Entries Tagged 'Blogging' ↓
August 4th, 2010 — Blogging
This morning as I was packing for holiday I took inventory of what was required, Sat Nav, camera, video, camera, phone, books, chargers, music, DVDs and games for the kids. Along with my clothes, as is the case every year, I have the intention of packing like a minimalist but never seem to achieve it.
This year though when I looked down at the accumulation of gear I noticed something different. Instead of the tangle of chargers, electrical equipment, CDs and piles of books to make a choice from I had two items and one charger, my iPad and iPhone.
These 2 devices have changed the way I will holiday forever. No need for multiple accessories, I no longer have to choose which books to leave behind, which DVDs or CDs I should take. No thinking about which chargers go with which device and spare batteries. These two item encompass it all. My camera and video camera are now always at hand, as are my books and music. It is now possible to flick through a couple of pages of a book or watch a few minutes of video whilst waiting for the train, bus or plane. Hand luggage reduced to it’s most compact level.
Now I wish Apple would make shoes then maybe my daughter wouldn’t insist on taking 6 pairs for one week away!
July 24th, 2010 — Blogging, Wordpress
This week saw the launch of our new look website at work Adnams.co.uk. A proud moment for me as it was the culmination of 6 months of work involving many different people within the company. It was also based on a vision of allowing customers to easily move from one sector of the business to another online. Exposing parts of the business to them that they may not necessarily have been aware of. Allowing them to communicate with the company easily and through many touch points. Using images, video and the written word to express the essence of the company.
Internally it was to also give employees a voice, allowing them to highlight their experiences, express their passion and present their opinion. Of course there is commercial intent but it is more than that, it is an attempt at creating an experience that extends beyond the visit to the local pub, a trip to Southwold or the act of purchasing wine in one of our shops.
Did we succeed? Maybe, time will tell, but it’s not the technology that is going to get us there. WordPress was the base of the site. It was heavily themed and customised with plugins of various types to allow us to structure content the way we wanted, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter integrated to bring content from other channels. And it will be the content that drives the success; structure and design can only provide so much.
A lot of the reason I write this blog is to remind myself how important content is. How difficult it can be to produce, to maintain consistency and quality. Often we run off to build the next Google only to realise that without the content Google is just a logo and a search box on the screen.
