Life is back from the dead. And Marilyn is forever.

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., digital millenials, engaging, networked, social web
Posted by: Nita Rollins 

 

Life Magazine is a brand colossus, in many ways the quintessential Boomer brand. Defining photojournalism in the 20^th century while also defining the 20^th century, its portraits framed the ahistorical absolutes of courage, despair, charisma and power as much as the persons of a certain historical gravitas. The viewer’s pursuit of accidental revelations of character kept all those modernist literature-stoked latent/manifest dichotomies in productive tension. I know because I used to sit spellbound before the stacks of Life my cousin had collected in his post-Harvard hovel. With my two-page spread-sized memories intact, and an avowed deference for the tradition of the defining public image—in stark contrast to the people’s indefatigable showcasing of social networking candids—I am the perfect witness to a Boomer brand entering the ecosystem of the open web.

It’s not Life’s digitization per se that makes this an interesting transition for a brand twice defibrillated in its 64-year history—we barely raise an eyebrow over Google’s all-in-a-day’s-work project to digitize the world’s books, for heaven’s sake.

It’s the letting loose of Life’s curatorial authority, its single-photo storytelling precision, into the jungle of laissez-faire cut-and-paste social web content that begs for commentary. The ‘coming soon’ web site promises over 10 million photos will be made available for viewing, or, as parent company Time put it: “…the most important collection of imagery covering the events and people of the 20th century…[will be] available for free for personal use”—at least, for viewing and sharing. More than 97% of the collection has never been seen by the public.

Such an inconceivable darkroom trove of “outtakes” (albeit by the likes of Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks)! What could be more appropriate for our era of flourishing amateur photography and citizen journalism than converting Life’s vault into an editorial roundtable, a photographic piñata? Unsettling, perhaps, for its Boomer devotees who remember when larger-than-Life was hard to come by? (Winston Churchill as a screensaver—really?) But probably, ultimately, exhilarating for all comers. That is, if Life truly adapts to the digital channel. And from what I’ve gathered, the revenue model is strictly 20^th century—mainly advertising-based. (As Time also owns Getty, site visitors coming to look and learn will be exposed to the latter collection and might buy.) Based on the advance press, there is but one concession to the social web’s intensely OPEN relationship with images—you can create Flickr-style personal collections.

There are ways to counter the constant battering of our journalistic institutions (hint: they’re digital), and, in this instance, to drive cross-generational traffic to Life.com. (Yes, this begs for a post on washingtonpost.com.) For Life, in my opinion, the most important of these is a social platform for storytelling, the kind that would enable community voting on the best photo/journalistic albums—those with stirring commentary that keeps history alive. Kodak has an employee blog that has done wonders for their place in the imaging community, as they like to call it. Limited edition downloads of Life covers for poster-size printing wouldn’t be a bad idea either, even if I did steal it from the current collaboration of Absolut and fashion designer Helmut Lang. For all those copyright-minded among you, there are always the Creative Commons alternatives. Quite simply, more exposure, more usage=more life for Life.com.

To make sure I’m not blindly enthusiastic about this digital brand makeover of Life, particularly as an Engaging and Networked brand, I conducted some quick research of a certain person who has graced Life’s covers several times, and who is the very definition of iconic inexhaustibility (if you don’t believe me, read American Monroe: The Making of a Body Politic). Has the social web tired of Marilyn Monroe? Can icitizens find enough to do, interactively speaking, with the silver screen goddess? Does she make sense any longer to digital millennials, for whom continuous virtual self-presentation precedes self-knowledge?

Are you kidding? 16,738 thought to upload some version of Marilyn Monroe on Flickr. Metacafe has 144 largely homemade Marilyn Monroe videos. iStockPhoto has several Marilyn impersonators doing their best to keep the subway breeze blowing up her white pleated dress, figuratively speaking. And Google says Marilyn Monroe matters to someone 13,400,000 ways. I found a particularly appropriate cultural artifact trolling around someone’s personal Picasa photo album: Marilyn Monroe coaxed once again into life through a collage of Life’s covers.

I also found a Marilyn Monroe image rarely seen (perhaps never before published?) on Flickr and will leave you to contemplate both its hold on the viewer and the icitizen comments that follow.

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Space…the OPEN Frontier?

