Two Hour Lunch

What I've learned from the Manchester Visitor Information Centre.

2012-01-31T09:31:00.000Z

In June 2010 Marketing Manchester, in conjunction with Manchester City Council, launched the new Manchester Visitor Information Centre (MVIC). Read this press release about the centre opening for some background. As the person at Marketing Manchester who manages the development of technology it was up to me to make the MVIC technology work.

After this great article from Tnooz and the resulting comments, I thought I'd jot down a few things I've learned from the project...

Staff are key - technology can never replace the staff, they know more about their destination than a computer ever could. Get them involved from the start and keep them involved at all stages of ongoing development, in fact, a lot of development should be triggered by their experience and knowledge.
Print - at the moment visitors still want print, either because they don't trust the technology or the digital version of the leaflet doesn't contain the right information. Even thought digital is vastly different to print, for visitors you still need to provide that basic information in a format they want.
Everything breaks down, eventually - no matter how advanced the technology, it will always break at some point in its life-cycle. Make sure everything is guaranteed and supported (24/7 if possible, as that is something we have struggled with) or you have the in-house knowledge to fix things. When budgeting at the start of the process, always set aside a large chunk for ongoing support (and development).
Content - the technology in the centre would be nothing without the content on it. If you don't have automated content publishing via your website/DMS/thing, then set aside a large chunk of time and resources to keep it up to date.
The future - things change, technology improves and no matter how good your project planning you'll never be able to predict all possibilities. When choosing platforms/technologies do as much research as possible and if possible speak directly to the suppliers of the underlying technology. For example Microsoft are launching version 2 of the Surface which, although we couldn't wait for them, would have been nice to know at the planning stage.

We've got lots of plans for the future of which mobile is key. So far we haven't linked any mobile technology with the centre as the ideas we have aren't achievable with the resources available. However, as the technology become more common place and cheaper we shall introduce it.

If you've got any questions then feel free to email me at stuart.aiken at marketingmanchester.com.

Assigning large numbers of postcodes to UK regions

2011-10-20T13:29:00.000+01:00

Following on from my last post about plotting large numbers of postcodes onto a map, here's a more scientific approach to assigning postcodes to UK regions (again stemming from work to provide intelligence to sales people).

It uses Excel, for example:

^A1 Full postcode	^B1 Trimmed postcode	^C1 Result	^D1 Part of array
^A2 SE15 4JU	^B2 SE	^C2 SE	^D2 AL
^A3 BL1 7TB	^B3 BL	^C3 #N/A	^D3 BN

Where

The function in column B (=LEFT(A2,2)) trims the full postcodes in A down to two characters.
The function in C (=VLOOKUP(B2,$D$2:$D$100,1,0)) then compares this trimmed value against an array of postcodes from a defined UK region e.g. South East (derived from http://www.thirzah.co.uk/misc/post-codes-and-area-lookup/). This formula returns the postcode if it appears within the array or #N/A if it isn't present.

Plotting a large number of postcodes on a map using ZeeMaps

2011-10-12T15:21:00.000+01:00

One of the many things I have to do at work is provide demographic data to the sales team to enable them to sell marketing opportunities to other businesses.

One of the main problems I've come across is being able to provide a sales-person-friendly geographic breakdown of our consumers stored in our CRM system. The main issue of this problem is the often incomplete address data we hold (arising from us using short and sweet sign-up forms online) and the lack of budget to get the data enriched with full addresses (using products such as AFD's Refiner).

I've tried using Google Maps and the KML file format, however, with both my out of date scripting knowledge and a large number of records this method has proven unworkable.

After searching high and low I found http://www.zeemaps.com/, a free and easy to use interface for carrying out many map based activities, one of them being plotting data on maps by submitting CSV files.

It's really simple to produce an image or PDF to show people a visual breakdown of where your comsumers live. Just create a map, go to 'Additions > multiple markers' and follow the instructions.

Here's a quick map I made:

Here's a short demo video from ZeeMaps:

Please note that there are some limitations such as a 2Mb file size limit.

I Love MCR - the logo, the controversy

2011-09-05T13:43:00.000+01:00

In the wake of the Manchester riots Marketing Manchester (who I work for, although this post is purely me voicing my own views), Manchester Arndale and Manchester City Council initiated a campaign to combat both the negative financial effects and negative perception caused by the violence on the city.

