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Flood Waters in the Midwest

March 21, 2008 by Jim Parker in friends, humanity

This is a bit off topic for this blog, but significant nevertheless for me. I’m from St. Louis Missouri, where area rivers are overflowing their banks. I have extensive pictures posted at my flickr account which can be found here: Jim Parker ’s Flickr

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Who Reinvents the Firm?

March 17, 2008 by Jim Parker in corporate, dna, leadership

One of my favorites, Umair Haque, (who is now writing at hbs too) wrote the following last week in a blog entry:

“That feeling - like a dull toothache - is a massively powerful heuristic that something is deeply wrong; wrong with McJobs; wrong with $100m bonuses for value destruction; wrong with the evisceration of variety, choice, and happiness; wrong with the long slow death of culture and community; wrong with the sinking intuition that like you’ve signed away your life when you walk into that cube, all for a few bucks and free lattes.

So who reinvents the firm? We do.”

This is something I talk about regularly with select friends and co-workers. A great many of us wish things were better. We see the problems, we see the waste, we see the selfishness, we see the value being sucked away. And we see our customers suffer.

Well, I have started to reinvent our organization. I’ll write about it here once I gain traction.

And if I don’t reinvent the organization or the firm, then I need to go. My path is clear: One way or the other I will reinvent!

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Twitter Events via Custom Twitter Nodes

February 26, 2008 by Jim Parker in Internet Business, media, twitter

Fred Wilson writes about a great idea for Twitter in Event Firehoses in Twitter.

I think that is a great idea. This is something I have been thinking about for quite a while. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to subscribe to an event in such a way.

For the sake of discussion, I like to throw a couple of problems and a possible alternative solution:

First, in order for a person’s tweet to show up in the event, they would have to use one of the tracking keywords. That means correct spelling is required and existence of that keyword is a obviously critical. “John Stewart” and “Jon Stewert” wouldn’t be picked up. My idea of what keyword is associated to the Oscars event might be different than yours. Or, I might be a horrible speller.

But also, that means tweets couldn’t become part of the context of the event unless a keyword was present. “Wow he just slipped on stage” (as Colin Farrell and John Travolta did) wouldn’t show in the feed as there are no keywords that identify the context – yet obviously, this tweet should appear in the “Oscar Event Feed”.

So what is an alternative?

What if Twitter had the concept of events built in? For example, the organizers of the Oscars could register “Oscars” event at a Twitter event config site. Then, from my phone, IM, Twitter client, or via the web, I could get a list of current/upcoming events. If I had done that Sunday night, I would have seen “Oscars” as a list of events of the night. Then, I could type eventon Oscars on my phone. From this point on, all tweets I send would go to the “Oscars” event group. Also, I would receive all tweets from other people who were attending (have joined) the “Oscars” event via Twitter.

So rather than depending on keywords, I simply join an event. I get all tweets within the event context. When the event is over (i.e. the twitter event expires) then I stop getting tweets in that context.

Custom Twitter Nodes is the Answer-

In my opinion, it is this sort of functionality that will (should) take Twitter to the next level. What if Twitter were to add the concept of Custom Twitter Nodes where people could setup and configure Nodes to meet the needs of their event, or group, or whatever? The possibilities are endless were Twitter to start offering “Custom Twitter Nodes”. Events would be one type of node with a set of rules. Perhaps there would be a Private Twitter Node type that people could setup and join without content being publicly available. How about an Custom Twitter node at the club? Or a conference? What about a Custom Twitter Node type for the grocery store? Hmmmm. Somebody might pay for that.

Yes, much of this functionality can be hacked by third parties. And many of these third parties are doing great and cool stuff. However, this type of service - Twitter Events via Custom Twitter Nodes - would be much better if it were provided by Twitter itself.

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US Senators, a Vice President, a Camera Man, and a Cop

March 10, 2007 by Jim Parker in humanity, media

Former US Senator from Missouri Tom Eagleton passed away March 4th.

I was raised a Democrat so when I was a kid, in 1980, when my mother was working for his campaign, I met him. I vaguely remember the fund raising event.

Over the years, through my mother’s connections (and some of my own) I’ve gotten to meet or shake hands or be within speaking distance of many interesting people.

The first important one was Jimmy Carter in 1976. Then again in 1980. Later it was Senator Ann Richards, then Bill Clinton. A few years ago, Senator Hillary Clinton.

Today was another good day for me. While on my way to work (on a Saturday no less) I decided to take a drive past the new “green” research building being built at Saint Louis University to see how it was coming along. I was going north on Grand Ave, heading towards College Church. The research building looks cool.

As I got closer to SLU’s Church, I saw more police than one would expect on a Saturday afternoon. Then I remembered that Eagleton’s funeral service was today. Well, I wasn’t dressed to attend, but I thought I stood a pretty good chance of seeing some US senators. So I found a parking space as quickly as I could 3 blocks away. (police had put no parking signs on all the streets within two blocks of the church).

Anyhow, I walked up to the corner with the fountain at Lindel and Grand across the street from the church. I watched for a little while. A very nice catholic sister came up. It was 11:30 and she was on her way to 12:00 mass - and didn’t know that Eagleton’s ceremony, which started at 11:00, had nixed the noon mass. I told her I was trying to see if I could see Ted Kennedy. She mentioned that she had met Ted Kennedy when he visited her home state of Connecticut.

