Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Blogging

Who have you nominated for the SA Blog Awards 2008?
You must be aware of the SA Blog awards by now, and that nominations have opened with a whole host of new categories being added to the 2008 edition.
I wanted to be open and say I’ve placed some votes for 3 blog already. Firstly in the Best SA Blog about Technology / Computers / Web Development category I voted for Adii, our very own SA WordPress Rockstar and one of those bloggers who I learn quite alot from on a number of levels. Adii manages to keep a steady flow of writing going even though he seems to have a huge amount of work on WordPress development on his plate as well as a full time position. He does a fair amount of research when writing and his posts are always useful.
In the Best Website Promoting Blogging category I’ve voted for Amatomu, who for me are the best aggregators of blog content out there. They’ve seen a fair amount of development and changes taking place on their site recently. I love the way they have created a competitive yet mature space for bloggers to have their writing blogs ranked. They provide some cool widgets as well like the rank widget which regularly gives me a sense of whether I’m keeping up or slipping up. When I haven’t blogged for a while I can tell by my site;’s traffic and my Amatomu ranking.
My 3rd Vote went to SA Climate Crisis by Andre Bothma for the Best Green blog category. It’s a topic close to my heart and a subject I focus on regularly on nomad-one.com. I think Andre’s heading in a great direction. I’ve learnt a thing or 2 from his blog with regard to climate issues and think it’s a cause very much worth promoting. I haven’t seen many blogs of this nature locally and think it’s a space which needs much more conversation.
if you haven’t voted yet I suggested you head on over and make yourself heard in support of SA Blogging. maybe sneak one in for nomad-one.com by clicking on my vote for me badge at the top of this page!
February 21, 2008
1st WordPress Meetup Cape Town – Post Mortem
Technorati Tags: wordpress,(un)conference,meetup,“cape town”
After struggling to prevent a few business people from hijacking the session with their own off topic focus, not mentioning any names, we managed to get stuck in talking about a few pertinent issues.
Those who attended were:
- Organiser, Callum Macdonald – Nomadic entrepreneur & web developer/blog master from Scotland
- Marc Pelteret – Business Science / Computer Science Graduate with an interest in open source development
- Christina de Silva, Online marketing strategist and wordpress enthusiast – AlterSage.com
- Nada Jones, sales & biz development executive – Work Online Interactive
- Chris – iMod
- Rob Wilkonson – Butlers Pizza (Energy Crisis Maniac) 🙂
- Will – 2oceansvibe.com
- Grant – mobi me
- Jamaal – Web Strategist at Jayz
What was spoken about?
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February 18, 2008
WordPress Meetup Cape Town – Monday 18 Feb
Finally it’s here, something I’ve been wanting to organise myself but haven’t managed to get around to doing, an (un)conference style wordpress meetup, and hopefully only the first of many to happen in Cape Town.
Callum Macdonald, nomadic web worker and travelling entrepreneur hailing from Scotland was responsible for setting the ball in motion after the recent Open Coffee which was recently held in Cape Town.
Visit the wordpress meetup google group or the blog to catch up with developments. Tomorrow is the first meetup and you’re required to register just so we can get an idea of the numbers for catering and logistical purposes.
The River Club[1] can provide us with a venue for R175 per person. That includes tea and coffees on arrival, a light dinner in the restaurant, and reasonable use of the internet (web only, no heavy downloading). So I’ve confirmed that booking for Monday 18th.
Leave a comment on this post to confirm attendance.
February 17, 2008
Why use Design in business
The Business Case for developing a more Design Centric Operation
The aim of this article is to bring out some of the benefits of having a design centric operation, one which appreciates the value design has to offer to all aspects of ones business, and using design as an integral part of a profit generating strategy.
As a designer I am always questioned about the need for design within a business and the value or purpose it serves. A discussion with one of my peers lead to some introspection and research to uncover the facts behind this supposed mystery.
How do we quantify Design Value?
To many business people it’s difficult to quantify the effect design might have on their business. This is true for all aspects of the business and all forms of design, be it web, print, internal(within the company), external(customer focused), for products, services, communication and aesthetic purposes. The best way to quantify the value design has to offer is to analyse how design has added value to companies who are Design Centric. Design Centris meaning those who appreciate and employ design to enhance business value.
