tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-366871332024-03-08T02:07:31.255+00:00Things do not change, we change.mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.comBlogger377125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-57854829996730394612014-02-11T23:25:00.001+00:002014-02-14T16:01:07.630+00:00Why its all about Bill Buxton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/browse?mkt=en-us&vid=922a7b29-0522-41f7-b1bc-4e04e2803979&from=sharepermalink-twitter&src=v5%3Ashare%3Atwitter%3A">Check out this great MSN video - Bill Buxton: advertising’s future technology</a><br />
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In 2009 I was working with Microsoft advertising division as a consultant helping them create and sell products to media agencies. I was lucky to get the winning seat at lunch at their imagine conference. Typical advertising people chatting about advertising stuff, I was one of them so I fit right on. Until Bill Buxton comes along and says something that stuck with me ever since.<br />
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<i>'If you want to know what is going to be big in 10 years time then look back to what was created 10 years ago.</i>'<br />
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He said eBay was the best place to find what will be big. He should know as he has one of the biggest <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/bibuxton/buxtoncollection/" target="_blank">collections of technology objects</a> known to man. On the day he pulled out a bunch of touchscreen technology created in the mid 80s.<br />
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5 years later Im half way through a masters in innovation and one comment I saw in the video above from him is the basis of my view of innovation.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">'</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"> ….anything that is going to impact your life in 10 years is already 10 years old now that changes the nature of innovation from one of alchemy, starting some great idea out of scratch <b>to one of prospecting and discovery, insights and relationships'</b></span></span><br />
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thanks Bill</div>
mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-25975795551271137812014-02-02T17:29:00.002+00:002014-02-13T09:22:38.944+00:00Why Google is the ideal innovator <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWS4SWwgWfXtdDJyffjtRaPwGjSb5cBT_LzuJoAcQTgg78J2yQdtYn0sc1LmvAV9NvxpgacrJtMgWqZy7cZCiDyfIPOtMkNrpBKczFFIitP5gHUE7r9sQqdRY1dKG5KmOeeQ/s1600/google-nest-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWS4SWwgWfXtdDJyffjtRaPwGjSb5cBT_LzuJoAcQTgg78J2yQdtYn0sc1LmvAV9NvxpgacrJtMgWqZy7cZCiDyfIPOtMkNrpBKczFFIitP5gHUE7r9sQqdRY1dKG5KmOeeQ/s1600/google-nest-logo.jpg" height="160" width="400" /></a></div>
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I have been researching innovation for the
past 18 months as I have been doing my masters in innovation management at
Central Saint Martins in London. A lot of people, friends and companies have
been asking me what is it all about so I thought I would give an example
combining some things Ive found as well as 14 years experience in advertising and
personal obsession with technology and subcultures.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When I started this blog 8 odd years ago it
was a scrapbook of thoughts to throw out there converse with others and
hopefully build on or help articulate my point of view. I have been particularly bad at using
it during my masters but I thought I would return here to try to simplify it
all especially in light of Google’s recent spending spree which everyone is
questioning. Here we go<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The simple concept is that innovation is a
strategic tool for growth. There are other ways to grow such as expansion into
new markets, resource optimization for efficient delivery of you current market but it seems that innovation tends to get the headlines. What type of growth
depends on where you are coming from financial for companies, understanding
maybe for governments (I understand I shouldn’t smoke) or behavior change
(social innovations if I buy a RED iPod money goes to Africa). There are a few
quick categorisations of innovation we need to clarify first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Growth for today is known as sustaining
innovation it has a more short term approach. Growth for tomorrow is known as
disruptive innovation with longer term metrics looking at what could
potentially throw the market dynamics as they currently stand. Innovation as a
process for me comes down to three simple steps <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Identify, Create, Exploit</b>. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Identify</b>: is to find opportunities. In the short term they tend to be insights about the customers needs. In the longer term it is about patterns that lead to future needs.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Create</b>: a product or service that addresses those needs. Then test, iterate and validate the product / service as well as the customer need.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><b>Exploit</b>: is to drive market adoption understanding.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Lets have a crack at how it works using
Google as an example. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">How
do you innovate for today. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The concept of sustaining innovation is the
idea that you take an innovation already created (search) and you add additional
benefits to it to gain more revenue from an existent market or customer. This
approach consists of a lot of the innovation we currently see. Product
extensions, add ons etc. An example would be that Google created google+ not to
‘disrupt’ or steal audience from facebook they did it purely to gain more data
for their search terms to make more targeted ads to gain more revenue from
their current audience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Google <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Identified</b>
an insight using data from current customer’s past behavior that the more
personalized search suggestions are the more likely people are to click.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Created</b> a new platform, Google+ to gain additional data from their current audience’s online
behaviour and interests. They then <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Exploited </b>that platform through different approaches such as <a href="https://plus.google.com/+converse/posts" target="_blank">Chuck Hack </a>a collaboration between
Google Creative Labs + Converse + other creative companies including <a href="http://technologywillsaveus.org/" target="_blank">TechnologyWill Save us</a> (in an act of transparency I am an Investor and advisor for TWSU and <a href="http://hirschandmann.com/" target="_blank">HirschandMann </a>who helped with the project). This campaign looked to push smaller creative
subcultures (or communities) to use the platform in a fun way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In summary sustaining innovation is a
pretty simple approach. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Identify </b>insights
using data from past or current behavior of your or other current
customers in your market. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Create</b>
something new that offers more benefits to a current product but enables you to
gain more revenue. Google have done this over and over again, maps, gmail,
android, chromebooks etc . Last time I looked Google’s quarter financials on
1<sup>st</sup> of February were up 17% so the short term sustaining innovation
approach for growth seems to be working for them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Another example I give is O2’s current
Priority campaign. They<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Identified</b>
an insight that its current customers and customers within their market spend
considerable money on entertainment. They <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Created</b> Priority which added the benefit of early tickets to top events at O2 places as
well as others to drive more usage from current customers as well as switching
from others in the market. Then <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Exploited</b>
it with campaigns for Lady Gaga, English Rugby Union team etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">How
do you innovate for tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Here comes the fun more interesting part.
