Tag: events

Rough notes for Julian Bleecker and Nicolas Nova – Networked objects and the new ecology of things

Anything can have meaning.

Sources

  • Internet of things report by ITU
  • Shaping things — Sterling, “spimes”
  • Thinglink
  • Manifesto of networked objects

Number of conversations. ITU report: philosophy related to biz efficiency, what about social dimension?

Blogjects Does the thing itself participate in content circulation? E.g.: AIBO blog platform, indicator of how an instrument can engage in social web.

Geospatial traces E.g.: Flight aware, see airplane trajectories. Interesting thing is how bodies become digital manifestations, the other way around is exciting too. Occupying the world in a more sustainable way.

Showing where objects are. Currently this stuff comes from military or art world. They also know where they’ve been.

Tail number is like thinglink for planes. CIA terror planes – plane-spotters – unmarked planes.

If objects start blogging we might get new insights in how the world works.

Blogjects know their origin. E.g.: “How is stufff made”

Blogjects have agency, they can trigger actions and shape social practice. E.g.: TripSense. Tracking driving habits. Provides access to how he moved about SF. Impact he had on environment. How many trips he made. Insight on how he could be more eco-friendly.

Blogjects provide for new logistics.

So what?

It’s not just about technical communication and interfacing of objects. It’s about the social dimension.

This is part of a global trend, things being part of a larger ecology.

Creating legibility and transparency

Blogging pigeon. GSM backpack. Nice because it elevates the pigeon and is very low-tech.

Sending purchased objects to MySpace.

Establishing relationships between physical and virtual worlds. Barcodes, tags, stickers, etc. Nabaztag. Weak signals > blogjects.

Moving ahead

  • series of workshops to design blogjects
  • online and offline discourse
  • cataloguing and track blogjects

Their questions

  • how to go from biz efficiency to social sustainability?
  • are blogjects up to the challenge?
  • are social beings prepared to interact with blogjects?

Our questions Q Maybe it’s like objects turning them more into nature in the sense that bthey talkj back and are not part of us. A We’re cohabiting with our artefacts.

Q Are objects now doing ethnography of us? A Companies are interested in that idea, even beyond ethnography, usage tracking. Is that s’thing we want?

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Networked_objects_and_the_new_ecology_of_things

Rough notes for Jyri Engeström – Blind Men’s Baseball

Part 2 of three-part track. Last one’s Chris Heathcote’s one.

Why baseball?

Not beer, hotdogs, hat etc.

It takes a long time… Lot of it is pretending to pitch etc. Pitchers are glancing all the time. That’s the aspect that’s interesting to him.

Important social consequences.

1 Spatial

Seeing surrounding space in the present. Focussing, seeing the whole at once while you’re in it yourself. (Reminds me of Japanese martial concept op zanshin.) Concept of thee whole: when you lack it – example of the three blind men and elephant. What if they decided to go play baseball? They’ll only be able to communicate about their position by shouting.

No peripheral vision = navigating in the dark

Link with tech:

Phone: assumption is that you know who you’ll call.

Except: before dialing you make a lot of other choices about timing etc: where are they, what are they doing?

Phones don’t tell you much currently…

“Oy! Where u at?”

IM: state indicators, place indicators, etc. (Plazes plugin).

Cross pollinate mobile with IM interfaces.

Analogy to driving in traffic, constantly paying attention to what other drivers are doing and adjusting.

When info is out there, people will start being more polite.

This is all about spatial aspect, which is about present tense.

Other aspect: time.

Hockey: great players play where the puck will be. Anticipation.

Seeing each other as vectors, spatial and temporal at the same time.

Spaceballs clip.

Organizing life: calendar designed with assumption that only your won calendar matters…

Mobile 2.0 isn’t about multimedia. It’s about social interactions. Better social peripheral vision.

Where will this lead?

Looking to WoW for examples of ways to enhance peripheral vision.

Question: what will this look like in mobile device?

His social science background isn’t always helpful, but it allows him to look at the other side of the coin – those that are left behind.

People who are left out will seem more and more out of it socially.

Example from Abbott and Costello.

Questions Q Why don’t operators innovate more? A He thinks it’ll come from 3rd party devs that get the web. He doesn’t have much confidence in operators. Technically more and more is becoming possible (Python, Flash, WiFi).