The riots were a huge crisis in terms of PR and like most PR crises had to be responded to very quickly to a) aggregate the positive views of the city that most people were voicing in direct response and b) get people back into the city spending their money (yes yes, the ugly capitalistic side of modern life).

The campaign used Facebook and Twitter to promote the constructive messages being broadcast by individuals and businesses. It used the Manchester version of Milton Glaser's famous I 'heart' NY logo to create an identity for the campaign:

The campaign has been successful with over 20,000 people liking the Facebook page, over 37,900 people tweeting the hash-tag #ilovemcr, two well-attended events and lots of support from Mancunians (and non-Mancunians).

However, people are now starting to blog/tweet on how the campaign didn't work. The main issue being raised that if Manchester is such a unique city and does "things differently" why did we use the logo above?

My main response to this is a question to you:

Can you create a logo with that much emotional resonance (and in itself a call to action) in two days and in those two days, can you get that logo branded onto thousands of posters, hundreds of t-shirts and thousands of other promotional items? If you can then I would seriously like to work with you.

My second response is also a question to you:

You were asked at the time to get involved and help out the city that you are part of and has supported you. Why didn't you get involved or at least make suggestions then if you have such a strong opinion now?

Another top 100 science fiction book list

2011-08-12T08:51:00.000+01:00

NPR have released their top 100 sci-fi and fantasy book list and it looks very similar to my sci-fi meta-list, bar the fantasy novels. The methods of collecting the data for the two lists are very different (NPR used a poll, I aggregated all the top 100 lists I could find) but it's not that surprising to see little variance.

From all the lists I've collected and read it seems that people favour the classics (3 of my top 5 were written in the 40's and 50's) and it's very difficult for new sci-fi novels to make any headway to the top of the list.

I've not yet added these new results into my list but will do so at the latest opportunity.

Walking, camping and hiking equipment reviews

2011-05-11T14:00:00.000+01:00

Walking, camping and hiking equipment reviews:
http://campingwalkinghikingreviews.blogspot.com/

Internet meme anyone?

2011-05-08T14:07:00.000+01:00

Surely an intentional reference to a famous meme?

The best of science fiction

2011-03-03T14:29:00.000Z

I've just realised it's over a year since I created my top 100 sci fi novels meta-list. I created the list to aggregate as many other sci fi novel lists as possible so as to try and get a definitive 'best of science fiction'. The main reasons behind it were to find out how many I had read and to create a list, I like lists.

The latest version (v3) is available at http://sixhoursaweek.blogspot.com/2010/07/top-100-sci-fi-books-meta-list-version.html.

Since I created the list I haven't actually read any more books from it, I seem to have spent the year reading everything by Iain M. Banks most notably Surface Detail, Transition and Matter.

Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas - review/opinion

2011-02-24T13:52:00.013Z

I read Scarlett Thomas' "The End of Mr. Y" a year or two ago and loved it, so was looking forward to another physics and meta-physical rich yarn from her. I still don't know if I hated "Our Tragic Universe" or just wasn't intelligent enough to comprehend it.

The story revolves around Meg, an impoverished novelist stuck in a dead-end relationship in a damp-ridden house. The story, if it can be a called a story, weaves through several topics; the structure of stories, love, sex and relationships, a beast of Exmoor, our celebrity obsessed world, the nature of the universe and knitting. As you can see its quite a varied selection.

I think (and this is where my lack of literary intelligence may let me down) the over-arching subject of the book is that stories don't need to go down the C follows B follows A route. Meg's non-story narrative resembles more her stream of consciousness than a linear tale. This is all well and fine but I actually read fiction to go down this route, I like the journey. Combined with annoyingly hippy characters and Thomas' viewpoint being almost too amorlistic, I found "Our Tragic Universe" an irksome but sometimes pleasant read.

Predictions for 2011

2011-01-04T16:44:00.003Z

My predictions for 2011 are as follows:

Light entertainment: Charlie Brooker will follow in his wife, Konnie Huq’s footsteps and become a presenter on The Xtra Factor.
Heavy entertainment: The winner of this year’s Turner prize will be a Slovakian, whose favoured medium is chocolate. One of the shortlisted artists will piss himself (in the name of art).
Technology: Mark Zuckerberg will become bored of Facebook, close it down and start a new site called GioCities. This new site will let people build web pages about Italian men called Giovanni.
Sport: A whippet sized horse will win the Grand National.
Music: Will.i.am will become the first person on the planet to have a vocoder surgically implanted into his voice-box allowing him to speak in autotune, permanently.
Politics: Ed Vaizey will try to enter Virtual Reality, like Job in the Lawnmower Man, via a cash-point in Pimlico. He will fail and instead will resort to pretending his Blackberry is sentient.
Science: 2011 will be the year of the locust swarm, ravaging all fruit crops in Farmville.
Finance: The Year of Austerity will in fact be the year of Austenity. Jane Austen, Steve Austin and Austin Powers will join forces to become the biggest popular music trio the World has ever seen.