How does one innovate for tomorrow ? Everyone is questioning Google’s recent
behavior of buying NEST that makes thermostats, Artificial Intelligence
companies and what did they do with Motorola. Lets look at our model in the
future innovation sense. ICE<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Academic and ex editor of Harvard Business
Review Ed Levitt came up with the concept of the <a href="http://hbr.org/2004/07/marketing-myopia/ar/1" target="_blank">marketing myopia in 1960s</a>
which is the idea that companies create products and technologies that don’t
link closely with the wants and needs of their customers. The reality is technology
advancement is so fast companies can create the next technology way before any
customer even hints they need such a thing. Therefore it all becomes a matter
of timing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">A number of years ago I met <a href="http://www.billbuxton.com/" target="_blank">Bill Buxton Microsoft’s head of design research </a>(hilarious guy reminded me of Doc from Back
to the Future). Bill left me with something I will never forget. If you want to
know what is going to be big in 10 years, look back 10 years to what was
invented then. He explained the concept of the <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-01-02/the-long-nose-of-innovationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice" target="_blank">Long Nose of innovation</a> he found
in his research that from invention to market traction took ten years. He has
one of the <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/bibuxton/buxtoncollection/" target="_blank">largest collections of technology objects in the world</a> as validation for his research as what he found is that it takes a number of years for refinement and augmentation of the technology
itself, then there is the need for market traction. He said his job at Microsoft was to
go and find all the awesome invention in house and shrink that process. Surface
was their first example of shrinking that process they cut it to 6 years. One approach to innovation I believe is the use of engineers who invent, refine and augment technologies to make sure they work. The designer / engineer
combo takes that technology to the next level <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Creating (</b>or designing) something that is user friendly. It is then
the job of the marketing or other teams to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Exploit</b>
it to the masses or gain traction through understanding their needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The problem with innovating for tomorrow is
people don’t know what they want in the future and past data will not project
5- 10 years into the future. So identifying insights about peoples current
articulated needs like I explained in sustaining innovation from online
behavior, surveys, buyer or economic data isn’t sufficient. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There needs to be a more interpretive method that looks to people's future unarticulated needs. You
need to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Identify </b>patterns that could
drive those future needs. Levitt also asked an interesting question of train
companies at the time who were later disrupted by airplanes. Which business are
you in ?Are you a train company or a transportation company ?. So the question
for Google is what business are you in ?? Search or Data. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Google is a data company and Google+ is
just one way they show that in the short term. In the longer term they have
identified patterns in the concept of the internet of things and the data it
will create. Currently the only way the average person believes Google gets data is
from the screens we interface with. PCs, Laptops, Phones, tablets which are
closed interfaces behind the box we make changes to by touching screens, keys
or our mouse. Google (as well as others) accumulate data from our online actions
but that is only the beginning of what is available. Every action in the real world we do more and more
will accumulate data. The term ‘smart’ is not new you may have seen the Smart
Cities concept from IBM or smart fridges from Samsung or quantified self with market adoption of wearable technologies. This is the idea of interfaces everywhere
creating data. Top IT analyst company <a href="http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2636073" target="_blank">Gartner forecasts 26 Billion devices connected to the internet by 2020</a>. That is 6 years away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what did Google do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Google <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Identified </b>the pattern of the growth of devices creating more data
and the need for more advanced computational methods to analyse all that data. Google
was built off the back of an algorithm that made data into something of
value for people. The idea of “Big Data’ is being thrown around businesses and
governments as the future. The bigger question is who has the computational
power to deal with that sort of data ?? Artificial intelligence has already
shown promise in turning large amounts of data into value. You’ve seen Minority
Report, the new film HER gives you a more emotive view of the concept. (If you
want to see a fun example of AI objects reacting back to humans check out my friend <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-07/29/artist-explores-the-aesthetics-of-disgust" target="_blank">Katrins conceptual piece</a> ).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Secondly they now have one of the best
design / engineering teams in the world in house to start to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Create</b> (or design) the best interfaces possible to
create more data which is what Nest currently does. It is a way to create data about someones home and their energy usage. Google’s Project X <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Created</b>
Google Glass as a new data interface that they are testing and evaluating whilst testing an <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Exploitation</b> approach through a game of scarcity.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Have you got one, look at that weird guy on
the tube with one. Have you seen the stupid things they have come up with.</i>
The reality is they are working to help translate what I have found in my research in <b>Exploitation </b>phase as a
language gap between great technology that is created and great technology that
is adopted. Have you ever seen a technical person try and explain what their technology does to someone who isn’t technical. My research has
found that technical people will talk about what the technology does, early
adopters are more interested in what the big change does for them or in other words the change in benefit, the early
majority are only interested in how it makes their lives slightly better the late majority and laggards are sheep and will just follow.
Giving the product to people to use and build on is an interpretive method that
shows Google not just being myopic in its engineering or design approach that focuses on making a great product to a more interpretive approach to understanding what the customer wants to <b>Exploit </b>it at a later stage. One thing that has emerged from the Google Glass experiment is when people give the heart symbol with their hands in digital photos and <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/15/google-gesture-patent-would-let-glass-wearers-heart-objects/" target="_blank">Google's attempt to patent it.</a> They are trying transfer a technical language images with data to a more human language where a human action becomes like a #.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">What I have also found in my research is
that you do need a completely separate business to create disruptive innovations
for future use. As their metrics of success and timeframe are much different to sustaining
innovations. An example would be O2’s
Priority vs O2’s disruptive innovation giffgaff. Priority’s first year targets
were 1.5 million new customers paying £60 pm whilst giffgaff took 4 years to get to 1
million subscribers at around £15pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Including disruptive innovation in your daily business process will only
get all projects cancelled before they identify an appropriate market and understand any value that could be created in that space. Do you remember when Sergey returned
to Google shut down all those additional projects this was because they sat
within the day to day business (some weren’t that good also). But he didn’t
stop their innovation he just realized the need to separate short and longer term, sustaining and disruptive. Google X became the future space with different metrics, more money
and more time. (also being public about the future innovation pipeline doesn’t
hurt your share price even if no one understands any of it)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">What is the role of Motorola ? Google has sped up the 10 year process by buying the already
made patents or technologies. Keeping Motorola would’ve led to
an expensive war in an already ridiculously competitive smartphone market (although
<a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/29/motorola-teams-up-with-phonebloks-to-create-modular-mobile-phones/" target="_blank">Motorola teaming up with PhoneBloks</a> is the future of technology and an example
why I invested in TWSU but thats for another post). They will pass those patents over to
Tony Fadell his new hardware team from NEST and Google who will start creating user
driven products as interfaces for the world to add more data to the machine.
