Tuesday, November 25, 2008

http://www.wethinkthebook.net/home.aspx

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Amb:IT:ion event - 24Nov08 - New Writing Partnership

http://bookfutures.blogspot.com/
And yesterday I spoke at Writing Re:connected, a seminar organised by The New Writing Partnership in Norwich. Naomi Alderman, currently a reader of The Golden Notebook at www.thegoldennotebook.org, our other ACE funded Experiment in Reading, curated by Bob Stein. Naomi told me she kept checking the site during the day to see what response her latest posts were provoking. Naomi, Tim Wright and Alison Norrington each spoke inspirationally about their different versions of multi-platform fiction. the massive Alternate Reality Game Perplex City; Oldton, Tim's semi-fictitious hometown, and Alison's energetic promotion of Staying Single Sophie, a feisty piece of digitalchicklit involving Second Life, Bebo, Facebook, YouTube and Uncletomcobbley.com.The main theme of the day, organised by Chris Gribble and including an excellent presentation by Hannah Rudman, was how Literature Organisations can learn from projects like these to make creative networks of writers and readers. And I did my bit, which I may write up and post here, urging such organisations to seize the time while there IS still time to seize, and reconfigure their work in relation to the web. if:book will definitely be running training workshops and events for the literature sector from the new year, building on the work done by the FLO Consortium. Reader comments on what this should cover would be most appreciated.
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Friday, November 21, 2008

Links to my work/refs

Fictional Blogging: Can Web 2.0 Translate to Publishing 2.0? -




IOCT Salon: Creative Writing and New Media Showcase, 18 June 2008 - http://www.vimeo.com/1668117?pg=embed&sec=1668117
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Thursday, November 20, 2008

IASPR - International Association of Popular Romance Studies

http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/archive/Gender-Studies/1236.html

PCA / ACA National Conference: New Orleans, April 8-11, 2009 (Conference info: http://pcaaca.org/conference/national.php)
CALL FOR PAPERS: Romance Fiction
We are considering proposals for individual papers, sessions organized around a theme, and “special panels” featuring authors or editors. Sessions are scheduled in one-hour slots, ideally with four papers or speakers per standard session. Should you or any of your colleagues be interested in submitting a proposal or have any questions, please contact one or both of the area chairs (see below). Please feel free to forward, cross-post, or link to this call for papers. We are interested in any and all topics about or related to romance fiction: all genres, all kinds, and all eras.
Some possible topics (although we are not limited to these):
--Individual Novels or Authors --New Directions in Romance Scholarship (historicist, formalist, post- colonial, queer-theoretical, etc.) --Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Romance, and same-sex love within predominantly heterosexual texts --Genre-Bending and Genre-Crossing authors and texts (erotic romance, SF romance, chick-lit, urban fantasy, highbrow / lowbrow crossover texts, etc.) --African-American, Latina, Asian, and other Multicultural romance --Young Adult Romance and Chick-lit (series, novels, authors, communities) --Category Romance (its past history, recent and forthcoming lines, changing demographics, etc.) --History of Romance Fiction and its major subgenres (major authors and texts, turning points in the development of the genre or any subgenre) --Romance and Region: places, histories, mythologies, traditions --Romance on the World Stage (texts in translation; romance manga; non- Western writers, readers, and publishers; local, national, and multinational publishing) --Romance communities and the Romance Industry: authors, readers, publishers, websites, blogs
If you are a romance author or editor and are interested in speaking on your own work or on developments in the romance genre, please contact us!
As we did last year in San Francisco, the Romance Fiction area will meet in a special Open Forum to discuss upcoming conferences, work in progress, and the future of the field. Of particular interest this year: the new International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) with its affiliated scholarly publication, Journal of Popular Romance Studies (JPRS)!
Submit a one-page (150-250 word) proposal or abstract (via regular mail or e-mail) by November 30, 2008, to the Area Chairs in Romance:
Eric Selinger Dept. of English DePaul Univ. 802 West Belden Ave. Chicago, IL 60614 773-325-4475 eselinge_at_depaul.edu
Darcy Martin Women's Studies East Tennessee State University (423) 439-6311 martindj_at_etsu.edu
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The 11th Annual Games Festival

http://www.igf.com/
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Selling Social Marketing to CFOs


