366
🎈035/366 | 🧊 TL;DR | VL;MR
This is published - but let me emphasize, most definitely a WIP. Hoping to get feedback from a few select people, not to say that I too am noodling more. I will return.
🚧
Out in the wild - and really - these days what else would you call ‘LinkedIN’, I 🔗 read a post by 🔗 Tim Parsons that had garnered a few comments. It was touching on a pet peeve of mine, despite TL;DR being a technique I use from time to time.
This was the essence;
Sometimes it just can’t be any shorter and still be useful. Some lynchpin bit of data or context would have to be sacrificed, a risk go unnamed, a requirement remain unidentified.
Sometimes information exchange has to include all the information AND the meta data it needs to build a bridge from you to me.
Sometimes “Too Long; Didn’t Read” is a terrible risk/reward proposition, and you have to go all the way to “Very Long; Must Read.”
When everything extra has been distilled out, but there’s still a lot there, that’s a sign of something complex enough to be fascinating, or at least full of critical, decision-influencing intel.
He ended his post with a reference back to the source.
I remember 🔗 Marjorie Anderson activating that thought in my head weeks ago, and now it won’t leave.
This resonated ….
Sometimes TL;DR simply must yield to VL;MR
Which got me to thinking.
You know how I am with that word … ‘content’.
To remind from one of many posts on the topic - just on this blog ….
As long as ‘we the creators’ keep using low cost, homogenous, non-descript words like ‘content’ to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs then our work will continue to be viewed as ‘free - to - cheap - to - low - cost’, ‘homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’ (which coincidentally is what silos have always been used for), then, we only have ourselves to blame as the resultant payment for our art, our thinking and our ideas, will continue to race to the bottom.
And whilst on the topic of silos ….
You should never … ever … trust a Silo. It’s theirs. The stuff you put there is theirs. Even our’ handle is actually ‘theirs’.
All this and more can be found in an earlier post here : 🖇️ Friends Don’t Let Friends Write Content
And it is not just me …
Just today
and last year .. Dana Carvey and Will Arnett brought it up (listen it’s a one minute snipped) on the Smartless podcast.
Anyway, with that all said … ‘set up’ done … ✅
So What?
It struck me that ‘TL;DR | VL;MR’ is the second axis I have been looking for in my one man war on ‘content’. So I drew the picture.
‘content | material ’ on the x axis and ‘TL;DR | VL;MR’ on the y axis - and I was left with ‘Yeah .. so what?
The ‘so what’ was because I realized that it was missing the third axis …‘Entertainment | Understanding’
The fact is that so much that is running around the ‘interwebs’ is ‘Entertainment’. Nothing wrong with that, but VL;MR is really about Understanding.
Moreover, the front facing 4 quadrants are all about ‘Entertainment | Understanding’ and TL;DR | VL;MR - not ‘Content | Material’
So I drew it again.
The coloration isn’t quite right for all occasions, but in this particular context
- on the entertainment side - it doesn’t really matter which end of the TL;DR | VL;MR spectrum you are - a 240 character tweet can be as entertaining as a 3 hour movie or a 1,000 page book, BUT on the understanding side .. sure sometimes a pithy one liner can shed light on an issue that a three volume encyclopedia will never do. It’s also true that a very short mathematical equation is very powerful when it comes to ’explaining’ - IF you understand the language of math(s) (I like to accommodate both sides of the Atlantic if I can), which most people do not.
But generally that is not the case, because what triggered me is that context and history and space and time and .. is needed to really bottom out ‘Understanding’
So far so good?
I added the third dimension.
And we are there … nearly.
The dimensions are right - but the colors remain at odds with my thinking. I have the image in my head plus the colors need to be fading from one color to the next - depending on the context. I am not a graphic artist … and I could draw what I am thinking … eventually … and maybe I will return to complete / correct this.
But before I do that. Make sense? See where I am coming from?
🎈034/366 | ⏰ Time Is Running Out
Not much of it today. Sorry.
Except to say - that when you hear all the complaints from creatives how the AI engines are ‘stealing their soul’, if not ’the bread from their children’s mouths’, you see this and understand it.
Today’s prompt had no tweaking.
This was the first image generated.
But “no … no .. ‘our’ images are absolutely created from scratch.”
Yes - and then there is ‘pattern matching’.
🎈033/366 | 🥇 And The Winner Is …
This 366 project is officially one month in, so I thought I’d take a look at how we are doing on the ‘view’ front .. I won’t use ‘read’ (no assumptions here 😀).. so, without further ado, and for your delectation, coming in at Number 5 …
5 : 🖇️ 013/366 ⌨️ Typewriters .. and more.
And so on down the line …
4 : 🖇️ 026/366 | 🆔 The ’entity’ in Identity.
3 : 🖇️ 004/366 | 🏢 Demonstrating The Pace Layer).
2 : 🖇️ 003/366 | 💬 A New Purpose.
And the winner - at least for this month, coming in at number …
1 : 🖇️ 002/366 | ♟️ Is There Planning In Strategy❓
Thoughts
Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are respectively the 2nd, 3rd and 4th posts in the series, so not surprised.
I am surprised at the 26th post coming as high as 4th, after all, It only had 5 days to get there.
By the time you get down to Number 5 - well, it’s a topic that resonates, and had a full half month to ‘move on up’, so once again, no real surprise.
I will run the numbers again next month, for February - and again for January - and will also provide a ‘year to date’. Be interesting to see the comparisons. (BTW, I am specifically running the data between specific dates - in this case for example Jan 1 to Jan 31 - not just ‘last month’.)
I am also interested to see if this posts gives a jump on these particular posts, so I will check the data in 7 days.
That’s all for now - except to say, my many thanks to 🔗 Vincent who wrote and maintains the 🔗 tinylytics app that in turn produces the data I need to write this email. Couldn’t do without it.
🎈032/366 | 🥽 The Vision Pro
So it is out in wild and the reviews are in … and this is not another ‘one of those’.
‘My man’ Om 🔗 also posted about Vision Pro - he himself also highlighting that his post was not one of those. A big difference between us (as if there were just a few - there are not - there are many) is that he has actually tried one out! So there is that.
In his post he talked about 4 magic moments on day one of owning his new toy. This is the fourth on the list.
My last magic moment came when the Vision Pro became what I have always wanted — the future of television (and video.) A screen like none before. I opened up the Apple TV app, and picked an immersive video film of highliner Faith Dickey. I watched Dickey walk across a highline across the cliffs of Norway, but I felt as if I was there. It was so breathtaking — and in that moment, I thought maybe someday this is how all movies, televisions, and even home videos are going to be made for all to experience them live.
And?
And it got me to thinking about that last sentence (that is my bold in the quote that you see).
Christopher Nolan famously produces movies for iMax first Sure, you can watch them in other spaces … but the real experience can only be found on iMax - and not any old iMax .. the best iMax.
Obvious question … how long before the first movie is made that is ’tuned’ for ‘Vision Pro first’?
To clarify … (‘this new movie’ will be to ‘Vision Pro’ as as ‘Oppenheimer’ is to ‘iMax’)
My predictions
1] ’Such a’ movie will be released in 2025. Maybe early 2026.
- (Confidence 70 to 80%)
2] It won’t be a GREAT movie - like Oppenheimer. The timeline for that? 2030.
- (Confidence 25% - 75% lots of variable in this one - because ‘Great’ is hard to calibrate AND also the demand needs to connect to there being sufficient headsets out there for the story of success to work.)
3] It will be financed by Apple.
- (Confidence 100%. Because it is totally in their interests and are already funding movies and can give the makers a LOT of help well beyond dollaroos.)
What do you think?
🎈031/366 | 🚚 Moving In
A lot going on today - net net, 🎵 📼 this came to mind.
When all is said and done and after it’s all come together I’ll come back and explain in the comments.
If you can’t wait - there’s a clue in both audio and visual.
