off the leash

Red Dirt by Joe Samuel Starnes

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Ken Dowell

The rise, fall and reconstruction of Jaxie Skinner. This is a novel about tennis and about life in rural northern Georgia. That puts the story directly in the wheelhouse of this author. Starnes is an avid tennis fan, author of the Topspin Blog and not a bad player himself. And he grew up in small-town Georgia.

I’ve never been to the kind of elite junior or “Futures” tournament described by Starnes as the place where Jaxie makes his move. If I did I would expect to find kids that came from all over the world to be shaped into the same mold by the elite Florida tennis academies. So while this is only fiction it is nice to think that a young guy from the sticks who learned to play in his backyard can put away some of these clones. I’m also pretty sure that an academy kid doesn’t get experiences like driving to the Orange Bowl in the back seat of his father’s Lincoln while his buddy tells him stories of hooking up with the stripper who danced with a snake. And Bollettieri’s boys probably don’t spend the night before a big match holed up with their old man in a Quality Inn room while he gets so shit-faced that he can’t make the match the next day.

Joe Samuel Starnes

The title Red Dirt comes from the surface of the court that Jaxie’s father built for him in their yard. Inexplicably he never paves the court even though he makes a living as a road paver. This is a book that combines fact and fiction. Jaxie achieves success at the French Open both on the court and in the bed of the 16-year old Russian phenom in the women’s draw. That’s fiction. When the phenom proves to be not so phenomenal going up against Steffi Graff, that’s fact. Who knows how many times Steffi ended a young prodigy’s dream run?

There’s lots of tennis lore. One of my favorites is the story of Vitas Gerulaitis, who after losing to Jimmy Connors 16 times, wins once and proudly announces that “nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.”

As you might expect the pro tennis players’ clubhouse is not portrayed as housing the friendliest group of guys you’ll ever meet. And there is a hint of HGH about. Starnes recreates the atmosphere of Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows, not as it looks to the Federers and Nadals of the world, but rather as it is seen through the eyes of the qualifiers, the last guys invited to the party.

As in his earlier novels, Calling and Fall Line, Starnes’ storytelling can make you feel like you’re sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch drinking a beer. But in Red Dirt the southern drawl that weaves its way into his writing off the court is at times replaced by the direct and concise style of a wire service sportswriter when the action is on the court. You don’t have to be a tennis lover or a Southerner to enjoy this book. I can vouch for that.

(To see my reviews of Starnes’ earlier novels, click here.)

Posted in Book reviews, Sports | Tagged books, fiction, French Open, Georgia, Joe Samuel Starnes, sports, tennis, U.S. Open | 4 Comments

The Decade of the Gun: JFK to KSU Part 1

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Ken Dowell

Nov. 22, 1963

Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, 12:30 in the afternoon, I’m in eighth grade gym class at Memorial School in Totowa, N.J. The gym at Memorial School was in the basement and had a low ceiling, so none of us were developing good jump shots. It was Friday, so we were probably playing dodge ball. Don’t remember for sure. But I remember the announcement that came over the PA system. President Kennedy had been shot. Our gym teacher didn’t know what to say. He just told us to go back to the locker room, get dressed and go home.

(Photo by David Lally)

Both of my parents worked so there was no one home in the middle of the day. I headed to my favorite hangout, Elsie’s Sweet Shop on Union Boulevard. I walked in and saw the class tough guy sitting at the counter crying. That’s when the meaning of what just happened struck me.

The U.S. shut down for a few days after JFK’s assassination. My family sat in front of the TV during that time. I wasn’t a novice when it came to seeing violence on TV. I watched The Untouchables every Thursday night. But I wasn’t prepared for what I was to see on Sunday, Nov. 24. As we sat in the living room waiting for a glance at the scoundrel who shot JFK we saw strip club owner Jack Ruby step forward and shoot him. I think that was the only time I’ve ever seen someone shot live on television.

My family didn’t have any conspiracy theories to explain this. We didn’t know at the time who Jack Ruby was. We just assumed he was an outraged American out to administer some Texas justice.

Gunshots

The decade of the 60’s is remembered for a lot of things. It was the decade of sex, drugs and rock and roll. For some it was a time for coming out, for others a time for liberation. The top results of a USPS survey in the 90’s about what would best “commemorate” the 60’s identified the top memories as the Beatles, Woodstock and Star Trek.

For me the 60’s was the decade of the gun. Two of the most memorable and most profound “where were you when” moments in my life were the assassination of JFK and the killing of four students at Kent State while I was going to school there. While not chronologically exact, these two events framed the decade in my mind.

: (photo by dandipuffs)

June 12, 1963. Bryon de la Beckwith, a WWII veteran and salesman who was a member of the white supremacist Citizens Council, shoots NAACP field secretary Medger Evers.

Nov. 22, 1963. Former Marine turned Soviet defector Lee Harvey Oswald shoots President John F. Kennedy.

Nov. 24, 1963. Jack Ruby, a local strip club owner who catered to Dallas police, shoots Lee Harvey Oswald.

Feb. 21, 1965. Three members of the Nation of Islam assassinate influential black nationalist and Muslim activist Malcolm X.

April 4, 1968. Escaped convict James Earl Ray shoots civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

June 5, 1968. Anti-Zionist Arab Sirhan Sirhan shoots Senator Robert Kennedy, JFK’s brother, as he campaigns for the Democratic nomination for President.

May 4, 1970. Following protests of Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, Ohio National Guardsmen open fire on students on the campus of Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine.

May 15, 1970. Mississippi state police open fire on Jackson State University students during a protest of the Cambodian offensive, killing two and wounding 12.

And that says nothing of the civil rights workers and demonstrators killed by rednecks posing as law enforcement. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, on June 21, 1964, were arrested in Mississippi while working to register black voters and were later turned over to Ku Klux Klansmen, led by Edgar Ray Killen, a part-time minister and sawmill operator, who murdered them. Nor did I mention here the 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam.

The End of Optimism

The decade got off to an optimistic start. For most it was a time of prosperity. In 1960 most of us had a car, a refrigerator, a TV, a washing machine and a dryer. The GI bill benefits sent many of our parents to college and many more were able to buy a home in the suburbs. The first wave of baby boomers was on the verge of becoming teenagers.

The election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 signaled not just a change of party in the White House but an emergence from a decade of Cold War paranoia and stifling mores. We hadn’t seen a relatively young man with an attractive, fashionable wife move into the White House. And a Catholic at that. Viewed from a time after we elected a black president, electing a Catholic may not seem like much of a milestone, but JFK was the first.

The Democratic Platform for the 1960 election promised a “New Frontier.” Minimum wages would go up, a national health insurance plan for the elderly was promised as was civil rights legislation. The vision included improving conditions for all workers and launching a campaign to eliminate urban slums.

In reality little of this happened during Kennedy’s aborted term. It was not the popular and dynamic JFK that delivered on these promises but rather his decidedly unpopular and untrustworthy successor LBJ. It was Johnson who signed into law the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and it was his administration that created Medicare and Medicaid.

So while JFK may well have been more style than substance, he was nonetheless a powerful symbol of the new decade. And it was the bullet that killed him in 1963 that made it clear that the 60’s weren’t going to turn out to be what we had expected and hoped for.

Part 2 is about what went wrong.

Posted in History | Tagged 60's, assassinations, history, JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, New Frontier, Robert Kennedy | 20 Comments

The 1890 Travel Blogger: Mohonk Mountain House

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Ken Dowell

(There were no travel bloggers in 1890. There were no blogs. No Web. But there were more and more people in America ready to do some traveling and looking for places to go. So if there was such a thing as a travel blog in the last decade of the 19^th century, this is what I think it might have looked like.)

