My Name is Kate

Birdwatching, Searching for Aliens or Backyard Hockey - What's Your Branch of Citizen Science?

I don't know whether it's because we've been watching a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation these days or  because the first issue of the Scientific American subscription that Rosemary gave me for Christmas FINALLY arrived, but I am feeling a lot of warm, fuzzy vibes towards science lately. (Oh, and let's not forget that my two main Internet crushes are scientists: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Maggie Koerth-Baker. Oh, and my Internet boyfriend, Nate Silver, is an awesome statistician).

I often wish I had chosen "science" as a career … but I decided to be a "liberal arts" major. But these days, particularly with the advent of the Internet, I can be a Citizen Scientist. Back before "crowd-sourcing" meant "begging for money on Indiegogo", I participated in SETI@Home - a Citizen Science project where you could offer your computer's spare cycles for crunching radio telescope data and searching for patterns in the noise.

Though apparently projects like SETI@Home aren't considered TRUE Citizen Science anymore; they now bear the moniker Passive Citizen Science or simply "distributed computing". I don't know that I agree with that - so many of these projects (this is a list of some that use the BOINC software in addition to SETI@Home - projects ranging astronomy to biology to mathematics to humanitarian research) are an easy first step to getting excited about observing, collecting, recording and analyzing data about the world around us.

Citizen Science as a phenomenon didn't begin with the Internet. Starting in the Renaissance, independent scientists (aka gentleman scientists .. argh!!) appeared here and there .. often hanging about the Royal Society of London and making interesting discoveries outside of academic institutions. Charles Darwin and Ben Franklin are good examples of early citizen scientists; Craig Venter and Susan Blackmore are good modern-day examples.

One of the Citizen Science projects I participate in has its origins in an event that occurred over a century ago. Apparently, a cool thing to do back in the 19th century was go out and kill as many birds as you could on Christmas Day. Ahh .. those crazy kids. But then Frank Chapman, an officer in the newly formed Audubon Society thought "Hmm .. maybe there is a better way to celebrate the Baby Jesus than by killing a bunch of birds". So Chapman proposed that people just count and record the birds. And in 1900, the first Christmas Bird Count was held.

The Christmas Bird Count (Canadian link) continues to this day all across North America. The 113th count closed on January 5, 2013 - all the results have not been compiled yet but last year there were 2,248 counts (Canada: 410; US: 1739; Latin America & Caribbean: 99) with 63,227 citizen scientists participating. A related project that do is Project Feeder Watch: a winter long survey of birds that visit feeders in backyards and community areas across North America. It's operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada. I used to participate it in when I lived in Toronto and had a back yard. Now that we're in a place with a yard in Vancouver, I set up a couple of feeders and have started to count again. The above picture is of one of my visitors last spring, a house finch.

But if bird watching isn't your gig, there's Citizen Science options for everyone. One I recently discovered: RinkWatch - where backyard skating meets environmental science. Following a report from scientists in Montreal that there will be fewer outdoor skating days in the future, a group of geographers from Wilfrid Laurier University created RinkWatch to track changes in the climate. From the website …

We want outdoor rink lovers across North America and anywhere else in the world to tell us about their rinks. We want you to pin the location of your rink on our map, and then each winter record every day that you are able to skate on it. Think of it as your rink diary. We will gather up all the information from all the backyard rinks and use it to track the changes in our climate.

You may not think of it as science, but that’s exactly what you will be doing – making regular, systematic observations about environmental change in your own back yard. You will be joining a growing league of citizen-scientists from across North America. Is the backyard skating rink an endangered species? The first step in finding out for sure is to gather the statistics. If we want skate outside in the future, we have to find what’s going on today. So please, join RinkWatch, and help prevent backyard rinklessness.

Awesome, eh?

If you (and your kids!) want to participate in a Citizen Science project, Scientific American maintains a portal of projects - from identifying animals on the Serengeti snapped by dozens of field cameras to being a Bat Detective. And if you want to get out and about in your community and do Citizen Science on the move, mobile apps are a rapidly growing area of Citizen Science. OpenScientist.org has a list of mobile projects.

