Experience Manifesto

PICNIC - PICNIC Goes New York

I'm very excited to be a part of the PICNIC Salon being held here in NYC next week. Amsterdam is one of my very favorite cities and it's events like PICNIC that help make Amsterdam the creative city it is. My experience at PICNIC two years ago introduced me to some great work being done around the world and I certainly look forward to attending PICNIC again in the future. During this workshop, we are being asked to participate in one of three discussion tables:

• The Augmented Cities table is all about how our cities can be enriched with virtual services and entertainment that merge with the cityscape and adapt to the ever-changing dynamic of the city and its people. As technology pushes forward new possibilities arise to create new urban services and experiences that engage & stimulate residents in new ways.
• The Connected Cities table deals with new ways to connect the growing number of city dwellers to the communities that they choose. And not only the people connect - the Internet of Things enables communication with your car, the traffic light & your favorite coffee machine. How to find, meet, bond, collaborate within people & objects who might be around the block or on the other side of the planet. Issues of trust, privacy and information overload compete with efficiency & serendipity. What is needed and what definitely not?
• The Sustainable Cities table deals with reducing the ecological footprint of a person, a block, the neighborhood and the city. With new visualizations & techniques we can expose patterns & suggest new ones to facilitate a new lifestye. But this change itself needs to be sustainable and this is more difficult to achieve. Bottom-up merges with top-down strategies when we provide the platforms, not the applications, that help people to help themselves. What can we learn & what should we do?

If you have any questions or thoughts that you'd like me to share with the groups, please leave them for me as comments here and I'll make sure to post them to the appropriate group. I'll also be blogging from the event and make sure that I get the discussions up as they're happening. I'm sure that it will be a very provocative and inspiring day. Look for #picnicsalon to follow me on Twitter on Monday.

PICNIC Salon New York is a gathering of world-class creatives, brand innovators, thought-leaders and city officials from both Amsterdam and New York. This high-level networking event is a unique opportunity to reinforce our cross-cultural relationships, make new contacts, and further creative and commercial collaboration between the two cities.

PICNIC Salon New York is a one-day event that will offer a taste of the PICNIC '09 program, including a special presentation from the Green Challenge, as well as a Creative Workshop & Brainstorm session with leading innovators from Amsterdam and New York. Featured speakers include Russell Shorto, author, contributing writer for the New York Times and Director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam and Carolien Gerhels, Deputy Major of Amsterdam.

PICNIC - PICNIC Goes New York.

Marketing Live | Hoe maakt u als marketeer het verschil?

Tonight, Sydney & I leave for the Marketing Live conference in Utrecht and we're both very excited about it. I'm going to try and have Sydney do some guest blogging next week, looking at the experiences we have through her eyes and I think that'll be fun for both of us.

One thing that's interesting for me is speaking at a conference when all of the information I've received is in a foreign, so I don't really get the entire feel for the program. So, I put the front page of the conference into Yahoo and this is what I got back:

Ventures which take the market as a main point perform better. But how do you get that outside world on the internal agenda? Marketeers make the difference by being enterprising. By their ring to stick out. By acting on abdomen feeling. But then you must provide also something. Certainly in these times. Is measure know! Accountability! But weet you now exact what produces your action? Or do you keep that kinder what vague? How you combine two worlds now those:

Good and rockly-hard measure feeling/entrepreneurship what you do? Where does the assessment lie? MarketingLive are event for the strategic marketeer, which want something more than superficial tales. With top participants and the best marketeers of the Netherlands, in the room and on the podium.

When I put it into Google for translation, I end up with this, some slightly different translations:

Companies that market starting to perform better. But how do you do outside world to the domestic agenda? Marketers make the difference by enterprising. By their neck to stabbing. By acting in belly feeling. But then you make something. Especially in these times. Measure is to know! Accountability! But do you know exactly what your actions bring? Or do you prefer vague? How do you combine those two worlds:

Good feeling / entrepreneurship and hard to measure what you do? Where is the balance? Live Marketing is the event for strategic marketers who want something more than superficial stories. With Top speakers and the best marketers in the Netherlands, in the room and on stage.