4. Mohonk Mountain House

What Messrs. Alfred and Albert Smiley promise visitors to their Victorian castle in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York is stewardship, reflection and renewal. Located on the half-mile long Lake Mohonk, this model Christian resort is a place for the busy city dweller and his family to experience nature.

Mr. Alfred Smiley, who was a Quaker school teacher, bought what was then a run down tavern situated on 300 acres of scenic beauty 21 years ago. The Smileys opened the resort that same year, 1869, playing host to a group of guests from Philadelphia. They have since improved and expanded the Mohonk Mountain House and have added a bowling alley, a spacious dining room and even a telegraph office.

While bowling is one recreational activity available to Mohonk guests, the resort is more importantly a celebration of the natural environment. Guests can enjoy fishing and boating in the lake or just sit in one of the summerhouses (covered benches) situated along the carriage roads and take in the scenic beauty of this mountain setting.

The Mohonk Mountain House provides an ideal respite for businessmen in the city who can get away for a week or two. It is only a few hours train ride from New York City to Palz Point where visitors can take a 90 minute carriage ride up the mountain to the resort. For those who can’t leave their businesses for that long they’ll find Mohonk to be an ideal place to send their wives and children for the summer as it is close enough to commute on weekends. Women visitors are especially likely to enjoy having all their meals served in the Smileys’ dining room.

And at the Mohonk Mountain House you can be assured that the highest moral standards are maintained. Alcohol is prohibited, as is gambling and dancing. No carriages are allowed to arrive or depart on the Sabbath. There is a 10-minute prayer service daily as well as a non-denominational Sunday service.

Guests at this oasis in the Catskills have included Presidents Chester Arthur and Rutherford Hayes as well as former First Lady Julia Grant. Mr. Albert Smiley is well known for his civic mindedness and for the past seven years has been hosting the Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indians, a group he brings together to discuss how to improve the living standards of Native Americans.

A stay at the Mohonk Mountain House may seem a bit pricey to some at $25-$35 per week for a double room but all meals are included in that price. And the Smileys have been known to make financial accommodations for guests interested in a longer stay.

(See also The 1890 Travel Blogger posts about Atlantic City, ”
Wonderland,” and the Grand Tour of America.)

Posted in History, Travel | Tagged 1890 Travel Blogger, Albert Smiley, Alfred Smiley, history, Lake Mohonk, Mohonk Mountain House, New York, resorts, Shawangunk Mountains, travel | 7 Comments

Big Games in a Small Gym, The Sweet Sixteen Comes to Montclair

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Ken Dowell

NCAA Division 3 Women’s Basketball Tournament

Sectionals (Round of 16)

Panzer Athletic Center, Montclair State University

Salisbury 63 Amherst 58

Montclair State 61 Bowdoin 54

One night later Montclair State beat Salisbury 68-44 to go to the women’s Divisin 3 Final Four.

Posted in Sports | Tagged Amherst College, basketball, Bowdoin College, Montclair State University, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Panzer Athletic Center, Salisbury University, sports, Sweet Sixteen | 2 Comments

Worlds Collide, a Review of Dead Wake

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Ken Dowell

Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson

I have read two of Erik Larson’s previous works. I was totally engrossed in Devil in the White City and then picked up Thunderstruck. I found it to be almost the same story albeit about a different historical event and different killer. It was almost as though Larson was plugging the results of his research into a template for combining history and true crime stories. So I laid off his books for a bit. That is until a review copy of Dead Wake materialized on my kitchen counter. I’m glad it did.

What Larson does as well as anyone is to craft rich historical characters that have as much depth as the creations of good fiction writers. That isn’t just for well known figures like Woodrow Wilson for whom there are extensive writings both by and about, but for characters like second class passengers on the Lusitania and the captains of German U-boats. Every time I’ve read a Larson book I have at least once turned it over to take a look at the back cover to verify that it was indeed nonfiction.

