Archive for the 'Insight' Category

My answer to Bill Gates

Published
by
John Erik
on February 28, 2008
in Insight
. Comments

Today I logged in to a freshly redesigned Linkedin.com and saw this question by one of my favorite people, Bill:

Q:

How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?

A:

As a millennial, I can tell you exactly how.

Bolster our *existing* young/outspoken leaders in science and technology. Help them be leaders, then allow them to talk. The younger the better, our youth have to be able to empathize with the person they are listing to. If they can see an inclining of themselves within that person then you have a chance. “If s/he can do it, so can I.” Open up.

Please don’t even try with a traditional media company or traditional media outlets. It has to be peer2peer — and you’d better hurry up because trust there will be gone soon like the rest.

Romanticize those leaders.

You, Bill, have the ability to do this. And I believe you will. Please keep asking questions and talking. You’re a leader, you have an obligation. Thanks for realizing that.

As a millennial, where I want relationships to begin

Published
by
John Erik
on January 8, 2008
in Insight and Transparency
. Comments

timeline.jpg

Thom Singer (who btw has a new book on the way) left an excellent comment on my “Cut the chitchat - carry a dossier everywhere!” post. because my response is so long, i figured i’d make it a post. you can read his original comment here.

–

i do see you’re point tom. i would never give up the time i’ve spent getting to know my girlfriend - those getting to know you talks were and still are the very best.

>>>however, not all relationships are built/formed in the real world. you and i may have had only one interaction in the real world, but i feel like i know you quite well from reading your blog, receiving your tweets, and looking at your linkedin profile. (jonray even better – i wish i was as transparent as him.)

this doesn’t mean that when i see you again i’m gonna give you a big hug, but i will know you much better than i did.
i’m not suggesting that we forgo face-to-face relationship development, i’m suggesting we kick start it by getting the simple stuff out of the way - the profile stuff. i wish new people i meet in the real world could just hand me a piece of paper that says everything about them (i’m just gonna google them later). …doing this does not bypass growth, it enhances it and allows us to get even closer, faster.

if the level/closeness of a relationship is on a number line and 0 represents a complete stranger and 30 is knowing their birthday and their wife’s name, it may take 7 real world interactions just to get to 60. what happens when we reach 100? it doesn’t just end, it keeps going, we get to know each other better and better. and that’s where things like trust and confidence can happen. where they can take on a new standard. that’s where you want to be.

this is a little off, but let’s use a father-son relationship as an example. i let my dad in on everything and i have kick started it by allowing him access to my photos, profiles, writings, etc.. stuff he would never have dreamt of telling his parents. because of this, he is able be a dad on a deeper level. to give me guidance in situations where none would have existed had we not gotten lower level things out of the way.

sharing brings people closer and closer, and there’s no ceiling on that. i agree, perhaps some things like color of undergarments need to be left out initially, but maybe not.

we can’t escape it. especially a millennial, growing up connected with things like facebook’s newsfeed, i just want to skip to the level 30 and start from there. to bypass the profile info, the ‘what you did today’ narrative. i just want to know that info. for it to be told to me instantly so we can jump ahead and talk about things that really matter, about emotions, how things made you feel, how we can work together, what goals we share. we (people today) are busy and have less and less time with others, to grow we need to be able to get to the substance as quick as possible.

that’s how we create trust and honesty, i want to jump start it.

when you share things on twitter, on your blog, about your life, allowing people in, you’re opening the door and making it possible for people to have a meaningful interaction with you. isn’t that what you want - to start the relationship at a higher lever. isn’t that what social media is all about. - sharing and connecting with a person or brand through means never before possible, except in person, to creating an emotional connection. a desire. an attraction.

… i wish people would carry a dossier everywhere so we could make this initial jump without having to go home and research them online.

to conclude, when my gf and i first started talking, one night while i was working on a project, i encouraged her to look at all my photos, read essays i’d written, journal entries, my blog -i wanted her to get to know me as soon as possible so i didn’t waste her time or mine with something that wasn’t going to work out. when we started having the pillow talks they started at a much higher level. because of this and continued honesty and openness, i believe we know each other far better than some couples who have been together for 10 years. - the same thing can be applied to business relationship.