November 6, 2008

Selling Social Marketing to CFOs


As Sam Decker writes, justifying spending on word of mouth and social media marketing to CFOs is often a tough job for marketers. As we head into a leaner economy, this task may become even more difficult. And it's no wonder - of course it's hard to be taken seriously while claiming that a collection of intangibles with names like Twitter, Yammer, Flickr, Yelp, Zoomr, Pownce, widgets, blogs, wikis, and so on can add up to real value. But that doesn't mean that social media marketing isn't a priority. In fact, in an environment in which marketing budgets are closely watched, social marketing may become more crucial than ever, given that "capital expenditures necessary for social marketing are often minimal compared to other forms of marketing." How can marketers get this point across to CFOs? Decker has provided us with 8 simple tips. It's all about hard data, proven value, and tangible results, and establishing that, silly names aside, social media is more than a passing fad - it's here to stay.

The Week's Most-Read Posts
How Social Media Changed the U.S. Presidential Election
Are You A Confident Leader?
8 Tips for Selling Social Marketing to CFOs
Difficult Conversations for Business Partners
Evolving or Forking OpenID
Live Webcast - Sustaining Growth in a Tough Economy
It’s no secret that many businesses are being squeezed by a slower economy. Even as many companies struggle, however, better prepared ones can thrive in tough times. Learn how to “weather the economic storm" by tuning in to a free, expert-led webcast sponsored by SAP. Join a group of distinguished experts to discuss proven strategies and practical tips on how to sustain growth in a leaner economy. Click here for more information.

In our first webcast, panelists Chad Moutray, Barbara Weltman, and Scott Webster explored ways to lower operating costs without hurting your business. You can listen the full length of the discussion here.

Click Here to Register Now – Next Webcast November 20!
Live Webcast #3: Think Different: Find New Ways to Grow Your Business ( November 20, 2008 – 1:00 p.m. ET)

Convergence 2008: The Roundtables - Special Discount for MVP Readers
Advertising, marketing, pr, and media are converging, involving the interlocking of computing and information technology companies, telecommunications networks, content providers, and agencies. Across the industry the lines between fields are blurred. PR, advertising, marketing and media departments are working together on cross functional teams and are no longer individual silos. This conference will gather the best and brightest minds to explore how the communications industry is converging.
For additional information and registration, please visit www.bdionline.com/ convergence2008. Use promo code SMT for discounted rate of $145.
Event Details: Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008Time: 8:30 AM - 12:00 PMLocation: The Graduate Center/CUNY: 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016Registration Fee: $195Website:http://www.bdionline.com/ convergence20
Roundtable Moderators:
Kimberly Bayer, Vice President, Alternative Investments Services, J.P. MorganDan Burstein, Managing Partner, Millennium Technology Ventures David D. Burstein, Founder and Executive Director, I'm 18 in 08Robin Carey, CEO and Cofounder, Social Media Today Sawsato Das, Director, Global Media Relationship, SAPMatt DeLoca, SVP, Sales & Marketing, The FeedRoomJeremy Dickstein, Director of Business Development Communications, Citi Smith BarneyAndrew Fox, Senior Manager, Global Communications, AMDAdrienne Garland, VP Marketing, PR NewswireJohn Greenberg, President, GoodmindTodd Grossman, VP, MultiVuMelissa Keklak, PR Manager, Casio AmericaRuss Mann, CEO, Covario, Inc.Kris Oser, Director of Strategic Communications, eMarketerKirsten Paragona, Director External Communications, HCL AmericaLinda Recupero, EVP, Public Affairs, HSBC BankSteve Rubel, Author, Micropersuasion Blog and Senior Vice President, Director of Insights, Edelman DigitalLisa Witter, COO, Fenton Communications


Other Social Media Today LLC Communities - Leading Business Conversations

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new platform!!