Until then. Enjoy …
LATER
1st February
Teejay and om
🎈030/366 | 🔗 Just A ‘Few’ Links
Still battling with my ‘in process’ (I am being generous) archive that 🖇️ I referenced here. Tucked away I had literally hundreds of links - some of which I have no clue why I saved them to drafts - rather than 🔗 Raindrop (a far more logical place). This is a random election from said list. Trust me - you don’t want the whole thing!
- Together - A social reader.
- An app.
- The Connecticut CyberHub Initiative.
- Provides a pipeline of talent to fill security jobs.
- National Cyber Group.
- A national version of same.
- John Wooden - Wikipedia.
- It’s funny who gets places named after them, a bar/restaurant in LA I frequented in the early part of 2023 had a John Wooden room. Famous apparently. I had never heard of him.
- Is “stream” as a design paradigm over?.
- One of ‘Om’s’ - I started to write about ‘Streams’ at the time.
- Streams of Consciousness · Matthias Ott – User Experience Designer.
- So did Matthias.
- Adactio: Journal—Home stream.
- …and Jeremy.
- Organizing my blog - Ben Werdmuller.
- Ben on - well - organizing hi blog, which is what I was doing at the time. Still am! Witness this 366 entry.
- Every Company Disney Owns: A Map of Disney’s Worldwide Assets.
- Always loved these kind of visuals.
- Reflect.
- An app
- Andrew Corser.
- a small blog by a long time family friend that I didn’t even know had a blog.
- Geyerhof StockWerk Grüner Veltliner, Kremstal 2021
- Organic wines anyone?
- Sky Bridge.
- A bridge - twixt Mastodon and BlueSky.
- AI risk must be treated as seriously as climate crisis, says Google DeepMind chief.
- A Guardian Article
- Obsidian ✍️ A new take on notes .
- A newsletter.
- Grupa Trias.
- a company I met in Poland.
- Personal Digital Agent - Google Slides.
- It is what it says on the tin.
- Motion | Pricing.
- An app.
- The Great Cash For Carbon Hustle.
- Is it? I am mixNo doubt it makes a lot of money for people - but we all know thatisnt right - don’t we.
- Micro.blog Feature Requests - Developers - Micro.blog Help Center
- MicroBlog feature requests.
- Struck | No Mercy / No Malice.
- A link I have saved for a future post - not yet. I think (know?) he is wrong.
- Seven Gigabytes.
- Robin Rendle.
🎈029/366 | 🎙️ Is Honesty The Best Policy❓
Don’t worry - this isn’t what you think it is.
If you are married or single, a writer or manager, paid for what you do or just for the love, delivered or received feedback, good or bad this is worth every minute of the 11 minutes and 44 seconds it will take you to listen to it.
I think this is my absolutely favorite podcast.
- Short - so there is always time to listen
- Good story telling, to keep your attention.
- Serious points made with humor.
W H A T - I S - N O T - T O - L O V E ❓
🎈028/366 | 📸 Just A Picture
Because somedays 🖇️ Ain’t Nobody Got Time For ‘Dis’. Sorry.
🎈027/366 | 📼 Ain't Nobody Got Time For That
I remember a segment in Trevor Noah’s Daily Show that was called ‘Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That’
Today I learned that there was a whole video and thing from years before. Is that where he got it from?
🎈026/366 | 🆔 The 'entity' in Identity
BTW - If you want to cut to the chase - Identity 2.5 is a great Substack to get your teeth into.
Identity continues to be core thinking in the work I do with people. In particular with a company down here in Aotearoa.
The Founder is a deep thinker - as are his communications. One of my jobs is to take those thoughts and write words that ordinary people might understand.
In the ‘biz’, it’s a different challenge. Like any other ‘biz’, there are words and phrases that get used and we all think we understand them. But do we? Particularly when you are trying to reset thinking. Even a little bit. Why? Because specific words have specific meanings in certain contexts and ’the experts will hear th word and some they know what comes next.
Therefore you have to be careful when you use them. BUT, if you don’t use them, you find yourself having to keep redefining things so you don’t lose the frame of reference!