Thoughts on criticism / put downs

Published
by
John Erik
on January 7, 2008
in Insight
. Comments

thumbdown-786247.jpgA good friend of mine (college undergrad) asked me a great question this morning. I only had a few mins to get back to him, so I wrote quickly. Here’s the break down:

Q: How do you deal with/react to public criticism? Whether it be on the shallowest level of “your an idiot” to a fair level or even higher level.
Basically in general how do you respond to criticism/put downs?

A: positive criticism should only really happen one on one or in a small/tight group. in that situation, ask them questions right there, get them to be completely honest with you about their criticism. even if what they are saying is hurting you, pretend you’re ok so they won’t hold back. you won’t grow nearly as fast from people beating around that bush, not saying directly what they really mean.

later on there are some question you need to ask your self, but let’s keep going.

for negative criticism: when it initially happens, react calmly. often people are looking for a reaction or a rise from you. if you don’t give it to them, the fun is diminished for them. with guys, i’d say, don’t apologize to them, say something like “alright man” and try to end it. if they continue either stay away from them, leave, or hit ‘em in the face if you’re not in a place where you will get arrested (if that sounds shocking to ya, i’m totally serious, make sure you have the balls mentally that you really would hit someone. but only if know for sure they are in the wrong).

after negative criticism or during positive: always try to understand why they said it. what are they talking about. what’s the root of it. what gave them the idea, or spurred them to say it.

always try to find the reason why. even if it’s just someone being mean. there is always a reason. to grow you have to be completely honest with yourself. do you actually suck at doing something, that’s ok. just realize it, realize the other things you are good at, then figure out what you’re going to do about it. knowing more about yourself, discovering what others really think about you/how they see you is very powerful, but like everything, with more power comes more responsibility - potential for greater success and greater failure equally.

Yanticaw Brook Street

Published
by
John Erik
on December 29, 2007
in Insight and Personal
. Comments

I’m at my parent’s house in San Antonio. It’s good to spend time with the fam. I’ll be here till after the new year.

So far: My dad is restoring a ’78 280Z for my cousin (today we he painted it red). We went to the Tractor Supply store yesterday to get some cat food, but the cats won’t eat it. Went to movies with my mom – Juno is wonderful – so is my mom. Ate tons of homemade pizza tonight (I’ll prob have it for breakfast). Stayed up till 5am last night talking to my dad. I haven’t showered in two days, but I’m still flossing.

Even though my mom is on Twitter, uses Radar and loves to spy on all my cousins with Facebook and MySpace, they don’t have internet – she always uses my grandma’s (who also uses Radar and wants me to set her up with a Facebook account) – so I’ve been tethering my Sprint Mogul with my laptop. Turns out it works awesome.

One of many takeaways from being here: Maintain your daily routines wherever you are.

Marketing to Millenials

Published
by
John Erik
on November 2, 2007
in Advertising, Insight and Texas Related
. Comments

billboard

I saw this billboard today and it really rubbed me the wrong way - it’s ridiculous. Maybe I’m missing something, but seeing it made me think “people just don’t understand.”

While I’m not a fan of sagging pants, how does sagging hurt anyone? It seems like this group is trying to create a correlation between wearing your pants low and a lack of self respect? I don’t see it. To me, this is an older generation trying to force their views/believes on a younger generation they do not understand.

