Holiday Downtime? Brush Up on Tech

While the holidays can sometimes seem very busy (especially if you're a dance company producing 'The Nutcracker'), there is typically a great deal of office downtime. Therefore, I'm issuing a challenge this holiday season: Pick one tech-related skill you'd like to learn and use any downtime to get cracking. It doesn't have to be anything particularly difficult. Maybe you work with Excel for budgeting, and you'd like to know more about advanced filtering options. Perhaps you'd like to learn some basic HTML so you can tackle your own Web updates rather than passing them off to sit in a queue.

Whatever the skill you'd like to learn or refine, I'm here to help. Contact me with your holiday tech education wishes, and I'll send you some information and links to steer you in the right direction.

Don't just sit around drinking eggnog and making garland hats this holiday season. Brush up on your tech skills!

(Photo Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

Will You Go? New Patron Facebook Tool

Gene Carr, founder and president of Patron Technology, recently blogged about his company's new Facebook app for New York arts groups and audiences. The app, i'll go!, is a free downloadable tool that provides users a way to connect around events and organizations a way to encourage first-time attendance through Facebook-only discounts.

See a screenshot of the event search interface after the jump.

As this app is in beta, I'd strongly encourage New York organizations and audience members to install it and give it a go. If the app catches on, Carr says Patron will expand the tool to include other cities.

Find our more about i'll go! at the app's Web site.

Happy Birthday, René Magritte...

In honor of your special day, I've placed an apple over my face.

Disposable Film Festival

I'm wishing that I lived in NYC today; if I did, I would go see a screening of the Disposable Film Festival (DFF) tonight at 8:00 PM. The DFF is a film festival that showcases works created by artists and amateur artists using only "disposable" media, such as cell phones, point and shoot digital cameras (such as the Flip cam), webcams, and so on. These recording devices don't require (or allow you) to carefully control and adjust the white balance, f-stops, shutter speed, frame rate or all of those other technical things that come into play when using more traditional or complex film or video cameras.

The results are quick and dirty film making at its best and worst. As the DFF mentions on their Web site, all you have to do is 'Point. Shoot. Cut.'

You can check out the videos in the 2008 DFF online, which might be the ideal way to enjoy these works. I'd be curious to see what a live, projected screening would be like, given the quality of video produced by current 'disposable' video technology. We may be approaching a day where festivals like the DFF spring up more and more, as more and more people have access to quick, quality video capturing.

Creative Commons - Building a Shared Culture

A few weeks ago, the topic of Creative Commons came up during a technology workshop I was leading, and a number of attendees were unaware of it and its potential for rethinking the way we approach the copyright of intellectual property. Recently, Creative Commons released a short video by renowned filmmaker Jesse Dylan, known for helming a variety of films, music videos, and the Emmy Award-winning “Yes We Can” Barack Obama campaign video.  The video “A Shared Culture” uses interview footage with leading thinkers behind Creative Commons to talk about the organization's mission, but perhaps the most impactful aspect of the video is its incorporation of photographs and music with CC licenses.

Next week at the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Houston, CAMT's own Brad Stephenson will lead a panel session on the ways in which artists and arts organization may benefit from utilizing Creative Commons licenses in their work.  If you're at the conference, be sure to check it out.

Zoe Keating & the Art of Looping

I just listened to a Radiolab podcast (Quantum Cello, 8/25/08) that featured the work of musician Zoe Keating. She is a cellist that uses a midi foot controller, a laptop, repeaters, a software program called Ableton Live and a plugin called SooperLooper to capture bits of her performance. She then weaves these recorded loops together with additional live music and creates some incredible pieces. You can visit her Web site and blog, as well as her MySpace page, to hear more of her music and learn about how she crafts her art. Check out the comments of the Radiolab blog post to be pointed in the direction of other live performers who are currently doing something similar with looping. It's impressive what technology can allow a lone musician to do.

Save the Museum, Save the World

Today not only marks the return of "Heroes" (for super-hero fans like me), it also marks the beginning of Superstruct, a multi-player online game from the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in collaboration with the Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of the American Association of Museums.  Superstruct is the first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game—designed to help solve real-world problems by harnessing the collective wisdom of participants to create a collaborative, open source simulation of a possible future.

