July 2011
5 posts
West lawn, US Capitol pre-Fourth of July
Taken at West Front Capitol
West lawn, US Capitol pre-Fourth of July
Taken at West Front Capitol
Morning run
Baseball fun
AASHTO as DC Influencer in PR Week
My communication team put together a new iPhone app, released in mid-May. The media promotion for the app, led to an invitation to be the PR Week DC Influencer. The article ran in the June 30 edition of PR Week US. DC_Influencer_Lloyd_Brown,_American_Association_of_State_Highway_&_Transportation_Officials_-_Print_Article_-_PRWeek_US.pdf Download this file
May 2011
1 post
Mich. DOT Director Kirk Stuedle ready to speak at...
April 2011
1 post
Marine Corps Band at the National Cherry Blossom...
February 2011
1 post
Hanging with the President on his birthday
Stephanie, Jake and I went to the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate President’s Day. He seemed very peaceful today.
January 2011
2 posts
Metro mayhem: If not "on time," take "get there"
I got to the Metro station this morning and there was a train waiting. Nice. However, that train was packed. Not moving. “Uh oh,” I thought. Not good. Quickly checking my email, I learned the rest of the story: a cracked rail at Bethesda was causing Red Line delays. Big problem. About 50 minutes later I arrived at my destination. Yes, I was delayed. I was jostled. I was...
3 tags
Web 2.0 circa 2010
Last year I wrote an article for TR News, the bi-monthly publication of the Transportation Research Board. The November-December 2010 issue was just posted online. Since the entire publication is not yet posted, I thought I would share it with you here. And just a warning for the non-web 2.0 folks out there - and Lord knows that is nearly everyone but a few of us communication geek types - this...
December 2010
4 posts
What an 'O Holy Night'
We thoroughly enjoyed the Ashburton Elementary School holiday concert, especially Jake’s solo performance of “O Holy Night.” He worked on this piece for weeks. I couldn’t be more proud. Enjoy.
1 tag
Best new band of 2010 - Head and the Heart
This isn’t Christmas music, but it is a nice video from KEXP radio of my vote for best new band of 2010. The Head and the Heart is an amazing Northwest band that I can’t wait to see live when they make it to the east coast.
The Frozen Palouse ... History Repeats Itself?
The fun begins Saturday in Pullman where weather forecasters are calling for winter weather conditions during the 2010 Apple Cup. Stephanie and I were there in 1992 to watch Bledsoe and the boys hammer the Dawgs. If you were not there, or want to slip down memory lane, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIWW3cQJOJQ. Go Cougs!
Who is 'cugly'?
Too fun. Lola has won over my heart. She is a great dog.
November 2010
3 posts
Christmas tree trimming
Yes, Virginia, there ARE Christmas trees in DC. Happy holidays!
Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family
Most of you know that Stephanie, Jake and I moved to Washington DC this year. We traveled across country in a Ford Focus towing a U-Haul trailer. It was a fun trip and we saw a huge part of America. It will be a trip Jake remembers forever. And, by all accounts, we are settling in very well in this new place. But on this Thanksgiving, I want you to know that I miss our friends and family...
Christmas at Union Station, Washington DC
Ho, Ho, Ho!
October 2010
1 post
5 tags
Gladwell's Twitter Feed ... Do You Follow?
Malcolm Gladwell is skeptical of the power of social media to radicalize change. In an article in the New Yorker, “Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted,” Gladwell claims Twitter and Facebook are comprised of “weak” ties and that “weak ties seldom lead to high-risk activism.” But when we know someone personally - a strong tie - we are personally...
August 2010
1 post
1 tag
Welcome to DC, and thanks for all the fish
Since I last posted, sometime in May but seemingly 10 years ago, my family and I have relocated to Washington DC to take a new job.
I’m now the director of communications for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (aka, AASHTO). You can follow us on Twitter at @aashtospeaks, mostly because someone in Europe has a last name with multiple A’s and took...
May 2010
6 posts
5 tags
TV news: Media to watch
The PR business is full of unethical people advocating for unethical companies/organizations. Fortunately I have not done anything that goes against my personal code of conduct. But I’ve been asked a few times to make suggestions to journalists (trade journalists are always easier targets than local general market reporters … just saying) about how we think stories should go....
3 tags
Leadership: Required learning, or dumb luck?
Leadership is a weird thing. For most of us, we evaluate leaders on their hairstyle. Seriously. Think about it. There was no way that Mike Dukakis was going to be president. Same with John Kerry.
So they were both Massachusetts liberal political insiders, but they also had terrible hair!
Alright, leadership is not only about the hair. It is also about relationship. I recently read Leadership...
5 tags
Communicating Across the Digital Divide →
This is a presentation I prepared for one of my Gonzaga University graduate courses. My research shows is important for government organizations to remember that not all peopel access and use the Internet in the same way. This has ramifications for how Gov2.0 campaigns are designed and executed.
