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Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Free advice for Dr. Dean 
| | I see that my positive spin yesterday on Howard Dean's "barbaric yawp" speech got approximately no traction at all. Worse, the speech was (predictably) mocked by everybody in the major media from Stern in the morning to Letterman and Leno in the evening. |
| | Clearly, its effects were regretable. It hurt the campaign. But it was also honest and authentic, and in the long run that can only help, for the simple reason that it was real. |
| | Here's my suggestion... Look at media coverage as nothing more than transient conditions, like weather. And navigate by the stars of your own constituency. |
| | The main lesson from Cluetrain is "smart markets get smarter faster than most companies." The same goes for constituencies and candidates. Your best advice will come from the people who know you best, who hear your voice, who understand the missions of your campaign and write about it clearly, thoughtfully and with great insight. They're out there. Your staff can help you find them. Navigate by their stars, not the ones on television. |
| | And write back to them. On your own blog. In your own voice. Not just on television and on the stump. Take the time to do that and you'll ride through the storm. |
| | Again, I want to make my own position clear here. I'm not a partisan for any candidate. But I am a partisan for the Net. What I'm advocating here is the clueful use of the Net by every candidate. I'm talking to Dr. Dean in particular because his campaign alone is associated with the Internet, becuase it has, indeed, used it effectively. Now, however, there is enormous pressure to pay greater attention to less connected media, and less networked markets. Ones whose agenda is casting candidates as characters in stories that may have little or nothing to do with what makes those candidates worthwhile. Ones who also regard the Net as a rival medium. |
| | Don't let them guide your ship. Follow your own stars. They're still there, and will be as long as you stay in their conversation. |
Shaved dog story
| | Saw a bumper sticker the other day in Vermont that said "Be the person your dog thinks you are." |
| | This comes to mind when I read Mike & Sheryl's take on the story about a dog, his original owners, his adoptive owners, and the insane law that left the Humane Society in a highly inhumane position. Yes, the dog was untagged. That's a problem, but the punishment isn't theft of the dog. |
Going to bat for NAT
| | Back on the 14th I pointed to John Walker's thoughtful criticisms of NAT (Network Address Translation). The original document seems to be gone, but John's points are also made at his essay The Digital Imprimatur. |
| | So, are the lights going out on the internet? Most certainly not, at least not because of NAT. Does it affect the addressability of end-users? Most certainly yes and with that it added greatly improved security; personally, I'm very nervous to use the phone to connect instead of the NATted connection I use at home because I know what's being blocked and I'm never certain about which programs on XP respond to certain incoming colored envelopes. Is it circumventable? Oh yes, if one use centralized or dynamically assigned servers. John Walker shouldn't whine but take a look at Skype or other P2P systems. |
| | More disagreements (and thoughtful treatments of the subject) here and here. Thanks to CircleID for the pointers. |
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