davidconnell.net - Latest Comments

Re: Four (More) Reasons America Still Kicks Ass

Samuel Lee — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:46:18 -0000

just to add on; correct me if i'm wrong. i don't think it's so much of a creative spirit in the innovative sense, i think it's a never-say-die spirit. i think americans don't ever give up. the word 'failure' don't seem to appear in their vocabulary, and that is what makes they great

Re: seth godin: The forever recession

Paul — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:51:38 -0000

We are so out of touch right now that even business won't invest in a future past next year. And without business - big business - there will be no change. Not economically and sure as hell not politically.

Re: america is fucked for “jobs,” get used to it

Paul — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:46:28 -0000

Right now we are divided and all but conquered thanks to the 2-party system and big media. They've so completely owned the national discourse that any grassroots initiative can do no more than make a lot of noise before it dries up and dies.

Look at Occupy. Look at Wisconsin. All that humanity and all that solidarity and where did it get us? Practically nowhere. It's as if we don't know what it is to take action, to talk serious issues, maybe not even to think, really.

Fuck!

Re: superman, a dream transcribed

Bethanyc222 — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 10:21:24 -0000

David, you're a beautiful writer.

Re: why i so love “texting guy almost runs into a bear”

Bethanyc222 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:18:31 -0000

Love this! And I watched the video a million times yesterday--I even showed it to a stranger in the elevator!

Re: bringing the beehive to suburban and apartment living

Chrissy — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:48:32 -0000

cool concept, but as a beekeeper i find it hard to envisage how one would extract honey without releasing bees into the indoor space. any instructions on how this is managed?

Re: what non-profits can learn from tech start-ups

David Hewson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:28:41 -0000

Sorry, your reply slipped through the cracks for me too! Still new to Disqus and only figured out now how you can keep track of comments...very cool.

Thanks again for the great post. I've bookmarked it and it's already got me thinking about some ideas for our website redesign, and I'll come back to again as a reference for sure. I'll stay posted for fresh content too :)

Re: flash is the walking dead

Bpin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:48:53 -0000

"Yes, Flash is “easier” than HTML5 and in some cases for the PC it’s more powerful. But the problem with Flash has always been that it’s a parasite — a third party forced to be hosted by the native application."

Actually, this commentary seems rather lame in an armchair quarterback sort of way.
Maybe David can tell us who would have been creating what for the past decade if it were not for flash? I'm not even a flash developer or web-anything, network engineer.
But he could just as easily, and more correctly posited the fact that flash is now going to be second fiddle to HTML5 because of both HTML5's newer and improving capabilities, and Adobe's recent change of plan.

People have been writing about flash's demise for a couple of years now, ever since HTML5's canvas and elements were first introduced.

Boy, I've been thinking the Patriots are going to lose the Superbowl for weeks now......

Re: what non-profits can learn from tech start-ups

davidconnell — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:00:50 -0000

David,
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I am sorry I didn't reply to this sooner, I am usually on top of comments on the blog, but this one slipped through the cracks somehow. It's too bad, too because this is a good one! I agree with you that non-profits need to do a better job bringing people along and giving them more variety in engagement points, but with structure. I love your use of the Seth Godin quote -- like so many, it hits the nail on the head. And YES! It's a usability issue. That's exactly what I was trying to get at in my post. Non-profits generally suck at drawing people in and getting them to go along an engagement path. Kickstarter really shows a great way to do it.

Thanks for reading, David!

Re: what non-profits can learn from tech start-ups

David Hewson — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:55:48 -0000

First off, David, I am really glad I found your blog. Your posts on non-profts are exactly what I've been looking for and I will be following what you write!

Bob's points make sense - in general, joining a given nonprofit is less obviously valuable than signing up for a service, so can you really compare?

I think it's true that supporting a charity can be a "complex emotional and cognitive transaction". But I think that might be overthinking it too.

My recent, but limited, experience is that people want to give - their time, money, energy - if you can give them a good reason. You have to do it right though. Ask them to properly. Show them why it's valuable to what you're trying to accomplish. And bring them along for the ride.

Here's what we did recently:

My organization is holding a drug policy conference in Calgary in March. We wanted to find a way to build buzz beforehand, so we built a form on Wufoo for them to fill out, for us to eventually put the responses on our blog. Here's the link:

http://dwhewson.wufoo.com/f...

Average completion time is 9.1mins - I have the analytics.

In the past we've had trouble getting people interested in things, but this has gone really well so far. I think it's because the value of it is clearly stated (help us build buzz for the conference), there's a low barrier to entry, and it allows people to showcase themselves (Seth Godin - your favourite website is the one you make yourself).

And there's structure. Give people a blank canvas and they get overwhelmed. Give them a colour in the blanks and they'll fill it in, and they'll fill everything in and maybe even tell you how to make the whole thing easier or better.

Ultimately, it's a usability issue. Which is (I think) exactly what David was trying to get people thinking about.

Re: the albums of my life: public enemy’s it takes a nation of millions to hold us back

Corbett Anderson — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:47:25 -0000

Great post, Dave.

