The Real Life  Social Networks is a presentation that I discovered via Twitter (thanks @nero) and I’ve decide it to share it all with you as it is one of the best slide shows that I have come across which attempts to debate the usefulness of the ‘friend’ culture currently being fuelled by platforms like Facebook.

The deck is the work of Paul Adams (@padday), Senior User Experience Researcher at Google. As the research lead for sociability, Paul works with teams building products and features for the social web.  His studies into how we all define our friend networks led to producing this impressive presentation which covers no less than 216 slides. Don’t let that put you off – because with every click you’ll find yourself nodding frantically at the conclusions that are drawn by Paul and his team at Google.

If you’re looking to map influencers, do not even attempt to do anything until you’ve taken a look at this slideshow:

Anyone who has seen my handiwork knows that I’m no designer… but I sure can empathise with this dude…

Thanks to my mate Nicola Rowan for sending this through to me!

That’s what I call a real life LOLCAT!

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.
Thanks Shan.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone… possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out “Shannon, where are you?”
Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
I never said I don’t like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham ‘Choose Life’ t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a foul stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.
Attached poster as requested.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
It’s a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don’t come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I am willing to overlook this faux pas due to you no doubt being preoccupied with thoughts of Missy attempting to make her way home across busy intersections or being trapped in a drain as it slowly fills with water. I spent three days down a well once but that was just for fun.
I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say Lost.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,
I don’t have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend’s cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter, I kept the cat in a closed cardboard box in the shed and forgot about it. If I wanted to feed something and clean faeces, I wouldn’t have put my mother in that home after her stroke. A week later, when my friend came to collect his cat, I pretended that I was not home and mailed the box to him. Apparently I failed to put enough stamps on the package and he had to collect it from the post office and pay eighteen dollars. He still goes on about that sometimes, people need to learn to let go.
I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says “I haven’t seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?” you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.
I knew someone who had a basset hound that had its hind legs removed after an accident and it had to walk around with one of those little buggies with wheels. If it had been my dog I would have asked for all its legs to be removed and replaced with wheels and had a remote control installed. I could charge neighbourhood kids for rides and enter it in races. If I did the same with a horse I could drive it to work. I would call it Steven.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

Every day, 6.7 billion people view the world through their own unique lens. Imagine if there was a way to collect all of these perspectives, to aggregate and mould them into the cohesive story of a single day on earth.

That’s what YouTube wants to do as it launches “Life in a Day,” an ambitious but incredibly compelling project which sets to out to document one day, as seen through the eyes of people around the world.

On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a snapshot of your life on camera. You can film the ordinary – a sunrise, the commute to work, a neighbourhood footie match, or the extraordinary – a baby’s first steps, your reaction to the passing of a loved one, or even a marriage.

(if you cannot view the embedded clip above, click here to go directly to YouTube)

Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director of films such as The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September, will then edit the most compelling footage into a feature documentary film, to be executive produced by Ridley Scott, the director behind films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and Robin Hood.  LG Electronics is supporting “Life in a Day” as a key part of its long-standing Life’s Good campaign and to support the creation of quality online content that can be shared and enjoyed by all.

The film will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and if your footage makes it into the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director and may be one of 20 contributors selected to attend the premiere.

Want to take part? Here’s what to do:

1. Visit the “Life in a Day” channel and learn more about the project. Be sure to read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video(s). Also check out some of the sample videos for inspirational ideas.

2. On July 24, capture your day on camera.

3. Upload your footage to the “Life in a Day” channel any time before July 31.

Regardless of whether your footage makes it into the final film, your video(s) will live on on the “Life in a Day” channel as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010.

Clay Shirky looks at “cognitive surplus” — the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles. While we’re busy editing Wikipedia, posting to Ushahidi (and yes, making LOLcats), we’re building a better, more cooperative world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world.html

Clay Shirky believes that new technologies enabling loose collaboration — and taking advantage of “spare” brainpower — will change the way society works. He talks a lot about the difference between doing anything and doing nothing. Social science is looking at how much value is derived from our intrinsic motivations to create and share, according to Shirky.

Fascinating stuff as always from TED.com.

