The more I study Analytics, whether it is Web, Social or Mobile, I find that a clearer picture is emerging in my mind of how people use the Internet. The typical peaks and valleys begin to emerge, time and time again. You can actually predict how long the public will care about a certain issue or why a Twitter account has 40,000+ followers. It’s simply a matter of who we are.

The big question Web Analytics will ultimately answer is, “Who are we becoming?” It is clear that we, as a scattered yet connected community are beginning to experience the world differently. Our ability to know, communicate and change are quickening and as result we are setting the pace.

The Internet is just the beginning of what is to come. We are truly witnessing a new Renaissance and with it the growth of the mind. This is a process which is made possible only through technology. The machines that we embrace are becoming extensions of our senses, heightening the power of the mind. This coming Renaissance will change everything.

Our ability to experience the world is no longer limited by who, where, when, why and what we are. I can see the sunset in Maui from the mountains of Sweden 3 days later on demand. That will become the common understanding of the world; a ubiquitous experience.

What a blessing to share these thoughts with you. Times are changing and I hope to be a part of it my entire life.

My Second Trip to San Francisco

San Francisco is an amazing place. It has many things that parts of Portland are trying to become. But from what I have experienced here there are two distinct cities within its limits. The first is downtown, with its sky high towers and embassies. The second is everywhere else I walked to.

The first time I came to San Francisco, it was mid August, 2010. I had decided to take a road trip with a couple of friends. I had just gotten my Internship at Webtrends in Portland and to celebrate I needed a vacation. During my 72 hour road trip I experienced more variety and grander personalities than I had really ever before in my life. This is what led to my second visit to San Francisco.

The difference between my first and second trip, as it would turn out, were the relationships I would make. This wasn’t something I expected, I was thinking that I would have a repeat of my first visit; learning more about the structure of the city instead of the people. I am glad the second time was different.

On my second trip to San Francisco I both traveled and lived differently. I think that played a huge part in why it was fundamentally different. For instance, instead of driving for 12 hours I flew, which only took 90 minutes. Instead of sleeping in my car, I stayed in a hostel. Instead of doing the whole trip on $200 I had enough money to exist comfortably in downtown. Those little differences made a big difference when I reexamine them

Hostel Living

Living in a hostel for two nights seems like I have Visa to another planet. When I first arrived at the Green Tortoise I was naive about what to expect. There were rumors and even myths in my mind that made up my understanding of what a hostel even was. Movies, music and books had always filled my head with either quaint or horrible notions about what happens here.

I arrived at the Green Tortoise at around 10 in the morning, a little too early for the room to be ready. So, instead of waiting around I put my bag into a secure storage closet and made a break on foot. It was my goal to visit KQED and to make it to Golden Gate Park to see if it was what I remembered from the previous summer. In the two hours I was away from the hostel I must have ended up walking a good five miles before returning.

From Portland to San Francisco?

There are things about San Francisco that make me want to stay, but there is something about how condensed an experience Portland is that makes it hard to leave. It is a city that thrives on its ability to remain sustainable, in all operating senses of the word, which is reliant on its size. San Francisco seems to be more reliant on the outside world to survive. This is something I also noticed in New York City, people need support from others to exist at that scale.

The largest imports into Portland are its people. San Francisco, on the other hand, seems to have a mixture of people and business as large pieces of its formula for success.

When I tell people here in San Francisco where I am visiting from, they react to its reputation quite immediately. “Ohhh, Portland Oregon. Are you originally from there?” I tell them, “I was born near Seattle, but raised in the Portland area. So, yes I guess I am.” Their responses tell me a lot about how people perceive my home. “From what I hear, Portland is a place where people our age move to so that they can retire; “Baristas.”

It was over this weekend that I confirmed what I suspected about my home, it is somewhere I need to move on from. However, I don’t agree with how the outside sees us. I think they, like my understanding of what a hostel is, haven’t experienced Portland like I have. Portland is a place to grow as a young person, at least from my vantage spot.

So, this is a bit of an overview of what I found interesting about my trip to San Francisco. While I don’t have any definite plans to move to San Francisco, it is certainly on my radar. Big thanks to Max Ogden and Steve Walling for their hospitality. It is always good to see people I know from one city succeeding in another.

Here is a simple video I made about a Tap Dancing Busker in San Francisco. Enjoy.

