Time's Up for Mad Men

“Mad Men” portrayed the male-dominated world of advertising in the 1960s.  Although we're nearly twenty years into the next century now, some of the industry's sexist norms persist. It's time to do something about it.  

In the wake of the #MeToo Movement's call to give voice to the victims of sexual harassment, industries have been forced to face up the problem and work on solutions. Among the organizations devoted to progress in this area is TIME'S UP,™ which was formed by women in the entertainment industry this past January. In March, the organization partnered with women in the advertising industry to launch the industry-specific TIME'S UP™/ADVERTISING.

Read more in An Attitude Adjustment for Advertising

To certify or not to the certify: the building blocks of a blockchain career

It’s clear that tech pros in a variety of industries are examining the implications of blockchain. After all, the technology can be leveraged not only for cryptocurrency (i.e., Bitcoin), but everything from “smart” contracts to secure, distributed ledgers. Can developers prove that they have the skills to work with this technology?
Read more in Can You Obtain Certifications for a Blockchain Career?

Tech Takes Your Through Child's War Experience

Even before the invention of photography, artists sought to recreate the horrors of war in pictures. Now technology makes it possible to take that rendering a step further, immersing the viewer directly in the experience with the use of AR. 

Read more in AR for Empathy: The Devastation of War

Diversity in the Pipeline and Blockchain

Blockchain is expected to add over $3.1 billion in business value, according to research firm Gartner. But the value proposition could involve more than money: blockchain might lead to a more diverse pipeline of qualified employees.

That’s the mission of STEAMRole, which uses blockchain and its own cryptocurrency (called RoleCoin) for two purposes: providing STEAM-expert role models and a Diverse Talent Pipeline Platform (DTPP) for companies to use in tracking and hiring diverse talent.

Based in Palo Alto, California, STEAMRole connects role models with aspirants (called Steamers) particularly from groups that are underrepresented in STEM and the Arts (the “A” in the acronym). Both Steamers and role models are awarded RoleCoins for their activities, which not only incentivizes participation and achievement, but also records it on the system’s blockchain, a feature that could be applied to tracking the effectiveness of STEAM program funding.

Read more in 

Can Blockchain Improve Tech’s Workplace Diversity?

Blocking the Blocker for Ads

Please disable your ad blocker.” 

If you try to keep some of your internet experience free of ads, you likely see this appear on a number of sites. Those site often prevent you from seeing their content until you comply with their request. But other sites don't bother with requests; they just circumvent your ad blocker. An academic study, "Measuring and Disrupting Anti-Ad Blockers Using Differential Execution Analysis," found that in fact, anti-ad blockers are used 52 times more than previously indicated. I contacted one of the leaders of the study, Zhiyun Quian, Assistant Professor at University of California, Riverside, to learn about the persistence of hidden anti-ad blockers.

I first asked what drew his attention to this area of research. He said that as an ad blocker user himself, he noticed the increasing disruption of ads on sites he visited. “To save my personal experience, and everyone else who uses ad blockers, I decided to look into this as a research project.”

Read more in The Ad Blocker Arms Race

AI-Powered Shop Windows

The Shop Window Opens a Portal of Possibilities

Many of us are window shoppers but online purchasers. That may be one of the factors in the widely reported decline of retail stores. To flip the situation around, it may be time to transform the shop window from static tableaux into AI-powered interactive displays that extract value from data.

This is the proposition offered by Outernets, a New York-based platform which enables window displays to transforms storefronts into responsive, personalized ad experiences.  I spoke with CEO and founder Omer Golan about what store windows have been, and what they could be in the future.

Read more in The Shop Window Opens a Portal of Possibilities

Big Data, Analytics, AI, etc.

As All Analytics was removed from the internet, UBM moved most of the articles I had written for it in the past few years to IW at hhttps://www.informationweek.com/author-bio.asp?author_id=4902 But I also have PDFs of it posted on my Contently portfolio at https://ariellabrown.contently.com/