Clay Shirky’s work focuses on the rising usefulness of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, wireless networks, social software and open-source development. New technologies are enabling new kinds of cooperative structures to flourish as a way of getting things done in business, science, the arts and elsewhere, as an alternative to centralized and institutional structures, which he sees as self-limiting. In his writings and speeches he has argued that “a group is its own worst enemy.” His clients have included Nokia, the Library of Congress and the BBC.

Inclusive Planet is a social networking site for the visually impaired. The online platform, started last year by three former students of the National Law School of India, attempts to bring together technologists, designers, disability experts and other such folk to throw their might against problems such as the lack of accessible content and non-inclusivity of modern technologies.

Describing itself as ‘a social venture with a very simple yet powerful agenda – to engage smart minds across the world to create scalable technology-led solutions to challenges faced by people with disabilities’, the site has over 4,000 members from 78 countries.

The Inclusive Planet team apply themselves specifically to working on the following areas;

To read more about what the team is up to, click here

[via PSFK and the Times of India]

QR codes and their equivalent prophets of innovation have been around for some years now and have yet to be embraced by the masses despite several attempts from global brands to incorporate them into the marketing mix. However in these iPhone/Smartphone times,  drinks company Pepsi recently announced another new experiment around barcodes this time in collaboration with a startup called Stickybits.

Using a barcode-reader application on a smartphone, users can scan barcodes on Pepsi products like drinks cans or bottles and access videos and links hidden in the code. Users can also upload their own videos, photos and comments about Pepsi and its products.

All of this is powered by Stickybits, which specializes in tagging barcodes with information and accessing it. Stickybits’ product allows people not only to access information that is already programmed in a barcode, but add more information to it by uploading a video or photo to the barcode for other users to see.

To use Stickybits, you need an iPhone or a phone running Google Android. Once you download the app, you can start scanning barcodes or QR codes and attaching files to them—photos, video, text, music, etc. Then, when other Stickybits users scan the same code, they can see what you’ve attached. Stickybits sells packs of vinyl stickers printed with unique barcodes via Amazon, and you can also download free barcodes directly from the Stickybits website and print them out on your printer. In addition, the app works with any barcode that appears on a commercial product.

According to Business-Oportunities.biz, Pepsi thinks the Stickybits pilot is a way of providing consumers information they might want while offering a two-way communication channel, and could conceivably be a vehicle for delivering special deals, or coupons, or promotional rewards.

Reason.com sums up the concept using Pespi’s rival Coke as an example:

When you use one of the stickers that Stickybits provides, your audience is limited to whoever else scans that unique code. But a barcode that appears on a 20 oz. bottle of Coke isn’t unique—it appears on millions of other 20 oz. bottles of Coke. Scan the one sitting in your refrigerator, and your message will be instantly available to everyone else in the world who has a bottle of Coke with that barcode on it and cares to scan it.

Granted, there’s this thing called the Web that provides similar functionality. But if you only want to reach Coke drinkers with your message, and at the precise moment when they’re buying or drinking Coke, Stickybits offers a better way to do it. Or at least it will if it can convince people to add Coke bottles to their daily media diet.

Stickbits creator and all-round social media entrepreneur Seth Goldstein says:

“Just because something is made from atoms, not bits, does not mean that it is not dynamic, we have just never had a way to connect objects to each other or to people. This is an attempt to make visible all kinds of social dynamics around objects that otherwise have been invisible.”

See what others have had to say about Stickybits:

Ad Age:                  That Coke Can You’re Holding Could Be Your New Media Channel

Time:                      Social Objects

CNET:                      Wearing your Stickybit on your sleeve, or elsewhere

LA Times:               Stickybits allows you to embed digital content on objects

RWW:                    Stickybits: Portal to Another Dimension or Graffiti for Nerds?

Techcrunch:         The Secret Lives Of Objects

An object in the sky spreads radiation over North America. Fearing terrorism, U.S. Homeland Security agents are dispatched to investigate and contain the damage. What they discover will have implications for the entire world.

Pioneer One is the latest project from Josh Bernhard and Bracey Smith whose previous indie feature The Lionshare, became VODO’s biggest success to date with over 450,000 downloads since its release. The success of the project inspired the writer/director duo to develop this quality drama in collaboration with VODO and its distribution partners. With a successful distribution of the pilot they’re hunting for the donors and sponsors that will make the continuation of the show possible.

The show’s pilot was shot for just $6000, raised through the micro-funding platform Kickstarter.

