Friday, March 29, 2013
Mental Map of Online Participation
I was going through my files and came across a mental map I did a few months ago about factors involved in online participation and social media, particularly related to participation in politics and government.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Digital Playground/School in Toronto
The educational benefits of digital and interactive media are well established. Even considering this, I am surprised how seldom my young daughter has had the chance to use educational technology. Her schools have made spartan and prosaic use of computers. Even with me working in digital media, I haven't exposed my kid to that much tech beyond online and console games.
So when I got an invitation to visit TIFF's digital and creative media playground,digiPlaySpace, with my daughter, we were both excited.
For those unfamiliar with TIFF, it's the Toronto International Film Festival. Since moving into their new downtown building, the Bell Lightbox, in 2010, TIFF operates year-round with events, screenings, and exhibits about cinema and new media. I was last at TIFF for a locative media conference, but I used to be on the site regularly as I shortcutted through the parking lot that used to occupy the site to get to my first Internet-industry job.
So I know a thing or two about this field, but whenever I try to talk to my kid about this (or anything educational) she instantly tunes out. (Is it just mine or are other kids like this?) Anyway, it's great to have places like digiPlaySpace for parents to interact with their kids in a fun and educational environment.
An international group of artists and developers created apps and installations. TIFF lists all the activities there, but our highlights are below. Photos are by me and the captions are by my daughter.
Making a dramatic entrance is important, so it's great that the first activity is Body Paint. It uses a huge screen and sensors to respond to kids' movements to enable them to create dynamic performance art.
Each station has facilitators and the staff were incredible - very friendly, knowledgeable, and accessible to children. A facilitator turned my kid into a stop-motion film at "The Puppet Powered Mega-Pixilation Dream Engine" below.
They also had a section for tech making and DIY, Touch Circuits and Micro Makers' Space.
We had a lot of fun with green-screens at Be In the Scene, including having my daughter become King Kong's next victim.
Another green screen activity is Weather Worlds. This one enables kids to interact and change an on-screen world, as my kid describes, "The Weather one is my favourite because you make tornadoes, mountains, sandstorms, snowballs, and umbrellas by doing specials actions on a green screen. It was really fun to control the world's weather!"
They also have an Appcade, with a variety of educational apps and tablets. We loved Pitch Painter, Bloom HD, and Gesundheit. We don't have a tablet, so it was the first time we encountered such touch-based, interactive apps. My kid wants a tablet now. (Santa are you listening?) She also got to make her own animation using the software Scratch. I was surprised how easy it was to use (and that it's free thanks to MIT), so that kids can create games or animations without having to master complicated coding. One of the professors from my faculty helped choose the apps. TIFF has posted online their favourite apps and online resources.
Overall, the exhibit helped my daughter (and me) learn about how movies are created, motion sensors, composing music, circuits, robotics, and 3D printing - not to mention how to use various digital media.
As if all this wasn't enough of a geek fest for me, we finished our day by checking out TIFF's free exhibit, X-Men Master: Gordon Smith. The exhibit includes incredible displays of the make-up and prosthetics from the X-Men movies. Mystique's body coverings and Wolverines claws are a fanboy's holy grail, but sadly one can view these relics only until this Sunday.
The exhibit combined really well with digiPlaySpace as my daughter is really into performing arts. So she got to see and practice first hand how the real and virtual and old and new tech combine to make movies possible.
digiPlaySpace is open until April 21, 2013. Their target age is 3-13, but parents were having as much fun as the kids. Admission is $8.
It's the second year for digiPlaySpace, but I wish it was a permanent. It's a great idea for school field trips, but I would love for technology and environment like this to be incorporated into all Ontario curriculum. As Ontario strives to transition to a knowledge and creative economy, it's essential to get kids interested and experienced in this. As my daughter put it, "I love how you learn while you play. It's a great way to learn about technology."
So when I got an invitation to visit TIFF's digital and creative media playground,digiPlaySpace, with my daughter, we were both excited.
For those unfamiliar with TIFF, it's the Toronto International Film Festival. Since moving into their new downtown building, the Bell Lightbox, in 2010, TIFF operates year-round with events, screenings, and exhibits about cinema and new media. I was last at TIFF for a locative media conference, but I used to be on the site regularly as I shortcutted through the parking lot that used to occupy the site to get to my first Internet-industry job.
So I know a thing or two about this field, but whenever I try to talk to my kid about this (or anything educational) she instantly tunes out. (Is it just mine or are other kids like this?) Anyway, it's great to have places like digiPlaySpace for parents to interact with their kids in a fun and educational environment.
An international group of artists and developers created apps and installations. TIFF lists all the activities there, but our highlights are below. Photos are by me and the captions are by my daughter.
