According to Google, the rest of the world does not exist

It’s no real surprise, although a little disappointing, the new Google Maps feature only covers the USA and the bits of Canada they could squeeze on the page. If you scroll east, for example, in order to locate the rest of the world, you just get lots and lots of blue.

I know the Atlantic is big, but it’s not that big.

Now, I know there’ll be lots of terribly valid arguments about why this is so, but I still think there’s a fundamental mental block regarding the rest of the world from a lot of American companies and developers. Ok, yada yada stating the obvious. And yada yada Google search localisation. Ok, so I can use Google in Welsh. That’s nice. But why can’t I set the time in Gmail to GMT? Why must all my emails be stamped PST? [UPDATE: Problem explained if not solved.] And why isn’t there at the very least a note on Google Maps to say that they know the rest of the world exists, they just haven’t quite got round to adding the data in yet?

So much for the internet being a global village.

Fighting ‘feed intimidation syndrome’

Tammy Green takes my post about RSS overload and turns it into a great guide for people who want to start using RSS but really aren’t sure where to start.

I agree with Tammy that the blogosphere, and RSS, can be very intimidating for those who are just starting to feel their way, and think her suggested methodology is eminently sensible:

  • Start with a list people or authors whose opinions you know and respect, and then check if these folks have blogs.
  • Subscribe to their feeds, if they have them…
  • Live with the feeds you’ve found for a few days and then ruthlessly delete those that don’t add value to the topic you’re pursuing.

Tammy has some other intermediate steps, but that last one is the one that I think is both the most important, and the hardest.

BrandShift – new Corante blog

A warm welcome to Corante to Jennifer Rice, Andy Lark, Johnnie Moore and John Windsor, who together are blogging on BrandShift:

What does it mean for a brand to mature? The same thing as when people mature… we become more honest, direct, transparent. We become better listeners and communicators. We stop seeing ourselves as the center of our world and begin to see ourselves as part of an interconnected whole. We move from following rules to making value judgements.

The BrandShift contributors are all passionate about helping brands through this transition. We’ll not only discuss the theory of branding, but also the practice. We’ll have podcast discussions with CEOs and brand owners on how their brands are evolving in the new economy… growing pains and all. And we’ll cover the new social technologies and discuss their impact on brands.

The Fall and Fall of Journalism – an LSE debate

The London School of Economics has invited me to take part in a panel debate called The Fall and Fall of Journalism on Monday 28 February, at 6.30pm (tickets £8):

A panel of speakers will debate whether the traditional role of journalists is being usurped by simply anyone who has access to a digital camera, camcorder and the internet. This debate will explore the new phenomena of citizen reporting, blogging and other new technology/new media-enabled reporting.

I will be discussing the impact of blogging on journalism with Leslie Bunder, Editor, journalistic.co.uk; John Lloyd, Editor, Financial Times Magazine; and Professor Robin Mansell, Dixons Chair in New Media and the Internet, LSE.

This should be an interesting debate, which I am very much looking forward to. I’ve been keeping my eye on the discussions that have happened in the States, not least because I am both blogger and, occasionally, journalist so I can see things from both sides of the fence. Of course, the situation here in the UK is slightly different, because the nature of our media is slightly different, but I think the main premises stand.

So, if you’re in the London area, do drop in and feel free to say hello afterwards!

Fired blogger gets hired

Joe Gordon, who was fired by Waterstone’s for blogging a few frustrated comments about his employers, has now been hired by Forbidden Planet, thus making at least one of my predictions come true – a better job with better pay.

Joe is still waiting for news of his appeal against Waterstones, and to see whether an industrial tribunal will be required. Whilst it would be tedious for Joe to have to go to these lengths to gain recompense for Waterstone’s idiotic behaviour, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, I am sure I am not be the only person to wonder curiously how the lawyers and trade unions view blog in relationship to such concepts as freedom of speech, public domain and bringing a company into disrepute.

I’m also curious to know what internal changes will or have occurred at Waterstone’s now that the person who fired Joe for allegedly bringing the company into disrepute has managed to actually and measurably bring the company into disrepute. But I guess that’s something I’ll never find out.

Reading through Joe’s archive, though, it seems that he was not actually the first person in the UK to get fired for blogging – JGram and Dykenee Crossroads (whom I can’t find online) have also been fired for their blogs. Back in November, JGram blogged the official letter and reason for his firing, however, the original posts have been removed, so it’s impossible to say whether the company he worked for were overreacting or not.

My belief remains that frequently blogs are an excuse – whether used by the company to get rid of someone that they just don’t like, or the blogger to cover up some other misdemeanour. Blogs remain a minority occupation misunderstood (or not understood at all) by many. People frequently fear that which they do not understand and fear can breed illogical over-reactions at worst and a pretence of non-existence at best.

Illustrative of this was the conversation I had with my Lloyds TSB business bank manager on Thursday as I attempted to update him as to what I am doing with myself. The subtext – and it was not a particularly well hidden subtext – from him was ‘I do not understand what you are doing, I do not believe that what you are doing is important, and I do not believe that you will be successful’. Not only did he actually tell me that he didn’t understand what I was doing or how I could make a living from it, he actually implied that no amount of effort on my part would ever result in my being successful and that no amount of explaining would ever make him understand.

Now, this doesn’t have a particularly big impact on me, but it will do on Lloyds TSB when I move two business accounts and at least one personal account away from them to another bank because I’m fed up of having to deal with an ignorant, rude and ineffectual idiot of a bank manager. Ah, the power of the customer.

But all this is is just another illustration that it doesn’t matter which side of the fence you are on, employee/employer or business/customer, you’ve got to keep your eye on that blog-shaped ball.