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One great term I really came to understand at PICNIC 2009 in Amsterdam was ‘disruptive technology’ and I realized that that’s really what really works in terms of building successful startups.
Following the sheep is such a hit and miss proposal. Thinking out of the box… opening up one’s mind to the changing landscape of convergence in media is really the key to being a successful entrepreneur.
My interpretation of Disruptive Technology is… it’s technology that turns an old economic model on it’s head and creates a new revenue model and helps change the behaviour of consumers.
Here’s some talks that really had an impact for me.
Niklas Zennström
Skype founder and now-billionaire Niklas Zennström, stressed in his talk that companies that are willing to embrace and develop disruptive technologies are the ones who can really have an impact and succeed financially. He also talked about being so broke between the time Kazaa failed and Skype started that he was back to working out of his apartment. What a long way he has come in a very short time. Kazaa failed because they were too early and could not develop a viable business model around it. They came up with Skype after they started a platform for developers called Jolt – which was an application building space and someone came up with a early idea of VOIP technology and how it can be used – which led to the development of Skype. And we all know how much impact Skype has had, particularly due to the adoption of the product and service with mainstream US TV such as Oprah and Dr. Phil.
He added that building products and services in Europe is a brilliant place, due to the ability to test in smaller markets (Holland, Denmark etc.) first, then reach out to the rest of the continent.
Now Zennström, worth over a billion euro, has a venture fund at Atomico Ventures, where he helps startups with money and advice.
“Entreprenuership is not a job, it’s a lifestyle.’
– Niklas Zennström
The Lewes Pound
There was another talk by the founders of a complimentary currency called the Lewes Pound being used in the UK, which is, essentially, a voucher or token that can be traded locally as a complementary currency and used alongside pounds Sterling. This was part of the event where there was a strong look at alternative money and local exchange and trade systems that are cropping up around the globe. There was also talk about Transition Towns – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns which focus on banding together to create a lower carbon footprint using various methods. Many of these use a local currency.
Money spent locally circulates within, and benefits the local economy. Money spent in national chains doesn’t. The Lewes Pound encourages demand for local goods and services. In turn this builds resilience to the rising costs of energy, transport and food. The Lewes Pound also benefits shoppers by creates stronger and more local shops, increasing a sense of pride in our community, decreasing CO2 emissions and increasing economic resilience. Furthermore, the Lewes Pound benefits local traders by increasing footfall and local business activity, encouraging people to buy local and increasing customer loyalty, highlighting the benefits of local shopping, bringing attention and attracting visitors to Lewesand minimising card-based transaction costs.
The Lewes Pounds is driven by three main considerations:
- Economic: According to the New Economics Foundation, money spent locally stays within the community and is re-used many times, multiplying wealth and building resilience in the local economy.
- Environmental: Supporting local businesses and goods reduces the need for transport and minimises our carbon footprint.
- Social: By spending money in local outlets we can strengthen the relationships between local shopkeepers and the community. It also supports people finding new ways to make a living initiatives
There is nothing new about the Lewes Pound. In fact, Lewes had its own currency between 1789 and 1895. Complementary currencies have existed since the beginning of civilisation, from the bead money of Papua New Guinea, which still exists, to the WIR, established between the World Wars and now used by 16% of Swiss businesses.
Such currencies are often created by local merchants, government and citizens during times of great economic change, inflation or unemployment; recent examples exist in Argentina and Japan. The town of Berkshire, Massachusetts, has issued over $1.5 million Berkshares into circulation since it started a couple of years ago and is accepted by 300 shops and being adopted by nearby towns.
PIXAR Studios – turned inside out.
Michael Johnson of Pixar – who is the guy who ‘defines’ and builds their corporate culture… Well he was way cool. He looked like ‘The Dude’ literally. But he was all about business and not bowling.
One of the great points he did raise, was his focus on creating a culture of ‘constructive criticism’. That means he helps people direct people in the right direction so they are not wasting time by hoarding a project for too long and not sharing it.
