MediaSauce Blog On Social Media & Internet Strategy » Mitch Maxson

The Future Of History Is The Digital Museum

Mitch Maxson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:43:01 +0000

Whether it’s planning next year’s strategy, thinking about next weekend’s schedule, or exploring the next breakthrough technology, it seems that the pace at which we’re moving forward leaves little time to look to the past. Meanwhile, we each leave in our wake an absurd footprint of information–photos, videos, emails, text messages, voicemails, tweets, blog comments, product reviews, transaction histories, GPS coordinates, grumpy passive-aggressive notes to neighbors, and so on. Will these tidbits of tedium mixed with occasional moments of brilliance become our legacies?

How will history adapt to remember those of us from this age when so much information is being created and shared? It’s just one of many topics discussed during the “Digital Museum” class I recently led at the Seminar for Historical Administration, hosted by the Indiana Historical Society.

Here’s the presentation:

With access to more and more information available online, some museums will seize the opportunity to extend their expertise to an ever wider audience while others will relegate themselves to an ever diminishing status quo.

Five years from today, will you be more or less engaged with what museums have to offer?

Mitch Maxson is a Creative Strategist at MediaSauce with a passion for non-profits, associations and cause marketing. You can reach him at mitch.maxson@mediasauce.com.

Between the Posts: Presentation from Blog Indiana 2008

Mitch Maxson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:22:49 +0000

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to speak to a group of the most enthusiastic members of Indiana’s blogging community at Blog Indiana 2008 at IUPUI’s amazing new Campus Center. My topic was “Between the Posts” (which I admittedly have plenty of experience with) and it centered on using social media to connect people around your ideas, thoughts, posts, and so on.

Between the Posts

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: maratriangle mediasauce)

Social Media Creating Social Change: Mara Triangle

Mitch Maxson — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:51:41 +0000

In January of 2001, local leaders in southwestern Kenya created The Mara Conservancy, an agency dedicated to the protection of The Mara Triangle, a 510 sq km (197 sq miles) National Reserve that is home to the Masai people and game such as lions, elephants, cheetahs, hippopotami, black rhinos, and of course the zebras and wildebeest that comprise the Great Migration each year. In the years that followed, the rangers dedicated to Mara virtually ended poaching in the area, built more than 150km of roads, and saw the lion population swell by more than 50 percent. Their successes served as a boon to the region, which became a hot spot for travelers on safari.

However, post-election violence in Kenya erupted late in 2007 and created a catastrophic collapse of the tourism industry (90% drop since January 2008). Without this vital source of revenue crucial park operations, including anti-poaching and de-snaring patrols, are severely hindered in the Mara. Without a new source of funding, these services will soon cease.

No Tourists = No Funding = No Protection for Mara Wildlife

Thankfully, Joseph Kimojino, head of tourism and anti-animal harassment for the Mara Conservancy, has refused to bow to pressures. Using a variety of social media applications, he is brilliantly connecting with his audience and engaging them in the stories and challenges of the rangers in the Mara Triangle.

On a daily basis, they are posting updates and stories to a WordPress blog about the activity of the wildlife and the increasing numbers of poachers their weakened patrols have captured. A comprehensive photo gallery lives on Flickr while Vimeo is home to an impressive video channel. With each update, Twitter followers and Facebook friends are notified and kept abreast of the latest.

It doesn’t take a lot of money to build an audience and to make an impact. It takes passion, authenticity, and solid strategy. I’m extremely impressed by Joseph and The Mara Triangle on each. I sent my donation today. I hope you do the same. Support The Mara Triangle.

Wildebeest Crossing the Mara River into Mara Triangle from Joseph Kimojino on Vimeo.

Finding Comfort in Being a Twit on Twitter

Mitch Maxson — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:22:29 +0000

Along with thousands of others, I have recently been playing around with the “microblogging” site, Twitter. The premise is simple–answer the question “What are you doing?” using 140 characters or less and allow those who are interested to follow along with what you have to say. It’s sort of like sending out text messages to anyone who cares enough to read it. The thing is, most of us are constantly doing something different, so the answer changes a lot.

Twitter also allows you to follow along as friends, celebrities, experts, and even the Mars rover, continually answer the question, as well. You may choose to follow just a select few, or thousands, it all depends who you think has something interesting to say, and you can choose to receive these updates online or even to your phone.

