Ms Behaviour

Oriental Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:59:00 +0000

It was a glorious day in Wellington today so I celebrated finishing my judging for the Mix and Mash competition with a stroll to the beach at Oriental Bay. Every time I walk through Wellington I see something interesting and unexpected. Today it was a guy dressed in 1930s gear, playing a honky tonk piano on the back of a vintage truck on Courtney Place.

It's the first time I have taken a wander along the bays, and we walked as far as the point where I could see across the harbour to Miramar. Inspired by Mix and Mash I thought I'd look in the Creative Commons section on Flickr for pictures of Oriental Bay and found this gem from 1955 (note the weight lifters on the left).

Crowd on the beach at Oriental Bay, Wellington, with weight-lifters ca 1955 from the National Library

Instead of weight lifters we were entertained by the Canadian rugby team who may have planned on an afternoon swim, but only got as far as waist deep then stood around shivering in their shorts. There were sunbathers, boats and people eating ice creams. More like the height of a British summer rather than the beginning of a Kiwi spring. Gorgeous.

Thanks Fudge !

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:43:00 +0000

I've been a faithful Fudge fan for nearly twenty years since they launched their Styling Putty which smelled like delicious marzipan. I've worked my way through their Paintbox extreme colour range and have been sponsored by Fudge NZ since I started my show on Twisted Radio back in 2004. I get a bumper box of haircare and styling products a couple of times a year and was delighted to receive my new Fudge pack in the mail this week.

My favourite items from the Fudge range are Dynamite, and 1 Shot leave in conditioner. My wavy hair hair just soaks them up, and as it grows longer it's staying glossy and soft. Two products I always take with me when I'm travelling are Hair Shaper (now in a fresh minty version) which is great in high humidity and Hair Varnish for smoothing out the frizz. I'm also liking Liquid Skrewd to coax out my curls, and the Gloss in a funky test tube is the prefect item for a high shine finish. All of them smell good enough to eat, and are available from salons across New Zealand.

A Fudge Urban range for boys and girls has been launched in Kiwi supermarkets this year, so keep an eye out for the funky orange containers or check them out on Facebook

MsBehaviour in Melbourne

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:10:00 +0000

I was in Melbourne for a few days last week and had a great time exploring the laneways, snapping pictures of the street art and discovering funky little shops. Melbourne is much bigger than Wellington with a population the size of New Zealand in one city. It sprawls for miles but the centre feel quite compact. I was staying on Flinders street near Federation square overlooking the Skydeck, and running a workshop for the British Council at the Arts Centre on St Kilda's Rd.

I spent a day wandering around the centre snapping up a few bargains on the way before meeting at the Pop Up Pirate radio studio for an interview. The station is based on the university campus in an old shipping container with the trasmitter on the top, and three ladders that you have to climb to get to the studio. It's one of the most quirky places I've every done a show and reminded of my old days back in the UK doing pirate radio.

In the evening I caught up with Megan from XMediaLab tapas who was in town running a Transmedia Masterclass with Jeff Gomez . It was great seeing her as we don't often get the chance to meet, as she lives in China and I live in New Zealand. The following day I ran a Creative Business Toolkit workshop for the British Council as part of the People in Your Neighbourhood Australian programme. You can view a prezi of my workshop with all of the resources which I have released under a Creative Commons license.

Later on I joined a workshop with Akala from the Shakespeare Hip Hop company, with a fun session guessing whether quotes were from Shakespeare or Hip Hop tracks which is harder than you might think. Afterwards I went for a pint in an English style pub opposite Flinders station with G from Sugarlicks Recordings and Thomas from the UK charity Bottletop.

It was an early night before heading to Skills Victoria to run an Open Innovation day, before flying back to Aotearoa and a lecture at Victoria Uni the following morning. I'd like to go back to Melbourne again soon as it's an interesting place, and has just been voted the world's most liveable city for 2011.

Check out more photos from my Melbourne set at Flickr.

A Simple Strategy for Simplifying

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:59:00 +0000

"‘It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.’ ~Bertrand Russell"

I read Futureshock many years ago and was inspired by the vision of a future of leasing or renting items rather than buying everything. Zen Habits has A Simple Strategy for Simplifying, based on the concept of ownership becoming more fluid and less concrete.

It was this philosophy that we followed when we moved to Wellington last year. We got rid of a house and studio full of stuff, paring everything down to clothes, computers, and two cats. Our entire life fitted into a transit van and we still haven't acquired that many new things apart from some furniture. I love the feeling of freedom of having shed everything surplus to our needs, being free of just-in-case stuff, and stressful clutter. Simplifying life has made me a lot happier.