He also added this great quote by Jason Dreamer of Pixar.
“Pain is temporary, SUCK is forever.’
One other point I liked was the fact that management should try and play the role of ‘being the hero’ and that means being the people that help solve the problems, not create them.
Show up and ’save the day’ when you can.
Try and make the staff more VISIBLY better at their jobs.
Pixar’s policy of hiring is to start with the top and the bottom and then the middle will follow. They also do training during work hours… And sell off old gear and computers to staff for highly reduced prices.
With their roots in Apple, they also love beautiful UI’s on their systems… And backups by the minute are standard – their staff NEVER loses work basically ….
IDEO – Internal Social Media
This was interesting for me because I have touched this space – introducing enterprise social media to a startup of 40 staff… And it was really compelling to see how this company BUILT their own internal collective intelligence social media architecture. One cool thing, is they put screens in their lunch rooms that show status updates from their system. This was so people could check up on how staff were improving things, fixing blogs, adding intel etc.
IDEO has 500 employees that do about 500 projects a year, stretched across the globe. Each member has blog, tags, bio, and project pages. The rewards of their internal project were the following – adoption, culture enhancement, abilities developed and more motivation.
The five principals of internal social software.
1. Build pointers to people
2. Reward individual participation – career development, recognition
3. Demand intuitive interfaces
4. Take road more travelled – feed mail, subscriptions, widgets, status updates.
5. Iterate often and early
They also use an anonymous recommendation engine which allows staff to recommend or thumbs down without having to show who they are.
Microsoft NATAL
Microsoft divulged more details about Project Natal, the gesture-control system for the Xbox 360, which has no need of a physical controller. With Natal, gamers move around in front of a camera which captures their full body movements and translates them into game controls. It also has face and voice recognition technology. This is really about gestural navigation.
This also could make it’s way into social TV or TV 2.0. Changing channels by waving your hands around. Customized TV based on the systems’ recognition of who is sitting in front of the TV. Customised tCommerce widgets based on the viewers mood, personality or profile. They are building in artificial intelligence that is extraordinary which includes things like audio empathy, where it can tell your mood based on your voice and make suggestions based on that. And OCR scanning…. Where you can draw a picture or write a phrase and it scans and understands what you have done.
Yeah… It’s a few years away. But everything is moving fast. Faster. And faster.
Nicholas Negroponte
Founder – MIT Media Labs and ‘a laptop for every child‘ . He was probably the most interesting talker in terms of being an overall visionary.
In 1992, Negroponte became involved in the creation of Wired Magazine as the first investor. From 1993 to 1998, he contributed a monthly column to the magazine in which he reiterated a basic theme: “Move bits, not atoms.” Negroponte expanded many of the ideas from his Wired columns into a bestselling book Being Digital (1995), which made famous his forecasts on how the interactive world, the entertainment world and the information world would eventually merge
“Computing is not about computers, it’s about Life.”
- Nicholas Negroponte
“News is not dead, Paper is,” said Negroponte, at PICNIC 2009. “Soon every surface will be a display.”
Tomi Ahonen – Mobile Technology
http://www.tomiahonen.com/
He spoke at PICNIC on “The Next 4 Billion” and referred it to the number of mobile phones on this earth: 4 billion and claims that that number will double, and explained this with some of his theories (6 M, 10 C and the 7th mass media), supplemented with hard numbers.
What was most interesting about Tomi was his emphasis on the emerging markets in Africa and Asia – where usage is rising incredibly.
In fact, there are over 4 billion mobile phones in use worldwide. Compare that to a little over 1 billion internet users and we can really understand the scale of the market.
While everyone is on the iPhone and cutting edge mobile development circles, he wisely recommends developing on all platforms and thinking strongly about SMS and MMS as important markets to develop for.