Combine that with best computational technology or artificial intelligence to
analyse the data to turn it into value. Google will then use what they have
learnt from previous <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Exploitation</b>
methods from Google Creative Labs and others things across the world to begin to drive market traction for products.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Innovation is a strategic tool for growth that must look at identifying, creating and exploiting for today and tomorrow. Google have done a great job using previous and current data to Identify insights to Create new products and then Exploited them in fun to gain more data ways to sustain their current innovation of search. It is hard as today seems much clearer, when tomorrow is such a haze. Google's future pipeline looks even brighter by <b>Identifying</b> the pattern of IOT devices as new interfaces to growing available data. Gaining the technology to analyse that data and putting the best team together with a bunch of inventions to <b>Create</b> the future interfaces of data and then no doubt by then Google Creative Labs and other departments of Google will take <b>Exploitation</b> to the next level. They have created a very strategically strong duel approach to innovation that has an eye on the customer of today but never takes their eye of the customer of tomorrow.<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Next post I will attempt to look at Amazon
and why they are a bit one sided as they only focus on Disruptive or
future innovations not sustaining ones in the short term. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One easy check is to look at their growth in revenue vs their loss in profit %'s in the past 5 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-39858479735988229792013-10-22T21:08:00.003+01:002013-10-22T21:11:13.724+01:00Why hipsters are important for democracy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How can you not love that video. I have shown it to friends from Hackney to Kreuzberg to Williamsburg and everyone gets a chuckle. Everyone loves to laugh at the hipsters but I think we need to look past what they wear, their attitude and their constant screaming for attention and think about why its important for democracy.<br />
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Its important because hipsters in their truest sense stand for the counter culture. A culture that stands up and says no I will not stay in on sunday night and watch a bunch of untalented opportunists sing to a crowd of people on their phones wasting money texting through votes. No I will not spend my life following whoever the next ridiculous reality TV star is, their clothing line, books and exercise DVDs (other than themselves on youtube obviously).<br />
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This is important for democracy as their drive is to always go against the mainstream. In whatever dramatic fashion they do it at least they provide a counter voice. Hipsters that are worth their weight in gold are the designers, musicians, directors, artists and writers that actively engage in culture, constantly questioning it and using their talent to create alternative views to the mainstream. They have created their own media to express their point of view being fed by their creativity from events to walls to social media to alternative publishing.They arent sitting at home like the majority of the country <i> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death" target="_blank">amusing themselves to death</a></i> as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman" target="_blank">Neil Postman</a> media critic and cultural theorist wrote about in the 80s'. He believed the move to television as a medium would cut off a major part of knowledge creation that the reading of text was vital for and would lead more intelligent debate. He believed that television's strive to amuse its audiences was in fact an amazing stroke of oppression. I guess that is why the Daily Show has hours upon hours of material from their friends at FOX 'the home of amusement'.<br />
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Any group that gains popularity will create an entourage of hangers on, which ruin it for everyone. The ones that can grow an awesome moustache, wear skinny jeans, have an amazing quiff and critic everything about life with no skill to share. (Im a bit of a hanger on... dont do the moustache, dont fit into skinny anything but I do have the skill of analysing them and writing about it ..ahah) But look past those hangers on to the culture that is created. The culture that is created around the east of London is something else with examples like the amusing food and bar scene continues to be driven by this counter culture. No you dont need a huge restaurant space on the strand. We just need a food truck thanks or a hole in the wall. No I dont need to dress like a page 3 girl, pay £30 pounds to get in and flirt with some rich out of towner to buy me a bottle of vodka. Id prefer to here some music in the basement of a pub. No I dont need to get my beer from some far off place I can brew it around the corner thanks. No I dont need to pay some exuberant amount to see art in Regents Park. Id prefer to go an old building thats has free beer on a thursday.<br />
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With every culture there should be a counter or in fact I dont believe you can say you have a democracy. If we are supposed to be practicing <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy" target="_blank">the free and equal practice of political self determination</a></i> then I want someone to throw in an alternative view to the blatantly obvious occasionally. Surely only one point of view (or two between the leading two parties) is not enough to open up a legitimate debate about how a nation should facilitate the appropriate ways to maximise the lifestyle's of their citizens.<br />
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So next time you see a hipster dont just laugh and walk away. Smile ask them about a social issue you find interesting. Even if they are a hanger on they will probably have an alternative view they copied from their real hipster friends and if that doesnt work.<br />
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Then its not all bad if <a href="http://shop.technologywillsaveus.org/collections/frontpage/products/diy-synth-kit" target="_blank">'we all make synth'</a><br />
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-63328512718467686452013-09-18T11:36:00.002+01:002013-09-18T11:37:56.437+01:00If you want insight, get out of the building<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the things I found weird working for different agencies and with marketers is that they always talk about understanding the customer. Yet they never leave their building to truly experience their audience. A pitch comes in for an FMCG brand and the first thing they do is organise focus groups. What about just walking down to the local supermarket and just standing in the aisle for a while.</div>
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Quite a few years ago now I did a brand planning course where at the end we had to create a strategy, creative brief and creative concepts for a chocolate bar that had no fat. I did some data analysis and detailed that the bar should go after the chocolate bar market not the health bar version. I also did two particular pieces of research that stood out. I walked around a supermarket watching women in the chocolate aisle. What I found was that women would be less likely to grab a chocolate bar in the aisle and more likely to grab it closer to the counter. This insight around 'shame' felt like fertile ground. I then created some concepts and set up a movies night at my girlfriends house with a group of girls in the target audience, the perfect environment for chocolate. I let my girlfriend run the session as I thought the depth of understanding of that 'shame' would be harder to say to a guy. They not only validated a concept but built on it making the language more feminine and more specific.</div>
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I topped the class on the assignment and the teacher highlighted the amazing effort I'd gone to mixing a strong analysis of the market and a deep understanding of the audience. Building it all into a great concept and good creative work. That act of observation, creation and validation was very simple and all of it cost me not much more than a couple of chocolate bars and making dinner for my girlfriend. Yet I've sat through piles and piles of expensive research and got very little insight to that depth that can truly be successfully used for any advantage.</div>
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If you are in the business of understanding people why not get out of the building and actually experience those real people. There is something very human and empathetic about interacting with people in reality not just reading about it. Not just treating a situation like a test subject just being a human being in a human space. Then having the ability to truly pull out what matters to whomever you are studying is still a skill that is hugely undervalued.</div>
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-61934755002002819812013-07-17T14:35:00.000+01:002013-07-17T14:35:20.866+01:00Innovation could learn alot from bike messengers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I think innovation could learn a lot from bike messengers. The constant speed in which you work. You never have a chance to really stop. Also you pick yourself a line and think its safe and the best option until a number of different barriers and issues get in your way. I love her example of zooming out, but zooming back in on what matters.</div>
mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-61340894931639754332013-07-09T11:05:00.003+01:002013-07-09T11:05:26.724+01:00Prediction or Precaution <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One thing I have noticed in reading theories and engaging in uncertain situations is that we tend to spend our time trying to predict outcomes which inevitably don't come to fruition. The growth of risk analysis has become a necessity of business today in any way shape or form. But the thing that gets me is that supposedly we have the ability to predict the future. You've all been a meeting where a group of highly trained professionals have done all the analysis and stood up their with confidence to say if you did this .. This will happen. Look the data told us so. Yes but that is from the past and how do we know that it is right for the future.<br />
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A lot of the time it never ends in what we assume either good or bad, cautious or overtly positive . Maybe we should try to assess the risk beyond just using data from the past with a right or wrong, black and white type attitude. Why don't we look at possibilities, not just definite outcomes. Looking to create scenarios of possible outcomes using our imaginations a little more and functional data from the past a little less makes a team more open to outcomes that weren't expected. It will automatically broaden your anticipated outcomes. This can lead to a broader more cautious approach that enables a team not to focus on being either be right or wrong according to predictions. But to be agile enough to adapt to whatever outcome to successfully exploit the situation. Not sit there scratching their heads wondering where it all went wrong . </div>
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Next time you are sitting in a room planning for the future. Just throw in a couple of … what would we do if this happened ??. Pick the two extremes, no one bought this or we have people lining up for months. Then throw in a weird one like 'Our brand ambassador got busted on a drug charge'. At least having the conversation begins to work towards developing your abilities to adapt to unpredictable situations not just be right or wrong depending on past occurrences. </div>
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-19216159760036643422013-06-05T13:48:00.001+01:002013-06-05T13:49:54.324+01:00What is the point of art school ?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>lateral against the linearity of rationality' </i></h2>
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Jeremy Till, Pro Vice Chanceller of Central Saint Martins</div>
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I have been attending Central Saint Martins doing my masters in Innovation Management for around 9 months now. I have been particularly bad at writing here. Which is ironic as a key thing they continue to teach you is to reflect on your work which was kind of the point of this blog 7 years ago. One thing I have particularly loved moving to London and now even more so at CSM is the creation of cultural capital. </div>
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Art, design, film all this cultural capital that expresses itself in a multitude of ways is one of the reasons I would struggle to return to Australia. Everyone jokes about the lack of culture in Australia but it was never more evident than when I showed my father an article in Monocle magazine about CSM and a project I was working on. 'Oh you go to an art school'. Its what a lot of people think. But I feel the opposite. I was educated in a linear rationale way that I never understood. I always struggled with a world that was created around assumptions. Why do we do that. Just because we do. That makes no sense. I used to say to my father when I was younger. I was exceptionally curious and that has never faulted as I got older. I then got to the UK where a huge history built a structure of even more assumptions. But the interesting thing was that their was an alternative. An alternative for people that didnt just want to live one way just because. That wanted to explore beyond that for themselves but also for a greater purpose.</div>
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The problem now is that the opportunity and environment in which you are encouraged to open up your point of view is being controlled. It is being held back by those rational people who dont see the value in art. CSM ran a conference recently called 'Whats the point of art school?'. It would take me too long to write my point of view and to be honest its still a prototype. But I have seen the value not just for myself but for the wider construct of the world in which we live. I think a key component of this argument is talk in the language in which the rationale's will understanding. I have been looking at the list of Alumni from CSM recently. What if you picked the top 100 CSM alumni and compared it to a business school like Warwick. Then compared the value they have brought to the economy but also other elements of society. Also look to minus the bad elements like money pulled out of the markets. This maybe would start to see that in order to get out of the mess that the rationales got us into. That the business school model of looking at previous casestudies to better establish what to do doesnt work.That you are going to need some pretty bloody creative people to get us out of it.</div>
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-51777690005556876302013-02-24T19:23:00.000+00:002013-02-26T13:09:53.291+00:00Behavioural Economics at Barcampnfp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/mickstravellin/barcamp-presentation-16736337" target="_blank" title="Barcamp presentation">Barcamp presentation</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/mickstravellin" target="_blank">mickstravellin</a></strong> </div>
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I was lucky enough on thursday 21st to go along to the unconference <a href="http://barcampnonprofits.com/" target="_blank">Barcampnfp</a>. It was an unconference as there was no organised speakers and everyone has to participate. It was a great day at the lovely mozilla offices in Covent Garden. It had a great list of 'conversations' with some people asking to discuss certain topics as well as people bringing along topics to discuss. As I was unaware how the day worked ... it seems I over prepared. Considering I wrote it at 4am with jetlag in the morning before.I wasnt too worried<br />
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I discussed a topic that I love talking to people about in social media or technical roles. That is the idea of people's behaviour or a little behavioural economics. That all the technology in the world doesnt matter if it doesnt work with people's behaviour (Internet fridge anyone ???). It seemed to go down relatively well with some interesting questions / comments made.<br />
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A couple of points I made if people are interested<br />
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Dr Nick at Warwick University is actually <a href="http://www.wbs.ac.uk/about/person/nick-chater/" target="_blank">Dr Nick Chater</a> who runs their <a href="http://www.wbs.ac.uk/research/specialisms/teaching-groups/bs/" target="_blank">Behavioural Economics</a> unit that works with companies, as well as governments and not for profits.<br />
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I also highlighted that Warwick and the Design Council have also come together to create the <a href="http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/Insight/behavioural-design-lab/" target="_blank">Behavioural Design Lab</a>. This is taking behavioural insights and coupling it with a subject I am currently studying '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking" target="_blank">design thinking</a>'. A design led methodology to create innovation<br />
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Hope you found it useful<br />
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Reflection note for myself: write down notes from what people discussed. Questions asked, comments made to share here for future use<br />
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mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-31029719362968540922012-09-03T12:47:00.001+01:002012-09-03T12:47:31.697+01:00Crudeness of initial ideas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>'<span style="background-color: white; color: #4e5359; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">“If you freeze an idea too quickly, you fall in love with it.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4e5359; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">If you refine it too quickly, you become attached to it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #4e5359; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4e5359; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">and it becomes very hard to keep exploring … to keep looking for better.'</span></i><br />
I love the angle here about the process an individual goes through in working through ideas. No one really talks about that much on the way to great work.I love the idea of keeping it crude enough to almost keep the door ajar a little bit to keep exploration to evolve or even destroy the idea</div>
mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-38122404052258482222012-07-14T15:42:00.002+01:002012-07-14T15:48:33.080+01:00Every company should have a Self Destruct button<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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They say quite of few people have self destructive personalities which are seen to lead to very negative behaviour from the individual. But what if you used a self destructive personality in a positive light to constantly evolve. What if your company constantly self destructed and started again.<br />
