to information that is deemed by the originator as accurate although incorrectly so, and the latter are utterances made knowing full well they are false with the intent to deceive. I admit to having been caught sharing what amounts to “fake news” and recycling old news, but that has become part of the learning process.

A predisposition for or against certain facts or evidence makes a person vulnerable to deception, which is compounded by a propensity for people to make unreasonable inferences. For this reason I find it particularly distressing that ignorance and unreasonableness is widespread when it comes to information consumption. I don’t know how many times I have seen posts that are so biased on the surface that they are not to be believed. More often than not people allow themselves to fall victim to their own confirmation bias by ignoring data and information that might be contrary to one’s extant opinion. Indeed, the human mind has developed some complex mechanisms to protect it from information overload and cognitive dissonance — where one’s reality and behaviour differs from one’s fundamental beliefs. It takes mental discipline to make sure those defence mechanisms do not pervert our perceptions.

While the old garbage-in/garbage-out dictum applies to human decision-making, the quality and diversity on the information feeding the process is not the only critical vulnerability being exploited in information warfare. Unreasonable, illogical thought processes are an insidious and pervasive threat. Indeed, a person should not need a PhD in philosophy to understand that false dichotomies are a type of logical fallacy, one that is at the centre of the Left Wing versus Right Wing divide upon which politics is based. Inductive reasoning abounds, whereby broad conclusions are drawn from specific observations, but it is a process that is far from infallible and much less certain than deductive reasoning. And of course non sequitur logic fallacies fuel governments’ false dichotomies of binary solutions to very complex problems. While the assertion that fighting ISIS on the ground in Iraq will prevent them from launching terror attacks might not be completely false, it is most certainly an unreasonable expectation in the face of the terror attacks that continue to plague Western democracies. When factored in with the phenomenon of confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance, it is no wonder that the Vulcan Star Fleet Officer Spock had such a terrible time tolerating the illogical behaviour of his human colleagues.

Another critical vulnerability that information operations seek to exploit is that of crowd behaviour and groupthink. Whether it is a price war that once pushed the per unit price of tulip bulbs to the equivalent of thousands of dollars, or the referendum that compelled the United Kingdom to exit the European Union that was then followed by a flood of enquiries on Google by Britons wondering as a consequence what they got themselves into, it is widely accepted that groups of people tend to act and react irrationally. And with the plethora of information technologies and platforms, it is increasingly easy for insurgents to set up cognition minefields and booby traps in the battlespace of our brain-boxes.

While our presumed adversaries may have had a field day with the last elections in the United States, our politicians are equally adept at exploiting the vulnerabilities in the general population that are posed by crowd behaviour and groupthink. What is alarming in this day and age is that, in order to win, politicians have progressed well beyond from simply twisting the truth to articulating planks for their platforms that are ambitious to the point of unachievable to the point of outright lying and provocative actions.

Military forces have traditionally liked to lay solitary claim to being masters of the battlefield, but I would submit that, today, there are many, many new and very powerful actors in that domain. Mainstream media has in large part been guilty of bias such that they and the digital-industrial complex have become full-fledged combatants in the information war. The U.S. government has also claimed that one of the weapons that Russia used to interfere in the last presidential election was the promotion of propaganda through social media giants within the United States. I would submit that the digital-industrial complex has become so large and adept at dragging for data and sensitive information that, collectively, they pose a critical vulnerability to the security of the United States and Canada. It seems to me that, in the U.S., a major breech of huge private databases is almost as regular an occurrence as the mass shootings of innocent civilians. However, not only do our governments seem to be reticent to regulate those multinationals in order to protect that vulnerability, but in the United States they have established a monstrously huge network of fusion centres to exploit the information themselves.

When you add to that the thousands of computer geeks, who are arguably as inept socially as they are socially conscientious and have set out to defeat government and the corporate oligarchs they perceive are subjugating and exploiting the masses, I think it is reasonable to infer that the information war is raging, and we are all the target audience for those operations.

As usual I look forward to your comments and critiques. Until next time ...

1 note · View note

sharionpage · 6 years

Text

Identity: Not Just a Fashion

The Self Improvement Blog | Self Esteem | Self Confidence

Identity. Self-esteem. Self-confidence. Individuality. Each are words we hear every day. But when I speak to women and young people and listen to how they feel about how they fit into society and the media, I wonder how much of our sense of individual confidence is generated from within. How much of it depends on what is in fashion?

One of my girlfriends recently admitted that part of her confidence in her own body shape is because it’s become societally desirable. When Alek Wek was on the front of all the magazines with her gorgeous Dinka features, the media constantly reminded us that she was very far from the conventional beauty ideals at the time. Whose beauty ideals? For me, Alek is a stunning woman full-stop. As much as I was thrilled to see her ‘breaking barriers’ and records, I feel strongly that we didn’t need the media to tell us what beauty looks like.

From disability to color and everything in between, it seems like not a week goes by that a new identity trend is on the front page. Only where it was once a new seasonal color or skirt style; it is now people’s actual real identities.

As a PR expert, I know how the media machine works. The media uses representation to convey (or push!) specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in society. Blackness, disability, culture, and class have all become ‘fashionable’ at different times but why? And according to who? As a diversity marketing pioneer, I’m always happy to see new frontiers being forged. But as a psychologist, my concern is that these representations aren’t an authentic celebration of our differences. I’m concerned that they are more and more a temporary act of ‘permission’ for minorities to feel at ease with their individuality.

The problem is that fashion isn’t timeless, it’s what is hot right now today. Once the season is over, today’s hottest trend becomes ‘out’ overnight. So what happens when the trend is over?