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Tags: #PICNIC09, 2.0, 2009, Africa, Argentina, artificial intelligence, Asia, Atomico Ventures, Being Digital, Berkshire, blog, bowling, BUILT, change, community, corporate culture, disruptive, disruptive technologies, disruptive technology, Economics, Enterprise, enterprise social media, entertainment, entrepreneur, Entreprenuer, entreprenuers, Europe, first, head, IDEO, Intel, internal social software, Internet users, IP, iPhone, ISP, Jason Dreamer, Kazaa, Lewes, Local currency, magazine, mass media, Massachusetts, Media, Michael Johnson, MIT, mobile phones, Natal, network, New Economics Foundation, Nicholas Negroponte, Niklas Zennström, OCR, Open, Pain, Papua New Guinea, participation, Phil, physical controller, picnic amsterdam, picnic network, Pixar, print, Skype, Social, Social Media, Social TV, software, technology, Tomi Ahonen, trade systems, voice recognition technology, VOIP, VOIP technology, worldby Richard Kastelein (originally posted on Atlantic Free Press)
It’s only been a couple of weeks since the European Broadcasting Union demonstrated the potential of the HbbTV specification at IBC2009 in Amsterdam. But it won’t be long before Europeans start seeing the results – before Christmas according to some pundits. And once compatible devices are out in the market, they say the speed-to-market of applications developed for the platform will be incredibly short… as the industry looks to new models that embrace open API’s and SDK’s much like Apple has done with the iPhone and the Open Source movement online with enormous projects such as Sourceforge. With an HTML environment activated by a simple red button, in the same manner as a Web portal, the resulting content can be delivered over the IP stream.
How similar this will be to the UK’s Project Canvas initiative, announced in February 2009, remains to be seen – and it’s still not clear which platform will really rise to the top or if they will, in fact, reach compatibility at some point. But Project Canvas does bring together content from some of the UK’s biggest channels, including the BBC ITV, Channel 4 and Five. They are working on a more ambitious project to bring what is called catch-up TV and a variety of other programming and interactive services to television sets as soon as next year. But the move faces scrutiny as the BBC is a public broadcaster and particularly from Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV which is the leading player in the satellite TV in the UK. In a speech last month, Sky heir apparent, James Murdoch abolutely slammed the BBC as an”Orwellian” institution—a provider of “state-sponsored” news with “chilling ambitions”. There were whispers of an an even more hair-raising Microsoft and the Beeb hooking up at IBC, as the partnership was not ruled out the industry titans.
The great news is, for the web development community, HTML arriving on the TV scene will surely mean flocks of coders, designers and entreprenuers making a transition to the next stage in the evolution of TV 2.0 – which may very well provide the next tech bubble much needed in this recession.
And it looks to be levering as possibly not only an EU standard, but also a global one. Asian companies such as Korea’s Tru2way are already picking up on the new standard from the European ETSI and teaming up with global player Alticast. which offers HBBTV with PVR, a pluggable HTML Browser and Flash modules. And Korea’s Kaonmedia has hooked up with Founding member of the HBBTV initiative – ANT in their latest foray into the Asian Market. And Ant pitched a TV portal running a selection of HbbTV services based on the their Galio HbbTV Platform at IBC 2009.
During the IBC show in Amsterdam, Pleyo takes on Yahoo TV with its browser and widgets engine, which is compliant with W3C specifications and compatible with HbbTV (enabling access to interactive applications issued from broadcasting, Satellite or DTT, and broadband Internet networks), and a few other extensions for interactive TV based on the HbbTV standard. The Origyn Web Browser (OWB) is based on Apple’s Webkit and is more particularly designed for TV sets, TV decoders and other consumer electronic devices.
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV or “HbbTV”, is THE major new pan-European initiative aimed at creating one standard for the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes providing terrestrial TV players a platform to keep up with IPTV development in terms of Web and TV convergence.
HbbTV
Developed by industry leaders to effectively manage the rapidly increasing amount of available content targeted at today’s end consumer, Hybrid Broadband‐Broadcast Services is based on elements of existing standards and web technologies including OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C.
