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Archive for July, 2007
After an intense couple of days in the blogosphere, we thought we’d lighten the mood. And, I thought what better way to lighten the mood than with - that’s right, some good ole’ fashioned applied nerdery. After all, that’s our shtick.
We’re always looking for new, cool tools to help us hone and refine our site, so when I stumbled upon this one I was psyched. For all of you web and UI (User Interface) designers (or if you’re just plain curious), this is really cool. It’s a service called Crazy Egg (www.crazyegg.com) and it helps you “visualize your visitors.” (It’s also built in Rails by the way.)
It tracks where they click (and how long it took them to click) on the page and displays the results in some really innovative (and useful) ways. This can be invaluable when you are testing different UI designs. (i.e. “What if I put the ‘contact us’ link in the corner? Would that entice folks to click it more?”) My favorites are the “heatmap” view and the “confetti” view. (Try the demo.)
Oh my. Look ma’, we’re famous.
You may have read about us in the Savannah Morning News today. Sorta hard not to…”Creative Coast” was in big bold print on the front page (above the fold!) The headline notwithstanding, the article was about an individual who’s been pestering us lately. While that’s all well and good, that’s not what really interests us…we’ve wasted enough time talking about him already. The more relevant issue is a concept that the article mentions and one of the reasons we were being attacked: Regionalism.
By “regionalism” we mean a regional approach to economic development. As Rick so appropriately put it:
For the record, we are proud of our efforts to promote Savannah and Chatham County as a location for business and have a solid track record,” he said. “While SEDA’s efforts are directed very specifically within Savannah and Chatham County, we recognize that our city and county benefit enormously as a regional hub for business, health care, hospitality, etc.
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard of this whole cSpot thing that we help sponsor. If you haven’t, here’s a blurb from their website:
We are a slew of creative professionals who got tired of seeing each other only once or twice a year. So…we created a group. And we called it cSpot.
At any rate, it’s this Wednesday, July 25th at Venus de Milo from 6-8pm…and it’s free and it’s fun. You might even find a job or an employee. We sure did - I met Angel at cSpot and now she practically runs the place.
They get together every month, have a few cocktails and do the whole schmoozing thing. Anyone can just show up - the only common denominator is that they are in “creative” industries or they are creative for a living….or, they’re just cool people. Design, development, marketing, pr, writing/editing, music, art, video, you name it…they’re pretty non-discriminatory. You can even just be looking to meet some cool quirky folks.
Oh, and let us know if you can come!
Hope you can join us…
Oh yea, just like Diddy says. And we’re not kidding, the arts mean business. On Thursday I attended the “A Cultural Affair”, a Recognition of Savannah’s Creative Industries - held at the Jepson and sponsored by The City, SEDA and the CVB. I must say, it was an interesting event. In front of a relatively packed auditorium, the guest speaker was Randy Cohen (of Americans for the Arts) made a enlightening presentation about the economic impact of the Arts.
To quote from the first paragraph of the study (download the Savannah report):
The key lesson…is that communities that invest in the arts reap the additional benefit of jobs, economic growth, and a quality of life that positions those communities to compete in our 21st century creative economy.
Amen.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Lucky for us, Savannah was one of the 156 communities that participated in the study - the most comprehensive study of its kind ever conducted. Even luckier, Savannah managed to generate over $46 million in expenditures (nonprofit arts and culture orgs and their audiences, excluding event admission). That’s FOURTH overall in communities our size. Hellz yea.
Posted by Brandi on July 23, 2007 at 09:43 AM
Our blawg (is that the Georgia spelling?) was in the news!
From executive director Chris Miller on down, they’re hardly a shy bunch. As important as the blog could be for spreading the organization’s message, it could also become an important forum for community members to engage in active dialogue about the issues most relevant to our community….It’s an exercise in democracy that could become an important forum to discuss Savannah’s future.
Thanks to Bill Dawers for the mention; we’re more than ready to bring on the discussions!
Corporate blogging is just that - not only a way for us to get the word out about our cool Initiative and attracting people to Savannah, but a way to have an open dialogue and highlight some issues in the area that are quirky, fun and cool! If you guys have any issues or topics you’d like to see discussed, just give us an email, or leave it in the comments!
