The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

It was bound to happen: after Stuff White People Like, here’s Stuff Educated Black People Like.

I don’t think they’ll get a book deal like Stuff White People Like Did did, but it may prove to be an interesting read…

I make it a point not to give smug internet entrepreneur Jakob Lodwick any press (even our local “youth is the future” advocate Will Pate distances himself from this prat), but he does make a good point in a recent blog entry of his:

What if money had instructions on the back? Basic economic facts, wise slogans, etc? I think it would be useful.

In case you’re a little shaky on the first principles of money, here they are:

1. In the absence of other factors, more money is better than less money.
2. Real money is better than fake money.
3. Money now is worth more than the same amount of money later.
4. If given a choice, it’s better to spend someone else’s money than your own (thanks to BNK for telling me about this rule).

One particular reason I dislike Lodwick: this video, in which he suggests that the way to keep a company vibrant is to harass the old people so that they leave. Perhaps if he listened to some of these old people, he might already know a little bit more about the instructions for money.

[Jakob Lodwick’s blog entry found via The War on Folly]

The little perception-awareness test video below has done the rounds around the ‘net, but just in case you haven’t yet seen it, give it a try! You might be very surprised:

[Thanks to Markus Aurelius for the tip!]

b5media, the company where I hold the title of Nerd Wrangler, is looking to fill a couple of director-level positions.

First, a Job Opening for Techies

Yesterday, I posted an article titled b5media is Looking for a New Director of Technology. If you think that taking on the challenge of building, maintaining and growing a LAMP/Wordpress-based network of blogs at a startup located in a very cool part of a very cool city, I strongly suggest that you read the article!

And Now, a Job Opening for Creatives

The other director-level position we’re looking to fill is Director of Content.

This is a tricky position to describe. It might help to start with an explanation of what b5media is, and I’ll do it by analogy. Consider Conde Nast, the magazine publishing company. They have a a portfolio of magazines — Wired, Modern Bride, Architectural Digest , Vogue and GQ, to name a few — each of which falls into one of its categories, which include Technology, Bridal, Home and Fashion. One of the director-level positions at Conde Nast is Editorial Director, who provides editorial oversight over all the magazines in their portfolio; all the magazines’ editors report to the Editorial Director. The Editorial Director is also responsible for developing new magazines for their portfolio.

The Director of Content position at b5 is analogous to Conde Nast’s Editorial Director. Like Conde Nast’s portfolio of magazines, b5’s portfolio of blogs is divided into categories (we call them channels), such as Business, Entertainment, Lifestyles and Science & Health. Just as Conde Nasts’s Editorial Director provides editorial oversight over all its magazines, b5’s Director of Content provides editorial oversight over all its blogs. b5’s Director of Content is also responsible for developing new blogs for its portfolio.

We’ve done pretty well so far, growing b5 from a collection of 5 blogs (that’s where the “b5” comes from) into a network of over 300 blogs with a total of 10 million unique pageviews a month. Our goal is to take this growth to the next level, which means going beyond our current audience, the type of people who generally read blogs, to the mainstream. We want to have the most-read sites on the ‘net, enjoyed by both hardcore and casual ‘net users. We want to make it big. We want to kick ass.

And the Director of Content is going to be a key player in that plan.

Here are some points on the position:

• We’re looking for someone who has serious experience managing online media for a major U.S. or Canadian media company.
• We’re a blog network, so you need to have a deep understanding of blogs, blogging culture and blogging best practices. It would help if you had some experience with other media (such as non-blog wenbsites, in print, radio, television, etc.).
• Experience with content management systems and managing content production (that is, editorial timelines and calendars) is important.
• Just as important as what you know is whom you know. You should have solid contacts in the various branches of the content biz.
• Our CEO Jeremy Wright says the we’re looking for “someone with 5-7 years experience in the world of creating, managing and deploying content (with at least half of it at the “management/deployment” level)”
• We’re a startup company, and as you might expect, it’s a startup work environment. We work hard, but we play hard too!
• The position is Toronto-based — you have to either live here or be willing to relocate here (we’ll cover relocation costs).
• Our office is in a pretty cool part of Toronto: a nexus of Chinatown, the club district and the funky boutique street, an area where a lot of startups and creatives have set up shop. If you’d like to see what our office looks like, see this article.
• Bonus: We’ll provide you with a laptop and a Blackberry!
• Double bonus: You’ll often be collaborating with me!

If you’re interested in the Director of Content position, feel free to contact me or our CEO, Jeremy Wright.

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.