Tag Archives: Discovered
INTACT ROMAN WRECK DISCOVERED OFF CYPRUS WATERS
In a statement, Cyprus’ Department of Antiquities explained that the wreck is the first undisturbed Roman shipwreck found in the Mediterranean island nation’s waters. The ship is loaded with amphorae, or large ancient jars, which are likely from Syria and ancient Cilicia on modern-day Turkey’s southeastern coast.
Analysis of the shipwreck will shed new light on seaborne trade between Cyprus and the rest of the Roman provinces of the eastern Mediterranean, officials explained in the statement.
The wreck was found near the resort town of Protaras by a pair of volunteer divers with the University of Cyprus’ archaeological research unit.
It’s also the first time an underwater archaeological project is fully funded by the Cyprus government.
A team from the Maritime Archaeological Research Laboratory at the University of Cyprus is working with the Department of Antiquities and Cyprus University of Technology to document and protect the site.
Other Roman shipwrecks have been grabbing attention in recent years. In 2017, for example, archaeologists in Egypt discovered three Roman-era shipwrecks and other stunning ancient artifacts on the Mediterranean seafloor off the coast of Alexandria.
Climate change researchers working in the Black Sea also discovered 60 shipwrecks dating back 2,500 years, which include vessels from the Roman and Byzantine eras.
Off the coast of Portugal, the Underwater Archaeological Chart of the Municipality of Cascais contains a host of shipwrecks dating back to the Roman era.
Dog Discovered In Swimming Pool
Oops.
Dog Looks Guilty After Being Caught in Swimming Pool
June 18, 2018
Cat Secret Hiding Place Discovered
Secret stash exposed.
“My mom couldn’t figure out where all the cat toys had gone. She moved the couch to vacuum today…”
Image courtesy of http://imgur.com/gallery/jXHX1.
ANCIENT ROMAN ROADS DISCOVERED IN ENGLAND
Amateur archaeologists have been able to use the flood-mapping technology to trace the paths of Roman roads which have remained buried under the land for some 1,600 years.
The aerial flood maps were created by aircraft equipped with laser scanners which measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground.
Using light detection and ranging (Lidar) technology, the Environment Agency was able to detect the areas of Britain which are most at risk of flooding.
The precision technology can detect differences in the height of the land of as little as 5cm, making it ideal for detecting hidden structures buried under the soil.
Although the Environment Agency has been using the technology for some 20 years, it was only made freely available to the public in 2013.
And in just two years, teams of archaeologists have already unearthed seven long-lost Roman roads across the country.
‘It is a wonderful feeling suddenly to solve a puzzle you have been working on for decades,’ retired road engineer David Ratledge, 70, who is using his retirement to trace the UK’s network of ancient roads, told The Times.
After 45 years of exploring the fields of Lancashire in search of a lost road, Mr Ratledge finally discovered a 23-mile road between Ribchester and Lancaster, thanks to the Lidar technology.
The archaeology enthusiast said that it is the first ‘new’ Roman road to be discovered in the UK for 150 years.
‘The road is remarkably clear in several sections – one stretch of prominent agger [Roman embankment] is even visible in Google Streetview,’ Mr Ratledge wrote online.
‘How nobody – me included – spotted it is a mystery.’
The Lidar technology helps archaeologists trace the roads because they were originally raised about 50cm above the ground.
Although they have now been eroded by hundreds of years of rain and farming work, sections of the roads remain raised.
As the Lidar technology is able to detect the raised ground with such precision, it is more effective than the human eye for tracing the route of the road, particularly across large distances.
By plotting the raised sections on a map, the amateur archaeologists are able to trace the original route of the road.
Although it was well known that there was a Roman road linking Ribchester to Lancaster, archaeologists spent decades searching for it in the wrong place.
They based their area of focus on the fact that Romans tended to take the shortest and most efficient route from place to place – and assumed that the road would run from northwest Ribchester in a straight line to Lancaster.
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7 Unexpected Things I Discovered About Customer Experiences
1. The definition of customer experience is:
Multifaceted
When I started researching customer experience (CX), I expected to find a standard definition for the term pretty easily. I figured I’d read a few blogs and immediately understand what Customer Experience is. Actually, I thought I already knew what it was, to some degree. My definition of CX was the overall experience that a customer has while shopping, and that experience came down to two strategies, both of which are ingrained in the core values of almost every company out there today: customer service and user experience.