Popularity: 36% [?]
Posted by Brandi on July 20, 2007 at 06:55 AM
Something fun from the newspaper yesterday - 99 Rules to living in Savannah. Check out the full list; I’ve posted the first ten below. Numbers 33 and 46 have been shockers to me since I moved here!
Any of these hit close to home for you?
1. Complain. About anything.
2. Celebrate the solemn religious import of St. Patrick’s Day with clowns on scooters and wet T-shirt contests.
3. Keep several gallons of Skin So Soft handy.
4. Mascara: Best applied at 80 mph.
5. Savannah summers: “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” Actually, moron, it’s both.
6. Consider anyone a “newcomer” whose family arrived later than the Fillmore Administration.
7. Bad toupee? In Savannah, that’s an oxymoron …
8. But worry about Jody Chapin’s hair.
9. Don’t take Waters Avenue in a rainstorm. It’s named that for a reason.
10. Don’t mess with Parking Services.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Ok, I promise this it the last of the press mongering for awhile. But this is actually the kind of press that is cool. “A Girl Named Guy” is a internet TV show that did a cool feature on Savannah (see here).
TV shows coming to Savannah aren’t really news…it happens all the time. But we really liked how they framed it:
AGNG Visits Savannah - Old-world charm, laid-back attitude, yet a flair for high-class living! What a treat to spend a day exploring organic wines as the Savannah Wine Shop, taking an herbal nature walk with the owner of Brighter Day Foods, Peter Brodhead, and visiting the lavish eco-friendly home of Gordon Matthews, built by J.T.Turner. I was wined and dined to the specific taste of A Girl Named Guy – green, organic and southern style!
More please!
Now that’s what we’re talking about it. The right tone, a cool medium, and they featured some cool Savannah biz’s to boot. Oh, and the host is kinda cute.
P.S. Stan, you, vineferous facilitator, you. Don’t you look pretty on camera. How do you do it man?
I have no earthly idea why we haven’t posted this yet, but there is a very cool event that The City Department of Cultural Affairs, SEDA and the CVB are putting on TONIGHT (7/19) at 6pm at the Jepson Center. Are you ready for the name? It screams “Creative Coast!”
“A Cultural Affair: A Recognition of Savannah’s Creative Industries.”
Yea, exactly. The Guest Speaker will be Randy Cohen from Americans for the Arts and he will share insights on “the arts and prosperity.” There will also be a reception following the presentation in the Eckburg Atrium. Pretty cool, huh?
These are the kinds of events we love - bringing together Savannah’s creative community for some stimulating conversation. We’re tickled blue-and-green that we have leadership in Savannah that recognizes the need for cool things like this. It actually sounds like it might be a sort of more-swanky-and-funded version of a cSpot gathering. Fun!
Oh, if you want to come (and we suggest you do) please do the Cultural Affairs folks a favor and let them know. You can also call them at 912.651.6417. Tell ‘em we sent you.
Well, after a lot of work designing and re-designing, writing and re-writing, tweaking and re-tweaking, coding and re-coding…we’re live. We’ve already got almost 100 posts, so don’t be shy. Take a look around.
Welcome to our humble little space on the blogosphere.
We hope you like it. Read more about us and this blog.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Posted by Brandi on July 17, 2007 at 08:05 AM
The New York Times has yet another article featuring the Savannah area, this time focusing on the growth of Effingham County and the strain the development has put on our water supply.
Quoted from the NYT:
UNTIL five years ago, it seemed that the breakneck pace of development in Effingham County, a Savannah suburb in southeast Georgia, knew no limits. But like other fast-growing areas across the country, Effingham had to learn that large-scale expansion often comes at a price. In the county’s case, it was the long-term integrity of the vast underground water supply that serves it as well as other major areas in the South.
The population in Effingham County has grown from 37,535 in 2000, to 48,954 in 2006 turning the farm atmosphere to subdivisions, chain stores and Wal-Mart. This pace of development has put strain on our already fragile Floridan Aquifer. Basically, this means that when the fresh water has been tapped out, pulling more water will cause salt water intrusion and render the aquifer undrinkable. This could happen in as early as five years.
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