Wow, Disney had a pretty rough quarter according to the earnings report released today. So, at the same time they had the earnings call, they announced the most aggressive promotion in the history of Walt Disney World: Stay four days,…
Month: November 2008
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Oops, looks like we elected the wrong guy… General Zod is pretty ticked off…
From the General’ Zod2008 campaign site, an update: “Eighty two votes you have given me. Insolence!” Grabbing a C-SPAN television camera, Zod peered into it and addressed the viewers. “America! You do not disregard your generals! You shall kneel before…
TV
No U.N.C.L.E. today…
Had to go to the B.I.N.G.O. event tonight at my son’ school, so I’ll catch up tomorrow. H.O.N.E.S.T!
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Michael Crichton dead at 66
Noted SF author Michael Crichton, who brought us Westworld, Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, , and many other great works, has died. Details here.
TV
U.N.C.L.E. a day, day 10: “The Project Strigas Affair”
U.N.C.L.E. a day is my obsessive-compulsive approach at working through The Complete Man for U.N.C.L.E., now available on DVD. One episode, one review a day (usually – occasional hiatuses may occur due to travel). YES! My favorite U.N.C.L.E. episode, ever!…
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Forrest Ackerman gravely ill…
Who, you may ask? Well Forrest J Ackerman helped found Sf fandom, helped organize the first SF convention, and for years was the editor and publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the classic magazine that showcased the world of fantasy.…
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Futurama: Bender”™s Game DVD Review
Ah yes, another straight-to-video Futurama flick. How is it? Good (better than the last one, not as good as the first one), but a little uneven, especially the last third… Let me explain. Basically, the whole first 2/3rd of the…
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What is Ethnography and how does it aid Customer Understanding?
By Simon Pulman-Jones, GfK NOP
Ethnography may differ from what is traditionally regarded as ‘normal’ ressearch, but it is far from the dark art that it is sometimes perceived as. Indeed, it’s high time to dispel some of the myths that have sprung up around ethnography so that organisations can understand its true nature.
The first myth to dispel is that ethnography is not a method; it is a research approach that uses a wide selection of methods:
– Secondary and semiotic analyses: understanding the systems behind all the things that you ‘just know’.
– Informal observation: used as a ‘first pass’ research tool, to generate questions, focus issues or confirm choice of venue or target audience.
– Formal observation: expert researchers in the natural, day-to-day setting, observing what people do, how they interact, the kinds of things they use, etc.
– Interviews: in-context, narrative interviews, which try to elicit the participant’s view of the world.
– Self-documentation: where the participant is given the tools and structure, and then records their own critical and open-ended self-reporting, logging the things that they see as most important to the question, rather than being led in any way.
– Groups & events
It does not aim to study people, but instead uses the techniques above to observe people in order to examine every day experiences, situations, environments, activities, relations, interactions and processes in very rich detail.
Despite often being perceived as a bit of a black art, ethnography is rooted in the disciplined treatment of data. By far the most important part of ‘doing ethnography’ is the rigorous analysis of all the data gathered and interpretation of key data patterns. The participants are experts on their own experiences and the ethnographers are experts at translating those experiences into a descriptive and analytic account that clarifies business issues and reveals the cultural basis for consumer experiences. The goal is to produce a consistent body of data that can have utility beyond the study’s original scope.
WHY USE ETHNOGRAPHY?
The commercial benefits of using ethnography are that it provides:
– A clear understanding of any given experience from your customers’ point of view and entirely true-to-life.
– A remarkable richness of data.
– Highly actionable information with long shelf life.
The unique value of ethnography is that it reveals not just what people say or how they think, but also provides a clear understanding of how experiences work, so that businesses can see what actions they need to take to support, improve and change those experiences.
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VIDEO: Great Mad Men parody on The Simpsons Halloween Special
Here’s the Simpsons take on the Mad Men title sequence…
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Netflix now offers on-demand video for OS X
Engadget has the details…
TV
U.N.C.L.E. a day, day 9: “The Double Affair”
U.N.C.L.E. a day is my obsessive-compulsive approach at working through The Complete Man for U.N.C.L.E., now available on DVD. One episode, one review a day (usually – occasional hiatuses may occur due to travel). Another good episode, where you find…
TV
U.N.C.L.E. a day, day 8: “The Giuoco Piano Affair”
The first “sequel” episode (and it may be the only one – I don’t recall any others), this one follows up on “The Quadripartite Affair” and again features David McCallum’ wife Jill Ireland in her previous role as well as…
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What? The Planet of The Apes getting another reboot?!
CHUD has the details of a script floating around Fox that is basically a reboot/prequel/remake called Apes: Genesis – that is based on my second-favorite Apes film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Interesting.
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Joelanta 2009 coming in May…
Got this flyer and, as I a friend of Buddy (the organizer of this thing), I wanted to post it to help him out… For future details, bookmark here.