Recently I have noticed terminology I have developed from the internet transcend into other dimensions of my life.
Micro-blogging platforms such as twitter place limitations on the way we communicate; the most obvious being twitter’s 140 character limit.
Detailed and descriptive conversation thread has evolved to become direct and succinct; focus is on the definition of words and the context in which they are used.
Hash tags are a saved search mentality; a mutually understood set of references that continually expand and iterate over time via collective user-generated input.
A recent email to a client was about 590 characters long, given my engagement with them is largely related to the internet I closed the email with an internet translation that read: “#educationspace #coffeeevolution #crushit”
Consider the offline application of this style of communication; plugging into another person’s stream of consciousness and downloading the relevant information; in only a few words a huge amount of data is transferred.
There is not enough bandwidth in voice for the complexity of what we would like to communicate; our environment is such that we need to look beyond voice to transrational methods of communication that tap into streams of consciousness and energy flow.
The technology is not important- that will come and go- it’s the direction it nudges us in that matters.
This week I was listening to an interview with Salvatore Malatesta, owner of ST. ALi, he was talking about evolution in coffee; first wave, second wave and now third wave coffee.
There is evolution in everything.
Really obvious evolution can be seen in things like transport, communication and technology, what about less obvious evolution? Like skill and world issues.
Evolution is organic innovation; it occurs as environments become more complex. Evolution looks like a bell curve; there are early adaptors, innovators and futurepreneurs who live at the edge pushing the boundary and leading the way; the status quo is where the masses are and- like anything- there are laggards. Willam Gibson- author of Neuromancer- famously quoted, ”The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed”.
In western countries we see a large amount of professional services where in less-developed countries we see other industries dominate; manufacturing for example. Is that because less-developed countries haven’t yet evolved through the levels of complexity that western countries have?
Consider this model of evolution applied to word issues. As our environment becomes more complex world issues become more complex; climate change and water shortage compared to street crime and theft.
What I like about this model is it provides a framework for us to see what the future looks like. Look for the complexities that will become hurdles only evolution will overcome.
An automatic consequence of most social technologies is data collection- tweeting, foursquare checkins, facebook status updates, delicious tagging and uploading photos to flickr- all contribute to data sets.
Developers continually create applications for us to use these data sets. A recent one that I have seen is Where do you go, by Steven Lehrburger. It allows users to use their foursquare checkin data and google maps to create a heat map displaying where they go.
Considering future applications of these types of data sets stretch creative boundaries. The amount of data collected is at scale that in statistical terms is a large enough sample size to interpret trends and patterns in mash ups of different data sets.
Using the example of Where do you go, imagine that rather than inputting a single users checkin data, the whole cities checkin data was used to create the heat map. Instantly, there would be a visual representation of the more popular places. Now throw some time data into that mix; as time passes movement in the heat patches would occur indicating places that are more and less popular based on what time of day it is.
It is not difficult to envisage this type of data becoming a currency in business. Having access to something like foursquare behaviour patterns creates an opportunity for venues to market directly to their target based on behaviour as well as demographic.
Consider the ability to automatically track the movement of patrons visiting a dinner venue before and after their visit; patterns would start to emerge; for example- the type of venue (if any) that patrons were at directly before visiting the dinner venue- analysis of the data would produce probability based information.
If a venue knew the exact probability of its patrons attending a bar directly before arriving at their venue, and the probability was high, they could very quickly plug that information into a financial model and develop very profitable campaigns.
Data collection is an automatic consequence of using social technology and there is massive amounts of value contained in the data sets that we contribute to daily.
Would you be surprised to see data become like a currency?
I started working for foursquare on November 24th right when I signed up and started playing.
Very quickly a whole new dimension- in the form of points, leaderboard and mayorship- was added to my everyday activities- drinking coffee, meeting friends for drinks, eating lunch and work meetings hosted at cafes. With foursquare still relatively new to Melbourne, there was definite advantage in travelling all over town visiting my favourite venues and checking in- bonus points rewarded for adding new data to the system- consequentially contributing foursquare’s index of venues.
The foursquare business model is unquestionably worth remark.
“Let’s create an index of venues for every major city in the world”; “In the index we will show popularity of each venue and recommendations for whilst you’re there.”