Q Other people’s calendars: Intimacy, are we using tools to replace our innate abilities to track things. A Outsourcing mental activity to devices. You forget how to do it yourself. Phone numbers, you can’t remember them anymore. Technological innovations are built as bleeding edge as long tech chains. If stuff breaks they become useless. E.g. Katrina, boxing day tsunami. Electricity goes out, the rest is useless.

Q Examples shown are only for closely tied people. What are applications for larger groups, filtering, etc.? A Absolutely, third aspect missing is past: recommendations, comments on places visited. Flickr is about the past. Web is good at organizing that stuff. That’s why multimedia won’t take off on mobile.

Q On technological replacement: scale of things is increasing. How do you manage that? Reminds him of Wildfire. Programming devices on reach-ability. A Privacy settings will limit our range. It’ll keep increasing (possible range) become more and more ad-hoc. Instead of networking, notworking.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Blind_Men%27s_Baseball

Rough notes for Tom Armitage – What social software can learn from Homer, Dickens, and Marvel Comics

Dickens, cliffhanger on every page

Putting data on display = publishing

Blogs are fragmentary

Every single thing you do needs to be dated for context

In hindsight it’ll show you patterns

Example: Infovore and previous blog actually join

Collect data across boundaries (chronological, digital, physical)

Nostalgia, be fuzzy, looking back at old stories etc.

Analogy of reviews of books with comments on blog – making it livelier.

If something counts (comments, statistics) make them accessible and public.

Fin. serial narrative.

Next: epic

Homer

How can someone remember these huge stories?

Because they use known structures and formulas, conventions.

You can leave out stuff. Two tellings are never the same.

He doesn’t believe in single sign-up. Stuff will be different between sites.

Profiles of people should be different between sites.

Retroactive continuity (retcon)

“deliberately changing previously established facts in fiction”

Crisis on Infinite Earths (Marvel) starting anew

Social software: revising earlier versions.

E.g.: Flickr replace button.

Fiction – telling lies, no let’s tell untruths

“Truth: something with no deliberate dishonesty” — Andrew Losowsky, http://tinyurl.com/lug7c

The Doorbells of Florence (on Fiickr)

Identity

Give people the chance to use something else than their real name. Personas are important. Handle based culture has existed for a long time online.

Expect people to tell untruths.

Kaycee Nicole Swenson hoax Dying of leukemia, PayPal, blogging, died, but not really, she was an old woman.

No default for truth.

Fictional characters on Friendster.

Vincent Gallo on site – deleted too but it was really him…

Wikipedia should mix both fiction and truth

Telling the story (final section)

The language you use is important

(Jarhead is a great book.)

You should tell a tale and talk as little as possible in your own voice.

Breedster, art project, insect, eating, shitting and having sex. Sexual disease – everyone became infertile.

User experience is important.

Good storytelling can’t save a terrible story.

Conclusion

When you create social software, look to storytelling for inspiration.

Questions

Q We should have a debate about truth and fiction. A Internet doesn’t have a laughter track and it never will. We expect comm. media to be truthful but publishing media to be used for fiction. Internet is both… Friend that was evicted from WoW because of roleplaying a racist character. There is a risk that the net will get really po-faced.

Q How can we go about determining who’s really who? A Example of phishing (Paypal), lots of people will believe you when you just get the style right. With text it’s really easy to pretend to be someone else. Real names shouldn’t be forced to publish their real names.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/What_social_software_can_learn_from_Homer%2C_Dickens%2C_and_Marvel_Comics

Rough notes for Stowe Boyd – The Revolution Will Be Socialized

Start with a joke that you need to apologize for (America and Japan).

Supposed to be rebooted, but hasn’t managed to do it just yet.

JJG’s presentation is a good “foil” for his talk.

He’s working a lot with web 2.0 companies. He’s very busy, seen a lot of business models. Trying to help them determine wether it’ll work or change it so it does.

“The revolution will not be televised” — Gil Scott heron

Stuff like Amazon’s is the future of online commerce.

“Revolution will be socialized”: opposed to that, it will be about social networks.

Old quote: from accidental change of social structures through software to social change through software by design.