Based on projections culled from forecast research conducted by IFTF, the following extreme scenarios are proposed for museums as part of the game:

"It’s 2019. Your museum is informed that an international group currently touring your building was exposed to the latest deadly strain of Respiratory Distress Syndrome. You are instructed to lock down the museum and shelter staff and visitors in place while authorities determine whether anyone is infected. Are you prepared to deal with this?"

Other snapshots from 2019:

• Is your museum ready to help your community cope with an influx of refugees fleeing climate change, food shortages and political upheaval?
• How will your operations change in the face of soaring energy prices or collapse of the food production and distribution system?
• Your museum depends on its website to deliver information and attract visitors, but your content has been corrupted repeatedly in the past few months by hackers attempting to undermine your credibility. How do you adapt?"

To read more about the game, visit www.iftf.org/node/2098.

The Center for the Future of Museums intends to use the content contributed by museums as a jumping-off point for further planning and discussion within the museum field. To receive e-mail alerts from the Center for the Future of Museums about the museum-specific storyline in Superstruct, contact CFM.

Web 2.0 Expo: Day Four

Location-Based Content Delivery Today marks the close of the 2008 NYC Web 2.0 Expo, and the very last session I attended offered one of the most intriguing tools. Chad Stoller, head of marketing for Drop.io, and Conor Brady, creative director for Organic, Inc., presented the result of their collaborative efforts.

Drop.io allows you to upload files to a secure online drop and share them with others. Combine the ease of Drop.io with the interactive marketing savvy of Organic, Inc. and you end up with Drop.io Location, which lets you drop a file and associate it with an area on a Web-based map. GPS-enabled mobile phone users can then download your files when they’re in the location you’ve specified.

I know what you’re thinking. We’ve come so far with technology that we’ve essentially traveled full-circle. Sending files electronically is a modern convenience that’s worn out its welcome, so we’re now creating tools that require people to travel to retrieve files?

True, you wouldn’t want to email your boss the following:

“Hey Mr. Johnson, I’ve completed the 2008 Second Quarter Report. If you’d like to review it, go to the Starbuck’s at the corner of 8th and Walnut.”

Mr. Johnson would probably tell you to pick up your pink slip at the corner of No Way Street and Suck It Avenue.

But Stoller and Brady offered some thoughts on how Drop.io Location might have practical value, and I’ll translate their examples to befit the arts.

Example 1: A local band has written some new songs exclusively for a theater company’s new production, and the only way for people to get those songs is to attend a performance of the play. The songs have been uploaded to Drop.io and associated with the theater’s address.

Example 2: A city has launched a new public art exhibit and wants to offer site-specific content beyond the traditional audio guides. Files could be dropped based on the location of each art piece and visitors could use their mobile devices to retrieve the content.

It’s a truly amazing tool, and it’s clear that Stoller and Brady are looking ahead. Location-based interactivity is the next major phase of marketing.

Drop.io Location is currently in beta, and you can request an account here.

Thought for the Day

If I Google search your name and get no results, does that reflect poorly on you as a human being? I think it does. Shame on you.

Web 2.0 Adventure

As there were nearly 5,000 people in attendance at the Web 2.0 Expo, it wasn’t a simple feat to physically connect with people. Case in point - my meeting with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of 37Signals.

At about 4:30 PM yesterday, I received a text from Fried: “We’re at the keynote hall. Want to come our way?”

Me: “Cool. Be right there.”

As I arrived at the keynote hall, I received this from Fried: “Now we’re in the main lobby.”

Me: “OK, Headed that way.”

I rush to the main lobby only to receive: “Now we’re upstairs near registration.”

By this point, I was hearing the theme music from 24, and I felt like Jack Bauer in a race to save the life of some random dignitary.

Ultimately, I caught up with the 37Signals guys, and my interview with them will be featured on Technology in the Arts Podcast #51 next Friday, September 26.

Web 2.0 Expo: Day Three

As I wandered around the exhibition floor at the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo today, I was struck by the sheer number of online software tools that are available. Think of the most random activity, and there is likely a Web service to support that activity. Collaboration, aggregation, project management, stamp collecting, grocery list facilitator... on and on and on. Also, as I sat through today's sessions, it became apparent that some of these people don't know what they're talking about. And I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. In fact, most of them will admit that they don't know.

Often a Web site will become incredibly popular, making its creator very wealthy, for no obvious reason. The success is not really quantifiable and there is no formula for repeating that success. Basically, the developers threw something against a wall, it stuck and they were asked to speak to an audience of other developers about their process.