Making a dramatic entrance is important, so it's great that the first activity is Body Paint. It uses a huge screen and sensors to respond to kids' movements to enable them to create dynamic performance art.
 |
| "It's really cool because you're making a painting with your own body. I loves how it changes colour and splashes!" |
 |
| "I've done claymation before, but I've never done human-mation! It's really fun!" |
 |
| "It's really cool with the potatoes that just by connecting these wires it plays music by tapping the potato while holding the controller." |
We had a lot of fun with green-screens at Be In the Scene, including having my daughter become King Kong's next victim.
 |
| "It's really cool how green screens work. They take away all the green and then you can put the image of something on top of another. I learned that a lot of movies use green screens for special effects." |
Another green screen activity is Weather Worlds. This one enables kids to interact and change an on-screen world, as my kid describes, "The Weather one is my favourite because you make tornadoes, mountains, sandstorms, snowballs, and umbrellas by doing specials actions on a green screen. It was really fun to control the world's weather!"
They also have an Appcade, with a variety of educational apps and tablets. We loved Pitch Painter, Bloom HD, and Gesundheit. We don't have a tablet, so it was the first time we encountered such touch-based, interactive apps. My kid wants a tablet now. (Santa are you listening?) She also got to make her own animation using the software Scratch. I was surprised how easy it was to use (and that it's free thanks to MIT), so that kids can create games or animations without having to master complicated coding. One of the professors from my faculty helped choose the apps. TIFF has posted online their favourite apps and online resources.
Overall, the exhibit helped my daughter (and me) learn about how movies are created, motion sensors, composing music, circuits, robotics, and 3D printing - not to mention how to use various digital media.
As if all this wasn't enough of a geek fest for me, we finished our day by checking out TIFF's free exhibit, X-Men Master: Gordon Smith. The exhibit includes incredible displays of the make-up and prosthetics from the X-Men movies. Mystique's body coverings and Wolverines claws are a fanboy's holy grail, but sadly one can view these relics only until this Sunday.
The exhibit combined really well with digiPlaySpace as my daughter is really into performing arts. So she got to see and practice first hand how the real and virtual and old and new tech combine to make movies possible.
digiPlaySpace is open until April 21, 2013. Their target age is 3-13, but parents were having as much fun as the kids. Admission is $8.
It's the second year for digiPlaySpace, but I wish it was a permanent. It's a great idea for school field trips, but I would love for technology and environment like this to be incorporated into all Ontario curriculum. As Ontario strives to transition to a knowledge and creative economy, it's essential to get kids interested and experienced in this. As my daughter put it, "I love how you learn while you play. It's a great way to learn about technology."
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Digital Media Summit ReView
Yesterday was the second and final day of the Digital Media Summit conference in Toronto. I recapped my highlights from the first day of the conference on Webslinger and the Twitter feed has useful highlights as well.
Some speakers on the second day overlapped with material covered on the first day. But this helped drive home key themes raised in various sessions. Overall, however, it was an excellent conference. Here are my favourite take-aways:
With the exponential global adoption of smartphones, more people are accessing digital content predominantly through mobiles and this is expected to increase. There will be a role for desktop computers (as one speaker noted "who has ever created, let alone used, a spreadsheet on their mobile?" - no one had). But more people are using their mobiles to access company's content - several properties represented at the conference are already receiving more traffic from mobiles than PCs.
Yet accessing content via mobiles is often difficult, messy, or impossible to access via mobiles. Several speakers advised that instead of trying to retrofit all web content to mobiles, which is what most companies do, consider building for mobiles first.
To do this effectively, Erik Qualman, pointed out the 80/20 rule applies to mobile - so 80% of a company's value will come from 20% of their online content, so "scale down your offerings to the essentials" to optimize the mobile experience (and likely the web too)/
2) Create brand awareness and engagement with social objects
Although no one used the term "social objects" the concept came up several times. Social objects are pieces of online content - videos, articles, photos, games - upon which people are drawn to, organically share and discuss. Think of the latest kitten video featured on YouTube's homepage and you got a social object.
Mark McKay presented Ford's Zombie Escape commercial, which is an excellent example of this. Of course zombie videos are going to go viral like well a zombie epidemic, but what I liked about this campaign is it actually tied into the product features it was promoting. As McKay urged it's important with such campaigns to be "relevant and differentiated" in addition to "shareable".
3) Context is crucial
As the ability to customize digital media continues to become easier and cheaper to produce, it's crucial to consider the context of your audience and deliver content and experiences relevant to their habits and motivations.
As Nicola Smith advises, "context should drive execution" and to demonstrate this Smith used the example of a German pet food company that placed poster dispensers by parks where people walked their dogs with instructions to check-in via Foursquare. They then got a free sample of a new pet food. I find this campaigns works on a few levels - obviously, it's a fun and memorable campaign. But more importantly, it delivers the brand engagement and sampling where and when it is most relevant to people.
Context is also important not only in content but in media form - whether tablet, PCs, mobile, etc. Katrina Klier urged that it is crucial to get "the right modality and the right time".
4) Recruit your customers to work for you
I'm not sure if blogger relations and "brand ambassadors" campaigns are the topic-du-jour for marketers but this came up a lot at the conference. This isn't something particularly relevant to my work, but I did find one tip on this particularly interesting.
