Archive for the 'dispatches' Category
SXSW – Monday Keynote: Virginia Heffernan / James Powderly Interview
Monday Keynote: Virginia Heffernan / James Powderly Interview
Room A
Monday, March 16th
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Add this to your SXSW Calendar
Open source art evangelist and political activist James Powderly talks about his craft and his mission with Virginia Heffernan, who writes The Medium column for The New York Times Magazine.
Virginia Heffernan Columnist , The New York Times
James Powderly Research Dir, FAT Lab
graffiti research lab, department of homeland graphiti
james worked as engineer for NASA
met his professional partner at eyebeam
eyebeam projects must be in the public domain
works with LED throwies (search youtube james powderly)
dutch government offered 30K euros to develop a project
-people graphitied on architecture with laser beams
laser tags software in ‘open framework’ – C++
FAT LAB
copyleft – public domain
open source and pop culture – we want open source to look cool like a music video
2008 OLYMPICS
was working with’ lazy mutha fucka’ in hongkong
wanted to laser tag Tiananmen Square
ended up invited to a show in beijin
curator asked to make the project politically neutral and then boot them out
798 invited them to show but the government shut them down
students for free tibet asked to work for them to get ideas out during the olympics
free speech issue – we’ll help you!
he built a projection device in beijing, tested it and went to tell his friends that it worked – he discovered that he was being followed. leave the device and make a b-line out of here. when they left the bar there were 50 police and the were busted and detained in prison for 10 days. administrative detention without a charge. 5 days into it they were released – they had 2 hours of olympics viewing–all pingpong…
now working on a comic book that documents it
laser tags can be considered a ’silly toy’ but obviously it is dangerous b/c of the power of voice it gives
disembodied light makes you think that something dangerous is going on – two high and illuminated – unearthly, vulnerable — why is it so powerful – emotionally powerful to people?
-technology approaches a level that is almost magical
-laser tag is a pretty convincing lie
- they expose the technology – very un-magician thing to do – but it is a trickster thing to do
hundreds of hundreds of people can now do this magic
trickster is an important concept more so than artists (he’s only an artist to the cops)
(computer battery is dying!!!)….
SXSW – What Can We Learn From Games
What Can We Learn From Games
Room A
Monday, March 16th
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Add this to your SXSW Calendar
Experts from three different (bit connected) industries talk about game design, learning theories, collective intelligence, transmedia entertainment, and the value of play in a participatory culture.
Henry Jenkins Co-Dir CMS, MIT
James Gee Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies, Arizona State University
Warren Spector GM Creative Dir, Junction Point – Disney Interactive Studio
-embedding complexity in linear narratives opens the possibilities to gaming (e.g., lost)
-you start getting people having moral/ethical discourse rather than just problem solving discourse (ho could you kill that guy?)
-games inherently open themselves to interpretation (right wing vs left wing)
-the power of interactive narrative is about letting you behave in a manner and then seeing the consequences
-the tide is turning away from people who don;t like narrative – so gaming is becoming an increasingly narrative experience over a problem solving cause and effect experience
games are about mechanics – about ‘doing’
market seeking content out via the web that is about theory and discourse
NARRATIVE
players are caught within the implication of the narrative through game play
if you don’t want to pay attention to the story – ignore it
increasingly narrative storylines are increasingly part of the cognitive process – moving into a more intense flow state
keyword about games is not ‘fun’ it is engagement
find a way of applying game paradigms into the real world of work, school and taxes
“because i was a d&d player i learned about medieval japan”
d&d taught us about systems which is important at a time in history where systems are screwing us
many games are over simplifying systems – simple solutions are often bad ones – thank god will wright exists
gamers do not critique gamescapes – they need a critical literacy
most of my peers think that their work i not ideologically laden
games in a very simple way can create a really strong emotion — when it is you making choices with real consequences and you have a stake…
THANKS GOD WE HAVE INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS – THANK GOD WE HAVE PEOPLE COMING OUT OF UNIVERSITY WITH CRITICAL GAME LITERACY
GAME – FLOWER (google)
some chilean leader thought world of warcraft would be the critical factor to develop functional literacy in leaders of the future
book “the big sort” – lifestyle compartmentalisation
-this is undermined by MMOGs
best games are multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary or undisciplined
gamers are trying to model a system – i wish we taught science by saying don’t memorise this stuff try to model it
games allow you to walk in someone else’s shoes
“games are the only medium that allows you to feel guilt” -will wright
SXSW – Sunday Keynote: Stephen Baker / Nate Silver
Fivethirtyeight.com was one of the biggest winners in the 2008 November election, successfully predicting the Obama landslide. Veteran BusinessWeek columnist Stephen Baker talks with Nate Silver, the man who’s statistical analysis powered the site.
