A design consultancy needs a framework and process for creating understanding and value. This is ours. We use it to address the current vacuum of Knowledge at the intersection of Business, Internet Technology, and Culture. What good is Problem Solving if you don't first understand what the problem means?
An interesting experiment/experience for you to try in this TED Talk by James Howard Kunstler. Every time he uses the phrase "Public Space", imagine swapping it with "Information Space". He's a bit belligerent and forceful at times, but don't let that distract you...
About this talk
In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.
...in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
- Herbert Simon
political scientist, economist, psychologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize
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Can there be such a thing as a bigger, better filter? What kind of solution can it really offer?
"Liquid Life" is a term borrowed from the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. He used it to describe the kind of life experience by individuals in our age and place in time. In effect, as our lives become more fragmented, we are required to be more flexible, adaptable, and nimble. Sound familiar? We live in an age where the only thing that feels permanent is the state of transition. And in a state of constant transition and fluidity between ourselves, or lives, and the lives and culture around us, the kinds of relationships we have and develop have been (and are) transformed.
If Dr. Bauman's description of our culture at large is as the very least apropos, then it seems a fair attempt to use it as a description of what's occurring at the intersection of Culture and Internet Technology. There is a cause and effect at this intersection which can be observed, measured, and described. Liquid Life it is then - surfs up! (Yes, pun intended.)
"How then does internet technology contribute to or interrupt the capability of an individual to form relationships outside his or herself?"
"What kind of pressure and tension is created for the individual living a Liquid Life in the age of the Internet?"
"If established 'meaningful' relationships are no longer static but instead dynamic (fluid), what kind of fragmentation, isolation, and even subjective imprisonment might result?"
Creatives Have Control of Remote Client Presentations
February 3, 2010
Portland, Ore. – Black Tonic, an online software service for creative professionals, is now available. The tool allows users to create and manage presentations that are delivered online through a secure URL. Using a proprietary HTML broadcasting technology, Black Tonic presenters can modify the presentation material on-the-fly and choose in real-time what the audience sees on the presentation web page.
I reached an inevitable milestone (unplanned) that sneaks in toward the end of a project. "Wow, I can' believe we've done all that work and ended up with this. It's...it's...so obvious. It seems way to easy. Too simple." This normally lasts about 10 minutes. But now I know what it means. We've understood the problem and solved it correctly. We reduced something complex and chaotic to utter simplicity. I know this is true because things only become obvious once they are unveiled. It's the unveiling that takes all the work.
We're excited to announce Black Tonic has been invited to join Portland, Oregon based StarveUps - a membership organization with the goal to take each member company to the exit or existence strategy as defined by their management team, board of directors and investors and to make success the only business strategy. StarveUps has been in existence for 10 years. Here are the statistical achievements of the members:
This week myself and Philippe Blanc were interviewed for Blog Talk Radio by Scott Hoffman of Cliqology.
The 45 minute interview ranged from topics of business to real-time web technology to Black Tonic as a presentation solution that offers a new web user experience. All said and done we touched on some of our favorite topics (you'll notice when we get passionate) and even spoke at the end of what we see as the next evolution of the web at large. Scott is a fantastic host and kept the whole experience enjoyable and fun.
We're excited to announce Black Tonic is included in ReadWriteWeb's latest report, "The Real-Time Web and its Future".
Phillippe and I just returned from the RTWS hosted by Readwriteweb.com. All said and done it was a great experience and a fine example of an un-conference. We had the opportunity to gather around the table with folks from Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and many other current innovators in the world of the Real-Time Web.
As a bit of a preface, we're no experts on Internet History. We've experienced it as developers and users. We've worked for failed dot-coms, and jumped on-and-off of trends, fads, and bandwagons. So we can speak to the evolution and concepts in general, but we'll leave the specifics up to people with better research and stats on hand.
We will start with a simple diagram illustrating our understanding of the evolution-to-date of all things "web".
Black Tonic is a software as a service solution that provides the simplest means of managing and delivering presentations on the fly. In a nutshell, Black Tonic allows individuals to dynamically control content on a web page in real-time by synchronizing browsers.
About DOMcasting technology: FLOW