The new technology is also called hybrid television because it uses over-the-air transmission as well as broadband connections and can do a lot. It’s terrestrial TV’s play at competing with rapidly emerging IPTV services which are more supple when it comes to Web/TV convergence.
What’s most brilliant about this technology, from the perspective of social media and other developers coming from the web is… it will open up possibilities of using open API’s and SDK’s which will allow independent developers to create customized applications. Imagine watching a sports program that ended with a page of links to similar, archived programs, or to the Web sites of online retailers selling tickets to the events.
HbbTV products and services provide the consumer with a seamless entertainment experience with the combined richness of broadcast and broadband. This entertainment experience will be delivered with the simplicity of one remote control, on one screen and with the ease of use of television that we are used to. Through the adoption of HbbTV, consumers will be able to access new services from entertainment providers such as broadcasters, online providers and CE manufactures – including catch-up TV, video on demand (VoD), interactive advertising, personalisation, voting, games and social networking as well as programme-related services such as digital text and EPGs.
So who else is tapping into HbbTV at the moment? (continue your reading )
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Tags: Alticast, Design, Digital television, disruptive technology, entertainment, Entreprenuer, Europe, FiOS TV, future, Galio HbbTV Platform, hybrid applications, hybrid services, industry, institution, Intel, interactive digital television services, interactive TV, Internet television, Internet television services, Inverto Digital Labs, IPTV, LinkedIN, Media, networking, on-demand, Open, Richard Kastelein, Scena 6, social media innovators, Social TV, Sony Corp., web development community(Originally published at Atlantic Free Press)
by Richard G. Kastelein
If we all thought the Facebook and Twitter social media growth phenomena were extraordinary, wait until Social TV hits your screens.
And it’s not as far away as you think — not only with the logical IPTV market, but also terrestrial TV. I recently attended the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, which bills itself as ’The content creation management delivery experience’. IBC2008 attracted 49,000+ visitors and 1,300+ exhibitors from more than 130 countries. This year is expected to be bigger. Last year, I was part of a team exhibiting at MIPTV in Cannes, and was expecting something a bit similar… but this was almost all about hardware and software and less about the actual formats and programs. However, this was not a disappointment. For embedded in the show there were some jewels… which have profoundly altered my view of Social Media, the future and the implication of reach that will touch billions not millions.
One diamond-in-the-rough was Israeli-based Orca Interactive (link), who was pitching their Social TV product, which was still in Proof of Concept (POC) and this was their first showing to the general public. Orca specializes in IPTV middleware and applications. But they are aggressively moving into social TV. I spoke to CTO Ofer Weintraub (Ph.D.) on their strategy and the nuts and bolts of the technology on offer.
“This is truly social TV — there is nobody on the market with similar offerings,” said Weintraub. He added there is an SDK (Software Development Kit) available now for select partners, but they certainly would not rule out an open API in the future.
And there is tight integration at the database level with website Trustedopinion.com. I discussed the integration with TO founder and CEO Shahar Smirin — whose site topped a million users recently.
“It’s a natural fit,” said Smirin, who then went on to show his web product and how he’s built a viral invite and social ’consolidation’ framework focussed on opinion where one can pile everyone (all your friends, imported/invited) from most major social media sites and really focus on what your friends think about entertainment (mainly movies and theatre for now).
There is synergy between Orca and TO, but let’s now look at Orca. And why this marriage could take social media truly to the masses via IPTV.
One thing to note… Orca Interactive is owned by France Telecom and the 2008 M&A has positioned this duo to take Social TV to a mass global audience. The acquisition last year means that they are well positioned near the ear of one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators and proprietor of the multinational Orange brand. Orange has a base of almost 200 million customers in 30 countries.
There’s nothing overly extraordinary in the makeup of the product — it’s nothing that Internet social media buffs have not seen before. But for TV users, this is going to revolutionize the way they watch TV… from being a passive, solitary, experience into an active, community one.
