Ron Lindeboom
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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[Jacki in Atlanta] “OK, I’m looking up at the faces of all the guys who are the moderators/leaders for this Business and Marketing forum here, and you are all GUYS. Nine. No women. This is not a dig at the Cow folks, I’m sure you would have more women here if they were qualified and volunteered.”
Hello Jacki in Atlanta,
Kathlyn, my wife, runs this site and has spent more time building the line-up of faces seen on the COW team than anyone else. I am up there in this forum because I love business and this forum is one of my babies. As she says: “I’d rather ‘do’ business, than ‘talk’ business.” She’s quiet, focused, disciplined and at the end of the day, she accomplishes a lot. Did I mention she’s quiet? ;o)
Kathlyn would love to get more women involved in this site as leaders and tries almost daily to get more women involved. She almost never succeeds. Why? If she/we knew, the situation would not be happening, that is a given.
Some of the most well known women in this industry are too busy writing books and/or selling their time to want to volunteer. The ones that are lesser known are often concerned that they do not want to be known as women online — many that we have run into at tradeshows, etc., tell us they post as Herman Gingdingfinkler or Rob Consonants.
An odd thing we have noticed over the years is that women often prefer mailing lists, and men seem to prefer forums. We have not done, nor have we seen any scientific evidence to back that up — we’ll have to wait for the multi-million dollar government studies — but it seems there may be some merit to that thought. It may be the social aspect of a free-form conversation against the more structured discourse of a forum. I have joked with Kathlyn over the years that I go to the store to buy something, I am not there to shop. Both Kathlyn and our daughters love to shop. It’s far more abstract than my desire to hunt down the object of my need and bring it home — quickly.
If there’s a social aspect to it, which there indeed seems to be and is borne out in many scientific studies that explore the way that men and women see their worlds, then maybe that plays into this a bit, as well. I don’t know, I just make stuff and don’t get things as over-complicated as some do.
We have tried very hard to get more women involved. When we ask, they kindly excuse themselves from the conversation.
We can’t speak for an industry but we can and will speak for the phenomenon as it plays out here at the COW.
As a man, am I afraid to answer? No.
But as a man I am perplexed as to why many women say that they love to “communicate” — while chanting the tired oft-stated mantra that men don’t and won’t — yet we see the reverse day after day and year after year here at the COW.
Kathlyn and I see it as just another tired stereotype that needs to die an ugly death. It’s a question that many women seem afraid to ask, let alone answer…
Believe me, Kathlyn and I have talked about it many times and we’d love to figure it out.
As Walter points out: we are all still questioned, examined, prodded, poked and compared to others almost daily. It isn’t based on sex, it’s that it’s a “what have you done for me lately” kinda thing. And again as Walter points out: as a freelancer, you are often a threat to those you are working alongside. That wouldn’t change even if your “plumbing” did.
As an aside: The COW exists just because it is a female-owned business. Kathlyn was given a grant by a major software manufacturer who said that even though I was the one with the experience, they would only give the grant to a female-owned business. So Kathlyn got in and rolled up her sleeves and has learned this and has done an exemplary job running it — truth is, better than I did in our first go round. That’s not pandering, the old-timers here know it is quite true. But the point is: it cuts both ways, believe me…
Your point about male-dominated film festivals, etc., and the lack of female entries is likely a reflection of the the same thing that we see playing out here at the COW. In 12 years of doing this, we have yet to see more than one woman volunteer — all the rest, we went after. Few were interested. Do we wish it was otherwise? Of course. But there are no magic answers — well, except in Harry Potter movies.
Are there more guys in this industry? Yes. I doubt that will change anytime soon. As to why women don’t seem to enter film festivals, I have no idea. I do notice that many of the people that we work with that run festivals are women. But we see what you mention in regard to the entries, few women.
Thank you for your comments and I wish I had answers and not more questions for you.
It’s a crazy world.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
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Yes, we love telling the stories of those who make up the COW. :o)
While Jonathan may be his own PR machine, Seth, we are the PR machine for those who are involved with the COW.
Congratulations to you both on your nominations. Good luck to you both at the podcasting expo.