The logical next step of such a discussion would be to hire a data entry team to populate a database and to engage a market research company to provide data on what venues people like and why; instead foursquare developed a very clever points based incentive scheme- points not redeemable- allowing them to crowd source the entire responsibility.
A fortnight ago I was upgraded to a Superuser (Level 1) essentially allowing me to fix and edit incorrect or incomplete data. On the first day I spent close to two and half hours editing data- perhaps if I did it a lot of it I would be upgraded to Superuser (Level 2). Foursquare’s social aspect and incentive scheme have led them to recruit likely the largest data entry and market research team that has ever existed. Interestingly, even people I know who are not yet on twitter and other social media sites are starting to sign up. The leaderboard refreshes every week- avoiding longer-time users having an unfair advantage- giving every user an equal opportunity to win.
Outside of the brilliance of foursquare’s business model the application itself is difficult to fault; instantly engaging as soon as you sign up through its ability to connect users with their facebook, twitter & gmail contacts; the marketing application for venues through discounts and mayor specials and the self-organising rating system recording the popularity of venues based on the volume of people who check-in. Iterations to come are user lists- imagine ‘cheap-cbd-lunches’- and the ability to ping friends requesting their location.
Microfinance, micropatronage and now micro data entry; there is obvious potential in applying a micro-contribution model; impact is distributed amongst all contributors to achieve a massive result with seemingly little effort- Wikipedia, another great example.
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I have been thinking a lot recently about technology- the internet, iphones etc- and the role they play in our social connectivity to others.
Typically social connections are family, extended family and multiple tiers of friendships. Differing tiers of friendship is a concept sometimes challenging to reconcile; some relationships shift organically in and out of life; whilst others break down and disconnecting from them can seem involuntary and forced.
Dunbar’s number provides a rational explanation for movement of people in and out of our life; theorising a cognitive limit to the number of social relationships that can be maintained at once.
Social technology has transformed the way we connect with others; connectivity is abundant, people very easily flow into our life and less easily out; highlighted by the recent facebook iteration prompting reconnection with friends whom you’ve had no recent interaction.
As our use of social technology increases and we are fed more information- birthdays, mutual friend’s etc- we rely less on our cognitive ability to retain that information allowing us to maintain a larger number of social relationships. Where previously we have learned that some people come in and out of our lives for a reason; now technology acts as a safety net, people come into our lives for a reason- and stay, even once the reason has expired.
Perhaps Dunbar’s number relates more to the social relationships we retain in our consciousness and technology’s impact is the speed at which people move in and out of that; technical connectivity has made our consciousness become dynamic and real time, largely dictated by who is updating their status or engaging in other activity online.
There needs to be a balance between our technical connectivity and the natural flow of people in and out of lives; acknowledge that people move in and out of our lives like a pendulum and often the best thing for us to do is just to let it swing.
On the 31st of December; the iphone chipin widget that I set up on my blog reached its goal; the perfect amount of money for me to purchase an iphone.
It took me a few days to get through the paypal formalities and I finally purchased the iphone late Thursday afternoon. Thursaday night was spent mostly awake syncing contacts: from my Nokia to my laptop to Gmail to my iphone and exploring and discovering various iphone apps. With no discredit to the excitement of the actual iphone and it’s functionality, there is something massively more important to remark on; the micropatronage experience.
I first started my chipin widget in October, inspired by Ross Hill’s lighting talk at Trampoline. Admittedly, my micropatronage campaign began largely as a social experiment, that followed on from a series of jokes relating to me being one of few internet nerds yet to have an iphone.
Given this light hearted approach, and literally just chucking a chipin widget up on my blog, I hadn’t given a huge amount of thought to the actual concept; creating functionality for people to give me money for something I wanted.
As the first couple of contributions came in, a few heads started to turn; which very quickly sped up my thinking about the concept. Many people had concern about my application of micropatronage- for material gain was a common assumption- I felt a lot like I was going in to defend myself on multiple occasions- in face-to-face discussions, blog posts, comments on blog posts etc. However, whilst debate was going on; in the background contributions were slowly trickling in.
I was quite keen to tap into the drivers behind my patrons; what made them want to contribute? Without actually asking this question directly I’ve been able to identify a few different reasons. At the beginning there seemed to be a few people that followed a similar mind-set to me; social-experiment-so-why-not. I know of at least three people who contributed as acknowledgment for my assistance with their resume and providing job seeking advice. Others commented on me as a person and the positive impact I have on them, whilst one or two other people contributed as acknowledgment for the value they had obtained from the content I publish on my blog.