Larson is a meticulous researcher who embellishes his stories with a minute level of detail. We learn, for example, that one of the passengers on the Lusitania was the New England bookseller Charles Lauriat. We know that he was carrying with him a rare original copy of Dickens’ Christmas Carol as well as some drawings by William Thackeray that he was bringing to London to show Thackeray’s sister. We even know that on the day of the attack he got up at 8 a.m.

What I don’t always like about Larson’s writing is that he has a bit of a flair for the melodramatic. Consider this sentence, referring to the earlier disappearance of an American citizen aboard a British ship that was attacked by a German submarine: “It was one more beat in a cadence that seemed to be growing faster and louder.”

Torpedo tube (photo by jurisamonen)

Dead Wake is a reminder of what a brutal affair World War I was. This is a war in which massive armies set up in trenches facing each other and fired away, not gaining so much as an inch in territorial advantage but killing and maiming tens of thousands of young men who were conscripted into service. It was a war in which civilians were consciously targeted and slaughtered as well. A war of terrorism, a harbinger of what we would see in the next 100 years. The sinking of the Lusitania was an act of terrorism. 1,195 people died. None were military personnel.

Nor were the combatants in the so-called Great War concerned about putting civilians in harm’s way. Although the Lusitania was a passenger ship it was carrying 1,250 cases of shrapnel-laden artillery shells produced by Bethlehem Steel and en route to the British troops on the continental front. Not that the captain of the German submarine who fired the torpedo that gutted the Lusitania was aware of this. In fact, if Larson’s account is correct he didn’t even know it was the Lusitania he was bringing down until after the fact.

If you watched the Oscar-nominated movie The Imitation Game, you saw the story of the British mathematicians who intercepted and decoded German messages in World War II. Part of that story was the cautiousness with communicating and using the information that they obtained for fear of Germany realizing they had cracked the Enigma code. At one point they withheld what they knew even though it meant a British ship was going to be destroyed. In World War I that group was called Room 40 and they were equally secretive. Larson suggests, in fact, that Room 40 may have had information that could have saved the Lusitania that was never communicated to the ship’s captain. He also raises the question of whether some in the British Admiralty refrained from any effort to ensure the safety of this ship in hopes that an attack on the passenger liner that had departed from New York would bring the U.S. into the war.

We all know what the outcome of this story is going to be. Nevertheless, Larson creates suspense by alternating chapters about life on the Lusitania and life on the U-20, the German sub which fired the fateful torpedo. He skillfully builds up that suspense until their worlds collide.

This is simply an enormously interesting book. It is the saga of the sinking of the Lusitania, but it is also the story of the lives of the people on the ship and on the submarine.

Posted in Book reviews, History | Tagged books, Erik Larson, history, Lusitania, maritme warfare, ships, submarines, World War I | 21 Comments

The 1890 Travel Blogger: Grand Tour of America

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Ken Dowell

3. Grand Tour of America

The concept of a Grand Tour started in Europe as early as the 17^th century. It has become something of a rite of passage for European, and especially English, noblemen and landed gentry. Upon completing their education and before settling in to a life of privilege, they take a pilgrimage to France and Italy and sometimes Greece, in search of art and antiquity.

In more recent times some of these Old World aristocrats have looked to America for a different Grand Tour destination. The Marquis de Lafayette and Alexis de Tocqueville are among the well known Europeans who famously set out on a Grand Tour of America. The first Grand Tours of the New World were all about points of interest in the Northeast. In the first half of this century that was likely to include New York City, the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills, Niagara Falls, the Connecticut River Valley and the White Mountains.

Now as modern rail tracks have been set down from coast to coast it is possible to offer a tour that can best be described as the Manifest Destiny of American travel. A transcontinental Grand Tour of America dwarfs the European tours both in terms of size and in natural splendor.