Here below, you can see recommendations from your friends on a particular movie or program. You can see related VOD products. You can rate it yourself, you can recommend it to a friend, you can see further information and you can send it as a gift to another person (purchased shows are good for 48 hours).
Here you can see your friends’ profiles, chat with them, send them a gift, see their recommends or send them a message.
Here you can send a gift to one or more friends.
And remember, this will all be integrated with your monthly billing. There will be no need for pulling out a credit card and security issues, there will be no need for digging deep to remember your Paypal password. No, the bill arrives like any other or is likely debited from your bank account automatically these days.
One can also set their mood — and then recommendations will be laid out according to complex algorithms and data mining based on your friends and your own data and viewing habits.
As Facebook revolutionized the way advertisers can niche-target their online demographics, Social TV will profoundly change the ad agencies and marketing departments will offer their wares in the television realm. Neilson ratings seem vague, less targetable and will likely become obsolete in TV 2.0.
Equally as interesting, but taking a different tack, is another gem called NDS (link), partially owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which has a reach to over 107 million pay-TV subscribers worldwide. Their latest product, Social TV was also in POC stage and looks a lot more like ’widgetized’ TV rather than a singular network.
Their model is quite different, but also appealing and unique for a number of reasons. One being it lends itself more to an iPhone app store scenario, with plans for an open API, which positions it well for social media developers and long tail monetization of the social TV landscape. But monetization or not will be decided by the operators not NDS. It also has impeccable design with a beautiful interface.
Obtaining details was a bit sketchy due to their PR person being in meetings and there was, understandably, some hesitancy in getting anyone to go on the record.
However, one of the demo managers did talk to me about some interesting API integration potential with Flickr for instance. If you see something interesting on TV you can be simply one click away from viewing images of that place, object or person. Conceivably the same could be done with the Youtube API in the video space or even Lastfm for music for that matter. 
Social networking is also alive and well on Verizon’s FiOS TV and new features are being added such as Facebook and Twitter Widgets. The new Widget Bazaar applications marketplace is located within FiOS TV’s Interactive Media Guide.
Verizon has worked with social media innovators Facebook Connect, Twitter, ESPN, Veoh, blip.tv, and Dailymotion to create a converged Internet-to-television experience that lets FiOS TV subscribers connect with others while watching TV, plus search and view a variety of online, personal PC-based videos on their television screens. Verizon also plans an open development platform (SDK) to permit developers to write interactive FiOS TV applications that will be available through the Widget Bazaar.
Customers are saying they love the new “social TV” Widgets, but they want more. They want to send Tweets, not just look at them. They want to create their own unique Facebook status messages.
According to Shawn Strickland, vice president, marketing for Verizon Telecom, Verizon is working with some popular companies on the Web to create the foundation for a high-quality, engaging Internet-to-TV experience.
A recent report by The Nielsen Company found that there are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to social media sites. Also, the number of American users frequenting online video destinations has also increased by 339 percent since 2003.
Subscribers can Tweet about the TV show they are watching or search and follow their friends’ Tweets. Viewers can also update their Facebook status with their own messages. All of this is simply done via the FiOS TV remote control and an onscreen keyboard.
A Belgian company called Zappware also launched social networking features for its “iView Core” services suite at IBC09. And they had a demo showing how the add-on allows the viewer to connect with friends and family to:
- see what they are watching on their TVs
- exchange favourite lists of TV programmes and VOD movies
- recommend TV programmes or VOD movies to one another
- send VOD movie gifts to their friends
- lock their TV screens onto one another and watch the same content
Koen Swings, CTO & Managing Partner Zappware:
“Social networking has been a buzz word in the past few years, in particular on the internet. With these extensions to our EPG, VOD and PVR products, we now extend social networking from the PC domain to the TV domain, because we are convinced that there is no better environment for sharing TV experiences than the TV itself. In a world, in which people are continuously seeking to connect and in which consumers are willing to embrace new technologies that allow them to connect better and more often, these social networking features on TV will be highly appreciated by viewers. Operators that include these features in their iDTV offering, will be able to offer their subscribers a cross-platform social networking experience, hence adding value to their triple or quadruple play offer and resulting in increased subscriber loyalty.”