For companies wanting to reach a global audience, tapping into people's social networks offers an opportunity. Katrina Klier noted that most people have at least one of a few international friends on social networks sites, so whether people know it or not they have a global footprint. She also mentioned that the average Facebook user has 359 friends - so tapping into this extends one's reach incredibly. (But is that statistic true? If so, I'm clearly a real loner.)
5) Identity matters - know your audience and help them know themselves
Although I only heard the issue of identity raised once, by Alfredo Tan of Facebook, I think it is a vital issue.
First, there's the aspect of knowing the true identities of your online audience. Tan raised the famous comic of the dog at a computer saying to another dog "on the Internet no one knows your a dog". Well, not true anymore says Tan due to Facebook - as they have the true identity of 1 billion people. This is a significant marketing opportunity.
Tan also talked about how social objects give people the opportunity to shape their identity around digital content. They like products/things to project an image of themselves to their friends. So learn about your customers and consider "why they care and why they share".
Final review
I mentioned yesterday how much I appreciated how well run the conference was and the choice of venue. I forgot to mention that I really liked the staging of the conference. The main conference room, which housed the keynotes, had the best stage and audio-visual set-up I have ever encountered. The use of multi-screens allowed for the speakers and their slides to be displayed, which is great for big conference - but rarely done.
The set and lighting also looked great! It's great to to not always have Toronto tech conferences seeming low rent - which I think projects poorly on the vitality and maturity of our industry.
Some speakers on the second day overlapped with material covered on the first day. But this helped drive home key themes raised in various sessions. Overall, however, it was an excellent conference. Here are my favourite take-aways:
- Consider mobile first
- Create social objects
- Context is crucial
- Recruit your customers to work for you
- Identity matters
With the exponential global adoption of smartphones, more people are accessing digital content predominantly through mobiles and this is expected to increase. There will be a role for desktop computers (as one speaker noted "who has ever created, let alone used, a spreadsheet on their mobile?" - no one had). But more people are using their mobiles to access company's content - several properties represented at the conference are already receiving more traffic from mobiles than PCs.
Yet accessing content via mobiles is often difficult, messy, or impossible to access via mobiles. Several speakers advised that instead of trying to retrofit all web content to mobiles, which is what most companies do, consider building for mobiles first.
To do this effectively, Erik Qualman, pointed out the 80/20 rule applies to mobile - so 80% of a company's value will come from 20% of their online content, so "scale down your offerings to the essentials" to optimize the mobile experience (and likely the web too)/
2) Create brand awareness and engagement with social objects
Although no one used the term "social objects" the concept came up several times. Social objects are pieces of online content - videos, articles, photos, games - upon which people are drawn to, organically share and discuss. Think of the latest kitten video featured on YouTube's homepage and you got a social object.
Mark McKay presented Ford's Zombie Escape commercial, which is an excellent example of this. Of course zombie videos are going to go viral like well a zombie epidemic, but what I liked about this campaign is it actually tied into the product features it was promoting. As McKay urged it's important with such campaigns to be "relevant and differentiated" in addition to "shareable".
3) Context is crucial
As the ability to customize digital media continues to become easier and cheaper to produce, it's crucial to consider the context of your audience and deliver content and experiences relevant to their habits and motivations.
As Nicola Smith advises, "context should drive execution" and to demonstrate this Smith used the example of a German pet food company that placed poster dispensers by parks where people walked their dogs with instructions to check-in via Foursquare. They then got a free sample of a new pet food. I find this campaigns works on a few levels - obviously, it's a fun and memorable campaign. But more importantly, it delivers the brand engagement and sampling where and when it is most relevant to people.
Context is also important not only in content but in media form - whether tablet, PCs, mobile, etc. Katrina Klier urged that it is crucial to get "the right modality and the right time".
4) Recruit your customers to work for you
I'm not sure if blogger relations and "brand ambassadors" campaigns are the topic-du-jour for marketers but this came up a lot at the conference. This isn't something particularly relevant to my work, but I did find one tip on this particularly interesting.
For companies wanting to reach a global audience, tapping into people's social networks offers an opportunity. Katrina Klier noted that most people have at least one of a few international friends on social networks sites, so whether people know it or not they have a global footprint. She also mentioned that the average Facebook user has 359 friends - so tapping into this extends one's reach incredibly. (But is that statistic true? If so, I'm clearly a real loner.)
5) Identity matters - know your audience and help them know themselves
Although I only heard the issue of identity raised once, by Alfredo Tan of Facebook, I think it is a vital issue.
First, there's the aspect of knowing the true identities of your online audience. Tan raised the famous comic of the dog at a computer saying to another dog "on the Internet no one knows your a dog". Well, not true anymore says Tan due to Facebook - as they have the true identity of 1 billion people. This is a significant marketing opportunity.
Tan also talked about how social objects give people the opportunity to shape their identity around digital content. They like products/things to project an image of themselves to their friends. So learn about your customers and consider "why they care and why they share".
