What can we learn from 37 Signals
November 7, 2007
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the folks at 37signals are among the standard bearers for the new Web. The company is synonymous with Ruby on Rails, and in yours truly has a rather loyal customer (Backpack, Highrise and Basecamp), even though I sometimes disagree with their software development ideas. Having said that, at the recent BIF-3 meeting, Jason Fried, the CEO of 37signals said something that a lot of life science software developers could learn from
“… if you try to make everyone happy with your products, you end up with mediocrity.
I think I might just add that quote to Kathy Sierra’s “Featuritis” figure that is pinned on the wall in front of me at work (I really miss her presence in the blogosphere).
Technorati Tags: 37signals, Software Development, Life Science
Video, science and marketing
August 27, 2007
I’ve been on the video horse lately, so lets keep riding for a bit. This post aims to bring together some recurring bbgm favorites, video and marketing.
Something that Sandra Porter said in a recent post about SciVee got me thinking. We know scientists are bad marketers. Larry Page says so and who am I to argue with him. Well actually, I completely agree. Slowly, but surely, thanks to video and podcasting, scientists are beginning to come out of their shells, but by and large they still don’t have a clue of how to use these new media formats. This, however, should be treated as an opportunity. No, we don’t necessarily need social media consultants in the sciences. Well perhaps we do, but that’s another story. Now that a number of good platforms are available, whether it be SciVee, Bioscreencast, or JoVE to pick on my three favorite video oriented sites, or even the audio/video offerings from Nature and other sources, we should start experimenting. We now have a pulpit, in a way more accessible than blogs and other formats. I’d love to see PIs interview their postdocs and grad students on video, asking them about any experiment design decisions and where they might have disagreed and who won the discussion. I’d love collaborators in a large genome wide association study to get in front of a camera and have a panel discussion on what the implications of their paper might be. It would be great to see them link to screencasts or videos of their experimental protocols. Wouldn’t it be cool to see a group of graduate students sipping coffee or red bull site and whiteboard out a paper, or perhaps the conclusions they got from the paper, and then tell you to go read the blog or wiki where they articulate their story in detail?
The other aspect here is micromedia. It’s something that I really like. Already, whether it’s using Kyte.tv, or Facebook video, or even using Eyejot to send video emails to my mum in India, short form video (or audio) can go a long way in communicating an idea. It’s up to us to be creative about how we do it. Can we, as scientists, learn to channel that creative side and get our message across, not just to the funding agencies, but also to those with casual interest or to our peers from other disciplines? Science can become fascinating again and not just the stuff that the mainstream media tells us to be fascinated (or frightened) about.
Technorati Tags: Video, Science, Marketing
Adwords as a driver for marketing science
July 14, 2007
Via Pedro and Bill, I learned about Jeremiah Faith’s attempts at Open Notebook Science. I will not dwell on that aspect, but rather something else that Jeremiah wrote about; advertising in science.
Scientists are poor marketers and whether you are in academia or industry, marketing takes effort and some skill. Not all scientists want to start a company, but they need recognition. Recognition from their peers and the scientific community at large. Historically, publications and a presence on the conference/lecture circuit are some of the main ways that scientists get themselves recognition. But what about the opportunities provided by the modern web? Jeremiah makes a strong case for Adwords, and the cost effectiveness of the adwords approach to science. Quite selfishly, I wish more scientists would do that. I have a feeling my Adsense revenue would go up significantly :). Like Jean-Claude, I would suggest other approaches as well. After all, in the end it is about eyeballs. Unlike more mainstream blogging and other similar activities, scientific blogging is about attracting eyeballs from your user community, so using targeted advertising, which is likely to get picked up by the appropriate blogs and scientific outlets is a good start. Writing a good, compelling blog, which provides useful insight into your research is another. I would argue that for a young scientist it is an excellent idea to blog and actively participate in online conversations. As long as you can articulate your thoughts and ideas, you are going to be in good shape.
One of the problems I see today is the lack of a quality scientific ad exchange. As someone running Adsense, I wish that the ads being served were more relevant to my audience. They are not bad, but if they actually were along the lines that Jeremiah or Jean-Claude talk about, I suspect there would be even greater value. Advertising should serve a purpose. If you could find a cool paper or two, or a graduate program, or job positions, or some cool software developed by a company or an academic by clicking on an ad, it would be a win-win situation for the advertiser, the publisher and the consumer.
The re-launch of TechBizMedia
June 18, 2007
A while ago, I had announced my involvement with a new blog. Well it didn’t quite work out in its original form, but it’s back. I’d like to announce the (re)launch of TechBizMedia. In it’s current incarnation, it is targeted towards entrepreneurs, startups, and marketers in the technology sector and provides an opportunity to talk about my opinions and experiences as a marketer and strategist. I am quite excited about the new version and look forward to seeing you there.
Technorati Tags: TechBizMedia, Technology, Marketing, Entrepreneurship
Headlines
June 14, 2007
Others have written about the ENCODE project, so for now, I will not dwell on it. What did catch my attention was this headline
First Chapter of Human DNA ‘Encyclopedia’ Rewrites Biology
Headlines like the one above from an article in WebMD always give me a chuckle. How would a layperson relate to such a headline? What would they think when they first saw it?
I also disagree with Michael Snyder equating the human genome to a sports car. The latter is far simpler :).
I’ve said before, science has a marketing problem. Headlines like these is one reason why.
Technorati Tags: Encode project, Headlines, Marketing
