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"Attention, at least the kind we care about, is an intrinsically scarce resource [ 4 ]. Consider yours, right now. You are reading this paper, or more likely, since it is intended to be delivered at a conference, listening to me speaking it. You have a certain stock of attention at your disposal, and right now, a large proportion of the stock available to you is going to me, or to my words. Note that if I am standing in front of you it is difficult to distinguish between paying attention to me and paying attention to my words or thoughts; you can hardly do one without doing the other. If you are just reading this, assuming it gets printed in a book, the fact that your attention is going to me and not just to what I write may be slightly less obvious. So it is convenient to think of being in the audience at this conference in order to consider what attention economics is all about."
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"Innovation in Silicon Valley is […] an inherently social process: it is only through participating in a community that entrepreneurs pioneer the technological and commercial breakthroughs that have fueled rapid regional growth. And yet without opportunities for intensely competitive and single-minded individuals to achieve personal status and wealth, this self-organizing and technologically dynamic industrial system would simply grind to a halt. Frederick Terman's brilliance lay in his ability to envision and foster a technical community that transcends the boundaries between individuals, firms, and other local institutions–and one that balances the ongoing tension between individual autonomy and collective endeavor."
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"The instantaneous nature of the Net is both its marvel and menace. We feel a need for speed. Thus the compulsion to answer emails and tweets quickly, without thinking things through. Impermanence is seen as a virtue, a signal of a world in constant change (where change is a buzzword). Like, nothing is forever, dude.
Civility has gone out the window when you can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet. It's easier to be rude, even hateful -in the guise of "freedom of expression" -than it is to formulate a reasoned argument. (Indeed, reasoning and civility are slowing-down processes in themselves.) As an absolutist on freedom of expression, I oppose anti-hate speech laws -alas, hate speech is the price we pay for freedom. But that's no excuse for indulging in it because you can get away with it."
links for 2010-07-29
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Nice and simple explanations: "While tasting coffee, you should try to discern whether the flavor, body, acidity and aroma of the coffee is pleasant, or unpleasant."
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"Follow ThingMagic’s 100 Uses of RFID campaign to learn about innovative ways in which Radio Frequency Identification and Sensing (RFIDS) is being used to automate data collection, identification, and location systems worldwide. Track the updates below, follow the ThingMagic RFID Blog and join the discussion on Twitter using hashtag #RFID100."
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"I'm a fairly competitive person. I like to win. And thanks to many hours spent in front of the screen, I find myself pretty motivated when I see an opportunity to "level up." But that being said, I still question the rush lately to add "game mechanics" to every new product and experience. As we've written before, the arguments for doing so are compelling. Game mechanics can be fun and rewarding. They can increase user engagement and can aid user adoption, referral, and retention. But does the addition of levels, leader-boards, and virtual trophies necessarily lead to a better user experience? Of course not."
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"I work in online marketing and it's no secret that I blog, tweet and check in on Foursquare. Social media is largely responsible for some of my closest friendships. I've never felt unsafe participating and generally trust that the community will police itself and follow the unwritten rules. But sometimes I don't think about the consequences. Then I had a bit of a wake-up call."
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""The issue with location-based information is that it exposes another layer of personal information that, frankly, we haven't had to think much about: our exact physical location at anytime, anywhere," explained the creators of PleaseRobMe.com, a website set up to expose how vulnerable Twitter users can be when displaying location-based messages, earlier this year. "If you're comfortable being a human homing beacon, that's fine, we just want you to be fully aware of what that means and the potential risks it might involve."
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"Are location-based mobile applications like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla just hype? That's the potential, at-a-glance takeaway from a new study released today by Forrester Research. Only 4% of U.S. online adults have ever used location-based apps such as these, and only 1% out of those that use them do so more than once per week. Meanwhile, 84% said they weren't familiar with these apps."
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"When mobile augmented reality experiences started popping up on smartphones in the last year, the majority of the apps helped people find businesses and other points-of-interest. Now as the social Web becomes increasingly mobile, the data it provides is more likely to contain location information. Foursquare and Gowalla are obvious examples of the growing social location trend, but even Twitter and YouTube can now link tweets and videos to a specific location."
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"Over the last few years the consensus about privacy on the Internet seems to have changed a lot. A few years ago, people were still hesitant about using their real names online, but nowadays people are comfortable sharing their exact location with the whole world. Where does this change in consensus come from? Are people starting to feel too comfortable? We're not sure, but over-sharing might result in more risk and unintended consequence than one might think, especially in the long run."
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"With universities facing swingeing funding cuts, a handful are already officially classified as "at risk" and in danger of complete financial collapse. Vince Cable, the Secretary of State with responsibility for Universities has warned that if that does happen – there'll be no Government bail-out. Meanwhile as the cuts bite, courses are being scrapped and jobs are being axed. We hear from one university where one third of the Board of Governors have stepped down after a report into their effectiveness described them as naive after presiding over an unsustainable annual deficit. "
Thought for a supernaut meets G.W. Bush
“I’ve seen the future and I’ve left it behind” – Black Sabbath.
“The future will be better tomorrow” – Attributed to George W. Bush (most likely uttered by Dan Quayle).
links for 2010-07-06
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Guardian article about the 'Time Travellers' Guide to Bristol': "The Time Traveller's Guide to Bristol project will launch a website later this week and an iPhone app at on July 28, allowing users to browse archive material and upload their own images of contemporary Bristol. It features 100 years of film and photography focused on six areas of Bristol, and invites users to superimpose archive material on a 3D model of contemporary shots – some of which were badly damaged during WW2, like Castle Park."
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Augmented reality style mobile device-mediated tour guides of Bristol using historical archive material to make the past present in the users' experience of the city.
