The title read “The radio broadcast that panicked America!

I remember sitting in our lounge when I was about 10, and listening to the eerie cylinder pop open with a HIISSSSSSSS. Of course that was in 1988, 50 years after the original broadcast that marked a shift in how people view popular media. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, do not fear – I seem to be the only one in our office who does. I’m talking about War of the Worlds, and the 1938 national (American) broadcast of the HG Wells classic from the Meridian Room at the Plaza in New York City. Performed convincingly over radio, the story told of the arrival of an alien meteor in Grover’s Mill (a small American town in New Jersey). The cylinder contained in te meteor was red-hot, and a strange creature soon emerged from it (obviously scaring the living daylights out of bystanders).

The frightening part was however not the alien, but how people reacted to the broadcast. Simply put, it caused massive panic. Radio was mainly a source of news in those days, and people weren’t at all expecting fiction. They believed every word of the broadcast, and the events that followed are to this day cited as a unique example of mass hysteria in action. Psychologists use the event to model hysteria scenarios. Military commanders use it to develop strategies for tactical information warfare.

I find it fascinating to think about how people have adapted their information consumption habits over the years. Today, achieving information credibility is extremely difficult, simply because everyone is an information source. This poses the question: Did they trust radio because it was the ONLY source, or because they hadn’t been subjected to smoke and mirrors and clever trickery before ?

In today’s terms: Do monopolistic information sources have mass credibility simply because of a lack of other options ? Hmmm…

Interesting Stuff link: War of the Worlds, Orson Welles, And The Invasion from Mars.

I recently posted a short essay entitled I have a dream. In it, I painted a colourful picture of a very real future (real I think at least, within a not-too-distant timeframe). After reading it twice though, I realised that this dream might be a bit vague. Sure, it seems nice even if you don’t really know what I’m referring to, but I felt that it needed a bit more clarification. To make it interesting, I decided to show how Microsoft Office System already offers possibilities beyond what most people are aware of. Of late, I’ve been very interested in alternative (Open Source) ways of doing things, and have been seduced by the sexy technicality of it. Funnily enough, when I decided to use some Microsoft software intensively again, I felt a bit stupid for emphasizing the means above the end. The explanation is as follows:/

The dream talks about people sharing ideas, emotions and experiences, constantly. The reality I was referring to is that of interactive, instantaneous communication enabled by electronic networks. MSN Messenger and similar tools are a good example.

I also used the phrase “The thoughts in my mind create inspiration for another”, implying that whatever I’m currently doing should immediately be shareable, without fuss. What I’m really getting it is that it shouldn’t be any hassle or effort whatsoever. My Gran should be able to do it, with just basic computer skills. Enter something like OneNote – way ahead, and way underrated... I mean, c’mon, whenever I get an idea for some arrangement, I can draw a diagram in OneNote, and paste a webpage onto it. Within two clicks, I can then drag-and-drop it into an Outlook Meeting to refer to later, or mail it to this blog if I want to. Kick-ass stuff

At one point, I mentioned the fabric of collaboration, and this is what I meant: Truly effective efforts are often made possibly by well-coordinated teamwork, and Microsoft leads the world again. Take a look at SharePoint Team Services (or Sharepoint Portal Server if you’re so inclined). Without hyping the stuff too much, there is no easier way for people to share documents and workspaces. In simple terms, if you work on documents as a team, SharePoint (even in basic Team Services guise) is truly amazing stuff. Why? Because, once again, it’s easy as pie. I just open our intranet homepage (which, by the way, basically works out of the box with Windows Server 2003), and post a fix to some technical problem I’ve solved, for the the benefit of my colleagues. Need to work on a collective proposal? Check a document out, send it around for review (with comment boxes by each reviewer), check it back in when you’re finished, and view the version history at any time...

At this point I’m actually getting excited about everything that’s possible with just the MS Office System. The little bit I’ve mentioned here doesn’t even touch the surface of what’s possible (think drawing live CRM data into a PowerPoint presentation to show to the board).

I’ve been so caught up in web standards and open source stuff lately that I’ve sort of forgotten how easy Microsoft makes things. It’s not about what the capabilities are - we can after all develop software to do pretty much anything we want it to, within reasonable time and cost scopes. Rather, it’s about how technology helps the world do things more efficiently and effectively. Microsoft makes things easy, and that is why they are on top, and will remain on top for some time to come. It’s as simple as that.

My point in summary? Ease-of-use is THE critical deciding factor in technology, in my humble opinion. I breathe IT and understand complexity, and it even matters to me.

Microsoft has a nice summary description of what they’re doing to make sharing easier up at “at work: discover ways to work smarter

Today, I have a dream. In this dream, the world is alive. People share ideas, emotions and experiences, and they do it every second of every minute. The thoughts in my mind create inspiration for another, and this inspiration is drawn from a universal pool of consciousness. This consciousness extends beyond geographical boundaries, enveloping the planet like a soft sheet through which ideas comfort and support those who are tired. This sheet forms a crucial part of society, keeping us from falling into complacency, because it helps us realise that there is so much out there that is still unexplored. It serves as a fabric of collaboration, enabling us to instantly gauge the inherent value of our efforts, by measuring how these efforts can support even just a little part of the human evolution. If we become too focused on the evolution, it gives us a glimpse into the minute details of an individual’s life, and through this glimpse helps us realise that evolution is only an abstract. If our thinking becomes too abstract, it gives us the ability to step back, and remember how our predecessors had to fully commit themselves to something as simple as the hunt. If our thinking becomes too concrete, it reminds us that there is more to living than simply eating.

I see children laughing, and adults smiling at this laughter. Even more importantly, I see adults sharing this laughter with one another, and finding happiness in it. In every mind, I see ideas overflowing, waiting to be caught like precious water droplets in the hot desert sun. I see these droplets coming together to form an ocean of inspiration, and people drinking from this ocean as if nothing else were important.

This is my dream, and this is how I will make it real: By constantly reminding people of the inherent power of the web, of the technologies, however confusing, which can make a real difference in their lives. I will not relent, and I will become stronger through it. More importantly, I will share this strength with the world, even if it does not yet fully understand it. This is my life, and this is how I choose to live it.