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I was recently in a meeting and we were discussing how to implement a new ethos and framework into the company. I made the comment 'we have to implement this process so everyone works to it, then start to pull it apart again'. <span style="background-color: white;">I just kind of blurted it out. After everybody laughed and kept on with the meeting I realised that's now what companies have to continue to do to survive. </span><br />
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I started reading Idris Mootee from <a href="http://www.ideacouture.com/" target="_blank">Ideacouture</a>'s blog <a href="http://mootee.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Innovation Playground</a> quite a few years ago and forgot how concise and loaded with positive rhetoric his posts are. He made a great statement within his post <a href="http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation_playground/2011/12/on-building-the-creative-culture-and-learning-how-to-forget-creatively.html" target="_blank">How to forget creatively</a><br />
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'We all create our own environments and are then constrained by them'<br />
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The environment you create for big companies often works to that time, that place, that talent and that cultural context. But how do companies play to the speed and agility of the start up communities that could change their market in a matter of months.<br />
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We have all been there. Come up with an idea that worked in that particular situation. We got praise from the people around us, collegues, friends and maybe even the industry we work in. So if it worked, it made you feel good and everyone is happy. Why on earth should we change anything. Why ruin a good thing. Thats how we see it as individuals. Think about that on the scale of management to investors or shareholders. 'Yeah everything is swimming along great ... but we dont believe it anymore so we are going to completely change everything we do'... wouldnt go down well would it.<br />
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The speed of change (or velocity as people like to use to throw some drama in) doesnt play well with the consistent use of old techniques. But there is a fine line between when too and when not too. I believe 99% of innovation these days is just iteration. A slight change on something that everyone feels comfortable with and has quantifiable justification. Which I can understand from a company's perspective because most are run by people with economics background and feel their job it is really to mitigate risk. Dont lose what you already have. But what if their is a greater risk that isnt immediate but is still eminent.<br />
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To quash the immediate negatives of a self destructive behaviour (ruining what you currently have) You almost need to create a team within the company whos job it is to test the current model to destruction. The objective is very simple. 'If you wanted to ruin our business model, how would you do it'. Identifying the holes in their strategy or execution. It really plays to the first three R's of <a href="http://mootee.typepad.com/innovation_playground/2012/01/funny-how-many-think-blue-ocean-strategy-is-a-big-wake-up-call-when-all-it-does-is-communicating-the-very-the-basic-and-simpl.html" target="_blank">Idris's transformation model</a><br />
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<a href="http://mootee.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b44f853ef0162fff87df9970d-pi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://mootee.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8351b44f853ef0162fff87df9970d-pi" width="400" /></a></div>
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It makes sense to completely separate the team from the process. Completely different talent, place and just leave them to it. Im sure there are many movies that have government black ops squads who are off the radar and there job is to pull apart the system. It could also work to evolve your systems, innovate into areas you never thought about and generally make your company better for the long run.<br />
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Like when you are a little boy. Destruction can always be fun in understanding that now you need to rebuild it in your own special way. But the more interesting bit for companies is how you deliver the final R from Idris's model<br />
<br /></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-77182252810205029742012-02-22T12:50:00.004+00:002012-02-22T13:28:24.206+00:00Design thinking to solve bigger problems than selling more stuff<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86Dwp1YXHSong-vGZxtNNp2E5ryXuxMCXPQH1JhmgexRaXF4ln0eQVEyw4csAKFjjhvWoICsxG8OwAk-7yTWxOT0CgNtKHQ-RKcZbNi37VHTnrwuAJH-caAzPcEJUGI3APo8/s1600/dosomething.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86Dwp1YXHSong-vGZxtNNp2E5ryXuxMCXPQH1JhmgexRaXF4ln0eQVEyw4csAKFjjhvWoICsxG8OwAk-7yTWxOT0CgNtKHQ-RKcZbNi37VHTnrwuAJH-caAzPcEJUGI3APo8/s400/dosomething.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711951249599821986" /></a><br /><br />Ive been interested in the guys at <a href="http://sidekickstudios.net/">sidekick studios</a> ever since <a href="http://no-mans-blog.com/">Asi </a>announced his new job over there earlier in the year. I think their point of view is amazing and they have created some awesome products/ services that start to address some pretty big problems that our society is dealing with now and even more so in the future. I was lucky enough to see the head of Sidekick <a href="http://sidekickstudios.net/studio/our_people">Adil Abrar</a> at the Google Firestarters event last night where he talked through a product/service that they had developed for people with mental disorders.<div><br /><div>It really struck a cord with my on a multitude of levels. I have been quite interested in <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/resources/design/dziersk/design-thinking-083107.html">design thinking</a> for a while following the likes of <a href="http://weijiblog.com/">Tom Hulme</a> over at Ideo who I have seen present before on the topic and who funny enough presented at a previous <a href="http://neilperkin.typepad.com/only_dead_fish/2011/06/firestarters-2-design-thinking-in-planning.html">Google Firestarters</a>,. The agile process of identify opportunities, creating prototypes and continually adapting to refine is very interesting from a work perspective and has huge possibilities for all types of innovation. But what really caught me about last night was tackling bigger problems. I have a very close family member who has mental health problems that I have to deal with for a large percentage of my life. As Adil went through how they addressed the problem, the failures they had, how they adapted and in turn refined the product to cater for the needs of the three users. I started to realise the assumptions that we all make in life, but also the assumptions made at work with the feeling of comfort behind research and numbers. Which can often completely miss the actual reality of the situation. The explanation of the process he went through and how close it the problem he was addressing is to me personally really brought to life the power of design thinking in a very practical way. </div><div><br /></div><div>What really struck close to home is that his observations also helped address some problems I have had with communicating with this family member. So not only does his product start to address the issues of mental disorders, but also his observations could help all the people involved in the lives of people with mental disorders. Family, friends, therapists etc. Really tackling the problem head on... not just creating a product that could make a slight dint in the issue.</div><div><br /></div><div>It also made me realise ... maybe Im not tackling big enough problems.</div></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-80780316172883144132012-01-11T14:04:00.004+00:002012-01-11T14:29:14.491+00:00I just want to be heard<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/1553583?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=FF7F00" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p><span><a href="http://vimeo.com/1553583">Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/christopherbaker">Christopher Baker</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span></p><p>I love seeing art that portrays and dramatises things that are stuck in my head. Everyone loves to talk about participation. The consumer is in charge, 15 mb of fame. But this starts to show the reality. Above is a video of an exhibition from <a href="http://christopherbaker.net/">Christoper Baker</a> an ex scientist come artist who has an exhibition over at the<a href="http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/"> Saatchi Gallery</a>.</p>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-78252717917280254352011-11-17T11:38:00.004+00:002011-11-17T11:43:03.086+00:00Connecting weird things<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtQh8hK2qPvjHi5q680BzL17bRdBRigU-8E1mmIVMnPcSUIZcl8FfCOE79ZhdZvLkXE2Bz8fkp50Zc60hbxKEtS74sIdlsyv8D6OWdPvIc4FSKo4Ba4C7miID6SOJGOgaRv4/s1600/ipodtoilet.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivtQh8hK2qPvjHi5q680BzL17bRdBRigU-8E1mmIVMnPcSUIZcl8FfCOE79ZhdZvLkXE2Bz8fkp50Zc60hbxKEtS74sIdlsyv8D6OWdPvIc4FSKo4Ba4C7miID6SOJGOgaRv4/s400/ipodtoilet.