It's amazing to think that Futureshock was written over 40 years ago, and Fast Company have published Future Shock at 40: What the Tofflers Got Right (and Wrong) and a piece on their updated predictions forty years on.

A Mobile Lifestyle for a Smoother Work Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:07:00 +0000

A Mobile Lifestyle for a Smoother Work Life: "Modern life is a demanding beast and if you’re looking to manage your work life better, there’s one thing you need: Mobile broadband.
So how does a little thing like a dongle or a smartphone solve all of that?

Remember when you used to stand in line for your morning coffee and look at the girl with headphones, her laptop and mug and think “she’s not really working”? Maybe there was a time she wasn’t, but today you can bet that she is working in an environment she likes."

Is Shyness an Evolutionary Tactic? - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 08:27:00 +0000

Is Shyness an Evolutionary Tactic? - NYTimes.com: "A groundbreaking study led by the Wharton management professor Adam Grant, to be published this month in The Academy of Management Journal, found that introverts outperform extroverts when leading teams of proactive workers — the kinds of employees who take initiative and are disposed to dream up better ways of doing things.

Professor Grant notes that business self-help guides often suggest that introverted leaders practice their communication skills and smile more. But, he told me, it may be extrovert leaders who need to change, to listen more and say less."

Fantasies vs. Realities Of A Startup [Infographic] | Bit Rebels

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 23:31:00 +0000

Good infographic on the Fantasies vs. Realities Of A Startup.

Xero

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:34:00 +0000

When I am mentoring entrepeneurs or small companies I encourage them to look for ways to automate, delegate or outsource regular tasks. At Mohawk Media we have started using Xero to send invoices, and manage our accounts. I'm very happy to be able to get up to date financial reports with a few clicks, and feel a lot more in control over our finances.

With some help from Julie Francis at Francis Consulting it's been easy to set up and I'd recommend Xero to anyone wanting to get to grips with their accounts. If you just need a personal financial manager rather than for a business then try Pocketsmith.

Designing in the open

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 04:18:00 +0000

Some good advice on showing your work in progress, in Designing in the open from 37 Signals.

May Travels

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:42:00 +0000

May is always a massive month for me and this year was no exception, with the annual People in Your Neighbourhood (PIYN) project and lots of travelling around New Zealand.

I started off in Auckland with a workshop for teachers from Matipo School in West Auckland. It was a gorgeous day and I was able to direct the taxi driver around the back-roads of Henderson having lived out west for seven years. I always enjoy sharing knowledge and resources with teachers, especially tools they can take back into the classroom or use to support their own studies.

Back in Wellington I met a few of the Christchurch HitLab crew from the Human Interface Technology Laboratory of New Zealand. They are working on some really exciting projects and we showed them our 3D motion capture experiments with the Kinect camera. I can't wait to go down to the HitLab to see more of their work in Christchurch.

Both Chelfyn and I were involved in the live debate at the TUANZ 25th Anniversary at Te Papa. The idea was to look back from the year 2036 as if we were twenty five years in the future. I was on team 'Positively Glowing' supporting the view that New Zealand has done well. My team-mates were Vaughn Davis of the Goat Farm, and Haydn Glass from Vodafone. On the opposing 'Miserable Bastards' side were Chelfyn, Will Marshall from Enspiral and entrepreneur Lance Wiggs. A few risque jokes had to be pulled at the last minute due to the judges being a panel of primary school children, but I managed to get a Goat C++ gag in which caused snorts from a few people.

The following day I had lunch in Auckland with the delightful Miss Phloss, who as always was a vision in pink, before a meeting at the Biz Dojo in the Ironbank Building on K'D. I was staying in the Scenic Hotel and had an early night watching property porn on the Living Channel. The reason I was in Auckland was to deliver the Creative Business Toolkit workshop at AUT that I developed as part of People in Your Neighbourhood 2011.

I had a great session with Gareth Farry from the British Council, New Zealand and over twenty creative entrepreneurs, covering creative business structures, branding and online identity, an online business toolkit, Wordpress, Paypal, and a Social Media Masterclass in the afternoon. The mindmaps of the presentations have been published under a Creative Commons license and can be found at Mohawk Media to share or download. There's even more mindmaps under CC License on my Mindmeister channel.

I had a day back in Wellington before heading to Christchurch on the Monday for a lecture at the New Zealand's Broadcasting School. I talked about the future of media work and learning, the challenges, opportunities, skills and attributes the students were going to need when they graduated and the the top ten tools in my online media toolkit. Driving in from the airport you would ardly guess that there had been an earthquake, but on the way back I passed the central area which is devastated. There were no aftershocks while I visited but Cantabrians are dealing with them almost every day.

