A Fond Farewell …. Thank you for Shopping at Borders
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
reads the subject line of an email I got yesterday! Time to shed a tear for the disappearance of yet another retail icon.
Even as one can argue the underlying factors behind the demise of Borders, ranging from poor real estate decisions, over-emphasis on music, outsourcing to Amazon in the early days, much of which has been discussed already, one cannot help but feel a sense of sadness at the closure of a bookstore. Of course we like Amazon, and we like e-readers, and we like iPad-ready magazines, but there is something about a neighborhood bookstore that creates a sense of delight at discovering something interesting to read.
I was in Fremont recently at my son's baseball game, and had about a couple of hours to wander around while warm-ups and practices were going on. I thought I'd pull out my handy iPhone, look for the nearest bookstore to visit, maybe spend an hour looking for something interesting in science fiction or maybe something new about Erlang - and shocking, there is not a single Borders (or Barnes and Noble) within 10 miles of the intersection of Stevenson and Civic Center Dr in Fremont. Where did they all go? There were some smaller bookstores, hopefully all of which are doing well, within about 5 miles, but none of the big ones. Then it strikes you, here you are in Northern California, in the bay area, arguably near great centers of technological innovation, surrounded by a population that by all accounts consists of relatively smart people - and no bookstore! I think I was profoundly dismayed at the time, regardless of the advances in technology, and portable, digital book reading, have I suddenly become such a fossil where a bookstore is no longer relevant in the lives of people?
Reading the email a few times, I cannot help but feel sorry for the thousands of people who work in bookstores, many of whom choose to do so as they are passionate about books. I cannot help but feel sorry for a generation of youth who will grow up without being able to visit a young readers section nearby. I cannot help but feel sorry for a nation that as advanced as it is, and as affluent as it is, cannot sustain a reasonably profitable business around a neighborhood bookstore. Clearly, I'm not here to critically examine whatever business practices or choices that may have contributed to Borders' demise, I'm just sad for the loss of a simple opportunity to discover a book to read.
Turning to the Yelp application on my iPhone, I found that there was a Hobbytown nearby - well, maybe let me try that. Its been a while since I built a plastic model or worked on my model railroad, but maybe time to see if I could find an interesting WWII plane or a 60's muscle car to build.
I drove to the Hobbytown near Mowry and Argonaut, only to find a sign at the front of the store - "Going out of business, all sales final, store closing!" *sigh*
You won’t find me on Facebook?
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
I'm still trying to figure out how to get a regular rhythm going with this blog. Multiple topics abound from the politics of coach selection in youth baseball to finding the time to get a simple web site done for my neighbor (who offers off-leash dog hikes in the Bay Area). But something caught my attention recently - definitely worth sharing.
You won't find me on Facebook!
When everyone and their mother (literally) is on Facebook, it might not be prudent to argue the wisdom of crowds. Arguably, people I've lost touch with since high school, college and other places have "found" me on Facebook and perhaps the power of the social graph is pretty obvious to everyone. I however found this argument quite compelling, Facebook has its place as a mechanism to find, share and connect with members in your social circle.
But do I really need to go and "Like" a pair of jeans on Facebook? Do I need to "Share" a wall post about the latest achievement of my 11 year old? And in my opinion, the absolute worst is wishing a friend Happy Birthday on Facebook? Are we doing it to wish the friend or to tell everyone that I'm wishing the friend a Happy Birthday, and I have the time to login to Facebook and write a wall post, but probably not find the friend's email address and sent a private birthday greeting.
The issue, much like charitable giving, is having a clarity of purpose. Do we give without caring about whether we are recognized or do we give so that we are secretly pleased to see our name among the list of donors? This post is sort of meant as a nod to the Free Software Foundation folks, who make many valid arguments about the privacy, data collection and proprietary aspects of Facebook. You may or may not agree with these arguments, because for the vast majority of us, the notion of free software or open-source or similar topics might all be Greek and Latin. However, the interesting by-product is the critical examination of a platform that arguably offers marketers the best place to target their advertising messages as derived from mining the micro-interactions of the population with Like buttons.
I might have a Facebook account, but the more I think about, you're not likely to find me on Facebook anymore.
Taking a little trip around the world – the Geography Bee
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
This post is almost a month too late - but then, better late than never, or so the adage goes.
