Today, it’s a lot easier, the national records are all online and I can sit on the couch and do almost all my research. Which is ironic as I now live in walking distance of the National Archives so a trip to do research does not need an all day trip down to London. I pay for access; if you go to the archives you get the same records on computer but for free.

I’ve been able to trace family all the way through, back from 1911 to 1841, seeing how many children survived, how the jobs stayed consistent across the years, how little some people moved. In the 1911 edition, they introduced a new piece of information – how long has a couple been married. Makes it a lot easier to track down the marriage certificate. Even better, the scanned records are now the original from the household, not the summaries. So you can now see an example of your relatives’ handwriting.

The 1911 census from James Hickman, my great-great-great-grandfather.

I was interested in doing the 2011 census; it would be the first one I’d have the chance to complete. I was either abroad or not the householder for the previous ones. But I was so disappointed. It was not the elegant single form just after the basics. it was a long, complicated set of pages, after all sorts of information about jobs, religion and the house I lived in. I vaguely understand why they want this (although not particularly happy about who is processing the data), but it seems to have grown because it could.

But I’m also disappointed for the future family historian. The information will ONLY be available online – you can complete it fully digitally if you want, you don’t need to fill in the form. There is a strong possibility that the data won’t be there in 100 years time, that it won’t be accessible. And the historian will not have the original documents to review, something that is always recommended when investigating digital records. It’s a shame that we’re not keeping that connection – I love the fact I can research digitally but have misgivings about moving purely that way for such important records that are supposed to last a century at least.

So how did 2010 go? Not too bad, although the first half of the year was better than the second in my achievements.

1. Visit 5 new places in the UK. It’s too easy when your own country to ignore it, to not appreciate it. So a goal was to visit some new places, to get a wider understanding of the place. I tied this in with my love of cathedrals and taking photos as my ‘reason’ for some of the visits. This was achieved, with visits to Sheffield, Rochester, Salisbury, Winchester, and St Albans.

2. Go to an F1 Grand Prix. This had been a vague idea for a while, but eventually got it organised with Sofia for a trip to the Belgian GP in Spa. An absolutely brilliant trip, really enjoyable despite the rain. In 2011, we’re planning on going to 3 races

3. Lose 1 stone. It’s not secret I like my food and my wine and I don’t like exercise. This combination has inevitable consequences and I carry too much weight. So I set myself a manageable target at the end of Q1 to lose some of that and over the next 4 months I managed to do that. Not through making too many changes, but by going to the gym, doing some running and just eating a little more sensibly. Due to job changes and injuries to my feet, the gym fell by the wayside in August, but having just weighed myself again, I’m glad to say the weight is still off. One little tool that helped me was the ShapeUp phone app, which allows me to track food and exercise – just tracking it means you think about what you are eating and drinking.

4. Be able to run 5k. I hate running, loathe it, far prefer to be yelled at in an aerobics class than go for a jog. The last time I ran any distance was cross country in school, so setting myself this goal was ambitious for me. But I managed it, slowly. I even did a fun run early in my training, the Sports Relief mile. Not a lot for most people, but a concrete achievement for me!

There were some other achievements and changes in 2010.

1. I finally went back to Australia. I was last there in 2005 and always said I’d go back, using airmiles that I’d accumulated flying back and forth across the Atlantic. The only problem with using these is getting them booked. I tried in 2008, but failed. In 2009, I checked on the 1 year out date and found one seat on one flight on one day in the whole of October and got that booked immediately! Three weeks travelling between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney was just lovely and as the first ‘holiday’ I’d had for about 4 years, greatly appreciated. (By holiday, I mean just doing touristy stuff, not rowing or conferences or family visits)

2. I got a new job. This was not in the plan at the start of the year, but with social media being one of the hot areas this year for jobs, I was receiving a lot of approaches from recruiters (via Linked In, a brilliant place to find new roles) and I took a few interviews, one of which led to my new role in Momentum, something I just could not turn down.

