tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72668402011-04-21T20:27:53.891+02:00Allan Jenkins' views and notes on communication, social trends, politics, green lentil soup, and keeping sane in the age of GW Bush "Every drop's a drop of comfort"Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1105978988885684112005-01-17T17:19:00.000+01:002005-01-25T16:15:04.540+01:00

Desirable Roasted Coffee has moved! Now roasting and grinding in new digs at allanjenkins.typepad.com Remember to update your feed settings to: Atom: http://allanjenkins.typepad.com/my_weblog/atom.xml XML: http://allanjenkins.typepad.com/my_weblog/index.rdf Feedburner users: http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/dCid All previous posts have been moved over to the new location.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1105091286311997832005-01-07T10:20:00.000+01:002005-01-07T10:50:03.336+01:00

I can think of few better ways to spend an afternoon in London than enjoying the art of Turner and Constable. Their discipline, imagination, and invention leaves me pretty much stupid with joy. After your first Constable, you don't go back to Rembrandt. So I'm pleased to learn that John Ruskin, Turner's artistic executor, did not burn, as he claimed he had, Turner's erotic art. Ian Warrell of

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104965147917991032005-01-05T23:11:00.000+01:002005-01-05T23:48:55.053+01:00

I have a lot of feeds to catch up on after a week off, and as I plow through them I find myself doing triage. Some I read, some I mark as "All Read"... some I poke through. What tempts me to simply mark a feed as "All Read", despite a 100 unread entries, is the use of short, cryptic headlines. For example, Eschaton, one of my favorite political blogs, renders itself indecipherable with headlines

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104959045287877672005-01-05T22:02:00.000+01:002005-01-05T22:04:05.286+01:00

First oddity of the New Year. Jeremy Wright of the Ensight blog is fired for... blogging.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104958495941434112005-01-05T21:49:00.000+01:002005-01-05T21:54:55.940+01:00

IABC/Phoenix leader Angelo Fernando has turned his marcom/PR blog, Hoi Polloi to focus on relief efforts in Asia. "The tsunami of December 26th changed all that. It suddenly became not so important to cover topics such as Wi-Fi, and viral marketing, when tens of thousands of people in some eleven countries are dead, injured, orphaned and have lost everything they had, with no hope for the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104951675714733582005-01-05T18:01:00.000+01:002005-01-05T20:01:15.713+01:00

When the Bush Administration pledged a paltry $15 million (later grudgingly upped to $35 million), I thought I would not be alone in thinking it tightfisted. In correspondence to friends, acquaintances, and a couple US mailing lists, I said so (coincidentally, at about the same time of Egelund's statement), and said that I, here in Europe, had not heard any compelling arguments about why the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104136101967726332004-12-27T09:24:00.000+01:002005-01-05T22:05:59.060+01:00

Chilling on the spot reporting from Evelyn Rodriguez, blogger of Crossroads Dispatches PR blog.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104100689092628832004-12-26T23:28:00.000+01:002004-12-26T23:38:09.093+01:00

This weeks Economist is looking for fools and uses James I as an example of the Right Stuff: IT IS not quite clear whether it was Henry IV of France or—more likely—his chief minister, the Duc de Sully, who described James I (of England, VI of Scotland) as “the wisest fool in Christendom”. It is not even clear what prompted the coining of the epithet, though James (above) was certainly a mixture

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104096705930692882004-12-26T22:06:00.000+01:002004-12-26T22:31:45.930+01:00

My local newspaper has a column in which they ask business leaders what they read. What's on their nightstand, what books most inspired them, which books they had to give up on, what books they would take to a desert island. 4 or 5 times a month, I know the person in question. So I cover up the answers and guess at them. I'm usually way off. Actually, I think the whole exercise is an exercise

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1104085824491119072004-12-26T19:17:00.000+01:002004-12-26T22:05:06.840+01:00

6 to 7 years ago, I had a wickedly terrible travel schedule. And, for some reason, I was always sent through airports that were being rebuilt, apparently from the ground up. Munich was one. Heathrow. Prague. Newark. (But never Reykjavik which, by God, needs a make over). Always there was a cheerful little cartoon bear (or bee, or what have you) on a sign to tell me that I should be happy to walk

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103756178336288462004-12-22T23:43:00.000+01:002004-12-22T23:56:18.336+01:00

