CFL on CBC

WOW CFL on CBC bumps it up to Salon.Com , thanks to Dave Pollard. Dave thinks the stadium experience is ok. Back to the future for him. He's not so bullish, on the lockout.

Another Dave, Braley, the cantankerous owner of the BC Lions, thinks not so much. Dave old boy, in chaos there's opportunity.

I think, while they are in the ' no work zone', embrace the opportunity. Enhance the fan experience . Add a couple of microphones. Put one on a quarterback. That'll take the fan right into the huddle. Put one on the opposing defensive coordinator. Now we may not understand all the football speak, so to speak, the profanity excepted of course. The mics will need to be monitored. That's easy to do. It was done last Saturday.

Adding those two microphones will allow the fan to hear every play call, plus quarterback discourse on the sideline. From the defensive coordinator 'we'll' get the countering strategy.
No need for commentator interpretation. Imagine unfiltered insight, the real thing!.

There's two key issues, overcoming resistance of paranoid coaches, who'll reject the notion because someone could steal a signal. That's specious, as soon as the game starts, the so called secret game plan is on display. Bigger challenge is convincing the CFL board, specifically the broadcast committee to embrace an opportunity. How about creating a sponsorship Sennhesier Inside the Action ... In the Huddle ... On the Bench... ... The CFL on CBC!

Consider this an opportunity to extend the brand by creating a new experience for the fan. It could make for some interesting content for the CFL's new Wireless News Service.

Measuring RSS Marketing

Splintered Channels offers reportage of a compendium of current RSS applications. From municipal governments to airlines, to software manufacturers, organizations with messages to deliver are getting the word out. Good news for them. The portent is not so good for publishing companies, in the classified ad business. If I can syndicate the ' job opportunity' why buy classified? Relevant content is emerging value ad proposition.

RSS Airborne

RSS takes off. Just the Flight could be an inaugural, a very big deal for air travel. It hits the sweet spot between geeky and useful, keeping fliers in the loop. Not to mention creating the loop.

Build Communities with RSS

Josh Hawkins says ubiquity is driving RSS from early adopter geek to mainstream maven. Give me technology I can use anywhere, anytime, without knowing I'm using it.

News Junkies Consuming RSS

RSS users are ' news junkies' says Charlene Li at Forrester Research. Now that Goggle has joined the RSS news syndication parade the trend from early adopter geek to mainstream maven is moving forward. If the geeks think it's too geeky, make it less so.

Spot Watch Not the Spot for RSS

I don't want my feed on a watch. Can you imagine trying to read it.


Engadet has some useful suggestions on mobile RSS consuming.

It is all about enabling airline passengers to avoid the information black hole in emergencies like last week, in Toronto.

Robin Good has reviews of mobile readers. They don't seem too geeky to me.

Here's some geeky stuff though list and reviews of mobile readers. Seems there is a market emerging on the reader side.


Now all the airlines need to is start publishing their news.

SPOT watches make consuming RSS suck less.

Phillip Torrone today gives us geeks a method of how to get RSS on your SPOT watch.

This sounds like a decent way to consume RSS.

Does this make Consuming RSS Suck less? A little. Still too geeky but it's progress.

Consuming RSS Sucks

In his post here, today, Bruce writes about the opportunity for airlines to take advantage of RSS to communicate to their customers, the media and the general public.

Sure thing... it sounds great. But RSS is just a protocol. Consuming RSS is still largely reserved for geeks. Newsreaders? For geeks. myYahoo? Better... but still not there.

To make RSS useful in Bruce's example, I'd need to consume the RSS on my phone. Can I get RSS on my phone, sure.... with some hackery and knowing the right niche service... and of course a nice geeky phone. Can my Mom? Forget it. Can 99.99% of consumers? Not a chance.

Consuming RSS sucks. NetNewsWire is a great application for reading RSS. I consume over 1000 feeds... but RSS needs some major innovations to allow it to reach the mass market.

Yahoo's recent purchase of Konfabulator is ALL about RSS. With Konfabulator, both Mac and windows users can easily consume microcontent, easily fed by an RSS feed.

