Dr. Neil Hair

So, everyone's talking about purple. The street signs are suddenly purple - we even have purple cross walks. Which come in handy since there are lots of people in Rochester right now and not a lot of cars. The reason? Lupins. Too many of em. Rochesterians are pretty much Lupin crazy this time of year - the most Lupins in North America by all accounts. Enough to make a Monty Python fan very happy with life. I wont be going to the Lupin festival this year - Ive seen enough of them on campus and besides which I am still mourning the Magnolia blossom (a far more delightful sight in my humble opinion). Lupins. Loopy.

I was stunned by the turnout today for the 1st RIT Creativity Festival - held on campus. It was somewhat risky for the man at the top - the new president essentially staked his reputation on being able to draw crowds to explore our 'unfair advantage' as a great institute. By 2pm I knew that we had met if not exceeded the 30k visitor promise and as far as I was concerned the new president's concept was thoroughly vindicated! I was shocked by some of the innovation on display. Online learning did a fantastic job showing off the technology we use in this area - Golisano also a great job showing off the gaming program to excellent effect. It was the smaller stalls that also impressed me and the energy with which people enthusiastically talked about their projects. 

I manned a stall showing off our Second Life class with Susan Barnes of the Department of Communication. We had well over a thousand visitors stop by - thankfully we talked to about 5 at a time - still my voice and my will to live severely challenged after 6 hours of being on the go (im not sure I was still making much sense towards the end of the program but there you go - the will was there!). As I walked around over a few well earned breaks I was really pleased to see not just prospective students walking around but high-school students - parents - and plenty of alumni with big smiles on their faces for having made the right choice in the past. I want to thank my former students who came to support the event. There's something inherently good about seeing students with (lets face it) better things to be doing with their time on a Saturday - holding clipboards and enthusiastically acting as personal branding image consultants for passers by (a key feature of our online advertising course last quarter). They went down a storm! Much more effective than me walking around in Second Life pointing out teaching techniques on RIT's new island.

Im really pleased and rightly proud of the event. It was nothing other than a raging success. Our stall also won the Alumni office award for best in show - icing on the cake of a great day. Thanks especially to Matthew Anthony who manned the Saunders Second Life exhibit in the college of business - Donna Slavin who organized just about EVERYTHING - students Luz Ramirez, Matthew Frank (infamous transformer), Minsoo Lee, Alah Shah, Abha Trivedi, Ryland Bacorn, Lorraine Gibson, and of course Susan Barnes - my co-tutor for the course.  

I am absolutely convinced that money can be made from twittering. Twitter is essentially a micro blogging service that allows you to update the world on your status with a few lines vie sms, web or instant messenger. I figured if it can keep a poor soul out of incarceration in Egypt then it can offer me something that others might (or might not) find useful. Huge kudos and thanks to my technical guru Joshua Katinger of Accession Media for setting this up for me (in about 50 seconds).

Reporter Daniel Wallace has done a great job writing up last quarters innovative course on online advertising. Check it out here.

The answer - 1500 Belgian students playing silly buggers down town. That's what. I love Europe and I love Europeans. I prefer viral marketing however… Coke finally gets it - what with all its free publicity.

This evening Ive been asked to present to Lambda Pi Eta on the subject of branding oneself in online social networks. This is an issue close to my heart and one where I feel students know very little often before it is too late. Topics covered will include strategies, tactics and reputation management. These range from watching you Facebook profile through to comments you leave in the vast web 2.0 world we now live in.

My favourite local beer (yes I'll admit it - its up there with the best of British beer in my humble opinion) won the third annual Final Pour competition held by someone I dont know in a house Im not aware of. The competition was an altered form of March Madness (I am told something to do with putting balls into nets? - strange custom but there you go) where guests bring a different variety of beers that they think their fellow guests will enjoy. You sample, you vote, and before long you have a final four. You get the picture. As I am currently in the midst of closing on a house, marking mid-term papers and dealing with a number of family issues here and back in the homeland - I occasionally allow myself to imagine R&R (thats rest and relaxation - not revise and resubmit) events. A wonderful idea if you ask me and I very much look forward to throwing my own final pour contest in the summer. I expect Honey Brown to do well once again.

Friday I speak with Sue Barnes at the 2008 Kern Communication Conference here at RIT - 9.45 to 11.45am, Friday 11th April (at the Strathallen in the City of Rochester). Sue and I recently charted the development of Internet Advertising using McLuhan's concept of the rear view mirror as a theoretical framework for understanding future trends. One of the key findings of our research was a focus on consumer personal branding - and branding via association. The event is free for all RIT students and faculty and we hope you'll make it. Here I am pictured at the conference in 2007 discussing of all things - Tech Fetish!

Sue Barnes and I have been chosen to represent respective colleges as part of the Gordon Field house 'WOW' display at the upcoming Imagine Rit Innovation and Creativity Festival on May 3rd. We will be showing off the results of our research on online socially networked classrooms. In particular we will be showcasing our class Online Advertising Class that was taught in and on popular virtual world Second Life. On hand will be a number of 'image consultants' - former students of ours that have expertise in managing online profiles. They will consult with members of the public interested in protecting and enhancing their online self image. Sue and I are really looking forward to showing off what was an amazing experience in Second Life and we hope to see you there.