Who's Your City?

In a globally connected world where we can work form anywhere you'd think place wouldn't matter. Actually it matters even more. Basically, creative people are moving to cool places. And when you have a bunch of creative people together they get even more creative. As a result these cool places are emerging as centers of economic growth. Check out the best cities at Who's Your City? by Richard Florida

Flordia was also on the Colbert Report a few months back

Food As A National Security Issue

Food As A National Security Issue : NPR: In a open letter to the next president, author Michael Pollan writes about the waning health of America's food systems — and warns that "the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

Food Clock

Food Clock Yep, a clock that measures food. It gives you an idea of the scale of the industrial food system. Also linked to an article about how Peak Oil is going to create a food crisis.

Colbert verse Oprah

I wanted to watch Oprah because she did a special on how we treat the animals we eat.

And to my surprise you can't watch Oprah online, except for a few "illegal" copies on youtube. Why isn't Orpah online? I know her audience isn't their known for their Internet usage, but surely a few million people would be interested in watching her show some time other than the middle of the afternoon.

Contrast Oprah's head in the sand strategy with that of the Colbert Report. Thanks to Hulu his show is right here, embedded on my blog, streaming full length episodes.

David Houle: The Shift Age

This week I had the privilege of attending a presentation by David Houle, futurist and author of Shift Age. The Shift Age is the next stage in human develop, after the Information Age. In addition to 3000 times more change now than at any point in human history, these three forces will define the Shift Age.

1. Global Consciousness: technology is enabling personal connections to all of humanity. Anyone can share experiences with anyone else.


2. Emotional Individual: power is flowing to the individual and people are seeking emotional connections. The best things in life tend to be economically irrational.



3. Sideways Connectedness: unbundling of corporate assets combined with collaborative interactions. The exchange and management of intellectual property (information) will emerge as the new profit centers.

So in addition to globally aware, emotional, individuals, collaborating to create and share information, what other things can we anticipate?

• Societal values and economic power centers are shifting from institutions to individuals; from producers to consumers.
• Individuals define themselves by joining groups of shared interests and values.
• Decentralization and disintermediation: the middle man is out and the network effect may overtake economies of scale and the key to profitability.
• Intellectual Property is wealth in the Shift Age.
• Media is the message: broadband now in more than half the households: online video is will soon be mainstream
• Western Science Proved Eastern Philosophy:
• Global (re)organization: The West (winners of WWII) and their institutions (UN, IMF, World Bank, NATO, etc) will shift some hegemony to the global East and South.
• Long term economic downturn (3 to 5 years) and a result of a sharp decline in stock market, housing market and consumer spending (on credit).
• Cleantech: Wind and Solar next huge market opportunity, long term space based solar.
• Peak Oil: Production will sharply drop in 2015 and the world will run out of oil by 2050. Indicators that we are currently at peak oil: price increases, volatility, and demand out stripping supply.

Twittering Bagels

An one going example of what Twitter is used for is the hypothetical tweet "had a bagel for breakfast".

This type of message is about flaunting technology. Technologies like Twitter have yet to be widely adopted by business so they are being flaunted by current users. It about personal expression and connecting with your network, not the bagel.

Looking for meatier gadgets?

I'm not surprised to find this in Wired's food section.

Heli Skiing in New Zealand

My buddy AC just spent the last few months in New Zealand and Australia and even managed to upload some cool images. TR: Summer of a Lifetime - Teton Gravity Research Forums

MIMA Summit08: Feeding the conversation

At this year's summit, Mima presented concept of feed. Information flows of into, across and out of individuals and organizations; people feed off each by sharing information. These information flows were the focus of this years summit as industry experts showcased their respective thought leadership.

Morning Keynote Speaker: Rebecca Lieb, ClickZ

• Advertising and content are coming together
• Either you are content or you are competing with content
  
• Ad agencies need to think like publishers
  
• Campaigns need to create an environment around the product
• Things are reverting to early days of TV, Texaco Star Theater

• New media needs to be:
  
• Useful: informative and educational.
  
• Playful: interesting enough for your audience to opt in.
  
• Authentic: tell your whole story, yes address the bad stuff, if you don't some crazy blogger will.
  
• Human: show personality and voice, but remember to listen and respond, its about relationships.
  
• Viral: stories that consumers spread, that can take on a life of their own. UGC keeps content fresh and boosts SEO.
  
