Entries RSS · The lowest common denominator online: the written word
A few months ago, I wrote to you about an experiment I was conducting regarding collecting videos from people that could not make it to a reunion I was organising for my high school. Out of the ca. 300 people that signed up to our Facebook group, only ca. 100 can make it in the end (this weekend). Many of them live all over the world, hence it made sense to try and involve them in some way.
Just like you guys couldn’t offer me much of a suggestion regarding how to arrange this distributed video system, people were fairly unresponsive to my request to send me greetings by video or audio. Even pictures from the good old days were apparently too much to ask for–us “oldsters” used analogue cameras back in the day and no Flickr in sight.
This all changed however just last week when we decided to focus on what I call the lowest common denominator in organised activities like this reunion and also business. Focussing on the simplest possible solution to solve a collaborative problem.
We asked everyone that couldn’t make it to send a short text to say hi, etc. And the responses came rolling in. Within 2 days, we already had 30 and they keep coming.
It just shows you 2 things: 1. really K.I.S.S. (keep it simple & stupid) is the best way to deal with most problems. And 2. we are really not ready for a video-based messaging system. Sure, there’s Youtube and more, but you also need to record, you need to look good on the recording, you need to convert it to flash, you need to upload it, the receiver needs to convert it back, edit it (a super-big hassle!), and then present it in a usable way. Far from K.I.S.S.!
Vincent
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Tags: k.i.s.s., LCD, lowest common denominator
Business strategy, Design, Entertainment, Facebook, Friends, Globalization, Internet, Networks, Organization, Project Management, Technology, Telecommunications, Uncategorized, Video, innovation, marketing, media, user-generated content
Yeah, I guess everyone has a keyboard in front of them, so the friction just isn't there. I'm really much for LCD, it's amazing how designers of processes assume that people have interest and patience to complete whatever they design. Conversely, people who came up with rebates really knew how lazy people are even if they have a financial interest in completing a process.
I applaud your long project to introduce a new buzzword and method. LCD is the new KISS and GTD. You should tag this post with "lcd" =)
Just so you know…you used the abbreviation ca. (which stands for the latin word 'circa' and means 'about' or 'approximately') several times in this article. The term only applies to dates or time, not to counting people.
see: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circa
wow, I didn't know that (I use ca. all the time). Thanks Ockely!