3. Made a whole load of new friends via Twitter. I’ve been on Twitter for 4 years, a long time in social media. That account has let me meet new people, go to some great events and have a lot of fun. This year, I started a second account focusing on F1 and through that have virtually met a lot of great people and then met them in real life at Spa. They’re now fast friends and we’ve got some good things planned for 2011.

4. I sorted out my driving licence at last. I’ve not driven a car since 2006 and not seen my original driving licence since I moved back to London in 2003. At the end of the year, I finally found my licence and got it replaced with a brand new photocard version, so now I can hire cars and be a bit more mobile in 2011 instead of relying on public transport. (interestingly, when applying for the replacement, I thought I’d have to send in a photo. Instead, they pulled out my 9 year old passport photo from a government database somewhere and just used that)

So how about in 2011? What are my goals for the next 12 months?

1. Lose 1 stone. Again, not a huge target, but it’s achievable with minimal changes. I’ve got the iphone apps all set up, with Shapeup for food tracking and Runmeter for walking/running tracking and I’m writing up my exercise plans.

2. Do 6 planned walks over the year. Last year, I did 3 group walks, which I found a good way to get some exercise and meet new people and just get out and about!. So I’m going to double that number, through a few walking groups in the areas.

3. Visit 5 new UK places. Another repeat, but just carrying on with the theme of cathedrals. I’m thinking at least Canterbury, Bath and Chichester..we’ll see about the others.

4. Do 5 new experiences. The first is getting set up, a driving experience at Silverstone. I’m looking at Burlesque dancing classes, cooking classes and a few others, but open to suggestions!

Update 12 Jan: I’m adding a new goal. Unsubscribe from all of those newsletter emails!

• Went on a Winter Walk in the first snow of the season along the River Thames
• Explored Chiswick House Grounds
• Attended a demo in Trafalgar Square, I’m a Photographer, not a Terrorist
• Attended a debate on games in Westminster Hall
• Did a 7.5 mile walk from Wimbledon to Richmond
• Did a Butchery Course
• Took some walks around Himley and Clent Hills
• Visited St Albans
• Had a tour round the BBC
• Went to SXSW
• I ran the Sports Relief Mile
• 
• Watched the Head of the River
• Helped run Twestival London
• Was on the Telegraph Readers panel for the election (regular opinion posts in the paper)
• Attended my first sci-fi/fantasy con, EasterCon
• Attended ‘Dutch Day‘ in Trafalgar Square
• Got interviewed for social media job hunting in the Daily Mail
• Visited Syon House
• Visited Rochester and its Sweeps Festival
• Saw lots of elephants around London
• Spent some time hanging round the Westminster media village during the election negotiations
• 
• Went to Crystal Palace Sprint Racing and the DoubleTwelve at Brooklands
• Went to a Girl Geeks event in Regent St
• Attended a Gaudy at college
• Went to the F1 FOTA Fan Forum
• Went to Henley
• Helped run the Army Regatta
• Took part in the Conspiracy for Good ARG
• Went to PuntCon
• Left twentysix and moved to Momentum
• Took a trip up the river from Kew to Hampton Court with the parents
• Went to the Girl Geek Dinner 5th anniversary event
• Travelled to Silverstone for a round of the BTCC, my first racing event
• Went to Spa for my first F1 Grand Prix, finally met up with some brilliant people I knew from Twitter
• Wandered around Chelsea Auto Legends and saw Stirling Moss
• Attended an F1 Photography exhibition, with Jo
• Went to Over the Air on a team that hacked a AR Parrot drone
• Went to Kop Hill Climb
  
• Went to Australia for 3 weeks, visiting Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and points in between
• 
• Watched the Brazil Grand Prix from the Virgin Racing offices/factory
• Went to Paris for Le Web 2010
• Attended the Angry Birds day celebration in London
• Went home for Christmas and ended with another Winter Walk around Himley and Baggeridge

This is my third time attending. I was at there in 2005, 2008 and now this year. There’s a huge difference between 05 and what I’m expecting this year, from a fairly small, tightknit event to one that has 2400 participants from much of the EU, North America and a sprinkling from the rest of the world.