If you haven't already played: http://www.wordle.net generates 'word clouds' from your text
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Mashers Wanted -

http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2008/11/18/mashers-wanted-mad-hatters-and-bunk-collide-121-2109/
Bunk Magazine and Mad Hatters' Review have extended their call for mashers for their upcoming mash-up issue (April 1, 2009)Please contact the editors if you would like to: mash the works of poetry or fiction that have already been accepted mash your own (Deadline: Feb. 1. 2009)"Mashing" here applies to most of the work created by ELO artists, especially those that appropriate and mix together found-content and forms.Send queries to: madbunkers@gmail.comMore information is here:http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2008/11/18/mashers-wanted-mad-hatters-and-bunk-collide-121-2109/Or contact me for more information.Best,Mark Marino--Writing ProgramUniversity of Southern Californiahttp://WriterResponseTheory.orghttp://CriticalCodeStudies.com
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Mum's the word - Mapping Maternal Subjectivities

we are on the look out for digital fiction projects as well as discussions about the digital and the maternal - mommy-bloggers, etc. Deadline for proposals is 1 December, conference itself is 9 January 09 at DMU. best - Kate P.S. - If you'd like to attend without submitting a proposal, that's fine too. Note student discount!

Mum’s the Word: The maternal in contemporary literature MaMSIE (Mapping Maternal Subjectivities, Identities and Ethics), School of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London and the Faculty of Humanities, De Montfort University Friday, 9 January, 2009
Call for participants mamsiedmu@googlemail.com
This day-long workshop aims to provide an interdisciplinary space to map, debate and discuss configurations of maternal in contemporary literature. It will combine invited keynote speakers with a call for participants. Topics may include: • the analysis and exploration of developing genres such as the ‘momoir’ and other autobiographical approaches to writing maternal experience and their intersections with auto/biography and life writing as feminist research strategies; • the politics of the transformation from chick-lit to mum-lit; • shifting representations of ‘bad mothers’ in literature from the 1970’s to the present; • assisted reproductive technologies in relation to feminist utopias; • literary engagements with cloning and the ‘end’ of generation; • literatures of pregnancy and birth including literatures of ‘failed’ maternity; • the maternal in digital fiction and other digital genres such as blogging ‘Mums the word’ represents the fourth event in a series hosted by MaMSIE which creates spaces for interdisciplinary conversations about the maternal across different knowledge and practice communities including feminism, psychoanalysis, social science, philosophy, visual and performance art and literature and creative writing. MaMSIE aims to open up and sustain critical debates about the maternal understood in its ethicopolitical, psychosocial, relational and practice dimensions and explore the unique site the maternal occupies at the potent intersection between scientific possibilities, psychosocial practices and cultural representations. This workshop is designed to provide interdisciplinary spaces for discussion rather than the formal presentation of papers. We are therefore asking prospective participants to submit 250 words describing their work and their interest in the themes of the workshop so that the organizers can group participants into coherent panels and discussion groups. If you would like to respond to this call for participants, please send your 250-word description to mamsiedmu@googlemail.com by 1 December, 2008. ‘Mum’s the Word’ will take place at De Montfort University, Leicester, on 9 January, 2009. Registration will cost £30/£10 for students. Lunch will be provided.
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Returnity - "Digital comes of age in economic downturn"

Hot on everyone's lips at the moment is talk of the economic downturn and the implications it will have on businesses globally. Often one of the first divisions to see a cut back is marketing, providing many of our clients with cause for concern. In response to some frequently asked questions, this first in a two part newsletter examines how the economy has affected marketing strategy and the tactics marketers are employing to weather the storm. Key findings:
Although cut-backs have been seen in one-third of large organisations, many companies have no plans to reduce marketing efforts and some are looking to increase marketing expenditure.
Marketers are reassessing their strategies, moving to more cost-effective, measurable channels.
It's not all bad news marketers are seeing real results from strategy changes that have enabled brands to connect with consumers in a new way.