So at the end of the day, this is a win, win, win for all — TV stations get better data on their viewers and offer convergence with web ideas and sites, viewers get interactive community-oriented, social television and can make interesting viewing choices based on mood and network of friends, web-based community and social media sites can make more headway into IPTV and broadcast TV, still the Tour de Force of media, and entrepreneurs and developers find a new medium to develop and monetize via new, open-source-philosophy-driven API and SDK environs.
Richard Kastelein, a social media strategist and publisher, is CEO of new startup, Agora Media Group LLC (link), a new creative and innovation agency based in London, UK. Kastelein has been building online communities for over a decade and is an Open Source evangelist. He’s an adept team player – a publisher, writer, photographer, marketing director, web developer and graphic designer with more than 20 years experience in the development and operation of newspapers, magazines, web media and marketing of multinational, companies in international settings.
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Tags: Agora Media Group LLC, Amsterdam, API, bank account, Broadband, Cannes, CEO, converged Internet-to-television experience, CTO, CTO & Managing Partner, data mining, Digital television, Facebook, Facebook Inc, FiOS TV, founder and CEO, France Telecom, France Telecom S.A., innovation agency, Internet-to-TV experience, iPhone, IPTV, Koen Swings, LinkedIN, London, marketing, marketing director, Ofer Weintraub, online communities;, online demographics, Online social networking, photographer, proprietor, Richard G. Kastelein, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Shahar Smirin, Shawn Strickland, singular network, Social information processing, Social Media, social media buffs, social media developers, social media innovators, social media sites, social media strategist, social media users, Social network service, social networking, social networking experience, social networking features, Social TV, Technology_Internet, telecommunications operators, The Nielsen Company, The Nielsen Company BV, Twitter, United Kingdom, Verizon, Verizon Communications Inc., Verizon FiOS, Verizon Telecom, vice president, Video on demand, web developer, web developer and graphic designer, web ideas, web media, web product, writer, Youtube, YouTube Inc
I thought I would pop into Mashable for the first time in months – I decided to leave last year after growing tired of associate editor Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins insistance on using the net’s best social media news and opinion site as a platform for his right wing politics.
I was not the only blogger who did not like the guy. People often commented at Mashable that they were not going to read the publication anymore due to his drivel – which often leverage social media subjects to get across his lockstep, Bush bootlicking political spurts.
Mashable was not a place I wanted read partisan politics, so I left.
I could not find his name on the first few pages at Mashable, then found out he ‘left’ in December last year. Or was sacked by Cashmore more likely.
I made a few irate comments on some of his most pathetic articles and was not his biggest fan as you can see.
Why is the pinhead allowed to continue to scratch all over Mashable with his infantile political opines?
Does mentioning what is happening at Wikipedia merit publication here?
Someone should strap a canine Elizabethan Collar on Rizzn’s to protect him (and us) from his navel gazing, gnawing, cogitations on political matters.
I don’t come to Mashable to read wingnuts. In fact, I come here to read about Social Media.
As part of your international audience… I don’t really care to read about American politico at any rate, never mind when ejaculated by an imbecile whose leg humping attempts at polemic fall far short of the Mashable readership standards.
He can barely string two words together, never mind offer anything of real substance.
If you want to make this place political, then you might think about balancing your editorial – lest you become a de facto cousin of the moronic, littlegreenfootball fascistas and – then some lefty will haul off half the Mashable audience in revolt because you’ve become known as the Social Media’s version of Free Republic.
and
I am more than adept at my job – that’s why I can see you are abusing your position here to further your political agenda.
My political leanings are clear – and I keep them where they belong. They are not ‘Left’ either – I am more of a social anarchist than anything.
I publish a lot of ideas from both sides of the aisle at www.freepressgroup.eu – from a pool of 350 academics, journalists, bloggers and adept writers. So I am – in fact – in a very good position to judge your lame attempts at political analysis… which are nothing more than exercises in partisan propaganda.