I will collect my winnings on the 1st of January 2012, thank you.

Taking the 'Human' out of Humanism

2010-10-22T11:00:00.015+01:00

Yesterday evening I attended The British Humanist Association's Holyoake lecture 2010. The lecture, named after George Holyoake, the last person to be charged with blasphemy in the UK, focuses on an aspect of science pertinent to the secular society.

This year John Harris, the Lord Alliance Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester, discussed the change in our notions of humanity, in the lecture, "Taking the 'Human' out of Humanism". The event was chaired by the droll and knowledgeable Raymond Tallis.

The talk was roughly divided into two sections; the first looked at the definitions of humanity and how this affects our perception of human rights. Does morality, empathy and creativity make us human or do they arise because we are human? If we move forward from our current cognitive/social/physical state will that make us non-human?

The second section looked at enhancement evolution (as opposed to Darwinian evolution) being the morally right process (and its enablement our moral duty) as to not allow it would be an elitist practice akin to restricting education and writing pre-industrial revolution.

In summary Dr Harris emphasised that stopping human enhancement would equate to us stopping being human (I think).

This summary is written from my point of view (and limited intelligence) so may not reflect Dr Harris' own views.

Read my review of last years Holyoake lecture - Is Human Evolution Over?

Please feel free to criticize and/or comment.

Iain M. Banks Q&A/book signing session

2010-10-19T13:26:00.012+01:00

To help launch his new Culture novel, Iain M. Banks carried out a UK book signing tour for Surface Detail. The Manchester, UK, leg took place at Waterstones Deansgate on the 14th of Ocotber. Before the signing session he answered some questions from the 70/80 fans (not all of them sci-fi) that had turned up.

Iain was so witty and entertaining (and can swear like a trooper) that I forgot to make any notes so here's a very poor attempt at recalling, in no particular order, what he did say:

He listens to music whilst writing (answered in response to an old lady's non-sci-fi question, much to the chagrin of the Culture fan-boys, me included).

Iain does not have a virtual orrery of the Culture meta-verse in his head.

He plans out his novels in detail before he starts writing.

Transition was written as Iain Banks (without the 'M') as it was 51% non-sci-fi. Although in the US it was published under Iain M. Banks as his science fiction sells better there.

Sublimation is the process in which societies move from this level of the universe to the one above (or below or to the side?). Banks described a multi-universe system, in which his Culture novels take place, where concentric universes emanate out from an ongoing big bang.

He loves whiskey.

He will continue to alternate between fiction and science fiction novels.

A film company has bought the rights to adapt one of his books, it isn't Consider Phlebas.

The book he'd most like to see as a film is Consider Phlebas as it contains all his most hyperbolic space opera moments.

And that's all I can remember and I can't even guarantee the level of accurateness.

301 Redirect Guide

2010-09-29T09:43:00.001+01:00

A nice and simple guide to using 301 redirects:
www.squidoo.com/301

A new Iain M. Banks Culture novel

2010-09-29T09:13:00.002+01:00

Wow, there's a new Culture novel being released next month - Surface Detail. I don't want to read any previews so I can't reveal what the story is about, sorry.

Captain America filming in Manchester - car explosion scene

2010-09-23T10:41:00.000+01:00

Video of Captain America filming in Manchester

2010-09-22T13:08:00.002+01:00

It's badly shot and there is a lot of reflection from the glass of my office but you can see roughly what's going on.

Even more Captain America set photos

2010-09-21T13:19:00.006+01:00

Cast trailers (I'm going to be stalking from here):

Catering area in an old shop:

More Captain America set pics

2010-09-17T12:12:00.003+01:00

Captain America set in Manchester

2010-09-15T09:33:00.011+01:00

Preparation for filming of the Captain America movie in Manchester has been underway for two weeks now, with the shoot due to start in the next seven days. Here are some photos from the 1940's New York themed set.

The filming is taking place along Dale Street and Hilton Street in Manchester's 'Northern Quarter'

Biffy Clyro vs Midsomer Murders

2010-09-09T12:57:00.005+01:00

I'm now at the age were I can admit to watching Midsomer Murders, which is good, yes?