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., engaging, networked, on-demand
Posted by: Dan Shust 

 

Last night I was driving from Cleveland to Columbus and listening to the trusty iPod. I’m a huge fan of all types of music, but lately I find myself listening to podcasts (and watching vodcasts) almost exclusively. One of my favorite podcasts is BusinessWeek’s Innovation of the Week. If you aren’t already subscribed, I suggest you check it out.

This week the host interviewed NASA’s chief knowledge architect, Jeanne Holm. Jeanne described NASA’s commitment to their constituency and the methods that they use to reach and interact with them. From Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter accounts and even weekly meetings in Second Life, NASA knows where their “customers” hang out and makes it easy for them to interact with the agency. They author and maintain many forums and blogs, even one entitled appropriately enough, Open NASA.

From the blog’s About Page:

“We come from a perspective within NASA of transparency, accessibility, risk, honesty, merit, and participation. We have insight into what is and could be happening inside the U.S. space program– but so do you, and it is something to be shared and discussed.”

A lot of corporations could learn something from their O.P.E.N. approach. Come to think of it, so could the rest of our government. But, I’ll wait a couple weeks to write that post.

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Tivo=Change Agent

Tagged as: networked, personal, technology
Posted by: Mila Goodman 

 

I remember my first Tivo; it was way before my first HD TV. I loved pressing the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons and seeing how Tivo would take those actions and make recommendations for me. When it came time to upgrade to a new HD TV, I ditched Tivo because they were too expensive to upgrade. It was a sad day and a tough decision for me but I welcomed Cablevision’s DVR (ick) into my media center. As soon as Verizon Fios became available, I immediately switched but neither of their DVRs held a match to Tivo.

These days I am the road more frequently and realized how much the DVR (which I still refer to as Tivo even though it’s a no frills Scientific something or other) has altered my television consumption. Even when I’m home, I very rarely watch TV “live.” I rationalize how much TV I watch by getting in 2 or 3 shows in a time frame that would normally include 1 or 2. This past week, I realized a few things:

1. I don’t remember when my shows are on (days or times)
2. I don’t remember what channel my shows are on (never mind the conversion to whatever city I’m in)
3. I don’t remember all the shows I watch!
4. I hate spoilers.

For me, the DVR is an empowering technology—it allows me to forget about what I want to see because when I press the list button, it will tell me what I want to watch. It also empowers me to avoid living my life around that must see show—whether it’s the NBA finals, the Olympics, Gossip Girl or Mad Men. It empowers me to consume more television in the same amount of time—I don’t have to horse trade shows that are on at the same time. I may need to invest in the Slingbox PRO-HD.

Outside of my personal addiction to the DVR, see below for penetration statistics for US households from Forrester Research. I’m glad to see that I’m not alone.

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Facebook – Delivering value to this Gen Xer

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., networked, personal, social web, trends
Posted by: Mila Goodman 

 

I have two digital social profiles – my professional one and my personal one. In my professional world – I have an avatar, I twitter, I shop online and am an active member of several social networks. My personal circle – comprised mainly of my non-work friends – is mostly offline and connected by phone and face to face. They don’t twitter, post pictures online and rarely use email or IM. In the past 2 weeks, these worlds finally collided. My high school and college friends made their way onto Facebook and I am re-connected with them. Facebook now delivers the promise of being a social utility – not because of any updates or re-designs but simply because the people I want to stay connected to are finally there! I can keep tabs and update both of my worlds with single strokes on the keyboard (or more likely my Treo). The fact that it successfully juxtaposes my work self with my personal self is truly an awesome thing.

In my experience, my generation—unlike the Digital Millenials—is either in the digital space or still trying to figure it out. For my Xer friends not in the business, the online channel is not part of their DNA or even seen as a useful way to communicate.

Notwithstanding the social convenience Facebook has recently delivered for me, it is a part of mass culture. Consider some of these stats…

- Facebook has over 110 mm active users

- Facebook is the 4th most-trafficked website in the world

- Facebook is the most-trafficked social media site in the world

- More than half of Facebook users are outside of college

- The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older

- Maintain 85 percent market share of 4-year U.S. universities

- Over 24,000 applications have been built on Facebook Platform

- 140 new applications added per day

If you’re an Xer or Boomer looking for an easy entry into the social web, visit Facebook.com and re-connect with your family and friends or friend me and I’ll show you the ropes.