For example, if I were a Plumber I would want to know how the chemical makeup of the water flowing through the pipes I just installed would affect the longevity of the project. Or, if I were a Politician I would want to appreciate the impact my vote would have on my constituents. Both are examples of a deeper desire to understand the mechanics of an infrastructure. Being able to effectively use advanced tools requires the ability to build, repair and improve them.

I believe that the role of an Analyst is greater than just providing insights; it is creating the set of tools and processes needed to construct them. To illustrate this, I will compare the skilled Web Analyst to a Systems Engineer, as I find that both professionals are working towards the same goal; integration of separate solutions into a single set of answers. Let’s take a look at what it means to be a Systems Engineer.

According to Wikipedia, “Systems engineering deals with work-processes and tools to handle such projects, and it overlaps with both technical and human-centered disciplines...“. You could easily replace “Systems engineering” with “Web Analysis” and achieve a satisfactory definition of the profession. There are other professions similar to Web Analysis where a similar substitution can be made. But it appears as if there is more in common between being a Web Analyst and a Systems Engineer than most others.

The stark similarities between Web Analysts and System Engineers points to a common thread between the role of a structure designed to gather information and the analysis of it; invention. Being able to create the very utilities that our profession relies on is one of the many strengths within the field. In the end, being an Analyst boils down to curiosity, creativity and a systems perspective. This profession truly is fascinating and I am excited about what new tools we will invent to help understand humanity on the Web.

What you will hear from the players above are two different “tracks” or rhythms that Trevor performed while I recorded. What is interesting is how each track evolves over time, very similar to a drum circle, but instead there is one pair of hands setting the pace.

The Noun Project

In addition to being informational, The Noun Project allows you to download any choice of symbols to help spread the understanding of what each icon means. So tune in and find out what the future holds for The Noun Project and visual information.

It is important to remember that there were 10 speakers, however I ran out of room to take notes on the napkin I was using after only five. Here is what I have.

1. Greg Netzer – Wordstock: Books are history. To publish is to create community. The goal of a publisher, in addition to creating community, is to create a dialogue about the literature. If you engage the audience you will receive a benefit for printed text.
2. Joshua Tallent – eBook Architects: The printed form of books are not going away, but will forever be changed because of eBooks. The goal of any publisher is to see what is coming.
3. Victoria Blake – Underland Press: A “wovel” is a Web Novel, a crowdsourced narrative. When reading her web novels, only 30% of readers made it to the end. Information wants to be free.
4. Justin Hocking – IPRC: Considers himself a publishing community, not a company. Describes what he does as an underground operation. The Zine is very personal. The Zine is made possible by the “Gift Economy”.
5. Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols – Jolby: Funded their book with Kickstarter. 60% were from family and friends and the remaining 40% were “others”.

There you have it, a brief rundown of some examples of the future of publishing. I did enjoy the event and hope to see more like them in the future.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/page-turn-pdx/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/portland-digital-marketing-conference-audio-and-slides/ http://www.bretevan.com/portland-digital-marketing-conference-audio-and-slides/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:44:01 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=418 Above you will find the audio of my presentation at today’s Portland Digital Marketing Conference (pdxDMC). Below you will find the slides I used plus the video of my presentation. In addition, here are links to the five major resources I used during the presentation.

1. Podcasts
2. TouchGraph
3. Clould.li
4. Twitter Search
5. Pipl

It seems that Sam Adams is a proponent of good reporting, working to encourage the system of checks and balances. Listen for yourself.

Statements of Ideals

1. ASOY – “With each client, we strive to go beyond a Big Idea and develop a unique Big Ideal. This is a higher order benefit that translates into a brilliant creative expression. It speaks to people at their core and says “follow me, join the conversation.” This is the essence of Brand Enlightenment––developing Big Ideas and then illuminating them with the emotional epoxy to become Big Ideals that are admired and loved. Click on one of the client links above to see samples of Big Ideas and Big Ideals we’ve created and how they connected, convinced and converted.“
2. Associated - “We see the world through a lens of pragmatism. As creative and innovative thinkers, we also understand the practical considerations of what we do. Because you are under growing pressure to do more with less, we feel responsible for finding new ways to deliver results despite shrinking budgets. You can expect us to deliver surprising, innovative and often nontraditional ways of reaching your target.“
3. Barefoot – “We solve complex business problems with a simple strategy: change individual consumer behavior. We succeed by fusing our digital and direct expertise with our deep knowledge of consumer data. The end result is a measurable (and memorable) consumer engagement with each and every one of our clients’ brands.“

