Explanation

I've been blogging on Nerdabout for a while now, but it is time to move on! On April 5th, I'll be leaving for Australia, so you may not hear from me for a while. But I'll be back in May to continue writing and working at my usual haunts. That's places like Makerlab (a tiny little Portland thinktank) and the very research-oriented Hazelnut Tech Talk, and the even more research oriented Compressing Spacetime - Notes on Our Digital Ecology blog thing.

Stuff I'm Working On

But probably the best place to find me will be the data visualization studies I'm doing on Flickr. You can find the Data Visualization set here. There's also a big ol' Tumblr thing here, which is comprised of a bunch of images, old advertisements (who doesn't like those?) and other various media objects on the big ol' Tumblr thing here. And gee golly whiz, if you're not already following me on Twitter, you can with this @caseorganic link!

Conclusion

 I'd like to say a few things to everyone who's been following this blog for the past few months.

• It's been a great pleasure hanging out with you.
• It's been a great pleasure working with Discovery/Science Channel.
• It's been wonderful to watch the other Nerdabout material emerging from New York and Austin, Texas. Yay! Everyone rocked this stuff!

What Next?

Tons! Jobs, clients, speaking, travel, writing, discovering, exploring. I seriously have some major research to do. I'll be speaking at Webvisions on Cyborg Anthropology in May, so if you're in the Portland area and you're a conference junkie like me, it might be of interest.

You might also like these related articles by Zemanta, because -- umm...Tumblr is pretty cool and easy to work with, and free. Thus! Tumblr related links! Hand chosen, like hand squeezed orange juice!

Okay, so I wrote my first book at age 14. It was called the "Complete Dictionary of Coolish Language" and contained lots of definitions of such trademark terms like "Sweetopian" and "Awesomesauce" and "Spiffilicioustorioustacular". But as the book wore on, it begin to contain a bit more about the philosophy of everyday life.

Working with the theories of Aristotle and Plato, I posited that the designer T-shirt would be one of the most important objects in the future of objects, and that many future economies would run almost exclusively on T-shirts.

Now that that day is here, and has been for quite a while, a whole new class of critics has emerged. These critics are what I call the "Critics of the Neoticular Object", or "Those Who Blog Exclusively About A Singular Type of Object, One of Those Objects Being Something With the Social Gravity of a Designer T-Shirt". My good friend Karl Long (@karllong) is one of these people.

In addition to bringing the public the communication innovation that we know of as Nokia, he runs a blog about T-shirts. That is, he reviews T-shirts, he wears T-shirts, and he posts pictures of T-shirts. He's a T-shirt critic. And his blog, thus, is called Tcritic.

So, good folks -- if you are at all, and if at all I mean even slightly, interested in the goodness that one might call a T-shirt (remember these are the things that you have to wear, or else you are not allowed into most retail stores -- even Abercrombie and Fitch), then I suggest you check out this blog. It might be one of the most important things you accomplish all day, if not all week.

And if it is not, then you can E-mail Karl Long yourself and tell him that he failed to provide you with something interesting, because I'm only the message carrier here. I happen to think that his blog is pretty neat-o. So far, it is the only blog I've encountered that reviews T-shirts. If it is the only blog out there, then I think Long's work is sweetopian and innovative.

If he's not the first out there, I still think exactaly the same. Perhaps I am not digging deep enough in order to find a billion more blogs like this, but seriously -- a blog that reviews T-shirts is a pretty BOSS idea.

So, Tcritic is the name for the website. You can click on it there, instead of here, but I guess you could click here as well. Great hyperlinks! Golly Gadzoinks! This post is over.

Welcome to SXSW, land of the computer, Lego, alcohol and panel zombies. Great stuff! Great scott! Great brain-sucking intensity!

If you didn't know already, SXSW stands for "South By Southwest", and it happens to be a little conference in the middle of downtown Austin, Texas.

Of course, by little, I mean big, and by the middle of downtown, I mean all of downtown. Now that those pieces of data have been established, it must be pointed out that some of the conferences attendees actually dressed as zombies and preyed on the conference attendees.

The Zombies were actually part of a user-contributed movie site called "Lost Zombies", and they had a massive road sign that explained the latest Zombie information as part of their booth at the Interactive expo. Lost Zombies aim to “document the zombie apocalypse.” And they did a good job of capturing our attention - the project took the SXSW Web Awards for People’s Choice and Best Community.

Want to learn more about this crazy and successful publicity stunt? Check out the Lost Zombies SXSW Web Finalist's Page for more information.

