Auntie Lucie
Posted by: lucie
My older sister went to the hospital at midnight last night to have labor induced. Waiting for the phone to ring with news that you suddenly have a niece thousands of miles away is bizarre. Knowing that you'll see that baby grow up for at least a few months solely through the lens of Flickr is also a very strange feeling.
Virtual aunthood!
The trip
Posted by: lucie
It had its moments. Mostly these occurred when the boyfriend and I managed to steal a bit of time for ourselves, which totaled about 2 dinners in 2 weeks if you don't count mid-day cooling off breaks in hotel rooms, most of which were spent stressed out and/or arguing about "the kids," as we came to call them.
It was like a family trip. A dysfunctional family trip with pouty teenagers who are constantly bored, don't want to try anything new, have little appreciation for anything you take them to experience, demand to be entertained, offer no suggestions as to what might make them happy and think it's always someone else's fault that they are having a miserable time.
Ice cream was the only definite winner. If you ever take your kids to Europe, plan some extra time in Florence, where the gelato may actually bring a smile to their frowny little faces. The Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, The Last Supper and the Duomo in Milan, the entire city of Florence and most of Rome were summarily dismissed. They said "eww" to anything other than pizza, McDonald's or ham and cheese sandwiches. They got bored of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican after about 10 minutes and sat at the back waiting impatiently for us to finish looking at whatever we needed so much time to look at. They insisted we spend almost an entire day at Charles de Gaulle airport rather than leave our bags at the hotel and walk around the city. Bags are so important.
They pouted when we did what they wanted, pouted when they didn't know what they wanted, and sulked wholeheartedly if we ever did anything they didn't want to do. They missed the air conditioning in their house. They missed the corn on the cob from home. They even missed their jobs. They made us miss our flight to Milan and then said they would rather go home than pay for train tickets to make up for it because "it wasn't worth it."
But most of all they missed having the boyfriend - the old boyfriend - to themselves all the time. Because that's what they came for. They didn't want to see Europe, experience new things, get a new perspective on the world or open their minds, which he was so looking forward to helping them do. They didn't want to see the amazing works of art or architecture or history he was so excited to show them. Their greatest wish was to have him 100% of the time, with 100% of his attention, hanging out and talking about whatever they used to talk about just the way they used to do it.
So they just wanted old times, he just wanted them to appreciate new things and evolve a bit, and I just wanted to be accepted and maybe have some romantic moments with my loved one in such romantic cities. If you think about it, the extent to which these great wishes are at odds is almost poetic.
They were nice to me when they weren't sulking, but only from a distance. It was clear they would have preferred me not to be there, and while I would have been happy to get out of the way once in a while, the boyfriend wouldn't stand for it.
I gained some insight into how stepmothers must feel, which is funny since I have one that I don't like very much either. And by the end of the trip I had resigned myself to what I imagine is a stepmotherly hope, far downgraded from my original aspiration for this trip: maybe they'll grow to like me later, if and when they accept that he loves me and that things change sometimes and people move on and move around and do new things. Maybe we'll get along someday.
Dissertation
Posted by: lucie
After weeks of putting it off, I've finally drafted a rough summary of what I'll be researching for my dissertation. It was originally intended to be a rather practical guide for nonprofits and small companies on "web 2.0 marketing," but I guess that wasn't really academic enough for my adviser, so I went back to the scholarly marketing and advertising journals to find "an academic hook," as she put it. Basically prove a need for my particular piece of research... a piece of research which, I might add, now needs to be done in 6 weeks instead of 3 months because of my complete lack of motivation and forthcoming 2-week trip to Paris and Italy.
So anyway, here it is. The majority of what is outlined here is "literature review" - ie has already been covered in journals of marketing and advertising, and I'll just be recapping it to set myself up for my own piece of work. If anyone finds this at all interesting or wants to share any ideas or thoughts, please do bring 'em on!
For now, I am off on a little backpacks & hostels adventure around the continent. Au revoir, mes amis! Arrivaderci!
Background and literature review
1) General move toward social media and user generated content on the Internet. Blogs, Flickr, podcasts, Youtube, social networks. The Internet is evolving from a source of information to a source of entertainment.
2) YouTube has dramatically increased in popularity (and shareholder value, if its sale price to Google isn't completely insane). MySpace and other social networks have added video capabilities to user pages. Other video sharing sites such as Vimeo have cropped up, and players like Sony, AOL and Newscorp are investing heavily in online video, video-on-demand, etc. The number of online video spots being viewed by users is growing exponentially. (Supporting stats to be included.)
3) Advertisers agree they must find innovative ways of using emerging Internet platforms to reach consumers. Video is the big topic of the moment, with companies and agencies learning to create content for the web rather than simply using or editing existing TV spots. (Stats showing growth in online advertising trend, specifically video, to be included.)
The convergence of these trends has led to an increase in video campaigns and online video advertising with a participatory element. Marketers agree that they must learn how to get into this game, and find ways to engage with online video and video-sharing communities. The past few years have seen advertisements created by consumers (often in response to "create a commercial" contests), successful lo-fi video campaigns disguised as consumer-created content, genuine low-budget campaigns from small companies that garner significant audience participation, and some polished, high-budget successes.
There have also been many failed campaigns, and even passionate backlash against some companies entering online communities in ways perceived as unacceptable by community members. YouTube users, for example, clearly have very firm ideas about what is and is not acceptable use of their space. This was well evidenced by the vicious response to a Dove advertisement soliciting consumer-created commercials for one of its new products (although a Dove "Real Beauty" advertisement had been enthusiastically received mere months earlier). Similar backlashes occurred when marketers initially attempted to use blogs, making such faux pas as creating fictitious characters, pitching products overtly in blogs positioned as journals, and breaking other unwritten rules of the "blogosphere."
"YouTubers" and other video creators and social media users have their own unwritten code of conduct. They are not averse to advertising, but it is clear that they will not simply accept it on companies' own terms. There is general agreement in the literature that to be successful in online video advertising, companies will have to reach out to consumers and offer them compelling content.
Beyond the literature review
If this is the case, advertisers must learn to play by the rules of the online communities they wish to reach. The research will attempt to ascertain the "laws" companies must follow when approaching online video-sharing communities if they wish to have their brands and campaigns accepted. Why, for example, was the Dove "create a commercial" campaign derided while others, such as the "Tax Rap" campaign, have been enthusiastically embraced by the YouTube community? What makes BlendTec's "Will It Blend" campaign so much more popular than similar "shows" by Mountain Dew and other corporate brands? Possible key factors include user participation, size of the company advertising, style and budget of advertisement, and so forth.
The study will focus specifically on YouTube for two reasons: 1) YouTube is by far the most popular video-sharing site on the web, and has a dedicated and passionate core community of users, and 2) Staying within one video-sharing site will allow consistent comparison of user ratings (1 to 5 stars), video views and feedback (both in text comments and video replies).
Primary research will include evaluation and categorisation of videos, ratings, comments and responses, and may also include interviews with campaign creators and/or YouTube community members.