Just a reminder of how language can change the message and that it's really important to remember this when working with a global marketplace!

We'll be blogging and tweeting the conference, so check back on Wednesday to see what they have to say about these topics in another part of the world. And please let me know if you're going to be there or you're in Amsterdam and we'll make sure to get together!

Marketing Live | Hoe maakt u als marketeer het verschil?.

Multitouch Maven

Jonathan Brill has put together a new multitouch group and they're hosting their first event this Wednesday, June 3rd, at the Clo Wine Bar at the Time Warner Center. There's some video of Clo below and it should be an interesting event. You can go to Discussion About Designing Multitouch Interfaces at Clo Wine... - Eventbrite for registrations for this free event. Hope that you'll be able to join us!

Please join us for some great wine and a discussion about designing multitouch interfaces at Clo Wine Bar, the first major permanent multitouch installation in New York. In addition to Jonathan Brill, speakers include:

• Jared Schiffman, Principal, Potion Design. Jared will talk about designing Clo's interactive tables.
• Brian Smith, Manager of Clo. Brian will talk about how the interactive tables impact the service experience
• William Henry, Former sommelier at Daniel and Rouge Tomate. William take us on a tasting journey through the virtual wine country
• David Palinchock, Retail Experience Guru. David will talk about the design and layout of the customer experience

Multitouch Maven.

ITP Spring Show 2009

Last night, Sydney & I went to the ITP Spring Show 2009 at NYU and, as always, we not only had a great time, but we saw lots of cool things as well. Here are just a few of the highlights. For the 1st time since I've been going to the ITP show, I actually didn't get to see the entire place, so make sure you go to their web site and see everything created this semester. You can also go to ITP Spring Show ‘09 photos to see some of the pictures I took of the show. picture

MudTub

This was a very cool project exploring a very unique interface to play games and explore. Here's what Tom Gerhadt has to say about the Mud Tub:

By sloshing, squishing, pulling, punching, etc, in a tub of mud (yes, wet dirt), users control games, simulators, and expressive tools; interacting with a computer in a new, completely organic, way. Born out of a motivation to close the gap between our bodies and the digital world, the Mud Tub frees the traditional computer interaction model of it’s rigidity, allowing humans to use their highly developed sense of touch, and creative thinking skills in a more natural way.

As you can see by the video below of Sydney playing, it's a pretty engaging way to play computer games. But, as I said to Tom last night, I also thought that it would be a really cool way to let children learn physics, earth science and science in general. I can tell you that it was Sydney's favorite experience of the night. You can go to Tom Gerhardt | Mud Tub to learn more about the project and what Tom sees happening in the future.

Tugg of War

Another Sydney favorite was the Tugg of War. We saw a couple of experiences that involved using the cell phone as the tool to create a group experience and this was one of the game experiences. Tuug of War

A Fish This Big

Sydney & I also went fishing at ITPlease » Blog Archive » a tale of a whale…fish. It was a cool augmented reality piece about the storytelling behind the big fish. In addition to fish, Sydney & I also caught the Yellow Submarine. You can go to the Fish This Big photo page for some additional pictures of my & Sydney.

We focused on color tracking and Virtual Fish is the product of wanting to tell someone a story of how large a fish is that they caught. We used color tracking to track two green squares and based on the distance between the two squares we inserted a different fish. As the person pulls their hands apart, the fish, in turn, gets larger and changes species as it grows. Images are capture and later the person is able to see the different types of fish that they caught.

Shakers

Although the real name of this project is Shakers, Sydney and her new found friend Molly called it Population. In their minds, they were creating life forms on the plates and they needed to keep shaking the different colors onto the plates to keep the populations growing. As you can see, Sydney & Molly had a lot of fun, even if they didn't quite get the original concept.