“This production was possible due in no small part to the willingness of talented, professional people working for free,” explains Bernhard. “From actors to composers, they did this because they believed in the project and wanted to see it happen. The production was a journey in and of itself.”

This is a nice experiment in film production and distribution which could prove to be as disruptive as the torrent sites which host the project.

Check out the video blogs that were posted to the web that tell the story from script to finished episode:

PIONEER ONE Video Blog #10 from Pioneer One on Vimeo.

Season One

This is the first episode of a 7-episode first season. I’ve just downloaded the torrent but have yet to watch the episode. What’s going to happen to this mysterious cosmonaut? Is his story true? What will happen to our agents, now operating on their own? Help the creators tell this story, along with a further 4 seasons mapped out for the future.

Donate

To make the next episode of Pioneer One possible, the team is asking for your help. A total of $2,155 donated so far (Last update June 18 6:38 PM) out of a donation target $20,000 ( £13,500) which is enough to fund the next three episodes.

Contributors can expect to receive the following extras:

• Donate $5 and get the Pioneer One opening theme mp3.
• Donate $10 and get the theme plus two deleted scenes from the first episode.
• Donate $25 and get everything above plus an exclusive commentary track featuring Josh Bernhard and Bracey Smith.
• Donate $100 and get everything above plus a thank you note in the credits of an upcoming Pioneer One episode.

Torrents

To download using torrent files you need a BitTorrent client, such as uTorrent.

• HD 720p (1119 MB)
• Xvid (349 MB)

Bitlet

If you haven’t got a Bittorrent client installed you can download this release in your browser using BitLet.

• HD 720p (1119 MB)
• Xvid (349 MB)

Direct downloads

For direct downloads please visit one of the site’s DISCO members.

• OneDDL
• Scene Source
• Plube
• Veehd
• English

Discussion

Places to share your thoughts on Pioneer One:

• Here on vodo
• Pioneerone.tv, the official site
• SomethingAwful
• Torrentfreak
• VeeHD
• EZTV
• Isohunt

..and I feel SO lucky!

Tell Us Your Story is giving people the opportunity to recognise and reward others who have made a positive impact on their lives or in their community over the past year. Entries are submitted online at http://www.avivatellusyourstory.co.uk/

Launched by Aviva, for every entry they will donate £1 to the Street to School Programme – a global initiative with the aim of reaching 500,000 children worldwide, helping them get off the streets and back into education.

Click here if you cannot view the embedded video above.

A weekly prize of £1000 will also be awarded to the local hero that captures the hearts of visitors to the site and receives the most votes.  One overall winner will be chosen by a celebrity judging panel for a prize worth £10,000.

Aviva’s looking for people who help others – caring souls who have answered the needs of you, your family or the local community. Put them forward and they could win a £1,000 prize for story of the week. Stories are also voted for, with the overall favourite receiving a grand prize chosen by you worth up to £10,000. Best of all, because you help pick the prize, you can be sure it’s something your friend will appreciate just as much as you appreciate them. Really nice, simple idea – smartly executed.

My favourite story from the entries so far is from Davina in West Sussex:

“Two years ago my dad became fatally ill, he was admitted to hospital, and had under a 10% chance of surviving, He was in intensive care for over a month, with severe complications, he underwent several life saving operations. Over the months he was in hospital i was a complete mess. On the night my dad got admitted to hospital I had a breakdown, and my mum called Rachael, who came staright over to look after me while my dad went to hospital, over the next several months, Rachael and her family became mine, and my mums lifesupport.

They brought over food for us, did our shopping. I ended up living at her house for the space of nearly a month by an invitation from her parents which was a huge weight off my mums mind as she was at the hospital nearly every day. My dad amazinglly pulled through, and me and rachael have never been such strong freinds, it will be 8 years this september! Ontop of this she’s been volunteering for her community since she was 13, and is due to recieve an award for over 1000 hours. She spends summers at a disabled camp, and volunteers in a local youth club during the week. WHAT A SUPERSTAR!”

Railway Children is the UK charity partner for the Street to School programme and works across the UK with vulnerable children. Every year in the UK, 100,000 children run away because they’re unwanted, unloved or abused and many are never reported missing. Click the image below to take part.

Gink. Nuff said.