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Excellent presentation by Gene Becker outlining the present state of what some call pervasive media or ubiquitous media or locative media, which goes beyond the fad of augmented reality.
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Discussion of whether apple's vertically integrated apps-ecology is a part of the web or is it perhaps a closed system.
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Interesting and provactive argument: "Open data is not a magic recipe for righting wrongs. What will move things on is the stories that communities tell about their situations and their possible futures."
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Guardian article discusses local approaches for open data: "A great opportunity now presents for a truly open form of governance. Working together as central, regional, local with the creative input of the agile software developer community we can begin to shape what a transparent state might look like for the benefit of citizens. So here are a couple of do's and don't's for councils starting out on this road."
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Nic Nova discusses the design fiction of the WIRED 'found' illustrations.
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"What the creators of the Sci-Fi Airshow have done is extend that fascinating imaginary into the realm of science fiction flying machines. They make the flying machines somehow ordinary insofar as they appear at a typical airshow with families and fans enjoying the machines, the sunshine and a chat with a pilot. In this way, the objects become tangible."
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A soundwalk to be experienced in the rain.
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More AR-type overlays of physical reality with images of the past. Similar to 'Time Travellers' Guide to Bristol': "History Pin [historypin.com] hopes to become the largest user-generated archive of the world's historical images and stories. The website acts like a digital time machine, and uses Google Maps and Street View technology to allow the wide public to dig out, upload and pin their own old photos, as well as the stories behind them, onto an interactive map. Uniquely, Historypin lets people layer old images onto modern Street View scenes, providing a series of geo-located time tunnel views into the past."
Where is all the money going from academia? …
My ‘creative’ response (using my cognitive surplus apparently):
A decline in government support for universities is “inevitable” and higher education must embrace entrepreneurialism to survive, a US university president has warned the UK sector.
Self-reliance and survival: a US lesson for the UK in Times Higher Education, 1st July 2010.
The desire to queue and the queue for desire – returning to the iPhone queues.
Queue for iPhone 4 in Liverpool, photo by Flickr user: newtc_uk
Today sees the launch of the Apple iPhone 4. As we have come to expect, there are/were queues snaking from the doors of the fruit-themed purveyor of techno-chic’s shops. Indeed, as Wired UK, have pointed out – people turn up and camp overnight to be in the queue. Two years ago, in sunny Palo Alto, California, I observed with fascination the concretisation of a trend – the cultural event of queuing for the new Apple [insert shiny new product here]. At that time it was the release of the iPhone 3G:
The release of a hotly anticipated product, especially one created by apple, now seems to provoke a trend: the hardcore turn up one or more days in advance and camp (literally) outside the shop, others arrive at dawn and join the throng. Media coverage ensues and many wonder what on earth the fuss is about. In conversation with other spectators and with some of those who have queued, it seems to me that the purchase of the device itself is only a part of the motivation – it is also, substantially, about being a part of an event. The experience of queuing for these prized item, and the stories one might attach, appears to have become culturally significant.
Today is no different. The phenomena of the queue remains and it seems it has, if anything, grown into the production of events that appear to hold some sort of cultural significance for a significant minority of the population. As Gene Becker tweeted:
So all the cool kids are standing in line today, it seems. How retro-charming. iPhones are the new Grateful Dead tickets?
Why do I blog this? Its interesting to observe how material things, ostensibly created as ‘tools’, can be invested with so much desire and enchantment that their cultural value becomes tied to a sense of anticipation. What’s the significance of these events? Will people continue to queue for future techno-baubles? I haven’t decided if I need answers to those questions…
links for 2010-06-03
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"Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak — the real-life version of the film's eye-popping, tai chi-meets-cyberspace computer interface. Is this how tomorrow's computers will be controlled?" – Lots of superlatives and talk of changing the world, but an interesting 15min video.
links for 2010-06-02
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BBC iPlayer goes social, with yet another ID for which to register. Features include recommendations, bookmarking across devices and windows messenger integration.
A brief history of the future of pervasive media – Talk at the Pervasive Media Studio
I will be giving a talk at the Pervasive Media Studio on Friday 14th May entitled ‘A brief history of the future of pervasive media’, which is broadly derived from my PhD research. The talk will be open to the public, so please feel free to come along! Here’s the bumpf:
Pervasive media, and the various forms of computing from which they are derived, stem from a tradition of anticipating future scenarios of technology use. Sam Kinsley’s PhD research concerned the ways in which those involved in pervasive computing research and development imaginatively envision future worlds in which they’re technologies exist.
This lunchtime talk examines the ways in which future people, places and things are imagined in the research and development of pervasive media. Examples taken from prospective pervasive computing research and development in the last twenty years will be explored as emblematic of such future gazing. The aim is to provide a broad means of understanding the rationales by which technological futures are invoked so that pervasive media producers can critically reflect on the role the idea of the future in their work. Such an understanding is important because a history of computing is in large part a history of places and things that were never created – a history of yesterday’s tomorrows.
[Repost] Transliteracy: techniques for navigating and understanding user-generated content
The growth and diversity of media and those using them to disseminate their point of view has, in that process, required the development of new literacies for information consumption, gathering and production. Some of the resulting practices have been instrumentally driven, i.e. they have been led by particular tools (such as RSS and Bloglines/Google Reader). However, and perhaps more interestingly, with the growth in the production and availability of ‘content’ the spectre of ‘information overload’, or as Richard Saul Wurman calls it ‘information anxiety‘, new strategies for engaging meaningfully with the glut have been developed. At a level slighlty abstract from such strategies we might identify new forms of literacy. The transliteracy research group have usefully described this as:
‘the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.’