The premier provider of Grand Tours of America is the Raymond and Whitcomb Agency of Boston. Just last year Raymond and Whitcomb offered its sixth annual Tour Across the Continent and Through the Pacific Northwest. The 72-day trip started and ended in Boston. Two other coast to coast tours left from Boston in the fall.

This year, Raymond and Whitcomb is planning a Grand Excursion of 66 Days including a Visit to Yellowstone National Park and an added tour across the continent to the scenic points of the Pacific Northwest and California. The Grand Excursion leaves from New York on Thursday, Sept. 1, and will cost $525.

The trip west will follow the Northern Pacific Railway Line starting in St. Paul. It includes a full week in Yellowstone. The western trip will also take in the scenery of the Rocky Mountains, Lake Pend d’Oreille and the Cascade Mountains. Upon reaching the Northwest the tour will include a visit to Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Seattle, Tacoma and a steamer trip on the Columbia River.

Hotel del Coronado

The trip from Portland down through California will be on the scenic Mount Shasta All-Rail Line. Time will be provided for an excursion to the Yosemite Valley and the Big Trees. And in Southern California, the travelers will spend three nights at the magnificent new Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

The return trip will be along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas, connecting in Kansas City with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway. And what Grand Tour of America would be complete without a stopover at Niagara Falls where the group will dine at the Spencer House.

(Kaz)

Traveling by rail on a Raymond and Whitcomb tour is the height of luxury. Guests will be accommodated in vestibuled Pullman Palace cars. Dining cars on the trains will provide three meals a day. And the trains include libraries and barber shops.

The cost of the Grand Excursion, in addition to double berth Pullman sleeper cars, includes any required stage or steamer fares, hotel accommodations, all meals and all transfer and handling of baggage. Travelers will arrive back in New York on Saturday, Nov. 5. A little later in the year, Raymond and Whitcomb will also be offering a 62-day Grand Excursion to the Pacific Northwest and California at a cost of $475. That trip leaves from New York on Monday, Oct. 13.

In planning its Grand Tours of America for 1890, the agency promises that “the route of the excursion combines in its constant succession of grand features the most diversified and picturesque scenery upon the continent.”

(Earlier 1890 Travel Blogger posts include Atlantic City and Wonderland.)

Posted in History, Travel | Tagged Grand Tour, history, railroads, Raymont and Whitcomb, travel, Yellowstone | 21 Comments

Baker Rink: 93 and Counting

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Ken Dowell

Baker Rink, Princeton, N.J.

Baker Rink on the campus of Princeton University is not the oldest hockey rink in America. Mathews Arena at Northeastern University in Boston opened in 1910 and the Calumet Colosseum in Michigan’s Upper Penisula was built in 1913.

Baker Rink dates from 1922. It is over 90 years old and continues to be the home of the Princeton University men’s and women’s ice hockey teams. It only seats 2,000 and is as good a place to watch a hockey game as you’ll find anywhere.

Too bad they don’t still wear those striped leggings.

Baker Rink is named after Hobie Baker. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Baker led Princeton to the national championship in 1912 and 1914. He later enlisted in the Air Force and served in Europe during World War I. He did in 1918 in a place crash in France.

The Hobie Baker Award, shown above, is given out each year to the outstanding player in men’s college hockey. The award for the best women’s college hockey player is also named after a Princeton skater, Patty Kazmaier. A member of the class of 1986, she played four years at Princeton and was the Most Valuable Player in the Ivy League in her senior year. Kazmaier also passed away prematurely, dying from a rare blood disease at age 28.

Yesterday

and today

It may be hockey, but it’s still the Ivy League

Posted in Sports | Tagged Baker Rink, Hobie Baker, hockey, Princeton, sports | 2 Comments

The 1890 Travel Blogger: Wonderland

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Ken Dowell

2. Wonderland

It was 18 years ago in 1872 that Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill creating Yellowstone National Park. And it was at the same time that the Helena Daily Herald christened this massive expanse of one-of-a-kind natural oddities Wonderland.

