Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Oct 11
FIR #288: A Humanoid Robot Artist Gives Testimony
October 11, 2022, was not your typical day at the UK House of Lords, where Ai-Da, a humanoid robot artist, delivered testimony in response to questions posed by peers. The testimony came as some of Ai-Da’s original artwork was displayed in a museum. In her answers, Ai-Da was candid about AI’s threat to human artists but was also realistic about the role technology has always played in art. In this short mid-week episode, Neville and Shel review the testimony and explore some of the issues Ai-Da raises.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this report:
- AI robot Ai-Da is about to make history giving evidence to a House of Lords inquiry
- Ai-Da robot makes history by giving evidence to parliamentary inquiry
- Ai-Da the robot turned on and off again during historic speech in House of Lords
- I’ve seen a few robotic performances in Parliament, but this will take some beating
- The Artist in the Machine? Meet ‘Ai-Da,’ the AI robot debuting her work in London’s Design Museum
- ‘Mind-blowing’: Ai-Da becomes first robot to paint like an artist
- Ai-Da: Portrait of the Robot
- The Intersection of Art and AI | Ai-Da Robot | TEDxOxford
The post FIR #288: A Humanoid Robot Artist Gives Testimony appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Oct 06
FIR #287: Internal Podcasts Gain Momentum
Some companies were experimenting with internal podcasts — for employees only — before companies sent employees home to work remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. Faced with reaching and engaging employees who now never interacted face-to-face with their colleagues elevated the value of a podcast, which could establish a personal connection. At the same time, podcasting had gone mainstream, making more employees receptive to listening to one from their employer. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel look at some of the companies that have adopted internal podcasting and how they plan to evolve them in the new post-pandemic world of work.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this report:
- Your company might one day have its own internal podcast. Here’s why
- ‘You can’t show empathy over email’: Business leaders turn to internal podcasts to stay connected with workforces
- Podcasts Gain Favor Amid ‘Always on” Work Cultures
- Employer podcasts preferred over company-wide emails
- 4 ways internal podcasts can help boost remote employee engagement
The post FIR #287: Internal Podcasts Gain Momentum appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Oct 04
FIR #286: Managers Believe Remote Work Produces Lower Productivity
We read everywhere about increased productivity resulting from the remote work the pandemic forced upon companies. In fact, that increased productivity is leading several companies to adopt remote or hybrid work as the new status quo. But research conducted by Microsoft finds that not everyone agrees with the assessment. Managers are not on board with the notion that remote work has led to greater productivity, and the gap between what managers believe and employee perspectives is considerable.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this report:
- Bosses think workers do less from home, says Microsoft
- Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work
- Are We Really More Productive Working from Home?
- 4-Day Workweek Brings No Loss of Productivity, Companies in Experiment Say
The post FIR #286: Managers Believe Remote Work Produces Lower Productivity appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Sep 29
FIR #285: Alignment Through Conversation
You have a business initiative, an organizational change, a new value proposition. Success depends on getting employees aligned around the vision and the path to get there. Could small group conversations be the means of achieving that alignment? A new study suggests it’s at least worth a shot.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this report:
- How to Change Minds? A Study Makes the Case for Talking It Out. (New York Times paywall)
- How consensus-building conversation changes our minds and aligns our brains
- Strategic Alignment: How Communicators Can Change the Face of Leadership
The post FIR #285: Alignment Through Conversation appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Sep 28
FIR #284: Ad Agencies Embrace AI Art
From experimentation, ideation, and storyboarding to producing the actual images to be used in an ad, advertising agency creatives are finding Artificial Intelligence image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion instantly useful, saving time and money without sacrificing the end results. Does this spell the end of the graphic arts business?
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this report:
- How ad agencies are using AI image generators — and how they could be used in the future (AdAge paywall)
- Can You Use AI-Generated Art in Your Digital Marketing and Content Efforts?
- AI Art Is Here and the World Is Already Different
- Nestlé Brand Is Latest to Venture Into Brave New World of AI Art Direction
The post FIR #284: Ad Agencies Embrace AI Art appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Sep 26
FIR #283: Communicators Helping Leaders Lead Through Communication
Neville and Shel were together in person to record this episode, which focuses exclusively on leadership communication. The recording happened on Neville’s dining room table as Shel and his wife were on a two-week vacation in England and Ireland.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, October 17.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from Dan York’s Report
- Twitter is officially adding podcasts to its platform
- Listen up: Podcasts are coming to Twitter
- YouTube kicks off podcast strategy with new landing page
- YouTube Podcasts
- Instagram’s Dual camera feature copies Be Real, but misses the point
- Instagram’s next feature might be a copy of BeReal
- Snapchat brings ‘Dual Camera’ recording to in-app camera
- TikTok just launched a BeReal clone called TikTok Now
- Introducing more ways to create and connect with TikTok Now
- Snapchat for Web is now available for everyone
- Twitter is launching its “close Friends’ feature Circle globally
- Instagram will begin testing a new repost feature with select users soon
- TikTok tests its own version of the retweet with a new “Repost” button
- Introducing Community Chats: Connecting Your Community in Real Time on Messenger and Facebook
- Discord adds Reddit-like Forum channels for chatting about specific topics
- A new TikTok feature lets creators share TikTok Stories to Facebook and Instagram
- Instagram Stumbles in Push to Mimic TikTok, Internal Documents Show
- In Dozens of Lawsuits Parents Blame Meta, TikTok for Hooking Kids
- We Added 370 New Words to the Dictionary for September 2022
The post FIR #283: Communicators Helping Leaders Lead Through Communication appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Sep 22
How To Use MarsEdit with TypePad in 2022
How do you configure MarsEdit to work with the Typepad blogging platform? As I’ve started to try to get back into blogging more, I found that MarsEdit, the tool I’ve been using to write blog posts for 10+ years now, was no longer connecting to Typepad. And in a sign of how far the mighty (Typepad) have fallen, a Typepad blog can’t be auto configured by MarsEdit, and isn’t even listed anymore on the MarsEdit manual configuration page. And… there is nothing whatsoever in the Typepad knowledge base about external editors, XML-RPC, “Movable Type”, or anything else.
So for anyone still remaining on Typepad who wants to do this, here is what you need to do.
1. Get the blog ID from Typepad.
I couldn’t find this in any of the settings, but you can get it from the URL. Once you are logged into Typepad, and are in the settings for one of your blogs, the URL in your browser will be something like:
https://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a01d1212acd6e53ef00d12345de09f92/dashboard
The hex string that I show in bold is the part you need. (And that is not the actual value for one of my blogs.)
2. Add a new blog in MarsEdit
In the main MarsEdit window, press the “+” in the lower left corner of the app to add a new blog. Type in the name and URL of your Typepad blog and press “Continue”. The auto-configuration will fail, and you will be prompted to manually configure the site. Under Connection Settings, you need to use:
- System Name: Other
- System API: Movable Type API
- API Endpoint URL: https://www.typepad.com/services/xmlrpc
- Blog ID: <the hex string that you copied in step 1 above>
Here’s a screenshot of the preferences screen:
3. Login With Your Typepad User Info
After you save those settings, MarsEdit will prompt you to “login” to your blog. This is where you enter your Typepad username and password.
4. Start Writing with MarsEdit
Once this is done, you should see the MarsEdit interface load the most recent posts into the editor window. (If not, you may need to hit the refresh circle.)
That’s it. You should now be able to create posts in MarsEdit and publish them on a Typepad blog.
And really… 5. Figure Out How To Move Away From Typepad!
The complete lack of any information in the Typepad knowledge base about working with external editors does concern me. Add to that the fact that the “Everything Typepad” site hasn’t been updated with a new post since October 2021. And that the @typepad Twitter account only gets occasionally updated about trouble issues.
And.. that the Wikipedia article about TypePad notes that Typepad stopped accepting new signups as of 2020.
So they are really just existing for the people like me who just haven’t gotten around to moving our blogs to some other platform. 🙁
Perhaps this IS the year when I finally figure out how to migrate my 5 remaining Typepad blogs over to Wordpress… sigh…
Sep 06
FIR #282: If You Need Me, Text Me
A lot of the communication with customers for which businesses once used email has transitioned to text messaging — along with communication among friends, families, and pretty much everyone. To some extent, that even includes employee-to-employee communication. Whether it’s SMS messaging or a messaging app like WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram, people increasingly prefer the functionality and speed of response with text messages. Email isn’t going anywhere but its uses may be diminishing.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop sometime in late September. Neville and Shel will be together in the UK and plan to record face-to-face. Watch for more information as our plans firm up.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this episode:
- Sorry I Missed Your Text: Messaging Is the New Email (WSJ paywall)
The post FIR #282: If You Need Me, Text Me appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Sep 01
FIR #281: Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse
Advertising on the Web is two-dimensional, with a consumer on the outside looking in. In the Metaverse, consumers will be active participants in virtual worlds, participating directly with virtual objects and one another. That opens the door for entirely new forms of advertising. In this short mid-week episode, Neville and Shel discuss what advertising might look like in virtual worlds and some of the technical, ethical, and legal challenges that organizations will face selling their wares to denizens of these immersive spaces.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop sometime in late September. Neville and Shel will be together in the UK and plan to record face-to-face. Watch for more information as our plans firm up.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this episode:
The post FIR #281: Advertising and Marketing in the Metaverse appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
Aug 25
FIR #280: What’s Behind the “Quiet Quitting” Trend?
“Quiet quitting” is all over TikTok, with mostly Gen Zers talking about their disdain for going “above and beyond” at work. Is this really anything new, or is it just the first time a generation has used a label to share their feelings online? Or, as some suggest, is it that most Gen Zers entered the workforce during the pandemic when the boundaries between work and life were not clear and now that companies are getting back to what executives perceive as normal, they don’t agree with the expectations the company has of them? Is this even confined to Gen Z? Neville and Shel look at “quiet quitting” in today’s short mid-week episode.
The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop sometime in late September. Neville and Shel will be together in the UK and plan to record face-to-face. Watch for more information as our plans firm up.
We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly, request the credentials in our Facebook group, or email fircomments@gmail.com.
Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.
You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Shel has started a metaverse-focused Flipboard magazine. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is also available.
Links from this episode:
- What is ‘quiet quitting,’ and how it may be a misnomer for setting boundaries at work (NPR)
- If Your Co-Workers Are ‘Quiet Quitting,’ Here’s What That Means (Wall Street Journal)
- How TikTok is making it cool to do the bare minimum at work: New ‘Quiet Quitting’ craze sees Gen Z workers refuse to work hard to avoid ‘burnout’ after Covid made them ‘reset’ – but bosses warn staff risk being sacked as Britain faces labour crisis (Daily Mail)
- Why Work Won’t Love You Back (December 2021 segment from “On the Media”)
- Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone (Amazon U.S. listing for the book by Sarah Jaffe)
The post FIR #280: What’s Behind the “Quiet Quitting” Trend? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.