Real Zombies

Okay, I'll admit it. I wrote the beginning of those post as a reason to talk about actual zombie attacks. The Zombies at SXSW were really friendly, but real zombies probably won't be quite as charming. In fact, as the zombie meme increases in intensity, we'll probably be less prepared for an actual Zombie attack.

Portland has an annual Zombie walk where hundreds of people, young and old, dress up as Zombies and gallivant around town. Were the real zombie to know about this, he'd have a competitive advantage in his ability to catch prey. In fact, they could easily eat the brains of all those poseur zombies out there. And would any of us innocent passeryby notice or try to help out those fake zombies as they were eaten by real ones? No. We'd all think it was a publicity stunt. The usual photographers would be out with their cameras, taking pictures of the 'very nicely constructed' carnage.

And besides, we've seen death a thousand times on film. We don't even know what real death looks like anymore. If we were to see an actual zombie attack, the blood and guts would seem totally fake. In fact, the more gruesome the attack, the less likely we'd really be able to understand what was going on.

In conclusion, I posit that the Zombie trend is very dangerous for our future selves. Allowing representations of Zombies to run wild through our streets and conferences exposes us to the very possible danger of an actual Zombie attack. Perhaps we should also stage zombie battles in case this ever happens, or ban the Zombie meme itself from ever occurring. At the very least, we might transfter the meme into a less-dangerous state. Hoardes of people dressed as unicorns might be a much safer way to stage a publicity stunt. Besides, the apocaylpse never said anything about unicorns, right?

Photo Credz: Photo of Heather being attacked by a Zombie by Nonojoe. Zombie and me photo courtesy of Kris Krug.

Okay, so here's the story. I was partying with some dudes from Nokia at the SXSW Austin event this past week or so when this dude Steve Garfield whips out his Nokia N97. And all of us at the table --- even the Nokia-shaped people --- are all like, "woah-sauce! cool-awesomeness!".

So, did Steve take me on a tour or offer a closer look? A little bit. I suppose I might have to say that the N97 is pretty sweetopian. Yes, that's right -- sweetopian. I'm not sure if it compares to the iPhone, because those two things might be really different, even though they're both really the same thing. Huh? I mean like apples and organges. Which do you like better? Could you survive on *just* apples or *just* oranges? I think not. That's why these two phones are uncomparable. Perhaps that should be bolded in order to avoid offense to either parties (those enjoying the iPhone vs. the Nokia-shaped people). Uncomparable. Yes, that is a good way to write it.

Now, I know I made this silly post a while back about how I didn't like the typing screen on the iPhone, and that it caused other people trouble because of those absurdely small keys. Well, I don't think the N97 will have that problem, it being the holy grail of all phones. Am I right to call it that? No. I can't say that at all. Yeah -- I don't use phones for calling. I use them for Twittering, and sending E-mail. I personally have an iPod touch, which I use to constantly annotate my reality in an absurdly anthropological way. Since I've never had even more than a few moments alone with the N97, I can't say whether or not it would be a better tool for that purpose.

Lets see what this N97 has to offer, shall we?

• Mobile computing. Multi-sensory mobile computing.
• A large 3.5" touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard.
• Integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass. 
• 5-Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics.
• 16:9 and DVD quality video capture.
• Support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

Seem cool? We'll have to wait to see. Looks especially useful for those who want to live-blog, like the Glogger community.

As a Cyborg Anthropologist, I am constantly investigating the relationship that humans have with objects. Since we've begun to use tools, humans and tools have co-created one another. But the idea of the object as cumulative, detrimental, and overwhelming is becoming an increasing part of our everyday psyche. In Objectified, which premiered today at SXSW '09, Gary Hustwit visits this idea.

You might remember Gary Hustwit's work from Helvetica, which was an intimate look at the font which so swiftly colonized the common and uncommon surfaces humans interact with.

Objectified is the product of 18 months of work spanning 10 countries and 100 people. It takes the audience on a tour through the minds, spaces, and ideas of some of the world's best designers and design companies. Apple is presented, as is IDEO.

There's even a bit on E-waste, and the idea that designers are actually noticing this more and more now. While the cinematography was beautiful, and some of the stories and profiles very fascinating, I was left feeling slightly unsatisfied at the end. That is probably because I expected a view that spanned more territory and ideas instead of mostly America and Europe.

After the film, the audience was able to ask Gary Hustwit various questions. One man was annoyed at the profiles of two chair makers, pointing out that the chairs designed by these men looked very uncomfortable. Gary's comeback was that, 'but I got you to think about the design of objects'.