The final trip of the month was back to Auckland for a keynote at the annual Wai Care Expo for the organisers, water testers, and volunteers who help keep the waterways clean and have planted over 25,000 trees in the Auckland region. Afterwards I headed north to stay in Leigh for a long weekend with great friends, fantastic food, Fejioa bubbles from Lothlorien, and sea views.

Sunday brunch was spent at the nearby Torkington homestead working through mounds of sausage, bacon, kumara, potatoes in US style portions, though I was informed that it wasn't a full brunch as there weren't any scones or pancakes. I whiled away the rest of the weekend reading Vanity Fair before flying home feeling relaxed and well fed.

I've enjoyed my adventures around New Zealand but am happy to be home in Wellington for the next couple of months before my trip to Melbourne in July to run another workshop for People in Your Neighbourhood. I'll be starting a Teaching Fellowship at Victoria University next month covering Identity on the Internet alongside Kelly Cheesman (AKA VJ Kellective). I'm looking forward to being back in the Red Shed which is what the locals call the school of Architecture & Design which happens to be next door to the studio. I can't complain about the commute it's a mere three minutes from apartment to the lecture hall.

How Twitter Works as a Q&A App [INFOGRAPHIC]

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:51:00 +0000

Dear Lazyweb, where can I find the answers to life, the universe and everything? This is a useful infographic on How Twitter Works as a Q&A App.

Top 6 Sites that Inspire and Educate — Life Scoop

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:30:00 +0000

Top 6 Sites that Inspire and Educate — Life Scoop has six good links to sites that inspire from old favourites such as TED Talks and Information is Beautiful, to newcomers such as The 99 Percent from the Behance Network.

409: Quirk Theory - The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:55:00 +0000

MsBehaviour reports on a new book on why outsiders thrive after high school, the secrets to the success of 'outliers' and celebrity geeks such as Vin Diesel. View the prezi from this week's show.

407: Pondscum Biofuel

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:40:00 +0000

MsBehaviour from the g33k show reports on the enormous potential of algae based biofuel as a renewable energy resource, and a prototype vehicle that has achieved 2,564 miles per gallon.

405: Top Tech Pranks of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:27:00 +0000

>This week on the g33k show, I report on the history of April Fool's Day, Google Hoaxes and the top tech pranks of 2011.

403: 3D Organ Printing, EColi Data Storage and Paramecium Pacman

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:31:00 +0000

Watch me reporting on advances in Bio-tech such as 3D organ printing, Ecoli as a data storage medium, and biotic gaming with Paramecium Pacman & Pong on the g33k show this week.

Kinect Hacks in the field

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:20:00 +0000

One of the best things I have ever bought is an XBox Kinect, it has made me jump around the living room and it's also a fun toy to hack for all manner of Kinect Hacks. We recently bought a second Kinect camera to tinker with in the Mohawk Media studio. Last weekend we took it to an outdoor event outside Wellington to literally test it in the field for driving a live VJ show. It was fun watching people play with the interface, and I can't wait to try it in a live club installation.

DJ: Chelfyn. VJ: Kellective. Dancer: Amber Haley. Camera: MsBehaviour.

We also covered the coolest Kinect hacks in the wild on the g33k show this week which you watch below. Best of all we had three clips of our work on the Kinect Hacks homepage this week, thanks to Igor Barinov.

MsBehaviour on Down to the Wire

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:54:00 +0000

Chelfyn and I were featured last year in Down to the Wire, the story of the internet in New Zealand, produced by Heyday.

Defining Geek

Discussing the definition of Geek.

Producer versus Consumer

About the 90/9/1 rule of producing and consuming.

TV Tools

Using online tools to produce offline media.

An Inspiring Start to 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:07:00 +0000

What an incredible start to the year, two days in Auckland running workshops at Colab followed by the Inspired Impact education conference. I flew up on Sunday to be hit with a wall of heat, after a year in windy Wellington I had forgotten just how steamy Auckland can get in the summer.

I was staying at the Vice Chancellors apartment at AUT, which is on the top floor of the halls of residence. It was quiet for the first night before excited packs of freshers arrived all wide eyed with the prospect of living away from home for the first time. My first workshop was on Publishing with Wordpress followed by a Social Media Masterclass, where half of the attendees were from a well known major record label. They must have liked what they heard as they all then signed up for the Mobile Media workshop I was running the following morning.

Later that evening I went to the opening of the Diana Eng show with wearable electronics, and inflatable garments made during Colab Summer School workshops. I found out later Diana was on the second series of Project Runway and you can see an interview with some of her work in Beauty and the Geek. I'm keen to get my craft station set up in the studio soon so that I can start to make some smart clothing and maybe a robot or two.

