Louise McGregor Editorial

Language Danger

I’m sick of very clever companies guessing which language I want to use based on my location. Google keeps throwing me into Dutch, even if I typed in google.com, do they really think I can’t figure out how to use google.nl? or the advanced search options for that matter.

And Apple keeps throwing iTunes into Dutch. I get that there are copyright issues concerning the content – fine. But why can’t the app itself stay in English? They have the interface in English already.

Please, stop assuming I want to use websites in the language of the country I’m sitting in. How hard is it to give me a language choice?

(And before anyone gets on the integration bandwagon – I can use these sites in Dutch, I just don’t want to).

Louise McGregor Editorial

Ode to the Spammers

This little blog is just my thoughts,

on innovation, communication and sorts

of technology that appeals to me.

But I’m no Guy Kawasaki

The traffic here is very low

Some days it’s zero and so,

I have to wonder, I really do

At a spammer asking me to view

His site; the subject is scatalogical

Linking to me is not logical

I understand he wants to earn

But seriously don’t these fools ever learn?

If it’s not relevant people don’t click

It’s simple – we’re not that thick.

the spam that inspired the post
Louise McGregor HR, social media

Social Media Screening

Social Media amplifies who we are, so if I looked back through your social media profile would I see the angel side of you – or your inner devil?

Every so often a story floats to the surface of someone fired or not hired because of a posting on facebook or a tweet. Researches cite figures of a growing percentage of employers checking the online presence of their job candidates.

Businesses are motivated by concerns of (potential) reputation issue, but there are a lot of types of content that might be in the NSFW category without strictly being a reputation risk for an employer. I mean who hasn’t partied hard at some point in their lives? With the power of mobile phones your worst moments are now up there for posterity.

For many people compromising material is online out of ignorance, but others – perhaps those born into the digital era – have a blase attitude about privacy online. They don’t understand that if a company sniffs a potential reputation issue they’re likely to choose the cleaner candidate. An additional challenge to companies hiring is that they may open themselves up to charges of discrimination by taking on any in-depth online investigation.

But someone saw an opportunity out of this conflict between an individual’s privacy and a company’s reputation concerns. Social Intelligence promises to resolve this conflict and enable “fair and consistent hiring”. They’ll research you online and report back to the employer; if nothing is found the employer hears that you’ve passed and doesn’t see anything they found. If you fail a report is generated and sent to the employer who can then use that in their hiring decision.

Mat Honan from Gizmodo submitted himself for a report, failed it, and blogged about it – including posting the full report. The report lists the specific sites checks and specifies whether an issue was found, and if so what was the issue – and adds a screen shot. The report omits any information that will identify the candidates religion, ethnic origin, nationality political affiliation, marital status and so on. This means that the hiring company is protected from any allegations of discrimination. It’s a smart business concept.

Of course, you can do a lot to help yourself; lock down your profiles, use the privacy settings, be smart about what you post online. If you’re job-hunting check google results for your name and any aliases, if you’re in the US you can use reputation.com to monitor your online presence.

image devil via pixabay

Louise McGregor Digital, Editorial, Innovation

Happy Birthday Internet

Today the internet is 20 years old, the first site was launched on 6 August 1991 as part of a research project at CERN.

The first site is still online the content is a fascinating insight into how far-sighted Tim Berners-Lee, intelligent search, caching and collaborative content creation are all mentioned. It also shows a number of similarities to today’s sites;

  • structure, the information is categorised in a defined hierarchy
  • non-linear navigation; links connect you across the information categories
  • spelling mistakes (search for “moe” on this page)

But misses all the fun stuff – graphics, images, interaction, video. Persistent navigation, such an obvious feature of any modern website, is also missing, making the site rather difficult to read.

For all the far-sightedness of the developers the list of the intended omits any mention of business or commercial uses. That may be a function of the mandate of the developers, rather than their vision. Or perhaps the academic background limited their understanding of business interest. And even in their wildest, most optimistic, fantasies they could not have imagined the huge volume of sites existing today, according to NetCraft we’re pretty close to half a billion sites.

I heard about this via a tweet from David Bowen, who asks “has anyone created more jobs than Sir Tim BL?”. My first thought that Jesus might win, but I haven’t calculated that. One thing is certain; my job couldn’t exist with the developments sent in train by the team CERN.

So for me, today’s worth celebrating. I’ll raise a glass to all those pioneers who developed the tool I use every day for banking, shopping, talking to family, catching up with friends… and gave me a job I love. Cheers.