Symposium on Social Architecture

  • From somewhere they find something else, then read it or gesture (tag, comment, link, etc)
  • User generated content (ugh), is like a gestural space
  • People vs. machines

Engines of meaning

  • We’ll need machines to manage the huge amount of data being created (Bruce Sterling quote).
  • Means of sorting won’t be known
  • “We’ll be trawling with engines with meaning…”

Revolution among the revolutionaries

  • What does web 2.0 mean? Lot’s of battles going on.
  • Core question: what’s worth building?
  • Simple three step process to find social dimension in product
  • Enterprise software lacks soul.
  • An app is a collection of functions – this is wrong.

Example: wine sites

  • Creating site based on functions: feels like a db
  • Turn it sideways, introduce social dimension, functionality is secondary
  • Things we do are largely not done as individuals
  • 2nd step: looking at networks
  • Last dimension: markets
  • Most companies fail to create a large enough market

Online markets

  • E.g. Amazon
  • Last.fm – changed his life, counter to Amazon example, discovered he had the musical taste of a 23 years old British woman… Viable competition to Amazon and iTunes because of better experience due to human dimension
  • What’s at thee market’s core? Case study: x:posted – brings bloggers into contact with people looking for blog content. You can take model to apply to business plan and find viable business.
  • Problem with Basecamp: no federated identity. They did it wrong, because they didn’t go through the three steps.
  • Social software (architecture) have soul
  • Actual e-commerce will move away from algorithmic architectures to socialized interactions
  • Successful apps will create a market

Questions:

Q Apps need bigger markets: the reason they’re keeping it small is because they built it for themselves. Social stuff inherently needs a small group… Social software doesn’t scale. A You can have a tight product and still take in the social dimension. You need karma etc.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Be_Socialized:_Social_Architecture_and_The_Future_of_Online_Markets

Rough notes for Jesse James Garrett – Keynote

Adaptive Path intro

  • Big & small clients
  • Elements of UX: “understanding tool”
  • “the AJAX guy”

Problem

  • We know little about people, hard to make good guesses
  • IA is about finding ways to make better guesses, but they’re still guesses

Techniques:

  • Card sort: primitive, low tech
  • New approach: just give up, create a system for users to create their own architecture (tagging)
  • Problems (no such thing as magic): insider language, controlled vocabulary non existent, most popular is not necessarily the best, tag spam, tagbombing

How to improve tagging? First step towards user generated IA From explicit IA woes to implicit user generated IA

Example: Amazon

  • Algorithmic architecture
  • Individual and aggregate data combine to create generated IA

Next step for algorithmic architecture

  • use them in the right place
  • make them transparent to the user

Better data

  • Two flavors: about content (metadata) and about users (now: user research, in thee future…)
  • Usability testing is like blind man’s cane
  • Better canes aren’t the answer, make the blind see
  • Instrumented interfaces: having a site be a continuing experiment and feed back data to designers
  • Example of Amazon URL: domain, CMS junk, prod. ID, interface tag, session ID
  • Interface tag tells you where users were clicking on a page
  • Search results: use query ID, tells you about search terms used

Example of baseball statistics

  • Start simple, then go to basic math, then to complex calculations

Getting data isn’t enough

Ethics

  • Separate behavioral data from Influence corporate policy

Early days

  • Real potential is still untapped, we need better analytics tools

Questions Q Collaborative filtering only tells you what choices were made, not what all possible choices were? A How do we preserve serendipity, don’t get locked in feedback loops? People have been working to reintroduce serendipity.

Q How do we prioritize common knowledge about communicating visited links? A Is it necessary to communicate it? He thinks it’s an open question.

Q Is Amazon now in the business of pushing this tech? A They’re certainly moving in the direction…

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Beyond_Tagging:_User-Generated_Information_Architecture

Winding down after day 1 of Reboot 8.0

I’m kicking back and relaxing while listening to a weird and crazy talk on media hacking. Before we were entertained by the great Ben Hammersley talking about how we all could become renaissance men. The diner buffet was excellent just as the rest of the day before that.

Reboot 8.0 up to now has lived up to the hype created by previous year’s edition. The quality of talks is generally high both in content and execution, excepting a few disappointments.

I have hundreds of photos to sort through on my camera, maybe I’ll be able to upload a few before retiring for the night. Otherwise it’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

Rough Notes for Mika Raento – Zero-effort media use

What happens if media capture equals media annotation, archival, sharing and presentation?

Hypothesis:

Zero effort in annotation: annotation when you capture. Use data from surrounding (GPS, devices, etc.)