Certainly these are both a part of what makes up the overall CX, but as I’m finding out in my research, there is so much more to the story. According to Harley Manning, vice president and research director at Forrester Research, customer experience is:
“how customers perceive their interactions with a company along each step of a customer journey, from discovery, to purchase and use, to getting service.”
So, CX covers the customer’s perceived experience from beginning to end, at all touch points within a company. UX deals mainly with digital touch points, such as web and mobile user interface, and is a subset of CX. Customer service is just one part of the entire shopping experience, which also puts it in the subset category.
Ambiguous
The definition of CX varies with each company, and with each customer. Every company’s process in dealing with customers is different; so one company’s definition of a good CX may not be another company’s definition of a good CX. Another key word in Manning’s definition is “perceived.” A company may perceive to have given a good overall customer experience, but that’s only one side of the equation. A customer’s perception is what really matters. No matter what kind of experience you think you gave a customer, they may have perceived something entirely different. This makes the definition of CX – and its metrics – not just multifaceted, but also ambiguous.
2. There are people who “do” customer experience.
I didn’t realize that CX – like UX and customer service – was actually an entire discipline, equipped with scientific research, data, metrics, experts, thought leaders, etc. I was surprised to find out there are people who “do” this for a living, mainly because it seems like it would be very difficult, based on the ambiguous and multifaceted nature of the discipline.
I must say, when I started reading blogs and following some of the experts in this space on Twitter, I was highly impressed, and a little overwhelmed. I don’t expect that feeling to disappear anytime soon, but as scary as it is, it’s also kind of exciting. I know I’m going to learn a lot.
3. Employee Experience and Customer Experience are equally important.
This was a revelation that I really connected with, because I’ve worked at companies that claimed to be “customer-centric” and “employee-centric,” but somehow still seemed to miss the mark on both accounts. It makes sense though. In fact it’s business 101: keep your employees happy and they’re going to keep your customers happy. Any company that prides itself on having a good CX process in place should also have happy employees who understand and implement the company’s core values and overall CX strategy well. Their experience will determine whether your customers have a good experience.
4. Customer feedback isn’t always a reliable metric for evaluating CX.
Surveys are a very popular method for finding out what customers want. But rarely is what you think you want what you actually need. That’s what Walmart found out when a new CX strategy to reduce clutter in their stores – based on a customer feedback survey – backfired. If you can’t rely solely on feedback to figure out what customers need, then what else can you rely on?
5. A good Customer Experience Strategy saves companies money.
This concept itself did not really surprise me. What does surprise me is how few companies implement a strong CX strategy as part of an effort to save money. Customer experience drives customer loyalty, which cuts down on the budget needed to attract new customers. So often, companies that need to save money will immediately slash marketing dollars or lay off employees – both of which probably result in quick, short-term, measurable results. But the long-term impact may be detrimental. Instead of cutting costs, perhaps the solution is to implement a strong CX process that helps retain customers, motivate employees, and reduces the marketing budget naturally, over time.
6. Customer Experience is not always a top priority.
Many companies tend to focus on User Experience or Customer Service – both of which are strong subsets of the overall Customer Experience – and both of which only make up a very small portion of the whole story. Other companies choose to focus on profit, with little consideration given to what their customers need and how that fits into their profit goals. The more I read about CX, the more I began to realize how important it is that we understand customer needs and perception. It surprised me that some companies devalue or even neglect the CX space altogether, and I’d like to learn more about why that’s the case.
7. There will always be more to learn about Customer Experience.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, CX is a multifaceted discipline. I’ve explored the space for a few months and still don’t think I’ve even begun to scratch the surface. The more blogs I read and the more links I click, the more I realize how incredibly vast the world of CX really is. As technology evolves, a customer’s perception of the shopping experience will continue to change. As such, there will always be more to explore within the space, and I look forward to learning something new with each study.
Want more customer service best practices? Visit salesforce.com or download the free e-book.
Recommended article: Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.
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