One of my favourite is ProjectNoah - actually not a citizen science project in and of itself, but a tool for citizen scientists to store information on any animals they spot and make that data available to researchers regardless of the project. On the ProjectNoah site there are several "missions" that are taking place based on the ongoing database of information that is coming in. I also like ProjectNoah because they award badges for completing missions. And I loves me some gamification :)

So, what do you think? Ready to don your lab coat?

Photo Credits: Smithsonian Institute and McCord Museum

Following up on the Shoebox Project

Back in November I posted about The Shoebox Project for Shelters - a cross-Canada initiative to assemble and distribute shoeboxes that contain small luxuries to gift to women in shelters over the holidays. I was so pleased to be part of the Vancouver team. We collected and distributed 261 boxes to the Vancouver Rape Relief Centre, Ray Cam Community Centre and the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre in Vancouver, part of the 2700 that were collected and distributed across the country.

It was a truly inspiring project to be a part of. Aside from being able to brighten the holiday season for 261 women, I also got to meet some generous, kind-hearted people. Some of the folks who delivered boxes to our door:

• A super-charming older gentleman who came to the door and handed us a roll of wrapping paper and a shoebox in a shopping bag. Seeing that we were puzzled by the lightness of the shoebox, he rummaged around in the shopping bag and pulled out a crisp $50 bill that was safely stored in a sandwich bag. "I want to help, but I don't know what to buy for ladies."
• Two women from a five-person dentist office who delivered a pair of boxes plus a bag of extras. They decided to forgo their office's Secret Santa and instead create shoeboxes.
• A woman who delivered 20 boxes in her SUV. She, her four daughters and their husbands/boyfriends had made this a weekend project.
• A young man who seemed like he just finished his shift on a traffic construction site (he was wearing a lot of safety and reflective gear). He pulled the equivalent of the contents of a full shoebox from various pockets in his coat and vest. It was pretty spectacular.
• A very shy young woman accompanied by her brother (or possibly boyfriend?). He stood and waited on the sidewalk while she rang the bell. She didn't say anything .. but handed over a beautifully wrapped shoebox. She ducked her head and smiled when I said thank you - and looked back to the young man on the street. He gave her a big smile and two thumbs up. She smiled again, turned back to me, waved and hurried back to the fellow on the street.
• A woman and crazy-busy tech executive who wasn't able to drop off the boxes herself, but sent a courier with a couple of boxes and some extras at the end of the day on the last day we were collecting (this is a woman after my own heart).

These are just the few that stuck out. Everyone who dropped off a box was excited about the project and happy to be participating. Most people found out about us through the article that appeared in Vancouver 24 hours. So thank you, Cam!!

And thank you to my friends and colleagues who supported this project. Whether you assembled and gifted a box or spent an afternoon with us assembling and wrapping boxes (a lot of folks brought the contents sans shoebox), I appreciate all of you!! And a HUGE thank you to my wife, Rosemary. She went through every single box that we collected (over 100 at our location) and checked each item. She sorted and discarded items like used makeup brushes, 1/2 empty bottles of lotion and expired Cups of Soup (a few people used this as a "clean out under my bathroom sink opportunity"). But thanks to her, no woman in a shelter received a bag of partially used, schmutz-coated hotel shampoo samples.

Assembling a Shoebox for 2013
One of the comments that both I and another of the drop-off locations heard was that there is already a lot of time and money pressure on people during the holidays - so would it be possible to do this at a different time of year? I think this is a great point and here is my idea: let's build a shoebox over the course of the year. That way, the $50 outlay isn't all at once and hopefully you can incorporate purchasing that month's item into your regular shopping.

So, I'm going to do that. Over 2013, I'll assemble a shoebox .. taking into account that there are some things we don't want to buy too early (makeup, chocolate) because of potential expiry. I've started a summary page that includes what is going into my box as well as some alternative ideas for that month. Then each month, I'll post the new item that's going into my shoebox and link it on the summary page. Sound good?

Shoebox Item for January
Well, the first thing on the list was "get a shoebox" :) Trickier than you might think. But, now done. This month, the theme is dental care (start off the new year right - plus, toothpaste generally has a 2 year shelf life - the expiry date on this one is end of 2014). In the box this month: toothpaste, toothbrush and floss. Regular price would have been $13.50, but all these were on sale and came to only $6.00.