Final review
I mentioned yesterday how much I appreciated how well run the conference was and the choice of venue. I forgot to mention that I really liked the staging of the conference. The main conference room, which housed the keynotes, had the best stage and audio-visual set-up I have ever encountered. The use of multi-screens allowed for the speakers and their slides to be displayed, which is great for big conference - but rarely done.
The set and lighting also looked great! It's great to to not always have Toronto tech conferences seeming low rent - which I think projects poorly on the vitality and maturity of our industry.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
View from the Digital Media Summit
I haven’t been to an industry conference in a long while, so it was refreshing to move from (generally stuffy) academic conferences to hear about the invigorating realm of digital media in the real world at today's Digital Media Summit in Toronto.
This is the second year of the conference, which runs in collaboration with Canadian Music Week. This was my first time attending the Digital Media Summit, which bills itself as "Canada's social media and iterative conference". Well, Mesh has some claim to that title and over the years there are have been more such events here in Toronto. But one day into the conference and it seems to me that the organizers of this event have arranged the best keynote speakers and implemented an effective format.
First off, the format of the conference is much more effective than most – very short speaker intros, short speeches, and a short time for Q&As. And no death by PowerPoint!
The facilities were great too. Too many conference organizers think this doesn't matte, but comfy chairs, enough seating for everyone, and free Wifi are vital to successful conference. The only thing missing was swag! Having been to a ton of conferences I also appreciate how well run things were as sessions started and ended mostly on time (no easy accomplishment).
The speakers were for the most part excellent. Yes, there were a few times when speakers would rehash old and well-known platitudes and cases (e.g. I'm REALLY tired about hearing the "United Breaks Guitars" example). But there were many provocative, insightful, and invigorating points made. I can't do justice to everything covered without writing a tome of a blog post that would have me writing it until tomorrow morning as when the conference resumes
So instead, I'll summarize the main points I found particularly interesting.
A Panorama of the Ten Best Views:
1. Amber Mac – ABCs of social media – Adapt Quickly, Be Responsive, and Create Value (here's her presentation).
2. Bryan Segal - Need to move away from Click Through Rate to “viewable impressions” which is reach X frequency that offers “opportunity to see”.
3. Erik Qualman - All companies should write a “Listening Report” that is 1-2 pages long that analyzes what is being said about companies and competition on social media. Can draw from automated metrics but must be hand-written to contextualize the stats.
4. Erik Qualman – organizations need to be aware of their Digital Legacy. This is their Digital Footprints (what you post about yourself) plus your Digital Shadow (what others people post about you) – both live a long time (forever) online.
5. David Reis - when one of his clients had a image crisis situation, they issued their comments on this in one place, their Facebook page. Rather than respond everywhere on the web, they directed people to Facebook page and allowed people to comment there. This gave some measure of control and allowed them after a few weeks as the hubbub calmed down to remove the content.
5. Sarah Dawley - the key to generating user-generated content for an organization is to find out what your customers/audience are already doing, and get them to do it on your behalf - not in a controlling way, but offer amplification, shine your spotlight back on them.
6. Cindy Gallop - on noting that essentially people go online for "little pellets of love" - that is an indication of some sort of appreciation, admiration, acknowledgement, etc. But although I agree with this (and would add people go online for little pellets of self-love too) it seems that when companies try to offer this they are insincere so I asked her how companies can offer sincere, personal and scalable love pellets. She replied that the only way to do this is for organizations to become high-trust companies (most are low-trust) that work with employees and trust them to respond accordingly.
7. Lana Gay - You need to respond to issues that arise online but it is essential to "think twice, tweet once". She advises that although digital is real-time, it's a good idea often to wait maybe 20 minutes before posting something. Lana also commented on the biggest problems with recruiting brand ambassadors to blog about your company is what made them appealing in the first place - their topic focus, their style - get's lost as people begin to shill for dollars, Too many influencer campaigns result in bloggers saying "I love shoes" and then they switch to "Now I love eggs"! It's insincere and ineffective.
8. Jennifer Dunn - her session on hyperlocal targetted advertising was my favourite - not only is her work up my alley, but her campaigns are among the few geo-targetted ad campaigns that I have had heard of that have been successful. I believe her success lies in that Dunn learned that in geo-targetted marketing proximity is not the only, paramount, or possibly any consideration. Location of the user does matter, but so do other factors such as environment, time, and demographics. People's wants and needs change throughout the day, based on their contexts, time, and place. Dunn presentation was loaded with so much novel, inspiring work that I plan to devote a full blog post to it at a later date (stay tuned).
9. Ryan Holiday - it's not a good idea to outsource social media interaction as delivering an organization's message to customers is the most important aspect of business. No agency will do a better job - or care as much - about this as you!