It was back to Wellington for a night at home before I jumped on a tiny 19 seater plane to Palmerston North for the Inspired Impact education conference. I was staying at the Hotel Coachman which is lovely, with super deep spa baths you can float in and ....drum roll.. free Wifi. It was wonderful to be able to check my mail, the twitterverse and do a final run through of my keynote from the comfort of my room without having to ask for a LAN cable or pay an exorbitant connection charge.

The conference kicked off with a thought provoking and hugely enjoyable speech from Sir Ken Robinson, who unfortunately could not make it in person but instead beamed in from LA via satellite connection. After watching both of his inspiring speeches from TED Talks, it was thrill to be hearing him speak live and also rather terrifying as I was going to have to follow his polished performance with my own keynote the next morning.

The day was filled by two more excellent speeches from Kath Murdoch and Bruce Hammonds, with breakout workshops in between on topics like the art of teaching science, the magic of visual arts and using open source tools to promote achievement. I enjoyed an excellent meal back at the hotel that night before retiring early as I was opening the conference the next morning.

My keynote on Engaging Digital Natives seemed to go down well, I shared my own unique learning pathway and talked about creative attitudes, space and time. The challenges we face educating New Leonardos for jobs that haven't been invented yet, and the flexible minds we need to develop in an attempt to future-proof our thinking.

I finished the day off by running a couple of workshops on mobile, streaming and remixable media. It was an honour to be invited to speak at such an amazing event, and I am always filled with such hope for the future when I go to education conferences. With over 1400 passionate teachers and over 80 workshops for exchanging knowledge and ideas, it was a wonderful gathering of awe-inspiring people.

If you want to view the mindmap of the speech I gave you can view it here:
http://www.mindmeister.com/73517382 / Password: mohawkmedia

Published under a Creative Commons license:

Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike (BY-NC-SA).

Summer in the South Pacific

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:06:00 +0000

It's been nearly a year since we moved to Wellington and I am thoroughly enjoying living here. Summer has been cooler and less humid than Auckland with no mosquitos and fresh seas breezes. I love being a ten minute walk away from work, friends and play. Living on Cuba Street is great with funky cafes and bars right on our doorstep.

It's been a good start to this year with plenty of fun projects ahead. I'm writing up all of my columns and lectures into a book format which I'll be self publishing in a few months. We'll be relaunching the g33k show soon with new animated characters, until then I'm going to enjoy the summer sun and soak up the atmosphere in Wellington.

Happy New Year everyone!

Going Car Free

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:56:00 +0000

MsBehaviour talks to Radio Wammo on Kiwi Fm about Going Car-Free in Auckland, relying on walking, public transport and the occasional taxi.

The MsBehaviour Files: Make, Craft & Print

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:56:00 +0000

Watch the MsBehaviour Files at the Big Idea on the Make, Craft and Hacker spaces across New Zealand, and the new wave of 3D printers for digital designers.

Maker spaces are growing in popularity, bringing hackers, crafters, and creators together to share tools and skills. Urban zones are sprouting knitted or crocheted overlays, embedded with Arduino open-source electronics for interactive creations.

Old skool crafts are being given a geek twist, with knitted robots, crocheted computers or games characters immortalised in cross stitch. Listen to the audio podcast or watch the animated video clip. Read show notes at the Big Idea.

Stress Free Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:39:00 +0000

I'm now happily car-free and taking the summer off before we move to Wellington in a couple of months. I'm really looking forward to living in the city centre again with everything on our doorstep.

For now we're shopping online and it's been compeletely stress free, with no traffic or parking hassles. I've had a car for nearly twenty years but from now on we're going to try hiring as we go. I've booked a Wicked Camper for Kiwi Foo Camp in February, and we'll get something big and comfy for the move south later this summer.

Until then I am happy to kick back and enjoy the balmy weather, sort through my fabric stash and dust off the sewing machine. Happy holidays New Zealand.

SOLD - B1LB0 the Black Beetle

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:31:00 +0000

B1LB0 the much loved Mohawk Media-mobile has been sold. The crew are moving to Wellington and won't need wheels in the Kiwi capital. B1LB0 is a 2006 black VW Beetle, with less than 21,000 kms on the clock, and with the Hobbit currently being filmed one of the coolest number plates in New Zealand!

The VW Beetle has sold but we kept the plate so you never know, B1LB0 may be back...

Why I am no longer a Web Developer (NSFW)

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Behaviour) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:37:00 +0000

Graphic Designer v Client

Graphic Designer v Client - The Sequel