The inspiration of "Shakers" (spice bottles) is not for seasoning food but for flavoring creations. Whereas they lose their practicality, they gain other identities to create visions and scents. Powder is supposed to be tiny particles of earth or seeds of organisms consisting of a certain pattern of generation. Audience can play them by shaking bottles onto the plates. Each shaker embodies different rule sets of creations that generate granules, their reactions, syntheses, and their collapse and disappearance. It is also embedded with scent dispenser that disperses different smell of earth. As audience sprinkle different shakers, they generate images of particles and dispersethe scent of organisms such as earth, decaying leaves, wood and flower.Expectantly, those collective smells formulate a forest-like atmosphere playing with genetic visuals and eventually it could craft more memorable experiences.

Body Beats

Body Beats is a musical wall sequencer that lets people create a melody using their body. Each person participates in the piece by using their body to play a single note. This encourages a group to cooperate together in making a composition. It uses face recognition to find where people are situated on the wall, and what types of notes they represent. Try it out and bring your friends!

MAKE TV

Just saw this, so thought that I would put it here as well.

MAKE was at the ITP Spring Show 2009 earlier this week. This is a compilation video of just some of the cool projects that were on display. Later in the week I will be writing about some of my favorite projects in more detail. More at: Make: Online : ITP Spring Show 2009 video compilation.

:: Come Out & Play 2009 ::

Bummed because I'm realizing that I'll miss the Come Out & Play festival this year. But, I'll be in Amsterdam, so I guess I'll have to figure out a way to play from there! But, if you're going to be anywhere near the city June 12 - 14, you should check them out! It's always a great event and lots of fun.

Come Out & Play in New York City on June 12-14, 2009

Come Out & Play is happy to announce that we're turning New York City into a playground yet again! The festival will run from June 12-14. The Tank, a wonderful non-profit arts space, will play host and serve as our central headquarters. This gives all Come Out & Players easy access to nearly every subway line, Times Square, Hudson River piers and pedestrian greenways along the West Side Highway, and of course Manhattan's crown jewel - Central Park. We're going to have such a great time!

:: Come Out & Play 2009 ::.

Experience Manifesto: Super Happy Fun Big City Bingo.

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - THIS PLATFORM CALLED EVERYDAY LIFE

Kevin opened his presentation talking about a woman who is married to the Berlin Wall and believes that all objects are living beings and have a soul. Interesting take about Webkinz and how things we live in two realms, the real & the virtual and where objects demand respect. Showing a project called Botanicalls , where your plants can call you when they need water. Or Nike+, where your sneakers are also part of the network and they can communicate with you. Or a ball that knows who's catching it, how long it's been in the air, etc. Talking about the Kogi taco truck out in LA which has been a huge hit! They send out a tweet to let you know where they are.

Kevin always really brings great examples like:

The Kim Possible game that you play at EPCOT Center, where you control the environment as you play the game through a cell phone.

513-381-JERK, a number in a stadium that you can text to when someone is a jerk, a whole company build around this.

Jryi Engestrom - social objects, people congregate about objects online, like photos, what happens when real objects do that?

Another good session. Looking forward to having the chance to work with Kevin in the future!

TALK: THIS PLATFORM CALLED EVERYDAY LIFE Like wildlife, viruses, and gold, mobile technologies don't recognize boundaries - least of all the ones we're using to distinguish "digital" from "real". Kevin Slavin (Area/Code) reveals the latest trends driven by mobile technology.

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - Eventbrite.

PSFK Conference New York - BUILDING HEALTHY BRANDS WITH HEART

Although I don't have many notes, this was really a good session about some of the small changes these two companies are making. I really like the simplicity that they're both applying to the healthcare industries. Well worth looking into Hello Health and Help Remedies.

PANEL: BUILDING HEALTHY BRANDS WITH HEART How do you change the status quo in industries with powerful incumbents? Two emerging New York-based brands seek to alter the way we think about medicine -- from routine doctor's visits to first-aid. Colin Nagy (PSFK/Attention) speaks with Richard Fine (Help Remedies) and Jay Parkinson & Sean Khozin (Hello Health) to discuss the vision for their respective brands, as well as their insights on the healthcare industry as a whole. 

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - Eventbrite.

