A game, a name and a song
It’s only 9 a.m. and already I’ve come across three juicy bits of interactive goodness
- There’s a game console designed for active playing indoors and outdoors
- Crowds naming products and getting paid for it
- And my personal fave — a 2.8 inch karaoke machine (w00t!)
Last time, I posted about Locomatrix, a UK-based company that develops location-based games. Locomatrix creators, Richard Vahrman and Moira Nangle, who described themselves as ‘keen walkers’, wanted to make game that would encourage kids to play outdoors. Now, there’s ‘Swinxs’, a game console designed to encourage active and social play among children. It’s created by Swinxs B.V., a Dutch games developer.
How it works: You’ve got Swinxs, the game console. which talks, cheers and explains the games, referees and keeps score. Then there are the XS tags, wristbands with microchips that communicate with the console. It starts the games, retrieves player profiles and measures performance. Up to 10 individual players can join in a game.
(Read more...)Keywords: game,branding,karaoke,crowdsourcing
Reboot 10: spirited sh*t-sharing
by Ilko Batakliev
The theme of this year’s edition of Reboot in Copenhagen was “free”. Is there such a thing as free lunches, software, mobile phones, networks…? What are the social boundaries of the concept of freedom? How free or gratis or libre is the open-source melting pot we dwell in? How much does freedom actually cost?
The conference kicked off with an invigorating talk by Tor Nørretranders in which the proverbial line ”Share your shit” was born and which became something of a motto of the conference. Just like physical shit, intellectual shit (or ideas in other words) need to be shared and released. Otherwise they become waste. In order to be able to continuously generate progressive and effective ideas, we need to share them with the world when they are born and set them free.
At conferences like this, it’s about those two lines a day which your hear and which make perfect sense to you. I certainly had more than two of them and I feel grateful for the insights they provided me with. Thanks to them, the inevitable quasi-intellectual nagging of some of the talks did not disturb me.
Day two was definitely more stimulating with talks like Beauty in web design by Cennydd Bowles, Building the open web by David Recorden and the absolute highlight for me: Complexity and freedom by Flemming Funch. In a smooth and convincing manner the concepts of complexity as self-organizing criticality and freedom were explored and married. In both the realms of nature and nurture complexity means self-organizing criticality and not an equilibrium. This state makes freedom possible and from then on, we are “free” to redefine the concept of freedom until it matches our needs and desires. The speech was intensely intricate and the audience was “in the flow” from start till finish. Even the overtly flamboyant outfit and appearance of Funch failed to distract or raise an eye-brow.
In general the amount of verbal diarrhoea was rather limited and the creative shit-sharing prevailed. Outside the conference too, sharing took place in different forms and shapes. Well, hungover is simply overrated…toch?
More inspiration: www.reboot.dk
Cowboy Friday YEEHAW!
Our monthly Cowboy Friday, a week ago today, achieved an unprecedented peak. Never before did we witness such a parade of gun-slinging, pistol-whipping, arrow-shooting, head-scalping, whiskey-drinking, yeehaw-yelling cowboys modelling all sorts of carefully grown and groomed facial hair. And the girls had a few tricks up there sleeves too. Purely gratuitous, after the jump is a selection of snaps of the day. The Cowboy Friday Shenanigans lasted well into the night, but fortunately the camera didn't follow...
Cowboy Friday!
Three cheers for our wacky office as the event we look forward to every month is almost upon us. Men, start growing that facial hair if you haven't started already so you can steal the show with a stylish 'Hulihee' or a throwback Amish 'Chin curtains'. Us ladies have been instructed to grow some cleavage to serve as cowgirls to our hairily endowed boys. But whilst we pine in envy of the endless possibilities of the male chin, perhaps there's something else we can bring to the table?
Here's the facebook group devoted to cowboy friday. Join and leave a suggestion?
Ride 'em on home, boys, HEEEEHAW!
Keywords: cowboyfriday,cowboy,friday,mediacatalyst,beards,mustaches,cleavage
On citizen journalism and unexpected combinations (2)
Hybrids and mashups
In technology, a mashup is a web application that combines data from several sources to form a single integrated tool; i.e. a user can add reviews to tourist locations in Google Maps for the benefit of travelers, thereby creating a new and distinct web service.
Social and networking technologies have given birth to mashups and hybrids. But the principle and practice of mixing unexpected combinations is not just limited to the realm of web applications. It is also refected in other more traditional media.
Imagine Rome and Juliet in modern-day Tokyo, where the warring Capulets and Montagues are represented as Yakuza clans. Hamlet in an Earth devastated by global climate change and where the cyberworld is in a state of war. A Second Dark Age caused by a global energy crisis as setting for ‘The Tempest’.