In last night's preposterous episode, 'Blood on the Saddle' I noticed a passing, comedic resemblance between the head honcho gypsie character and Simon Neil, the lead singer/guitarist, from Biffy Clyro. What do you think?

Strangeness of a salesman

2010-09-03T14:41:00.017+01:00

After buying a house last year, my wife and I wanted to do what all middle class new home-owners do and 'put our stamp on it' (© Kirsty and Phil). Being an unskilled white-collar worker there was no way I'd carry out any major pieces of work myself so on came Google and out came the phone. What then proceeded can only be described as a caravan of idiots...

The double glazing salesman who's first comment to us was, "I wouldn't spend too much on double glazing as your house isn't worth that much, is it" and his final being, "can I borrow £10 for my petrol home?".

Another double glazing salesman who was dyspraxic and proceeded to fall into/onto/over all our furniture.

The autistic gas fitter (ok, not jut salespeople) who refused to find out all the details of the job and wasn't interested in the possibility of more work.

But by far the best is the lying kitchen salesman. He was a nice enough guy but he lied about everything. His lies became so unmanageable that consecutive emails he sent to us often contradicted each other completely. Obviously his excuse was that, "the email was supposed to be for someone else" even though he named me throughout it.

We've found so far that once you get past the salesman and get to talk to the people doing the work things usually become easier.

Coming into contact with a high number of salesmen in a short space of time made it apparent that they all use the same tricks to get you to part with your money. The two most common are:

"The boss has given me a target of x number of products to sell this week at a discount. If you don't buy now we'll run out of these cheap products" - this is a lie, they will have a weekly target but the 'discount' isn't real, it's just there to panic you. Barter them down no matter what and don't be forced into signing there and then, make them sweat a bit.

After negotiating a discount the salesman will say he doesn't know if he can give that much off and will have to ring his boss to give the ok. He'll then come back saying the boss won't let him go that low. Don't accept it, if they won't go that low don't proceed and ask him to leave, he'll agree to your price fairly quickly

If I come across any more idiots/tricks I'll add them here or feel free to comment yourself.

My top science fiction books

2010-08-24T13:19:00.033+01:00

After compiling a few versions of the top science fiction books meta-list I thought it was time to list my personal favourite sci fi novels. I'm a long way off reading all the books listed in my top 100 post and I tend to stick to the authors I love, namely Isaac Asimov and Iain M. Banks, but here's my top 10 (at the moment) in no particular order:

Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

Excession by Iain M. Banks

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Let me know what you think.

Top 100 Sci-Fi Books Meta-List version 3.0

2010-07-21T14:05:00.005+01:00

I've updated the list of top 100 science fiction books. The original post with explanation can be found here and version 2 of the list can be found here.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

1984 by George Orwell

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Ringworld by Larry Niven

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3) by George R.R. Martin

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Flatland by Edwin A Abbott

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

Startide Rising by David Brin

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Way Station by Clifford D Simak

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Tigana by Guy G. Kay

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

A Song of Ice And Fire by George R.R. Martin

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

The Invisible Man by H G Wells

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The Door Into Summer by Robert A Heinlein

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Contact by Carl Sagan

A Case of Conscience by James Blish

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

Animal Farm by George Orwell

True Names by Vernor Vinge

Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Camp Concentration by Thomas M Disch

The Puppet Masters by Robert A Heinlein

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

VALIS by Philip K Dick

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe

The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Sphere by Michael Crichton

Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy G. Kay

Eon by Greg Bear

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Time Enough For Love by Robert A Heinlein

The City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke

The additional source lists are:

http://listverse.com/2007/08/18/top-15-great-science-fiction-books/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-10-Best-Science-Fiction-Books&id=1886292

Manchester's Visitor Information Centre

2010-06-22T13:20:00.008+01:00

The new Manchester Visitor Information Centre has just opened and I'm insanely proud as I've had a hand in it's development. It's pretty dam cool for a, usually boring, tourist information centre. It uses all sorts of whizzy modern things like Twitter and Microsoft Surfaces.

You can see a video of it here:

If you want to visit it then you can find it at:
Manchester Visitor Information Centre
Piccadilly Plaza
Portland Street
Manchester
M1 4BT

Who Mat Looks Like - Part 2

2010-03-02T13:07:00.003Z

Ryan Nelson - Blackburn Rovers