The Financial Times takes a look at internal blogging. Neville Hobson's comments are so good that I will just say go look at what Neville writes. I'm coming to believe, too, that internal blogs can become a killer app. A more important application of the technology than CEO blogs. When I look back on my times within a large company (87-90, 97-99) I can see about a dozen applications for

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103710241660863322004-12-22T10:44:00.000+01:002004-12-22T23:16:34.543+01:00

In October's Wired, Chris Anderson published "The Long Tail", an insightful article describing why on-line distribution turns the Law of Scarcity upside down and makes previously obscure works -- music, movies, literature -- widely available. "Hit-driven economics is a creation of an age without enough room to carry everything for everybody. Not enough shelf space for all the CDs, DVDs, and

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103588084617455242004-12-21T01:53:00.000+01:002004-12-23T09:21:29.706+01:00

Friend Ron Kattawar knows music. Knows why one dolt can look at a guitar with a blank look and why some one else can take that same guitar and give you love, death, hope, betrayal, redemption, corruption, and resurrection in four notes. Four notes. Like Robert Johnson. Ron's a writer. Not published, yet, but so what? I'm not either, and he's way ahead of me. In Ron's novels, Elvis isn't dead.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103498811275597012004-12-20T01:07:00.000+01:002004-12-20T15:44:22.626+01:00

Naming products isn't easy. You want a distinctive, attractive, memorable name that is so damned obvious that anyone would say "Yeah.. that's it!", except no one has come up with it, yet. Harder than it looks. Look at that gin-and-tonic in your hand and come up with a better name. You can't. Ford is asking for the public's help, which is an admirable PR stunt. But they have been down that road

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103480946994086462004-12-19T19:23:00.000+01:002004-12-19T19:29:06.993+01:00

Via Steve Rubel this heads up about excellent blogging data at Blogwebinar.com. Talk about data-mining: this is the place to get your head around the blogging surge. Highly recommended.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103479188058349962004-12-19T18:52:00.000+01:002004-12-19T18:59:48.060+01:00

Today, I discovered RE_Invigorate, an elegant and unobtrusive stat counter for Desirable Roasted Coffee. The code is a little snippet of java-script and there's no logo. Even better, the visual display of the stats is sophisticated, interactive, and real-time (if you are so inclined, you can even "watch" visitors enter and leave your site). Also lovely: it rates your site's traffic against the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103379672977202602004-12-18T14:22:00.000+01:002004-12-19T01:18:39.666+01:00

If Ochman's eruption wasn't enough, turn to friend Ned Lundquist's truly bizarre corporate communication sit-com soap-opera in blogform. "So CorpComm is in charge of this fiasco, but I assigned Genevieve (that’s pronounced “Jenn-uh-vee-EV”) D’Ecolletage, my Special Events Coordinator, to the task of running the committee, gathering the donations and distributing the material. This may have been a

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103311174093653962004-12-17T20:11:00.000+01:002004-12-19T01:17:52.920+01:00

I don't have a clue what to make of whatsnextenmesh.com, but I sure like the idea. B. L. Ochman, who is generally ahead of many of us, rolls back her clock to blog from 1911 New York. It's a promo for a new book about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 -- one of the worst sweatshop tragedies in US history. B. L. says hers is part of an 11-blog group in the project... but I can't find out

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103309069293674902004-12-17T19:29:00.000+01:002004-12-18T11:08:18.516+01:00

(Update 18 December: I probably should have written Jarvis to ask if he was surprised... as it turns out, he's written me that he wasn't. Fair 'nuff!) Maybe I'm too cynical, or maybe I've been in advertising too long, but I find it hard to feel Jarvis's seeming surprise at learning that "politics is just a product" and that political campaigns approach it that way. Granted, it's a product that

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103271106866778022004-12-17T08:56:00.000+01:002004-12-19T01:18:20.866+01:00

Wondering how your company could use blogging? Have a look at Stonyfield Farm, makers of organic yoghurt, and committed bloggers through their four blogs, each of which has its own part of the Stonyfield conversation. (I find the Bovine Bugle a pleasant read.) What I like about the story is that a) Stonyfield is committed to blogging for its consumers, b) they closely track readership and

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103234949022632462004-12-16T23:02:00.000+01:002004-12-16T23:09:09.023+01:00