Clients

1. Clarity Coverdale Fury – I find that it isn’t the larger, beefier clients that define the agency. In reality, it is the more fragile and lesser known clients that creates the make-up of an agency’s soul. In my mind and in the eyes of the consumer, the impact of helping a small community non-profit far outweigh a large media campaign. Ultimately it is the relationship between an agency, their clients and the communities of end users that decide how successful the brand makers will become.

Location and Distribution of Workforce

1. 37 Signals -  Appreciating the fact that 37signals isn’t considered an “agency”, they have become known for the global distribution of their workforce. The ability to distribute tasks based on location over a digital connection isn’t new, but the ability to remain profitable and innovative while being physically isolated is. Ultimately, the success of the 37signals model is the identification of the need to be flexible but present.

Unique Work Flow Process

1. Draftfcb – While keeping the talent at the center of the entire flow, the work is broken down into interrelated segments; unlike silos. It would also appear that the client has a direct line of communication with the source of the work, giving rise to the “open standard” of communication that is absent in so many demonstration of work flow process.

Process

1. Fry Hammond Barr – “Every brand has a story. The most successful ones are just better at telling theirs in a compelling way. So how do we get there? In a word – collaboration. We involve client partners and a multidisciplinary agency team in a process that’s more about problem solving and big ideas than media-specific solutions. By keeping fresh minds unhindered by sacred cows and irrelevant history, we can help clients get to the core of their brand essence and frame it so consumers respond with loyalty and purchase intent. This fancy diagram should make it all perfectly clear.”

Understanding of Tools

1. BCF -The glory here is that they seem to demonstrate a higher level of appreciation for how the tools work together as well as how they work independent of each other. The ability to demonstrate how an an agency works with information and creates meaning from it is through their tools, such as here.

Understanding of What Makes Up a Brand

1. Cronin and Company – “What does a brand stand for? What’s its promise to the world? If you invited a brand over for coffee, what would it talk about? We dig deep to answer big questions like these. The result is a powerful platform that serves as the hub for all our clients’ marketing and promotion initiatives — and a catalyst for their success. Which is really just fancy talk for saying we do it all. And we do it very, very well.”

This is a man who has so much faith that he feels compelled to spend his waking hours helping others before they ask for it. His pulpit is the street and his sermon of salvation, given daily. It is truly the degree to which a man believes in something larger than his life that defines him. And appreciating this, it makes sense that there would be something definitive about Ron, something needing to be shared.

When I was looking for already existing media to help recreate the environment in which Ron and I had the conversation, I didn’t expect to what I did as seen below.

View Larger Map

What you see above is a Google Street View Car having photographed Ron while he was at work. Ron has been doing his street preaching long and often enough for Google to have found him. I am surprised by the consistency in Ron, most others don’t have his apparent dedication to a cause. But hey, Ron is a man with a mission.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/the-anthropology-of-youtube/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/youtube-is-my-playlist/ http://www.bretevan.com/youtube-is-my-playlist/#comments Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:42:31 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=73 When I first transferred over from CDs to an all digital library I would spend hours uploading music that I never listened to anymore onto a 50 GB Hard Drive. With my music still being stored locally, I needed to have access to a hard drive to enjoy it.

Then I discovered Pandora, the curated online radio service, for listening to and exploring music. My tastes and knowledge of music expanded and continues to this day. However, the fact that I cannot choose specific songs to relisten to minimizes the utility of the service for me. In my life Pandora acts like the first half of the equation for enjoying music; the exploration. Enter YouTube.

For the past 4 months I have been using YouTube as my music playlist, with constant and unlimited access to the music that I want to listen to. I regularly stream YouTube videos over my iPhone when I am in the car so I can hear a song the radio won’t play. The only downside is the video.

As a consumer and producer of digital media I think it is important to give free and seamless access to it. Pandora, like traditional public radio, is hoping to make money off of subscribers. This model is healthy and the content Pandora delivers is intelligently curated. Yet, YouTube replaces Pandora 80% of the time for listening to music in my life.

Someday we will be able to combine these services for free.