Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in an artistic, musical, or other intellectual endeavor such as the invention of a new scientific theory. Literally, the word means “breathed upon,”
Typically I find myself inspired by what I read, view, or otherwise stumble across on the Internet. But lately I’ve been feeling as if my Internet experience is too organized for inspiration. There is no randomness, discovery, or freshness in my experience of the web. This isn’t all bad, though. I like that my Internet experience is organized. I couldn’t live without google reader.
But
I wish there were a better recommendation engine for my Internet experience. One that could help me discover new music, blogs, short documentaries, photography, etc. I want it to suggest something to me, but allow me to feel as if I discovered it.
I’m looking for that unconscious burst of creativity sparked by something I discover on the Internet. Perhaps the role of the Internet is to bring us closer to sources of individual inspiration, so that we can be breathed upon.
The wires between the brain cells, the connections, are the things that you can modify throughout life,” he says. “They change and they improve through your 40s and 50s and 60s.
In a post titled, “New Gatekeepers Twitter, Apple, YouTube need Transparency in Editorial Picks”, MediaShift nicely summarizes what’s been happening:
Twitter began listing Suggested Users a couple months ago for newbies who weren’t following anyone and didn’t get how the service worked. By highlighting popular Twitter feeds from news organizations such as the New York Times and celebrities such as Britney Spears, Twitter hoped to hook new users. The problem? There was no explanation of how anyone made it onto such a list, and all the featured users started racking up huge numbers of followers.
Then…
Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis made a kind of indecent proposal to Twitter, saying he would pay $500,000 to be a Suggested User for three years — equating it with a Super Bowl ad. Twitter didn’t bite.
And then…
Blogger and tech guru Dave Winer decided to start his own Twitter-like microblogging service, and was upset about the way Twitter went about picking Suggested Users.
Now that we’re caught up, I have a few thoughts.
Why do we care if they editorialize? Are any of these services claiming to be “fair and balanced”? Besides, it’s actually interesting to following some of their suggested users.
Comparing being a suggested user on Twitter to a super bowl ad is ridiculous. If a Super Bowl ad is a fire-hose, then Twitter is a leaking water balloon. Seriously.
I’m all for transparency, but I think it’s fairly obvious why twitter is suggesting those users - they’re popular / celebrities.
Twitter isn’t like email, as some suggest. Txt mssgs are like email.
As an editor and a lover of books, I sympathize. But why should a civilization that reads electronically be any less literate than one that harvests trees to do so? And why should a transition away from the printed page lessen our appreciation and love for printed books? Hardbacks these days are disposable vessels, printed on ever crappier paper with bindings that skew and crack. In a world where we do most of our serious reading on screens, books may again thrive as expressions of craft and design. Their decline as useful objects may allow them to flourish as design objects.
The idea that you can give things away online, and hope that advertising revenue will somehow materialise later on, undoubtedly appeals to users, who enjoy free services as a result. There is business logic to it, too. The nature of the internet means that the barrier to entry for new companies is very low—indeed, thanks to technological improvements, it is even lower in the Web 2.0 era than it was in the dotcom era. The internet also allows companies to exploit network effects to attract and retain users very quickly and cheaply. So it is not surprising that rival search engines, social networks or video-sharing sites give their services away in order to attract users, and put the difficult question of how to make money to one side. If you worry too much about a revenue model early on, you risk being left behind.
Ultimately, though, every business needs revenues—and advertising, it transpires, is not going to provide enough. Free content and services were a beguiling idea. But the lesson of two internet bubbles is that somebody somewhere is going to have to pick up the tab for lunch.
Interesting article in the NYT magazine about Facebook and its varying effects on different age cohorts. This chart shows just how much time different ages spend using facebook during any given month.
The article brings up the concept of reinventing oneself in the age of facebook, twitter, and google, which is an interesting topic.
On the one-hand, it may be more difficult to become a “new person” when at any moment we (as well as others) can discover our old selves (and old friends) waiting for us, reminding us of the past.
On the other-hand, it may be easier to change as “living out-loud” can attract both criticism and encouragement. Not to mention, there is something rather therapeutic about being so unashamed that you share your “changes” online.
Understand your users. That’s the key. The essential task in a startup is to create wealth; the dimension of wealth you have most control over is how much you improve users’ lives; and the hardest part of that is knowing what to make for them. Once you know what to make, it’s mere effort to make it
But above all else, the whiteboard is a place for collaboration. It’s a focal point. Like a campfire in days gone by. Or a fireplace in your lounge. Most team discussions happen round the whiteboard. Discussions about progress. Discussions about issues. Discussions about design. All sorts, sometimes even when the whiteboard isn’t even needed. It becomes the hub of information for the team. The hub for communication and collaboration.
We often rely upon so-called futurists to dazzle guide us with their vision of what the future holds. They are often correct, but many times not, and all of us that are not futurists just sit back and soak in their predictions as quasi entertainment / information.
We envy the ability futurists have to spot trends, understand how they will shape the future and convince us of their predictions. Maybe I’m the only one, but their job sounds fun: speculate about the future, people believe you on faith, and there is minimal accountability - sounds great. In a way, they are like magicians, but that’s a whole different topic for a different day.
The interesting thing is that we can all be futurists by embracing prolific experimentation. I read the following quotes this morning, which got me thinking about this topic:
Seth’s blog: “When you read big ideas online, do you nod your head knowingly, do you argue in favor of the status quo or do you actually do something?”
Clay Shirkey: “Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments, each of which will seem as minor at launch as craigslist did, as Wikipedia did, as octavo volumes did.”
Instead of waiting for a futurist to tell us the future, we can instead shape it by creating experiments, a great number of experiments. The goal isn’t to have each experiment succeed, it’s to have a few experiments succeed. In baseball, getting on-base 30-40% of the time is considered successful, which means players fail most of the time. Perhaps a similar model for success should be considered in predicting creating the future.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Most of the points listed above stem from not being able to relax, to have a good time and engage with people because you’re too worried about appearing “proper”. It’s not proper for companies to talk about mistakes. It’s not proper for employees to detail their personal experiences with the company.
And that may be true. But it’s a hell of a lot more interesting.
This headline came through on my Google Reader today. The fact that this was retweeted (so far) 78 times and it’s not a parody or spoof makes me question people’s sanity.
Why on earth would anyone care to follow 15K+ people on twitter? And why would someone actually thinks it’s useful to show other people how to follow a ridiculous amount of people on twitter? And people are thankful!
Come to think of it, why do I care that people care?
This woman made a website / blog dedicated to why twitter should hire her and has been getting mentions around the web because of it. Who knows if she’ll get a job with twitter, but this is a unique way of standing out in a time where it’s easy to blend in and not be noticed.
“Expect the ads you see on premium sites like ESPN, Forbes.com and iVillage to get a bit more gaudy and in-your-face over the coming weeks, as these publishers, as well as nearly two dozen other members of the Online Publishers Association (OPA), plan to roll out a trio of new display units aimed at grabbing visitor attention better than the average banner ad. “
I wish ad agencies would quit thinking of what they do as “grabbing” attention. Instead they should attempt to attract my attention, on my own terms. That’s a much better way of doing business.
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