image via http://www.justgetthere.us/blog

If you’ve read my thoughts on ubiquitous music or have been paying any attention to my twitter feed it’s pretty easy to understand why this article by Babak A. Parviz gets my geek up.

Let me visualize, without aid of a mobile device, meta data on things around me and embed a music player in my ear so I can have a constant soundtrack and I would be one happy camper. Really happy. You could cancel my birthday and Christmas for the rest of my life and I’d consider that a fine trade.

This morning my buddy Steve shared this @wired video on how they plan on answering everyone’s questions about magazines moving forward in a (hopefully) profitable way in the ever changing face of today’s technology and in the wake of the green movement. Check out the video, more after the jump…

Now what Wired is showing here is by no means shocking to most who might read this, but they are at least at the head of their industry and thinking about not only the content they produce but the medium for which they’re producing it. They talk about controlling the UI with gestures (on devices developed for those types of interaction), contextual linking and interactive, immersive advertising. All great stuff!

But please Wired, don’t stop there. Partner up.

Take a look around at existing services and companies and incorporate them into your product. Take @Jkretch out to lunch and talk about incorporating LiveFyre as a way to implement immediate live conversation about an article or other piece of content, keeping users involved with your brand longer. Grab a drink with the fine folks from Nikon and their social media goldmine Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk ) and discuss using their Virtual Touch software to bring functionality you have available on a few devices (ipad, iphone, etc.) to even more devices, the laptop / home computer / television. Increase your penetration.

One hurdle for these kind of partnerships is the attitude that you need to do everything “in house.” I can’t believe this train of thought will persist too much longer. Given the rate at which technology moves forward (props to Chris Teso of TheGood for hammering Moore’s Law home many, many moons ago) it’s going to be, or is already, a nearly impossible task for a company to remain at the forefront of every technology that it needs to understand and incorporate to truly be a leader in their industry.

There are good reasons why the opensource community is so popular. People share their work, ideas and philosophies so others don’t have to start from scratch or at least to give others an idea of where to start. Why re-invent the wheel when the guy down the street is already riding an Indian motorcycle? The world gets more and more impatient, deadlines get shorter and shorter and projects need to be more and more advanced. Finding qualified partners is the smart thing to do.

The other huge strategic upside to these partnerships is an immediate increase in qualified and interested audience. Instead of using only the Wired portals to start conversations about your new product, now you’ve got a chance to hit Ashton’s 4.5 million (!) followers with a push to go check out what you’re offering.

It just makes sense. And it makes sense for more than just the magazine industry. But perhaps that’s another post.

This series of sites, developed for Regence BCBS, was intended to show that the efforts of one individual can in fact have an effect on the cost of health care in today’s world. Through a series of movies and games, the user is asked to make decisions and unearth information to help them to become more informed patients and consumers.

The campaign also features a social media campaign, out of home, print and video.

roles: concept, producer, strategy, social media

I think it’s partly human nature, for some of us at least, to want to be right all the time. Heck, that trait has almost cost me dearly on a few occasions. But knowing when to raise a hand and spout “mea culpa” is a vital part of building strong relationships in today’s “eyes-on-me” world of real-time communications.

Here’s an example:

This past week, a friend of mine brought me out to see a favorite artist of his, Andrew Bird (side note: is there a more entertaining musical individual out there right now? I’d put him up against almost anyone) and in the very first song that he performed, at probably THE musical climax, the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a singer in front of a packed house happened… he f**ked up the lyrics.

True to his professional reputation, he pushed through the verse and into the instrumental break. During that break, he took the opportunity address the crowd and admit his fault. Immediately thereafter he turned his back to the crowd and hung his head, seemingly in shame.

You know what happened next? The audience burst into applause so loud you couldn’t hear the music. Their musical hero was human and they loved it.

Now, this is an extreme example and obviously Mr. Bird was in a place filled with worshipers in the first place, but the effect of dealing with a mistake appropriately is something that can produce dramatic results and really that should be the objective.

It’s a simple thought really, a vital part of being successful in social media is being authentic. Whether you’re an individual or a large company being represented by individuals, people want to be able to relate to you. Nothing helps people relate like seeing that you make mistakes just like they do. The difficult part comes when you have to decide how to deal with those mistakes. These decisions are especially important when a member or your community has been the recipient of the short end of the stick because of something you said or did. When confronted, some people tend to react quickly in a knee-jerk style that will inevitably make the situation worse. To try and help with times like those, here are a few suggested steps that might be useful:

• Breathe: Take a step back. If you can, approach the situation as if you were a 3rd party. Re-read or re-live what happened to get you to the point you’re at currently at and allow all the information to sink in. If you have the means, maybe even ask a third party for their unbiased opinion.
• Listen first, talk second: Most likely, the person(s) you’re dealing with are passionate about what you’re discussing. Let them know you want to come to a resolution and allow them to state where they’re coming from without getting defensive.
• Common ground: Once you’ve heard what they have to say, proceed to try reach a solution to satisfy both of you. Or, if it’s clearly your fault, make amends.
• Keep it real. And keep it public.: Perhaps one of the most important things you can do is keep the issue public, if that’s the way it started. Like it or not, you’ve got an audience for the whole thing and going off-line for a resolution deprives them from seeing what kind of approach you take to getting there. This is a key chance for you to show people what you’re made of… use it wisely and use it to your advantage.

Having a mistake or fault brought to light in a public manner is never comfortable, but it is a significant chance for you or your brand to turn those involved (and those observing) in enthusiastic brand advocates and fans.

So don’t be afraid to be unperfect.

Agree? Disagree? Have other thoughts as to important things to keep in mind when dealing with this type of situation? I’d love to hear it all. Leave comments here or get @ me on twitter

Passers-by were able to stand in front of a series of three background images which had “SNOW” flakes falling in front of them. Using the motion detection software, people could move the falling snow in random directions as it fell to the ground by waving their arms or legs… or whatever else they could think of.

In addition to the installation itself, I also co-produced the spot which featured the installation for the seasons TV campaign. Check it out by clicking the link to the right.

roles: concept, producer, implementation, technical producer, photography

using all the social medianess i can muster (including twitter, facebook pages, facebook ads, blip.fm, ning and the oldest form of social media, rubbin’ shoulders with people) this new venture has proved not only a viable creative outlet for me, but a fun exercise in practicing what i preach as a righteous route for clients.

about the site:
photography, for me, is about capturing a significant moment. one that speaks volumes about what it was like to be present at that particular instant.

a live performance (be it musical or otherwise) is filled with these moments. split seconds that build on each other to construct the arc of the whole event.

it doesn’t seem possible that one element or person would be able to tell that story completely. you’ll see a lot of pictures from me that don’t concentrate on the performer’s faces, but instead their shoes, hands, instruments, pedals, and lists… all parts of the whole

i just love doing this and what’s better than doing what you love?

**update**
after a steady push on the variety of social networks listed above, about a month and a half of effort has translated into being in talks to shoot for an online music mag and possibilities ranging from an exhibit to a residency at a local music hall.

roles: concept, design, photography, production, social media, strategy

well it’s up.
it works.
people like it…

and it’s soon to be the subject of a TV commercial.

the installation finally went up amid a whole lotta hoopla (see above) and despite a few snafus like someone taking two mighty tries to bust in through the front door to get to the goodies last sunday night (thank you schlesinger brothers for taking care of that for us!) things have been going fairly smoothly.

the next step in the evolution of this thing is a TV commercial about the installation it’s part of the series being done for Portland’s Downtown Marketing Initiative by NORTH. it’ll air locally through the holidays. you’ll also be able to see the spot on the downtownportland.org site once it gets distributed.

stay tuned, and as always, read more here.

as a parting shot, if you haven’t read this great article about the future of advertising (among other things) i would highly suggest it.

doooooooo it.

it’s worth the five pages.

the installation hoopla continues.

on top of the site madness and the incredible job the NORTH crew has done on this year’s round of commercials (soon to be featured on downtownportland.org and in a limited way on YouTube) our little installation has been gathering some pretty good momentum.

we’ve encountered more challenges than even i thought we would, but so far have slayed them all (save one pretty big one which will hopefully be resolved in the AM.)

the papers show up tonight for a “sneak peak” photo-op and the channel 8 morning news will be around in morning on Friday to capture the ribbon cutting by mayor-elect Sam Adams. Thanks go out to John and Katie @ NORTH and for coordinating all the big media push and Chris from Reactive for helping get this thing up.

