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Cool. Also, I found this via a feed of my delicious network which I just started using today! I can't believe it took me this long to use it.
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OUTSTANDING! via @EmailKarma on twitter.
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Posts from January 2008
Reminder to my fellow communications professionals - you leave traceable digital footprints
Sometimes when I'm hangin' with my marketing and PR homies, we talk about major communication gaffes on the Interwebs ... you know the kind (they're practically legend by now): Walmart, Sony PSP. Some of my less-technical colleagues want to know how people "find out", so sometimes we'll have a slightly technical conversation which generally ends up with glazed over eyeballs and the admonition "Just be transparent and authentic and there won't be a problem" ringing in the uncomfortable, befuddled silence.
Now, I am no cyber-sleuth, but I am a mite more technical than the average marketer. I've been watching my analytics for new and fun keywords that are leading people here to MNIK. Not surprisingly, after my post about Genebase and the DNA Ancestry project, I've been getting a lot of searches relating to Genebase: "genebase complaint", "genebase ripoff", "genebase bad dna test" to name a few (note - the last one was from a US military base - yikes!).
Fair enough - to be expected. MNIK indexes pretty well generally and blogs are favoured by Google as well. In addition to the US military base, I also got a few visits from Genebase's PR firm which was also to be expected. Genebase should be pleased that someone is monitoring the blogosphere on their behalf.
And of course, I also got a number of visits from generic ISPs, like Shaw (my provider), Bell and Telus. A lot of visits from Telus.
I also received a comment on the Genebase post ... from an "Yvonne" who left a great deal of information which was very helpful, very details and slightly unexpected - but possibly Yvonne is simply that sort of person. This is a screencap of my notification email about the comment, capturing her IP address:
Coincidentally, Rosemary also received a comment on her post about the same topic. It was a much less helpful comment from a (presumably) different author, but there was one striking similarity:
Spot it? Same IP address. (Note: in case Yvonne is a real person with a real email address, I didn't publish it. I believe "KJ's" email is not a real one - though if you have [email protected], I'll bet you get a lot of spam.)
Curious, I used my old friend ip-lookup.net:
Ahh ... so that explains some of those Telus visits. But that's as far as I could take it. When you click on "Neighborhood" you simply get a list of sequential IP's: d154-20-151-100.bchsia.telus.net, d154-20-151-101.bchsia.telus.net, etc.
I'm sure there are some super-geeky folks who know how to pin it down even further. There is an application out there that let's you look up the location for an IP address. It gives me a location in central Vancouver for the above address - but it is likely that the location is simply where the Telus router is located. I performed the same test on my IP address and it mapped mine out in Abbotsford, BC while I am in, reality, much closer to downtown than that.
But mapping the location isn't really all that important (and possibly a little dangerous if people believe it to be accurate which it isn't).
Now, I don't have any clue whether Yvonne and KJ represent Genebase or its agencies in anyway shape or form. And I don't actually care. This post isn't an accusation, but an illustration of a point: we all leave digital footprints. And by following those footprints, it is relatively easy to figure out if something is disingenuous or real, authentic or fraudulent.
Now, to be fair, it is possible (and I know that someone will correct me if I am wrong) that this could be two different people. The comments were about an hour apart according to the email timestamps. If Telus allocates IP via DHCP then, conceivably, the IP address could have been reassigned to someone else. But I'm betting dollars to donuts it's not.
So, if you are a communications professional and you're out there scanning the blogosphere for posts about your clients ... I would absolutely encourage you to respond. But in an authentic and transparent way! I can imagine a comment left on the Genebase post that said something like (Note: this is a fictional comment.):
Hey, Kate ...
Wow, it sounds like you've been having a frustrating time with the ProductName from CompanyName. I work with CompanyName to resolve customer issues. I've emailed you privately with my contact info; please give me a call and give me a chance to address your concerns. If you or your readers would like a little more info about the project, you can check out XYZ site.
Also, we've heard the comment about our pricing being out of line. We actually perform our tests in-house and run the Quadruple Quality Check (QQC - patent pending) on all samples; other DNA kits, including the one you mentioned in your post, are outsourced to labs that do not perform to the same standards. You can see a comparison, including sample margins of error, of these quality checks on our website at companyurl.com.