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5675928869602023202" /></a><br /><div><br /></div>I have always been a huge fan of connecting weird things in life to create something even better. But I was reading an article over at<a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/"> fastcodesign </a> which had an amazing connection for the iPod that I wanted to share. <div><br /></div><div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: right; width: 476px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >Here’s another example of how bringing two seemingly unrelated thoughts together. One morning, a designer sprang into the frog studio. “I know why everyone says the iPod looks clean!” he exclaimed. Ask anyone what’s so appealing about the design of the iPod, and, almost without exception, they answer, “I like it because it looks clean.”.................</span></i></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: right; width: 476px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >“So,” the visiting designer said, “as I was sitting on the toilet this morning, I noticed the shiny white porcelain of the bathtub and the reflective chrome of the faucet on the wash basin, and then it hit me! The iPod is ‘clean’ because it references bathroom materials.”</span></i></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: right; width: 476px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >There were a few seconds of silence, followed quickly by laughter. We were laughing because we knew that Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod, came to Apple from a London- based design consultancy where he worked on a lot of lavatory basins.</span></i></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: right; width: 476px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >Coincidence? Perhaps. But, at the very least, it’s an example of how anything, no matter how unconnected, can spark new perceptions. Often, the more incompatible the connection, the more useful it may be.</span></i></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: right; width: 476px; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Hahaha ... brilliant. Check out the rest of a great article on <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665442/the-3-biggest-barriers-to-innovation-and-how-to-smash-them">what hinders innovation here.</a> </span></p></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-57925106787994739052011-10-06T11:45:00.003+01:002011-10-06T12:04:01.814+01:00Grass Roots Innovation<iframe frameborder="0" height="410px" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/860423879/makeshift-magazine/widget/video.html" width="480px"></iframe><br /><div><br /></div>Two years ago I wrote a piece on what I saw as a more resourceful group of individuals that innovated with what they had in front of them. I called it the <a href="http://thingsdonotchangewechange.blogspot.com/2009/06/are-trends-built-purely-from-being.html">MacGyver formula</a>. If you know of the 90s TV show this guy could get himself out of anything situation with a pen knife and what was in front of him. I highlighted how I saw this on a recent trip to South Africa when I spent some time in the townships working on a pitch. It seems that in the light of the economic situation that the world is starting to look to the developing nations as a smarter way to innovate with what you have already<div><br /><div>The video above is for a great magazine called <a href="http://mkshft.org/">Makeshift </a>that has just launched thanks to some help on <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/860423879/makeshift-magazine?ref=live">kickstarter </a>which delves deeper into this trend of DIY innovation. It is something that is utilised across the world by different societies to push against scarcity to make things to enable them to survive. </div><div><br /></div><div>The interesting thing is that now the <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/jugaad_a_new_growth_formula_fo.html">global consultants are also jumping</a> on it and highlighting it as a way to innovate the western world out of the current crisis and gain growth from what we already have.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>What interests me about it, is boundaries. Everyone talks about freedom to innovate but actually creating boundaries is what makes people maximise what they have in front of them. Simon Waldwell highlights it in his book Creative Disruption where when he was running the digital innovation team for the Guardian actually having freedom in time and opportunity made the team somewhat lazy.</div><div><br /></div><div>So go out make some boundaries and see how resourceful you can be. Im thinking about buying a swiss army knife just in case.</div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-40510200951854732542011-08-03T10:19:00.002+01:002011-08-03T11:04:49.328+01:00You think then do, no wait do then think.. wait<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/27058468?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/27058468">Design & Thinking Official Documentary Trailer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user7939742">Design&Thinking</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p>Another extension of my general love of the design industry and the discussions around design thinking is the video above which is a sample of a supposed movie that is coming out on the concept. Can you make a movie out of it ?. Maybe more a documentary as I dont quite see the storyline, twists and turns or character build. But a documentary could work just fine. This connects with the event <a href="http://neilperkin.typepad.com/Google_firestarters2%20Scriberia.jpg">Google Firestarters </a> by <a href="http://neilperkin.typepad.com/only_dead_fish/">Neil Perkin</a> a few months back with great presentations from <a href="http://smithery.co/">John Wiltshire</a> and <a href="http://weijiblog.com/">Tom Hulme</a> from Ideo.<div><a href="http://weijiblog.com/">Tom Hulme</a> talked about this very subject, as it is something I have seen from him before last year at Internet Week when I went to an IDEO session. There is a great quote in the video above from <a href="http://pangaro.com/">Paul Pangaro</a> from CyberneticLifestyles</div><div><br /></div><div><i>'If you are only thinking and your not doing, and you have to do in order to know and you have to know in order to think better' </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Sounds like the ultimate catch 22 if you ask me. The thing I take from this comment is that you can never stop experiencing things. A way to truly understand things is to throw yourself into the situation. Dont force or create a situation just throw yourself into one. The interesting thing in marketing at the moment is supposedly social media. A bunch of kids coming in and telling the old folk what to do. Why ??. Because they are doing, thinking, doing, thinking better. If its not in a linear way but who cares. This can work everywhere. It plays on the fact that all people in the marketing industry need to get out there and get their hands dirty. John Wiltshire talks about making things. Media people should be whores for media no matter what type. They should try to actually create their own media. In areas that arent relative to their lifestyle. (in England I mean read something other than the Guardian, Vice and Dazed.) create something your audience would love and try to experience why they would love it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think planners are great at doing this but could take it a little further. I love ethnography but i think its better when the people involved in the work do it themselves. Not just get an agency to do it for them. Actually experiencing what people do think and feel cant always be seen on a video.</div><div><br /></div><div>So get out there and get amongst it</div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-80064719421894577632011-07-22T15:03:00.002+01:002011-07-22T15:19:18.909+01:00New Campaign: Shave my beaver.....<iframe width="480" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yrAW-rmkQ50" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />hahaha<div><br /></div><div>This is a campaign I have been working on for a new TV show from E4 called Beaver Falls. (I know... I have about a million different beaver puns). Its a TV show about three British guys who fake their way into a very exclusive American Summer camp. We make a fake tv ad above about the summer camp trying to get the audience to sign up to be a camp councillor. But its not as easy as just signing up. We created a game on facebook using a number of game mechanics for different tasks and activities to gain badges virtually like you would in scouts / brownies. These badges have a little humur to them telling you a little bit more about the storyline. We combined some actual games that have elements about characters within them as well as being addictive and pushing people to share. Then we played with people's behaviour of uploading stupid photos of themselves with a beaverfaces where you can upload to get a badge. We have also taken the location based 'checking in' a little further with new technology <a href="http://getglue.com/tv_shows/beaver_falls">getglue</a> to allow people to check into the program and discuss it which is already happening. Also adding the the mystery behind the story of how the guys got there, we've created <a href="http://www.beaverleaks.com/">beaverleaks</a> which has small bits of information about their past lives.</div><div>Great trail below with an awesome track from aussie group Miami Horror</div><div><br /><iframe width="480" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Um-ADtsOlL4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></div><div>So check it out on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/e4beaverfalls">facebook</a>... shave a beaver... or take a photo of your beaver face. But make sure you watch it next wednesday night on E4 at 9pm</div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-12944552359959247912011-06-29T10:35:00.009+01:002011-08-08T10:04:53.453+01:00Have we lost our love of serendipity ??