The obvious first question is, “why would anyone do that?” or “isn’t that just more inane chatter to muck up your already overly complicated life?”. Both are beyond fair questions and ones that I posed before playing around a little bit so that I might be able to answer them for folks. Personally, I’ve been using Twitter mostly like its an RSS reader that allows me to listen in to the up-to-the-instant insight from other experts in my field. I’ve also used it for quick research (by firing out a question to get some quick feedback from those who are following my posts) and to keep MediaSauce colleagues updated about what I’m working on without having to talk to a handful of people individually. As is the case with most Internet phenomenon, there isn’t really a clear cut point to Twitter, just different uses for different folks.

Thinking beyond the techie geek side of things, there is also potential for the service to help with news delivery and personal safety. Recently, an American student in Egypt was unjustly arrested, but was able to send out a “tweet” before being put in a cell. The simple text message “Arrested.” motivated his followers to begin calling the embassy and helping clear up the situation. He was free in less than 24 hours. Being connected can be a very good thing.

I’m yet to see too many great applications for business, but JetBlue, Comcast and others are already using Twitter for customer service, and at MediaSauce, we use it to send out quick internal announcements. I can also envision it as a great tool to seek out and motivate volunteers or canvassers come election time.

Anyway, you’ll be hearing plenty more about Twitter, especially if someone really figures out what they’re supposed to be doing with it! Feel free to sign up and follow my every move (at least until I get bored with it).

What were we thinking?

Mitch Maxson — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:04:49 +0000

As we were putting the finishing touches on what is our new web presence, it made me pause for a moment and think about the previous generations of MediaSauce.com. Not for very long, mind you, but you know, at least long enough to shutter and shake my head a bit. Quickly shifting mental gears (and blocking out those mistakes and technological shortcomings of the past), I thought about how far most businesses have come in the way they approach the web (I even found some great examples from the 90s from the likes of McDonald’s and Pepsi that made me realize we weren’t as bad as I thought). The possibilities and flexibilities for connecting with the people and information are expanding every day, and they will continue to do so.

While the overuse of the term “Web 2.0″ makes me cringe, there is no doubt that much has changed since businesses tossed up their first websites (more out of curiosity than anything else), and we are truly in a new era of communication.

MediaSauce is a communication company that was born because of this broadband revolution, which has allowed us to grow up immersed in new technologies and new strategies that allow us to create amazing user experiences. So, for a group like ours, the launch of a new site is a lot like opening a brand new headquarters.

We built this new site with you in mind, and we hope that you enjoy taking some time to play a little bit. We are an organization that preaches about the virtues of being authentic, and of course, that drove us to go even further to walk the talk. On our central site, you can meet every member of our team (and learn about their fears and desires) and take a look at the thinking behind some recent projects.

Beyond that, we’ve also created what are the first of several microsites that allow you to go deeper into certain areas that make up the complete picture of MediaSauce. One is a playground for our Studio team, an amazing group of storytellers and developers that bring our strategic thinking to life. The other is MediaSauce.tv, which is, in effect, our own “television” network–complete with a variety of channels that show what goes on in and around a young, energetic, creative organization like ours. After all, why on earth would we buy ad space for :30 television spots when we can create an entire network full of our own content?

One last thing, with all of these different sites and different opportunities to explore, we wanted to make sure that you never got lost, so we developed a “toolbar” that is a common thread on the top of each of these sites that allows you to easily hop between them and find your way back home.

Take some time and enjoy your visit. We look forward to your feedback.

$100 Laptop Program Needs Your Help

Mitch Maxson — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:25:03 +0000

In high school, it was pretty challenging to be an emerging futurist and proponent of digital convergence. I was fortunate enough to have at least one teacher who let me ramble on about it (thanks, Mr Goodwin), but for the most part, telling people in the mid-nineties that their computer and tv would soon be the same thing wasn’t really of interest or relevance to many folks. There weren’t a whole lot of people around to talk about things like that with–or even many books to read. The first I recall devouring was Being Digital, penned by Nicholas Negroponte, at the time, director of the MIT Media Lab.

A few years ago, I was excited to learn that he had walked away from his post to pursue his passion–putting a computer in the hands of every child in the world. The organization is called One Laptop Per Child and the goal was to work with corporations to get the costs down to $100 per machine. The stories of even the early successes are amazing. Check out the video of Negroponte explaining the story.

As you might imagine, this is quite an undertaking, and the fact that it hit the news again today is probably a sign that progress isn’t going as well as they might have hoped. Nevertheless, for the first time, the program has gone public–asking individuals to help the cause. BBC reports that starting November 12, anyone will be able to purchase two laptops at a time–one that they may keep, and another that will be donated. The price is $399 for the two machines through the G1G1 (Give One, Get One) Program.