Audience Experience

Working on a series of short stories. UX Journeys, simple ones around an app.  Stuff that's possible and even stuff that's likely.  (As one friend puts it, it's all been done in the movies). I'd like to only write User Journeys.  Craft them into a narrative, and develop it into something complex.  Everyone who does an app goes into it trying to predict the User. But they are unpredictable.

I am currently coming up with a list of ideas that we take for granted in everyday society, ideas which are inherently untrue. This is coming up in the world and in this country, the more that a certain Mr. Drumph has media attention.  He makes outlandish and untrue statements which are dismissed as "sarcasm" but he accuses his opponent of lies. Quite often, we live in a world which is upside down.  Benefits are given to those who least need it, and those who need it most are excluded.  This goes for money, but also information. For instance, contractors (who have little to no loyalty to a company) are given the least instruction, are not required to complete any standard training (especially in terms of keeping company secrets). Also, technical requirements, which Usernames and passwords are required for what sites, as well as what sites are acceptable and which are not. (Youtube? Gmail?)  And mostly, when I asked to join the women's group and got a broken li...

Law and Order is a version of NYC. The Monkees is a version of LA in the mid 60s. The Love Boat is a mix of live action 80s corn and romantic stories. On a boat. Where do you want to hang out regularly?

RULES FOR THE INDEPENDENT ARTIST You must satisfy the person who likes you, who expects things of you. Take them into your tribe. FAN Respect them: 1)Create quality work that attracts people 2)Word will get around AUDIENCE Create a base of people who will want to listen & watch your new stuff 3)The "Brand" is only the word for the "World" they can expect 4)Give them something to be attentive to CUSTOMER Let them vote with their dollars: 5)At some point, they will want you to succeed at this 6)Make it EASY for them to encourage you USER Let them be loyal, easily 7)Make it easy to recommend your work 8)Make it sharable and tangible

Trav SD does what he says, offers a variety of arts. If you don't like what's on offer, wait till the act is over, 10 minutes at most. Books are marvelous, but live life is important, too!! It's better (and exactly like) Facebook.  Things to make you smile. And cat videos (starring humans)!

The Lumineers are on Q (an NPR show, taped in Canada).  They are talking about how their fans were rooting for them on the way up, and now people are mad/annoyed/sad that they are now "famous" (They've had a minor hit as a band with "Hey-Ho") So, I love rooting for the underdog.  Perennially and persistently. What do you do as an audience member/fan when you know that your favorite band has jumped the shark? As a lifelong fan of the Monkees, I've always taken a lot of joy in the TV show and the music.  Yet, somehow, I find myself cringing when I hear that they've become "famous" again.  They are on their 50th anniversary tour right now, and I'm shying away from it for the most part.  I don't think I'll go to any of the shows. Ironically enough, I think if I were alive when they were first popular, I wouldn't like them-because everyone else liked them (they outsold the Beatles & Rolling Stones put together in 1967). ...

Despite his famous grave at Sleepy Hollow, HDT is alive and well. There are countless books, events, plays being read, written, performed and published about him every year. The "interpretations" take on various permutations.  Live-action humans who lead educational programs, or people who write books for children.  Or, theater which extends the documented & literary materials into personal immediacy (not that I am biased, but this is what I do). Lately, there has also been a video game created about Walden. And a young graphic designer who wants to "update" Thoreau's words for the modern age.  Something about "how dated the language is" and the "inaccessibility" of its ideas.  (I can't bear to include a link, or even the designer's name for fear of adding to publicity, and thereby adding "support") The last example is the slippery slope.  At what point does he need to be repackaged, yet again? Instead of taki...