As a millennial, here’s my advise (this is also part of what I wrote to the people who paid for the billboard):

Demanding conformity will never work, telling people (especially youth) not to do something will never work. Empower us, lift us up by the things we are doing right. Romanticize a positive life and those who are leading one. Tell us stories about them - stories are how we relate, stories are our language, stories are how our friends talk. Tell us stories and tell us good stories that make us say “wow,” that make us feel impressed. Tell us lot of stories. We hear many each day from our friends and from music, you have to create the opportunity for us to hear the positive ones. Parents can tell these stories in person, if your not a parent or friend, then help make positive, empowing stories available to our us. Available for our awareness to pick up. Use your billboard, a story can be one sentence that I can relate to. Perhaps, “so-and-so donates X to charity.” Romanticize. Pull, not push. Just as long as that so-and-so is someone I already respect, you’ve done good. It’s about taking things I already understand or respect and telling me something positive with them. It’s like co-branding. It’s like relationship marketing. It’s a trust network. Try it.

Biography

Published
by
John Erik
on June 9, 2007
in Goals, Insight, Inspiration, Personal and Words
. Comments

I wrote the following for a book I contributed to recently. Presenting these words to my parents was truly a gratifying experience. The following has also been appended to the About page. –My best.

John Erik Metcalf “Put yourself in their shoes.” “Do you understand why you shouldn’t do that?” “Remember the Golden Rule?” These are phrases that punctuated my upbringing. An only child, I grew up in the hill country north of San Antonio, Texas. I was homeschooled until eighth grade, when I chose to enroll in public school.

My parents, moderate conservatives, both work primarily from home – teaching me there was a natural fit. Their approach was similar to the Montessori Method. I’d focus on one subject as long as I wished, sometimes weeks, when I became uninterested I’d move to another. The computer, first a Tandy 1000, was incorporated into many of my lessons. I wasn’t allowed to play games much, so I’d recode them, then “test ‘em out.”

I recall running errands as a family; my father would proclaim “Let’s be Encouragers today.” Encouragers was a name conferred upon us by a neighbor years ago, it’s an exercise my parents have always taught: inspire others with confidence wherever you are. A practice I strive to carry on today.

Continue reading ‘Biography’

Why I blog.

Published
by
John Erik
on May 15, 2007
in General, Insight and Words
. Comments

My friend and former roommate, the great Kyle Keller, ask me a few questions about blogging the other day. I enjoyed responding. Thanks Kyle.

1. How would you describe your blog (what do you blog about?):

I generally blog on topics that are of interest to me. For example: social networks, social and collaborative software, surveillance, identity and reputation systems, social entrepreneurship, semantic web, mobile communication, and the like. My blog is not a “how am I feeling” blog. I try to present all posts and content in a quasi-professional manner.

2. What software do you use? Why do you use it (what features does it have that other software might not)?

I use WordPress 2.0, installed on my server. WordPress is an absolutely amazing, as wordpress.org calls it, “semantic personal publishing platform.” The administrative interface is killer; think Windows XP vs. OS X. Additionally, the WordPress user base is enormous and very active, resulting in thousands of easy to install skins and plug-ins.

Continue reading ‘Why I blog.’

Green Day: Bullet in a Bible DVD

Published
by
John Erik
on March 27, 2007
in Insight, School and Words
. Comments

In Visual Rhetoric we watched some excerpts from the Bullet in a Bible DVD (youTube it). My reaction is this:

It’s great that Green Day and other politically conscience icons are summoning youth to think about politics and “challenge authority,” but there are other dynamics that deserve consideration.

For instance, what are they really telling our youth? I asked a sixteen year old friend of mine what he thought Green Day was trying to convey in their song American Idiot. He said “that the president sucks.” “And voting?” I asked. His response was, “yeah, maybe. I won’t vote for a republican.”

Continue reading ‘Green Day: Bullet in a Bible DVD’

Questions from Documentary Application

Published
by
John Erik
on August 21, 2006
in Insight and Words
. Comments

Last month I applied (late) to be apart of a PBS documentary: Summer Teaching Exchange in China. I was not selected to be one of the two participants, but I did have fun answering the questions on the application. Here is a few of the questions and my, abridged, answers.

What is your work history? I have worked all my life. From John’s Vehicle Detailing (AKA Car Wash) when I was 11 to various forms of consulting and marketing throughout college.