These are some of the titles from the ‘Manga Shakspeare’ collection by UK publishing house SelfMadeHero. The collection showcases Shakespeare’s classic tomes combined with the iconic Japanese comic book style. It has been flying off the shelf in the UK and Asia since it was released in 2007.
(Read more...)Keywords: comics,collaboration,hybrid,mashup,manga,shakespeare
On citizen journalism and unexpected combinations (1/2)
“They came and put the flag, gave us 10 candles but no food.”
“They don’t help, but force us to leave. Where should we go, my young man?”
“Nobody comes (to help)! But they have taken away all the donations from us.”
-- survivors expressing their anger at the Burmese government
We are in trouble, help!
We are hungry!
- written on the road after the storm
Enabled in part, and mediated by today’s internet and networking technologies, citizen journalism—or participatory journalism— has become a more permanent element of the media landscape. Whereas before was a clear delineation between author and reader, news maker and audience; today’s social, networking and collaborative-based applications like blogs, wikis, forums, widgets combined with easy-to-use but hi-tech digicams and mobile computing have blurred the lines between ‘amateur’ and ‘professional’ in the world of journalism.
That average citizens can engage in the writing, production and distribution of news and opinion is not an entirely new concept. It has been rooted in many struggles for change in world history and advocated in recent years by development workers.
Thanks to many ordinary citizens who participate as both witness and storyteller of the world around them, even more people like us get to see the world from a point of view other than that of oragnised media industries. More than this, in the midst of danger and conflict, the world is given the chance to see what’s real, raw and unglamorous — reality uncut. Like the plight of Burma.
(Read more...)Keywords: Burma,journalism,citizen,journalism,networking
What do you do if you're Dutch and looking for government-related info?
You google.
Dutch people prefer to use Google over the websites of government agencies when searching for government-related information. This was the conclusion of a research conducted by the University of Twente under the commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the study, finding out the right kind of information users are looking for either takes too long, or the process seem to be too complicated as majority of the users don't possess the right kind of skills to be able to pull out the information they need from the site. Which 'skills' in particular were not mentioned in the paper, but it's probably about information searching skills. However, the study also revealed that it's not just a matter of possessing the right 'search skills', but more importantly, the way government agencies' websites are built -- the websites are not based on the search behaviour of its target users.
Not a shocking headline for us working in interactive media ('It's the users, stupid!'), but this is still the case for many organisations, both public and private. In the quest to surface all information that a company or institution can offer, they end up overwhelming users instead of helping them. Users end up disoriented and lost. And of course, who would they turn to but Google.
It's a pity the report didn't specify which government agencies sites were evaluated, or the factors that led the researchers to conclude that such websites were not oriented to the users' search behaviour. It's still an interesting point to consider especially in the realm of good governance, where correct and relevant information-gathering and dissemination can contribute to participation, transparency, accountability and effective and efficient processes.
MediaCatalyst wins Webby's People's Voice Award!
The wait is over, and... we have won the People's Voice Award! Our work for Canon EOS 400D came out on top in the category 'Rich Media Single: Promotional'. The People's Voice Award is the part of the Webby Awards that is decided by popular vote. The global web community gets to decide which of the nominees is their favourite. This year, close to 500.000 people cast their votes, a record in the history of the Webby Awards. At least some of those fell in our lap, for which we are very grateful indeed!
Now that we've earned some bragging rights, here's some choice quotes, blatantly copied from the Webby's official press release:
"The Webby Awards honors the very best of the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "This win is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators."
"Hailed as the “the Internet’s highest honor” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile Websites."
"Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 12th Annual Webby Awards received a record 9,500 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences."
We'd also like to congratulate our fellow Amsterdammers at CCCP who deservedly won the Webby Award with their awesome Hema product page viral. Great work indeed, and after a slew of Dutch 'Official Honorees' and Nominees, we're glad someone is bringing home the trophy!
Keywords: webbyaward,people,svoiceaward,canoneos400d,mediacatalyst,winner,yay!
MediaCatalyst is a Webby Award nominee and honoree: Vote for us!
Our submission to The 12th Annual Webby Awards, the Canon EOS 400D campaign site, has been named an 'Official Honoree' in the category Best Integrated Campaign. More importantly, it is an 'official nominee' in the category Best Rich Media Advertising: Promotional. We are honoured indeed, but most of all really stoked and excited! It is in fact the third consecutive year that we've received an 'Official Honoree' notch (2005: 50 years of World Press Photo; 2006: Sony Ericsson Product Selector x2), but never before were we nominated! Three times a charm?
Being nominated means two things. First of all, we are in the running for the actual Webby Award, to be bestowed by the official board of judges of 'The Oscars of the internet'. Secondly, perhaps even more exciting, we stand to win the 'People's Voice Award'. Anyone can cast their vote for their favourite nominees. We need all the support we can get, so we'd really appreciate your vote! It's quite easy: follow the link, register and validate your registration, find us in the Interactive Advertising section and 'Rich Media Single: Promotional' section, and finally, cast your vote! Comments and tags are also more than welcome... Thank you very, very much!