Looking towards 2009, there is an expectation that the low cost of email will drive higher volumes and increased usage by marketers during the economic downturn. This will undoubtedly create more competition at the inbox. Organisations that use email successfully through this period will be those that practice email marketing responsibly and efficiently - through close attention to personalisation, creative customisation, needs-based segmentation, and insightful list management. Not to be missedIn next week's newsletter, we will look at best practice and key success factors for e-marketing in these challenging times. If you are not already on our mailing list, subscribe here.New strategic partnership Returnity has recently become an implementation partner of Omniture the leading web analytics solution in Australia. For more information on how you can integrate web analytics into your email marketing strategy please contact Returnity.

http://images.optin.com.au/returnity/20081119/Marketing_in_an_economic_downturn1.pdf

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E-commerce Site Is Dominating Digital Mommyhood

http://adage.com/digitalalist/article?article_id=125674

Digital A-List 2008: No. 7, J&J's BabyCenter
E-commerce Site Is Dominating Digital Mommyhood
By Jack Neff Published: March 17, 2008 In a contrarian move worthy of Warren Buffett, Johnson & Johnson in 2001 scooped up BabyCenter from the bankruptcy proceedings of retailer eToys for a bargain-basement $10 million. It became an investment in dominating digital mommyhood.
Tina Sharkey, chairman of BabyCenter
Photo Credit: Steve MallerBabyCenter would have ranked as the most heavily trafficked package-goods brand site in a 2007 study by ComScore, but the measurement company decided it was really an e-commerce and media site. Despite growing competition, BabyCenter reaches 78% of pregnant women and mothers of children up to 24 months in the U.S., said Carlos Gottschalk, group chairman of J&J's baby global business unit, at a 2007 investor conference. But U.S. online success no longer suffices. BabyCenter is aiming for global domination and to follow moms beyond the confines of its website. That's where Tina Sharkey comes in. J&J recruited her in January 2007 to be chairman of BabyCenter. She came from AOL, where she'd spent nearly five years running social-media and women's-programming initiatives. She's been busy, to say the least. BabyCenter last year launched new sites for India and China in addition to Spanish-language web and mobile sites for the U.S. Hispanic market. This year comes BabyCenter's first Arabic site, now in open beta test, and expansion into Latin America. "The moms coming online today were born online," Ms. Sharkey says. "They're as comfortable online as I was at the mall." BabyCenter inhabits what, certainly for package-goods marketers, is the most lucrative life stage. It also brings J&J some unmatched expertise in the growing area of online search for package-goods brands. It manages about 20,000 keywords and maintains a constantly updated 60,000-mom panel for market research. And as digital media become a growing slice of marketers' budgets, J&J knows it's not only participating in the revolution but also profiting from it.
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How Twittering Critics bought down Ad Campaign

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=132622

How Twittering Critics Brought Down Motrin Mom Campaign
Bloggers Ignite Brush Fire Over Weekend, Forcing J&J to Pull Ads, Issue Apology
By Michael Learmonth and Rupal Parekh Published: November 17, 2008 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Johnson & Johnson did manage to offend some mothers with an online and print campaign for Motrin that implied moms carry their babies as fashion accessories. But was it a genuine groundswell that felled the effort -- or an alliance of the few, empowered by microblogging service Twitter?

The campaign was an attempt to connect with moms through the common experience (and pain) of carrying a child.Two days after a new ad push for Motrin triggered an online backlash, J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is pulling the campaign, from the New York office of independent shop Taxi, and begging a vocal mommy-blogging nation for forgiveness. The campaign, which was featured on Motrin's website, as well as in several magazines, was an attempt to connect with moms through the common experience (and pain) of carrying a child. But the implication felt by some of the campaign's more vocal critics was that moms wear their babies as fashion accessories, or because it "totally makes me look like an official mom." "Supposedly it's a real bonding experience," the online ad said, "but what about me?" Cause celebre The campaign has been online since Sept. 30 and has been circulating in several magazines for weeks, but it finally caught the attention -- and ire -- of some influential bloggers Friday night before blowing up into a full-fledged cause celebre on Twitter over the weekend. The ultimate demise of the campaign demonstrates either how quickly social media can galvanize a groundswell of opinion or how much power over online discourse they can give a few vocal tastemakers with outsize weight.