If Yahoo's got it's thinking cap on, they'll have you using konfabulator on your cell phone. They'll partner with Air Canada or West Jet and you'll have their widget on your mobile device. It won't be a news reader, it will be a custom app that consumes RSS and delivers it to the consumer in a way they can use.

Throw a fancy widget on the kiosks at the airport and allow consumers to get the information they need without having a geeky cell phone.

So much potential... yet so immature. 8 trillion rss feeds... it's not about the amount of information it's how to use it.

RSS Customer Service Agent

Steve Rubel prodded the airline industry on RSS, this week. Neither of Canada's two major airlines have systems in place,yet.

In wake of Air France crash in Toronto, last week, how can RSS help in the emergency news category? Those immediately affected, and next of kin, are the top priority. That's private news. There are risk management systems to deal with that.

Here's small sample of what some customers thought last week.

"They realize this whole ordeal is no one's fault." "But they expected at least some support from Air Canada."

It's a unique situation; this is peak season and we're trying to move people as quickly as possible" Edmonton Sun

Then there's the rest. The customer group stranded miles away from the scene, in an information black hole.

Photo Derek Oliver CP AP

An emergency produces a system wide ripple. Operationally gate space is an issue. When the Vancouver/Toronto flight is grounded, in Vancouver. The Calgary/Vancouver in bound flight will at best be delayed on the ground in Vancouver, at worst directed to turn around. Anyone connecting in Vancouver has good chance of not making it.

Accurate timely information is the key need, in an emergency. It's not going to change the circumstance. It facilitates options. There's lots of stuff to sort out, in emergency communication. What's the impact on everyone outside the emergency area. What options are available to the airline, to its non emergency customers? Who tells customers about them? Emergency information changes, how is the dynamic managed?

From the inside out, management level airline representatives are part of any emergency group that includes Airport Operations, Law Enforcement, and Emergency Measures teams. They are inside . They help create the information flow. Safety and security protocols must be followed. However, within that frame work there is flexibility to meet all needs.

Identify the audience, private, (victims) traveler, and public. Differentiate the needs. Create appropriate feeds. Provide timely information passengers and staff need to revise plans. Distribute that information directly to customers. Tap into airport display systems. Direct feeds to airline, airport, and mass media websites. Mass media may use it like this: West Jet is advising its customers... in the wake of ... news and customer service from a single feed.

The marketing department will love that. So will stranded passengers. The message is; we care. We'll keep you in the loop. An effective RSS Strategy can take the pressure off front line staff. Let them be facilitators, not information officers. In emergency communication RSS has potential to be a key element in any airline loyalty program. Time to tap the technology. Eliminate the emergency information black hole.

Current TV --Instant Replay

Current TV is on.



The blog is up and offering choir type reviews.


Lost Remote has some good analysis. This is particularly relevant.

"...Put your stories online. Stream the channel. If you can’t stream live because of contractual restrictions, stream the segments. Put the stories on VOD. Have RSS feeds I can customize that tell me what stories you have. Offer me email updates that matter to me. Unbundle the content."


Click to find Erik Olsen's production. It is quite good. It provides insight I didn't have before.

The University Channel -Ratings Dwarf --Reserach Giant

The University Channel is example of niche programming that won't generate a mass audience. No Survivor ratings here. That's not the intention according to Rebecca Mackinnon

The potential for educational discourse is mind boggling. For students researching social trends it's a living laboratory. The video content offers a great link to validate any research paper. There's direct access to participants. With a little ingenuity, ample opportunity to track down the 'experts' for interviews. That always elusive primary research just lot a littler easier to do. How becomes part of the exercise, a key component of the project. Here's what I did. Here's how did it. That's a form of collaboration.

One acid test of a trend is the value it creates. Students everywhere can tap into the archive.

click picture to play video. It takes a bit to load.

Eventually, they'll be able to participate, in the various discussions, in real time. All that takes is RSS announcement of the lecture. Add the the possibility of recording their participation and attaching it to their own presentations. That adds a dynamic to the discussion. No need to plagiarize, those term 'papers' any more. This archive will be quite popular, well beyond the education niche.