Tuesday, October 5, 2010

From Technology comes Art: Speak this Aloud ...and it's a Poetry Reading

And everything and the hello, hey.
The walkway Mr. I love you
bye delivery.
But you didn't starts
hello operator
but says we've got it right,
you can, yeah So I thought.
Hall, solution some.
But I thought it was.
Hello.
This is an love you bye.
Bye, fast Chris.
Well, Regis page alright.
This is judge, just the, hey hey.
Stef.
Just found sustained store phone
but hello hello. Hello.
Hey, ceremonies.
Since First of all thanks
okay hey so that way.
All if it huh okay, but it 2.
They wouldn't wouldn't okay.
Hey, sheesh, okay ohh Hello hello,
ignorance.
The little bit bigger where you are.
Hey girl.
More, okay.
The alright bro.

-- an automated transcript of background conversation from our office just now

Posted via email from Bruce's Journal

How NOT to use Email vs. How TO use Email

It feels like spam when you get information you didn't ask for.

Am I right?

We all do it.

You read something... some article or something... and you think of
someone....

"Ahhhh.. Anthony might be interested in this!"

...and then you forward that information to Anthony.

When Anthony gets that email (or text message or whatever), it "feels
like" spam.

99.99% of the time... People don't WANT to receive information they
didn't ask for.

What's better?

"Hey, Anthony! How are you today? Some guy sent me this
information about a shared office space in Midtown West. I
immediately thought of you.... Want me to send you the details?"

THAT is what people want. .....a personal message ....asking
permission ...before sending details.

Don't be lazy.

Respect the time of your friends.

It's simple.

ASK PERMISSION before sending information to people.

( By the way, I wrote this item as a reminder to MYSELF. ;)

Posted via email from Bruce's Journal

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Our Love/Hate Relationship with Forwarding Items via Email: I Propose a New Worldwide Email Syntax Etiquette

I propose a new worldwide email syntax.... a new etiquette, really.

Here are two really important ideas that I think could improve email
for everyone... even without any major new advances in technology:


IDEA NUMBER ONE

When you forward an article or video to me, append the word " //
reading " to the very end of the Subject line.

Like:

Subject: NEW YORK TIMES New Web Service Solves the What to Watch
Conundrum // reading

Then... I created a FILTER within my email application -- (gmail, in
my case) -- to automatically take EVERY MESSAGE CONTAINING THE WORD
"reading" in the Subject line.... and...

(1) Mark it as "NOT IMPORTANT" (in gmail's priority inbox
system) ...and...

(2) Add the tag "reading" to it (optionally) ...or...

(3) Automatically Archive it (optionally)

This way, personal messages written specifically to you... will still
get the Important Priority. Your forwarded articles and videos get
tagged and marked as Not Important (or Low Priority).... or even
Archived or Deleted... all automatically.

So, here's what you have to do:

(A) Tell everyone you know to add the word " // reading " to the
end of everything they forward to you.

As one example, my email signature includes this line:
"Please don't FORWARD anything to me unless you add the word
'reading' to the very end of the Subject line. Thank you for your
consideration."

(B) Create an appropriate Filter within your email application to
filter those "reading" messages appropriately... for you...
according to your own personal preferences.

It could be enforced by requesting all of your friends and family to
do so... in one line in your email signature.


IDEA NUMBER TWO

This is a very low-tech idea.... and is intended to be used in
addition to the first idea... or separately.

Communicate.

(1) When someone forwards an item to you that you really LOVED....
Reply with a, "That was awesome! Thanks!"

(2) When someone forwards an item to you that you really were
totally not interested in.... Reply with a, "I love you but...
Please don't forward items like this to me."

The idea is simple.

Sometimes we really WANT to get those cool tech articles from our good
friend George.... But we really DON'T want those crappy political
emails he also sends.

Email filtering is pretty much an all-or-nothing proposition. You
have to decide between: Automatically Archive EVERY message from
George... or NO messages from George.

So why not put some of the burden on HIS human brain...? He IS your
friend, after all.

Simple TELL him.

When he sends you political emails, say: "I love you but... Please
don't forward items like this to me."

When he sends you tech news about the new phone you just bought, say:
"That was awesome! Thanks!"

When he sends you the religious inspirational video by email, say: "I
love you but... Please don't forward items like this to me."

You get the idea.

Hot Tip: Use Gmail's Labs feature called "Canned Responses" to save
both of the above responses. That way you can reply with the "THANKS"
response, or the "NO THANKS" response, super fast and easy... with
only one click of your mouse!


Better ideas? Please post them in the comments below....

Posted via email from Bruce's Journal