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Open Up the Backchannel

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., digital millenials, engaging, networked, social web
Posted by: Dan Shust 

 

Earlier this month MTV launched Backchannel, a very cool competitive chat game designed to be played while watching live episodes of The Hills. Players type in witty comments referencing what is happening on screen and earn points when others like their comments. (You vote by clicking on their comment.)

We have been seeing similar experiences sprout up for the debates and other select events, but why not just open the backchannel permanently? Let us chat while we watch, participate in fun competitions, etc. I’d love to see the major networks get behind an idea like this. What a great way to enhance the viewing of a live sporting event, episodic drama, etc. It could even make a really horrible show fun. (Remember MST3K?)

Advertisers would love it because chatting encourages live viewing (the anti-DVR?). Additionally, they could collect some very interesting user opinion data surrounding their ad campaigns.

What do you say NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO? Open up the backchannel and I might even watch Knightrider.

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WE ARE HERE.

Tagged as: mobile, networked, technology, trends
Posted by: Nita Rollins 

 

“You are here.” How many of us have scrutinized this inadvertently philosophical assertion when wayfinding in the subway or at the zoo, mall or amusement park? The X designating one’s location vis-à-vis other highlights on the map is practically the universal symbol for being slightly lost. In my experience, it always seems to have little to do with where I feel I am, or where I wish I were, or where I thought I had finally arrived. All manner of perspectival negotiation of the 2-D maze of lines and dots before me ensues: moving in closer, tilting my head to align the landmarks with my sightline, squinting so as to project myself onto the smaller plane of impervious reality before me.

A cartoon check on Google reassured me I’m in good company finding humor in the incongruity between my existential self and this confident cartographic depiction of it. But a really funny thing has happened recently while navigating our way to the forum—or big box or nightclub. Something dislodged this incongruity, this mismatch between our selves and our public maps. Location awareness has become the new “there there” of our digital devices, and not just of the mere 17% of phones that are GPS-enabled (as of late 2007, pre- 3G iPhone). Low- and mid-tier mobile phones and PNDs (personal navigation devices) have been serving up location awareness to millions.

Google’s MyLocation, for instance, has been bringing cell tower-triangulated location awareness to non-GPS phones for about a year, and just upgraded the service so the pale blue circle of your likely location is smaller, and for urban areas, it’s a dot of on-the-block precision.

Location awareness, in case its killer app-ness is initially lost on you, means the navigator is embedded in the map. That inscrutable X that once stood for you is now the real-time longitudinal and latitudinal (and sometimes altitudinal) equivalent of you. And if that isn’t enough of a kick for the navigation-challenged, or the socially mobile (as it were), the map in which you are embedded can be populated exclusively by the geo-information in which you’ve indicated interest. So the world arrays itself around you and your immediate needs and desires as if you were Zeus on a daytrip.

The digitally prescient have been talking about this paradigm shifter for some time—how web surfing is giving way—or at least sharing the stage with—world surfing. We in the RI:Lab have been studying the macrotrend of Cartocracy for months. But brands might be wondering what the heck these apps and maps offer that their store locators don’t. We’ll need a few WeThink posts to answer that one but, for now, here’s a handy list of five reasons a new kind of X marks the spot, and how mega value creation is sure to follow.