Best,
Ron, Kathlyn, Tim & All the Udder Bovines
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[beenyweenies] “…have all financials worked out PRIOR to showing up for any shoot, even if it is for a friend…”
Especially if it is for a friend.
It will help you keep them that way. :o)
Ron Lindeboom
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[Wayne Carey] “Thank you, Ron.”
Thank you, Wayne. It is an honor to have you as a part of the community. Thanks for participating.
Best,
Ron Lindeboom
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[Plunder Hallow] “I’m sorry if I’m missing something here but is this DVD a Cow product? And if so how can you possibly have a review of it on your own website?”
We did not tell Wayne Carey what to think and as he is a true broadcast professional, we figured that his opinion would be his own and would have merit just because he is a pro.
We didn’t pick five guys to review it and then take the most favorable one. We asked Wayne. Period. His opinion would be the one we ran with and if he said it was two or three COWs, that is what we would have gone with.
Luckily, he liked it better than that. ;o)
Considering that 3D World Magazine out of England reviewed one of our titles in their Nov ’06 issue and gave it a perfect 10 — the only one we found in their whole 100+ page issue — we think that our cost-to-value curve exceeds anyone else in the market. Most agree.
Your mileage may vary,
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net -
Hey Steve,
To be honest, this interface was meant only to get us through NAB 2007 because I didn’t want to go with the same hideous interface that we had had for years. (When you get as busy as we are, you seem to always be too many jobs behind and interfaces take a back seat to content, features, etc.).
We are hard at work on the REAL interface which should be live in the next couple of weeks or so and it is the first interface for the COW that I have actually liked and it simplifies navigation, etc., greatly. Nothing changes position and the interface is what a 21st Century interface should be.
The old interface and even the variant that we have had for the last few months are a real throwback to the 90s. To be honest, I have hated the interface and Kathlyn and Tim would tell you that’s the fact, Jack. ;o)
If you email me offline, I will send you a link where you can grab a sneak peek if you would like.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
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[grinner] “I once had a boss that loved to pirate not only music but movie content. Didn’t bat an eye at it. I knew if/when push came to shove, he’d certainly throw me, the person that pushed the red button under the bus.”
Great point, Grinner.
Some people believe that they can get a release signed absolving oneself of liability in these matters. It is simply not the case. You cannot in any court of law I am aware of, get a release signed that allows you to break a law and assign the responsibility to someone else — not when you are the one who is doing the work.
Beware of red buttons that place oneself in front of buses,
Ron Lindeboom
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In a recent Gallup poll of sharks, it was learned that few had HD home theater systems. Most, still watch television using SD. Those big pop-eyed fish have much higher numbers in HD but sharks with their little squinty beady-eyes, have not taken to it as quickly. This is arguably due to their affinity for watching lawyers on The Court TV channel. (It’s that ole “professional connection” thingie, I think.) Jellyfish, which should come as no surprise at all due to them being eyeless, had almost a zero percent HD rating.
As sound really travels brilliantly through water, don’t even get me started on the way that 5.1 and 7.1 play out aquatically. Amazing!
By the way, as an aside, Shark Week in the oceanic realm plays on The Food Channel.
:o)
Ron Lindeboom
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[Oliver Peters] “I’m not trying to be argumentative…”
You could have fooled me by your flipping out on some of the lists across the Net.
We keep certain words in the filter so that we can block porn, spam, etc.
The word censor has been in the filter to catch things like “Uncensored etc., etc.”, because many of the porn spam engines don’t use XXX or that kind of tact anymore. They try to use more normal words. In fact, it’s been a while since I have even seen that one used and so I have removed it and substituted “Paris” and “Hilton” instead. ;o)
If we were trying to censor you, then why on Earth did we send through your post unedited???
But don’t let anything slow you down from berating us here and at other venues on the net; after all, you aren’t being argumentative, right?
Ron Lindeboom
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You can post whatsoevertheheck you please, Oliver. But seeing as you put brackets on either side (as Michael Horton pointed out), your link disappeared and you could never have seen it — as it was never there.
Greater Than and Lesser Than symbols are Linux control operator commands and so when you wrap them at the beginning and end of something, it disappears when you post it as the Linux server thinks you are trying to send a command not post a web link.
Don’t put anything before or after your link and it will work fine…
Ron Lindeboom