Nur Ahmad Furlong

Tag: web_guru

  • Web Trends Map 2009 – An Information Design Masterpiece

    Following a re-tweet about a post discussing web typography, sorry I forget who initially tweeted this one, I was confronted with a piece of information design work which had me absolutely speechless. I’ve seen previous versions of the Web Trends Map, but this latest installment is a real work of art.

    Information Design to make your mouth Water

    This is a masterpiece of information design
    This is a masterpiece of information design

    The Web Trend Map is a yearly publication by Information Architects Inc. (iA). It maps the 333 leading Web domains and the 111 most influential Internet people onto the Tokyo Metro map.

    I can’t wait for this to be finalized so I can get hold of a printed copy for my office.

    What the Map really means.

    According to the creator’s of this map of juicy web goodness, countless hours of research was undertaken to assess to most effective, profitable and traffic generating websites and web gurus to put together a resource which is filled with the web’s most influential spaces and faces.

    These web trends have been intelligently super-imposed over a map of the Tokyo Metro System, aligning those web venues which have similar characteristics to the actually Tokyo Metro spaces they virtually occupy. For example:

    Google is placed in the busiest, most highly trafficked train station in the world: Shinjuku.

    The width of an entities station represents it’s stability in the web space.

    Trend Lines/Genres

    Metro lines were established to group similar web entities. Upon investigation you’ll quickly realise what a mammoth task of information architecture this must have been. Further more, characteristics like the height of specific stations on the Virtual Map, represent the web entities success in terms of both traffic & revenue, which explains of course why Google towers above the rest. The use of various coloured lines and the position of certain stations at intersections of 1, 2 or 3 lines expresses which trend lines specific web entities actually cross or overlap.

    Just a quick glance across the Trend Map reveals a wealth of information and insight into the current shape of the web sphere. I can see this map being presented in thousands of boardrooms and strategic sessions world-wide. It’s got that buzz appeal which the Orielly Web 2.0 Tag Cloud held at the beginning of the entrance of Web 2.0 into the mainstream. The many so called “social media gurus” out there are gonna eat this one up for breakfast lunch & supper.

    This is very much still a work of art and feedback is being taken currently to make it as accurate, error free and apt as it can possibly be.

    I’ve spent only a few minutes glancing at this web wonder and have already foreseen endless hours of my future dissappear in the journey this one is about to open for me. I’ll stop myself from using the cliche’s of beautiful, stunning, elegant to describe this one, even though these and more over used adjectives definitely apply in this case.

  • Web Guru Spotlight 6: Rob Stokes – Quirk Star Master

    Rob Stokes - Quirk Founder & CEO

    I was spurred into action to revive my Web Guru Spotlight Series of interviews when I came across the release of Quirk e-Marketing’s latest online marketing e-book. Rob Stokes, the brains behind Quirk has been a key figure in shaping the online marketing landscape in South Africa.

    I have been watching Quirk with interested over the last few years due to the fact that they just seem to be staying ahead and being innovative in a seemingly saturated space.
    So enough about Quirk, let’s chat with Rob, the man responsible for getting the Quirk Ball rolling.

    Hi Rob, thanks for giving us some of your valuable time to chat and answer a few questions.
    So you started Quirk the year after I graduated from design School. What lead up to the founding of Quirk?

    I’ve always been a bit of a serial entrepreneur and Quirk was simply the next step for me. Quite honestly at first it was just a way of making some extra cash so I could stop delivering pizza like a poor student…

    Are you positive about the direction the online media space is taking in South Africa.

    I think we still have a long way to go, but it’s only going up. With SA being a relative laggard in global tech this also has some long term positives. For example you don’t see Neotel laying down copper cables. They will be fibre from the start and that will really benefit us in the long term.

    Yes, I’m a glass half full type of guy

    Your team are called QuirkStars and your office is called the Quirk Station, tell us a bit about this and the working environment you’ve created.