PSFK Conference New York - WHEN IDEAS CREATE GOOD

Graham is doing his presentation in a very interesting way, pecha kucha, 20 slides in 20 seconds each. First section will be about people. Ok, almost impossible to keep up! Graham will be posting his presentation on treehugger.com, so I'll link to it when it's up.

Ben Jones, what ever's he selling, Graham's buying.

Just showed people who did the 100 mile diet, they only ate food that was grown within 100 miles of where they live.

The extremists. Chaining yourself to trees, etc., is extreme, but they allow us to look normal.

Stuff

Fishcards

Vertical farms

Demountable stair, very cool!

Bike sharing programs

Ultra Capicitors

$10 timers

Robot driven, big kites for large boats

Foldschool, downloadable furniture designs

Bio-mimicry, looking to nature to solve our own problems

A variety of wind turbine systems

Electric composter

A composting toilet

Walls made from sandbags

Powerizers, cool stilt-like things

Concepts

Zipcars, take products and turn them into services

Skype water cooler thing

Wow, just told us how many gallons it takes to make a 10 oz steak, like 900 gallons!

Think small. Everything should be smaller

Anything that's going to last must be loved by generations

Use space effeciently + own less stuff

Interesting stats on how little we actually use space

We need to bring back repairing things

Lots of very good information about how to create a more sustainable planet

TALK: WHEN IDEAS CREATE GOOD While many of us are determined to make better products, services and experiences there are many challenges and potential pitfalls along the way. Graham Hill (TreeHugger) will share the best, high-impact green products and services available today, and what we can learn from their unique stories of development.

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - Eventbrite.

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - Eventbrite

Very excited to be attending the upcoming PSFK Conference in NY on Thursday. Lots of great speakers and I'm looking forward to some very inspiring sessions. When I can, I'll be blogging & twittering during the program, so look for updates all day.

Speakers include:

Ryan Jacoby, IDEO

Avner Ronen, boxee

Kevin Slavin, area/code

Florian Peter, CScout

Carl Johnson, Anomaly

Emily Steel, Wall Street Journal

Paul M Taylor, Diageo

and many others!

If you're going to be there too, make sure you say hi!

On April 2, 2009, PSFK will host PSFK Conference New York in Battery Park. The event celebrates the most creative ideas and inspirational organizations emerging from the city - people who we write about on our daily news site at PSFK.com.

Tailored for creative professionals, strategists and the media, we will host 12 lectures and panels on topics that include arts & culture, design, digital & mobile technology, marketing & advertising, sustainability, social media and publishing.

Attendees come to our events to share ideas with likeminds, so beyond the talks we will curate interactive experiences in the venue that bring our core themes to life.

PSFK Conference New York 2009 - Eventbrite.

MassivelyNetworked: What happens as marketing gets truly interactive?

Some good coverage of several SXSW sessions about the future of marketing, and, yours truly gets some press! Liked what Pamela had to say was her key takeaway:

My takeaway is these trends are likely to dramatically alter where, how, what and to whom we market products and services in the near future - and, most importantly, why we do it.

We've been trying to get this message to our clients for a number of years. And when you start seeing things like the Sixth Sense work from MIT (see video below for some damn cool video of this project), you can't help but wonder how all of this technology will impact what we do in the advertising industry. And you add ubiquitous computing, and you're talking about some game changing experiences.

Read the whole piece to get Pamela's take on how all of these technologies will create great opportunities for us folks in the advertising industry in the future.

As Polinchock said of traditional retail, "Physical retail experience has to deliver more than price and product." If retailers don't evolve to compete with applications such as Amazon's iPhone app that allows you to enter a brick and mortar, take a picture, price compare and purchase online, they will become "stupidly expensive websites." To survive, physical stores will have to provide some valuable service or experience that can't easily be found online. In Polinchock's view, it's a matter not of creating just brand awareness, but "brand utility."

MassivelyNetworked: What happens as marketing gets truly interactive? .

Experience Manifesto: TED: MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense -- Video | Epicenter from Wired.com.