So what to expect? There’s definitely some of the usual suspects providing speakers- Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Microsoft, Google etc. Many more of the sponsors are also talking. The risk of this, at any conference, is all they do is a sales pitch which does not engage, so here’s hoping they bring soemthing interesting to the table. One thing I do know about this conference, is there’s usually something unusual and thought provoking as well, whether a visit from a potential President to a presentation on Love. I’m looking forward to talks about Thought Controlled Computing and Mobile and social gaming.

But if you aren’t making the trip to Paris, you can still catch up with all that is going on. The 2 days will be livestreamed by Ustream – on LeWeb and lewebplenary2 – and follow the action on Twitter with #leweb or #leweb10. There’s also a huge list of bloggers/tweeters in multiple languages, who’ll be covering the event with live blogging, videos, audio and images. I’m looking forward to having you along for the ride

• Argos
• BBC
• Currys
• Debenhams
• eBay
• Facebook
• Google Maps
• Hotmail
• ITV
• John Lewis
• KLM
• Lotto
• MSN
• Next
• O2
• PayPal
• QVC
• Rightmove
• Sky
• Tesco
• YouTube (yes, it is the top result for u)
• Virgin Atlantic
• BBC Weather
• Xbox
• YouTube
• Zara

The news comes through, originally uploaded by RachelC.

Five years ago, a colleague and I ran down to Trafalgar Square in our lunch break to join the crowds waiting to see if we had been awarded the Olympics. And we had! Here’s the crowd just after the announcement.

STV (as recommended by Ewan)

• Go to STV home page
• Click on ‘live now’ in programme listing
• Go to page, watch some ads. Start the football

The BBC

• Go to BBC home page
• Click on ‘what’s playing now’ in programme listing
• Click on ‘Live on BBC one now’
• Click to start the football (or one more click to have popup video player(my preference)

ITV

• Go to the ITV home page
• Click on bottom nav home page link in main banner. Go nowhere. Click on text link.
• Stare at page trying to work out where link is
• Click on ‘live’ link. Go to ‘live page’
• Click on ‘Join now’ Go to a page full of texts, facts, chat topics, video replays, live stats
• Try and work out which link to click
• Find link. Click. Get to page with live chat. Ads start running
• Start the football, on a page made slower by running lots of social elements and scripts that threaten to kill the browser.

SS: Social Media lead at Razorfish, we currently have reduction in form size, but no reduction in functionality, we are developing mobile solutions for almost all the clients. we are not the 3rd gen of mobiles design, where the core interface is buttons, and streaming and a pulse interface.
RG: Co-Founder of artefact. being working on apps for the last 20 years. come at this from the tech and UI perspective. thinking about how to make a grate app is what we do, which is diff to how marketing has developed things from the past. One thing recently is Seesmic Look, Twitter for neophytes. It’s a branded channel, so brands can build content on top of their tags that are happening. It’s not about building an app, it could be about reaching through an app to get to your audience.
AH: 3 yo company, founders were all ad people, we are reformed. It is around the idea you can take the same money that you spent on commas and spend it on doing things for people and have the same success. My background is strategy. We try and solve business problems by doing things, so for Nordstrom, teen girls, when they want to spend lots of money, they would take pictures and send pictures to their parents – OR would dress up and take photos for touchscreens. So we created something that could take photos, edit them and let them be sent out.

BM: we are going to be talking about the future. what do you see going on right now?
AH: the biggest change, it’s about the information, about how people use the products. Less of the brand perception is not about the imagery and commas but about what they do.
SS; I would extend that further, the biggest change in last 3 years, is trust in big brands has dropped dramatically, thanks to financial crisis and consumer empowerment. Brands are not defined by what they do (marketing, PR, launches) and more by how consumers talk and relate to them. A lot of questions about fundamentals of marketing, advertising etc

BM; so where do apps fit in there?
RG: the days of brands trying to get your attention and hold it with traditional methods are gone. if you are not trying to actively engage your customers, provide utility, you are not going to have a lasting relationship. you have to understand them, their pain, look for opps to delight the. It’s not another channel to push out the message, you have to provide them.
SS: Only partially agree. I like toothpaste, I use it everyday, but I don’t want to have a 2 way conversation with colgate. I care about that I have a memory point when I next buy it. It is important to see the type of brand and if it is high or low consideration.