    I absolve myself from all blame on these names! The seemingly silly names have evolved from my staff over the years and whilst we know they are a bit geeky, we’re proud of being QuirkStars so I guess it’s just stuck. As for the working environment, I think we have the best coffee in Cape Town! Seriously though, I think we have created an open working environment where the creative juices can flow.

    Do you think the Online Industry is saturated or do you think there’s space for more players?

    Definitely not saturated, but definitely fragmented. I think as the industry evolves we will start to see some consolidation and within 10 years I’m sure the online marketing industry will mirror the structure of the traditional ad industry today. I’m happy to mirror their structure as long as we don’t mirror their stereotypical marketing beliefs 😉


    What is the potential for the online industry to have an impact on the unemployment rate in South Africa

    At the end of the day, pretty much anything that stimulates an economy will benefit unemployment. Ferdie Bester said to me the other day that the best thing we can do as South Africans is start a business and employ people and the internet has made that easier than ever. Now, if only our government would support entrepreneurship as well as the internet does…

    How do you think we can nurture better skills in the online space in the strategic, creative & technical spaces? Should the focus be on educational institutions or industry players?

    I think there needs to be partnerships between the private and academic sectors. The reality is that cutting edge online tactics evolve from industry and not academia – this is as a result of competition driving innovation.

    I’d like to see more companies across the board doing their bit to work with the tremendous academic institutions in SA.

    The team you have working for you seem to be a really uniquely chosen bunch and are stars in their own right. Could you give us some insight into your hiring approach?

    For starters it is our goal to have a brand which people want to work for. Solving this is half the problem.

    Secondly we will experiment with pretty much anything to find people. From Facebook ads to hiring bounties we have tried many things, some have worked, some haven’t, but that’s what online marketing is all about.

    Once someone cracks an interview, they are generally seen by their possible team leader and our COO. It might take a few interviews, but if they prove that they have the skills, they then get to be grilled by me to ensure they will fit into our culture. I ask a lot of strange questions, but if you make it through, chances are you rock.

    Apart from that, the only other unusual thing is that we work on one man one vote. Inpsired by Ricardo Semler, this means that I, as the CEO, can get outvoted on hiring people. In fact I’ll admit that in the past I’ve voted against hiring someone who the team wanted. We hired that person and I’ll admit that I was wrong and they turned out to be awesome… ah the power of democracy.

    Is there a difference between online & offline entrepreneurship?

    The fundamentals remain the same only the tactics change.

    Many people see online entrepreneurship as this ultimate money making space similar to the way they did before dot bomb. Do you think a crash might be headed our way?

    No. Some will fail, some will succeed, but I don’t see an industry wide crash.

    I’ve spent the last few weeks teaching some newbies XHTML, CSS & WordPress. What do you think would be the most essential additional skills to pass on to newbies.

    Basic HTML, SQL, SEO and PPC. Once you’ve wrapped your head around those concepts, marketing on the internet becomes a far easier and more intuitive process.

    You’ve been very involved in the web community since I started getting into the whole meetup / (un)conference scene, has this added value to your organisation?

    I think it’s important that we are a contributing member of the community in which we work. Being part of these events goes a long way to achieving that so yes, I do think we have benefited.

    Would you recommend all businesses go social in this way?

    I think businesses need to interact with their customers and community on their terms and in their space. If this means an unconference then so be it.

    I’ve always been an advocate for giving before receiving and admire your gesture of releasing your e-marketing textbook. Does the cost of producing it really justify this type of approach?

    Publishing a book is not an easy or cheap exercise. The Quirk eMarketing book took us 8 months and all in all cost us almost half a million Rand.

    On the surface we will make a massive loss, but we’re not looking at book sales to drive any sort of ROI for us on this.

    This is an example of capitalist driven social development. Quirk will gain from this if we can get thousands of students each year to enjoy learning from our book. These students will become our future staff and customers and it’s very difficult to put a price on that.