Archive and sharing – tie-in with Flickr.

Download them and showing them as a screensaver.

Merkitys-Meaning

Annotation using tags isn’t enough because they’re just strings.

Effort & value: low effort = low value.

Low effort can lead to low demands and expectations.

Privacy is dead? Without privacy there’s no intimacy.

Photos are often boring without knowing from who they are or hearing a story.

New niche in media use ecology: personal broadcasting effortless captured media.

Microsoft MyLifeBits. Shows media activity during the day. When shown as screensaver people were interested.

Bluetooth id’s, privacy issues, choice, design.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Zero-effort_media_use

Rough notes for J.P. Rangaswami – Keynote

His blog’s Confused of Calcutta.

Pays homage to Doc Searls et. al. for the markets are conversations concept.

He’s not yet stupid enough to believe in his own propaganda.

He’ll take a graveyard approach — things that should die. And then show things that should live.

Border-less World: globalization, disinter-mediation and internet.

Initially language was word of mouth. This was tricky because there was no persistence, that came with writing, then with printing came reproduction. The internet brought sharing.

Metcalfe’s Law, and such have had an impact on the things we’re doing know.

He prefers thinking about information as opposed to technology.

Work of Engelbart and others allow us to consume information.

Then came Wordstar and Visicalc to allow us to create structured data. The browser allowed us to start consuming unstructured data.

The web became live (Doc’s words) with introduction of blogs and such.

Empowerment of people.

Assembly line production approach to humanity is bullshit and doesn’t skill.

We were denied the drive to bond.

Internet as source of neutrality

Identity is not of the individual but of the group (e.g. old-style passport: “I know this person would you please look after him”

Things that are dead:

  1. Device locking – you should be able to use the device you’re comfortable with for communication
  2. Marketing – move from CRM (customer exploitation), invert pyramid move from selling to buying, make it easier to buy something don’t enforce a sale
  3. Privacy – semantic web will kill privacy? BS – concept of personal space is culturally determined, DRM is pushed to create walled gardens around digital content we would rather have be free “if you want to keep a secret, don’t tell anyone!”
  4. Copyright & IPR – priests didn’t like printing, the idea to start closed is not what humans are about, it should be the other way around

Starbucks exist because of the web, because they needed to do something with the high street shopping space.

Taylorism & McLuhanism are evil!

Content is an evil word!

We have to start claiming back things we have lost.

Litigious society should die too, contracts are evil by nature. Please don’t get married. Covenant relationships are much better, you want to fix them not look for blame.

Longevity hasn’t changed – we have to simplify, enfranchise people to prevent info overload. A basic computer should for instance have a battery by default.

Our world has already gone virtual.

What happens to a person’s blog when he dies?

One should be free to choose whether to use social software.

If you want good to be said about you – do good.

Don’t stop and sensor people, it’s about relationships, do the right thing.

Example: rateyourteacher.co.uk

Rough notes for T.L. Taylor – Play

MMOGs have roots in RPGs and MUDs.

Software and service.

Ultima, EverQuest, Wow…

Social contexts

MMOGs isn’t anti-social. Social isn’t icing on the cake. Social is the substance of the game. It’s key.

On- and offline connections mix.

Emergent social activity. E.g.: “guilds”; trust, responsibility, reputation.

Game devs aren’t giving players the tools to be social. Focus is on artefact first.

Rough map of guild – connections between players are offline

Transcript of in game chat. Lots of offline connections.

“Friends are the Ultimate Exploit”

EULA: sharing accounts is not allowed (in EQ).

Collaboration and teams:

Complex coordinated actions.

Co-creative culture

Players also produce and design. Emergent culture and technologies that change the game…

Players change the product in deep ways.

Game in box is just part of larger game space.

WoW opens up UI for players to change. Big differences between players.

Cheating – modification of game is debated.

IP – who should be the designer, what’s play?

Selling avatars on eBay. Game companies own the avatar so it’s not allowed. Embodiment – you don’t own your body!

In EQ there was a lot to do about fanfic.

WoW in game protests. “Protesting in game is not a valid way to give us feedback.”

Are game worlds public space? Or not because they’re corp. owned?

Commodification of culture. Designers want control over players / users. Let go!

Things that are happening in game are examples of bigger issues such as: UX, IP, mash-ups, P2P, etc.