ok so most of my time lately has been take up by working on the various areas of NORTH’s newest campaign for downtown portland.

the tv spots (which i have to say are pretty badass, you’ll see them soon), the website, and the most fun part for me, the 13′ x 7.5′ rear-projected interactive art installation we’re doing in an open retail space down town.

using some motion detection software developed by teso, we’ve gotten three local artist to provide their interpretation of snow in the city of portland (a rare thing for those not in the know) and passers-by will be able to stand in front of the store windows and push the snow away as it falls from top of the window to the bottom.

it’s not the most enthralling interactive experience, but it should be fun for young kids and older folks alike and just getting to be the first ones to do this kind of project in a pretty major city and in a public space is a pretty incredible feeling.

stay tuned for updates.

if you’re interested in more information and related stuff check out this and this and stay tuned here.

as usual.

teso says:
“Last week I had a showing at Equilibrium, the Human Mashup. The show’s goal was to ask “How can art and technology and the synergy of the two address humanity’s next evolutionary step?”. Being a staunch singularitarian this was right up, or is it down, my proverbial alley. I built an application that allows a user to take a self portrait photograph and then draw themselves on a wall simply by using and moving their hand. The premise was to use the human as the sole interface to draw themselves, exploring the convergence of man and technology. A one day only installation, I didn’t have to high of hopes for it’s exposure. On the flip side, this being my first showing ever I was like a greedy 8 year old on Christmas morning, and extremely anxious to see how people would interact and respond to the installation. The methodology of controlling an interface without the normal peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, kiosk, or otherwise was foreign to all that attended. What transpired blew me away. The attendance, response and exposure far exceeded my hopes. I barely had to explain at all to users how to run the application. People just stepped right up to the installation and began to interact with it. They were actually learning on their own while performing the drawing. People were actually converging with the technology. Furthermore, those that were done performing their drawing became evangelists, telling those who followed them their idea of how best to use the application. At that moment it became cemented in my mind that I had succeeded in my experiment. People had invested themselves in the piece to the point of bringing out their own inner artist. Several times I stepped in to ‘coach’ people on how to get the most out of the motion detection while drawing their portrait. The response I got was unexpected. People took personal offense that I was pushing my artistic ideas on their own drawing. Again, success. I was also sent to the floor several times by attendees who said they had come to the event specifically to see my work which they had been following online. There were even several people who mentioned that they had hooked my work up to projectors at parties they were holding. Wha?! Seriously, amazed.
“How can art and technology and the synergy of the two address humanity’s next evolutionary step?”. Being a staunch singularitarian this was right up, or is it down, my proverbial alley. I built an application that allows a user to take a self portrait photograph and then draw themselves on a wall simply by using and moving their hand. The premise was to use the human as the sole interface to draw themselves, exploring the convergence of man and technology. A one day only installation, I didn’t have to high of hopes for it’s exposure. On the flip side, this being my first showing ever I was like a greedy 8 year old on Christmas morning, and extremely anxious to see how people would interact and respond to the installation. The methodology of controlling an interface without the normal peripherals such as a mouse, keyboard, touch screen, kiosk, or otherwise was foreign to all that attended. What transpired blew me away. The attendance, response and exposure far exceeded my hopes. I barely had to explain at all to users how to run the application. People just stepped right up to the installation and began to interact with it. They were actually learning on their own while performing the drawing. People were actually converging with the technology. Furthermore, those that were done performing their drawing became evangelists, telling those who followed them their idea of how best to use the application. At that moment it became cemented in my mind that I had succeeded in my experiment. People had invested themselves in the piece to the point of bringing out their own inner artist. Several times I stepped in to ‘coach’ people on how to get the most out of the motion detection while drawing their portrait. The response I got was unexpected. People took personal offense that I was pushing my artistic ideas on their own drawing. Again, success. I was also sent to the floor several times by attendees who said they had come to the event specifically to see my work which they had been following online. There were even several people who mentioned that they had hooked my work up to projectors at parties they were holding. Wha?! Seriously, amazed.”

wow that kid can talk.

roles: assorted interactive stuffs