cruel to be kind

twitter downtime during blOgher - not a good idea

Nicole Simon — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:36:00 -0700

i am sitting at blogher (today finally with twitter equipment), on a great panel i would like to share a lot of. but twitter decided to take a 'short' outtime

"Twitter is currently down for maintenance.
We expect to be back in a couple hours. Thanks for your patience."

currently nearly 1000 women are at blogher, many of them seem to be in love with twitter.

they are in media, marketing and more and now is one of the times when they would WANT to twitter. a lot. instead they will not.

my question? who schedules a downtime during such a conference?!

San Francisco, here I come!

Nicole Simon — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:51:00 -0700

I will have a short visit to San Francisco from 14th til 22nd because I will be speaking at Blogher about "Blogging with a global perspective". Not only am I am looking forward to event, but also about how many people I will have the chance to reconnect with.

See my planned events below - if you have anything more as suggestion, please feel free to ping me. Direct message on twitter hopefully will be delivered to my normal german mobile phone.

Additionally (please try that first) this number hopefully works again: +1 702 6356 027. Please note that my online access most likely is limited unless I find wifi. ;)

And now wish me luck that 3h at ORD really will be enough. ;)

Stowe Boyd - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:04:00 -0700

"It is not all sunshine and flowers" says Stowe (meaning his talk), and the several problems with recording this interview should have been a warning for me that the editing would not be a walk in the park either. Let's just say that while I am extremly unhappy to release this last interview so late, I am more than grateful that I managed to recover the pieces (and keep most of my hard drive). nuff said.

We start from semi-international conferences via the obligation of web culture to do something for the greater good via "do not switch your brain off" to farmer's markets and the bottom two billion. And even if this sounds strange, it is definitely worth a listen even when reboot is over.

Download MP3 (41 min, 24 MB)

The name of his talk is "Web Culture: Individuality, Belonging, and Scalar freedom":

Free.... Are we? Free to do what, exactly?

I am interested in exploring the conflict between web culture's tribal aspects -- exclusion of the 'others', the power laws, the mob mentality of fads, herd behavior, taboos -- and the value of deep bonds that can potentially transcend race, language, gender, and culture. Freedom cannot be unattachment.

Our web cultural ethos has be be based on something deeper than self-interest. The web brings us a sort of freedom, but we become ensnared in each other at the same time. I want to explore the known universals of human cognition, and pull out some of the threads about the universals of belonging and examine the bright and dark that can arise from that.

It may be that to be free, we have to accept the traps within us, and unsnare ourselves through web discourse and post-national, glocalized identity. We are like a recovering alcoholic: a kind of freedom, but one where any joy is tempered with doubt.

his reboot page

his blog

he is @stoweboyd on twitter

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Francesca Birks - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:17:00 -0700

Francesca Birks is a analyst with the Foresight group at design and engineering consultancy ARUP in London UK.

She and I talk about her work and what a foresight analyst does, how destilling information is relevant, how her area of engineering and technology is on a different time scale than for example the internet as well as about her topic of "structure versus freedom":

Structure vs Freedom: An exploration of the dynamic relationship between freedom and structure in the fields of architecture and engineering.

How do structures create freedom, and when is freedom constrained by the deliberate imposition of structure? When does architecture reinforce its own cultural bias instead of supporting the community interactions at play?

Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]

her proposal: "structure vs freedom an exploration of the dynamic relationship between freedom and structure"
her reboot page
her blog

Download MP3 (26 min, 15 MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Ianus Keller - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:04:00 -0700

Ianus Keller is questioning if you still are able to collect images / impressions or if you are too focussed on the computer, the net and social tools.

You might remember Ianus from Reboot 2006 when he presented "a low cost version of the Jeff Han / Surface table", which is called Cabernet.

He and I talk about collecting visual impressions and getting inspired by it (or not). Misqouting him a bit, but Ianus basically noted that interaction designers like to zone out of the physical space - and not even touch it. For them there is not much more physicality than the laptop and their mobile. Also he shares how his work with Wacom worked in expanding their business from hardware to more.

Download MP3 (46 min, 27,7 MB)

Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]

his proposal: "Hardware as (free) service - The impact of free, web and social on electronics manufacturers"
his reboot page
his blog
he is @ianus on twitter

Some links he shared:
A longer research movie:

movie by a visitor while I was demonstrating Cabinet:

you can also see an early version of the micropresentation I will try to give at reboot:

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Ton Zylstra - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:16:00 -0700

Ton and I talk about why we should "speed up awakening to the effect of internet and mobile communications", the benefit of the pro active role of citizens, intuitive ways of perceiving information and how the Eurocup is reminiscent of the old race of nations. ;)

Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]

his proposal: "New Complexity, New attitudes, skills and Tools to match Or how we can speed up awakening to the effect of internet and mobile communications"
He also suggested "arduino workshop Build your own ambient devices" and "Facilitators Pool - A pool of volunteer facilitators to help you create your session"
his reboot page
his blog
he is @tonzylstra on twitter

Brian Suda - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:56:00 -0700

Brian Suda is best know for his involvement in Microformats, but also plays around with mobile now.
[Note: When we recorded this, Brian thought he would not be able to make it, but good news is now, he managed to get plane tickets!]

Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]

we talk a bit about his talk why freeloaders are an asset and not a liability, different examples of freeloaders making companies like flickr, youtube, skype, or stumbleupon more valuable
why microformats are awesome and why they may be even better on the mobile
his proposal: FreeLoaders: how moochers help your system
his reboot page
his blog
he is @briansuda on twitter

Download MP3 (36 min, 21 MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Guy Dickinson - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:27:00 -0700

[Preliminary shownotes as I am on the road today but wanted to put this quickly online as the file did not need much editing. ;) Proper context will follow this evening.]

This is the interview with Guy Dickinson, who will not only do again the awesome Micropresentationformat, but will also foster conversations about the cool topics of "urban gardening, why not grow your own food" and "future of books".

Links:

Website

Guy's reboot page

micropresentations (again!)

Free Food? Allotments, balcony gardens, veg patches...

The future of the BOOK? Will our ideas be free, when they're not bound in paper?

Free Your "I haven't got time/Skills" ideas 1 minute 'pitches'; your "I'll never get round to it" & "I wish someone would"....ideas

Download MP3 (26 min, MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Martin Ludvigsen - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:29:00 -0700

Martin Ludvigsen is an interaction designer with a special interest in the physical space where we live our ordinary lives.

In his talk he wants us to rethink the user: "Design for the collective users experience", meaning instead of coming from the single user rethink the approach with a collective in mind.

Similar to the analogy of people considering the Internet to be about computers but others see it as a space / place, his desire is to connect the meat space with 'social' gap that bridge between the worlds so that the collective wins and not just the single user.

My favorite quote of this interview probably is "I want to redesign the last 40 cm of the Internet." (and I am not done yet with that refrigerator thought).

Download MP3 (19 min, 11 MB)

Visit his profile on the reboot page or his blog or .

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Anne van Kesteren - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:05:00 -0700

Anne van Kesteren works for Opera on web standards and will talk at reboot about "Keeping the Web Free".

The proposal consisted of one sentence "A talk about the recent advancements in Web browsers and Web standards to keep the Web free from proprietary lock in." - so this is probably a longer 'description' of the possible content. ;)

We talk about the tools of the trades and the standards; how while the web grows, so does HTML and how bad things lead to standards.

He wants to hear about your examples and use cases, so try to find him and talk to him.

(Sorry for the ending and the cut in between, but there where some issues while recording.)

Download MP3 (14:10 min, 8,3 MB)

Visit his profile on the reboot page or visit his blog.

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Peter Rukavina - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:59:00 -0700

Peter Rukavina finds himself exteending his time in Copenhagen every reboot he attends - which makes sense, because it is a long way from Canada. His ventures pay off for us, because he discovered the great Sim card deal at Thelia.

At reboot he will be dong a talk about "Working for Free" and tells a bit in this interview what this could mean and how it can work.

When I work for free, I retain almost complete creative freedom -- what are they gonna do, fire me? -- and so, ironically, I find myself working better, faster, and more productively without the artificial incentive of remuneration.

Download MP3 (20 min, 12 MB)

Visit his profile on the reboot page or visit his blog.

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Claus Dahl - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:01:00 -0700

Picture by Duncan Davidson

Claus Dahl is a software developper from Kopenhagen and would like to hear sounds from you. Well more he wants us to make / have a Sine Wave concert!

"You can add yourself to something which you cannot do on your own." Listen to how it works and how you too can be part of this. We also talk a bit about how reboot has evolved over the years and why you need to participate.

He was so kind to share the following links:

various recipes for making sine waves with laptops

A recording from Ars Electronica of sine wave orchestra playing by the Danube at Ars Electronica:

I'll pregenerate some sines at various frequencies for people to play - But I won't have a link for that until some time later.

Also a short link to the mentioned Arduino-Workshop.

Download MP3 (11 min, 6,4 MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Flemming Funch - Reboot 10 interview

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:46:00 -0700

Flemming Funch is Danish, lived for 18 years in California and now runs a software company in France. He likes to talk about philosophical / technical issues and looks like a Musketeer. A strange, but interesting combination. ;)

Visit his profile on the reboot page or visit his blog subscribe to his twitter user: @ffunch.

Shownotes (did I miss something? add in the comments!)

he suggested two talks for reboot, "Complexity and Freedom" and "Free as in Choice".

how can people figure things out by themselves

3 completely different worlds both alike and different

shares a bit how different the french operate

societies where context is needed or where a low-context approach works

complexity versus freedom

why nature is not going for balance, but heads more for the critical catastrophical state

why you feel more free if you are surfing along a critical state than if you would be in balance

sand versus the ready to go space ships and dominos

Download MP3 (21 min, 12,5 MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]

Reboot 10 interview: David Weinberger

Nicole Simon — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:48:00 -0700

Photo by Leah Weinberger

It is always a pleasure talking to David Weinberger and just catch up with what he is up to, but I am also looking forward to listen to his after dinner talk at reboot and learn a bit about the history of information!

Shownotes (did I miss something? add in the comments!)

what he has been up to the last 6 months

why the history of information interests him

from information extremism to something new

forgetting and remembering (I was referring to this interview with

there are more important things than the digital divede [and I admit putting him on a spot there where he could not really give an answer ;)]

about the after dinner talk he is given - and the competition of football

how he is looking forward to be taken apart and challenged by the audience

(Btw, I was calling David on his skype phone and found the quality to be surprisingly good.)

Download MP3 (20 min, 11,7 MB)

Follow what other twitter users are saying using the tag reboot10 on summize and tweetscan. (make sure to check both, as they are often broken).

[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]