Come clean or post a secret – what’s the difference?

von | Jun 25, 2005 | Blog, Online Advertising

Companice pointed me to „come clean„, a site where you can confess anonymously, while other people can read your confessions on the website, or even within a screensaver (what for, though?).

Nice idea, but not so new. I have already seen this idea before (see here – in german). It’s Postsecret, a regular blog, graphically not as nice and without a link to a screensaver, but essentially the same idea…

Question is: did Crispin Porter Bogusky know about this? And if so, should they have won a Cyber Lion, the most prestigious award, with it?

[27th June:] I just learned at Companice that cp&b actually had their site up since autumn last year, while postsecret is only up since the beginning of this year.

Fad, gadget or trend? How do you rate Tiddlywikis?

von | Jun 20, 2005 | Blog

Tiddlywikis are html files enriched with a lot of javascript. The main feature: all internal links, called Tiddlers, are contained within the file, even when their not visible. Once you click on a Tiddler-link, they open. And then you can also edit them. For more details see the link above.

A TiddlyWiki is like a blog because it’s divided up into neat little chunks, but it encourages you to read it by hyperlinking rather than sequentially: if you like, a non-linear blog analogue that binds the individual microcontent items into a cohesive whole.

So we have a nice tool. But what for? It’s good for collaboration. But not better than other Wikis. It’s good for single-person use, as you can carry this one file with you (on a USB stick, for example) and work with it everywhere. That works quite will for notes, To Do lists, etc. There is also a getting things done GTDTiddlywiki, an adaptation of the Tiddlywiki for To Do lists, etc.

And there is a Tiddlywiki Novel, a nice idea with a non-linear plot where you decide for yourself which direction the story should take – depending on which Tiddlers you click…

So is this really something that will take off like the reguar wikis or blogs even?
I personally think, it won’t. The non-linear flowis interesting, but also confusing. Even though we have managed to improve our mind in terms of grasping complex setups (see the NY Times article (for non-registered users click here) about how television made us smarter in the last 20 years), I still don’t think that the general public is willing to work with or only read something that non-linear.
Even I don’t like it, when there are too many of side-tracking links in articles.
But in a couple of years this may be different…

Sidekick: Nice Links

von | Jun 16, 2005 | Blog

I really enjoy two sites that don’t really write much, but show nice images.

1) advertising focused: AdBlather. Here you can find nice print advertising. Ads from magazines or outdoor. But always executions with a nice little idea with it. Really enjoyed most of these sofar.

2) Photography: iso800 by Fabian Mohr. Really nice Photography, also some commentary (in german) on how some of these pictures were taken. Amateur Photographers like myself can really learn a lot here!