10. Ryan Holiday - too many English Canadian websites try to appeal to an American audience (no doubt to broaden their audience as our domestic audience is so comparatively small). Yet, from an advertiser's perspective they have not uniquely captured and segmented the Canadian market, which is what they want. There are a ton of competitors for the U.S. space, but if can't distinguish your Canadian audience then your site is actually worth less.
As lengthy as this post is, it is a small snapshot of the genuinely useful and novel information shared today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow...
This is the second year of the conference, which runs in collaboration with Canadian Music Week. This was my first time attending the Digital Media Summit, which bills itself as "Canada's social media and iterative conference". Well, Mesh has some claim to that title and over the years there are have been more such events here in Toronto. But one day into the conference and it seems to me that the organizers of this event have arranged the best keynote speakers and implemented an effective format.
First off, the format of the conference is much more effective than most – very short speaker intros, short speeches, and a short time for Q&As. And no death by PowerPoint!
The facilities were great too. Too many conference organizers think this doesn't matte, but comfy chairs, enough seating for everyone, and free Wifi are vital to successful conference. The only thing missing was swag! Having been to a ton of conferences I also appreciate how well run things were as sessions started and ended mostly on time (no easy accomplishment).
The speakers were for the most part excellent. Yes, there were a few times when speakers would rehash old and well-known platitudes and cases (e.g. I'm REALLY tired about hearing the "United Breaks Guitars" example). But there were many provocative, insightful, and invigorating points made. I can't do justice to everything covered without writing a tome of a blog post that would have me writing it until tomorrow morning as when the conference resumes
So instead, I'll summarize the main points I found particularly interesting.
A Panorama of the Ten Best Views:
1. Amber Mac – ABCs of social media – Adapt Quickly, Be Responsive, and Create Value (here's her presentation).
2. Bryan Segal - Need to move away from Click Through Rate to “viewable impressions” which is reach X frequency that offers “opportunity to see”.
3. Erik Qualman - All companies should write a “Listening Report” that is 1-2 pages long that analyzes what is being said about companies and competition on social media. Can draw from automated metrics but must be hand-written to contextualize the stats.
4. Erik Qualman – organizations need to be aware of their Digital Legacy. This is their Digital Footprints (what you post about yourself) plus your Digital Shadow (what others people post about you) – both live a long time (forever) online.
5. David Reis - when one of his clients had a image crisis situation, they issued their comments on this in one place, their Facebook page. Rather than respond everywhere on the web, they directed people to Facebook page and allowed people to comment there. This gave some measure of control and allowed them after a few weeks as the hubbub calmed down to remove the content.
5. Sarah Dawley - the key to generating user-generated content for an organization is to find out what your customers/audience are already doing, and get them to do it on your behalf - not in a controlling way, but offer amplification, shine your spotlight back on them.
6. Cindy Gallop - on noting that essentially people go online for "little pellets of love" - that is an indication of some sort of appreciation, admiration, acknowledgement, etc. But although I agree with this (and would add people go online for little pellets of self-love too) it seems that when companies try to offer this they are insincere so I asked her how companies can offer sincere, personal and scalable love pellets. She replied that the only way to do this is for organizations to become high-trust companies (most are low-trust) that work with employees and trust them to respond accordingly.
7. Lana Gay - You need to respond to issues that arise online but it is essential to "think twice, tweet once". She advises that although digital is real-time, it's a good idea often to wait maybe 20 minutes before posting something. Lana also commented on the biggest problems with recruiting brand ambassadors to blog about your company is what made them appealing in the first place - their topic focus, their style - get's lost as people begin to shill for dollars, Too many influencer campaigns result in bloggers saying "I love shoes" and then they switch to "Now I love eggs"! It's insincere and ineffective.
8. Jennifer Dunn - her session on hyperlocal targetted advertising was my favourite - not only is her work up my alley, but her campaigns are among the few geo-targetted ad campaigns that I have had heard of that have been successful. I believe her success lies in that Dunn learned that in geo-targetted marketing proximity is not the only, paramount, or possibly any consideration. Location of the user does matter, but so do other factors such as environment, time, and demographics. People's wants and needs change throughout the day, based on their contexts, time, and place. Dunn presentation was loaded with so much novel, inspiring work that I plan to devote a full blog post to it at a later date (stay tuned).
9. Ryan Holiday - it's not a good idea to outsource social media interaction as delivering an organization's message to customers is the most important aspect of business. No agency will do a better job - or care as much - about this as you!
10. Ryan Holiday - too many English Canadian websites try to appeal to an American audience (no doubt to broaden their audience as our domestic audience is so comparatively small). Yet, from an advertiser's perspective they have not uniquely captured and segmented the Canadian market, which is what they want. There are a ton of competitors for the U.S. space, but if can't distinguish your Canadian audience then your site is actually worth less.
As lengthy as this post is, it is a small snapshot of the genuinely useful and novel information shared today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow...
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Crowdsourcing Concertos
Over the years, I've encountered many instances of online crowdsourcing - from encyclopedias, books, news, reviews, t-shirts, design, videos, software, mapping, government, business plans, and inventions. But I had not heard of a crowdsourced symphony before.
