CarlaBorsoi.com

It cracks me up to find things way after the fact, including this article on long distance dating. So glad that’s no longer the case!

My favorite is still the Gulf War cocktails, in the Worth Noting section.

2010 has been a wild and wackadoodle year — all in a good way. I’ve barely had time to catch my breath to even call my mother, much to her chagrin. Personally, apart from all the fun side endeavors, the most fun has been that my spousal equivalent, Jeff, moved from Austin to San Francisco. It’s been an extreme pleasure to not only have him present for fun, but also to enjoy the mundanities of life together. Nothing says love like discussing whose turn it is to clean the lint out of the dryer (always me) or to go grocery shopping (always him). Jeff’s also been an awesome step parent to my children and has enjoyed doing all sorts of things, from school trips to family vacations.

Jeff’s move was yet the first of many new things to happen this year. The remaining big ones are all professional and have benefit from his presence.

First off, in January, I switched roles at Ask.com to head up their emerging community of Q&A answerers. I jumped at the chance to put my years of participating in communities online into action as a community manager, not merely a member. Not soon after, however, an old acquaintance (Mike Maser) came a-knockin’ having just left Digg to move to AOL. He offered an opportunity to conduct research among larger audiences and across a wide swath of products. It was a tough choice to leave Ask.com, but I realized the opportunity to have an impact on more products and more people was a professional challenge I needed. After five years at Ask, I bid adieu in late June. Leaving the fantastic women and men of Ask.com was sad, but I look forward to seeing lots of great answers to questions in the Ask.com community.

I began at AOL in late June. These first few weeks yield a vision for the type of analysis and insight that can help a company transform. AOL is a start-around: taking a huge company and turning the tide and all the associated brand imagery built up over 25 years into something new. This is a task that is mentally stimulating and one that will be rewarding. It’s thrilling to be a part of this re-energization of a stalwart so many of us have known. I hope to be able to share some of my philosophies around research here as I delve more deeply into this role. Spending lots of time on airplanes engenders time to ponder research methodologies and techniques deeply – and their application more so.

In other professional news, at the turn of the year, online I met a fellow Rollins alum, John Dick, CEO of Civic Science. He had called to ask a few questions about how I viewed the world of research and through the course of our conversation, we discovered a mutual passion for real time consumer insights, especially among hard to reach consumers (hey teenagers and tech-savvy elites–I’m looking at you!). The Civic Science model allows for polling that can be aggregated in powerful ways to draw conclusions about the marketplace on a nearly inexhaustible list of subjects. This led to me taking a role on the Advisory Board for Civic Science. In the future, you’ll see cross-posting here on CarlaBorsoi.com as I ruminate on data coming from Civic Science’s Millennial Index.

All of these changes are exciting and daunting. It delights me to have these opportunities and appreciate the chance to grow both personally and professionally this year. However, they do mean that I am on the road a great deal and have been traveling extensively this year. You may see me at an airport gate sometime soon. Stop by and say hi and let’s talk some shop.

I wanted to announce that Salon97 has seen fit to appoint me as a member of its advisory board. This organization, dedicated to making classical music accessible to the other 97% of us, had its 2 year anniversary this past weekend. There’s a wonderful write up by Chloe Veltman.

Founder Cariwyl Hebert also announced quite a few fun things at the most recent event. One of these is a text fact of the week. To get this for free, text Salon97 to 41411. (As the commercials say, your text message rate still applies – hopefully you are smart and have unlimited texts, as I do.) Cariwyl has also been blogging about a composer a week. This week is Amy Beach – one of the new-to-me composers I heard at one of the very first events.  Her music is delightful.

Look out for the next event at Citizen Space on June 17th, 7pm!

Many things have been going on in the personal life, causing a delay in my annual listing of the 10 best shows from SXSW Music, along with the complete list of all the bands seen.

In the months before SXSW I sampled the music of about 600 bands and got to a short list of things I really wanted to see. Among the ones I missed and will be on the lookout for shows in SF are The 88, Break of Reality, The Movits and Fergus & Jeronimo.

1. The Spring Standards at Clive Bar/ The Spring Standards at BD Riley’s

The first show was a mellow melodic morning show at Clive Bar, and the second a rocking rolling show at BD Rileys. Without a doubt, the fantastic harmonies and ability to blend the alt-country, folk, with a slight bluesy sound thrilled me to no end. I’ve already pre-ordered their new album. You should too.

3. Jeremy Messersmith at Maggie Mae’s Rooftop/ Jeremy Messersmith at Central Presbyterian Church

Melodies, harmonies and straightforward classic rock-n-roll were hallmarks of this fine gentleman (and crew) from Minneapolis. He impressed me when the power went out at Maggie Mae’s and he and the band went “coffee shop” style — a most excellent performance ensuing. A few nights later he managed to rock a porch. Jeremy also maintains a great Twitter profile.

