Archive for June, 2006
Thinking Digitally Is Not A Separate Job Function
During the original internet boom years, there were lots of old school companies who realized they needed to get this internet thing, so they would appoint someone to have a title like “Chief Internet Officer” to show they were doing something. Of course, in most cases, they would come up with big dumb “internet ideas” like creating yet another portal in a very crowded market. It appears that the trend of Chief Internet Officers is back — and it’s the same big old media companies. It really was just a few months ago when we mocked MTV for a Business Week article talking about how much the company now “got” the internet. The quotes and strategies in the article suggested that wasn’t the case at all. Still, it’s a bit surprising that it didn’t take long for it to play out. Business Week (again) is now reporting that the 30-something they hired as “Chief Digital Officer” to lead the internetification of MTV has quietly left the company, less than a year after being appointed (we’ll note that the Business Week article doesn’t seem to acknowledge its gushing profile of the supposedly new digitally focused MTV from just a few months earlier).
The article also notes that other media firms have been appointing similarly titled individuals to help craft a digital/internet strategy. This is a very traditional media way of thinking about things: the internet is just another channel, and so you need to program it like you would a TV network or a magazine. That’s absolutely the wrong way to think about these things. The internet isn’t a broadcast medium for content providers. The internet has always been about communications — and content providers need to recognize that. The way for old media companies to embrace digital isn’t to appoint a chief digital officer who has no power, but to recognize that an understanding of the internet needs to pervade all aspects of the business. The internet isn’t just another platform, but something that will impact every other aspect of their business, by enhancing, changing, challenging and reshaping how they create, deliver and promote all of the content they offer now. These companies don’t need Chief Digital Officers. It’s not a separate job function. They need to get the entire company thinking digitally and understanding how it impacts their business.
Originally
from Techdirt
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Dec 31, 1969, 11:59PM
Is It Illegal To Describe The Sporting Event You’re Watching?
A few years back, there was a service launched that would let anyone become their own sports announcer. It let web users broadcast their own audio commentary of a sporting event over the web. I can’t remember when I read about it, and don’t know if it’s still around at all — but the idea was certainly intriguing. There certainly are some people who just can’t stand certain professional sportscasters, and the opportunity to open up sports commentary to just about anyone is an interesting idea. Of course, that doesn’t fit with the way most organized sports view themselves. We’ve discussed in the past how ruthless Major League Baseball has been in claiming it owns nearly all aspects of a game. At the time, one of the questions was whether or not it would be illegal to sit in the stands and “broadcast” an audio description of the game to a friend using a mobile phone. Sports leagues may claim it’s illegal, but it seems unlikely that the courts would agree.
This issue is only going to get a lot more legal attention in the near future. As amateur to amateur content becomes more common, it’s going to hit organized sports in ways they don’t seem to realize. Take a look at the World Cup, for example. Again, this is an organized sporting event that has been quite aggressive in trying to protect all game-related content — going so far as to pre-warn random websites not to rebroadcast games. However, with the means of production and distribution now reaching the hands of just about everyone (for example a cameraphone and YouTube) some are starting to wonder whether organized sports will be able to cope. It certainly raises some questions about the boundaries of what can actually be presented. Where is the line? Can I call someone and describe what I’m seeing? What if it’s a videocall? What if there are two people on the line? Or 200? Or 2 million? It becomes increasingly difficult to figure out what’s okay and what isn’t when it’s no longer just a few big broadcast companies at the table. It also could destroy the idea that one broadcaster gets exclusive rights to an event. If individuals are able to broadcast their own content from a game, how long will it be until other professional sports broadcasters start to ask why they can’t just show up and broadcast on their own, even without securing the “rights”. If the events of a game are considered facts that are part of a news story — what’s to stop just about anyone, professional or amateur, from sending out their own version of the game?
Originally
from Techdirt
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Dec 31, 1969, 11:59PM
Streets As Stages
With networked technologies now a staple of urban life, it’s hardly a surprise that new media artists so frequently engage the aesthetic possibilities of areas like street corners or shopping malls. The new exhibition, Urban Networks, organized by Susan Joyce at Boston’s Art Interactive, presents works by John (Craig) Freeman, Jody Zellen, UrbanTells, Urban Atmospheres, and Finishing School, all of whom explore technologically-mediated encounters and situations in city spaces. Some are interested in social behavior such as ‘Meet/Greet,’ by Finishing School, which examines the interactions between a customized polylingual drone and the pedestrians it addresses. Others are research-based, such as ‘Imaging Place,’ initiated by Freeman in 1997, which considers possibilities for location-based virtual reality experiences. On Thursday, June 29th, Art Interactive will team up with new media art organization Turbulence and the Boston branch of the international artist-run Upgrade! to present two artists’ talks in conjunction with the exhibition. Join Vancouver-based Nancy Nisbet and MIT graduate student Amber Frid-Jimenez as they discuss their practices–and stretch your notion of creative terrain from your studio out onto the street. – Lauren Cornell
http://www.artinteractive.org/shows/urban_networks/
Originally
from Rhizome.org: Rhizome News
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 7:00AM
Do you really need an MBA?