That is until a friend at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) told me about a new project they sponsored with Tod Machover, a music composer and professor at MIT Media Lab. They wanted to create a symphony not only about Toronto but by Torontonians. The music director of the TSO, Peter Oundjian, describes the motivation for this project:
What makes the project even more incredible though is tools Machover and MIT Media Lab built to facilitate online participatory music composition.
My music education ended after grade 7 and 8 when a dour, dull music teacher that had the class spend two years focusing on pitch-perfect singing and nothing else. So I never had the opportunity - or desire (thanks to that teacher) - to make or create music.
That is until today, when I tried the online tools that were created for this project. Through web-based interactive tools, called Media Scores and Constellation, users can work with existing or original sounds and tracks and play around with them through visual methods to create their own mini-compositions. Users can then upload them for Machover to listen to and incorporate into the final symphony.
The tools are still online for people to use - so start composing. It's really fun!
Here's more info, from the TSO's website, on the tools MIT created for this project:
If you can't attend the performance and you're in Toronto, you can view a customized light show on the CN Tower, which will be synced to the music.
For more about this project and Machover's work, visit the TSO's website or read an article from Toronto Life.
That is until a friend at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) told me about a new project they sponsored with Tod Machover, a music composer and professor at MIT Media Lab. They wanted to create a symphony not only about Toronto but by Torontonians. The music director of the TSO, Peter Oundjian, describes the motivation for this project:
We live in a great hub of creativity, diversity and innovation, and this is the right time to reflect the endless colours and sounds of the city through orchestral instruments.To capture the many facets and soundscapes of the city, Machover used many methods - on and offline. Collaboration was done via blog, email, Skype, web applications, audio streaming, smartphones, and face-to-face sessions. Machover also traversed the city and recorded various characteristics sounds of the city.
What makes the project even more incredible though is tools Machover and MIT Media Lab built to facilitate online participatory music composition.
My music education ended after grade 7 and 8 when a dour, dull music teacher that had the class spend two years focusing on pitch-perfect singing and nothing else. So I never had the opportunity - or desire (thanks to that teacher) - to make or create music.
That is until today, when I tried the online tools that were created for this project. Through web-based interactive tools, called Media Scores and Constellation, users can work with existing or original sounds and tracks and play around with them through visual methods to create their own mini-compositions. Users can then upload them for Machover to listen to and incorporate into the final symphony.
The tools are still online for people to use - so start composing. It's really fun!
Here's more info, from the TSO's website, on the tools MIT created for this project:
- Media Sores – will allow you to help complete the Finale section ("Toronto Dances") of the piece, contribute to the accompaniment "texture" of the work’s virtuosic "City Soaring movement, and experiment with other sections of the composition to build your own unique blend and personalized musical narrative.
- Constellation - uses composed and collected sounds and lets you mix them into your own collages, textures and pieces, just by experimenting with moving the mouse and combining these things.
- City Soaring - literally lets you paint the quality of a melody. Grab one of the four "brush" icons in the top right-hand corner of the app window – weight, complexity, texture and intensity – and paint over the line with it. You'll immediately see the change in color and texture and will hear the changes when you play back the melody.
The idea of collaborating with Torontonians to create a symphony interested me both because I thought it would lead to a diverse and timely musical portrait of this wonderful city, and also because I felt that it would propose a new model for people with diverse musical backgrounds and experience to work together towards a common goal. We embarked on an adventure that has led me to new sounds, new friendships, new discoveries about Toronto, and new ideas about musical storytelling. When I started the project, my hope was to convey how the incredible diversity of Toronto is wrapped in a beautiful and unified connectivity. Having just finished the piece, I think we have achieved that and I can’t wait to share it with Toronto.The premier performance of the work, A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City, is Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 8:00 pm at Roy Thomson Hall. I bought my tickets today and tickets are still available.
If you can't attend the performance and you're in Toronto, you can view a customized light show on the CN Tower, which will be synced to the music.
For more about this project and Machover's work, visit the TSO's website or read an article from Toronto Life.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Defeating the Apps First Approach to Tablet Interface
Despite a recent CBC study which found that 82% of Canadians mostly use tablets at home, I still consider tablets a mobile device and thus under my purview. I also take an avid interest in Canadian innovations in digital media. So I was really excited to attend a talk last week by James Wu of Kobo on "Rethinking Tablet User Experience".
Kobo is a world-leader in e-readers. They are no longer owned by Canadians, but are still based in Toronto. The event was sponsored by ToRCHI, a leading organization for organizing events of interest to people working in or studying Canada's digital media.
It's been awhile since I have actively designed digital user interfaces, but when I did I found it a constant struggle (against many forces) to put the user's needs and their perspective first. James Wu, director of user experience at Kobo, opened his talk by addressing this point head on - "technology sucks for most people". Technology should not be the focus of design. Instead, Wu explained, technology should be out of the way and let people quickly and easily perform the task or access the content they want.