That’s the hard part, but now lets get back to the plot.
Last week I needed a ’twofer’.
I needed to summarize the essence of what we are talking about in ‘*everyday English’. I knew the recipients were on the ‘fringe’ of the biz, so they had an understanding of ‘identity’, but our pitch was to have them look at identity in a different way. Plain English needed but reset required.
When he saw my email he wrote;
“I like the Johnising of Alan.”
… which I am taking positively and assuming I am not too off beam - recording for posterity - with a few tweaks to protect privacy.
My take on Alan’s thesis
Identity is about people - ordinary people - not devices, not technology … people.
AND
People necessarily have to deal with businesses in three main contexts
-
In person
-
On the phone
-
Online
AND
A lot of identity processes are really kluges that get bypassed all the time. (Personal experience just last month with a bank where I had to prove who I was - and every single proof that they needed I failed - since I had been out of the country and all the ‘check points’ had changed. It took me about 15 minutes together my access back - and I know I legally failed.)
Think of it as ’theater’. Like taking your shoes off at the airport.
AND
There is no single safe mechanism that allows for all three contexts. In fact some things you need to do just cannot be done in certain contexts.
AND
The tech industry’ is mainly working on ’number 3’. (Even though numbers 1 and 2 will not be going away. They are mainly being ignored because I suspect that the tech industry really thinks about ’tech’ and seems to exclude ‘people’ and ‘place’. You only have to recognize that if you have someone’s device, then to all intent and purposes, you can assume their identity and place … who needs ‘place’ - we are all in one place. It’s called the internet!
OK - I am being a little unfair - but you know what I mean. Right?
AND
They are often only working on two party authentication - I am me - here is my proof that I am me - and you will believe me on providing that proof to you.
AND
The complexity, problems and potential losses are exponential when you consider three party authorization … i.e. I (party a) have an account with a business (party b) that grants me a discount at another business (party c). How do you make that work efficiently - across all three contexts?
Meanwhile
Clear use cases include KYC (Know Your Customer) .. a global process that is increasingly necessary as part of more and more laws - to ‘protect’ us. But it is theater. It’s a theory gone amok leaving with organizations that deal with people as a business have been forced to implement expensive, drawn out, and costly (for both business and customer) processes that are not really working.
There are many many more cases we will (are) work(ing) on.
Sometimes you will hear that ‘Web 3’ is going to solve it. Sometimes ‘DIDs’. Hell - even the NFT unicorns were making promises at one point. ‘Cyber’ … ‘AI’ … there is an ongoing barrage of people that talk hypothetically about the problem - but there still isn’t really a solution. They might well be the answer - maybe - but not today
- There needs to be wider adoption.
- It needs to be easy AND safe.
- There needs to be trust.
- It needs to be cost effective.
- There should be no barriers.
- We definitely should not be waiting for whatever the ’tech d’jour’ is to grant us salvation.
We call all that Identity 3.0 - and who knows - just like Web 3.0 it may happen one day.
We call our solution Identity 2.5 - because it does not use tech that is not available - rather it sits in existing infrastructure that is already in place.
We have a working demo. We have patents. We have commitment from the NZ Govt. We believe we are unique - and nobody that has seen it disagrees.
We are moving forward.
Later
This seems to have caught attention since I originally posted it, so in order to save you time, if you are interested in what I am talking about and want to learn more, you can drop me an email - and be sure I will get right back to you. My thanks for your attention.
At the beginning of the year I had grand plans for this series. A daily long-form post about something that was rattling my brain that day. And then life. For a while, I was even just dropping markers - to revisit. I came to realise that part of the problem was the complexity of the structure for each post - so that went away. Simplicity really is rather nice. As I write on 240413, I am now going back and filling in the gaps. PLUS - unless something strikes me immediately, I will not classify until the end of the day and go back to move one of the posts of the day into the 366. Also - if you are wondering how I have update the words at the bottom of over 100 posts at a stroke, well - THANK YOU Andy Sylvester and his Glossary plugin.