1. We, the people, are the reason for the map! Historically, maps have served as political instruments due as much to what they left out as to what they laid claim to by way of depiction. If a mountain range were included as part of the empire’s map, it must be so. (Or, as French philosopher Jean Baudrillard would say, “the map precedes the territory.”) Certainly maps well before our GPS-enabled times rarely included individuals and their personal reference points. How impertinent it would have been to think our being there, specifically, somewhere on the map, mattered when empire-building was at stake! No longer. Today’s digital maps put us literally at the center, and bring their various objects—be it friends or restaurants or Wikipedia tidbits (through the handy mashup Wikinear, which runs on Yahoo’s Fire Eagle geo platform) or our own at-home security and electronics systems (with iControl) into relationship with us.
2. Static maps give way to mapping. Temporality is added to spatiality. GPS satellite and cellular network tower signals help us pinpoint not only our real-time location but our actual movement to our destination—and possible impediments such as traffic jams. Social navigation apps like Citysense or Loopt show the flow of the crowd and whereabouts of friends. It’s a “We are here” world (Citysense uses GPS and WiFi positioning data from the last few years plus real-time feeds and Loopt uses GPS) that some argue restores a bit of spontaneity to our overscheduled lives.
3. Maps evolve constantly. People contribute to the so-called social maps and mapping apps by populating them with geotags, including the popular push pins, geograffiti, and even venue reviews. Maps of yore were intended to last–and often did last–unchallenged for centuries. The twelve minutely detailed copper plates making up the Pianta Grande di Roma (”Great Plan of Rome”) date to 1748 but continued to be used as the basis for government maps of the city until the 1970s!
4. Geo-capability drives appetite. The more physically accurate and information-rich our digital maps and mapping applications become, the more people expect them to constitute a complete “mirror world,” as the gamers call it. What are the consequences of being left out of this mirror world? Do you or your company, in some ways, matter less, off the grid?
5. Our cartographic consciousness grows and our sense of shared place is sharpened. Remember the third place, after home and work, that coffee shop or bookstore where people gather to reconstitute a public or shared social space? Welcome to the fourth space: a fusion of virtual and real, where people oscillate between digitally co-existing in a geo-annotated space and the heightened possibility of suddenly meeting up. This is the preferred world order of GPS-based games like Playce, of course.
6. There’s money in them thar coordinates. Hot on the heels of the GPS-enabled 3G iPhone is Google’s long-awaited Android, making its debut tomorrow, with geo apps aplenty. Google’s deep development resources might make Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers’s $100m backing of the over 1700 iPhone applications (to date) look downright conservative.

More mapping mania to come!

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Activating Messages on Social Networks

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., networked, social web
Posted by: Molly Metzger 

 

“Despite the buzz about viral marketing, most companies should not count on it to spread the word about their brand or product,” says Duncan Watts, professor of sociology at Columbia University and iCitizen keynote speaker. He suggests combining the power of traditional advertising with “the extra punch provided by viral propagation”. This is the promise of social advertising: enabling campaigns to reach a larger population than they had previously had access to by encouraging reproduction and sharing of the message.

The latest installment is Facebook’s new product called ‘Engagement Advertisements’ (described here by Jeremiah Owyang) that encourage members to interact with the ads by leaving comments, sharing virtual gifts, or becoming fans. It’s in trial but will be available later in the year.

These ad units have a built-in mechanism for collaboration and sharing. But this only addresses one half of the equation of social advertising. Social ads can’t simply be easy to share. They are dependant upon disruptive, highly targeted creative that motivates users to share, often by serving as a social lubricant. Traditional calls to action need not apply.

Need some inspiration? Look no further than the O.P.E.N. framework, particularly the networked quadrant. How can your social ad support one of these 5 networked experiences?

• Self-expression
• Ego gratification
• Goodwill exchange
• Meaningful, visible change
• Community

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Technology-Enabled Social Network, Old-School

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., networked, on-demand, social web, technology
Posted by: Chris Berk 

 

A couple weeks ago I was traveling with the family to St. Louis. We were on I-70, west of Indianapolis when traffic came to a standstill. There were no construction signs, no plumes of smoke, no flashing lights. Traffic just stopped and we had no idea what was going on. So I decided to find out for myself. I first fired up my trusty Treo to see if there were any news alerts about an accident or maybe a construction report. Once that failed, I booted up my PC armed with a wireless air card – clearly I needed more horsepower than my Treo to get the low-down of the situation. I searched and searched online for 20 minutes or more…nothing! Where was the wisdom of the crowds (I was sitting in a big one)? Where’s my on-demand answer? No tweets?! No diggs?!

Right there on I-70, I was about to give up on the OPENness of my technology, when my wife suggested an alternative technical solution, “Why don’t you get out of the car, walk over to that truck, and ask the truck driver what’s going on? Doesn’t he have a CB or something like that? Can’t he just talk to one of his trucker buddies way up at the front of the line?”