Yet, the standard interface of tablets (and I'd add smartphones) is the app. This dominant tablet user experience paradigm "is defined by facilitating a user’s navigation into, out of and between apps". When Wu asked tablet users, however, what they value most about their device it wasn't the apps. It was content. Thus tablet user interfaces "are always at least one step removed from what users want". Wu adds that is apps that define how and where users can access and organize their content rather than the users themselves.
"The focus on apps has taken us away from what apps do for us" Wu empathetically cautioned.
To redress this situation, Wu and Kobo embarked on a new project with the launch of the Kobo Arc e-reader and its Tapestries interface (here's a review).
To achieve this, Wu identified three main goals:
Based on above-mentioned goals, here's what Tapestries achieves:
Focus on User's Content
Wu aptly noted that people (other than perhaps the attendees at the talk or readers of this blog) do not care about the movie player on their devices. Rather they care about watching their movies. Moreover, they don't want to have to care (or even think about) the movie player. So it's important to "put content at users' fingertips" metaphorically and literally. Wu noted that even in such content as email or Facebook which are incredibly personal, every user has the same icon on their device homepage - but it doesn't have to be this way.
Support Organic Curation
Tablet apps force organization by media type or date, rather than by activity (e.g. a vacation), topic, or other parameters. Wu asserts "let people organize content how they want to and maintain personal relevance".
Help Users Find More Content
The "Discover" feature of Tapestries engendered a lot of interest with the ToRCHI crowd. To me, the Discover bar seemed much like recommendation engines on book websites that offer recommendations for content based on other people with similar interests histories or one's personal profile or viewing history. Discover, differentiates itself by allowing users some control in the content that is suggested to them.
User-centred Design
Wu also discussed the benefits and challenges of user-centred design. Before starting the Tapestries project, Wu conducted formal and informal research with tablet users - sometimes as informally as watching over strangers shoulders while they use their device (I do this too - it works great.)
They also conducted rounds of user testing. They found that the interface was so new for people that it took time for people to get used to it. But once they did, the feedback has been positive.
This comment reminded me of a great article by Bill Buxton and Saul Greenberg called "Usability Evaluation Considered Harmful (Some of the Time) ", which I mentioned.
In the article, Buxton and Greenberg caution that when innovations are really new users may need time to learn, adapt, or become comfortable with the changes. Rigidly following the outcomes of user testing can result in killing new interfaces and quashing innovation. Buxton and Greenberg offer this caveat against this:
I was greatly impressed at how Tapestries is doing something new and different. I don't have an e-reader (when I get a device I need one that is optimized for data entry as much as consumption) but it made me want to get one. Nonetheless, much of what Wu pointed out applies not only to tablets but to anyone designing or developing for smartphones or even desktops.
I'm looking forward to more such innovations from Kobo and I truly hope that their Japanese owners keep such an innovative team in Canada.
Kobo is a world-leader in e-readers. They are no longer owned by Canadians, but are still based in Toronto. The event was sponsored by ToRCHI, a leading organization for organizing events of interest to people working in or studying Canada's digital media.
It's been awhile since I have actively designed digital user interfaces, but when I did I found it a constant struggle (against many forces) to put the user's needs and their perspective first. James Wu, director of user experience at Kobo, opened his talk by addressing this point head on - "technology sucks for most people". Technology should not be the focus of design. Instead, Wu explained, technology should be out of the way and let people quickly and easily perform the task or access the content they want.
Yet, the standard interface of tablets (and I'd add smartphones) is the app. This dominant tablet user experience paradigm "is defined by facilitating a user’s navigation into, out of and between apps". When Wu asked tablet users, however, what they value most about their device it wasn't the apps. It was content. Thus tablet user interfaces "are always at least one step removed from what users want". Wu adds that is apps that define how and where users can access and organize their content rather than the users themselves.
"The focus on apps has taken us away from what apps do for us" Wu empathetically cautioned.
To redress this situation, Wu and Kobo embarked on a new project with the launch of the Kobo Arc e-reader and its Tapestries interface (here's a review).
To achieve this, Wu identified three main goals:
- Focus on users' content
- Support organic curation
- Help users find more content
Based on above-mentioned goals, here's what Tapestries achieves:
Focus on User's Content
Wu aptly noted that people (other than perhaps the attendees at the talk or readers of this blog) do not care about the movie player on their devices. Rather they care about watching their movies. Moreover, they don't want to have to care (or even think about) the movie player. So it's important to "put content at users' fingertips" metaphorically and literally. Wu noted that even in such content as email or Facebook which are incredibly personal, every user has the same icon on their device homepage - but it doesn't have to be this way.
Support Organic Curation
Tablet apps force organization by media type or date, rather than by activity (e.g. a vacation), topic, or other parameters. Wu asserts "let people organize content how they want to and maintain personal relevance".