5. Holy Fuck at Galaxy Outdoors

After lots of twee and melodic time, I needed the palate cleanser that was Holy Fuck. Canadian and prone to having to give fake band names at the border, this electronica outfit had me tapping my toes and shaking my booty.

6. Two Star Symphony at The Hideout

The first show of the whole week had me nervous it would be the best thing I’d see and it would all be downhill from there. Houston based classical musicians put together a fantastic 45 minute set and handed out CDs to attendees.

7. Local Natives – Emo’s Main

From my show going notes: “One of the best shows we saw, energetic and polished with cracks in the veneer.”

8. Jukebox the Ghost – Clive Bar

As a child of the 80s there is never enough synth. Upbeat and poppy, this band stole my heart.

9. Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main

Great, tight show– almost verging on too polished. Look forward to seeing them again soon – they are well put together.

10. Fanfarlo – Galaxy Backyard

Delightful and mellow music in a wonderful outdoor space.

All Shows

Wednesday, March 17

1. Neilyo at Shangri-La
2. Tiger City at Shangri-La
3. Nneka – ACC Day Stage – Only caught two songs, but her voice amazed me.
4. Two Star Symphony – The Hideout
5. Mantler – Beauty Bar
6. L’Orchidee D’Hawaii – Beauty Bar Patio – This amazing combo of crazy sounds sounded amazing and interesting.
7. Ben + Vesper – Beauty Bar
8. Fanfarlo – Galaxy Courtyard
9. We Were Promised Jetpacks – The Parish
10. Frightened Rabbit – The Parish
11. The Black and White Years – Dirty Dog Saloon

Thursday, March 18

1. Invade Rome – Habana Calle 6
2. Jeremy Messersmith – Maggie Mae’s Upstairs
3. The Hush Now – The Side Bar
4. Phantogram – The Side Bar Parking Lot
5. Hot Panda – The Side Bar Parking Lot
6. Dengue Fever – The Side Bar Parking Lot
7. The Seedy Seeds – BD Riley’s
8. Peter Wolf Crier – Emo’s Main Room
9. The Lovely Feathers – Paradise
10. Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main
11. Local Natives – Emo’s Main
12. The Chapin Sisters – Hilton Garden Inn, 18th Floor
13. Uncle Lucius – Valhalla
14. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – Valhalla

Friday, March 19

1. The Spring Standards – Clive Bar
2. The Watson Twins – Antone’s
3. Citizen Cope – Antone’s
4. Minus the Bear – Antone’s
5. Jukebox the Ghost – Clive Bar
6. The Spring Standards – BD Riley’s
7. Twin Tigers – Emo’s Annex
8. Solid Gold – Club DeVille
9. Uffie – Mohawk Patio
10. Summer Cats – Mohawk
11. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Emo’s Annex – Way better live than recorded, can’t wait to see them again.
12. Fool’s Gold – Emo’s Main – Yet another band I wished I’d seen more than half a set for!
13. We Are Scientists – Emo’s Main
14. Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger! – Soho Lounge – This group deserves a special shout out for playing the single worst venue in Austin – a “club” is not the right place for a punk band. They also get love for stopping me in the street and giving me their CD.

Saturday, March 20

1. The Trews – Paradise
2. The Middle East – ACC Day Stage
3. Duchess Says – Galaxy
4. Holy Fuck – Galaxy Backyard
5. Reed Arnos & Valerie Kuster – Rainforest Partnership
6. This Will Destroy You – Lustre Pearl
7. Oh No Ono – Lustre Pearl
8. Jeremy Messersmith – Central Presbyterian
9. Fictionist – Iron Gate

Note: That Saturday was about 38 degrees, so we skipped evening shows and instead saw American: The Bill Hicks Story instead. Highly recommended.

For previous years, see: 2007, 2008, 2009.

I’ll be speaking at SMX West on Using Research to Improve Results - talking about how Ask.com uses insights to improve the overall experience. I’ll primarily be speaking about the intersection of qualitative data and clickstream behavior.

Come see me next Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 1:30 in Santa CLara!

It seems that I’m cultivating a lot of little side projects and monthly events tailored around socializing.

One of these is a group of amazing women who meet up to discuss life, tough life questions and enjoy wonderful meals in our homes. This is called the Comfort Food Club, started by Tara Hunt and Rachel Weidinger.  I appreciate the high quality conversation, an ability to discuss industry (and non-industry doings) and to discuss food.

The next was inspired by LUPEC, and it’s LARC  – Ladies Advocating Respectable Cocktails. Many of us are fans of high quality concoctions made with premium ingredients. Everything from homemade ginger simple syrup or homemade grenadine has made it into drinks featuring everything from Creme to Violette to rum. Every month we have a featured liquor and every member is responsible for bringing a recipe to try. We report out on our successes (yes, only successes) on our group Tumblr. We had a fantastic organizational meeting, agreed on a set of ground rules and have been enjoying all sorts of deliciousness!

The final is a new book club I joined, started this year by Corey Denis. Our group name is SpaceMonkeyLit and you can follow along with what we’re reading each month on Twitter.

