The Future Place Blog

What a 48 hours of engagement!

I have just finished a really exhausting, but really fun, 48 hours which involved 5 different audiences.

At 7:40am on Tuesday morning I was on the train to London to present two sessions at the MRS's Advanced Quant Workshop. My sessions were on Pricing Research and Quantitative approaches to Web 2.0.

7:30pm I was back in Nottingham coaching the Mellish Women's rugby team, a very different audience, and very different content, with very different rewards (i.e. a pint of beer rather than a honorarium).

6:40am on Wednesday I was on the train to Virtual Surveys offices in Manchester. In the afternoon Virtual Surveys director Graeme Lawrence and I did a 30 minute webinar to Virtual Surveys clients and contacts, looking at the cost benefits offered by Online Research Communities.

6:00pm, still in Manchester, Virtual Surveys hosted a Northern MRS meeting, with some of the best papers from the Annual Research Conference. I was on the bill as a facilitator, rather than performer. I repeated my role chairing the Pecha Kucha session. The presenters, including Jeff Haselum from Virtual Surveys, were absolute stars.

6:30am Thursday was the start of an AMSRS webinar (AMSRS is the Australian market research society). There were over 100 delegates online, mostly from Australia (hence the early broadcast time), but also some from New Zealand and Singapore. This was perhaps the most challenging since I was sitting alone in my office in Nottingham, assuming that people were listening to me speak for 45 minutes on the issue of Online Research Communities. It was only at the question and answer session that I had confirmation that people had been listening, had stayed on the line, and were sufficiently interested to be asking questions.

7:30am Thursday my webinar was finsihed, just 10 minutes short of 48 hours since I boarded the train on Tuesday. I love the variety in my life and sometimes people profess jealousy, but I wonder if they would all actually enjoy it if they tried it.

The rest of the week is a lot more sedate, although I will need to squeeze some cycling practice to help prepare for my Land's End to John o' Groats ride.

Victory for democracy in UK

British politics are very tribal, with MPs voting for their party almost irrespective of how barmy the official line is. Today that hegemony of the small minds was smashed asunder by the House of Commons voting for the right thing, in response to a motion about the Gurkhas.

The BBC report here gives the background, and links to plenty more information. But the basic story is that the Gurkhas are Nepalese soldiers who have put their life on the line for the British and who have been let down by a succession of Government (from all parties). The vote called for their case to be dealt with fairly.

Today the opposition voted against the Government, no surprise there. What was a pleasant surprise was that so many Government MPs abstained, and even more surprising 27 honourable Labour MPs voted against their party. With all the bad press that UK MPs have been getting recently (e.g. second homes, sleazy blogs, downloading porn etc) it is refreshing to see some politicians are willing to do what is right. One of the 27 Labour MPs even had to resign his position with the Government in order to be able to vote against the Government, that should be commended.

p.s.
Quick declaration of interest, I am a member of one of the other parties, and would therefore not be a supporter of the Labour Government nor neutral.

UK Government to track everything!

The BBC report UK's Labour Government has announced plans to make IPS and other service providers to keep a record of where every Internet user goes and who they speak to.

The BBC's report includes this description "The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites.". As I understand the plans, it would record which Facebook pages you viewed, but it would not record the content of a message.

These plans will presumably have an implication for researchers using online research communities, as they will need to keep records on who is talking to whom.

From clips to clipless

For the last 25 years, the main bike I have ridden has had toe clips on the pedals. The downside of clips is that when riding off-road you have to decide whether you might want to put one (or both) of your feet down, before the crisis happens. The upside is that the cyclist is more efficient, because they are pulling on the upstroke, as well as pushing on the downstroke.

As part of my preparations for my Land's End to John o’ Groats ride, I have made the switch from toe clips to clipless pedals - like the ones in the picture below.

 

To use clipless pedals you need a special pair of shoes with metal cleats under the ball of the foot. The cleats lock into the pedals. The efficiency is even greater than with toe clips, but the commitment is also greater.

I am currently getting used to the cleats and clipless pedals, but I can definitely feel an improvement.

Global consumer confidence down

WARC report that Nielsen's Global Consumer Confidence Index has fallen to a new low in the second half of 2008. The data suggest that people are moving towards buying store/value brands, with some people saying they will continue to do it even when the economy recovers.

12 Books that Changed the World

This is a not a market research related book, or even a marketing related book. But, I am great believer in developing the hinterland as well as the areas of core competence.

12 Books that Changed the World is a book by British Author Melvyn Bragg, which perhaps accounts for why all 12 of the books are British.

Published in 2006 the book contains an interesting review of 12 books and makes the case for the impact they have made on the world. Whilst I found all 12 topics of interest, I found the one on The King James Bible (published in 1611) to be the most interesting. Of particular note were a) the way it was written by a committee (an early example of Bible 2.0 perhaps), b) the extent to which this Bible borrowed from the one written by William Tyndale who was burned at the stake for his pains in 1535, c) the extent to which this one book is central to so much of the prose in English language.

Other books of particular note in the selection include Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792).

This history and the challenge of Market Research

The presentation below was posted on slideshare by Paul Schumann. Some may argue with individual slides, or perhaps suggest more non-US examples.

However, the first 100 slides are a great resource for all of us, and the last 20 contain interesting ideas.

It's Your Move

View more presentations from Paul Schumann.

I certainly feel moved to try and create my own version of both the history and challenge.

British Advertisers try to protect Phorm from charges of illegality

According to Research News, the ISBA (Incorporated Society of British Advertisers) have called on the EU to drop its investigation into the UK Government, in a case that alleges that the Government has failed in its legal duty to protect UK citizens from Phorm (how snoop into users data packets to help target online ads).

The ISBA appear to be saying that rather than the rule of law being applied, Phorm should come under the UK's advertising system of self-regulation. The ISBA do not seem to be suggesting that the EU are wrong, i.e. they are not suggesting that Phorm is not breaking EU law. But they are saying that Phorm should be allowed to continue. The ISBA do make the point that the UK Governernment have said it is OK, but it is the UK Government who are being investgated.

The ISBA position seems very odd to me, and likely to weaken any public support for any level of self-regulation.

In a nutshell, we have the body entrusted with protecting UK citizens in the context of EU laws believing that Phorm and the UK Government are breaking the law. The advertisers are saying, please do not enforce the law, let us 'self-regulate' so we can break the law without being inconvenienced.

Do you know what an outbound spam filter is?

If you don't, read this great post by the ever readable James Cherkoff.

Then, think about whether you need one, I am sure I do.

And a comedian!

While I am busy losing the plot, here is a clip of one of my favourite comedians.