Flatland (Book Review)

The 1884 novella by Edwin A. Abbot is a very popular tome used to demonstrate the laws of mathematics in schools, such is its enduring influence. It has also proven to be a rather pre-emptive piece of fiction, seeing a resurgence in popularity since the SF 'modern era', particularly when concerning more metaphysical forms of SF, such as Cyberpunk in the 1980s-90s.

Yes, a world in which a mundane Square is our protagonist, where class is derived from one's number of sides and where one's woman is but a flat line, perceived simply as a mere dot near invisible; Flatland is not just an account of the perceptibility of dimensionality, but a satire of the inequality that pervaded Victorian England. Featuring a visit from and to other dimensions, our Square learns the nature of the very sinews of reality, to the point at which the sky is the limit of his imagination . . . To the point of imagining a Fourth, Fifth or even a Sixth dimension, he refuses to be dissuaded in his upward geometric spiral, whatever the consequences. This piece of Math-Fi is a very entertaining -if a little primitive read- that is sure to bring new perspectives and make maths fun again. I only wish I'd read it when studying the subject at school!

The book is set in a two-dimensional world of Flatland, a place where ones social status is inferred from their shape, from a lowly Isosceles Triangle through to the Perfect Circle, whose 'sides' are so small as to be imperceptible. In the first half of the novella, the Square demonstrates the geography and compass of the world via wind direction and how their society operates in terms of the government, (controlled by circular priestly beings) and the histories of the land, (such as their brief use of colour and how the Bill allowing its use was quashed.) Flatland rings with a discord of Fascism in this respect, which feeds into the ideologies of the society, particularly in how it views women, which ultimately resonates eerily with the contemporary society during which the book was written. The first half essentially reads like an academic paper akin to the writing seen in H. G. Wells' The War of The Worlds, which is written in the style of a journalist.

The second half sees the book enter the more personal story of Square, who dreams of Lineland (a place of only one dimension,) frustrated by the inhabitant's incredulity at the notion of there being two dimensions to Space. In this sense, the novel is very philosophical and focuses on Solipsism (where one believes reality to exist only in the mind- meaning you are the universe) to a small extent: Within the Square's descriptions rings a visual description, very similar to the writings of philosopher Bertrand Russell, whose Problems of Philosophy I read a short while ago. The book is short overall at less than 85 pages, but contained within is an interesting read as educational as it is entertaining. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who struggles with maths (particularly shape and space) and to anyone who has trouble with direction; it really helps you to visualise what life would be like without the third dimension and brings back fond memories, of when I played Paper Mario.

The only real problem is the writing style which -being over a century old- has naturally been surpassed several times over by the far more intimate writings of contemporary authors. There are also times when Flatland -excuse the pun- appears flat, especially within the dialogue where a heated argument might take place and someone -rather than go for the snappy 'fuck off'- will of course take us through a rather impotent-sounding squeal of "'...no more will I endure thy mockeries'... And saying these words I precipitated myself upon him." It doesn't really work does it? But it's forgivable given the time period and the maths is interesting (something I never thought I'd hear myself say!)

Overall, Flatland is an insightful read of great prescience and will be sure to entertain even the most resilient 'mathsophobe.' And for those of you SF fans into Cyberpunk, Flatland will be a highly-informative progenitor read, bringing the metaphysical into SF probably for the first time. I hope this review's been useful to you and before I go, please check below to see the link to the Dover-Thrift website (also on Amazon, where I bought the book) because their copy is unbelievably cheap and of a pretty high-quality as well, I might add!

Thanks for reading!

Dover-Thrift Edition

Carat Media Internship: Final Journal Entry

We have finally reached the end. After 24 weeks of 8-hour Thursdays I can say that I have racked up an average total of 192 hours of working in one of Britain's most reputable media agencies. Such an opportunity of course does not come around every day, which is why I am hugely thankful to all concerned at Carat Media.