BM: what can brands learn from popular apps, that are not brand apps.
AH: the lessons that brands can learn from 4sq is not the one they think they are learning. SO people want to connect with friends and they should not get away form that. there are times you can help..but they should not go through you. Typically brands would say this is fantastic it is another place we can connect but it is not a great place for brands to be playing.
SS: so how many of you consider yourself experts in social media (a quarter). (More in mobile). You can’t be into social media if you are not into mobile as well.
RG: I want to add a diff point, what we should be learning is about incentivised behaviour and social status. there is a lot of buzz about reward systems for behaviour. they get something back for checking in, for changing behaviour. that is the beginning of a massive trend, that will snowball in the next few years.

BM: so I want to go into your favourites. A lot of apps are serving the same place as microsites, they are disposable, So what is the role for the campaign like, ephemeral apps.
SS: if you have an app that is a microsiste, it is a total failure, an app coming from a brand has to be entertainment driver – without eh brand as a sponsor or it has to be utilitarian, like the food ordering apps. For it to play role of microsite is a waste of time and money
BM: Adrian are you seeing this> It was the facebook app, now the iphone app.
AH: I would agree on microsite thing, also, I think the entertainment model of using apps is flawed for brands, it does not do the behaviour change, A lot of advertising is about trickery, about changing behaviour. Apps in general, they reward change, that may be useful for brand. A utility based app is much more direct, allows you to behave in a new way. an entertainment app is different, it is about you making you feel different about eh brand, so not a great use for apps,

AudQ: is the brand manager of the future technologist or marketer?
RG: if what I said about apps is true, the technology component cannot be ignored. it’s maintenance and shipping cycle and complexity that the marketing industry is not used to yet. I still think the brand expertise to have the insights and empathy with customer will still rule the day however.
SS: Knowing customers is getting harder by the day and that is of paramount importance. With mobile apps it should get a lot quicker and easier to build and the tech should be commoditised.
AH: the debate about who controls is interesting. from tech, an app is designed to allow you to do things so there is research about making that possible, Marketers come at it about telling you things about the brand that is good to know. they often collide. It is in the middle it will come together, if you allow technologist to do anything, you get usable apps that are not differentiated, so you need the marketing that flavours it with the brand.

BM: so apps you like?
SS: Bundle helps you understand how people spend money. you can info about how other people just like you spend money, the app does not translate the website. The app is Vice Tracker is about changing the spend behaviour. allowing people to be more mindful of how they are spending, against their friends. I can track behaviour, see friends, comment on their behaviour, gives a leadership ranking, on who has the most vices. the idea is that apps can serve a strong educational purpose, in this case managing our vices in a fun game like fashion, it has a social piece, a game like interface, game mechanics, that is what makes it powerful. There are incentives, tied into cause marketing as well.
BM: are the points are what are driving people on 4sq? is it changing behaviour.
SS: there are more to life than incentives and points. it is a shortcut….it is not just about incentives, they do help, there are successful that are pure entertainment or utility, it does depend.

BM: so now into the sucky part.
SS: New York Times. I’m a big fan of the NYT. I feel the app misses things. the content is amazing and great to have it on the phone. I wish they would ask me for money for it. It has no location aware functionality, can’t understand why it doesn’t, so news has a local component. It does not have social features, cannot comment, share, cannot see top rated articles, can’t mash them up, it is a glorified news reader, take tout he content and it is nothing. It does not let me filter by my social graph. it could be better.