My commitment to the world, as acknowledgement of it bringing me an iphone, is that my impact be positive. The most obvious benefit I see in having an iphone is the connectivity to the internet; the information available on the web is hugely empowering, layering 2.0 on top of that pretty much means endless bounds of possibility.
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I have recently become very conscious of problem solving frameworks, conversations and analogies whereby the solution or analysis that is reached stands mutually exclusively from its alternatives.
Very often, situations are approached with an ‘or’ mindset; the answer is: this or this or this or this.
Rather than approach a situation from an ‘or’ mindset, an opportunity exists to transcend and include; to think about the wider situation and determine a solution that includes many alternatives, not just one.
A useful visual representation of this kind of mindset is a Venn diagram.
Recently, I have been encouraging myself to evolve into this mindset; initially I was surprised at the volume of things I was assuming to be black and white; I am now very conscious to look for the grey area, the centre of the Venn diagram, where there is layer on layer.
If only black and white solutions exist for problems that are multi-dimensional and complex; then problem solving becomes narrow and limited by its binary focus.
Transcend- consider the wider situation- and include- determine a solution made up of multiple alternatives, not just one.
*Use #bothand on twitter.
I have recently come to the realisation that to-do lists are the status-quo. All my life people have been encouraging me to use them.
Problem: I have always rejected the idea of a to-do list.
To-do lists are like an urban legend; write down all the stuff you want to do and you will magically become more organised, more productive and more motivated.
I don’t deny that to-do lists work for some people. The most tangible benefit that I can see is the structure they create around a person’s day.
In attempt not to deny myself of this obvious benefit I have tried many times to keep a to-do list; in spite of this I cannot escape the feeling I get when I see one; which is kind of like seeing capital letters in a text message; a to-do list makes me feel like someone is YELLING AT ME, TELLING ME TO DO STUFF.
So, what is the alternative? I have started keeping a done-list.
Forget writing down a list of the things to-do; which, apart from being overwhelming, can bring about the feeling of under-accomplishment if not complete at the end of the specified time period.
Done-lists are completely different; writing things down are attached to the feeling of achievement and satisfaction. They are also more efficient; instead of writing a list and going back to it later to cross things off, you only have to write things down once; when they’re done!
Rather than compiling a list of New Year’s resolutions; keep a done list of accomplishments throughout the year. I’m tipping that the end of 2010 will be a lot more about celebrating achievements.
Every situation, concept, relationship, business, purpose etc is interpreted differently based on the perception of the person observing it.
What you see is different to what I see; even if we are looking at the same thing.
I am a strong believer that discussion, debate and exposure to multiple perceptions enhances and refines thinking. However I have also noted that when two people’s perceptions are not aligned, an obvious disconnect occurs and very quickly there can become a hurdle or bottle neck in decision making and progression.
A term I have introduced into my vocabulary and dialogue with others is: kaleidoscope thinking.
Kaleidoscope thinking is a thinking process that refers to the understanding that situations, words, meanings, definitions etc look different to everybody and therefore you endeavor to perceive things through a kaleidoscopic lens.
The word kaleidoscope is borrowed from its traditional form that Google define says is: a complex pattern of constantly changing colors and shapes.
Kaleidoscope thinking is a diversion away from the words “they don’t get it”, encouraging people to perceive things from multiple view points and refine the way they communicate their perception.
Kaleidoscope thinking is colorful; patterns form, evolve, merge and they’re multi-dimensional.
There is no right or wrong. Everything just is.
I have been thinking a lot recently about networks and communities, how they organise and the differences between them.
A community is a group of people who cluster together over a shared commonality, where a network is more an interconnected system.
Because communities cluster together over something common, like-mindedness occurs, rather than spending time explaining to others reasons why they believe and behave the way they do, people will start to communicate more frequently within rather than between communities.
Over time the community start to develop inside lingo, slang and eventually a whole set of complex symbols and behaviour that create gaps in the communication flow and connectedness between their community and others.
A network is the virtual infrastructure (or interconnected system) that bridges the emergent gaps in communication flow and connectedness between communities.
Communities are insular, networks connect them; allowing access to alternate opinions and behaviours, meaning broader initiative and synthesis of new ideas.
Communities happen; networks are developed and maintained.