While it is true that we did, I left the theater thinking a lot more about the shape of everyday things, and practically the entire plane flight back to Portland considering the brilliant design o my iPod touch.

I might have been spoiled by  Edward Burtynsky's Manufactured Landscapes, which is one of the most beautiful and informative films I've ever seen. Not only does it discuss objects, but it showcases the sheer scale of manufacturing with great insights into Chinese and Indian industry and waste management.

But perhaps I am being too harsh. Objectified is about design, after all, and Manufactured Landscapes about manufacturing. But I didn't feel blown away and I felt like I was supposed to be. Perhaps it was labeled incorrectly - the film was more about the stories of designers than the objects themselves. If it were labeled at a series of interviews, I'd have felt less misdirected.

Objectified - A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit from Selectism on Vimeo.

Two nights ago was the US premiere of Brett Gaylor's A Remix Manifesto, a fantastic documentary on the challenges of our mash-up culture. It was a film that featured interviews from outspoken critics of the American copyright system like Lawerence Lessig and Cory Doctorow. Before the show, Kris Krug and I talked with Gaylor, the show's producer, and Lessig (who was, of course, extremely awesome).

The film began with a great history of copyrights, creatives, and Mickey Mouse. The fast-paced cinematography quickly flipped between educational, historical segments and flashes of massive GirlTalk concerts that feature GirlTalk on a single laptop, surrounded by intensely dancing people.

Gaylor has made the entire film freely available for download in chapter format on opensourcecinema.org and invites anyone to remix the film as they see fit.

A Remix Manifesto is a co-production between the National Film Board of Canada and Montreal-based EyeSteelFilm, and I attended the film with a great group of Canadians from Rain City Studios.

After the film, Lessig took questions from the audience. One of the audience members tried to debate him, which the audience enjoyed. The irony of the idea of an audience member attempting to one-up one of the best lawyers in the current time period made us laugh.

Lessig not only took the question, but he securely and beautifully depended his point of view while educating the audience about copyright law. It was something not to be missed. Some video of it will be posted here soon.

Check out the upcoming screenings or you can get involved in the RiP's open-source film tour. To learn more, visit ripmix.com and opensourcecinema.org.

What happens when you place a thousand bloggers, media, and web visionaries together in one city for 5-9 days? SXSW, or South By Southwest, is the name of this conference, which brings together what might be loosely defined as a singularity of talent for a somewhat brief period of time. CONVERGENCE CULTURE!!

How Many?

According the to official SXSW Website, SXSW 2008 hosted more than 149,000 total attendees.

Ages:

Under 21…..1%
21-30………36%
31-40………39%
41-50………17%
50+………...7%

A Brief History of SXSW

Established in 1994, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival consists of four days of panel programming and keynotes, a Trade Show & Exhibition, plus a full schedule of exciting evening activities. The event brings together more than 5000 top-notch digital creatives from across the United States and around the world. These attendees share their inspirations about the future of the web, entrepreneurial opportunities, and the next wave of new technological innovation.

What You'll Read Here

Lots of stuff. Pictures, panel reviews, interview, ect. More stuff than you'll probably be able to handle. Some useful stuff too, perhaps. Remember that if you have something written up that you'd like to contribute, make sure to let me know, and I'll feature your content here and a link back to your site.

LiveTweeting

If you want super-rapid updates, I'll probably be live-tweeting the event. If you're into that sort of thing, you can follow me on Twitter @caseorganic @caseorganic. See you there, technosocially, or in real life, or both.

New to SXSW?

See some of the more popular articles out there on the subject.

I have around 2,000 followers on Twitter. The problem is that when I want to follow someone back, I have to click through to them and load them up in the browser. What if there was a better way to do that? What if every E-mail that showed up in your E-mail account had all the data you usually find on the Twitter webpage? Wouldn't you be able to make decisions much easier about who to follow back?

Enter Twimailer. To use it you just go to the Twimailer website, enter your E-mail address, and change your default Twitter address to the one that get sent to your E-mail account. Then you begin receiving awesome, detailed E-mails that even expand those bio web addresses that Twitter usually truncates. Finally, full details of new followers. No more shallow Twitter E-mails.

Results

So I began using it just this morning. The results have been wonderfully satisfactory. Every follower I've received has been easier to follow back, leaving less flagged Twitter messages and an easier way to check spammers.

Security

But there is one small problem. Twimailer asks you to set your Twittermail to their address. And while Twimailer looks trustworthy, there is still security risk. Worried about this too? Check out How to use Twimailer securely (from factoryjoe.com). He shows you how to use Twimailer safely by employing a Gmail filter.

