Jonathan Melhuish

On Friday 16th July 2010 we held the first offline ECIS conference, in London.  Dr. Ellis Jones had flown over from the States and Nick Ray had flown over from Australia, so it seemed like we should really take advantage of them both being in town simultaneously and organise a get-together.  Annesley and I were also joined by Dr. Terry Newholm (University of Manchester) and Dr. Dorothea Kleine (University of London).

The conversation touched on a wide range of issues we all face in communicating ethical information to consumers.  We webcast the panel discussion live – you can watch the first 45 minutes below.  Alternatively you can download a higher-quality mp4 video.  The second part of the discussion is available only as an audio mp3 file.  (If these files do not display correctly in your browser, right-click, save link and then open in a media player).

Al Tepper has a background in publishing, where he focussed on how to create value in a world where an infinite amount amount of information is available free of charge.  More recently, he’s been working with Natural Collection, an ethical online retailer, to launch Ooffoo.com, a community marketplace.

I asked Al to share his thoughts about how publishers and retailers alike can benefit from building an online community.  You can download an Mp3 version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get the audio of these interviews as soon as they’re published.

Here’s an interview with Dr John Tepper Marlin from New York University. John told me about his wife‘s involvement in the “Council On Economic Priorities” and their publication “Shopping for a Better World“.  He went on to talk about her current organisation, Social Accountability International, which seeks to establish an international standard for improving working conditions.

You can download an Mp3 version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get the audio of all these interviews as soon as they’re published.

This interview is with Dr. Ellis Jones of the University of California, author of the Better World Shopper guide. Now available in iPod and dead-tree versions, this guide seeks to give shoppers a simple, practical guide to which high-street brands are the most ethical and which to avoid. Due to the pocket-size format, there’s not a lot space for references or explanation in the guide, but Dr. Jones gave me a glimpse into how the ratings are calculated. He’s interested in using the web to allow greater transparency and more global coverage.

Download the Mp3 audio version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get these interviews the moment they’re published.

In my ninth interview I spoke with Jake de Grazia from CarrotProject. He told me about their plan to approach subject experts and academics and ask them to contribute their opinions, then ask the community how much they trust each expert’s opinion. I think this approach mirrors what happens on Wikipedia, where most of the content seems to be created by a small number of specialists. Using the community as a trust filter is a thoroughly Web 2.0 re-take on the peer-review process.

You can download an Mp3 audio version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get all these interviews as soon as they’re published.

Untitled from Jonathan Melhuish on Vimeo.

My latest interview is with Dara O’Rourke, CEO of GoodGuide, a slick web site (and iPhone app) that profiles the impact of 60,000 everyday products on health, the environment and on society. They have an impressive team of specialists leading the research, as well as inviting user reviews.

You can watch the interview below, get the Mp3 audio file or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get all of these interviews as soon as they’re online.

I recommend also watching the short demo video and accompanying article on TechCrunch, both of which provide a good introduction to GoodGuide.

This time I talked to Clay Ward from Buy It Like You Mean It. I guess many of you will already know Clay as it’s thanks largely to Clay’s contact list that we could start this collaboration. Clay told me a bit about their approach and his interests in collaborating.

Download the Mp3 audio version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get the interviews as soon as they’re published.

Today I interviewed Stéphane de Messières from Citizens Market. He told me about their focus on the content creation process, their nine-strong team of volunteers and his thoughts on collaboration.

Download the Mp3 audio version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to stay up to date with the interviews as they’re published.

Annesley has interviewed Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer (although no podcast this time, sorry).

Ethical Consumer have the most comprehensive high quality researched company information database in the world. They have been going for 20 years using a subscription model, magazine and extensive B2B work and are extremely well known and connected in the UK. They cover 50,000 companies, take articles from over 50 publications and use around 10 researchers / investigators.

Rob Harrison, a founding member of Ethical Consumer, has now stated that they are “genuinely considering moving into a Web 2.0 model with free content (for not-for-profits and non-commercial use), community contributions (continuing with the researchers as well) and commercialising around the data”. And furthermore that they are “extremely interested in joining with an international Web 2.0 collaboration on ECIS”.

My fourth interview is with another academic who is conducting research highly relevant to ethical consumer information, Nate Greenslit from the MIT Media Lab. I asked Nate to talk about his current research project, Accountability, which provides consumers with ethical information about the companies they buy from and investigates whether this knowledge influences their future spending behaviour.

Download the Mp3 version or subscribe to the the podcast feed to get all future interviews as soon as they’re online.