The Geography Bee is a fascinating competition, held every year by the National Geographic Society, it is clearly a nerdy test of geography trivia and possibly a lot more daunting for 4th grade to 8th grade students than the Spelling bee. You might think that what's the big deal in knowing the capital of Latvia, but geography for me has been in many ways the one subject that opens our minds to the world around us. I had a chance for the first time last year to volunteer at my local elementary school to run Geography Bee "prep sessions" and this year was no exception. Only this year, I think I was a little better prepared having seen the format of the preliminary round last year.
Little bits of good
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
A few weeks ago, a second grade teacher at our elementary school who taught both my son and daughter, talked to me about an idea. She was volunteering for a non-profit in the area and in course of her work had come across the inspirational teaching from Bishop Desmond Tutu that little bits of good can have a profound impact in our communities.
She had an idea based on this, which was to give a kid a wristband called a "Good Band". The kid could do any good deed, however simple and small and the band would serve as a reminder of this. When the kid performed the good deed, he/she could pass on the band to someone else with the same instructions - "Wear the band, do a good deed, pass it on". She wanted to know if it would be possible to build a simple web site that would allow for the kid (or the parent) to easily share or log the good deed so that you'd be part of a growing community of good deeds.
I'm proud to present Goodbands - a simple, easy to use web site, built in some spare time over the past few weeks that realizes this idea. Nothing fancy, simple visuals, no money/advertising/registration involved, just the basic application of some technology to help spread the idea. I realize again that what comes easily to the software engineers among us is sometime completely alien to a non-technical person. Things like spam prevention or profanity filters, for example.
Many thanks to Mary Beth Miller for helping me work with her to realize the concept, and best wishes to spreading little bits of good all around.
Volunteering for education + advocacy
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
I recently had a request to help a non-profit figure out how to get some data collection and online payment processing done. Its not that I was looking for more volunteer work, I seem to have plenty of that without needing to build a new website, but this one was a very satisfying experience.
It turns out that the non-profit that was started by a group of parents and volunteers eager to bring more insight into the state of public education not only in California but across the country. A number of sponsors were working with the group and some excellent site design services had been donated for a good cause to present a collection of content, resources and an online presence for the non-profit. The organization however was almost being held hostage by a 3rd party service that had started to implement their online volunteer database and credit card payment processing. I was given to understand that the organization already had a relationship with PayPal which is typically 2.2-2.9% per transaction for a simple Website Payments Standard account for online credit card processing, but this 3rd party was going to charge them an additional 5% to handle their online donations.
Its an interesting premise and clearly the foundation of a robust business model as far as providing a hosted form/database and online payment processing, but its also tough to justify 5% per transaction as an additional expense for a non-profit. I'm proud to have played a small role in the launch of Educacy, http://www.educacy.org - which is now supported by a simple volunteer collection database and online payment services via PayPal.
It would seem that sometimes what we who are familiar with code and technology and HTML posts and form behavior and iframes can do is educate and spread awareness of how to build something online. Thank you Martha for the introduction, Thuy for some excellent design support and Steffanee for the opportunity to help with Educacy.
What’s in a name?
Posted by subbuthepeaceful
Never one for too much self-expression or status updates, finally a plunge into blogging. After several years at I-Cube, Razorfish in its many forms, AKQA Part 1, running my own company Core • Continuum, and now back to AKQA, perhaps some expression of ideas and perspectives is good. Sometimes, I look back and struggle to find out what is the core competence that threads all these experiences. Even if I had something to say, what would it be about? Software engineering, Ruby on Rails, ATG, e-Commerce, small business, technology practices in a marketing agency, COBOL to C transformation, technical leadership, coaching baseball, cooking, geography? What is this blog about, besides random ramblings, of which there are many?
One's hobbies and dabblings do not qualify them as an expert. Experience does not equate to expertise. A struggle to find relevance and core competence amidst a rather tumultuous first half of this year, I think has prompted a realization. What I've ended up doing best in most cases is to add clarity to any situation, but in a manner that is geared towards answering the following question: "Ask what must be done, not what I can do? Ask what is required, as opposed to what's in it for me?" A little preachy perhaps, but truthfully representing a core value. (Thank you Ashish Mamania, for your kind words when we met recently after many many years.)