Nur Ahmad Furlong

Blog

  • Web Guru Spotlight 5: Vincent Maher – Online Media Strategist

    Web Guru Spotlight 5: Vincent Maher – Online Media Strategist

    webguruspotlight-vincent

    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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  • Brand? Branding? branded? What is a Brand?

    Brand? Branding? branded? What is a Brand?

    With all the talk about Brands, Branding, Brand Building, Brand Strategy you’d think that the meaning of the word Brand was clear, and that this crucial aspect of business would be one which is clearly understood.

    What is a Brand The reality, however, is very different. Many business people are still struggling to come to terms with exactly what a Brand is and how to build it. I just “AskedWiki” the question: What is a Brand?, and this is what they served up:

    A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings, as defined by the American Marketing Association; however, according to The Chartered Institute of Marketing, a brand represents the consumers’ experience with an organization, product, or service.

    The roots of Branding – a little history

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  • Logo Design Q & A competition – Your last 2 weeks to qualify for a Free Logo Design

    My Logo Design questions & Answers competition is coming to an end with the winner to be announced in a 2 weeks time. I haven’t received a huge amount of questions, but those who have posted questions have helped to create a very interesting discussion.

    The questions asked have allowed me to gain insight into some aspects of the logo design process and decision making process on the clients’ side. In this respect it’s been a really good experience for me.

    Visit the Logo Design Q & A page to see what others have asked and to read my responses. I’d also appreciate some votes to rate the best answers. If you haven’t gotten involved yet, you still stand a chance of winning a Custom Logo Design for your company, organisation or for your blog.

    The competition Closes at Midnight on 31st December and the winner will be announced in the week which follows.

    Also see Web Design Q & A for all your web design related questions!

  • Web Guru Spotlight 4: Matthew Buckland GM of the M&G

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    Today we will be speaking to Matthew Buckland, General Manager of the Mail & Guardian Online and co-founder of award-winning blog aggregator amatomu.com. I had the pleasure of working with Matthew years ago at iafrica.com in the early days when I just stepped into the new media space. Back then Matthew was an online editor. I can imagine it was the beginnings of what now is a real passionate relationship with digital media.

    Matthew regularly speaks at media events both locally and internationally and is at the forefront of new media developments in the new media industry & the blogosphere in South Africa.

    Hi Matthew. Firstly, let me say it’s great chatting to you again after all this time and I’m impressed with the way you’ve moved since those days back at iafrica.com.

    So tell me, what’s your current job description?

    As the GM I am responsible for the overall business and strategy of the Mail & Guardian Online. A large part of my role is conceptualising and building new sites that attract audience and provide a service to users. It’s what I’m passionate about, so I am pretty hands on when it comes to development, design and interface issues.

    Here I work closely with our Strategist Vincent Maher, who I have known since my student days at Rhodes (We did the same new media course). Our brainstorming sessions can be pretty out there sometimes. We seem to be on the same wavelength so have been a great team.

    I also had to get involved in business and sales side about three years ago, because I realised it was the only way M&G Online was going to expand and I would be able to bring onboard the fabulous talent we have working for our division: start bringing in the revenues.

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  • A few new tools in my belt

    Testing, testing, windows live writer blog post no.1. I’ve just connected my blog to Windows Live Writer, a desktop application which allows you to write & posts from the comfort of your PC’s desktop. I’ve experienced problems writing and editing posts at times when my Internet connection is unreliable so I hope this little app will solve some of those problems and make it easier to work on drafts and stuff like that.

    The cool thing about this little app is it plug into your blog software’s API and allows you to create posts while viewing your post styles. You can upload pictures and add them to your post. It’s got a nice spell checker for spelling baddies like myself and makes writing a post extremely quick and easy.

    livewriter

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  • Web Guru Spotlight 3: nomad-one meets adii for coffee

    Yesterday met with Adii(Adriaan Pienaar) of www.adii.co.za for a coffee and a chat. Adii is someone making quite a bit of noise in the South African & International wordpress community. He’s a self styled WordPress Rockstar and online entrepreneur of note. Though I’ve interacted with Adii digitally through his website, facebook and email, meeting someone in person still is the only way to get a real sense of the personality on the other side.

    Web Guru Spotlight: nomad-one meets adii for coffee

    So who is Adii (Adriaan Pienaar)

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