• Examples
  
• The Great Schlep: note creative freedom is no longer constrained by FCC decency standards.
• OPEN: lots of help for running a small business, and plenty of links to open and American Express account
  
• WOOT: one day, one deal. Moving items with creative writing.
  
• Sony Bravo Ads, Recycling content is free!
  
  

Ad Networks & Ad Exchanges

• Online advertising spend will double in 4 year to $50B
  
• Video fastest growing, with highest CPM and sell out rates
  
• You Tube most popular content is: news, entertainment, music; not UGC
  
• Content is growing faster than online advertising
  
• More impressions than buyers
• Online is really about sophisticated brand engagement
  
• Scale and precision are improving targeting and optimization
  
• Re-targeting and behavioural
  
• Site transparency and control of where ads are displayed
  
• BTW Google is all over this
  
• Privacy
  
• No effective government oversight (The feds can't regulate wall street, forget about online)
  
• Google is self policing, (and I'm sure we can completely trust they won't be evil)
  
• About media relationships
  
• Ad exchange customer service is spendy, in house technical competencies can lower costs
  
• Need expertise in managing campaigns
  
• Industry consolidation will occur through relationships, friends will merge
  

How to be a UX team of one User eXperience Design

• Design principals are a combination of business needs and user needs
  
• Opening up the process, generative design
  
• Generate ideas: brainstorming
  
• Structure ideas with conceptual frameworks
  
• Spectrums
  
• 2 x 2
  
• Grids
  
• Word associations
  
• Surround your work area with inspirations
  


• Refine ideas: engage a team
  
• Informal secessions
  
• Concept sheet
  
• Present the design, articulate the experience with nouns, verbs, and adjectives
  
• Get real feedback, have the team play devils advocate
  


• Design the solution
  
• Focus on the big things and pick best ideas
  

Ze Frank

• Technology is developing exponentially faster human capacity
  
• "No big break throughs in saying I'm sorry"
  
• System, place, persona
  
• When you are a kid fun was a place, like chucky cheese, and your friends were defined by whoever your parents invited to your birthday party. In tech this this stage translates to being online (system and place), a first step.


• When you are a teenage fun is hanging out with the cool kids in a mall parking lot, its about who you associate with. At this stage persona (personality and coolness) is the priority. As technology matures relationships will become more
  important: emotional proximity.
  
• Lifestyle and relationships
  
• How do you be cool?
  
• Interactive is like hosting a dinner party, need to respond to social gestures, and people assume different roles.
  
• Brand is a guideline for your manners, voice and personality
  

Corporate Blogging: Angel or Demon

• Conversation Agent: Valeria Maltoni
  
• "Customers want to buy, not be sold"
• "Be in the4 channel where your most active customers are."
  
• "They [customers] don't have to like you, but they have to respect you"
• Humanly authentix
• self awareness
• organizational alignment
• culture and passion
• honesty is the basis for truth
• just be real
  
• High touch economy:
  
• Emotional purchases
• Educate with rational information
• Old media: one message many times
• New media: many interactions simultaneously
• B2C is now P2P
  
• Listen before you start
• Blog Council: a support group for executives that blog
  
• MIMA Blog of this event


• Making a Customer Connection
  
• Zappos Slide Share
  
• I didn't actually attend this session but am always impressed with what Zappos does to totally redefine customer service.

PRI: The painful transformation of incumbent organizations

• One of my friends worked at PRI spent a couple of years trying to drag them into the new media world. So I attended this presentation to check up on how far they've made it.


• What is interesting about the PRI presentation is not what they have done but how they have done it. Interactive is easier when you have a bunch of hipsters collaborating via twitter. But when you need to transform a 40 year old business model with a bunch of baby boomer bosses saying "no, don't and stop", things become a bit more of a struggle. So far PRI's content strategy is not nearly as bleeding edge as the rest of the mima presenters, but to their credit PRI in not a .com startup, they have 40 years behind their current business model. PRI has plated flags in some new media channels (iTunes, You Tube, Yahoo, etc), which is good. Content needs to be in the distribution/technology channels where your customers are. However, they could do a lot more to integrating and innovate. Let users personalize (time shift, embed and edit) the content. As with most incumbent institutions, PRI is reluctant to develop transformational platform because of concerns they may bypass their current business model. So I asked them how do you transition baby boomer bosses into interactive? "Its a constant ducation process" Lunch and learns are effective "New media at noon". Also show them examples from the old media talking about new media: HBR, Wall Street Journal, the stuffier the rag the more creditable.
  

Wordle + Delicious

Wordle + Delicious =