Again, I am not disparaging the Web 2.0 Expo, as there are some phenomenal sessions and speakers. It's simply the nature of the Internet that there's a scant amount of rhyme and reason to online marketing.

Clay Shirky spoke about the prevalence of Web garbage during the keynote session this morning, and he offered the grim thought that there might not be an end to the flood of data. He supported this with a quote from Yitzhak Rabin: "If you have the same problem for a long time, maybe it's not a problem. Maybe it's a fact."

Shirky also remarked that the Internet has allowed everyone to be a publisher because of the low cost, no cost capabilities. As there is no longer an economic "crap" filter, the onus to sort through the junk is placed on the user.

Further, Tim O'Reilly, who coined the term "Web 2.0" (much to my chagrin), pointed out that the best and brightest minds in the world are being used to create goofy Facebook and iPhone applications. So it isn't likely that the river of online trash will run dry anytime soon.

When I have a solution to this problem, I'll let you know. In the meantime, check out this post from ReadWriteWeb that outlines "6 Ways to Filter Your RSS Feeds." When it comes to clearing the clutter, it's a step in the right direction.

Additional Notes

Chrome Nearly Blows Chunks: A Google developer presented the company's new Chrome browser this morning. He apologized at the beginning, mentioning that he was ill and might have to "run off the stage." Way to relax an audience, dude. Also, if you're going to present a browser that only runs on Windows, you might want to think about bringing a Windows machine. Still, he made it through the presentation without losing his breakfast. Huzzah!

Surface Without Depth: Microsoft showed off its new Surface tabletop display in the Web 2.0 Expo Hall, and I wasn't very excited. The device offers a multi-touch, multi-user interface that lets users drag items around in a very tactile way. Here are some videos that show off some of the Surface's recent commercial launches.

Yes, it's cool, and it's certainly time to explore interactivity beyond the mouse and keyboard. But the consumer version of the Surface isn't set for release until 2011. By then, surely something much more innovative - and affordable - will be available.

Web 2.0 Expo: Day Two

The highlight of my day was interviewing Eileen Gittins, the founder, president and CEO of Blurb, an online publishing service that provides print on demand tools for the general public. With Blurb's book layout software, BookSmart, users can create books using their own text and images and upload them to the Blurb server for purchasing, printing and delivery. Like Lulu.com (see Josh Futrell's recent blog post), Blurb empowers writers, photographers, graphic designers, and other artists to control the publishing of their work.

Gittins is a passionate entrepreneur who truly understands her client base. (She started Blurb based on her own frustrations with the publishing industry.) Blurb and the related project Photography.Book.Now exemplify what is truly phenomenal about the power of the Web.

No more spoilers. You can listen to my interview with Gittins (and a few other Web 2.0 Expo players) on Technology in the Arts Podcast #51 on Friday, September 26. (Go ahead and subscribe already, you slouch!)

I also digested this morning some tips on viral marketing during Jonah Peretti's Web 2.0 Expo session, Viral Marketing 2.0. Peretti, known throughout Web circles as a guerilla media guru, is the co-founder of HuffingtonPost.com and BuzzFeed.

Peretti explained that, contrary to popular opinion, a message doesn't become viral because of influential users. Rather, a message spreads because of the network that supports it. For instance, he explained, a fire spreads when the conditions are perfect and not because the spark that ignited it was special.

"Facebook created a network that would make the driest forest possible so the fires would spread," said Peretti.

The network Peretti highlighted today is what he calls the "Bored at Work" network, which is a huge people-powered network comprised of distracted corporate employees. However, he explained that a big problem with trying to spread a viral message is the "radical unpredictability" of the Web. There is no way to know who will make something popular or what will become popular.

So how can Peretti possibly offer any advice on delivering messages that will succeed in a viral way? He admitted that he didn't have a perfect answer. Still, considering his repeated success at gaining viral acclaim (see The Contagious Media Project for a list of his online exploits that have blown up), there is a great deal of cred behind the tips he offered.

For instance, may absolute favorite of Peretti's techniques is one he dubs "The Mullet Strategy." As most people know, a mullet is a hair style that features a short, professional front-end with a long, flowing rear. Peretti compared this "business in the front, party in the back" approach to marketing. Since the most contagious media is often silly, fun and even shocking, it isn't always appropriate for that content to live on the front page of a Web site. However, if there is a "party in the back" and people are enjoying and sharing that party, it will most definitely drive traffic to the other areas of your site.