<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWY9-dN0Z6cQ0XOgwWy7mSR-CWfq2fWnHjCzI5UZ4TrBABMZYaKsmzS773ZEnNRgoL0kV2TSRC5q0tCwjPQ0q6x_v2acb1eFBvqIZd8Ik6BULYHw8JdGO8PxerZUNwcloK20/s1600/manvmachine.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWY9-dN0Z6cQ0XOgwWy7mSR-CWfq2fWnHjCzI5UZ4TrBABMZYaKsmzS773ZEnNRgoL0kV2TSRC5q0tCwjPQ0q6x_v2acb1eFBvqIZd8Ik6BULYHw8JdGO8PxerZUNwcloK20/s400/manvmachine.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623578258399921506" /></a><br /><div>I have always been very motivated to broaden my horizons and learn as much as I can about different topics. Some could say it is a bit of an obsession. The internet over the past five years has enabled me to do this at lighting speed. Which is all well and good but there is a problem on the horizon that might restrict this.</div><div><br /></div><div>They say that your cognitive learning abilities begin to decrease from the age of 27 as you become more habitual and you begin to lose your sense of discovery. The problem is that now our laziness is going to be controlled by the algorithm.<br /><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2011/Blank/EliPariser_2011-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/EliPariser-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1091&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;event=TED2011;tag=Culture;tag=Global+Issues;tag=Technology;tag=journalism;tag=politics;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2011/Blank/EliPariser_2011-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/EliPariser-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1091&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;event=TED2011;tag=Culture;tag=Global+Issues;tag=Technology;tag=journalism;tag=politics;"></embed></object><br /><br />>The video above is from Eli Pariser who believes that facebook, google and applications across the net are creating a<a href="http://www.thefilterbubble.com/"> filter bubble</a> that will go against what the web was intended for. He believes it was created to introduce us to new people and help us find new perspectives. Which I agree with and have rather been enjoying over the past few years. The problem is, as the web becomes more personalised you could argue it becomes more isolating. He makes a great point that in a broadcast society we were controlled by the editors of choice... like Mr Murdoch. The internet was supposed to bring us freedom. But <i>'the torch has been passed'</i> onto the algorithm. The flow of information can be somewhat controlled under the guise of YOU. It's what you and your friends want right. But in the light of Mr Jobs... we dont know what we want. Here is a great quote from the inventor <a href="http://www.thefilterbubble.com/web-inventor-tim-berners-lee-weighs-in-theres-danger-in-the-filter-bubble">Mr Tim Berners Lee</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>'The filter bubble phenomenon, I think that noun is applied to the idea that a search engine can get to know you and so it can get to know the source of things it thinks you’re interested in. You will end up in a bubble because you will reward the search engine — you will go to the search engine — it feeds you things which you’re excited about and happy about and <b>it won’t feed you things which get you thinking.'</b></i></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>This has all sorts of implications for the concept of democracy and everything that the free flow of information stands for. But instead of tackling that issue I am going to address something a little closer to home that I think affects most people who stop by here and people who want to live in what I see as a more fulfilling life. Eli talks about a problem that Netflix had to address in their subscribers in the difference between the perception of the person you want to be in the future vs the reality of you now. It is the difference between a functional understanding of a person vs their little eccentricities that make them who they are.</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe this connects nicely with one of the key elements of creativity. A person you walk past on the street, an image you take of someone interesting, a comment a person makes in passing, someone telling a story through their art. These small serendipitous moments of life can not be valued, but I believe are a major part of what makes up someone's persona. These eccentricities are the things creative people live and breath on. One of my favourite things about travelling is just wondering the streets and running into things that are unexpected. How does that happen if you plan, analyse and organise every part of it or in this case my connection to the world does it for me. What about those chance encounters that fuel a sense of wonder and imagination outside the peripheral of your life.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is something that has been bugging me a bit lately which I have noticed particularly on facebook. Of the 500 odd friends I have on facebook. The same ones pop up on the news feed with the similar pictures and status updates. So I started a little experiment of looking into people I havent heard from in a while. Some people had moved to new countries, got married, had kids, had more kids, connected with friends of mine in other groups, completely changed careers, taken up a random hobby, gone back to school and so on. This started to make me realise that the machine was adding to my laziness (or my laziness was adding to the machine..). That there is so much even within my reach that was worth discovering but id become too habitual to enjoy that sense of chance.</div><div><br /></div><div>I find this even more interesting at the moment as google + launches. Have a look through the great rundown from the guys at <a href="http://wearesocial.net/blog/2011/06/googles-social-play-google-project/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wearesocial+%28We+Are+Social%29">wearesocial</a> here on all the elements. You see that the promo videos are starting to address this sense that not every part of our lives need to be analysed, planned and organised. As what breaks us away from the machines is a sense of wonder or imagination of what we dont know or what we dont expect. This no doubt brings fear to a lot of people. At a time that seems like the world is out of control, Im sure people feel great comfort in knowing what is going to happen. But will we lose out ability to be creative. Will we loose out ability to tap into the eccentricities of life to bring that sense of imagination and wonder to things that we do be it for a greater audience or just to make our lives a little more fulfilling. </div><div><br /></div><div>I dont know about you, but I am connecting a little less often and trying to enjoy the small eccentricities that are slightly beyond my reach a little more.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-12317937628600035532011-06-28T16:06:00.001+01:002011-06-28T16:06:14.634+01:00a few buttons<span class="slider"><input type="range" min="0" max="100"></span><br /><input type="checkbox" icon1="P" icon2="v"><br /><input type="radio" name="player" icon="4">mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-11157377633590981732011-06-27T10:54:00.004+01:002011-06-27T10:58:04.597+01:00Sir Ken Robinson in a more commercial sense<object style="height: 390px; width: 480px" width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_W3r7MZlMM?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_W3r7MZlMM?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="480" height="390"></embed></object><div><br /></div>I am a huge fan of Sir Ken Robinson and his views on creativity. Its great to see Ogilvy get him over to Cannes to help do a talk on creativity within companies. Im dying to see his presentation but here is a nice little interview him in what is called the Ogilvy Inspire Series.mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-18354704554032926942011-06-20T16:55:00.003+01:002011-06-20T17:03:15.197+01:00Apples different take on social networking.. live curation<div><br /></div>I am really interested in the context of curation at the moment. With an oversupply of everything in life a little bit of guidance wouldnt hurt anyone Im syre. Have a look at the interesting rundown <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1760435/apples-weird-future-idating-social-plans-for-iphones">on apples iDating patent</a>. It looks to combined all the data from your phone with data from the internet about you to create a much more rounded understanding than say the ad-hoc information on facebook or linkedin.<div><br /><div>There is a somewhat fakeness created by people on their social media presence.(I say people but Im sure I one of them). It will be really interested to see a curation of a number of different data points to give a greater view of the people you connect with or want to. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or we could just enjoy the spontaneity of life and just walk up to someone and say hi</div></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-7509395801148395252011-06-03T14:24:00.001+01:002011-06-03T14:27:09.969+01:00Summary of Planningness 2011<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_8169804"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/thaz7/planningness-2011" title="Planningness 2011">Planningness 2011</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/8169804" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/thaz7">thas naseemuddeen</a></div><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">nice little summary of the event for those who couldnt go</div><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">thnx <a href="http://www.thinkerbelle.me/2011/05/planningness-2011/">Thas</a></div> </div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-14158772855754681022011-06-03T11:46:00.004+01:002011-06-03T12:14:18.666+01:00Binge thinking a new addiction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfdYiLKKygUeOxyVqu_8ir1kVlN5BWjccEi18n9mj7CxEUOb5dTYeUvV8Y9BhtyihSz3jHqx1-4xC7XBj3ffmwfzMn42gXbI7f4DTQ5xlD54uOyTJIhQnPZrFtYqI750uyVw/s1600/paradiseguidetolife.