Guerilla

Nicholas Negroponte obviously thought he could get some cheap publicity for his One Laptop Per Child project by comparing it with terrorism. [BBC News, original video], triggering derision from Fake Steve Jobs and Adam Shostack.

NN: "... up to now we have been more like a terrorist group, threatening to do something and making big claims ..."

FSJ: "Seriously, who does this guy's PR? ... I sort of imagine them all sitting there cringing every time he starts to speak."

Successful technology projects (and for that matter successful terrorist campaigns) often adopt so-called guerrilla tactics, based on low-cost organization and surprise attack. Furthermore, technology champions often see themselves as some kind of revolutionary vanguard or avant-guard - several paces in front of the early adopters. But to confuse these metaphors with terrorism is either carelessly or hopelessly muddled.

ID Card Roll-Out

The UK Government is appointing a Director of Marketing and Communications to help oversee the roll-out of the UK identity card scheme. [Centre for Media and Democracy, via Fish and Chip Papers]

In other words, technology adoption is seen as a matter for PR (public relations).

It is certainly true that there are elements of marketing in any technology adoption project. But it would be curious if the sociopolitical as well as technological complexities of the proposed ID card scheme were solved by spin.


identity innovation technology adoption