Of course, in the end it's all down to the quality of the work. So we invite whoever is interested to be the judge. Please check out the site for yourself! If we are to sway you a little, it's worth mentioning that the site caused quite a stir, due to its unique 3D visuals, its intuitive navigation and its innovative use of papervision. You can read about the project behind the scenes in this earlier posting on our blog. It also received The FWA Site of the Day Award, as well as a WebDesigner Site of the Month. We have high hopes for this one, fingers crossed!
Keywords: webby,webbyawards,canon,eos400d,mediacatalyst,nominee,honoree,webbynominee,webbyhonoree,people,svoiceaward,voteforus
Who needs a spinaward when you can balance a pineapple on your head?
We came, we saw, but we didn't snatch an award. Last night, the spinawards were distributed amongst hopeful nominees at an event held at the Heineken Music Hall. As it was the Spinawards' 10th birthday party as well, the festivities were especially grand, with plenty of entertainment and performances (most notably by Voicst, who totally rock). In the category 'Best Website Concept', in which we were nominated with the Canon EOS 400D campaign site, Symbaloo won the gold medal. But we need no excuse to have an awesome party... After the jump, a selection of party pics!
(Read more...)Keywords: spinawards07,party,heineken,music,hall,canoneos400d
Imitation is the highest form of flattery...
...or so they say. In that case, we can't stop blushing from the immense compliment phones.com paid us. Their phone selector is a near one-on-one copy of the work MediaCatalyst has done for Sony Ericsson's product catalogue. The flattery stretches from the navigation to the structure of the underlying information architecture, to lay-out, to icons, to copy and even to the general look and feel. Note the bold use of gradient green;)! Our version for Sony Ericsson is on the left, phones.com's take on it on the right:
Way back in the day when the first version of Sony Ericsson product catalogue went live (November 2006!), it was hailed as an exemplary use of Adobe Flex 2 to enhance a user experience (do follow that link to see a mention of our work on Wikipedia! And no, we didn't put it there ourselves...). Additionally, the site was duly honoured for 'best navigation/structure' by the 2007 Webby Awards. Just recently, Saskia Idzerda, one of our information architects who was closely involved with the project, gave a talk about it at the IxDA conference in Savannah. You can read about it and see it here.
A sign of postmodern times (excusez le mot!), 'borrowing' or 'sampling' or 'stealing' or 'plagiarising' is something any industry has to face, whether it be the music industry, the arts, academics, and indeed all things online. The internet seems especially prone. Olly Wright, who concerns himself with MediaCatalyst strategy, comments:
"Your initial reaction might be to hit the red alarm button and use
words like theft, copyright infringement. In this case you may be
right. Or perhaps not. The web makes this kind of activity incredibly
simple to do, and almost impossible to stop. Perhaps the best way to
approach this is to go in the opposite direction... to encourage
everyone to copy and use your stuff as much as possible? To spread the
good word both by helping others do their thing. Perhaps a phone (or
product) comparison tool could be provided as a mash-up-able
application usable by anyone wanting to create a phone site?"
And yes, after all, phones.com contributes to selling Sony Ericsson phones in the end. So you could say we share that objective... Though the image above gives you the general idea of the extent of phones.com's tribute to our work, do continue reading after the jump for a closer look, and some very striking 'similarities'....
(Read more...)Keywords: Sony,Ericsson,product,selector,product,catalogue,phones.com,copy,flex,2,webby,award,saskia,idzerda,olly,wright,sample,mash-up,plagiarism,copy,right
Planet Earth’s a playground
That’s how Locomatrix sees the world of gaming these days. From the bedroom back into the real world.
Locomatrix is a UK-based company that develops location-based games. If you’ve got a GPS-enabled phone or a compatible phone with a GPS receiver, you can download the Locomatrix application. Add some friends and a wide, open space to start playing. From their video, it seems that the wider the space, the more fun you’re bound to have.
Locomatrix creators, Richard Vahrman and Moira Nangle, who described themselves as ‘keen walkers’, wanted to make game that would encourage kids to play oudoors. They already used GPS in their walks and so they devised their idea around this technology.
The company also believes in keeping Locomatrix an open platform and want to encourage other developers to create their own games. They’re looking into expanding their game offerings to include role-playing, strategy, games of cooperation, team competitions and a lot more.
This development in gaming appeals to me a lot since it goes back to the basics. It brings back memories of play experienced as children: the exploration, thrill and shared adventures. This trend comes as no surprise as this fervent childhood memory of play, discovery and imagination has given birth to classics like the Legend of Zelda and has been the foundation of Dungeon and Dragons.
Keywords: location-based,games,games,play,GPS,Waag,Society,Locomatrix