Re: 30-plus vegetarian recipes for meat eaters (and why i try to eat meat only on the weekends)

davidconnell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:08:27 -0000

Thank you, Aggie! I actually made this meal just the other night. It's wonderful for a good winter meal. Thank you for posting it, it's definitely a family fave! Good pulled pork is a weakness of mine as well. :D

Dave

Re: 30-plus vegetarian recipes for meat eaters (and why i try to eat meat only on the weekends)

Aggie — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:44 -0000

Thanks so much to linking to my pasta recipe! I love your post and can relate to it a lot. I cut back on meat tremendously over last two years...I feel great. A lot of it had to do with what I saw on Food Inc, and also just b/c it was easy for me to do and really I just love veg based meals so much more. But I find myself every now and then just really craving a pulled pork sandwich or stuffed cabbage rolls or chicken parmesan...so I take bites here and there and am completely satisfied this way. I love your 'weekend only' idea!

Re: what non-profits can learn from tech start-ups

davidconnell — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:10:30 -0000

Thanks Bob,
Sorry it's been awhile since I got back on this. I think I agree with the points that you're making here. Getting visitors to invest in a non-profit's mission is more complicated then getting people to try a new start-up service or software. And I'm definitely not trying to draw an analogy between non-profits and cloud-based services. What I'm looking at are the techniques they're using to get people to sign up, use the service and pass it on to their friends -- the user-flow, the use of images, etc. Obviously, you would have to adjust the content, but I think the techniques are transferable.

I would use these techniques as landing pages off of paid search, or display ads -- or a sign-up page off a homepage -- so that users are coming to them predisposed to suport the cause. I would want to present a simple value proposition and get out of the user's way when it came to sign-up and then incentivize them to share with others. When it comes to initial sign-up, non-profits tend to over think it -- either you're predisposed to help the environment, or you're not. You either care about waterless children in Africa, or you don't. As you say, non-profits are a service to do for others what we can't do for ourselves and i think we can sell ourselves as such.

Now, getting from an email address and zipcode to a donation takes a lot of stewardship and emotional investment and that's a whole different story. Just as getting someone to try Kicksend once to getting them to use it regularly and/or pay for it i a differnent proposition.

Re: what non-profits can learn from tech start-ups

Bob Lalasz — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:37:05 -0000

So, this argument seems compelling. And it's certainly mobile-ready. But...

Isn't the analogy between a cloud-based service and a non-profit a little loose? The service gives you something of utility, usually a tool that makes your life (supposedly) easier. The non-profit usually isn't a service; it's a proxy, doin things in the world you couldn't or couldn't do at that scale. I'm much more inclined to try Basecamp risk-free for 30 days because I can see immediately how it could be useful. But don't non-profits require a little more time to convince you they could be a good steward of your hopes and dreams?

Second, the 2 NGOs you mention both have really simple value props. Not often the case in this world, as we both know. How do you adapt this model to the more complex identities of bigger orgs?

I'm unconvinced that the complicated emotional and cognitive transaction of deciding to support a charity can always fit inside this box you've drawn. Interested in your thoughts.

Re: a readability triptych from brent simmons

Andrew — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:03:06 -0000

Hey it's Pub Rules.

Re: if you can’t convince them, mock them

Asdf — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:12:59 -0000

Haha wow. I just heard about the ad and searched for it but it actually made you guys cry. iPad is fucking lame at least this one is funny.

Re: happy little danger bomb

Sarah — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:57:30 -0000

Even now, the new Mac comes with a little card inside that says, "you and your mac were made for each other." How on Earth can you not feel bonded right from the start?!

Re: if you can’t convince them, mock them

Peter Kulinski — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:19:27 -0000

Yes, hugely insulting! I couldn't believe I was watching this! Teasing? Flat out put-down!

Re: if you can’t convince them, mock them

Fay — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:25:53 -0000

I took it more as a gentle teasing. They are accepting people are lining up for the i phone and just saying hey why not consider this phone its cool.

Re: if you can’t convince them, mock them

Popculturelunchbox.com — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:53:56 -0000

I had the exact same thoughts. Plus, I once bought a Samsung TV that broke almost immediately and was my worst electronics purchase ever.

Paul

Re: the kindle fire: this is not for you, tech blog reader

Rudá Almeida — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:48:01 -0000

Came here Scoble's facebook post. I wrote a post saying about the same things, except for the iPad bits. One curiosity about the brazilian market, here iPads and iPhones are about 5 times more expensive and many people buy chinese "generic" smartphones and tablets for $200 ~ $300, however the quality is cheap, usability is not that great and it's hard to configure, have to make it rooted, etc. If, as TNW Latin America says, Amazon will begin operations in Brazil, maybe we can see this device with a competitive price here? Who knows.

Re: bringing the beehive to suburban and apartment living

Ken — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:05:09 -0000

I know a number of people in my neighbourhood who would want this, including a few for my home. How do we convince Philips to release this? This is very practical, environmentley responsible and essential to a great long term sustainable Urban/ suburban living. I want it NOW!

Re: flash is the walking dead

Patsangel958 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:41:39 -0000

It certainly explains why I have had so many problems with Adobe Flash and my Laptop just lately and it doesn't matter how many new upgrades for it. It just never improves and goes on getting worse.

Re: prefab hotness

Kiralyi Alex — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:11:16 -0000

Hi Dave, please give me detailed info for the house, my e-mail address: kiralyi.alex@gmail.com Regards, Alex