Help Users Find More Content
The "Discover" feature of Tapestries engendered a lot of interest with the ToRCHI crowd. To me, the Discover bar seemed much like recommendation engines on book websites that offer recommendations for content based on other people with similar interests histories or one's personal profile or viewing history. Discover, differentiates itself by allowing users some control in the content that is suggested to them.
User-centred Design
Wu also discussed the benefits and challenges of user-centred design. Before starting the Tapestries project, Wu conducted formal and informal research with tablet users - sometimes as informally as watching over strangers shoulders while they use their device (I do this too - it works great.)
They also conducted rounds of user testing. They found that the interface was so new for people that it took time for people to get used to it. But once they did, the feedback has been positive.
This comment reminded me of a great article by Bill Buxton and Saul Greenberg called "Usability Evaluation Considered Harmful (Some of the Time) ", which I mentioned.
In the article, Buxton and Greenberg caution that when innovations are really new users may need time to learn, adapt, or become comfortable with the changes. Rigidly following the outcomes of user testing can result in killing new interfaces and quashing innovation. Buxton and Greenberg offer this caveat against this:
How can we create what could become culturally significant systems if we demand that the system be validated before a culture is formed around it?The rest of the article is well worth reading for any company or developer trying something new.
I was greatly impressed at how Tapestries is doing something new and different. I don't have an e-reader (when I get a device I need one that is optimized for data entry as much as consumption) but it made me want to get one. Nonetheless, much of what Wu pointed out applies not only to tablets but to anyone designing or developing for smartphones or even desktops.
I'm looking forward to more such innovations from Kobo and I truly hope that their Japanese owners keep such an innovative team in Canada.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
I'm Not Falling For Tumblr
As I mentioned in my prior post today, I'm starting a blog for my postcard collection. I find Blogger a bit tired, so I've been trying out a few blogging platforms.
I decided to try Tumblr as it has generated so much hype and promises to be well-suited to blogging predominantly visual content and multimedia. So I gave it a try - check out the first incarnation of my postcard blog, The Deltiology Deity.
Appeal of Tumblr:
Tumblr meets my criteria of being quick and easy to use and has visually appealing templates.
In theory, Tumblr integrates really well into Facebook via its own app. So posting on Tumblr should automatically post to Facebook (but it doesn't seem to completely work).
I do like how if one tags content, it adds it to other people's posts on that.
Having only used Tumblr for a few days, I have not fallen in love with it. Quite the contrary. Here's why I think our relationship will likely be short-lived:
Dislike about Tumblr:
I decided to try Tumblr as it has generated so much hype and promises to be well-suited to blogging predominantly visual content and multimedia. So I gave it a try - check out the first incarnation of my postcard blog, The Deltiology Deity.
Appeal of Tumblr:
Tumblr meets my criteria of being quick and easy to use and has visually appealing templates.
In theory, Tumblr integrates really well into Facebook via its own app. So posting on Tumblr should automatically post to Facebook (but it doesn't seem to completely work).
I do like how if one tags content, it adds it to other people's posts on that.
Having only used Tumblr for a few days, I have not fallen in love with it. Quite the contrary. Here's why I think our relationship will likely be short-lived:
Dislike about Tumblr:
- Navigation is way too difficult. It takes way too many steps to get to the dashboard of the blog, change settings, edit posts, or even access or view the blog.
- The search feature only searches tags, not the actual blog post body text (but the search box does not indicate this).
- Facebook integration seems sketchy (I'm not sure if this is Tumblr or FB's fault), my initial blog post published on my Facebook page but it was buried under content that was posted way earlier than it. My second Tumblr post hasn't appeared on Facebook at all. My subsequent Tumblr post was not picked up by Facebook still after 2 days.
- Although there is great support for RSS, Tumblr doesn't offer the option for readers to receive posts via email.
- I can't find an easy way to embedded alt text into images (other than through direct HTML editting) - this is bad web accessibility support.
- The editing interface offers various options for posting different types of content (e.g. text, photo, video, etc.) but I'd rather have one method as once one has committed to a style it is impossible to switch, so I am unable to get a title on my posts, for example.
- I can't find a way to have my archive of posts appear in a sidenav as a list or too display my tags on a sidenav.
- No widgets or extra functionality. It's rather bare-bones. Almost all the content on the right-hand side of this blog appears to not be available when using Tumblr (or certainly not easily facilitated) such as links to profiles, Creative Commons statements, etc.
- Tumblr is a social network as much as a blogging tool. This might be great for some, but I have way too many online social network sites I used already and am not looking for more. So I'd like these features either gone or de-emphasized.
- Too difficult/impossible to customize template functionality.
- I want to be able to geocode specific pieces of content and have it appear on a map (similar to functionality Blogger offers).
Overall, Tumblr just doesn't offer as much as other blogging platforms - it's bare bones for sure. And what they do offer is buggy or not user-friendly.
Too me, Tumblr seems geared to people who want a really quick and easy way to share content - not die-hard bloggers. It is also geared at social networking and I've got a major case of social network fatigue.
So the hunt for an ideal blogging platform goes on... Any ideas?
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