Insights from US & UK Design Research
Research done in both the US and Britain have shown conclusively that design has a positive impact on the performance, profitability and positive image of companies across a wide spectrum of industries. The “Value of Design Fact Finder” study, done in the UK, had the following to say about the impact of design on business performance:
Businesses which use design perform better than their rivals. There’s unmistakable proof of that in our Value of Design Factfinder, a unique online information tool.
The Value of Design Factfinder was launched in June 2006 and shows the positive impact of design on practically every measure of business performance, including market share, growth, productivity, share price and competitiveness.
In businesses where design is integral to operations, over three quarters say they’ve increased their competitiveness and turnover through design. Similarly, four out of five (79%) businesses that believe design is integral to their business think that design’s importance to competitiveness has risen over the past decade.
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February 15, 2008
SA Blog awards nominations to kick off soon – do I stand a chance?
Some of you might know that the South African Blog Awards group met to plan the event a few days ago at Cafe Neo in Mouille Point Cape Town. I tried to make it but missed the boat by about 30 minutes or so and caught Dave Duarte hanging around afterwards meeting with some people. A little disappointed I was.
Amongst other things discussed at the meet were new rules and new categories for the competition. I wasn’t around for last year’s one as I wasn’t much of a blogger then and had no idea these initiatives even existed back then.
The awards are the brainchild of the owners of two established South African blogs: Cherryflava and Your Group of Web AddiCT(s).
found on gottaquirk.com
What’s the SA Blog Awards All about then?
In their own words:
the SA blog awards showcase the very best of South African independent web publishing in various categories.
My question to myself is, do I stand a chance of featuring anywhere in one of these Categories?
I reckon I could take one of these Categories, Maybe:
- Best Undiscovered Blog – if someone discovers how undiscovered I really am and how good I am at being undiscovered. 🙂
- Best Post about the SA Blog Awards – If I actually put some real effort into writing one (hint – this post)
- Best Green blog – with some CSS styling maybe
- Best SA Blog about Design – Aha, now there’s a category, a difficult one to win though as writing about Design takes huge amounts of effort. I see this Category seems to be more about the actual design of the blog and not the content. Better keep at that re-design then.
Think I can Make it? Or Maybe Not?
If you think I stand a snowball chance why not Vote for me, or maybe just do so out of the kindness in your hearts. If you think I’m nowhere close, maybe give me some tips on how I can make a go at it.
Tell me who your favourites are? I know Adii is probably going feature somewhere in there. I think Andre Bothma’s SA Climate Crisis is a good contender for the Green Category.
I’m not shy about being an amateur, tell me what you think of me & my site and maybe you can help me improve.
January 25, 2008
Web Guru Spotlight 5: Vincent Maher – Online Media Strategist
I’m proud to say that with us today, we have someone who has had a major impact on the direction of the new media Industry in SA over the years, and who I am sure we are gong to be hearing a lot more from in the coming months and years. You must know Vincent Maher, online media strategist to the Mail & Guardian Online and key player in the social-bookmarking website, Amatomu. He’s currently in the process of re-developing the Mail & Guardian online and it’s Thoughtleaders blogging platform as well.
Vincent’s own site www.vincentmaher.com serves as a doorway into his personal and professional journey in the online space which he calls, “My Digital Life”, and it gives us a good idea of the insightful yet witty personality behind the name.
So! lets get dig a little deeper. I’ve been in the web industry in some way or other for the past 7 years now Vincent, but admittedly not been exposed to many strategic developments in the online space over the past years.
I believe you have been involved in the online space for around 11 or 12 years now, what was your entry point to the industry, and what did you study to prepare you for the road ahead?
I studied journalism at Rhodes and from 1993 – 1997 and in my final year I was supposed to finish the Bachelor of Journalism course. The department didn’t accept my transition from the 3rd to the 4th year so I did a joint honours in Journalism and English, mixing 2 Journalism courses with 3 from English. In English I did literary theory, gay and lesbian fiction – basically another name for more literary theory – and revenge tragedy. The revenge tragedy has helped me countless times in my life because I know how to wait until the time is right. In Journalism I did print design – you can see that influence in my web design – and an experimental course called online publishing.
At the time I thought the Web was &^$@$^$, and that all networks were good for was fragging your mates in Doom. I still sort of believe that but don’t tell anyone.
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December 27, 2007