J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is pulling the campaign and begging a vocal mommy-blogging nation for forgiveness.The beginning of the end for the Motrin push probably came Friday night, when Los Angeles blogger Jessica Gottlieb said she was tipped off to the ads and started expressing her outrage over the campaign on Twitter, where she has 1,018 followers. "I am a satirist, I get humor, I talk about my vagina," said Ms. Gottlieb, who works as a freelance writer for National Lampoon and writes for Silicon Valley Moms Blog and Celsias. "I'm just insulted. I'm not an activist. I don't have an agenda, but I do have children." On Saturday, Katja Presnal (4,221 Twitter followers), a New York blogger and proprietor of online children's clothing store Skimbaco, collected tweets from offended moms and edited them into a nine-minute video on YouTube titled "Motrin Ad Makes Moms Mad," which had been viewed 21,000 times as of today. The spread of 'Motrin moms' The campaign caught the attention of David Armano, VP at marketing firm Critical Mass (5,582 Twitter followers), last night. He said the "Motrin moms" phenomenon wasn't just the work of Twitter celebrities and marketing gurus such as Seth Godin, who also weighed in on the kerfuffle. "You don't have to have thousands of followers to start something like this," said Mr. Armano, who also blogs for AdAge.com. "Many people with small networks have just as much influence as a few people with large networks." Whoever it was, their impact was felt by J&J last night. McNeil Consumer Healthcare took down Motrin.com, and VP-Marketing Kathy Widmer started apologizing to bloggers via e-mail. Amy Gates, who runs the blog Crunchy Domestic Goddess, posted a personal note from Ms. Widmer on her site yesterday. "We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies," Ms. Widmer wrote in the note. When the Motrin site was restored today, the ad was replaced by a message from Ms. Widmer: "We have heard you." "On behalf of McNeil Consumer Healthcare and all of us who work on the Motrin brand, please accept our sincere apology," the message said. "We are in the process of removing this ad from all media. It will, unfortunately, take a bit of time to remove it from our magazine advertising, as it is on newsstands and in distribution." Ms. Widmer did not immediately return an e-mail or phone call from Ad Age seeking comment. J&J spokesman Mark Boston said the campaign comprised the web video as well as print ads in Cookie, Nylon, Parents, Wondertime and Lucky magazines currently on newsstands. Taxi, which created the campaign, declined to comment. Mr. Boston wouldn't say if the incident would change the marketer's relationship the agency. Little ad spending against brand The pharma marketer devotes little in the way of marketing dollars to its Motrin brands, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Last year, it spent a total of about $15 million in domestic measured media on Motrin and Children's Motrin, and in the first six months of 2008, that figure dropped to about $2 million. Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder and chief operating officer of BlogHer, a blogging community for women with an ad-sales partnership with NBC Universal's iVillage, called the incident an "incredibly impressive display of the power of social media." "[It was] amazing to have that happen over 48 hours, on a weekend in the blogosphere," she said. "People are now spreading around the apology; it's such an immediate time frame." Indeed, seven of the top 10 search returns today for "Motrin" and "headache" on Google referred to the marketing debacle. "We now have indisputable proof that online marketing, YouTube and Twitter and all that it encompasses is meaningful and has arrived," said Gene Grabowski, chair of the crisis and litigation practice at Levick Strategic Communications. "We are seeing real consequences to a mistake. If [social networks] didn't matter, you wouldn't see this type of reaction from J&J or consumers." ~ ~ ~ Contributing: Michael Bush, Marissa Miley and Jack Neff
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