I finally went across the street to the church and stood and talked to a camera man who had been covering St. Louis news for 30 years. We spoke about the state of news media and Rupert’s influence over Fox’s local news production operations. We also spoke how neither of us watches local news any more.

I then wandered down the sidewalk along the church towards the side entrance (near the altar) to ask the secret service where the senators would be exiting. Obviously they were not forth coming with that information, though did point to a street light pole across the street 60 feet away that would give me a “perfect view”.

I then went back to the main entrance of the church were my camera guy and his producer/reporter were talking. They asked what I found out. I told them about the street pole on the other side of the street. At that point they moved their camera to the side entrance I had just visited.

I spoke to a policeman who offered that the senators would indeed be coming out of the side entrance and getting on the bus parked there. I then joined my camera guy with a couple of still photographers at that side entrance.

And I waited….about another 30 minutes. During that time a Secret Service agent approached me and asked what I had in my Starbucks cup. I opened it, told him it was empty, and said I was looking for a trash can. He offered to take the empty cup for me. That was nice of him!

Now, with all the secret service and police around I noticed that I was absolutely the only person who didn’t have a good reason to be there. I was after all, standing among the press, police, and secret service wearing shorts! Nevertheless, I did my best to look like I was “supposed” to be there. Thus, I started fiddling with my phone, reading my blogs. I even sent a text message to a buddy, telling him where I was.

A policeman (the one I had spoken to earlier) saw me with my phone and approached me. He kindly suggested I keep my phone in my pocket when the senators come out. I obliged. We then talked about these “security details” of policemen that handle St. Louis events. It was good work he said - especially the festivals and events with drinking - as there are so many people to look at. He said events having to do with politicians and such aren’t as much fun because everyone is so uptight. “Guard this door, don’t let anyone in - stuff like that,” he said. And then added, “but it beats chasing stolen cars or busting drug dealers.” He was pretty cool. Strangely enough, he reminded me a lot of my college roommate Gerard who happens to be in the NYPD.

Then Senator Dodd came out and walked directly over to the cameras - five feet from where I was standing. He said a few words about what a great man Tom was. He left immediately.

Then Claire McCaskill came out. She didn’t want to talk to the cameras. She also left immediately.

Then a whole group of people came out and lingered for a while. Senator Ted Kennedy was amoung them. A reporter called him over to where we were standing. He spoke very kindly, affectionately, and remorsefully about Tom Eagleton. They were friends.

Next Joe Biden stopped by. He talked about Christmas’s with the Eagletons over the years and mentioned that he and Tom spoke often. There was something very likeable about him.

Then I think I saw Senator Kit Bond, but he didn’t speak to the camera’s. Senator Harry Reid was around but I didn’t see him.

And finally Vice President Walter Mondale spoke to the cameras in a very heartfelt manner. He seemed like the most easy going guy in the bunch - a man who had no worries and who was living life to its fullest.

So, I was within conversation distance of all these people. What an exciting day!

I ask my camera guy what it was like to always be able to see important people and events up close and personal. He said it was really no big thing. “After all, I am just an observer - watching these people do their work. I’m not actually participating. If I was participating, then maybe I would feel differently.”

Well said, don’t you think? I suppose I should get to work myself. We have serveral large systems that we are rehosting tomorrow morning for my company. I doubt my camera guy will be covering that. Maybe I should be working on something else? …because I sure would like to see the camera guy again…..

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Open Letter to Fred Wilson

January 19, 2007 by Jim Parker in blogging, future, media, technology

Dear Fred,

In response to Widget Removal - Please Vote:

First off, I’ve been a big fan of yours for over a year now.  In that time, I have read every post you’ve made, I have linked at least a couple of times from my blog, and I have made several comments (some perhaps naïve).  I read you not because you are worth millions, nor because, necessarily, that other people link to you.  Rather, I read you because your writing is good, your perspective is fresh, your insight is intelligent, and you mostly march to the beat of your own drum.  So I have an aspiration just like the tramp in Think and Grow Rich:  I plan to do business with you one day (today is not that day, though).

Additionally, I am a web application developer by trade.
Given the above self-perceived notion of my authority, I consider myself an expert consumer of your blog and have a good understanding of the technical issues that you face with your widgets.

So here are my thoughts.

You are an influential blogger who desires to express yourself with the best of breed that web services companies have to offer via widgets.  You are aggregating your presence on the world wide web into a single easily reachable and easily consumable web site.  Anybody in the world who wants to understand who you are has free access to more information than I have of my own best friend.  This you achieve with the help of all the wonderful widgets.

In my opinion, this has incredible cultural significance.  You are helping to usher in a world where people are no longer afraid to share their personal details – a world where transparency is the norm instead of just the occasional pleasant surprise.

Thus, I vote for you to keep all of your widgets.
Furthermore, I implore you to ask different questions in dealing with the widgets issue.  Instead of asking what to remove, ask what can be done to make them do what you want them to (speed, look-and-feel, etc).

Technology brought you all of these wonderful tools and technology can make them all work the way you want.  You know that is true.  Settle for nothing less.

Sincerely,
Jim Parker

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• Jim Parker
  I enjoy watching all of the changes in the world that are caused by us trying to figure out technology.
• Jim Parker