Try it Out

Twimailer Official Site. You can also follow me at @caseorganic. 

Not Into Twimailer? Try Topify

Topify allows you to see detailed Twitter information and follow back Twitterers easily by just hitting the reply button from your E-mail account. To top it off, it doesn't required the same info that Twimailer does. Thanks to @MikeRohrig for the tip.

You know the experience. You're watching a new film about the future and there's a spaceship or a giant floating television screen or a teleportation device or universal communicator. When taken together, these components become the heart of science fiction. But what thing have actually come true? What kind of technologies have actually become part of our futures? In the next five posts, I'll be examining the things we got right about the future. Because in my opinion, the future is already here -- it's just not as blatant as the movies would make it seem. Welcome to Five Things We Got Right About the Future - a look at where we were, and where we are now. 

Lets look at the concept of the interface. Okay -- so we have some lame interfaces. Often, we deal with parking meters, which are lame -- and complicated Microwave oven's from the early 90's. We have remote controls, we have new software, and crappy Web 2.0 websites. The quality of the interface directly affects how we experience that image. If we have a terrible experience, we're less likely to go back to that place. We learn to avoid bad experieces.

But what about experiences we can't avoid? We also have cars and highways. When we get into a vehicle, we enter a controlled environment that is very similar to a moving living room. We have heat and air conditioning, and the world around us moves so quickly that it looks like the windows are just displaying the scenery around us as if we were watching television. And television is another interface which allows our brains to quickly travel while our bodies stay in one place. Our vision stiches together the moving image and our brains -- so we can technically travel around the world almost instantaneously, minus the time it takes to produce the TV show we're watching. Amplify that speed when we think of YouTube and livesteeaming. 

Lets talk about the Internet more. We're able to control our experience much more there. We have more channels, highways, and heating and cooling systems. We can ignore or save information. We can share it or hide it or amplify it. We try to map it, but we don't yet know what it looks like. We're on the verge of a giant new world, and we can't even touch this world. The entire time, we're distanced from it by the computer monitor. But when you stop to look at it, the computer monitor looks a lot like that dashboard from the Captain's Desk on Star Trek. Especially when you have multiple monitors and a business chair.

So what does this mean? Well, the computer monitor is our dashboard to explore new world -- new Internet sites that we've never been to before. And we have the captain's chair, signaling that we are in control of our own experience - our own spaceship. This is the world of the information society, where our computer is the spaceship that is carrying us to our destination. Our ability to jump light years after light years is depends on how good our spaceship and our Internet connection is."Warp Speed Ahead!" means a really fast Internet connection.

There are lots of unseen creatures and planets out there too, like spyware and pop-up windows, but we can avoid them if we are good enough captains of our own enterprise. Our space ships are our interfaces. We're rocketing through space even through we are sitting completely still. Our ability to visit new worlds is limited by our Flash plugins or involvement with SecondLife or Twitter.

Some people have really fast spaceships -- they can go warp speed. But some still have spaceships that run at 14.4 K. Now we have really little spaceships that allow us to escape from the world *while* we're trapped in other spaceships, like the vehicle spaceship, or the train spaceship. Having an iPhone, Nokia or Blackberry with Internet access is like a meta spaceship. A fractal spaceship. A spaceship within a spaceship!

Stuff:

Amber Case writes here. You can follow her on Twitter @caseorganic. 

What's happening to our economy? What are we shifting towards as a nation, a world? Will this digital revolution stabilize? When/where it does, where will we be?

These questions are very simple to ask, but very difficult to answer. With so many people working on asking and answering, it is often easy to get caught up in the frenzy surrounding our current situation.

She does what I do through Cyborg Anthropology, but her view is slightly larger in scope -- she studies how we're changing as we get stuffed closer and closer together in cities and how our politics are changing as we enter a world of diminishing resources. Her words are especially useful in a great time of change like the one we are going through.

I was able to meet her a few moments before she gave the Keynote at Business Leader NW, a conference that occurred this Wednesday and Thursday at the Portland Convention center.

Speech Highlights

"Why are all the newspapers failing? It's because they don't print the news. They're not challenging anyone".

Except for the New York Times, most newspapers just don't get what people need. David Pogue works for the NYTimes Technology section and does a fantastic job of engaging readers. Additionally, the NYTimes reports on timely, global information in an interesting, intelligent way. Small town newspapers have additional problems. Often, a single reporter is sent to the scene of the crime after it happens. But mobile microbloggers can report an event directly from the scene as it happens. Additionally, users of Twitter can provide multiple views of the same event -- providing an often transparent, more accurate view that traditional newspapers generally miss. Twitter users that report an event are generally part of that event's geography, meaning that they're more likely to correctly report the details that make up the event correct.