My Reading Program for 2013

I don't know if you know this or not - but apparently, just buying a book and putting it on your shelf (real or virtual) isn't the same as actually reading it.

"What?!? No!" you're saying.

Trust me - I feel your incredulity. Even though I have tried quite assiduously over the last few years to pare down my book collection, I still have at least 1 or 2 shelves of "to read". And these are not the "to read" flights of fantasy like when I purchased several books about Past Life Regression because of a short-lived obsession (ok, maybe my vintage cocktail books fall into that category - but they are REFERENCE books, I tell you.) My "to read" shelves contain a variety of fiction (25%) and non-fiction (75%) across several topics, all of which continue to hold quite a bit of interest for me.

I even try to curb my book buying using a "1-in, 1-out" principle. The holidays, of course, put a real damper on that plan (and I will NEVER discourage books as a gift). And lovely publishers who send me review copies (thank you, Dan!!).

Ebook purchasing makes this principle (rule? well, more of a guideline really) even more difficult to follow: In bed, bored with my current book … hmm, I wonder if they have this one I just read about on Goodreads. They do? Fantastic. Click. Downloading. (I really try not to do this too often. Inevitably when I do it is the most expensive ebook. Ebook prices continue to infuriate me. And the lack of share-ability or re-gift-ability.)

In an attempt to actually read more and not just have books that I stare at wistfully, I've really pushed myself with my 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge. 35 books this year. That doesn't seem like a lot to some people. If I look at my friends on Goodreads who have set a reading challenge, I see 24 books, 36, 100, 30, 100, 12, 25, 42, 75, 35 and 75. Alright - people who have put down 75 - 100 - they are just showboating. People who put 36 are taunting me. And the person who put 42 .. well that's my 2014 goal :) I've done a Goodreads challenge for the last 2 years (26 and 30 books, respectively). I actually read 31 books in each of the last 2 years - so exceeded the challenge (yay). I do like having the goal set and tracked by Goodreads' tool - like any goal, it's helpful to see progress.

Serendipitously, when thinking about how to improve my reading quantity, I came across this post on Lifehacker.com - "Can I Learn to Read Faster and Get Through My Backlog of Books"? I really can't do the audiobook thing. I actually use audiobooks to fall asleep (it's like being a kid again and having someone read to you to get you to fall asleep; this habit is particularly unfortunate on roadtrips) so that tip wouldn't help me. I did find a bit of encouragement from Jeff Ryan's  "366 Days, 366 Books" piece on Slate. He talks about reading several books at once - this is definitely something I do and I actually think it makes the process go a little faster. I don't know if I get behind Ryan's definitely of a book "something printed that cost about $20" … this definition let him consider comics as books. OK, I suppose if I were trying to do a book a DAY, I could support that. But for me .. no. Not that I'm slagging graphic novels - I have one of Pride and Prejudice that I adore and would consider a "book". It's just that I don't think the latest edition of a Spiderman comic counts. Now, for some, my second book of 2013, The Panem Companion, might fall into this category, but I don't think it does.

So, what do I have on tap for reading right now?

Plutocrats - I'm really enjoying this book, but it makes me kind of angry, so I'm not allowed to read it at night. Aside: do any of you have restrictions placed on your bedtime reading? I'm no longer allowed to read any political or economic books at night because they make me a little angry and maybe even a little weepy. This all started with Stealth of Nations which made me want to throw things across the room because people and governments are stupid. But it is a great book.

When America First Met China - I love books about China, Japan and other East Asian cultures and history. This is one of many on my Asian Fascination shelf over at Goodreads.

Everybody's Jane: Austen in the Popular Imagination - Yeah, I love reading about Jane Austen. See my Austenmania shelf.

Stormdancer - the sole fiction currently on the go (oh, wait, that's not true. I actually just started Up and Down, but that's about a PR firm and since I work in communications I see it as more "creative non-fiction". This was one of those late night, in bed purchases because I read the first chapter in a free Best Fall Fiction Sampler over at Kobo) Anyhoo .. super excited about this one: Japanese Steampunk is all you need to know.