Keep yours off Mashable thanks. I think you are trashing the site with the political drivel you write. Stick to what this topic. Social Media
Then there was this one:
When it comes to politics – you should keep your opinions to yourself whilst writing about social media… and don’t even bother to try and be objective. Because you fail miserably.
Let’s rip the not-very-subtle right wing agenda being dumped on Mashable by Rizzn.
First off, I am not surprised you had a ‘hard time’ with high school but am not surprised they let you in any educational institution beyond that.
Barack Obama = link provided by Rizzn points out his middle name is Hussein… and nothing more. Wow… and he’s been the subject of rumours of ‘varying veracity ‘ Rizzn-speak’ for most of them are true.
Rizzn is a prime example of the abuse of ’speaking with authority’ – if only because he abuses his position at mashable to un-enlighten us with partisan politics embedded in a light coat of social media.
Linking to Michelle Malkin? On Mashable? Please… She adds absolutely nothing to genuine political discourse… Malkin has defended the forced internment of Japanese Americans (she had the audacity to write a book called “In Defense of Internment”) to justify harsher governmental policies today in the treatment of Arab and Muslim Americans. Using her as a source for anything is reprehensible on a Social Media site.
And you say that ‘people on both sides of the ideological aisle worked together to find the truth amidst the spin’ over the the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth? There’s not a chance on that issue. Please. I am sure you and your friends at www.littlegreenfootballs.com worked together on the three Right Wing issues you kindly linked us too…
“Microblogging isn’t a suitable format for complex ideas. “
Um. No kidding.
“Truth isn’t determined by popular vote”
Try reading The Wisdom of Crowds – by James Surowieck and rethink that statement. It’s the backbone of social media and probably the only clear argument or chance that social media has in terms of becoming a tool for mainstream news delivery. In fact, your statement sounds like it should come out of the mouth of a fascist.
“Fleeting thoughts are less authoritative than researched persuasive speech. “
Wow… now that’s completely enlightening… I expect that statement was a rather fleeting thought.
“We Need to Think About This Going Forward “
No. You need to stop writing about politics.
“…despite how impressive my intellect may appear.”
It’s not.
Related posts
Tags: associate editor, blogger, drivel, Mark Hopkins, partisan politics, right wing politics
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11:36am |
Updated status on Facebook.
Richard English takes over at Dutch universities – http://twurl.nl/gtja8h.
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12:23pm |
Posted 2 tweets on Twitter. (Show Details)
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12:23pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Richard Planning stuff for Interfacing Innovation – Brussels soon… I am 1 of 20 journos picked to attend – http://ejc.net/interfacing_innovation/.
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Related posts
Tags: Brussels, English, Facebook, innovation, ISP, kastelein, richard, Twitter|
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11:36am |
Updated status on Facebook.
Richard English takes over at Dutch universities – http://twurl.nl/gtja8h.
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12:23pm |
Posted 2 tweets on Twitter. (Show Details)
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12:23pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Richard Planning stuff for Interfacing Innovation – Brussels soon… I am 1 of 20 journos picked to attend – http://ejc.net/interfacing_innovation/.
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Tags: Brussels, English, Facebook, innovation, ISP, kastelein, richard, TwitterThe following is an article that my wife translated and I did the copywriting and editing for… a new area of work we are exploring for our company. I know Martijn personally – he’s a friend from Groningen and one of Holland’s leading proponents of the new Network Economy. Translation is a tricky gig – but we enjoyed the work and importantly, got to know someone in our own network much better through the process.
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Interview with Martijn Aslander
Martijn Aslander (male, 35 years old) is prominently an exponent of the feminine economy. In the way he works and lives, he shows a preview of the new economy to be. Aslander is ahead of his time, he defies all 20th century economy models. Avert from hierarchy, control, possession and job titles. The network is central. The importance of money as a dominant factor in economic trading is declining rapidly. The pleasure in the job is criterion Number One. Life hacking is his creed.