Moose habitat

Depending on who you talk to, the creation of Yellowstone as a national park was intended to preserve this scenic Wonderland for all Americans, to protect it from commercial exploitation and to act as a reservation for the park’s wildlife, including buffalo, bears, elk and antelope. But others say the idea came from Jay Cooke as a way to load the potential visitors onto his Northern Pacific Railway. Whatever the reason, Yellowstone exists today at the edge of wilderness and civilization, a place that can still be discovered and explored.

Old Faithful

It presents a collection of natural wonders that can be seen nowhere else in the world. There is the scenic beauty of stops like the Yellowstone Grand Canyon but there is also an unending array of geysers, springs, and boiling mud pots, many in striking colors and surrounded by unusual rock formations. Sights like these, as you might imagine, are unpredictable. One of Yellowstone’s geysers goes off only once every fortnight. Old Faithful, on the other hand, got its name by being just that and putting on a show on a regular schedule for all visitors.

A trip to Yellowstone is both vigorous and invigorating. If you are coming from the east coast the most popular route is to take the Northern Pacific to Livingston, Mont., and to change there for a spur route to Cinnabar, Mont. At Cinnabar you can board a stage coach for the 8-mile ride through the northern entrance of the park to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. If you’re coming from the West you can take the Utah and Northern Railway to Monida, Mont., then take a stage coach through the West entrance.

Mammoth Hot Springs

At the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel you can book 5 days of lodging, meals and transport through the park for $40. Travelling within the park is on horse-drawn wagons, each with four horses and capacity for 11 passengers.

Some visitors will rent a wagon and camping equipment in Montana and explore the park at their own pace, often with guides and servants. Others choose to explore on horseback. The Northern Pacific publishes the Wonderland guides which include information about Yellowstone’s attractions and maps.

In addition to the famous Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, a new hotel, the Lake, recently opened near Yellowstone Lake. And the soon-to-be Fountain Hotel is under construction near Old Faithful. For the campers there are tent camps at the Norris Geyser Basin and the Upper Geyser Basin. President Chester Arthur choose to camp on his tour of Yellowstone in 1883.

The Paint Pots

Yellowstone is a vast territory and many of the attractions are quite far apart. It is more than 30 miles from the Mammoth Hot Springs to Yellowstone Canyon and almost 40 miles to Old Faithful. Coach tours of the park may cover as much as 40 miles a day. In the last decade, the Army Corps of Engineers has built some new roads and made getting around the park a bit easier. Since 1886, Yellowstone has been managed and maintained by the U.S. Army.

While many come to Wonderland to see the sights, others see it as a path for restoring physical and mental health. One well-known German doctor prescribes its spring water, because of its arsenic content, as an effective treatment for nervous disorders. Others cite the healthfulness of the sulphuric smell that pervades much of the park. And of course we all understand the restorative value of camping.

At this early stage of its existence as a national park, Yellowstone remains an adventure, a way for travelers to imagine themselves on a Lewis and Clark expedition. It is a place to feel free and explore.

Posted in History, Travel | Tagged 19th century, geysers, history, national parks, Old Faithful, railroads, travel, Yellowstone | 28 Comments

(Nearly) Live at Social Media Week: Has Technology Changed Everything?

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Ken Dowell

Technology has democratized publishing. It has, through social media, given advertisers and marketers a way to access their audience without buying space. It has changed the way we distribute content and the way we measure its effectiveness.

Has it changed everything? No. “Technology has not changed the basic human need for a story that’s worthy of our attention,” according to New York Times ad exec Meredith Kopit Levien.

Kopit Levien opened today’s Social Media Week panel discussion by raising the example of Uber. If Uber had focused only on the technology and not the customer experience, they would not have grown the way they have. They “created something much better by caring about the quality of the ride.”

She suggested that the same issue applies to storytelling. The quality of the content though has sometimes gotten lost because it has been subordinated to the “mechanics of distribution.”