Book: Play Between Worlds, T.L. Taylor.

Questions:

What about scale? Do these thoughts apply to smaller games? We need smaller games to experiment with governance and such.

Is there an end to the game? “End” is player-defined… Games should be better at helping people leave.

Can these games become the new platforms for productivity? There’s a lot of mumbling, but no-one knows. You pick up valuable skills while playing.

Does this apply to alternate reality games? E.g. ILoveBees… She did a piece on Majestic. Beta during 9/11. It was mixed with reality.

How can we use traditional ethnographic thinking? The work isn’t comparative enough to make any strong statements.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Play

Ruwe notities van Michael Thomsen’s keynote

Wat is renaissance?

Waarom van computer naar innovatie – vanwege blinde vlek voor massive change.

Eigen en andere ogen openen voor innovatie.

Digitale tech. is alomtegenwoordig, dus we moeten verder kijken dan technische issues.

Op verzoek van Thomas verhaal over renaissance.

Concept is vaag en moeilijk te plaatsen in moderne context.

Teveel conferenties over “kleine dingen” (RFID, etc.)

Renaissance met grote R – weg uit de middeleeuwen. Opkomst van humanisme en individualisme.

Westerse wereld is niet klaar voor wedergeboorte. Ogen openen van blinde man is moeilijk.

Renaissance met kleine r + vraagteken: betere aanpak maar mogelijk antiproductief.

Niet proberen wiel opnieuw uit te vinden, focussen op grote issues.

Derde perspectief: focus op comm. tech.

Comm. tech. invloedrijk in opkomst en ondergang van beschavingen.

Opmerkelijk vroeg succes: oude Egypte. Sumerische cultuur schrift ontwikkeld over 5000 jaar. Egypte heel snel. Tempo van ontwikkeling in samenleving nam ook toe.

Alfabet werd niet herkend als superieur aan hiërogliefen. Elite had liever laatste: blindheid voor verandering.

Semieten namen alfabet wel over. Instrumentaal in opkomst in monotheïsme (!)

Gat tot 800 BC. Grieken kregen alfabet van Phoeniciers.

Abstract alfabet inspireerde abstract denken. Bijvoorbeeld Adam, individu, etc.

Grieken werden ingehaald door Romeinen (vonden ze lui.)

Rome verloor Europa aan de middeleeuwen.

Andere kant van de wereld: China ontwikkelde zeer moeilijk schrift. Drukpers uitgevonden. Werden introvert. Gingen in winterslaap.

Zonder drukpers geen reformatie, geen opkomst van wetenschap e.a. En dus ook geen 19e-eeuwse comm. tech.

Drukpers zorgde dat fictie, religie en politiek zich massaal kon verspreiden.

Koninkrijken worden niet gemaakt of gebroken door comm. tech. Maar heeft wel grote invloed. Zij die nieuwe comm. tech. het beste kunnen aanpakken hebben voordeel.

Is er een digitale renaissance? Wie zijn de genen die er voordeel bij hebben?

Renaissance niet zeker.

50 jaar na drukpers, nu 50 jaar na computer. 1500: chaos, meeste productie werd gezien als porno. Als iedereen mag gaan schrijven krijgen we alleen maar slechte tekst. Klopt maar we hebben ook goed spul gekregen.

Digitale tech. verandert kennisproductie. Maakt het dynamisch.

Kracht van polylog (dialoog online): wedergeboorte van mondelinge overdracht?

Orale overdracht: geen waarheid, geen historie maar verhalen, geen individu want bestaat alleen als onderdeel van groep, geen oppermachtige god, geen bureaucratie, geen staten.

Wat gebeurt er na deze renaissance met eigendom, kennis, de staat, religie, etc?

Hangt van onze acties af.

Wie heeft er baat bij (laatste vraag): diegenen die niet aan mass media hangen, zij die het beste zijn in dialoog. Westerse cultuur is niet waarschijnlijk, blind door onze eigen paradigma’s.

Unieke positie om de toekomst te beïnvloeden. Westerlingen moeten aandachtiger en opener zijn.

Er zij grote krachten die tegen radicale verandering zijn. Maar die zijn gedoemd.

Gebruik reboot om de grote vragen onder ogen te zien.

Als je dat doet ben je hierna in ieder geval verfrist en misschien herboren.