The stacks of books behind these four is a little daunting. I just got Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise. I'm a little scared of it. Math isn't my favourite. Also David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. And on the fiction front Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. That one should be lots of fun. My Goodreads' buddy, David, says ..

Cline may not be a great writer and frankly Ready Player One plays out like a screenplay that foreshadows the inevitable movie. Still, that's not to say this isn't a hella fun read.

We're talking competitive bouts of Pac-Man,Tempest and a memorable head-to-head against a Lich King playing Joust. It's walking the marbled halls of the Tyrell Corporation, flying the Serenity with Max Headroom as your personal AI or racing your own DeLorean. Throw in some School House Rocks, Family Ties, Ghostbusters and mix well. It's guilty pleasure in the form of geek lore. I blazed through this in a weekend.

Plus my brother really liked it and one of my D&D buddies from high school (yeah) reco'd it to me. So total geek stamps of approval.

Oh, speaking of reading, I'm thinking about starting a book club. I've been in one book club in my life. It did not go well. But hey, live and learn and get back up on the horse. This time, though, I'm thinking about a virtual book club - maybe using Google Hangouts. I posted about this on Facebook and had a couple of people say they are interested. I'm looking for say .. 8 people. Meet once a quarter? And here's the real question .. same or mixed gender? I would say 99% of the book clubs that friends are in are same gender. Thoughts on this? Interested in participating? Someone asked how we'd pick books. I'm strangely drawn to this Reading Bingo Challenge that was posted over on Random House Canada's blog. Gimmicky? Maybe. But I like that.

Any thoughts or strategies for your 2013 reading life are appreciated. And let me know if you're interested in the virtual book club.

Photo Credit: Annotated Bookshelf by jonathanpberger

The Shoebox Project has launched in Vancouver! Help brighten the holidays for a woman in a Vancouver shelter.

I am living a blessed life. I am warm and cozy at night in a place I can call my own. I have an amazing wife and extended family. I do not experience the fear or reality of domestic violence. And I have a job that pays well and lets me afford little luxuries.

This was not always the case. I remember a time when I was thrilled to find an extra dime at the bottom of my purse which meant that I could afford bus fare. Or when I found $5 in a puddle next to the curb which meant that I could buy the jar of peanut butter I'd been craving. It was a time of survival, not one of luxury. And it was a mean existence. But I was lucky - I had friends and colleagues who made that time seem less dark and helped me through.

It's important that we have hope in our lives. And to know that someone, even a stranger, cares. Which is why I am so pleased to be a part of The Shoebox Project for Shelters' Vancouver launch (official letter).

The Shoebox Project for Shelters is a non-for-profit initiative that collects small gifts that are packaged in shoeboxes, and distributes them to women in shelters just before the holidays. These shelters provide emergency and transitional shelter and services to women who are homeless because they flee abuse or difficult living situations, they are poor or afflicted with mental illness or they are new Canadians who require assistance.

These shoeboxes brighten the holiday season and let the women know they are special and not forgotten. They are filled with items that a woman would enjoy but would not splurge on for herself in times of difficulty.

This is the second official year of The Shoebox Project in Montreal and Toronto. This year, it is launching in Halifax, London and Vancouver. In Vancouver, we are collecting shoeboxes for the Vancouver Rape Relief Centre and the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.

OK, here's my ask …

The holidays are approaching and they bring with them a lot of pressures. Including the pressure to give to charitable organizations. I know that it's a tough economic time for people and budgets are tight. But please read this comment from the Program Supervisor at Street Haven Shelter in Toronto …

The women loved the boxes and all of the items in them, a few of the women were ecstatic as they had never received or owned a bottle of perfume, they loved the make-up, chocolates and body care products.  For a few of the women it was the first time they were celebrating the holidays and they were so emotional about how wonderful everything was and how grateful they are to organizations like yours.

Ladies ... imagine never having received a bottle of perfume. Or always having to choose peanut butter or other staples over hand lotion or lip balm. Or a little box of Lindor chocolates.