I really hope you'll give us an opportunity to address your specific concerns. Thank you for trying ProductName.
Sincerely, FirstName LastName at RealEmailAddress
Wouldn't something like that have started a more interesting conversation?
However, this type of comment seems to be anathema to a number of communications professionals. Why?! I don't get it. I would be DELIGHTED to receive such a comment and the reputation of the company would soar in my estimation.
David Jones over at PR Works recently blogged about the new corporate Blog Council started by Andy Sernovitz. One of my clients, Petro-Canada, is a member of the Blog Council and I'm hoping that this kind of transparent communication with bloggers is at the top of their agenda.
So, in the meantime, fellow communicators ... watch those footprints.
Photo Credit: Seriously by iamilk
Colour Me ... Whitehorse?
I've always been fascinated with colour: colour combinations, colour pallettes ... the age old philosophical pondering of whether or not two people SEE the same colour when looking at the same object. If it had to do with colour, I was just **delighted**.
As a youngster, I enjoyed Piers Anthony's Xanth series (at least the early books) ... in Centaur Aisle, the characters slide down a rainbow and one of them makes the observation about the colours in-between the bands:
... sandwiched between them where ground observers (couldn't see were) bands of polka-dot, plaid and checkerboard. Some internal bands were translucent, and some blazed with colors seldom imagined by man, like fortissimo, charm, phon and torque ...
I don't know how many hours I spent daydreaming about being able to see that particular view of a rainbow. Related to this, I think, was a recurring dream I had where I discovered a brand new colour: Julliard Blue. I wasn't an aspiring musician or dancer, so even today I wonder why I would have wanted to name it Julliard Blue.
Pantone doesn't think the colour exists, but, in one of many happy coincidences, it does bear a striking resemblance to the colour Saxony Blue which happens to be the colour for my birthday, according to Pantone's Colorstrology site. The Julliard Blue has a tinge more grey in it.
This all came rushing back as I read an interesting piece by Todd Falkowsky in this month's Walrus Magazine (Jan/Feb 2008). The piece is entitled Revealing Urban Colours; in it, Falkowsky describes a project where he attempted to discover if there was a common colour palette for Canadian cities ...
I started this project while I was working with a New York consulting firm on the power of celebrity. I asked myself whether there was something about, say, Cameron Diaz’s face we could apply to a cellphone or a car that would increase its appeal. I did something similar for the City of Toronto, trying to figure out whether it has a specific colour that could be used by Canadian firms, and it occurred to me that this could be done for all of Canada.
Twelve colour palettes are published in this issue of the Walrus for cities ranging from Quebec City to Winnipeg (pictured above) to Victoria.
It's an interesting idea ... to see if the essence of a city can be captured in a colour palette. The article is only two paragraphs - so definitely worth the quick read and browse through the colour strips.
Welcome to Inc. Magazine Readers
A warm hello and welcome to readers of Inc Magazine! If you found your way here through the piece on Blogging, here are the links that were mentioned in the article:
- My original blog post on Laptop Bags
- My Squidoo lens on Funky, Chic and Cool Laptop Bags
- My companion blog on Laptop Bag News
Thanks for stopping by! Oh, and as soon as the Feb issue of Inc. is online, I'll put in a link to the article.
Thanks to Steve at Rainebrooke for the scan of the cover and article!
Updated with links to the article.
Dude, Where's My Haplogroup? Genebase's Disastrous DNA-based Social Network
Updated with actual link to Rose's post about her experience.
So, one of the cool things about being a blogger that a) occasionally writes entertaining posts and b) doesn't have a solid THEME for her blog, is that you get asked to test a number of interesting and generally unrelated products. One of the recent blogger outreach programs that I participated in was for the DNA Ancestry Project - a product from Vancouver-based Genebase that purports to use DNA as the basis for social networking.
I am predisposed to liking this product, to LOVING this product. Social networking? Rock on. Love social networking. DNA analysis? Who doesn't love DNA analysis? I saw the Colbert Report episode where he found out his Haplogroup ... I'd like to know mine.
