This my latest design project. It is a digital self portrait. The original photo of me was taken with Jake Johnson’s camera which was placed inside of a refrigerator. The background is a cutout of my smile. At work here are some blur and overlay techniques. With each of these projects I go in with some basic ideas and in case have ended up with something different partly thanks to vision and partly thanks to happy accidents.
Another piece for Advanced Media at Boulder Digital Works. We were asked to put together a piece that reflected a two word phrase comprised of a noun and a verb. I chose “Eyes Tell”.
I created this image in a digital design class at Boulder Digital Works. The only direction we had was that it should be inspired by the notion of unfiltered information. At work here are some basic blending and layer techniques in photoshop. People in class dug it.
From March 11 – 17 I lived a life in Austin that stretched my limits, brought me much joy, brought me closer to friends and made Monster an integral part of my diet. Here’s what I learned about navigating Austin at my first SXSWi.
I’ll add stuff as it comes to me. Please share what you learned in the comments.
Here is a post I wrote for our Boulder Digital Works 60 Weeks blog. It’s about bow the program is progressing and the work everyone involved needs to do to make the program great.
http://bdw.colorado.edu/blogs/60weeks/2010/02/17/boulder-digital-works-but-only-if-you-work-it/
After Ari Newman of Filtrbox spoke at Boulder Digital Works Idea Studio I had one lingering question. Can web startups that target small businesses continue to do so once large companies move in and begin using the startups’ products?
Filtrbox is a social media monitoring service based in Boulder that came out of Tech Stars. It was recently snapped up by Portland based Jive Software.
Filtrbox started out serving individuals and small companies. The goal was to give them a more efficient and organized way of monitoring conversations in the social space. When the alternative is Google alerts and scouring social media all day, this is can be a lifesaver.
Prices that were once in the hundreds of dollars are now up to $10,000 per year for up to six users. This gives customers unlimited use on the platform.
At last week’s Idea Studio, Ari spoke about now being able to service major corporations. However, this comes with a pricing plan that essentially cuts small business out of the picture.
This is where I started wondering. With any web start there is a drive to first prove the concept, then get users then reach profitability. If you start with small businesses and low cost for use with a good product, as Filtrbox did, you can garner users. Eventually the price has to increase to support the business.
That spurred Filtrbox to move on to larger companies with deeper pockets as their core market because that’s what the company had to do to stay alive.
Does this make small business a stepping stone? Can a company like Filtrbox actually continue to service small business in a meaningful way after the big dogs start paying significant prices?
I’m keeping my eye out for similar stories. Pass them my way if you know of any.
Boulder Digital Works Idea Studio numero dos included Warren Ng and Riley Gibson from Napkin Labs recounting their recent trip to CES and taking some time to talk about their company’s crowdsourcing model.
Warren’s presentation about CES was enlightening. He described football fields of convention center space filled with gadgets, doodads, 3-D TVs, augmented reality and cool remote control helicopters.
He showed video of super thin TVs, TV interfaces you control with your hand, cameras and all sorts of stuff. Warren was overwhelmed at the show and I was overwhelmed looking at all of the gear.
Thinking more about all of the technology on display got me thinking that there should be a Cabinet level Technology Czar. I know all the new stuff at CES is for early adopters, investors, hard-core gadgeteers and people whose job it is to stay on top of the latest technological trends. However, I think for many people, walking into Best Buy feels like CES.
This is how I execute ideas.
Part of the new lineup of offerings in this phase of The 60 Weeks Program at Boulder Digital Works is called Idea Studio. It’s a weekly spot for someone with cool shit going on to come in, talk about it, answer questions and interact with the BDW crew. Idea Studio may or may not be open to the public. That’s still being ironed out.
Up first was Andrew Hyde; entrepreneur, start up guy, organizer and a bit of a rabble-rouser. Andrew’s Idea Studio effort included a run through what drives him, how he operates online, what shiny stuff on the Internet he was likes, his opposition to much of what is being done in the crowdsourcing world and some talk about mashups.
What resonated with me most about our time with Mr. Hyde was his proclamation that you cannot care more than him. Andrew is a driven dude and he claims that it is impossible to care more deeply about ones work than he cares about his own efforts. I both believe him and want to challenge him on this.
