Sometimes unique original ideas can be so simple, but yet so compelling. 100 Days of Fry is basically one illustration per day for 100 days based on the daily tweets by Stephen Fry.
Johan Brand
Producer & Partner Services
- Loves: Salt water... where my sail boat floats, Wind (heavy ocean storms), Snow (loads of fluffy white stuff)
- Hates: Spelling (Dyslectic Norwegian living in the UK = disaster), Melting snow, Crammed tubes
- Inspired by:
- Hirosi Sugimoto
- www.carls-cars.com
- www.onedotzero.com
- intelligent people
- the ocean
- My links:
Tim Brown, Sir Ken Robinson, , The Element, SMS, Cumulus Conference, communication, passion, Stuart Brown, Change, intelligence, Stephen Fry, mood, Twitter, creativity, print, talent, Communications, Serious Play, web 2.0
scrabble, IDEO, Design, Play, V&A, play, responsibility, Change by Design, Talking Design, digital, Email
A Cloudworker is someone who uses on-demand technology and collaboration tools, such as unified communications, to work anywhere and anytime, and uses the resulting freedom to enable a my-size-fits-me career path and lifestyle.
It is a term coined by blogger Venkatesh Rao and I recommend reading his series of blog posts around the subject. The cloud is here to stay and we all better get used to it, and as Rao says:
You and I weren’t born in the cloud, like today’s kids are, but we will certainly die in it...
At TED the Fluid Interfaces research group at MIT presented their project Six Sense, which basically turn the Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense.
The groups goal is to radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive they are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds.
Six Sense is a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine "Minority Report" and then some... I recommend watching Dr. Pattie Maes presentation at TED it really gives you clear vision of the idea behind the conversational interface.
I believe that the iPhone was the firs step towards a world where interactive interfaces will humanise our interaction with computers and as seen here bring those interfaces onto physical objects around us.
Click on twittervision.com and you can follow the whole world twittering... it truly shows how twitter more than any other service has become a global instant messaging tool. Fascinating!
I happen to spend a lot of time above 10 000 feet. Which seems to be a good thing. For some reason my brain is able to focus once I reach this altitude. Strategies and other complex problems I normally battle with in the office suddenly become clear and I can see the future.
So what is the reason?
1. I am high up and can easily see far ahead?
2. The thinner air gives my brain less resistance?
3. My brain responds well to me being buckled up?
4. All of the above
Honestly though, I think it is linked with the fact that my brain is a live wire and working in open landscape.
Multitasking in an open landscape
I really love working in an open landscape and multitasking has its advantages. Having said that, I do find myself writing 3 e-mails at once, while I am wrapping up a proposal or strategic document. On top of that the collaborative environment means that you do get interrupted constantly for quick updates, brain dumps or to give / get advice (while new mail keeps on flowing into your inbox).
Single tasking
The idea of single tasking is gaining traction again, and I have to admit that there are elements of single tasking that will work well within our collaborative environment. Depending on your role you can adjust the degree of single tasking, but I advise anyone to consider adopting a degree of single tasking.
I found this diagram somewhere on the web while I was browsing the subject of single tasking and think it could form a very healthy starting point for anyone considering adopting some form of single tasking.
When we created the Demons game, we knew that we would need the main characters to appear in the game to achieve the desired link between the show and the game. Demons The Game is an immersive game experience and strong links with the show were extremely important. It needed to be an extension of the Demons world, and we successfully achieved that.
3D Design & Animation
We were quite ambitious with the project and aimed to create 3D characters and use custom voice & video footage of the characters as one of the methods to achieve the full Demons experience. We ended up designing & animating 8 different characters from the show. Each with their own special move, ranging from spitting hair balls to bowling heads.
Custom Footage
It was vital that we had custom footage of characters and were not just repurposing content from the show. This gives the game the right credibility and it allowed the actors to have a natural presence in the game. Mina & Ruby are highly integrated in the game-play, calling Luke (the user) on his mobile to offer their advice or express their worries/happiness about your performance. This is quite unique and gives the player an interaction with characters they have not experienced before with the show.
The logistics of getting the custom footage and the right buy-in from both the production company and the actors is still a major hassle, but I believe that going forward this will get easier and easier as we get involved earlier in the process and can capture the needed footage during production.
Online <-> TV
This game has yet again proved the importance of a tightly linked online experience and a TV show. All of our user research has showed that this was one of the most successful aspects of the game.
How about getting a t-shirt every 6 weeks representing current news of that period? Check out t-post.se, it is a slow and quirky way of consuming news, that appeals to my obsession with t-shirts...
An "Exquisite Corpse" comes to life on a drafting table, as diverse and bizarre as the instrumentation on this song. Marc Reisbig and Hanne Berkaak of animation team SSSR direct this clip which visually interprets the song's oddball arrangements with a series of bright animated characters that spring to life as they're drawn
The US election is unfortunately or fortunately, depending on what side of the Atlantic your legs are planted, an election that we all should pay attention to. It will effect what direction the world will take over the next four years. Non-US citizens can't vote, but that does not mean we can't make our opinion heard or even better influence the election.
Through the power of social media, we all have the ability to discuss, comment, blog, vote for content, virtually follow and even meet our candidate of choice. This is the first election where social media has been taken seriously and every popular platform has a huge presence in both campaigns. McCain has realised that the election can be won or lost online, but Obama's online strategy is far superior. McCain's online presence is mainly through channels like current.tv, digg, twitter, facebook etc where the user themselves are contributing the content and interaction. McCain has however, in the latter stages, improved his campaign.
I was a massive fan of McCain in the previous election, but Obama is the man, as the world stands now. The internet represents the largest fundamental social shift of the last couple of generations. In the hands of the right people it can win wars, bring down large corporations, change policies, put simply: it is a global instrument of power.
Can we afford to have a US president who doesn't even understand the intricate workings of the net? I believe not.
Current, Digg and Twitter are hosting a virtual election night party where the world can join in. Content from Digg and Twitter will be featured on the broadcast, so join the conversation by Digging & Twitting content you care about!
Current.TV "air's" in the US, UK & Ireland and Italy (Sky 183, Virgin 155), and online @ www.current.tv
Twitter & Current introduced the concept of hack the debate, earlier this year and it made an impact, will the up-coming UK election feature such innovative tools? I sure hope so, as this will entertain and engage but most importantly activate young voters.
"When members of the audience occupy the space, the mirrors inquisitively follow someone that they find interesting. Having chosen their subject, they all synchronise and turn their heads towards them. Suddenly that person can see their reflection in all of the mirrors. They will watch this person until they become disinterested, then either seek out another subject or return to their private chatter. The collective behaviour of the objects is beyond the control of the viewer, as it is left entirely to their discretion to let go of their subject."