Side Rant: I would link to the Colbert Report and the video clip about Stephen's Haplogroup, but apparently Comedy Central has done an evil deal with the Comedy Network in Canada. If you are surfing from a Canadian IP address and you try to go to www.comedycentral.com, you are automatically redirected to the Comedy Network. No choice. Just redirected. EVIL.
So, back to DNA. I am PSYCHED about this product.
The courier arrives and I rip open my box ... it includes a pretty map-poster, a fancy looking swab kit and a CD with software for installation. Ack! It's for Windows (I'm on a Mac). OK, turns out I don't need to use the CD - I can just sign up to the website with the username and password provided in the kit. So, I create my account and fill in some really basic info in the profile page. The website is quite complex and not very easy to use. It also isn't really set up to do "non-traditional" family structures. I can add a husband, but not a wife.
OK, I can understand - this is about genetics, not social mores. So, I do the swab test and send it in. Rose is testing the product too, so she sends in hers at the same time. And we wait.
I forget about it for a few weeks, what with the holiday season, the redesign of One Degree, etc. But I login one day (I saw the pamphlet on my desk - I have yet to receive any email notification) and see a golden key by my name. Ooo ... golden key! Apparently, this means I have results. I figured this out through a lot of trial and error. The problem is, I can't figure out what my results are. I click on a bunch of different things, trying to figure out what my results mean. This website is super complicated and super circular. It's like I'm in voicemail hell, but I'm on a website. And most links lead to "buy another test from us" which is incredibly frustrating because I haven't had any results from my first test.
This website fills me with rage.
After more clicking and comparing with Rose's control panel, it turns out my results are still "pending" (meanwhile Rose is secure in the knowledge of her haplogroup ... you'll have to read her post - I don't want to spoil it for you). She and I sent our tests in at the same time, so I'm not sure why mine is still pending. I didn't swab vigorously enough?
Now, I know that DNA and all the "science" that they are dealing with over at Genebase is tricky and complex. But if you're going to make claims about social networking, it kinda needs to be dead simple. Big pretty buttons labeled "Get your test results!" and friendly statements like "We're still processing your DNA ... in the meantime, check out this article on Marie Antoinette's DNA ancestry". The homepage has pretty buttons and friendly statements ... why doesn't the actual application itself?
I've logged on a couple of times since I first had an inkling they received my buccal sample. Still nothing. And it's been at least 6 weeks. So, I don't know if my sample is bad, they lost it, or perhaps, I really am an alien. In any case, everytime I go on the site, my frustration level goes through the roof. I would really encourage Genebase to spend some time and money on some usability experts and some great copy writers. The actual application is a total disaster. And if the results you get from your DNA tests are so minimal and Genebase is relying on additional features like the family tree and journaling to keep its site sticky - well, there are dozens of applications out there that do it much better .. whether web-based or run on the desktop.
I wish I would have seen this MarketPlace report on DNA kits (called Who's your grand daddy?) first because it reviews this same product. Wendy characterizes the desire of people using these test as looking for their "Oprah moment" - an emotional connection with their genealogical past. Now, I don't even care like some of the folks in this video that I can't find out the exact tribe I'm from. I didn't really have that expectation. But I did expect a positive experience and some interesting piece of trivia about my ancestral DNA that I could whip out at a cocktail party. So far, I haven't even gotten that. I'm not a fan of this product. And I think it's over-priced at $129.
If ancestral DNA testing IS something that you're interested in, I would check out National Geographic's Genographic Project. They seem more reputable; they provide more information about what you can expect from the test; their language and interface are friendlier. Now, I haven't tried an actual kit from National Geographic, so I can't confirm if their control panel and application are actually more usable, but their screen shot gives that impression.
Also, their price point is under $100 which feels more reasonable.
So, that's my rant about Genebase's DNA Ancestry Project. I was predisposed to liking it, but now, just classify it as a huge frustration and lesson in how not to design a social networking application. Though I do like the pretty poster that came with the kit. If I do ever get any results, I will update. Many thanks to Capulet Communications who arranged for us to test this product!
Update - April 6, 2008: I finally received my DNA markers! I've written a follow-up post on my subsequent visit and experience.
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