What’s interesting about each of these is that each one established its own ground rules for success. Each one has a unique personality and adds to my life in a different way and draws on different people to enhance the things I’m interested in learning more about on a daily basis. For example, while I’ve always been a fan of cocktails, I’ve been learning a lot about the art of mixology as well as the science and history behind the hooch. Comfort Food Club has broadened my food horizons and ways of thinking about food, as well as made me re-think a lot of life’s big questions. Finally, SpaceMonkeyLit has exposed me to new ways of thinking of books I both love and hate.

Ultimately though, these all are centered around my most important life project: people! Familiarizing myself with new friends, getting to know old friends with a new lens, and learning how everyone reacts to specific filters (food, cocktails, books) enhances my own life.

The panel picker for SXSW2010 is now up!

Please vote for my panel and let me know if you have any additional thoughts, feedback, or suggestions in the comments there or on this blog post. I’ve already been following up with folks already who have commented on the panel page itself.

The Community is Dead, Long Live the Community.

My previous post describes more about this panel.

Good grief! It’s still over 8 months away and yet the time is drawing near for the Panel Picker to launch for SXSW 2010.  Since I first went three years ago, I wanted to create panels that would be interesting for people and to talk about things for which I personally feel passion. The second year, I was on the How to Rawk After SXSW panel, and the third I was on a panel with a lovely group of people talking about Developing Super Senses: Tools to Know Your Users. For 2010, I picked another subject I’m interested in: online communities.

While I work for a search engine, in my years at Ask.com I’ve also worked closely with the MindSpark group – looking at how you cultivate community for places like Zwinky. We’ve interviewed groups of friends, talked to people for one on one interviews and done quantitative fieldwork to understand the nature of social networks and how people view their interactions in these spaces. I’ve also spent a lot of time in various online communities and watched them grow in importance in my life, linking me to many people who are my dear and close friends.

However, the downside to this is that some of these communities I’ve joined and nurtured have fallen by the wayside for various reasons. So when the time came to develop a panel proposal for SXSW 2010, this was topic that sprang to mind.  Below is the excerpt from what I’ve submitted to the panel picker for consideration.

Title of panel or presentation
The Community is Dead Long Live the Community

50 word description of this panel / presentation
Online communities typically thrive or decay, but sometimes the entire platform for social interaction is shut down abruptly. Look at Pownce, Dodgeball, or Yahoo!360. How do you keep the community alive when this happens? Should you do so? How do you manage this change? Case studies from the crypt.

10 questions that will be answered in this panel / presentation

1. What types of communities have shut down?
2. Why do communities shut down?
3. What are the types of shutdown?
4. What do you owe the user? Legally? Ethically?
5. What do you do with the content the user generated?
6. What are some ways to migrate user content to other sites?
7. How do you communicate the impending transition with the user?
8. Is it something to even care about?
9. Case studies where the transition has been poorly handled/well handled
10. Creating a community that is self-perpetuating

Panelists

I’ve got a short list of people I’m working to be a part of this panel — some folks I’d like to appear are proposing their own panels, but I’ve approached folks who run ARGs (limited communities – destined to expire), sites who have shut down, while getting help sourcing a lawyer to speak on IP issues, among others. Would love to hear from you too – if you think there’s someone really great out there that should be a part of this discussion. My true aim here is to serve as the moderator and ask interesting questions about how we form, maintain, transition and evolve communities.

Extra Special Thanks

I’m also eternally grateful to the following folks for their input on this panel as the idea evolved: Ernie Hsiung, Dr. Keely Kolmes, Jason Schultz, Kevin Smokler, Natalie Villalobos, and Ariel Waldman. I would know none of you if it weren’t for the Internet and the community around it.

Waiting to Vote?

Voting won’t be live for a few more weeks, will post a reminder then.

I’ll be speaking at Search Engine Strategies on August 11th, on the topic of Search: Where to Next? with a panel of esteemed colleagues.  It’s always a pleasure in these situations to finally get a chance to meet other industry folks whose blogs you read, or whose analysis filters into your inbox on a regular basis. There’s been a lot of chatter about this, and I had the privilege of listening to an interview Charlene Li conducted with Scott Garell, President of Ask Networks in preparation for this event- and it sounds like a lot of us industry folks are on the same wavelength. Stay tuned for the actual event!

My lovely 75 year old father was asked to join Twitter by one of his oldest and dearest friends.

This was his response:

Some folks just love to sit and twitter…
It makes their hearts go patter-pitter…
It makes their eyes go all aglitter,
But I will hope you won’t be bitter
If I am not a big committer.
And ’cause I’m choosing to forgit ‘er.
Please don’t think that I’m a quitter
Or a low repulsive critter.
There are lots of folks much fitter…
You could get a baby sitter
Or a famous home run hitter…
Those are folks you might consider.
How about a counterfeiter
Or a German Messerschmitter?
But for me and all that twitter,
For now I say I will omit ‘er.