Non IRB Approved Qual Research - Faris Yakob TIGS

Amazing what can happen when you simply ask, responses to my extremely non IRB approved qualitative research have begun to come in. First up is Faris Yakob(@faris) of Talent Imitates, Genius Steals. Faris is the EVP Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson New York and has kindly agreed to answer my questions about how to be a better media blogger.

Guru In Training(I just realized my blog acronym is GiT): Before making a blog post it helps to have something to write about. So, how do you find your news? What are your favorite sources of information both online and off?

Talent Imitates, Genius Steals:I used to scan through hundreds of RSS feeds everyday. Now I just let Twitter tell me what I need to know. That said, I very rarely post anything on TIGS that I have discovered via Twitter - everyone already knows. Other things I like are books. Reading is for awesome people. Also people send me stuff all the time - sometimes bad [terrible for IMMMEIDATE RELEASE PR legacy missives from another era] sometimes awesome [excellent thoughtful polite personal emails about stuff I'm actually into]. Plus I read Wired and Fast Company, but again I rarely post from them.

GiT: There's only so much content you can squeeze into an entry. How do you decide which piece of news or personal experience makes the cut as being"blog-worthy?"

TIGS: To me it's pretty simple - I only post stuff on TIGS if I feel I have something original to contribute. I share via twitter and Tumblr - TIGS is for thinking.

GiT: Some people use blogs as personal journals, some as news sources, others as hubs for discussion. What role do you see your blog as having? Do you have a specific audience in mind as you write?

TIGS: As I mention above TIGS has a specific role - it's where I do my thinking and ask the audience to test it out. I think over the years I have begun to understand the audience, but it's not specific - I don't just write for the advertising industry, for example, rather anyone interested in culture, media, communications, technology and that.

GiT: Considering the name and goal of this blog: do you have any advice to give to someone aspiring to be media/tech savvy?

TIGS: Read a lot. Remember that if you didn't learn something today, you are behind. And if you don't love media and tech, then don't bother.

GiT: And finally, how did you decide on the name for your blog?

TIGS: Talent imitates, Genius Steals started out as something cool to put at the top of my blog and became the expression which distills my belief in recombinant culture - more on that here:

http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2008/11/interesting-a-history-of-recombinant-culture.html

GiT: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer!