Paul from Paris

The New York Times reports that Americans now use cellphones more to transfer data than for voice communications. Texting, up by nearly 50% last year, accounts for much of the data communication, which also includes e-mail and web-based applications.

What’s the situation in France?

The French telecoms regulator, ARCEP, recently published its telecommunications observatory for the first quarter of 2010. The takeaway points:

• Everybody has a mobile phone (as cellphones are called in France). The nationwide mobile phone penetration rate exceeds 95%. In some areas –Paris, French Riviera, Corsica– the penetration rate exceeds 100%.
• As in the US, texting is practically a national sport, with rapidly increasing volumes.

Anecdotally, this is what I see in Paris:

• Young people especially love texting. In 2009, it seems as if iPhones were everywhere, but 2010 has witnessed the spread of mobile phones with keyboards, either Blackberry-style mini-keyboards or tactile screens.
• Callers seem to converse through text messages instead of by voice. Calling plans may dictate the behavior as much as consumer preference, but this really caught my eye. Historically, I used a mobile phone as a substitute for a landline, and emphasized voice communication. I tended to be apologetic when callers had to leave me a message (or aggravated if I could reach only a voicemail service, not the person I was calling). I used text messages mostly for reminders (for example, a street address) or as a pager (for example, “pls call me; have news”). Today I see cell phone users carrying on one (or more?!) conversation(s) via text message, and I imagine that these callers resort to voice for reminders or “news flashes”, much as I used to use texting.
• Cell phone use seems to be inelastic with respect to income. Simply put: many people seem to use mobile phones often. If there’s a significant difference between lower-income and higher-income callers, I don’t see it. (I’ll put aside the extremes, but dare to hypothesize that the very poor and very rich use mobile phones much less, and probably differently, than the middle class.)
• French people profess concern with adverse health effects from mobile phone use, but concern seems not to curb use. There is, however, an interesting empirical question: do people choose texting over voice for health reasons? Does this enter into the equation?

Fascinated by gadgetry (for example, the latest handset or the coolest software), commentators have missed or understated the headline story: mobile phones have changed what it means to make a phone call.

As a rule, they’re about three meters (ten feet) from the ground.

“They” are small mosaics inspired by the Space Invaders video game (circa 1980). They’ve been in Paris for a while, and they turn up in surprising places.

Paris turns out to be the setting for an ambitious street art project by an artist who calls himself Invader. From the artist’s web site, I learned that installations have been set up in other cities, in France and abroad, as well as at galleries.

There’s also a book about the Paris project.

Finally, Swindle magazine ran a profile of Invader’s work, written by Sheperd Fairey, who considers Invader “one of the most thoughtful and focused artists I’ve ever met”.

I posted last month on resume fraud, particularly whether French and Americans react differently when faced with a CV that is not entirely truthful.

Yesterday’s news brought me the remarkable story of Adam Wheeler, a student at Harvard College. Wheeler is accused today of gaining entry to Harvard by falsely claiming a superb record at the Phillips Academy prep school and study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These and other alleged falsifications came to light when Wheeler sought Harvard’s support when applying for prestigious post-graduate Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships.

Here is the first remarkable point of the Wheeler report: Wheeler has been studying at Harvard since 2007, until at least 2009. His conduct as a student does not seem to have drawn much attention at the élite college, although there may have been charges of academic dishonesty. Wheeler apparently wanted to go on to law school, because he was active in the Harvard College Law Society.

Harvard today is very, very angry with Wheeler, against whom many criminal complaints have been made (to which Wheeler has answered: not guilty). I have to wonder: is Harvard angry because its admissions process apparently does not select for an ability to perform at Harvard? This is fine. Maybe Harvard selects for students it thinks can best perform (or develop) at Harvard. Maybe Harvard selects for what it thinks will be the best possible class.

Harvard wasn’t the only party that Wheeler allegedly crashed. Wheeler applied for (but was not offered) an internship at The New Republic, which  posted the résumé Wheeler submitted for that position.

Here is the second remarkable point of the Wheeler report: Wheeler’s apparent falsifications are so brazen that his résumé challenges belief. Wheeler’s résumé is so over-the-top that I doubt any reader would believe it, or seriously consider Wheeler.