Please briefly explain why you want to go to China, what you hope to gain from the experience, and what you would contribute to the documentary: I think traveling is one of the most important things you can do in life. It’s sad that most people only begin to travel after retirement because I believe the more you expose yourself, the more you experience, the more you push your comfort zone, the stronger your character. I want to go with you to China because I hope to do just that. I am an energetic, inquisitive, and passionate person. I truly want to understand Chinese culture, society, people and the like. Furthermore, if in return I can help educate/expose others to the same sensation and growth… that’s awesome and something I hope to do my entire life.

What is the best part of traveling for you? Understanding how other people/cultures/communities live and think, through interaction.

Have you ever experienced “Culture Shock?” If so, please describe the circumstances and how you handled it. I don’t believe I have. I trust my propensity to be open-minded and tolerant helps me deal with uncomfortable situations of culture and way-of-life without negative consequences.

Continue reading ‘Questions from Documentary Application’

Evolution of Reputation

Published
by
John Erik
on July 23, 2006
in Books, Insight, School, Social Networks and Words
. Comments

There is a lot to be said on the future of online reputation systems and additionally – identity management. Howard Rheingold discusses these topics comprehensively in chapter five of Smart Mobs. Explaining, for example, eBay’s public Feedback Forum, where buyers and sellers can comment on the quality of a transaction and contribute +1, 0, or -1 to the aggregate score of the reciprocating party. This system allows potential patrons to foreshadow the quality of a future transaction, and implies trust. The use of avatars or screen names to detach true-identity by a degree or more is what allows even the most privacy-conscious individuals to participate in this system.

This brought to my mind another interesting example: the reputation structure used by Prosper.com, a person-to-person micro-lending service. At Prosper individuals loan money to other individuals based on general institutional criteria, such as credit scores and homeownership, but also their profile and group affiliations. Here, it is advantageous to merge and share the details of your personal life with your identity on Prosper; including posting a picture, discussing past financial endeavors, and in some cases medical conditions, and the like.

What both of these examples have in common is the creation of trust based on identities and the narrative associated to that identity.

Similarly, most students have realized that their identities on Facebook and MySpace are subject to a comparable scrutiny by potential employers. Profiles and pictures give an inside look at the real life of a candidate. Now, how you fill-in the “about me” section is very important. I believe most millennials take it as healthy pressure to do the right thing, in general. After all, even if I don’t post those pictures of me acting belligerent, someone else might and they will probably tag my face to my name. This could be called transparency – it’s like everyone is running for political office.

What’s the other side? The fear and pressure of being watched can lead people/kids to take on secondary identities; going by an alias, or many. Generally this is not bad. People do this indirectly in the real world all the time. However, I would theorize that being void of all pressure is not the best case. Especially for already repressed youth.

Conversely, applying the concept of transparency in the classroom, creating a social classroom, I believe, would be a move millennials could handle. If I knew my work could be seen by my peers I might want to do a better job; even if I don’t care what my teacher thinks, I probably care what my peers think.

Like our identity on eBay, we cultivate trust through our public dealings, through transparency, through a narrative. Some will choose to reveal all, good or bad, some will claim privacy, others may never catch on. I believe, like on Prosper, sharing, because it encourages responsibility and empathy, is the best option.

Escalating connectivity, commentary, and consciousness

Published
by
John Erik
on July 3, 2006
in Books, Ideas, Insight, Links, Mobile Communication, Social Networks and Words
. Comments

There are and have been many predictions on the path Wi-Fi will take and the role it will assume. The concluding chapter of Going Wi-Fi, published in 2003, gives 20 predictions – 10 of which I believe have come true. Some predictions are far fetched. A faculty member at the University of Texas at Dallas predicted that by 2007 mobile communications devices will “be voice-controlled and use heads-up holographic display[s].” Unfortunately for many, it doesn’t look like 2007 will embrace this kind of future.

Nevertheless, these predictions were very insightful, covering the topics of business (maybe a wireless PBX), medical care (24hour vital monitoring and reporting), etcetera, but something was missing. And that was any allusion to the growth of social networks, virtual identities, or the like. Social networking, used in a broad sense, is big now, but the spread of wireless, I believe, will transform the revolution; connecting people, groups, and intelligence in ways never before possible.

