links for 2009-02-04

"Why are architects so dogmatic? Partly, it's because architecture is a zero-sum game. A publisher of novels doesn't have to choose between Tom Clancy and Tom Wolfe, but a building client must choose one architect. Thus architects are obliged to compete. It helps to convey an air of inevitability about one's design. In fact, there may be many acceptable solutions to any particular building problem; architecture is not engineering, after all, but acknowledging diversity risks making the architect appear whimsical, a creature of fashion. To convince the client—and perhaps themselves—of the rightness of their ideas, architects are best off being dogmatic. There is only one right way—my way."

"The third problem with online communities is how businesses go about measuring the success of their communities. Businesses say that their primary objectives are generating word-of-mouth marketing and increasing customer loyalty. Yet the metric that businesses use most often to measure success is the number of visits to the site. Moran points out that there isn’t much of a connection between what businesses want and what they’re measuring. Better metrics might be rankings in Google or the number of inbound links."

"The neat thing about this is turns our obsession with influence and influencers and our assumption that marketing is something we do to people (or even with people – it's better understood as something we do to help their social interaction) upside down. "

In common with other takeaway foods, a large doner kebab can contain up to half of one's daily calorie requirements in a single serving, he says.
"People go for value for money. If they got a small portion, they would be disappointed and wouldn't go back to that kebab shop. So the takeaway industry is geared to deliver large portions."