Don't get me wrong... I'm happy to be included on the PR Newswire/Media Insider watchlist for PR Blogs. I wonder, though, how some of my posts get picked up for the syndication, but others don't. As readers know, I write a mixed blog, so it's interesting to see that some PR posts don't make it, but that some "Social-Political" posts do. Anyway... no complaints from here. I sure like the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103221331922147972004-12-16T19:20:00.000+01:002004-12-16T19:22:11.923+01:00

In a maladroit attempt to redesign DRC, I inadvertantly rendered the blog unviewable for most of the business day. Back in business, now.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103221151848364402004-12-16T19:08:00.000+01:002004-12-16T19:19:11.846+01:00

Good news on the Open Office front. Berlingske, a Danish daily, reports that a government test of Open Office (free) vs. Microsoft Office (€220 license) shows no real difference between the two. Several Danish municipalities and government agencies participated in the test. The study, conducted by Devoteam Fischer & Lorenz, says there's no difference in productivity between the two packages.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103155147134568672004-12-16T01:51:00.000+01:002004-12-19T01:17:29.190+01:00

Discussion at the Corante 20 Questions site is picking up. While reading the latest comments, I came across The Blogging Process by David Pollard: "A pretentious and presumptuous attempt to document what bloggers have learned, without any formal instruction, to do every day. And then a description of what's needed to make blogs a medium for real conversation."Complete with flow chart! I'd never

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103158349800310612004-12-16T01:42:00.000+01:002004-12-19T01:22:32.326+01:00

I've said it elsewhere, but it's a crying shame that Samuel Pepys didn't live long enough to blog. "Sunday 15 December 1661 (Lord’s day). To church in the morning... Sir W. Pen dined with me and we were merry. Again to church... "I have been troubled this day about a difference between my wife and her maid Nell, who is a simple slut, and I am afeard we shall find her a cross-grained wench. "I

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103109788308767732004-12-15T13:14:00.000+01:002004-12-15T12:25:40.336+01:00

Is your health linked to your personal autonomy? Bill Gardner, blogger at Maternal and Child Health is publishing a series of posts discussing Michael Marmot's The Status Syndrome. The first post presents the basic finding: that health is positively correlated with autonomy. Via Crooked Timber Update: Coincidentally, Dvorak notes that deadlines cause heart attacks.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103107322826084812004-12-15T11:38:00.000+01:002004-12-15T11:42:02.826+01:00

Would probably never have made a difference in my email box, but it's always sad to see spammers winning in court. Maryland Judge Rules State's Anti-Spam Law Unconstitutional

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103106463932904432004-12-15T11:01:00.000+01:002004-12-15T11:27:43.933+01:00

Jeff Jarvis notes that the US Federal Communications Commission doesn't have any problem with the word "fuck" in Saving Private Ryan, so broadcasters can safely show the film without incurring fines. But that FCC does have a problem when Bono or Howard Stern uses the word, however. So those fines can add up. Jarvis professes shock at the inconsistency, but he shouldn't. Middle America isn't

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103103551801205262004-12-15T10:20:00.000+01:002004-12-15T10:39:11.800+01:00

Via Shel Holtz, I learn of George Master's homegrown efforts on behalf of iPod. Shel, who once was Barbie's PR agent, points out that not all companies are going to be equally pleased by homegrown marketing efforts -- especially when they spread faster than the company's own marketing efforts. Oooh.. that's an itchy problem. Do I, as a brand manager, opt for tight "command and control" over my

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1103102319894285522004-12-15T10:13:00.000+01:002004-12-15T10:18:39.893+01:00

Corante invites business bloggers to answer 20 essay questions about blogging. The site is already attracting some thoughtful comment (in addition to my own). Corante will filter the answers and use the results in upcoming seminars and book. Via Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102892415437645912004-12-12T23:50:00.000+01:002004-12-13T00:00:15.436+01:00

I used to be active in Democratic Party politics; I've been the chairman of American Democrats Abroad in Scandinavia, and a member of the Democratic Party Committee Abroad. So I do know how obtuse political parties can be (in many ways, they are the least responsive of organizations, far less so than well-run companies). Still, "netizens" were immensely supportive of the Democratic Party in

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102885943364979082004-12-12T21:50:00.000+01:002004-12-15T12:46:42.983+01:00

