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November 27, 2004

Watch our short captology videos and give us feedback

Our lab is experimenting with different ways to share captology with a broad audience. Recently we created three pilot videos in a talkshow format. Now we'd like to get some feedback. If you have about 5 minutes, please watch and rate one of our captology videos. We think these videos are both educational and entertaining, in a goofy sort of way. But we'll let you be the judge. To watch the captology videos, go to --> http://credibility.stanford.edu/show/ Thanks for your help. --BJ Fogg

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November 16, 2004

How Larry Page Changed My Life in 15 Minutes

I’ll admit it: I’m a Google fanatic. I love their products, I love their culture, I love that they search my desktop better than Microsoft can. I can say, without reservation, that I want to work there when I graduate at the end of this year. So you can imagine my rapture when the co-founder of Google, Larry Page, approved of my work. Let me back up. On the weekend of Nov. 5, BJ participated in Accelerating Change, a conference hosted at Stanford. He saw the conference as a great opportunity to present BuddyBuzz, the project that another student and I worked on over the summer. If you haven’t heard about BuddyBuzz, go check it out! Now, we think this is a pretty cool application, and we want to share it with the world. So, during Accelerating Change’s demo night, a group of us from the lab set up a booth, donned matching yellow shirts, and showed off BuddyBuzz to a crowd of technology enthusiasts, industry professionals, and all-around smart people. My highlight of the night came when Larry came up to the table, asking about BuddyBuzz. I spent 15 minutes talking to him about our technology, commiserating about programming for mobile phones, and installing BuddyBuzz onto his phone. He was one of the most interested listeners of the night, commenting on how Google was headed in similar directions (for example, with their new SMS service). He even mentioned that I should consider going to work for Google! It was very rewarding to hear praise from someone who understands technology as well as Larry Page. In those 15 minutes, all of my hard work during the summer paid off, and I got to show off BuddyBuzz to someone whose personal interests lie perfectly in line with the goal of BuddyBuzz: changing the way people get information. So, Larry, if you’re out there: Thank you for your interest, and maybe I'll see you when I graduate. And keep Buzzing!

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November 01, 2004

Porn-Busters -- The Power of Surveillance

While countless websites are designed to get surfers to view porn, at least one website, XXXchurch.com, is helping people do just the opposite: avoid porn online. The site succeeds when it convinces people to download software called "X3watch," a porn-busting application that leverages the power of surveillance. Users of X3watch designate "accountability partners" who receive reports about the user's surfing behavior. Yesterday's article in the NY Times reports that "100,000 people have downloaded X3watch, including all of the pastors at the church" where one of the founders attends. The pastors, the founder, and others have designated their wives as accountability partners. According to the article, "Internet pornography is one of the vexing issues for churches today." The XXXchurch.com website uses a host of influence strategies, including this pledge: "The X3 PorNO! Pledge 1. I will be accountable to someone. Whether it is a friend, a relative, a pastor or a spouse. I realize if I try and do this on my own I'm going to jack it up. 2. I will be open and real about my own struggles knowing that the truth will lead to freedom. I am not ashamed to be human and realize that mama was right...honesty is the best policy. 3. I will talk about the dirty little secret and encourage others to be real and open about it. Let's realize that we are all in this together, right? 4. I will put safeguards in my life to keep me away from this crap. If it means I've got to get rid of the satellite dish and DSL, then I will do it." --- Oh, yes . . . be sure to read the hatemail section of the site. Interesting.

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