“You can buy impressions, clicks and page views,” Kopit Levien said. “What you can’t buy is rapt attention. You can only get that through great storytelling.” She predicted that the next wave of technology innovations will be focused on what goes into the platform not on the platform itself.

The New York Times-sponsored panel included advertisers, marketers and consultants in the space. Although some, like Goldman Sachs’ Amanda Rubin had much trendier sounding titles, Global Co-Head of Brand and Content Strategy. That reflects the direction all the panelists see advertising and marketing as moving toward.

Rubin described “engagement with audiences” as a focus that has superseded advertising. She also noted that it is sometimes hard to stay in touch with the basics of marketing, like reaching a targeted audience, in a world of technology “bells and whistles.”

Edward Kim, founder of Simple Reach, described us as being into the push rather than the pull era of the Internet. In the pull era we would go online, look for the content we wanted and call it up. The push era requires it to be on our phone when we boot it up. The only effective way to bring your message to your audience in a mobile format, Kim said, is content

John Ohara, SVP strategy, Giant Spoon, predicted that the next focus in trying to engage audiences and measure effectiveness will be focusing on commenting and chatting. How do brands become part of a dialogue that keeps them in the conversation.

The archived Livestream feed of today’s discussion is available here.

Posted in Digital publishing, Technology | Tagged advertising, content, content marketing, digital publishing, marketing, New York Times, Social Media Week, storytelling, technology | 7 Comments

(Nearly) Live at Social Media Week: The Future of Transportation

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Ken Dowell

Technology will change not only the cars we drive but the way both people and parcels are moved around the world and the environments in which that transportation takes place. Today’s Social Media Week panel on the Future of Transportation included a representative from a big car company, a start up and an academic.

Erica Klampfl, whose title at Ford is Future Mobility Manager, talked about some the trends that Ford looks at that will influence their products in the future. These include increased urbanization, the growth of the middle class, air quality issues and changing customer attitudes, such as putting off life events like getting married and buying a house at a later age.

Reilly Brennan, a professor at Stanford, talked about the aging of the population. He noted that someone born in 2015 has a 50/50 change of living to be 100. That suggests a growing need for mobility solutions that do not involve driving a car.

One of the most likely and most interesting changes that all in the panel envision coming to cars involves software. Brennan pointed to the phone as a model where regular software updates refresh your phone. Cars, on the other hand, tend to get worse with age. Can a software refresh be applied to cars that makes them seem renewed if not new? These panelists think so. They also suggested that software updates could in the future take care of a lot of recalls.

Cars have already and will continue to get smarter. Another panelist, Jamyn Edis, is the CEO of Dash, a company that makes a device that can be installed under the dashboard and connected to a smart phone. That device can do things like tell you why your check engine light is on, what needs to be done and how much it will cost to make the repair. The Dash device is also an example of the enormous amount of data and intelligence that can be accumulated by a smart car, data about not just vehicles but drivers, traffic, routes and roads.

The self driving car is something that has created a lot of interest, but Edis cautioned that it is not imminent. He noted that Google, which is probably the leader in this area, has acknowledged that we are a good 10 to 20 years away from having mainstream self-driving vehicles. There is however a continuous development of features, like aids to parking or automatic breaking, that are moving vehicles incrementally in that direction.

Technology offers the opportunity to not only make vehicles smarter but to make cities smarter about how they move people around. Colin Nagy, executive director of the Barbarian Group, who moderated the discussion, raised the example of light posts that can help you find a parking spot or navigate around traffic.

While transportation planners look at single-occupancy vehicles as a wasted resource, in the future we may feel the same way about single purpose vehicles. Brennan said “a vehicle on the road should have a number of uses.” And one of those uses is moving parcels. They speculated on whether Uber will get into shipping.

You can access an archived feed of this session here.

Posted in Technology | Tagged cars, Dash, Ford, Social Media Week, software, technology, transportation | 1 Comment