(Note: I had intended to post this at the same time as the actual code, but a lovely weekend with friends intervened). Why post a Code of Blogging Ethics at Desirable Roasted Coffee? Recently, friend Shel Holtz wrote about the the dark side of blogging -- when bloggers deceive readers. It is a thoughtful post, and one can't read it and just look away again. Ethical questions (and legal ones)

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102729306292455822004-12-11T02:39:00.000+01:002004-12-13T01:47:38.520+01:00

Code of Blogging Ethics at Desirable Roasted Coffee To write, publish, and be read is a privilege and responsibility. Being mindful of that privilege and responsibility: 1. I shall not barter my words or my silence. 2. I shall write and advocate openly and honestly. 3. I shall strive for accuracy, avoiding errors and correcting them immediately when discovered. 4. I shall strive for balance;

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102639415149707172004-12-10T01:08:00.000+01:002004-12-11T02:01:14.636+01:00

Ed Koch, when he was Mayor of New York, used to lean out of his limo and shout "How'm I doin'?" to unsuspecting New Yorkers, to their, I suspect, surprise and consternation. David Kistle's latest post on his blog could be called "How I am doing", but there's not, note, a question-mark at the end. He's telling, not asking, how he's doing. And there's plenty of room for surprise and consternation.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102582624351041252004-12-09T09:35:00.000+01:002004-12-09T09:57:04.353+01:00

I used to lead Internet communication at Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharma company; and I have had the privilege of serving other pharma clients. People who know me know I'm happiest at the intersection of healthcare and communication (which, today, usually means having a good IT infrastructure). So I was cheered this morning to read Interfaculty initiative aims to heal U.S. health care from the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102579782574468492004-12-09T09:05:00.000+01:002004-12-09T09:09:42.573+01:00

Steve Rubel assembles links to notes taken last night at the eBig "Blogs and the Law" event. Lots of notes. Thanks Steve!

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102497854854945112004-12-08T09:28:00.000+01:002004-12-08T10:24:14.853+01:00

I've no brief, politically, for William J. Bennett, author, talk-show host, blogger, and former US Education Secretary, but his intelligence is a given. His article "Wither the Mainstream Media" describes with great insight a symbiosis between bloggers and talk-radio, and goes on to say that this symbiosis may be the biggest political story of the 2004 election. Noting that 21% of American

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102444286316789702004-12-07T18:54:00.000+01:002004-12-07T19:41:20.553+01:00

People, you do not want to scoff about blogs in front of friend Neville Hobson and friend/client Shel Holtz unless you like your arguments handed back to you, deep-fried. Though it's surely an education to watch them react. What's great about their posts today is that, independently, they have crystallized much of the progressive thinking about corporate blogging. (And, by the way.. when I say

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102408998069183662004-12-07T09:29:00.000+01:002004-12-07T09:43:18.070+01:00

Blogging took a leap upwards last week. If these two intellectual heavyweights can make their collaborative blog work, then MSM pundits can give up scoffing at the blogosphere. I'm talking about The Becker-Posner Blog, a partnership between Economics Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker and US Appeals Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner. Both are prolific writers, often irritating, and often really

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102407585559034672004-12-07T08:59:00.000+01:002004-12-09T09:04:52.136+01:00

While Scoble, Shel Israel, Hans Henrik, Jeremy, and Fredrik fray it out over who is really writing an open-source blogging book (update: Jeremy writes me that his is not open source), I am looking forward to Elizabeth Albrycht's January blog on "Moving to a New Communication Model". Not because I don't think the other projects won't make fine reading, but I like EA's interest in synthesizing the

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1102012427056285132004-12-02T18:54:00.000+01:002004-12-02T23:42:43.556+01:00

A month or so ago, I stumbled across Blogshares, which bills itself as "fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links." I like simulations and, while I don't have all that much time on my hands, thought I would give it a go. $14 billion (fictional) later, having pumped-and-dumped Neville, Shel, DRC to a fare-thee-well, and

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101997596676349812004-12-02T18:40:00.000+01:002004-12-02T18:47:02.136+01:00

"Bloggers should enjoy the same legal protection as journalists". That's how Steve Rubel reads Eugene Volokh's blog and NYT Op-Ed piece. Steve interprets Volokh to say that bloggers should be extended the same 1st Amdendment protections as reporters (Jeff Jarvis interprets the Op-Ed the same way). Steve and Jarvis are cheered by this. But with all respect to Steve (and Jarvis) , Volokh's real