We, the participants in the MySpace generation, the blogging generation, and others are connected to an identity, and/or identities, in cyberspace. The strengthening of that bond is parallel to the spread of Wi-Fi (most importantly, free Wi-Fi) and the doggedness of cellular; simply, more convenient, efficient, and economical access to the World Wide Web.

The blogosphere and projects such as WeFeelFine.org have been invaluable to sequentially interpreting the status of society as a whole. However, the nature of blogging is not conducive to real-time feedback. Wi-Fi, the great Last Mile, offers this.

Moblogging, radar.net, mobile video sharing, elements of Web 2.0, to name a few are the current tools moving a nearly synchronous Info Strada. What does the future hold? I believe the exponential growth of social networks and their assimilation of mobile communication devices is foreshadowing a trend towards increased Interconnectedness.

As it becomes easier to mirror ourselves and our lives virtually, it becomes more significant to mirror the state of cyberspace as a whole, and relay it back to its elements. Components seeing themselves as an integral part of a whole, then acting and reacting based on the state of the collective, the world – this is the model for self-consciousness; and a step for progress.

Billionaires that are worth sometime

Published
by
John Erik
on July 1, 2006
in Goals, Insight and Inspiration
. Comments

Though I cry at the sight of near altruism, I have never had a hero. I may never have one and that’s ok. However, as I have said before I would like to find a group who I aspire to be among the ranks of. I have begun looking for this group. In the meantime, I decided on an easy faction to checkout.

Not all outrageously rich people are alike. To inspire me, to make my list you have be worth something. What does that mean? Well, you have to use your money and/or power for the good of mankind. Yes, many normal people do this, but when you are a billionaire the need to do/be this is much greater, because your power is greater. In fact, I would say it goes both ways, if you are not making a difference you are even worse. Sorry, but to me that is something that goes along with being super rich, a celebrity, a president, a leader –

Continue reading ‘Billionaires that are worth sometime’

Social Networks for Good

Published
by
John Erik
on July 1, 2006
in General, Ideas, Insight, Social Networks and Words
. Comments

socialnotesRecently, I have been staying up until the wee hours of the morning reading everything I can on social networking and giving other people’s blogs and inboxes lots of love. So, this is the start of collecting those messages and adding them to my blog.

I spent some of tonight on Networked Publics. A very cool blog sponsored by The Annenberg Center for Communication at The University of Southern California. The topic was “Is MySpace a place?” There were other comments before mine. In response to those and the original topic I had to say:

I love all this talk about something I do every day, something I have grown up doing: hanging out on mySpace, facebook, AIM or a chat room.

MySpaces is a space. It is a “space” because that is the word my generation uses to refer to the concept you are debating. Remember, we look at things different. If I like a band, I can be that band’s friend, if I like Al Gore’s new movie I can be friends with it on mySpace. These things (movies, bands, political movements, people) are just ideas and concepts that we think are cool enough (in mySpace terms) to friend.

Reputation: How you fill your space tells who you are and what you care about (marketers love this); or more likely, how you would like to be seen. Who would you let hang out in your space?

I think as more and more employers do Google searches, etc of potential employees, how you fill these spaces becomes very important. This is good for me. I take it as healthy pressure to do the right thing. After all, even if I don’t post those pictures of me chugging beers and running around naked, someone else might and they will probably tag my face to my name.

What is the bad side? The fear of being watched can leading people/kids to take on secondary identities; going by an alias, or many. Generally this is not bad. People do this indirectly in the real world all the time. However, I would theorize that being void of all pressure is not a good thing. Especially for already repressed youth. What would you do if you were invisible?

I’m very interested in discussing these topics. I see so much potential for good, such as using the excitement and addiction of social networks to increased communication within teams and teach online collaboration. Creating a social classroom, if I knew my work could be seen by my peers I might want to do a better job, because even if I don’t care what my teacher thinks, I probably care what my peers think.