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfdYiLKKygUeOxyVqu_8ir1kVlN5BWjccEi18n9mj7CxEUOb5dTYeUvV8Y9BhtyihSz3jHqx1-4xC7XBj3ffmwfzMn42gXbI7f4DTQ5xlD54uOyTJIhQnPZrFtYqI750uyVw/s400/paradiseguidetolife.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613945127687575474" /></a><br /><div><br /></div>I have found with pushing a few more years older and days thinking way to much about people and what motivates them. I have found myself 'binge thinking'. Not only am I binge thinking on my own, but I drag friends in whenever I feel I need a stronger hit. It gets worse as I reach out to new experiences and people to expand my binging into a full blown obsessive addiction. It seems I am not the only one thank god. <div><br /><div>I had noticed that there was a large amount of workshops and mental experiences happening all over the place no matter where I went. Im a huge fan of the school of life which included a present I bought myself for xmas on <a href="http://curiositydrivesadaptability.blogspot.com/2011/02/making-your-own-digital-creatures.html">how to make a digital creature</a> and also my friends bought me a day in epicuriosity across London. <a href="http://curiositydrivesadaptability.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-go-through-all-pain.html">Last year for a friends birthday</a> , instead of just going out and getting hammered I took him for a tour across London to all the great areas that inspire my thought. From cafes to food markets, to museums to pubs, too finally clubs.</div><div><br /></div><div>I realised this had gotten even bigger when I saw that a great London pub, <a href="http://www.theparadise.co.uk/whats-on">The Paradise</a> had created a bunch of events on a guide to living. It seems that brands are jumping on the thinkbinge wagon as I actually stole the term from an article I read on the <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23933849-binge-thinking-is-the-new-sexy.do">Evening Standard websit</a>e. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here is a bit of a list that started my thoughts</div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.theschooloflife.com/">School of Life</a></div><div><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Diesel?sk=app_172967046069668">Diesel School of is Island Life</a></div><div><a href="http://workshops.levi.com/">Levi's Creative Workshops</a></div><div><a href="http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet/">Apple stores are obviously way ahead </a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Just to name a few. So with a market that seems to be trying to grab people's attention by teaching them something. How can you differentiate even within all that</div><div><br /></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-31076397688748972262011-05-24T11:10:00.004+01:002011-05-25T15:18:16.408+01:00Obama showed us how it was done, now its NYC's turn<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/23540478?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="267" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/23540478">PSFK CONFERENCE NYC 2011: Rachel Sterne</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/psfk">Piers Fawkes</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p><br />One of the many recent trips I have made to NYC has lead to me noticing a number of small things about how the city is using technology to allow the citizens to have their say, but also access information that is important to their lives.<div>Considering you are being run by a guy who might know a little bit about how information can change any landscape. Mr Bloomberg seems to have brought his commerical understanding of how information can lead to power... to empower his citizens.</div><div><br /></div><div>I noticed across the city a lot of information about building sites has their licences posted on the walls with QR codes on them. This I have now found out is full of all the appropriate information needed including the phone number of the builders making all the noise if you felt the need to call them and tell them to keep it down. </div><div><br /></div><div>I realised this in so many small cases when I was in NYC. I was there in January during the huge snow storms and the citys attempt to clean up the snow which was a huge problem which they struggled in different areas of the city. As you would think loud mouthed New Yorkers went to the internet to share their frustration. But I'll be honest they jumped on the idea pretty quickly and did something about it. In the UK two years in a row there have been big dumps of snow... trains stopped the 2nd year and took a while to start up again because the supposed snow clearing machines for the trains were in the shop being fixed... in the middle of winter.... nice one Anyway I digress. Its awesome to see how the local government has really become citizen centric and thought about how they can gain from citizen concern and also address it in the digital age. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of my favourites we have talked about in meetings in the UK a bit is the <a href="http://thedailypothole.tumblr.com/">Daily Pot Hol</a>e. It is just a tumblr that they have used to speak to one of the biggest problems in NYC. pot holes. People can use an app to send a photo and geo tag where pot holes are. Which is great for the local government to address. But not only that they have used it in a creative way to tell stories about fixing them but also be transparent with the audience by showing how many they have done.</div><div><br /></div><div>Smartphones are probably in the hands of a lot of New Yorkers but they must address everyone. Their line 331 is actually a city complaints number that people can call, go online or post activity to from a mobile app. Something more simple is a free text message of things like traffic, accidents road closures etc. Simple low tech ideas to help the audience through their beloved city. </div><div><br /></div><div>The second thing I love is that they are starting to open up all the data they have to the larger digital community to do what they will. They have a lot of information but they dont know what to do with it. So have reached out to a community that can. creating a competition for developers to create useful tools for their citizens they help them through their day utilising the available data. Then the winner gets publicity and also a little cash for their work. So they have turned a problem into a way they can be seen to helping small businesses and also their citizens... thats a win win win.</div><div><br /></div><div>The great thing overall is that technology isnt there just for fun. They see its value in helping the government with its processes, how they share information and communicate with the public. </div><div><br /></div><div>So what will the government teach us. Something quite simple</div><div><br /></div><div>Listen to your audience. Give them the ability to have a nag about something they dont like. Use that information to identify problems. Address that problem in a way that is manageable (cant do everything at once, but communicating that can help). Create things that are useful for everyday purpose. If you cant do something be open and reach out to companies that can help. Dont be afraid to have a little fun doing it</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-6090810716173058182011-04-08T15:03:00.002+01:002011-04-08T15:08:57.175+01:00Another side to democracy via technology<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_oMslFIYaVk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br />With all the uprisings kicking off in the Middle East there has been a huge spotlight placed on the power of technology in helping drive this democratic shift in a number of nations. I found this video from Noam Chomsky really interesting.<div><br /><div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Uk8x3V-sUgU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></div><div>But what about the other side of the coin. What about the governments and dictators that are actually using the technology for their own drive. using crowd sourcing to scare people into submission.</div></div>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36687133.post-36578241423832239232011-02-18T12:08:00.004+00:002011-02-18T12:16:16.177+00:00A shopping mall Id want to go to<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/19274297?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=000000" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/19274297">BOXPARK 08/2011</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5850460">Roger Wade</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p><p>Have you been to Westfield in West London lately.... yeah welcome to my childhood. One on every corner in Australia. Worst than McDonalds as it subsumes every part of your life. So I have tried to run away from the concept of a mall for most of my adult life. Then came a saviour Roger Wade with an awesome concept for a Pop Up Shopping Mall made out of old containers called <a href="http://www.boxpark.co.uk/">Boxpark</a>. With a mix of eclectic brands and also galleries / cafes. Right down the road in Shoreditch.</p><p>It will be great to see who they get involved. Being across the road from the Tea Building it will only last about 5 minutes before being inundated with advertising people's money, photos, videos, blogs and tweets. Good luck I say... I'll be down there</p>mikejhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03913559178082518793noreply@blogger.com0