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101817387813916552004-11-30T13:15:00.000+01:002004-11-30T13:23:07.826+01:00

Swedish Public Television has ordered political blogger Per Gudmundson to shut down his blog. Gudmundson is a producer for Swedish television. JKL blog reports: Outspoken Swedish political blogger and public service TV producer Per Gudmundson has been told in no uncertain terms to shut down his increasingly popular eponymous blog: “My boss says the blog runs counter to our policy of

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101375538868419532004-11-25T10:09:00.000+01:002004-12-08T20:26:44.403+01:00

What if you could brand a political party simply and effectively? US political parties spend hundreds of millions of dollars each election cycle -- and that's just for Congressional races. Part of the problem is that candidates finance and manage their own campaigns. The result is that voters are treated to a barrage of skilful (or not, depending on the campaign's professionalism) marketing

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101161784725031912004-11-24T01:01:00.000+01:002004-12-01T18:00:00.346+01:00

Update (December 1): It only took five weeks, but today David Kistle is back in the fray. Item: he's decided to start asking chapters about the "critical issues they are facing". Go for it, DK. The IABC Chairman's Blog got off to a false start, and an embarrassing one. No new posts in a month, and only 2 posts since the launch in early October. And while the IABC community enthusiastically

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101204320006033092004-11-23T10:45:00.000+01:002004-11-23T11:05:20.006+01:00

One of my professors used to say "As an English major, nothing should ever surprise you. If you have read your Shakespeare and your Milton, then love, death, joy, treachery and everything base about Man will never again surprise you." Sound advice; though one must remember not to mumble "Richard III" aloud to an overly-calculating client. Proving that nothing new exists is the Samuel Pepys

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101118345825624972004-11-22T11:05:00.000+01:002004-11-22T11:12:25.826+01:00

Excellent article in PR Week on why measurement is one of the things PR practitioners do least well. Via Guillaume du Gardier.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1101040642290197202004-11-21T13:27:00.000+01:002004-11-22T10:15:10.480+01:00

Shel Holtz spent 12 hours this weekend in focus groups with digital natives: teenagers. What he finds out is surprising -- and should be a comeuppance to the "blogs will flip the media landscape on its head" crowd: "I've spent the last 12 hours in hybrid focus groups-usability tests with teenagers. I watched and listened to a total of 18 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds talk about their online

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1100872187994436452004-11-19T14:21:00.000+01:002004-11-22T18:39:14.190+01:00

Wired reported yesterday that Advertisers Muscle into RSS. That RSS would catch the eye of advertising folk is unsurprising; nor is it unsurprising that some bloggers might want to create a revenue stream for themselves. In the article, Jason Fried of the Signal v. Noise is quoted as saying: "All RSS is is just another content-delivery medium," he said. "Someone has to pay for that content,

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1100589313026271962004-11-16T06:38:00.000+01:002004-11-23T15:10:44.180+01:00

Josh Marshall notes that what characterizes the early 2nd term Bush appointments is not a shift to left or right, but a shift toward greater control. By appointing Gonzales, and certainly by appointing Rice, Bush gains two loyalists who have no political base to curb their bit. This isn't new in American history, and it doesn't always turn out badly. Wilson's 2nd Cabinet was "his"; Lincoln was

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1100582127220192892004-11-16T05:54:00.000+01:002004-11-23T17:03:03.266+01:00

Good news for IABC. The association settled in the suit brought against it by former president and CEO Elizabeth Allan. Allan left the association in 2000. She later sued IABC and her successor, interim president Lou Williams, for breach of her separation agreement. IABC is keeping quiet about the details of the settlement, as it should. What is praiseworthy is the speed with which IABC

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1100115907191969602004-11-10T20:12:00.000+01:002004-11-11T06:17:27.260+01:00

The IABC Chairman's blog is off to a slow start. That's understandable, perhaps. But that it took a big step toward being a PR puff-maker this morning is not understandable, if IABC realizes what a blog should be. In David Kistle's first entry, he invited us all to "Give me some feedback – good and bad – about how we’re doing and what’s important to you. I look forward to matching wits with more

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1100112800278975192004-11-10T19:41:00.000+01:002004-11-11T12:02:26.703+01:00