I coyly walked over to what must be one of the original, technology-enabled social networks – a truck driver and his CB radio! Of course the trucker knew what was going on – an overturned truck was blocking the highway. The more I thought about it, his CB radio network functions much as the web does, truly enabling an O.P.E.N. experience that serves the needs of its participants. Forget the iPhone, I need a CB.

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Let the (digital) games begin!

Tagged as: O.P.E.N., creative, digital millenials, engaging, iCitizen, mobile, networked, new consumer journey, on-demand, personal, retail, social web, technology, trends
Posted by: Dan Shust 

 

I have to admit, I’m jazzed for the Olympics to start tonight, but not for the reasons you might think. While Michael Phelps bid for 8 gold medals is amazing and Dara Torres, competing in her 5th Olympic games at 41 years old, is inspirational, I’m more excited to see some digital records get broken.

Here are my podium picks:

Bronze Medal: McDonalds “The Lost Ring”

In March 50 bloggers received a mysterious package in the mail. It contained an Olympic poster and a ball of string that, when unraveled, revealed a web address. Thus began “The Lost Ring” an Alternate Reality Game (or ARG) that is currently being played in 7 languages across 100 countries. The players work together to hunt for clues to solve an ancient Olympic mystery. Immersive gameplay leads them to websites, blog posts, wikis, podcasts and even Twitter. 4 million people and counting have visited the launch site.

Silver Medal: Lenovo “Voices of the Olympic Games”

In an attempt to bring attention to a variety of less mainstream Olympic sports, Lenovo has given laptops and Flip video cameras to 100 athletes. (No other compensation is being provided.) Their only direction was to tell the rest of the world about their Olympic experience. Their blog posts are revealing, touching and sometimes humorous. Mainstream media will blast us with Phelps, LeBron, Kobe and Torres, but Lenovo’s athlete bloggers allow us to partake in the “common” Olympian’s experience.

Gold Medal: NBC - Digital Coverage

In 2006 NBC streamed one hockey game live form the Turin Winter Olympics. This year the network will stream over 2200 hours of live coverage and 3600 hours of on demand video will ultimately be available. Their custom video player is ground breaking, allowing the user to enjoy such features as closed captioning, expert commentary even for less popular events, integrated trivia, picture-in-picture and a “control room” view in which you can enjoy up to 4 live events simultaneously. NBC’s coverage also includes a robust mobile web site, text messaging, e-mail alerts and mobile video.

So, there are my “Digital Olympics” medal winners. Each effort is game changing in its own way, but just imagine if they were all on the same team. When you do, you can almost see the future…

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What do you think of your new iPhone?

Tagged as: engaging, mobile, networked
Posted by: Dennis Bajec 

 

The question has been already been asked several times so I think it may be time to provide some answers.

Despite some day-one hiccups (Five hours in line outside the Apple store, Apple’s systems going down multiple times, not being able to activate in-store as planned, that kind of thing), YES, it was worth it.

Unfortunately, the in-store experience was slow and very un-Apple. Some guy named Chuck opened the box and was the first to handle my phone robbing me of this very important step in the Apple purchase process, thanks a lot AT&T. However, after this blip it got much better. I was impressed at how easily all of my old data ported over to the new device—once I got my own hands on the phone.

Like the original iPhone, the new one continues to be much more than a phone or a PDA. I’m sure I’m showing my true gadget-geekiness here, but I find that not only do I always have it with me, but I keep it “on” more than any other personal electronic device I’ve ever owned. For those of you who know my technology addiction, you know what a big deal that is.

And it’s not just for me–for mapping bike routes, getting directions to my son’s football camp, posting to tumblr or getting new music. Each time I’m in a client meeting, I dream up new uses and ideas for how we can improve life for consumers with a custom iPhone application. The opportunity that this device is providing will be looked backed on as significant as the development of the public internet.

I now dream in gesture-based controls, highly saturated icons with rounded corners and, yes, really slick maps with pins dropping into place indicating my favorite restaurants, shops and clubs.

I admit it, I’m in love. But I’ll end with a couple things still have on my wish list:
• Copy and paste
• Deleting multiple emails
• Video capture
• Freezing & misfires from all the new software
• Constant charging (more frequently than the original iPhone)

Overall these are all minor issues compared to what this device does so well—balancing/blending the virtual and physical worlds and at the same time improving both.

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