I would like to invite you … either alone or as part of a group (maybe your book club or your play date group or your yoga class - or even an activity with your kids) … to make a shoebox (or heck, more than one shoebox!). Our goal is 100 shoeboxes in Vancouver. I would like to think that my network alone could create those 100 shoeboxes. Is that expecting too much?

What should go in the box (approximately $50 in value):

• Body or hand lotions
• Makeup: mascara, lipstick and nail polish. (Please no concealers or foundations)
• Toothbrush, toothpaste and floss
• Chocolates, cookies, candies
• Mitts, hat, scarf
• Perfume
• Brush, comb
• Bus or subway tokens / phone card
• Gift certificates (McDonald’s, Tim Horton’s, Shoppers Drug Mart, Wal-Mart, Cineplex). Please include the receipt!

One filled shoebox. For inspiration, see others at https://www.facebook.com/TheShoeboxProjectCanada

Important to know:

1. Value: Please keep the value of your shoebox contents to approximately $50. At this time, we will not be able to provide tax receipts for your donations.
2. Packaged Goods Only Please: Please make sure that the gifts are all packaged, sealed and unused!
3. Decoration: You may decorate your shoebox with a pretty holiday or Christmas bow but please do not wrap your shoebox as it must be opened for inspection before it can be distributed.
4. Drop off: You may bring your shoebox to our following drop off locations starting today and until Monday, December 17th:
   • Vancouver: 2305 McLean Drive (Mon to Fri: 8AM to 6PM; Sat: 11AM to 6PM)
   • Downtown: 1088 Richards Street (only available on select evenings and weekends). Please email to confirm drop-off prior to.

For more information:

• The Shoebox Project Website | Vancouver page
• The Shoebox Project Facebook | Twitter
• A great article about The Shoebox Project on the Huffington Post by one of the co-founders, Caroline Mulroney Lapham

Oh, and if you don't have a shoebox, don't worry. Just bring the items by in a bag .. we'll pack them into one or more shoeboxes for you.

Thank you for reading this and for your consideration. And on your next trip to Shopper's Drug Mart or London Drugs, maybe add a few more things to your basket. You'll be bringing a few moments of joy to a woman who may not be anticipating finding this time of year particularly joyful.

Oh ..  one more thing for my friends in PR. If you represent a company who could donate items to a few boxes (not all 100 - even 1/2 a dozen would be great), could you ask them? Small retailers or franchise owners? I'll gladly pick items up. Thanks!

Plagued by winmail.dat files in your email? TNEF's Enough is the answer!

It's 2012 and email is still an imperfect system - and the interoperability between Mac and PC is still inconsistent. We can put a Rover on Mars, but we can't make email seamless. I have a client who is on a PC and when she emails me attachments, I often (but not always which is even more maddening) receive them as the dreaded winmail.dat file.

What is a winmail.dat file, you ask?

The file is a rich text (or MAPI) message that is sent from Outlook to Exchange. When Exchange sends the message to an outside server it writes the MAPI message as a MIME attachment. The unfortunate side effect of this plan is that if the Outlook user has someone in their address book as a person who can receive "Rich Text" then the user will receive the TNEF (Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format) file whether the user uses Outlook or not.

The files are usually received by SMTP based e-mail programs from Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook users. The SMTP based e-mail program will usually either receive a MIME attachment named "winmail.dat" or a MIME attachment with the type "application/ms-tnef."

It was KILLING me. I'd have to ask her to resend. Or we tried using various file-sharing services. But it was a hassle for her. 

Then, I found TNEF's Enough by Josh Jacob.

It is the sweetest little Mac program - it extracts the original attachment from the Microsoft TNEF stream that comes along with the win.dat attachment. Powerpoint files. Images. Word docs. Any attachment that she sends me and has been converted to a winmail.dat, TNEF Enough can open. Oh, and the explanation of a winmail.dat file is from his FAQ.

Below is a screenshot of TNEF's Enough. When I open the offending winmail.dat file in TNEF's Enough, it shows me the original email message as well as all the attachments. I can then choose one or more of them and "Export" from the menu.

TNEF's Enough is donationware. Thank you, Josh Jacob!