Earlier I noted that New Communication Forum is organizing two blogging conferences in the next few months. The conference website is up with preliminary details. Friend Neville Hobson is one of the speakers. Via Elizabeth Albrycht's CorporatePR Guillaume du Gardier is the other organizer

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1099563884026806772004-11-04T11:13:00.000+01:002004-11-04T11:24:44.026+01:00

BL Ochman takes issue with Frank Barnako, who claims "Bloggers Blew It." I have no brief for Barnako, but I believe he's mostly right. Ochman also claims timely reporting from bloggers, and there she's mostly wrong. Over here in Denmark, it made sense to sleep early and rise early to catch the returns. So at 5AM (11PM EST), I had the RSS rolling, CNN and BBC on the telly, and my friend Adam

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1099355900856265742004-11-02T01:28:00.000+01:002004-11-02T01:38:20.856+01:00

Electoral-vote.com has been one of the most-followed websites for state-by-state polls this year. One (well, the only) problem has been that the writer would not reveal who he/she is... so while the math looked credible, and the reporting was A+, readers always had to wonder "Who's behind this?" Fellow expatriate Andrew Tanenbaum of Amsterdam is behind the site. I'm glad to see him come forth,

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1099185622787643062004-10-31T02:23:00.000+01:002004-11-02T01:19:35.326+01:00

Osama bin Laden is enjoying the fruits of Paradise and 24 virgins, alright, but if he's still sending VNRs, we have to assume it's an earthly paradise. Or resort. At any rate, he is clearly still among the living, and has ready access to video production and distribution. And he reaches more viewers than Sinclair. The sight of that man, more than three years after 9/11, looking healthy and happy

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1099008705299603292004-10-29T01:58:00.000+02:002004-10-29T10:01:30.300+02:00

Shel caused a flare-up when he jumped on Steve Rubel about endorsing Kerry (Shel later apologized). What's of note to communicators is that the flare-up ain't about politics -- it gets right down and dirty to "why blog? where does your cred come from? what makes an influential blog?" Questions, indeed. Gets right down to philosophy. The short story: Rubel endorsed Kerry on his blog (his added

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098958750896351882004-10-28T13:01:00.000+02:002004-10-28T12:19:10.896+02:00

Dan Gillmor broke a story yesterday about a PR agency (nameless) offering to help clients "manage" blogs and bloggers that are critical of the client. Gillmor rightly points out that bloggers cannot be "managed" but only worked with and engaged with. Yet several commenters -- presumably PR pros -- disagree. What is ugly is that the PR agency's view seems to be that one can be a PR professional

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098417957363654962004-10-22T05:47:00.000+02:002004-10-23T19:58:40.890+02:00

Update: the Mazda blog has been taken down. I guess they didn't want it becoming a cautionary tale. Still, the story will go into my next presentation on blogging & marketing. Reading the feeds this 5 AM, I see Steve Rubel and Pamela Parker roasting a fake blog set up by Mazda to tout its M3 line. I just knew it had to be so bad it would make my morning.... But Mazda may be quicker than we

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098379518747421042004-10-21T19:17:00.000+02:002004-10-21T19:25:18.746+02:00

Political junkies will remember the "Bull Moose" as the 1912 Progressive Party alternative to GOP Elephant and Democratic Donkey. Led by Teddy Roosevelt, "Bull Moosers" were conservative in foreign policy, progressive in social affairs -- well, generally speaking. Today's Bull Moose is a revived blog with bite and wit. "The Bull Moose advocates a progressive poltics of national greatness that

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098351178157398932004-10-21T11:24:00.000+02:002004-10-22T06:34:56.283+02:00

Friend Neville Hobson brings us welcome news of two conferences devoted to new communication strategies. What is welcome and significant is the speed with which the organizers are moving... these conferences, at two days each in early 2005, promise to provide more knowledge about new communication than either PRSA or IABC will be able to offer before mid-2005. "New Communications Forum 2005

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098292496225500872004-10-20T19:05:00.000+02:002004-10-22T06:35:47.526+02:00

John Perry Barlow seems to find interesting conversations all over the place. In his post Exit Strategies at BarlowFriendz, he talks Iraqi exit strategies with a mercenary -- and mercenary and Barlow find themselves not all that far apart. "The interesting thing was that we didn't disagree on much now. We both believed that the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent occupation was a tragic

