Lowther Rinse Repeat

Observations from a Night Time Seawall Run August 19, 2008

Last night I was sitting at home and decided to finally go for my run around 8pm.  It was a perfect evening for it - it wasn’t too warm and there was a nice cool breeze on the seawall.  I intended for it to be a quick run - from my house down to the seawall at the Cambie street bridge then down to the construction next to the tennis courts at David Lam Park and back.

It was so nice though, that I kept going and ended up at English Bay, then ran back to Urban Fare to pick up a quick bite to eat.  It was a really nice long run - I’d guess between 5 and 7km.  But, I really don’t have any idea how long it actually was, because they don’t have any distance markers on this part of the seawall.  They do around Stanley Park, but that’s it. This got me to thinking why they don’t have distance markers or am I just missing them?

Vancouver is an abnormally active city and you can pretty much look anywhere in the city - particularly the seawall - during the day and see someone running, walking, biking, rollerblading or participating in some sort of group workout routine.  I think it would be a great idea to have distance markers installed along the seawall to let people know how far they’ve gone or to help facilitate people meeting on the seawall.  I can’t imagine that it would cost much to install and I’m pretty positive that I’m not the first person who has wanted to know how long they have run for.

This brings me to my other observation.  Not all of the seawall is lit at night - on my way back the sun set and there were several sections of the seawall that have absolutely no lighting.  I know that I shouldn’t leave for my run so late and it is ultimately my responsibility to ensure my safety and plan my activities accordingly, but I think as a basic safety precaution for the seawall users, it should be lit. Being a girl that was out alone, I find this to be slightly troubling - especially around the area’s that have construction.  It wasn’t too bad as the seawall was still pretty active with people because the sun had just set, I would have felt much more unease had it not been so busy. What do you think - should the seawall be lit at night?

Dumbing it Down - The Problem with the Lowest Common Denominator June 24, 2008

I’d like to thank Buzz Bishop for twittering the link to One Degree’s article ‘Why “dumbing down” is smart‘.

The basic gist of this article is that if you want to capture the largest possible demographic for your product/blog/website/etc that dumbing it down is the easiest solution. The article then goes on to say that the average American reads at an eight grade level and that 30% of web users have a low level of literacy – the author does not give the definition of low level of literacy, but if an eighth grade level is the benchmark, I would venture to say that the bar has not been set very high. The author then details some statistics on what ‘low literacy’ readers online habits are and suggestions for you on how to reach them.

As an online marketer, I can see how this information maybe beneficial to increase your readership levels and to try and gain the largest market penetration available, but as a person, this article horrifies me. The ‘dumbing down’ of North America is a major problem. Just look at the current US Primary season, it is no longer admirable for the candidate to come across as educated, informed, and knowledgeable. No, the candidate needs to be just another ‘fellow’. Jon Stewart said it best - and I am completely paraphrasing here - I want my leader to make me look like an idiot and I want him to be the smartest person in the room. Intelligence is something that should be valued and strive for, not something that is shunned or looked down upon in the main stream.

You find this problem of chasing the lowest common denominator everywhere though. Just take the two local Vancouver newspapers - The Province and The Vancouver Sun. I believe - and please correct me if I am wrong - that they are at a 6th grade and 8th grade reading level respectively. This is a very sad state of affairs. We have a free public school system that goes to the 12th grade. Granted, not everyone completes high school, but should the vast majority of us not be able to read at that level.

Our education and intelligence is not like riding a bike, these skills do not stay with you forever; they diminish over time if you do not use them. So this move towards the lowest common denominator is a race to the bottom. The information contained within the article is great if you think that this is an admirable or desired outcome, but I don’t think it is.

The last sentence in the article was “So if you want more readers, sounding “dumb” online really is the smartest way to go.” Well I’m not OK with that. If what it means to increase my readership is to make myself sound uneducated and just one of the folks, I’m more than happy to keep my readership levels low - and this goes for the corporate sites I work on as well. I will not be part of the ‘dumbing down of North America’ epidemic that is happening. I do not want to race down to the lowest common denominator!

As an aside, one of the suggestions in the article was to use Microsoft Word and calculate the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease of your writing. This blog post received a 10^th grade reading level and a 60% reading ease. I am glad that I fail at the authors suggestion even though I don’t think this article is difficult to read.