It is refreshing to have people out there challenging others to care more about what they’re doing. This forces people to put up or shut up, find something they care about and work to realize their vision.
I have these characteristics in me and I liked hearing Andrew put this part of himself front and center for the world to see.
I think this mindset comes down to execution. There are people who have ideas and do nothing with them. Then there are people who put forth every effort to execute on their ideas. Until that idea is realized, it eats at you to work to get it out.
I execute. I am at BDW to learn how to better execute and how to expand my arsenal of ways to execute on an idea. It was great to spend time with someone who goes at his goals as aggressively as Andrew. It forced me to dig deeper in my own efforts and see just how much I can care and how hard I can work.
An important lesson learned in eleventh grade came back at Boulder Digital Works recently to remind me of its relevance.
The lesson is that ideas, plans, campaigns and arguments must be rooted in truth. Otherwise they are garbage.
A teacher named Joe Zabielski taught me that lesson the first time around in his AP U.S. History class during the fall of 1994. As the first test approached, all of the seniors who had taken the course the previous year warned us the premise of the main essay question would be false. Excuse Me? No Way. This was nothing we had ever come across.
They said, “It’s gonna happen. Be ready.” Twenty of the smartest kids in my grade went in skeptical and then proceeded to bomb the test because the question was very complicated, its premise was indeed false and we had no idea how to answer.
Since we didn’t know how to react and its complexity made us wonder if it was false we put our best bullshitting skills to work and were totally called out. When the tests returned, the cream of Agawam High School’s eleventh grade crop was greeted with 40s, 50s and 60s.
Zabielski inspired me to think deeper than nearly any teacher or professor before or since. Upon returning the exams he said if someone presents you with a question, goal or task that is inherently false you can’t bullshit your way through it. You are obligated to explain why something isn’t true and proceed from that foundation of truth. If an essay, idea or campaign is rooted in bullshit, it will eventually sink. (more…)
Defending Foursquare
Thursday, June 17th, 2010Time Magazine’s inclusion of Foursquare on its list of the 50 Worst Inventions is incredibly short sighted and a perfect example of someone (in this case a stumbling media entity) not understanding new technology or giving it a proper opportunity to mature. The 50 Worst list is questionable for many reasons, not the least of which is that somehow none of Time Life’s country music box sets or complementary infomercials made the list.
Foursquare, the geo-location social gaming app, is on the list alongside other inventions such as Agent Orange, subprime mortgages and DDT. The writer, Kristi Olloffson, calls it, “Just another tool tapping into a generation of narcissism, with which you can earn badges for checking into your local Starbucks more than anyone else.”
Narcissism is the easy out on Foursquare the same way calling Boulder a hippie town is a tired reference that has remnants of truth, but misses a much bigger more exciting story. The same way a deeper look at Boulder reveals it to be a hotbed for startups, a deeper look at Foursquare shows its value goes well beyond narcissism and gets into gaming between friends, group communication where shouts from the app turn into mass text messages and multiple opportunities for jokes that come in the form of tips, to dos and venue names.
One of Time Life's classic offerings.
My guess is that Olloffson spent very little time with Foursquare or could just use some friends who are a bit more creative.
My check in at a posh hotel or the DMV can be viewed as narcissistic the way Oloffson sees it or can be seen as an opportunity for each of my Foursquare friends to interact with me. The app’s potential and power go far beyond boastful chest pounding and lie in its ability to bring fun and meaningful interactions to our everyday common experiences.
When I check in to a new restaurant, I can look at the tips for help on what to order. A check in at a coffee shop, can entice a nearby friend to join me (Squarendipity). A celebratory check in on my first day on the job can draw encouraging shouts of, “Good Luck.” When I check in to a far away airport I can laugh at the hilarious tip or to do left by friends to greet me.
Many people think Foursquare’s potential can only be reached when real world benefits derived from a users’ check ins become the norm. The real world benefits usually proposed are a free beer or bagel for the mayor of an establishment. (more…)
Tags: check in, dan viens, foursquare, geolocation, mayor, Time, Time magazine, viens
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