Healthcare Reform Explained by Dan Roam

We often get requests to make a video about healthcare reform. Unfortunately, it's a subject that's very fluid - by the time finished a video, it may be out of date.

Thankfully, our friend Dan Roam (who wrote the book Back of the Napkin) has stepped up to the challenge and created a simple way to explain healthcare/insurance reform. Check it out:

Study: Americans Overwhelmingly Demand Simple Communications

Siegel+Gale recently completed a year long study of 1,214 American
homeowners and investors that shows huge demand for simple, plain
English communications.  A few interesting quotes:

Fully 84% of all consumers say they are more likely to trust a company
that uses jargon-free, plain English in communications. And 79% say
they think it is “very important” that President Obama “mandate that
clarity, transparency, and plain English be a requirement of every new
law, regulation and policy.”

You've Spoken: Common Craft and Politics

Through nearly 50 comments and 15-20 emails, you have spoken. You don't want to see politics on Common Craft. I agree that it is the right move - political discussions will not appear on the Common Craft web site. We may make videos about events that relate to government, but these will not reflect personal/partisan views.  A couple of things:

1) First, wow.  We are both so excited to see such amazing comments. The thoughtfulness is inspiring. Thank you so much for being involved - we are lucky to have people like you around us. My Mom even got involved via email (thanks Mom!)

Not Talking Politics is Hard

Sachi and I have an ongoing discussion that I want to share with you, dear reader, because I want to hear your feedback.

When I was a consultant, people would ask me what subjects are appropriate for a blog.  Inevitably I would say that it should reflect the person behind the blog and what is important to them. It should be multi-faceted and provide personality along with on-topic content.  I would also say that context matters - company blogs deserve special care, for instance.

So here I am with the Common Craft blog and there are two things that are very important to me right now:

1. Making videos

2. The Presidential Elections

Teachers Make Our Day

Hi, I am a teacher at a middle school in Ohio, I just shared your electoral college video with my kids and thy got it!!!!!  Your explanation is the best I have ever seen.  Now my kids want more of your stuff.  Just thought you'd like a big cheer from Ohio.

Here's to kids getting it! Yay!  The video is here. 

Video: Electing a US President in Plain English

Electing a US President in Plain English

Tech President

As the US presidential election heats up, I've been more and more interested in how the candidates are shaping up, particularly on the web.  One of my daily newsletters, Tech President (blog), has recently become something I look forward to each day.  It's by the Personal Democracy Forum and focuses on, you guessed it, how technology is changing politics (or not).

Classic: Hacking John McCain

John McCain's campaign recently created a MySpace page and made a few mistakes along the way. They used Mike Davidson's (the co-founder of Newsvine) design template (without credit) and even images from Mike's server. When Mike discovered this, he switched out an image as a prank. Hilarious.

Dean uses a Blog to Announce DNC Chairman Run

I'm posting this because of the sign-of-the-times appeal. Today Howard Dean used his "Blog for America" to announce that he is running for the Chairmanship of the Democratic Nat'l Committee.

What, no press release? No news conference? I'm sure those may follow, but as usual-- the blog world knows first.