"Let's not teach evolution in schools -- because it is only a theory. They're right - but so is gravity. I invite someone to the roof of this convention center with me right now to prove me wrong".

Nobody from the audience came up to that challenge, but some of the more conservative businesspeople in the audience looked a little pained.

"What is adaptability? The ability to use your critical thinking skills".

Adaptability is something that will become very important as we transition towards information savvy thought workers. We need to be able to know how to quickly orient ourselves to any situation, with the ability to understand any sort of process. We need to be taught how to think in schools -- not information.

"We change the definition of intelligence -- now you have intelligence retrieval".

Information is quickly replaced by new information. Thinking allows one to be able to deal with any kind of information.

"We're choosing clients and consultants because we think we're like them. Because we'll get along with them. It's often what we need is the opposite".

When I first arrived at Business Leader NW, I felt that I was very different from everyone there. A group of fellow bloggers and I were hanging out with computers, and we thought we would never be able to get through to the traditional businesspeople on subjects such as the importance of expanding one's online presence. We had tools to teach them, but not the language to connect with them. But as the conference progressed, many of the traditional businesspeople begin to come over to the Blogger Pavilion. They all expressed an interest in learning at least something about new media. And after we realized that we weren't so different at all, we were really able to communicate.

"It's amazing how much time we waste because we've 'always done it that way' - that's what the comic strip Dilbert is about".

Trying out new practices is often difficult because it takes training and stress. But sometimes using new tools and techniques can make company processes run faster and smoother. The most important thing companies have to be able to do today is to be able to quickly embrace changes in the way they approach creating value and engagement. Ignoring the digital revolution can only work for so long. Technologies that improve a company's capability to communicate or produce products is similar to using a tractor instead of a mule to harvest a field.

"You have to consider what people need. It's not just money that motivates, but a work/life balance".

The traditional motivator (money) is not what people really need. They need to feel that they are trusted, that they are adding value to a company, and that they can work and have a life at the same time. Commuting to work in the morning and surviving rush hour at night is not only a waste of time, but it stresses family relationships at home. One of the ways to avoid this is to allow employees to work at home. That way, they can care for a family and save money on gas. That's both family and environmentally friendly. In the end, these employees may cost a company less in health costs because they're experiencing less stress.

"You have to match tasks in an organization with those with the strength to do those tasks".

Many companies locate competent employees into a corner. That is -- they ignore the strengths of an employee and force them to do a task unrelated to their true capabilities instead. Good companies know the core competencies and weaknesses of employees, as well as which tasks are best suited to those employees. They assign or allow workers to do what they do best. This allows workers to amplify their ability to get things done, as well as increase worker happiness.

"The best way to lead through times of great change is through influence -- which is by telling a compelling story".

Brands need to tell stories. But in the age of blogs and forums and Twitter, a brand's story has to tell the truth. Blatant advertising no longer works. Instead, consumers are looking to use products that enhance their lives in some way, or actually solve problems. They're looking for ways to get things done more quickly, or reduce stress, or help them communicate better. A compelling story consists of the following things: • A set of ideas that fit the future. • Those ideas have to resonate to deeply held values • The person telling the story has to be believable.

"Those who have a high amount of productivity in the workplace are those who are most trusted: it relaxes them. They can do more work. They can do better work".

"If you offer people a business that gives them meaning -- people are hungry for lives that have values -- they will work harder and take less money".

Three Parts to Civilization

• Increasing access to information • Increasing inclusivity - the more we're wiling to see leadership where it is, the more likely we'll accept it • Increasing non-violent alternatives to violence - learning to debate -- learning to use soft power The audience at this conference contained no laptops. Except for the blogging pavilion, I was the only technosocially connected one in the audience. This is one of the reasons I love business conferences. The people to talk to are not the ones that understand who you are and what you do -- they're those who are different. This situation maximizes the potential exchange of ideas between people.

About Jennifer

Jennifer James is an urban cultural anthropologist who was for 12 years a full time faculty member of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at the University of Washington. She left the University in 1982 to follow her interest in international business and community service. She now lectures to audiences around the world.

More About Business Leader NW

There was a lot more to do and see than just this one speech. Want to know more about Business Leader NW? Check out the Business Leader NW conference site, or the BLNW blog. Tweets associated with #blnw are available as well. Thanks to Alex H. Williams - @podcasthotel for organizing the Blogger Pavillion which serviced people new to social media with advice on blogging, Twittering and digital marketing. Also check out the website of Jennifer James.