What was this young man thinking when he claimed:

• language proficiency in: French, Old English, Old Persian, and Classical Armenian;
• sole authorship of two academic books;
• co-authorship of four additional academic books?

Has any undergraduate –even at Harvard– ever shown competency in these four languages? How many Harvard undergraduates have written academic books? Of those, how many have written more than one?

The stated grades (perfect), academic honors, and distinguished service could be true, but the compilation of them all strains credibility. For me, the clincher is Wheeler’s claim to have “formed a faculty committee to solicit input from Harvard faculty and students, as well as from external experts, on how best to integrate graduate training in arts-practice into the existing curricular structure of the university”. No matter how stellar the student, why would the university have entrusted an undergraduate student with such a task? It makes no sense, other than as a smoke-and-mirrors stunt.

Would you interview Wheeler for a job? Would you offer him one?

This story discusses an unfortunate case involving a Harvard student, books (non-academic books for young people), and dishonesty. There’s an interesting postscript here: the protagonist is alive and well and thriving, in law school. Dishonesty does not always lead to dishonor.

News stories this week reminded me how differently France and the United States can answer important questions, such as: why does society put people behind bars?

In the United States, the US Supreme Court ruled that Supreme Court ruled that minors may not be sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for crimes in which no one is killed. In the case before the Court, Terrance Graham, a Florida resident now age 22, was involved in armed robberies when he was a minor. There are about 100 inmates in Graham’s position in the United States. As I read its opinion, the Court is prepared to accept that inmates serve a life term for non-homicide felonies committed while minors, on the condition that there exist a real procedural mechanism whereby an inmate can at least be considered for release. As I read its opinion, the Court accepts that inmates serve a life term, without possibility of parole, for homicides committed while minors. There are about 2,000 such inmates in the United States today.

In France, Véronique Courjault, age 42, was released from prison and returned home. Courjault had been sentenced, in June 2009, to eight years’ imprisonment for triple infanticide. As Courjault had been subject to pretrial detention, a common practice in France, she served in total about half of her sentence. Courjault’s case drew much attention, for two reasons. First, the facts were especially shocking. Her husband, Jean-Louis, discovered two frozen, dead babies in the family freezer, setting in motion a chain of events that led ultimately to Courjault’s confession to infanticide in 2002 and 2003, and admission of a third infanticide in 1999, in which she had disposed of the body by burning it in the family fireplace. Second, Courjault’s case brought attention to pregnancy denial, a disorder where a woman believes and acts as though she is not pregnant, even though she is. Denial differs from concealment. At least 1,000 French women reportedly manifest pregnancy denial every year; many are already mothers and lead stable, ordinary lives. As I understand its decision, the French court had not sentenced Courjault to a longer term because premeditation had not been proven, but found her culpable of infanticide, notwithstanding evidence on pregnancy denial.

(photo by NYphotoblog.com)

In New York City, at the corner of 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, a billboard promoted the Weatherproof brand by showing one of its garments worn by US President Obama.

On the other side of the Atlantic, low-cost airline Ryanair made light of the then-upcoming wedding between French president Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. Thought bubbles show Bruni to be musing: “With Ryanair, all my family will be able to come to my wedding”.  Played straight, the ad comments on Bruni’s family, from Italy. As a joke, the ad kids about Sarkozy’s wish for a quiet ceremony, and about the considerable wealth of Bruni’s family.

Now rent-a-car company Sixt features the French presidential couple. There are no photos, only text. And although the ad exists on billboards in Germany, it is only found on the car rental company’s French web site. The ad shows a compact car and a tagline: “Do like Mrs. Bruni: opt for a small French model”.

I am less interested by the legality of these ads –do they violate a privacy interest? do they impermissibly convey state sponsorship?– than by their business interest. For these ads, which matters more: the actual campaign (which the advertiser controls) or the media thunderclap that they inevitably generate (which the advertiser does not control)? In either case, are these ads effective? Do they increase sales or build brand awareness? If so, is a political leader a better ambassador for a product than a sports star, movie actress, or other kind of celebrity?