Any thoughts from the 20+ people that visit my blog but never comment? :)

Rules for Revolutionaries

Published
by
John Erik
on June 26, 2006
in Books, Insight, Inspiration, School and Words
. Comments

Guy Kawasaki’s, Rules for Revolutionaries is a great book.

The first section is titled “Create like a God” it is full of tips on how to think out side of the box. It includes examples like how universal studios took the business model of Disney world and flipped it upside-down. They offered rides that could break your wrists if you left your hands out, fire-balls that were too hot, etc. While Disney World, and current theme parks of the time, were sweet and genial. The point is to think differently. Say things the way they have never been said before. Think from the problem down. If you are annoyed with the process of paying for your meal at a restraint, it takes too long. Ask yourself what would make things better? Visualize from the top. I think it would be nice if the lady showed me my bill and I said yes or no and then the money was taken out of my bank instantly.

“Don’t worry, be crappy.” This is another great tip from Rules for Revolutionaries. The point of that statement is to say: get it out there, don’t worry if it is not perfect. If you are working on a project it is generally better to release it in beta when it works pretty well. This makes me think of Google. They always release their beta products; GMail in betaforever. By doing this they receive feedback from users, investors see progress, and engineers are happy to see their work has gone live. It’s the bootstrapper’s method.

Don’t hide your mistakes. The example in the book deals with Tom’s of Mane. A change in a deodorant’s ingredients caused half of their customer base to be unhappy with the product. As result, sales plummeted and Tom’s of Main found themselves in a slump. So they fixed the problem, shipped out a response and a free sample to every customer that had complained, and donated the faulty batch of deodorant to the homeless. Soon, sales were up, old and new customers were buying, and they were more loyal then ever.

Be an Evangelist. Someone told me recently that the first step of creation, whatever the concept, is “sharing your idea.” I thought “well, duh.” But it is more then just telling someone, “hey I got this cool idea for a new wireless phone that uses VoIP.” You create a buzz, you play the evangelist. If people believe in your product/service/whatever then they will create with you, for you.

To change the world involves risk. Take it. Step out on that limb that’s never been tested, yell out and make the people below notice you. Turn their skeptical glances to attentive stares, gain their support, and sell them your creation.

WeFeelFine.org - Absolutly amazing

Published
by
John Erik
on June 21, 2006
in Insight, Inspiration and Links
. Comments

This is the type of work that makes this computer/information-lover inspired:

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the “feeling” expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions like: do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Do women feel fat more often than men? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? What are the most representative feelings of female New Yorkers in their 20s? What do people feel right now in Baghdad? What were people feeling on Valentine’s Day? Which are the happiest cities in the world? The saddest? And so on. [...]

- Jonathan Harris & Sepandar Kamvar
May 2006

Blogged with Flock

The Chronicles of 27

Published
by
John Erik
on June 21, 2006
in Insight and Links
. Comments

Obviously, I like the number 27. Turns out other people do too. Like Erinna and Jennifer of The Chronicles of 27:

[...] My friends and I discovered the magic of 27 in college, realizing that people would frequently cite the number 27 in conversation when needing a random number.
For example:”Oh my God, I love this movie. I’ve seen it like 27 times.”

We then began seeing it creep into other things…movies, songs, TV shows. We discovered a website called The 27 Conspiracy, which was a great source of sightings for a while…but Brandon, the keeper of that site, got too busy to keep up with it.

Weird Al Yankovic references the number 27 in a lot of his songs and videos. Some alert listener has chronicled all the Al-related 27s here. [...]

The Chronicles of 27

Blogged with Flock

Nobel Peace Prize

Published
by
John Erik
on June 11, 2006
in Asides, Goals, Insight, Links and Work
. Comments

The Nobel Peace Prize I’m curiosity if past recipients ever had the prize as their goal. Likely. The winners of this prize genuinely inspire me. I aspire to be among the ranks of these individuals.