Category: digital

Categories
brand digital just a reflection social media strategy video clip ways of use

amex, small businesses and the concept of sponsorship

I vote for this guy not only because it looks delicious but because he seems like such a great guy.

But It’s a tight race because these guys are doing exactly what I’m missing; fast food that’s good for you. I just want some good ol’ fashion husmanskost on the go, but all I can find is fat dripping pizza on every damn corner. Hate that.

And I’m very impressed with the Amex Open Forum initiative and the momentum they have. Even though I’m disappointed by the card (at least in Sweden and online). From the small business saturday idea (below), to partnering with Facebook to provide “an Amex way” of paying for ads, and Vote Big Break above.

Being involved in a sponsorship strategy for another big global American brand, I can’t but help but reflect over the role of sponsorship. Simplified being about 1, brand awareness, and letting context/sponsored event/team/sport/etc indicate what the brand supports and affiliates itself with and thus 2, manifest position/meaning by getting a brand attribute rub-off effect. But there’s so many examples of very weak sponsorship strategies where all you get is your logo out there with very little meaning attached to this.

Not so long ago, It was impossible for Amex to do what they’re doing here, which is sponsoring small businesses and everything that comes with that; having to struggle, be a smart marketer (perhaps first time at it), smart with money, doing a bit of everything (balance sheets and tax laws anyone?), and being frustrated with hardly making ends meet. Sponsoring them by doing things for them is something that simply could not be done before. Not with this massive reach and impact. To a large extent this falls under sponsoring in my book. Supportive sponsoring. Extremely targeted and relevant. I think the concept of sponsoring is changing quite a bit.

Categories
design digital technology video clip ways of use

arduino – a perfect open source wedding

Hadn’t seen the documentary about the Arduino project before. I was struck by the the 3D printer built on open hardware Arduino, printing open source coat hangers and how this is the ultimate wedding of the connectedness, collaboration and openness of the internet, and how that is power in numbers. I’ve been facinated by MIT Media Lab for a long time, so was happy to find that representatives of MEDEA Collaborative Media Initiative down in Malmö, Sweden, were part of the Arduino project, although started in Ivrea in Italy (Arduin being an important character for the city of Ivrea) and soon consisting of a great mix of people and co-collaborators. Watch the film, there’s an interesting story behind the hardware and an inspiring case of collaboration across boarders, based on mutual interest.

Arduino The Documentary (2010) English HD from gnd on Vimeo.

Categories
digital just a reflection technology video clip

real-time translation technology and implications

Ray Kurzweil on Translation Technology from Nataly Kelly on Vimeo.

From Singularity Hub

I wonder if we have any idea (well we have some) of the possible implications of this? I mean, the obvious ones are, well, obvious. But what about the role language plays in keeping societies and cultures intact. That is, actually feeling like a specific culture as opposed to all other cultures. In socialization and learning a language amongst other things, you get spoon fed your culture (albeit small spoons). What you say where and to whom and in which situation is different between cultures, so imagine instant translation amongst foreigners. It’s bound to have an effect. Imagine not being able to keep things from foreigners?

It’s like the equivalent of people mistakenly posting a little too much on Facebook and hence to everyone, but in use of language. Instant translation gadgets would effectively force you to mind your every word and not just your every Facebook post. Ubiquitous real-time translation that you might not even be aware of in any given situation. Oops.

Categories
advertising brand digital media social media video clip ways of use

it’s more fun to run the scull

As usual some really great work from Nike. Even though we’ve seen the idea and the mechanics before, it doesn’t make it less good, engaging and effective for the people activated. And I love the offline/online aspects of ideas like this. A physical run turns digital graffiti turns t-shirt.

Categories
digital internet media stats ways of use

generalizing based on the few non-TV watchers

This infographic from a Nielsen Cross Platform report shows how easily some breaking stats, such as some people streaming a lot of content and watching very little TV, can be taken for a general truth just because the over-all feeling of a digital tsunami is over us. I’m referring to the TV is dead claims, often taken for a truth. But yet again, statistics show us that that isn’t the case. Americans watch more TV than before.

However, there are consumption changes to keep an eye on (well, if it interests you…). The heaviest consumers used to be so across all platforms, but a subset amongst 18-34 indicates that (some) top consumers of streaming content under index in TV viewing. Fairly expected though as internet content catches up in quality and supply. See report.

I keep wondering how damn much content and watching we can take and have time for.