    So that’s how we justify it from a business perspective. From a personal perspective we have done something really good here. This book will improve the lives of many people and that makes us feel incredibly good.

    Lack of access to information and knowledge tools & resources is a big disadvantage for the majority of South Africans.

    Do you think there is a serious business case for corporates developing capacity in this area?

    YES!

    We want the Quirk book to be an example to companies in all industries to do the same.

    Open Education began primarily as an initiative at school level, but eventually I hope it will permeate all areas where skills are required. Imagine if De Beers wrote a Geology textbook…

    Have you focused much on mobile strategies and where do you think the coming mobile revolution could have the most impact?

    No, this version of the textbook is very thin on the mobile side. However as we needed to have the book ready for the second university semester of 2008 we left out a few chapters.

    We plan to update the book over the next few months with about 5 new chapters of which mobile is definitely one.

    Do you think consumer action or provider competition could ever have an impact on the cost of bandwidth in South Africa?
    Without doubt. Both are fundamental to economic efficiency and the internet itself promotes both by giving consumers a voice and lower barriers to competition.
    I found the launch of Brandseye very interesting. How has the uptake of this innovative solution been so far?

    It’s been OK. Internationally it has been well received but locally the mindset isn’t fully there yet and I do acknowledge that the price makes it pretty exclusive.

    However we have a plan to cater to a wider audience so watch this space…

    Do you guys use Brandseye for Quirk?

    Of course!

    Do you think knowledge work and mobile workers are on the rise in South Africa?

    Definitely!

    What are your favourite tools you use as a knowledge worker on a daily basis?

    Twitter, our internal Wiki, RSS

    Mac or PC?

    Sigh…. PC

    Firefox or Safari?

    The Fox… it’s the only way!

    How do you feel about IE6?

    Poef

    What’s next for South Africa Online?

    Video. Currently it’s a pain to watch online video locally. I’d like to think that in the next 2 years South African’s will forget what “buffering” means…

    Any last words?

    Thanks for a thought provoking interview…!

    Thanks to “YOU” Rob and we look forward to hearing you speak at the Heavy Chef session on the 27th.

  • Reviving my Web Guru Spotlight – Chatting to Rafiq Phillips

    A while back I started posting a series of interviews of people I feel have made a difference to my experience of the web in some way or another. It’s been a while since I’ve posted one and I have the feeling I need to revive this little story and start chatting with some web gurus again.

    Today we’ll be hearing a little from Rafiq Phillips, who needs little introduction, especially if you’re based in South Africa.

     webguruspotlight-rafiq

    Today we will be speaking to Rafiq Phillips, SEM(Search Engine Marketing) Whizz Kid, web entrepreneur, collaboration enthusiast and general web guru. Rafiq Has a long list of achievements most notably the much respected blog Web AddiCT(S); (Web Application Development, Design & Innovation in Cape Town) which has been going for about 2 years, His Pillar Position at Quirk e-marketing, iDrive.co.za, a web application to help find driving school instructors, SEO blog and a host of other initiatives in collaboration with some of the top names in the SA new media industry.

    Just google ‘Rafiq Phillips” and you’ll be shocked at the long list of results. He’s an advocate of the googleCV! When I first saw his picture and didn’t know too much about him I would have thought him to be a junior just moving his way up the ranks, but don’t let his unassuming presence fool you, We’ve got a real Guru in our presence.

    So let me welcome to nomad-one, our favourite Web AddiCT.

    It’s obvious you’re not a shy guy and don’t lack confidence at all in going out there and saying your say. What has been the greatest influence in pushing you to strive the way you have in achieving your goals.

    I’m on a mission to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave, you know where that’s from 😉

    No doubt you’re proudly South African. Seems we have some interesting & challenging times ahead of us. How do you think we can succeed in meeting these challenges.

    Most obstacles facing internet start-ups in developing regions of the wwworld, I believe, have been put in place back bureaucrats and ill-informed policy makes. Look at the ODF vs MS debate.