Is an MBA a ticket to instant success?
Entrepreneur Rajesh Setty doesn’t think so, and he’s written a free e-book titled “When you can’t earn an MBA” to prove it.
Basically, it boils down to this: you can choose to whine about your lack of an advanced degree and live your life accordingly, or you can get your booty off the couch and do something about it – and I don’t mean register for grad school (although if that’s your dream, go for it!). The success or failure of your dreams does not depend on a diploma.
Originally
from Lifehacker
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 4:30PM
Mechanical Empathy
Philip Beesley is a Toronto-based architect and sculptor who creates extraordinary cybernetic systems.
“Implant Matrix is an interactive geotextile that could be used for reinforcing landscapes and buildings of the future. The matrix is capable of mechanical empathy. A network of mechanisms react to human occupants as erotic prey.”
The matrix is comprised of a lightweight structural system with sensors, shape-memory alloy wire actuators and distributed microprocessors.
Read more about Beesley’s work at BLDGBLOG.
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Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 27, 2006, 10:58PM
Inhabitat launches Green Building 101
This morning (Wednesday), Inhabitat launched what will be a weekly how-to series called Green Building 101. Yes, the logo is beautiful (kinda connotes a place setting, actually), and the pitch is perfect:
The summer series will introduce readers to the fundamentals of environmentally sustainable building through tutorials structured around the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system–the U.S. Green Building Council’s benchmark certification program for green building. Over the course of the 10-week series, Green Building 101 will present a comprehensive overview of how to make your living space environmentally friendly, equipping readers with a better understanding of what “green building” really entails, along with basic tools, tips and DIY suggestions for applying sustainable design to homes both old and new.
The first topic is Location & Linkages: Five ways to insure your home is sustainably located, making the most of existing infrastructure.
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Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 2:42PM
Mini Surveillance Rover
Spy on those sinister dustbunnies behind your monitor and check out your roomate’s crazy toenail fungus without blowing your cover. The SRV-1 Mobile Surveillance Rover can be driven manually via web browser with live video feed or can operate autonomously with basic vision detection with wireless control of up to 300 ft from the host computer.
available at thinkgeek
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Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 4:57PM
world network visualization
a “computationally driven visual installation” called “A Shift in the Fabric, which creates, analyzes & shows nuances of potential networks & infrastructures in the world. 5000 of the most populated cities in the world are aggregated & visualized as nodes in a variety of different map spaces, so that network characteristics are represented, & “individuals can be left to interpret them in a visual environment”.
see also celestial mechanics & 3D world globe.
[grayfuse.com & grayfuse.com(pdf)]
Originally
from information aesthetics
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 27, 2006, 11:36PM
Hulgerisation
Hulger approached St. Martin’s design students about applying their thinking towards technology on a variety of products. While some of it falls into the “Design Student” vortex, some of it’s actually pretty interesting. My favorites were the wind-up lamp and Ben Raemer’s Crop Camera (pictured), which makes the photoshop tool into a physical camera allowing infinite aspect adjustment. View them all at Hulgerisation.
Previously on CH: Hulger Bluetooth PIP, Custom Hulgers
by Ryan Tomorrow
TAGS: Conceptual, Design, Devices, Student Work,
Originally
from Cool Hunting
by
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 28, 2006, 12:02AM
Baseball: The book
Dan Formosa and Paul Hamburger have designed and written a book explaining the rules of Major League Baseball. Says Dan: “The official rulebook of baseball is complex, and reads like a legal document–so it was a prime target for an information design project.” And if the website is any example, these guys know how to lay out information.
(Bonus: Pictured above is a screenshot of the Amazon page, where it’s recommended to buy the old and new testaments together! Now that’s information design.)
Website here; Sample spread here; Infield Fly Rule here; Buy it here.
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Originally
from core77.com's design blog
reBlogged
by michael
on Jun 27, 2006, 5:20PM