Stephen Baker The Numerati, BusinessWeek
Nate Silver Founder&Pres, fivethirtyeight.com
Polls were too much a part of the narrative — taken too seriously
uses statistical analysis to development political predictions
data geek
so much of the momentum came from the order that states voted — people are fooled by randomness
RACE
people are too quick to assume that race is a big factor
hillary clinton had the first choice of the latino vote – people were worried that it was a racial decision. once she bowed out 70% of the vote swung back to obama
DEMOGRAPHICS
-new tribes – heuristics of classification
-we don’t have 12 groups of voters but millions of individual voters
-at some point if you’re doing advertising demographics are useful, but they can be too much of a generalisation for other uses
4% of african americans voted for john mccain
stats to analyse the economy
traditional media will follow the campaign plane and report on where the campaign is when the important part is where the campaign is not.
probability distribution in baseball and politics
there are human factors in play that throw off the probability
IBM doing analytics on workers to assess probable values of the worker in the future, the value of training, etc.
i’m surprised how gen y is willing to share EVERY aspect of their lives
the average girl sends 2500 texts per month
“you’ve got a leading company in political analysis and strategy”
SXSW session 3 – day 1 – EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WEB I LEARNED FROM FEMINISM
The explosion of social media on the web is a result of feminism
Heather Gold Founder, Subvert.com
danah boyd Researcher, Microsoft Research
Betty Flowers Dir, LBJ Library
IMPORTANT LESSONS
personal is political
personal is _____
everything is connected
gossip makes the world go round
-original “gossips” were the kin that stand by and attend births
betty is glad third wave feminism is MUCH more fun than first wave
MYSPACE which was created by men was actually created specifically for girls
-the men had to learn how to speak the language of their audience
web culture (productive) is male – there is a machismo to the production culture of the web
men maintained weak ties, but many of them; women maintain strong ties
-social networking sites is a hybrid
a lot of sites make it impossible to navigate different social contexts and networks
-kids pissed off that there parents are now on facebook seeing what they are doing
social networking blurs the lines between personal and public
different working environments don’t allow for social media
-e.g., academics fired for blogging b/c they are meant to be researchers not wasting time
women prefer long emails to public posts
women need private spaces online – HUGE percentage of people want a protected space online-private and personal
corporate (read male) environments discourage social media
online all social networks and context collide – work/home, family/church…
internet is supposed to be boundless but we are forced into one identity: the sum of a google search
-unitary identity
we are multiple tags
CONTEXT on the web is a HUGE issue
on the web identities are claimed; identities intersect with other peoples identities
queer identities on the web are very fragile
-we need anonymous places online
-every click we do online is recorded, every picture we put up is archived whether we take them off or not
-the tipping point is when industry and patriarchical systems are ready to be more open and embrace transparency - but there is fear and control issues
-people with systems to protect–those at a level of privilege– are scared – everyone else is happy to have the opportunity to have the chance at the brass ring – social media is democratising
-public sphere is the space of appearences
public vs counter-publics (alternate publics)
palmolive theory of feminism: you’re soaking in it
hyper-performance of identity – it is about performing perfect white neo-liberal identities – what you bought, where you go, how important you are – WHITE space
-web is networked so we don’t necessarily SEE the diversity — you are naturally inclined to find people who are like you – you have to actively and intentionally SEEK difference
-social media fails b/c i can’t deal with multiple or diverse audiences
-site start off great b/c everything is like you then as the site spirals out dialogue changes and morphs and becomes foreign and bad or poor – the homogeneity is lost
SXSW – KEY NOTE – DAY 1 – TONY HSIEH
TONY HSIEH – CEO OF ZAPPOS
innovator in customer service and business practice
need to pay attention to company culture
zappos started as online shoes – now clothing, cosmetics, housewares etc.
zappos branding is about the VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
proudest accolade making forbes 100 best companies to work for
75% of orders are repeat customers
“take marketing budget and put it into customer service”
repeat customers and word of mouth
24/7 1-800 number “we want to talk to our customers”
the telephone is one of the best branding devices out there — 5 minutes undivided attention
free shipping both ways (incl. returns)
365 day return policy
will only show items on website that are visibly available in warehouse
offer surprise upgrade to overnight shipping for repeat customers – WOW factor
‘isn’t it expensive? – YES – but it is a marketing cost that comes out of our shipping’
if we don’t have a product we find the competitor that does and send the customer there
CUSTOMER SERVICE
no max call times (longest call was 4 hours)
run warehouse 24/7
COMPANY CULTURE
#1 priority is company culture
interview for culture fit
can be fired for being bad for culture
5 week training for call centre, warehouse — FOR EVERYONE
offer to trainees $2000 plus time to quit so people who choose to stay really want to stay
“culture book” 5000 page compendium of employee comments about the company culture – unedited
company uses twitter – employees have twitter class
“people may not remember about what you did or said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”
core values you are wiling to hire and fire for
doesn’t matter what your core values are only that you COMMIT to them
what are your personal core values
what are your companies core values
transparency
- newsletter where employees can ask anything
-extranet for venders with all brand, sales information
-open tours
vision
-whatever you’re thinking, think bigger
-does the vision have meaning?
-chase the vision not the money
-what would you be passionate about for 10 years even if you never made a dime?
motivation VS inspiration
build relationships
be interested rather than trying to be interesting
build your team
hire slowly; fire quickly
think long term
overnight success are years in the making
most peoples ultimate goal in life is happiness
happiness is:
perceived control
perceived progress
self actualisation
esteem
love/belonging
safety
pleasure/engagement/meaning (rockstar/flow (time passes quickly)/higher meaning)
what’s your companies higher purpose?
what’s your higher purpose?