Categories
business digital internet just a reflection technology ways of use

indexing my life and augmenting my memory – scary thought

-Android App Indexes Your Life & Augments Your Memory

That’s a headline in a Mashable post this morning. I think it sounds interesting and have a read. But I can’t help but think about how this would sound to someone not having gone through the evolution we’ve seen over the last 10 or so years. It would scare the shit out of someone in 1980. Not only a couple of seldom used words, but they will also mess with not only my life but my memory!

“We are helping people remember their lives,” Dexetra co-founder Binil Antony explains.

I wonder though. Isn’t living life three things really? Doing it now, remembering past-living and thinking a bit about possible future living? That’s how I see it. If you plan too much ahead or keep thinking about how good it was before, someone will tell you you have to live now, here and now or live in the moment. So an app that helps me remember life, you could argue, is taking away a part of life. Or actually, perhaps it is just augmenting it.

Categories
digital technology what is around us

nerd pride at Manchester’s FutureEverything festival

IMG_0269.jpg

A lot of internet loving and opinions about where it is and where it’s headed at the FutureEverything festival in Manchester. The best presentation I heard was that of Bill Thompson, technology writer for BBC, titled And To Those Left Behind. He said that getting him (if anyone could force him, as not even a vacation can) offline is like “cutting off parts of my mind…”, arguing that with him, it’s a steady and constant stream of consciousness that affected when coming in contact with twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. I can agree with that, but in my opinion, there’s probably a needed presentation titled “To Those Trapped Within”. How many times have you worked with, or seen, people completely controlled by their gadgets?

Categories
digital just a reflection ways of use

where is the internet heading?

IMG_0261.jpg

This is a group of people starting to draw a ‘rich picture’ about where the internet is at, and where it’s headed. The twitter-parrot-dragon is the evil forces trying to control it. The freedom fighters to the right, joined or even led by The Pirate Bay have just declared war and are moving in to the rescue.

Categories
digital technology ways of use

being productive with or within technology

JWT Intelligence has a post about new models for supporting long-form content that I liked and which coincided with a dialogue I heard the other day about whether or not person 1; 40+ and an avid reader with too much to do, was going to get the Kindle or an iPad to read books on. Person 2 was a bit confused by the question, as the iPad has so much more to offer than the “stupid” kindle. Sure, the screen is better for reading outdoors but that’s about it.

I beg to differ. New models of long-format is longer than articles but shorter than books and this has a lot to do with increasingly bite sized reading habits. That deals with that change by adapting itself to it. Shorter. Quicker. For new times and new devices.

The iPad is problematic for this bite sized world it you are, as person 1 says, an avid reader who wants to use the iPad for reading. Because it offers so much more.

Some technologies allows us (actually, it directs or guides us) to be really “productive” within the technology by which I mean (and it might not be the best wording) you can do a lot of things and be productive across the range. I’ll let “productive” mean more than useful productiveness, as that distinction is sometimes made. Other technologies allows us to be productive with. It’s more focused and specialized. But of course it’s about how people decide to use it?! Therein lies the rub. Because we can’t, can we?

So, the Kindle is the best device if you want to read books. Because there’s nothing else you can happen to start doing with it (more or less). And an egg timer is better than the iPhone if you want to boil perfect eggs. I’ve ended up with close to green eggs and 5 answered emails. Everything is mashing up which is cool and interesting but perhaps not helping us in every aspect.

I heard about this one guy in rural Japan who answered his axe-phone in a hurry and died.

Categories
digital internet just a reflection social media technology ways of use

anonymous opinions and public revolutions

“The cost of failure is really high when you’re contributing as yourself,” said Poole. “To fail in an environment where you’re contributing with your real name is costly.”

– Chris Poole, 4chan

“REAL change comes from people putting their necks on the line. I couldn’t remember a time when an anonymous person really enacted change in, well, anything. It’s why I sign my name to everything, even stuff that could get me fired,”

– Robert Scoble

From ReadWriteWeb

Both arguments are true. And we’ve seen more than enough evidence to verify that so is the case. It’s not either/or. When given the option, people will chose that which fits. Sometimes speaking up in public is what we need. Sometimes we need to be anonymous. Away from internet, the anonymous would hold his/her breath. Online that’s not the case. That’s quite groundbreaking, is it not?

Sometimes an anonymous person can start a revolution. Other times, many anonymous discontent people might need one public person to ignite them all. Going from reluctantly quiet and anonymous, to supporting an explosion of support. Confidence in numbers.