RG: . the zippo lighter is about what I don’t like about apps, but I’m using it as a good example. It’s very cheap/simple, and has 3m downloads. Not doing very much, but understanding the platform, early and quickly to get something there. My real good example is Shop Savvy. It is a barcode scanner. you can go into a store, and you can find the cheapest price in the web to get it, also if there is a shop nearby where you can buy it cheaper. `so incentive to get it. save money. they understood the customer, they are wanting to purchase it something, we know where they are, then sell that info to advertisers, so they can discount or offer something.
SS: you talk about shop savvy being a platform for brands? is this an pop for target etc to build their own. So AUDQ about if brands should build or sponsor?
RG: I tend to believe that the loyal Best Buy shopper, is not really a real scenario (i.e. once a month or more for this) is not real. Being part of the ecosystem is better than owning every part of it.
SS: the criteria I use, is it a passionate brand, there is a lot of passion around it. does it have great content or a lot of utilitarian use, does it change on a frequent basis. if it meets these 3, then it is a good reason to build one.
RG: the Merc AMG is an example of what I don’t like. The luxury brands are putting out the microsites as apps. They are links…a video, sound effects and some photos and that is all. There are a tonne of these, brands that have spent years building classy momentum around brand and then they offer you this. It’s is nothing. You may use this once. It is less rich than the site. it is lame. There is nothing to it.
BM: what could they do to make it useful?
RG: this is a passion brand, where the lust is high, but what I don’t see anything about social integration , no community of users, no attempt to connect them, no attempt to say Merc is listening or cares. If I was going to buy one, I may want to talk to other owners, look at second hand market, understand the brand.
AH: Apps like this are advertising – potential owners. With apps you can actually target owners as well. the biggest sales go to existing owners, so an app that makes driving Mercs even better would be good, tap into data etc. this is what happens when advertising people take on app design.

BM: Your example is different?
AH: amazon.com. they don’t run advertising, they created an app that allows you to take pictures when hopping, save it to your cart to get later. it’s a direct relation to sales, we know business impact. My bad app is the GTI driving game. as a tool for branding, it goes against an impressions based model. Of those who downloaded, the idea is that some portion will remember and then take some action and eventually test drive. It is a waste as most who use it will never do anything with it related to the brand, except maybe a good feeling.

BM: so the biggest challenge is campaign vs software development? The budgets may not change soon?
SS: it will change when it proven to have value. A single brand app gets little traction, the ROI is questionable. it is easy to slam marketers for not doing this, but it comes down to metrics, there is not enough education or decision but there are not enough metrics either.
RG: the metrics today are a lot more like PR metrics than traditional marketing etc, I do think that new metrics will be required. e.g. engagement with app in a month. and the tracking of that. When they do use it, you have an engaged user. those metrics don’t properly show up with this yet, and they need to do this.
SS: the biggest metric is not CPMS, CPC, but Cost per BUZZ, and that is not enough.
BM: is that what success looks like (refers to a flurry graph)
AH: we are measuring a lot with advertising metrics, we expect apps to delver scale that advertising does. they will not do this. the reach is limited. we need to figure out new ways to measure ha they are delivering, then you will start to see things do look better. Apps are designed to look good but offer no value, a lot of stuff on that, so if you offer something that allows someone to do business with you easier, then it has a longer lifestyle.

BM: we are talking a lot about iphone as a platform, a few years ago, it would have been facebook.
SS: it is mobility does not mean a sacrifice in functionality. the facebook app is one of the most popular on the iphone. the apps are being downplayed by facebook as well, so not getting as much traction.
RG: a lot of the apps have screwed the privacy issues, with a rogue app stealing info, left me not happy in the platform. Not the best for developers, a lot of things difficult about the facebook universe. the mobile apps universe is more mature and the idea of it being with you all the time is the most compelling thing, it’s powerful;. facebook is still one foot int he desktop experience and not with me all the time.

AUDQ: how will the iPad impact it?
SS: there will be an impact, a lot to do with your posture. you will have more space, different posture and gestures. Not used to it yet.
RG: just the larger canvas, is something.

AUDQ: What steps to increase stickiness of apps?
RG: there’s no lipstick answer, there is no small thing. you have to do your homework. What is the opportunity. It’s the user-centric design, try and figure out a way to make some utility. Charmin did one…an app to find toilets and to review them. for moms with kids, a good app. it is relevant.
SS: don’t frontload all the advertising PR push etc, that is when you see a reverse hockey stick. think different marketing and PR levers.