    Their is a great opportunity for organisations and individuals to wwwork together and innovate around those man-made constraints and achieve the unthinkable, unthinkable to those who put difficulties in our way or fear the future.

    Rafiq, though I envy your success I am sure I’ll not envy your workload. Someone like you must be snowed under permanently. Tell us about a typical day in the life of Rafiq.

    If you’d like to follow me around for a typical day the best and easiest way would be to follow me on twitter. The Carte Blanche interview also sums up a typical day of my life in the public timeline..

    Technology as we all know is not an end in itself, something I was reminded a while back by Chris Garrett in an interview with him. I’m always full of big ideas and great ambitions but follow through is where the real test lies. How do you go about putting into practice your ideas, or do things happen in a random or more unplanned manner in your wwworld.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi says it best: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

    I have a final destination in mind but the path usually unfolds as the journey continues.

    I’m always reading up on a whole range of productivity methods & Techniques. Tell about your approach to getting things done quicker & better.

    Many hands, eyes, minds make wwwork easy. Asking for help is the best way to get things done right. At Quirk my work would bee nothing without the SEO Crew, Carlos Menezes , Suzan Gray, Sarah Manners and Tim Shier just to name a few.

    The web Is a great place to promote causes and to initiate projects towards positive change in society. Recently I’ve set up a website to initiate dialogue around a project which has been floating in my mind for close to 10 years now but in the mix of everything else that everyone is trying to achieve it seems each endeavour becomes a little more watered down on its own. Any ideas on how to solve this problem?

    Like the various chapters in the emarketing textbook each aspect of emarketing is separate but combined have the ability to achieve your holistic marketing goals on and offline.

    In a similar manner, when looking at all the projects you are involved in, do not approach each of them as separate but rather as one project aimed at achieving your big hairy audacious goal. If all the projects you are involved in are not all heading in the same direction should you really be re-thinking and re-aligning your involvement to ensure that your goal is met with each of them.

    Where would you position South Africa as a player in the global knowledge economy.

    No matter what those on the outside might think. South Africa IS a first world country, with 3rd world problems. That puts us in the best position to use the best of both worlds top offer world class services at the fraction of the cost of our closest competitors

    Having followed the social bookmarking onslaught which has hit the South African web do you think its in danger of becoming too dominated by an elite group of web enthusiasts and rules out the rest of the web using population?

    no comment.

    I know I’m jumping around from topic to topic but please bear with me, I’d like to cross question you on any and everything that comes to mind. What role do you think design plays in the success or failure of web initiatives.

    Embed this video by the SEO rapper as my answer.

    Can design & technology solve South Africa’s problems?

    Can design and technology solve problems? Yes it can. Road Safety and Driver Education are one of the biggest problems facing ALL South Africans on a daily basis. Sites with little or no help from external sources like www.idrive.co.za, www.arrivealive.co.za, www.saidi.org.za and roadsafety.wordpress.com helps the ‘normal’ person on the web, mobile, MXit but could have a greater impact offline with a little more assistance from the right individuals or companies.

    What’s your favourite web initiative?

    WordPress FTW!

    What’s your favourite activity?

    Eating home cooked meals.

    Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years time?

    I’d love to be invited to TED…

    How do we prepare ourselves online for 2010 and what effect do you think this event will have on the SA web?

    I believe eDucation is the key. Let’s look past the FUD and focus on solving our own problems and not wait for a hand out. 

    First project I did in PHP while at Cape Tech in 2003, www.tourguide.co.za, is still running (fully automated) today and could help 100’s of 1000’s of South Africans in the tourism industry with a little work. If anyone would love to get involved with this project which is currently lying dormant. Please contact me directly.

    How can each one of us make a difference in the building of the “new new South Africa”

    By not repeating the mistakes of our fathers.

    Like we’ve come to know him and in typical Rafiq style, a man of few words with one or 2 gems tucked in there. Thanks for chatting with us Rafiq, we’ll be looking forward to your talk at Flying Solo