My final week can be summed up as being almost like any other: I completed more site transparency reports for a couple of clients; I completed a strategic overview for a client examining two campaigns: the URL and media exchange, in addition to their most popular day parts, which proved useful for us, as I managed to discern the optimum time of day for each exchange within specific strategies; this ultimately aided us greatly in ensuring that under-performing exchanges were dropped, which I advised in my supporting commentary. This was all topped off by a presentation showing keyword performance alongside my own recommendations for action, a graph from which can be seen below:

There was however a new task I was previously unaccustomed to, one that was quite simple yet rewarding all the same: A competitor report. This was basically a task of observation, where I would exhaustively examine all the relevant pages within a list of websites on which our client was advertising (for pets in our case) and see who was advertising in our space, provided they were a direct competitor. From here I would simply note the website, the tab in which they appeared and finally the name of the advertiser/advert, with a small note on the proposition. This allows us to not only see exactly who our main competitors are, but also allows us to spot common tactics in copywriting/creative etc. The table is shown below:

I think that that should suffice for the tasks this week. Now I think it's time to move onto a final farewell, at least -I hope- for the time being, as I leave this position to revise for examinations and complete the remainder of my second university year. But before I click the all-terminating "Publish" button, I will look back at the internship and pick my personal, Top 5 Weeks, which I enjoyed the most for potentially any reason. Let's begin!

1) 28/11/2013 

Despite the fact that there were only two tasks (one of which being a keyword list,) it was a very enjoyable one that I remember vividly and fondly. By cramped, aching fingers from typing, or by my unwavering gaze as I raced against the clock, the Exchange Removal task was one that -for an odd reason, I think- I enjoyed so much, that I wanted to complete the task before the end of the day without failure and -in the closest nick of time!- I did. It was quite a triumph.

2) 05/12/2013

I chose this week because of two reasons. The first reason is because I completed a full strategic evaluation of two clients consisting of day parts, site transparencies, exchange evaluations, the lot; so -as you'd imagine- there was a great deal to organise and it provided an invaluable lesson on managing spreadsheets for readability that I will never forget. It was pretty much the week where I finally formulated a consistent way of organising my Excel work and since then I have continued to do the same, even outside of Carat! The second reason however is far more social. Since it took so long to download the sheet I talked for a while to the colleague who gave me the task and during this conversation, realised we had a few things in common, (namely an interest in Sci-fi) which lead to him lending me the book Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, for which I am very grateful (it was one of my favourite books last year!)

3) 13/02/2014

This week was pivotal because I finally overcame my fear and frustration with spendchecks! The infernal bane of accountancy was no match it seems for my patience and the helpful aid of some of my colleagues, in vanquishing this demon of what turned out to be quite a simple task of recording figures.

4) 20/02/2014

Art was never really a strong suit of mine, but that didn't stop me in creating a pretty awesome-looking presentation! I still think my placing images over an iPhone to create a fairly life-like layout of apps, is one of my more genius creations and one which seemed to go quite well at that. Of course it wasn't entirely perfect but nevertheless, it was a job well done!

5) 30/01/2014

This week saw me complete an evaluation of a YouTube campaign for which I had to use a calculator to work out some of the sums and put it all into a presentation. It was a little different than usual, where I used CPV metrics for about the only time in the whole internship duration, which of course made it all a little more varied. A very enjoyable week in all where I got quite a few things completed, if the file for that week's anything to go by.

In my final conclusion I would like to round off this post by extolling the virtues of Carat as a company and of these programs as a whole. The AMNET subsidiary of Carat Media, its parent Aegis and in turn its parent Dentsu, are a vibrant and wholesome organisation. Symbiotic, one could say, with the business world and by extension the rest of society, Carat provides a brilliant glimpse into the marketing world of so many clients, so much so that it bestows awesome knowledge. Yes, one could work in-house for one of our top clients but -and despite the fact I've never worked in one- I would say that it provides a narrower view than does an agency held in such high regard as Carat. This is mainly -I think- due to the scope, the breadth of companies that you work for, which all serve to make the days over-flow with experience, which over time amounts to wisdom in knowing what affects one sector as opposed to another, or what one client demands when compared to another, or finally, when one strategic technique works instead of another, in a given scenario. This would be less common in an in-house environment where work is focused on your product and your service and in the instance that you do look into these things for competitors; it is only in regards to how to compete. In an agency this of course is absent from the equation. You will manage the account of one client and then another, making changes as you go without any competitive regard beyond keeping both of them. This is why I think I will always prefer working in an agency to in-house, (or maybe it's my Tomi Clothing experience talking!) because it is varied and provides a breadth of work, combined with considerable depth for the clients we serve.

More importantly however are the virtues of working on small internships like these because -like networking - it can open doors. Since my time here I have been able to gain interviews with companies that I thought far too out of reach and references that can be relied upon to extoll my own virtues to future employers. Yes, I know there is an ongoing debate regarding the ethics of the internship scheme and there are some dubious ones out there. But in good measure, and as part of a well-thought-out, high-quality course, ones like that at Carat Media can really help the student itching to gain the work experience, often needed to dismantle the Catch-22 of not having work experience. 