The one who hires Aslander as a consultant or speaker doesn’t get any rates or quotes. The client decides the value of his work afterwards. Payment in kind? No problem. Incidentally, the tax office will be tried for a whole new area of problems. He does not write a consultants report. “Pure waste, nobody will read it and paper does not make anyone move”. So says Aslander. Aslander faces up to all known customs, but he’s not just doing something. All his actions and thoughts are founded with modern–day visions and theories of hundreds of scientists and experts. Aslander is really a pragmatic and no nonsense intellectual. A feminine entrepreneur and pathfinder combined.
He has never had a job or a welfare check. He is elusive and hard to place. He certainly is no loafer, but seems to be very energetic and vibrant. What does Aslander actually do for a living? He agrees it can be very useful for projection and communication to summarize one’s profession in one or a few words. On his website (www.martijnaslander.nl) he describes himself in three words: Life Hacker, Connector, Resourcerer.
”I want to move things. Develop myself and others. The largest sum of my time I spend thinking and learning. The rest of my time I spend with others. I connect people”.
This is how Aslander clarifies his life fulfillment. The resourcerer Aslander, reads, learns, and thinks. The connector Aslander has a network of 6000 interesting and highly qualified people. He connects the right people together by means of projects at adhoc basis. The life hacker Aslander proficiently combines simple technological tools and efficient modern procedures, to a way of working in which one can do more in less time. Subsequently creating time to resource and connect.
Nice profession! But what does that roll? And how about the employment terms?
“For over six years I have lived of donations – that is how I used to call it– then I discovered that this could be the path to more wealth as supposed to the path of the day to day hired consultant. Wealth in de sense of added value to both parties, in which value should been seen in a broader perspective than just money. We live in an era in which access is the keyword. Jeremy Rifkin wrote a book about it – The age of access. The possession of goods is no longer important, but more so the core use of it… It’s not about possession, but about the access one can acquire to a certain lifestyle of like-minded people, Rifkin says. I think access is going to be more important than possession in the next decennia. The better your network is, the more access you will have.”
Paper does not move people
“The network phenomenon is nothing new – it’s always been there. But there is a huge difference between the old masculine network and the network Aslander and Rifkin aim for. The old network was about acquiring access to power and formal decision making. Hierarchy was the keyword. What is your current profession? This would be the most important question in the masculine network. And then second, what do you make? Renowned is the known “Old Boys Network”. At the golf course, jobs are being divvied up and business passes on. The decisions are being made in the corridors. In the masculine network there is scraping, licking, scheming and elbowing. (Source, how do I become a rat. Joop Schrijvers). The Old Boys Network is about cronyism, jobs and assignments being passed on. In the feminine network it’s about knowledge, talents and skills. And then secondly, “how nice are you?” Formal powers and material wealth are of secondary value in the feminine network.”
The network of Martijn Aslander numbers some 6000 high potentials. Isn’t that a goldmine for headhunters?
“Not really. Most of them aren’t waiting for the kind of jobs headhunters usually have to offer. It only occasionally happens someone in my network is looking for a steady job. Mostly it would be something temporary, a steady income to finance another project they are working on.”
(continue your reading )
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Tags: 2.0, Aslander, economic law, Economics, energy, English, EUR, feminine network, food, golf, Interview, Jeremy Rifkin;, kastelein, Martijn Aslander, Maslow's Pyramid of Needs;, Network Economy, New Economy, NLG, publishing, richard, seth godin, Social Media, technological tools, The Netherlands, Timothy Ferris, wonderful tool, www.martijnaslander.nl|
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5:35pm |
Updated status on Facebook.
Richard Study shows Facebook, YouTube, and fark.com improve productivity at work http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090402/lf_nm_life/us_work_internet.
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5:35pm |
Posted a tweet on Twitter.
Study shows Facebook, YouTube, and fark.com improve productivity at work http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090402/lf_nm_life/us_work_internet
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