How to Manage your Urtak!
the urtak blog
How to Embed Urtak!
How to use the Learn interface
Blast from the past - Global chaos!
Another thinker that inspires us at Urtak is the great Immanuel Wallerstein. He has written on many topics, but the idea that we personally most appreciate him for is that when trying to understand the world, the unit of analysis must be the world itself.
Every two weeks, he writes commentaries, “intended to be reflections on the contemporary world scene, as seen from the perspective not of the immediate headlines but of the long term.” His most recent commentary, released today, is entitled “Chaos as an Everyday Thing,” and is an excellent example of his skilled analysis.
In September of 2008, with the financial crisis at the most acute level that we have yet seen, we sent out a Global Chaos themed Top 5 in our Urtak News email (subscribe here). For your enjoyment, here it is again.
9/28/2008 - Global Chaos Top 5
The Western standard of living appears to be deteriorating. The economy is collapsing. The world is becoming more chaotic. What better time to reflect on what kind of world we want to leave to our children? Some may be surprised by the results of the Global Chaos Top 5! Enjoy!
Will there be a third world war?
Should everyone have the right to live in peace?
Is socialism a better way of organizing the economy than capitalism?
Top 5 - Africa unite!
The Urtak project owes a great deal of its inspiration to CLR James, a Trinidadian thinker who played a leading role in the Pan-African movement. He predicted African independence would be achieved long before anyone thought it was possible. In 1962 work Beyond a Boundary, he gave us the quote that we are so fond of, “A sample poll can only investigate what the pollsters know, and it cannot even do that properly.” Here then, are five selected questions from the general interest urtak on the subject of Africa.
Can you name 10 countries in Africa?
Should Africa be viewed as one country?
Are most African countries doomed to perpetual third-world status?
BONUS BOB MARLEY VIDEO
Urtak News
The URTAK project has had an eventful month, and right now we are drawing a deep breath as we prepare to plunge into 2010. A radically improved interface, Facebook and Twitter integration, and internationalization (Urtak en español, Urtak en français, Urtak en whatever you like) are all imminent! Maybe not in time for Christmas, but these will all make great gifts for your Valentine!
Urtak like wildfire!
In the last month, we have been fortunate to have an increasing media presence. ZA News, the South African political satire, has been using Urtak as their polling platform with tremendous results - 300,000 responses to more than 600 user-generated questions which have in turn created a repository of powerful insights. Every week, their weekend edition features results to questions submitted by YOU! We were even able to publish an analysis of the results in the highly regarded Mail & Guardian of Johannesburg - check it out here before you go see Invictus.
The Toilet Paper, the daily newsletter of the Thinking Man, featured Urtak and collected 70,000 responses in a single day. Take a look here.
And to our great pride, Urtak was featured in The Walrus, Canada’s best magazine. It is an excellent article and much is revealed, including what the traditional pollsters think about the people they survey (it’s not very pleasant). Read “The People’s Poll” here, or buy a copy at newsstands across Canada.
Embed power
The future of this project lies in dispersing our incredible embeddable Urtak polls across the internet. But as you may have noticed, that’s not so evident from the current design. We’re going to make it much easier very soon, but if you want an Urtak poll on your page (take a look at the survey on our blog, for example), here are a few simple steps.
1) Create a new Urtak survey at urtak.com (click “create” in the top right of the screen).
2) Go to the “manage” section of the Urtak survey you have created.
3) Click on the “widgets” link at the bottom of the “manage” page.
4) Enter the site you want to embed the widget on, and click “create.”
5) Copy and paste the resulting code into your site (just like a Youtube video).
6) Watch the beautiful Urtak widget make your site so much more engaging.
Top 5 - Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Everyone has mixed feelings about change. We as a group nevertheless seem to look upon change with optimism. But how about specific changes? As always, the Top 5 reveals the secrets of the universe.
Can people really change their minds?
Would you change your ideals to work for a big corporation if they offered you big bucks?
If your child wanted to change genders, would you support the decision?
Would you ever change your name?
Would you change your whole look for $200?
BONUS X-TAB: Change your hair color, change your towel. Does it make sense?
Urtak in The Walrus
Back in September, Aaron Gibralter and I were interviewed for an article about Urtak and the future of online polling to be published in The Walrus. The Walrus is a highly respected Canadian monthly, and we were certainly pleased to be featured in it.
In “The People’s Poll,” the author Leigh Kamping-Carder has done a really nice job summarizing the nature of the polling world and the challenges it is currently facing. She also says some nice things about Urtak.
The talks we had with Leigh took place before we had rolled out the embeddable widget, so we weren’t able to talk about the success that feature has had, or its potential to transform the online polling space. Next time.
And a final note to the reader. At Urtak, we certainly appreciate irony, but if there is one thing we are deadly serious about, it’s facial hair.
The article is here: http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2010.01-frontier-the-peoples-poll/
Meta-Urtak: What do you think about Urtak?
In keeping with the spirit of the Urtak project, we have added a Meta-Urtak widget to this blog. This is the place to go if you want to tell us what you think, and if you want to put questions to the billions of Urtak supporters worldwide.
Ask questions! Get answers!
Urtak puts the power in your hands.
Urtak in the Mail & Guardian again
The massive participation in the ZA NEWS Urtak has created a great deal of information, and that deserved some analysis.
South Africa’s Mail & Guardian gave me a chance - check it out here: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-11-26-what-we-learned-from-watching-za-news
Special thanks go to Robert Gibralter, whose inspiration and hard work have made the ZA NEWS Urtak survey what it is.