It has been a fantastic time in all and I'm only sorry to have seen it pass so quickly.

Thanks for reading!

Another Writing Update

As the blog reaches 8000 views since January 2013, I think it's about time I updated on my recent endeavours. Last week I attended the first ever meeting of our university Creative Writing Society. It was very enjoyable with some diverse and interesting pieces written by the founders across multiple genres, from comedy to post-modernism. When participating in these gatherings it really does open your eyes up to many new experiences. For example, given that pretty much every other society member is a student of English or Creative Writing, they of course have a great deal more experience than I do, since they are learning the art of writing through a rigorous system of analysis of classic texts and implementation of such techniques. All is aided I might add by professional texts on the craft, which of course are also available to me via the library, which I guess is where the next step in my professional development as a writer will be. Regardless, we reconvene after Easter over which I am planning a new project! Yes, I have finished a draft 2 of my second novel and -when I return- I'll get some feedback on it. Until then I'm not going to fret over it.

The new project is one I would describe as being a little more ambitious in terms of size and complexity than my previous works. I have been planning it for the past week or so now and I have written a basic outline as well as a mind-map and in addition to these, I felt it appropriate to also write a chapter-by-chapter summary of the story, so that every scene is detailed in some way. The reason for this is because firstly there are four main characters and secondly, because I want the story to be brimming with realism.

The narrative, set in a fairly contemporary England, follows the aftermath of a political fallout. Inspired in part by the riots that erupted across England in 2011, a similar event happens in the story and leaves the country completely destroyed. With hospitals closed, schools destroyed, whole towns razed and soldiers under shoot-to-kill orders, a small group of ordinary citizens wait for a certain doom. Beginning in Wigan, the four strangers become dependent upon one another as they mount a dangerous road to Dover, where a final ship is due to leave for France in 24 hours. In the race against the clock they pass through their former home towns and recount their individual traumas while ordinary problems -such as Type-1 Diabetes- threaten their lives in the dystopia that was once a powerful nation. The story was partly inspired also by the David Mitchell books Cloud Atlas, (which I have reviewed) and number9dream. The influences here surround the secondary narrative set in 1794 during "The Terror" of the French Revolution, where a French Aristocrat attempts to resist the peasants' movement, but learns that they too have a place in society via his loyal Valet.

I hope that this explanation isn't too long-winded, but it is a story I tried to write a few months ago. Sadly I found that it was too ambitious a tale to tell; I simply hadn't read widely enough at that point. But in any case I'm glad to be off for the next three weeks and -once the summer has started- I will write more. Of course I'll hopefully have a year in industry set up by then, so I will accommodate my time to continue reading and writing as much as possible while I am at work.

Thanks for reading guys!

Carat Media Internship: Journal Entry #23

Admittedly this post is slightly late as I've been rather busy recently. Last week was very enjoyable albeit a little similar to the week before. I was involved with our DSPs using pixels again, but this time I only looked for the age of the average converting customer as opposed to examining more than one market. Apparently the digital executives manning the Irish desk were quite pleased last week I'm glad to report, so I guess I did right after all, despite my initial doubts. After completing around 9 different campaigns spread across three of our clients I moved onto a new task, using an online maps tool to discover postcode radii.

Pixels

I used the radius tool to focus on London and proceeded to select a radius of around 30Km I think. From here I examined the numbers appearing against the areas, showing population size, which I then cross-referenced with official statistics to discern the areas outside of London with the highest populations. These areas were then placed onto a simple list in Excel and sent off to my colleague, who used the list to select towns and cities from within another DSP. This was again an interesting experience, which taught me a little about the most populated areas of the country and their history as I browsed government reports and Wikipedia, making the task a rather fun one to complete.

My final task for the day was to complete another site list removal, examining campaigns for three more clients. Here I removed the obvious sites, those with unusual URLs, dead links, irrelevant pages and again, these were placed into a removal list within our DSP, which should hopefully funnel out options for targeting sites with our ads. After all, the more bad sites we remove, the less of them there will be and easier it will become to engage our audience.

Thanks for reading this post and I think that this week will be my last session on the internship, which is sad to say the least. The exams are beginning to loom and the year will come to a close in time. So I am afraid to say that the next post on this internship will be my last and before I go I will say that it has been a massive experience for me. Before arriving at Carat I had next to no knowledge of so much, whether that be Excel, digital analytics, databases etc. and after working here for some six months I can definitely say that, even though I am sure I have only scratched the surface, it feels like I've gained an entire repository of knowledge. It's been great fun and so we charge ahead into the final week, next week . . .