Five Essentials for Your Next QR Code Campaign

We recently finished helping a client run a QR code promotion. It was the first QR code campaign I worked on directly; it was also the client's first.  The campaign lasted a week and was loosely modelled on a scavenger hunt.  We placed eleven QR codes across a variety of print and online placements, using five partners in addition to the client's own properties. Twice a day we released clues on the client's Facebook fan page as to the locations of the codes. And for every QR code you found, you gained an entry into a draw for a prize.

A few things came up during the campaign that I thought I would share here for when you're doing your next QR Code campaign. Either things we anticipated, didn't think would be a big deal and turned into a big deal - or things we didn't really anticipate and had a bit of a scramble about.

Kate's Five Things You Should Do for Your Next QR Code Campaign

1. Always have a non-smartphone option for entry.

There's a reason we pay lawyers a lot of money. My client's lawyers, in reviewing the contest guidelines, made sure we had a way to enter the contest if you didn't have a smart phone. I wasn't too concerned because a) who DOESN'T have a smart phone (ahem, my own arrogance and naiveté) and b) if for some reason you didn't have a smartphone, I expected people to just say "Hmm, guess I won't enter" (more personal arrogance and naiveté).

I was SHOCKED by the number of people who left angry, angry comments on the Facebook wall about having to have a smart phone to enter. Accusations of discrimination and threats to boycott were rife. It was epic. The interesting thing was we actually put everywhere we promoted the contest, a note to see the Rules & Regs for a way to enter if you didn't have a smart phone. People don't read. So the community manager patiently (and in a much more friendly tone than I would have mustered) answered each accusation with a link to the Rules & Regs. What was especially awesome is that other fans started answering as well - which rekindled my faith in the self-policing of online communities.

But the point is, if we hadn't had that option in the Rules & Regs, it would have been quite a different story. So make sure if you're using a non-ubiquitous technology as a contest entry, that you have a lower-tech, alternate way to enter. 

2. Test test test, especially with your client's boss's boss's phone configuration.

All the case studies about running any kind of QR Code campaign or promotion says to test, Test, TEST! Different hardware, different OS versions, different QR Code readers. We did this. I even had a testing matrix. It was a thing of beauty. But, we approached our testing by figuring out which phone/OS combinations were the most popular - both in Canada (using data from ComScore's MobiLens) as well as with the client's stakeholders by checking their web stats. Here's the overview data from ComScore:

Ebb and Flow

Yesterday, I was struggling with a new posture in my yoga practice.

My instructor came up to me and said, "Sometimes, I like to pretend that I don't have any tension."

Photo Credit: beedieu

One Smart Way to Keep Your Social Network Spam-free (or at least spam-low)

This blog (and most of my blogs, really) run on Typepad. Typepad has a "social networking" aspect to it - it allows people to "follow" you. In the last couple of months they ran into a massive spam follow problem seemingly as part of their free microblog service. They have now put in some functionality for Tyepapd users to take control of who they want following them which is great, if not a little late in coming.

I was thinking about how this all could be prevented in the first place and I came across this piece of functionality on Goodreads (my social network of choice for books and reading) - the Challenge Question. So simple, yet so effective.

This is what it looks like in your profile settings:

And this is how it appears when you make a friend request:

 

Now, LinkedIn does something like this when you ask to make a network connection. But it pre-populates with standard "We should connect on LinkedIn" which 97.6% of the people who send me a request don't bother to edit. So I like GoodRead's approach where they give you an example Challenge Question, but leave you to actually fill it in.

For an additional level of security (in case you are reading classified documents and then posting about it on a social network), you can also specify a one-word Challenge Answer. When you activate this option, it looks like this:

I really like how the example prompts change as this Challenge and Response is intended to be much more personal.

This kind of functionality would really help with spam reduction but would also create stronger "weak ties" that are key to maintaining online social network relationships. What would really be great is if this data were then stored and visible in your view of your friend's profile on that particular social network (so, when Ben (the example above) looks at my profile on Goodreads, he would see how I answered his challenge question). That would go a long way towards maintaining those weak ties.