What do you think?
3 tags
Strategic communications
I’m starting a summer school course, part of my Gonzaga master’s degree program. It’s focused on strategic corporate communications.
Since I lead one of the largest corporate communication teams in the Northwest, I’m probably qualified to share a few insights with my colleagues on what it means to be strategic. But, you know what? I’m ready to shut my mouth, and...
3 tags
Empire Avenue: Awesome or waste of time?
EAVB_YRMAEVAGAQ
A colleague of mine sent me an invite to EmpireAvenue.com last week. I’m usually up for trying new social networking sites, so I jumped right in.
I quickly realized that I had just inhaled the online equivalent of meth. The first hit is awesome, but now I can’t seem to step away and I’m not sure what my teeth will look like in a few months.
The idea here is...
March 2010
3 posts
1 tag
February 2010
3 posts
You hear the weirdest things at the gym
I’ve been spending more time at the gym lately. I apparently discovered the perfect recipe for midsection expansion - turn 40, spend hours each day studying for a Master’s degree and develop a healthy appreciation for beer. The only cure is exercise, and that means getting my rear out the door.
While I’ve lost a few inches on my midsection, I have gained a number of...
1 tag
January 2010
3 posts
Ah! Quiet ... quiet!
I’m running this morning. Eight miles. I’ve never run that far before. And I’m 40, so it’s not like I should be doing it either. But here I am, up early in the quiet of the morning.
I said quiet but actually the house is not quiet at all. The cat is munching her food, Thunder the Wonder Dog is whining to go out and eat and the coffee maker is roaring like a jet engine.
...
December 2009
5 posts
3 tags
2 tags
Excerpt from final paper
COML 509 was a tough course. We studied Chomsky and Postman and Ong. We learned about technology and its effect on culture. My final paper looked at how Gov 2.0 strategies are changing the relationship between the government and its citizens, and it included a few of the many concerns that we must consider as new technology is injected into our government. Here are a couple of excerpts from that...
November 2009
8 posts
A terrible day for everyone, even local media
I was sitting in church this morning when I peaked at my Twitter feed on my iPhone. I was horrified. Four police officers executed at a Lakewood coffee shop.
I am grieving for the police officers’ families, for the brothers and sisters in the “Thin Blue Line,” and for the entire state really.
I hardly know what to do with my grief. But I also am struck by how the media performed today. I heard...
Happy Thanksgiving.
1 tag
4 tags
Even in computer mediated communication, orality...
Despite the adoption of computer mediated communication in the workplace and throughout our society, aspects of human face-to-face interaction are still a significant and important component of effective communication practice.
Computer mediated communication can be defined as communications that occur via computer-mediated formats such as instant messaging, e-mail, discussion boards and...
What's in a name?
My boy met me at the door this evening with this question, “Dad, when you were a kid did you know about a commercial called ‘School House Rock?’”
Scratching my head, I answered, “Yup.” He followed up quickly, like 10-year-olds do when pressing their point. “Did you know they used a song called ‘Three is a magic number?’ They took the song...
4 tags
Public Media 2.0 ... excited about hyper-local...
The following is a post for a graduate school class. - ldb
Public Media 2.0 appears to be journalism of the people, by the people and for the people. It is democratic journalism.
With Public Media 2.0, journalism is participatory — delivered electronically across physical distances, but also delivered across social, economic and political boundaries.
My colleagues and I in the public...
3 tags
Sourcing the Internet crowd: A news industry...
The Internet has made it easier for journalists to reach a broader and more diverse population of potential sources. Specifically, journalists have the ability to reach potential subject experts that they otherwise may not have considered thanks to access to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and MySpace. In a world in which more people are engaging online, journalists are...
1 tag
Listening to Television (Marquee Moon)
On the same day that I realized the Seattle Weekly was memorializing the 20th anniversary of the release of Bleach by Nirvana, I noticed that the Foo Fighters had released their greatest hits compilation. Feeling old, I turned on Television. Not the big box in the middle of my living room. Rather, the 1977 classic recording, Marquee Moon by Television. More than being one of the best albums ever...
October 2009
14 posts
Why was graphic viaduct video released now?
It is rare anymore that I’m “outed” as a WSDOT spokesman by the media but it happened today in print, er …, digital. From the SeattlePI.com comes this (source: Why was graphic viaduct video released now?)
The chief spokesman for the transportation department insists that was the last thing WSDOT wanted to do, but their hand was forced by a public records request and...
Did You Know? 3.0 (Official Video) -2009 Edition →
I’m fortunate to be taking a graduate communication course. My class on technology and communications led me to this link. Enjoy. It’s fascinating to see the world we live in is nothing like the world we’ll know very soon.