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098035209822157152004-10-17T19:46:00.000+02:002004-10-18T08:36:46.866+02:00

The Electoral Vote Predictor is tracking swing-state polls each day and updating the predicted "final" electoral map. "Kerry is continuing to get a lift from the third debate. He has now overcome Bush's 5% lead in Wisconsin and moved a hair ahead there, 48% to 47% according to a Rasmussen poll conducted Oct. 14. Kerry is now once again leading in the electoral college, but neither candidate has

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098018417662342042004-10-17T15:06:00.000+02:002004-10-17T15:09:47.186+02:00

Bush campaign threatens schoolteachers with arrest. Their crime? Wearing "Protect our civil liberties" tee-shirts. More nervousness... or are they so confident that they just don't care?

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1098015675456129172004-10-17T14:08:00.000+02:002004-10-17T14:21:15.456+02:00

A few months ago, I noted why reinstating the draft is a poor idea. But it's an idea that refuses to die. And now, with no end to the war in sight, and military recruitment dropping, one wonders if the Bush administration is considering it? Rock the Vote seems to think so. Josh Marshall points out that the Republican National Committee is nervous enough about anti-draft backlash that it has

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097603561699777502004-10-12T19:50:00.000+02:002004-10-12T19:52:41.700+02:00

Friend Shel Holtz looks at some basic philosophy underlying what I call "bandwagon blogging" -- that is, the rush by CEO's to have their very own blog.

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097516494668296292004-10-11T19:36:00.000+02:002004-10-12T18:43:17.953+02:00

I didn't get my Economist (the world's best newspaper, by far, if only for the droll captions) this week, but Sean Aday at the Gadfly did. He points to and discusses an Economist poll of economists, asking them to rate Bush economic policies. If you are an American out of work or without health insurance (or both), you knew this already, but the marks are almost uniformly bad for W. Morever,

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097348047651092972004-10-09T20:51:00.000+02:002004-10-09T20:54:07.650+02:00

It's not summer where I live, but everyone knows you can get the best deals by buying out of season. So I was very happy when I found this catalogue for next summer's footwear. (via BoingBoing)

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097247008918887052004-10-08T16:39:00.000+02:002004-10-08T16:50:08.920+02:00

My friend Justine Toms (not the New Age gusher, but the High Priestess of Bulgaria's part of Cyberspace) has given me the signal honor of asking me to serve on the jury of BG Site 2004 "The Oscars of the Bulgarian Web". Actually, it's the fifth or sixth year running, but as long as she keeps asking, I'll keep doing it. It's getting harder and harder to judge the event though. I judge on design

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097245279069006852004-10-08T16:04:00.000+02:002004-10-08T16:21:19.070+02:00

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Wangari Maathai was a pleasant surprise (simply not giving the prize would have been so tired). "Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment," said Ole Danbolt Mjoes, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "We have emphasized the environment, democracy building and human rights and especially women's rights," Mjoes said of

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1097161149906775922004-10-07T16:53:00.000+02:002004-10-07T17:44:42.776+02:00

Why is this not surprising? A 15-month study by the Bush Administration confirms what most people have come to expect, even while the top of the Administration tries to pretend otherwise: Iraq had no WMD. Bush, Blair, and Howard are already spinning this, and I would, too, if I were them. It's that or go back to bed. But I am truly surprised that the President has named a new reason for going

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1089387689980159322004-07-09T17:36:00.000+02:002004-10-07T16:52:20.120+02:00

On the face of it, reinstating the draft -- an idea put forward by folks as different as Fritz Hollings and Charlie Rangel -- sounds like a good way to raise the specter of suburban kids going off to Iraq, thus building more suburban middle-class opposition to the war (and by extension Bush). And I am all for building that opposition. But I did my time in the military and came out convinced

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266840.post-1086951984025520902004-06-11T12:57:00.000+02:002004-06-11T13:14:55.590+02:00

A hundred years ago or so, the old New Orleans Coffee Co (not the new one) sold a brand of coffee called Desirable Roasted Coffee, a name which has always struck me as agreeably humble. Not Most Excellent Roasted Coffee or Astoundingly Good Roasted Coffee, but merely Desirable Roasted Coffee. A century ago, humility sold better than it does today. And in the spirit of the age, the humility on

Allan Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.com