I look my friends on Facebook and while I have made a half-hearted attempt to organize them into lists (conference buddy, Squidoo lensmaster, person I met at a Tweetup once who is best friends with at least 5 of my friends), it's ineffective and there are still several people who I am just not 100% sure who they are.

LinkedIn in does something very smart in that they allow you to add notes and tags to an individual's profile.

But again, it is after the fact. Prompt me for this information when I accept/make a connection request.

I don't use services like Sales Force, or any real contact management system, but I imagine that they have similar kinds of note/tag mechanisms. 

Has anyone seen other social network spam filters/meta info collecting like the above that they particularly like? Or, do you have any tips on how you organize your friends/contacts on the various services? This kind of meta content around our online social lives seems to be a cruicial component that isn't widely available yet, but should be.

The Evolution of Geek

Flowtown has an awesome infographic on The Evolution of Geek. And I swear, it's like they looked at my high school year book picture to create the illustration for the D&D Geek.

Something I learned from their infographic is that geek is a variant of geck, a word from the 1500's indicating fool or simpleton. Wikipedia, of course, goes into a bit more detail:

The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to be overly intellectual".^[1]

This word comes from English dialect geek, geck: fool, freak; from Low German geck, from Middle Low German. The root geck still survives in Dutch and Afrikaans gek: crazy, as well as someGerman dialects, and in the Alsatian word Gickeleshut: geek's hat, used in carnivals.^[2]

Formerly, in 18th century Austria-Hungary, Gecken were freaks shown by some circuses. In 19th century, in North-America, the term geek referred to a freak in circus side-shows. In some cases, its performance included biting the head off a live chicken. The 1976 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary included only the definition regarding geek shows.

Although often considered as a pejorative, the term is also often used self-referentially without malice or as a source of pride - an example is the 'Geek Squad' of the Best Buy company.

So, any of these geeks resonate with you?

The Art of Marketing is Coming to Vancouver - You Could Win a Ticket!

Update: We have a winner - Tai Scott has won the random draw. Thanks to all of you who entered! And remember, we do have a discount code you can use to purchase a ticket - see below.

After the election last night, I figure we could all use some good news. So, here you go ... the awesome conference The Art of Marketing is FINALLY coming to Vancouver on June 9, 2011. Speakers include:

• Guy Kawasaki - Creativity & Innovation
• Gary Vaynerchuk - Branding & Word of Mouth Marketing
• William Taylor - Strategy & Competition
• Mitch Joel - Digital Marketing & Social Media
• Avinash Kaushik- Brand Measurement: Metrics & Analytics 

But here's the really great part ... I have a pair of tickets to give away!

Here's how to win them: Simply leave comment below letting me know why you want to go and who you would take with you.

For example, "I am super-excited to see Avinash Kaushik - I can always learn more about analytics and he is THE MAN when it comes to metrics. I'd take my boss, Bill. Because Bill is pretty clueless about social media and he could certainly benefit from hearing some of these folks talk."

As a bonus, if you tweet about my contest and post a link to your tweet in your comment, I'll give you two entries.

I'll keep the contest open til 5PM PST on Friday, May 13. I'll draw a winner sometime over the weekend, get in contact with them, and post here on the following Monday or Tuesday.

If you're not in Vancouver, don't fret - I'll have something for you after May 13!

And, if you don't really like contests and just want to register for the Art of Marketing, you can save $50 off the regular ticket price by using my promo code MNIK. Or, just click on this link to register - it has my promo code built it. So, regular ticket price is $399 - with my code only $349 (or, if you get a VIP Pass, it would only be $449).

Disclaimers:

• This contest just includes two tickets - no travel, meals or guaranteed rubbing elbows with Mitch Joel. So if you are based in Saskatoon or Edmonton, you have to get here through your own devices.
• My decision on the winner is final.
• Disclosure: The Art of Marketing is giving me a ticket to attend as well.
• Yes, I know this conference is all dudes. They are really smart, engaging dudes, so I think it will be worth your while. I would love to see more women speaking at The Art of's events and I have mentioned that to the organizers.

I'd love to see you at the Art of Marketing. Leave a comment below and enter. And then watch this video to get all excited about the conference :)