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ON MY MIND: Human Billboards
IN THE MEDIA: MDs (Many Diagnoses)
INFORMATICON: Don't Let Perfect Ruin Good
CYBERSPEAK: What is a "DOMAIN NAME"?
SITE OF THE DAY: Bar Codes

ON MY MIND
[From the Editor]

Human Billboards
If it were a classified ad, it might read something like this:

High school seniors seek corporate sponsorship for tution and expenses at elite college or university. Display and promotional events for any legitimate product except alcohol or tobacco. Submit bids to Luke and Chris, Haddonfield High School, Haddonfield NJ.

But it's not a classified ad (or a bird, or a plane). It's a Web site: "ChrisandLuke.com!"

Chris Barrett and Luke McCabe want to become known as "Chris & Luke: The First Corporately Sponsored College Students!" As your corporate "spokesguys," they promise to "wear your clothes; (shirts, shoes, pants) use your equipment (tennis racquets, golf clubs, stereo, computers, DVD, watches) listen to your music, drive your cars, use your tires, drink your soda, eat your chips, fly your airline, and wear your sunglasses...," marketing your product to college students around the nation, unfettered by NCAA regulations or similar impediments.

According to the spokesguys, their marketing expertise will bring your company fame, fortune, and priceless media exposure. According to Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, a Rutgers University marketing professor, the two should beware of agreements requiring conformance with "whatever the corporate wishes of the company would be." According to columnist Jack Anderson, Luke and Chris are offering themselves as "human billboards," acting in the true spirit of entrepreneurism and the free market economy.

Within days of their site launch in late August, Chris and Luke were swamped with coverage: articles, TV and radio interviews, and the first of many designations as "Cool Site of the Day." By early September, their site had achieved 330,000 hits -- more than a month before their first real college interviews. Between airtime, photo ops, and discussions with potential sponsors, it's a wonder the boys have time to complete high school, despite days that start at 6:00 a.m.

No question about it, these guys are cool and clever. Just view the slide show posted on their site. Can this be any worse than playing basketball for a living (I mean, playing basketball as part of a well-rounded college education)? Probably not. But, just as many star ballplayers leave for the NBA a year or two before their scheduled graduation dates, all that self-generated renown may prove too tempting to Luke and Chris. They may give college short shrift, leaving early to become movie actors or models or dot-com millionaires. Billionaires, even.

I may have been dazzled by the brilliant smiles and corny teenage humor, but I saw no evidence of parents or teachers on the "ChrisandLuke.com!" site. If I were their parent or teacher, I would have serious reservations about the whole stunt. I would remember a speech I heard many years ago by Richard Lapchik, son of the famed St. John's University basketball coach.

Professor Lapchik talked about his father's poignant realization that academics really must take precedence over everything else at college, that to serve his athletes well he must insist on classroom performance as a prerequisite to performance on the court, that nothing could substitute for learning over the long haul. Somehow, I can't escape the analogy between basketball and billboards, or the stark contrast between a caring coach and a corporate bottom line.

If these were my kids, despite their display of initiative and creativity, I don't think I would be very happy about their decision. Let me know how you would feel if they were yours.

Cordially,

Lois C. Ambash, Editor
editor@metaforix.com

"Have I Got a Cure for You!"
Wall Street Journal reporter Lisa Gubernick had an aching back and a boss willing to spring for as many medical visits as it took to "nail down a diagnosis" -- so long as there was a story to go along with it. Gubernick made the rounds from osteopath to acupuncturist to psychiatrist to physiatrist, seeing eight specialists and spending close to $3000.

She received eight different diagnoses, ranging from the psychological to the neurological, each with a different treatment plan. Her experiences seemed to bear out the statement of Dr. Richard Deyo, co-author of a major study on diagnosis and treatment of back pain by various medical specialists: "Who you see is what you get."

To read the full article, go to: http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB970798347921216775.htm

INFORMATICON
[a provocative quote, statistic, or piece of data]

Perfectionism and Procrastination
"The planning process tends to attract perfectionists. But something paralyzes these people: their fear that executing the plan will show that the plan was not perfect. So rather than risk being found out, these people do nothing. They wait.

"Many outstanding big-picture thinkers are always looking for, and burdened by, this search for perfection. But too often, the path to perfection leads to procrastination.

"Don't let perfect ruin good."

Harry Beckwith
Selling the Invisible, 1997

BAR CODES:
Bar codes are the striped rectangles that have adorned groceries and other consumer products since the mid-1970s. The coded information they contain, read by hand-held scanners, indicates price and other product characteristics. Since their introduction, retailers have used bar codes not only in lieu of traditional price labels, but also to automate the restocking process and to collect data on consumer preferences.

Recent variations on the bar code, known as "scanlets," are designed to take advantage of newer information technologies. Free ":CueCat" scanners distributed by magazine publishers and retailers easily connect to home computers. Consumers use them to scan bar codes in print advertisements and are linked directly to the appropriate page on an advertiser's web site. Soon, bar codes embedded in television signals will allow viewers to download discount coupons and smart refrigerators will use product bar codes to program the microwave and add items to an electronic grocery list as they are removed from the freezer.

More uses, and more complaints from privacy advocates, are just over the horizon.

Source: "Speaking in Bar Code," NY Times, October 6, 2000

Medical Images and Illustrations
The Karolinska Institutet, Sweden's only university of medicine, maintains a rich and well-designed Web site, with text both in Swedish and fully translated into English. The "Medical Images and Illustrations" section of the site is a vast collection of links to slides and drawings of the human body, arranged by medical discipline.

While the main purpose of the collection is to provide visual support for teaching and research, the linked sites range from distinguished scientific institutions to museums to consumer clip art collections. They have been assembled from around the globe. Some of the images include sound and some are animated.

To visit this unusual resource, go to: http://www.mic.ki.se/Medimages.html#general

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