Raelin Sawka Musuraca

I’m excited to be participating in the first Ideahaus 20YEARS panel held for MAP (Media Association of Pittsburgh) this Friday, August 6th beginning at 8 a.m. As part of the Ideahaus 20YEARS in Communication project, I’ll be part of a panel discussing the biggest challenges in media as seen by media and non-media professionals, as well as the biggest opportunities they both see.

Learn more and how to attend here: http://ideahaus.com/2010/07/30/20years-panel-map-pittsburgh/ 

Or review the MAP email invite here http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001wqUa7FwuvM7y_GE9Zo9GWKv62qN7y0E91vyzIdItnzDA9yrnb7v6PuTVX6m6jKz6S6BzsbvO5cPtc3-KSUpnvKVuuC41SXdSpZpwgLLe0hJ5_WwLP67e9kJ_KvaAYuUw 

Hope to see you at the event!

Just finished an article for my alter-ego, SCI Vision Quest, about the importance of marketing, training and HR collaborating on effective branding. Read the article at here >>>

If you are caught at the office viewing these, just tell your boss that you were doing “Social Media Research.”

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144340

Recently, I was honored to participate in a friend’s 20th anniversary project – 20 Years in Communications! Interviews with 20 people, each with 20+ years experience, reflecting on the “field” of communications. The resulting video project is a wonderful archive of sage advice and funny anecdotes.

Thinking back to when I met Kevin Popovic, he and I were into “multimedia” before there was a commercial Internet … and we both participated in the IICS – the International Interactive Communications Society – a now defunct group of early adopters who were seeking how to take these audio, video, and animated computer presentations and do more with them than just video games and training programs. What a diverse group we were! I even met Stephen Black, owner of The Talent Group, at IICS . He was a local pioneer in voice talent for these interactive presentations! How far we’ve all come.

Congrats to Kevin Popovic for sticking with Ideahaus, his own out-of-the-box creative firm, for 20 years and for completing such a treasure of interviews. You can learn more about it and check out all the interviews here, on Kevin’s blog,  http://ideahaus.com/20years/ .

Work completed as Chief Digital Strategist at GatesmanMarmionDrake+Dave

 Was it technical issues, SPAM problems or user behavior causing our registrations for a new Web initiative to only reach 75%?  See what we discovered…

A few weeks ago, we completed a soft launch for SHOP ‘n SAVE’s major 2010 social media initiative — Our Kitchen Stories, a community portal focused on the region’s ethnic food heritage [Learn more about OKS at http://bit.ly/b6Oj1b].   The launch struggled, but after testing, and altering, and testing, and altering — we were still unsure whether it was user behavior or technical issues causing the problem… Ream more »

Enjoy the IA Summit podcasts produced by Boxes & Arrows:

Opening Keynote, Dan Roam: http://bit.ly/cMGKnA
Keynote, Richard Saul Wurman: http://bit.ly/dt9E50
Day 1 Sessions: http://bit.ly/co9EZx
Day 2 Sessions: http://bit.ly/aD0BLR
Day 3: Coming soon!
Closing Plenary, Whitney Hess: http://bit.ly/9kvFKl

Presentations and posters are available online at http://bit.ly/bjAU4O

Enjoying my three days at IA Summit in Phoenix, iasummit.org or #ias10; here’s some of my favorite quips! (paraphrased)

Usability is CAN they;  Pathos is WILL they. It’s emotional — kejunxu.com Kejun Xu

Social media is sociology, not technology. How is this going to fundementally change your base relationship with your customer?  @padday  Paul Adams

Don’t review creative/prototype with stakeholders. Invite them to the user testing to see the user’s reaction to it. Then it becomes about the user, not the stakeholder.  @jill_christ  Jill Christ

I would rather fail, then be told what to do.  Richard Saul Wurman

There is a “second city of data” layered atop of the physical city.   John Tolva

Also, check out the Sonification of the Boston Metro Transit – jkabs.net/projects/mbta

Fear is growth…  Live in the pursuit of the Oh Shit Moment…  You can’t succeed without failure.   Whitney Hess  @whitneyhess

For more IA Summit 2010 info on Twitter #IAS10, search Slide Share “IA Summit 2010″ or look for the podcasts on http://boxesandarrows.com.

Worked completed as Chief Digital Strategist at GatesmanMarmionDrake+Dave.

Jim Shorkey Suzuki Kia, long-time GMD+D client, was looking for an alternative way to spread the word about the groundbreaking Suzuki Kizashi, a new performance car concept just launched in December 2009.  With the looks and performance of a BMW but the price tag you’d expect in a Suzuki, the Kizashi was a car you just had to drive to believe — hence the Kizashi Road Test was born.  An integrated blogging and social media effort, further supported with email and banner ad campaigns, the Jim Shorkey Kizashi Road Test was launched in early March — just in time for Pittsburgh’s record snow falls! The blogging effort generated so much interest in the Kizashi, that Jim Shorkey recently purchased over 50 cars … this is a car that a typically dealer may only sell 1 or 2 of each month!

http://www.shorkeyroadtest.com/

Jim Shorkey Kizashi Road Test

How a Hockey Coach’s Burrito Habit Turned Into an Ad Campaign

Pittsburgh Qdoba Franchisee, Agency Use Team’s Playoff Run (and Social Media) to Boost Store Sales

Read the Article:  http://adage.com/article?article_id=137441