Last year Kylie Jenner caused a backlash when she posed for a photo shoot in a wheelchair. She appeared as a ‘disabled’ fetish sex doll all in the name of ‘fashion.’

The media touted it as an ‘empowering representation’ of disability.

Historically, people with disabilities have been denied fundamental human and civil rights. Modern societies still attach a huge stigma to both physical and mental disability. As it stands, the representation of models with disabilities is particularly bad in the UK. To me, an able-bodied reality TV star posing in a wheelchair isn’t a route to the disabled community feeling relevant. Kylie Jenner sitting in a wheelchair doesn’t promote diversity, it portrays disability as a fad.

The Paralympics sparked similar conversations with Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson pointing out,

“When we see next year’s hate crime figures then we’ll have a better view of whether there’s been a real change or whether it’s been a moment in time.”

Whether we like to admit it or not, it feels good to be ‘en vogue’ and particularly for those of us in minority communities, the feeling of acceptance from seeing your culture, race, disability or ‘look’ on the front of Vogue is reassuring. Still, this shouldn’t be viewed as validation.

Our teenagers are totally consumed by this feeling. In their world social currency is the amount of “likes” or

Photo by giano currie on Unsplash

“retweets” they get. With their self-esteem at a low (7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough), social media has become a safe haven as they instantly get the attention or the validation they are craving for. When this stops or changes, the effect on a young person’s self-esteem is catastrophic, in some cases resulting in suicide.

For adults, social media might not have the same appeal or importance but mainstream media affects us all. Some time ago Dove performed a study that revealed women are suffering poor self-esteem because of advertising campaigns which use airbrushing techniques to portray ”unattainable perfection” with 80% of us unhappy with our appearance. We might feel that our days of trying to fit in with the ‘popular’ crowd are over but with statistics like those, we’re more susceptible than we realize.

When self-esteem is harvested from within, our confidence is more likely to be centered on who we are as unique individuals. So, regardless of the latest trend or fad and whether it reflects us, our sense of identity and self-esteem stays intact.

Few would argue that exchanging cultural ideas is a negative thing. But what happens when the influence and origins of a culture or community go unacknowledged and ignored? How are we meant to feel accepted as individuals if we need celebrity fashion to validate our uniqueness?

I was a model in the 80’s and I can tell you now that a big butt was not in fashion. I weighed every week to maintain a tiny 8 stone figure and part of my success was down to my lean figure. Today, I’m no longer a size zero. But black body shapes are suddenly being accepted because of the ‘Kim Kardashian curves’ fashion. Am I supposed to feel better about myself because of that? Will we remember how to love our shapes and sizes and big butts once the trend is over? Or will we go straight back to asking ‘does my bum look big in this?’

My standards for my body no longer depends on what I’m told is ‘O.K.’ I understand now more than ever that when self-esteem is dependent on a person, trend, or campaign, anything external, it will crumble the moment that thing is taken away.

I grew up as a minority and the last thing me and my peers received when my mum put my hair in cornrows was praise from my non-black peers. So much so that girls of my generation desperately wanted their hair chemically straightened so that they could ‘fit in’. Fast forward to 2017 and Selfridges. One of London’s oldest and best-loved department stores opened Braid Bar. Celebrity models Lila Grace Moss and Stella Jones (the daughters of supermodel Kate Moss and Clash guitarist Mick Jones) helped launch the campaign. The problem is, whilst Selfridges might say this is a ‘step forward’ I don’t see how a pair of white privileged teens can ‘endorse’ a protective Afro hairstyle that has history and meaning. This isn’t an example of progress to me, it’s another fad.

I would rather my daughters love their hair and feel confident wearing their braids for themselves regardless of the latest campaign because I feel it has a deeper, more enduring impact.

We grow and harvest self-belief from inside. It’s the power base of energy that we were born with. The first step to achieving any kind of ‘wholeness’ is to develop the strengths within our character; to celebrate and accept our own quirks and uniqueness. When you spend your time wishing you were somebody else, comparing yourself to someone else, regretting what you have or have not done, analysing your every flaw, wishing you were more ‘normal’ and only feeling confident when someone like you is on the screen, you are driving yourself further and further away from your life’s happiness. The solution? Your identity, history, and body are as unique as your DNA. So look yourself in the eye, appreciate yourself for everything that you are and celebrate the uniqueness of YOU.

A strong sense of self-worth will never be out of fashion.

About Dr. Diahanne Rhiney

Biography

Dr. Rhiney is a leading-edge Domestic Violence interventionist. Her passion lies in providing guidance, support, education and giving voice to marginalized groups. Further, she is a recognized award-winning commentator using her multiple platforms and enterprises to raise awareness, educate and empower. She has developed groups, presented workshops and spoken extensively on self-esteem, body issues, children in care, abuse, emotional wellbeing and healthy relationships (including peer pressure and intimate relationship abuse). Also, she is a long time ambassador for children’s women’s rights, safety, and wellbeing.

Diahanne has provided training for foster carers on the challenges of online grooming. She has also worked across borders in Washington, Ghana and Malta focusing on concepts of ‘wholeness’. She is a qualified psychologist. Her pioneering Domestic Violence charity, Strength With In Me Foundation (S.W.I.M) is a trailblazing method for change. The Foundation equips the next generation with the tools to avoid negative relationships and make empowered life choices.

http://ift.tt/2CECGzE

http://ift.tt/2ByVIbl

Identity: Not Just a Fashion published first on http://ift.tt/2wQcX5G

0 notes