Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
As rumored schemer is shutting its doors… Luckily as this is a Google product they do a good job with the Data portability providing not only a CSV of all your schemes but also a HTML file complete with comments to your schemes.
Which might answer the question about who owns the comments after a service stops running…? Ok maybe not…
It was imran again (he’s full of interesting off the mainstream stuff, go follow him) which tweeted something and I followed the link to something I wasn’t expecting. A quick browse through and I thought well thats just silly but I left the tab open in Firefox. Over a week later the images have conjured up more thoughts.
I started wondering what is the correct ratio for plants to person? I’m sure its not one plant. Of course I know its not really going to work (water, sunlight, etc) but it got me thinking how striking the image is and the effect going forward.
It also reminds me of a project I saw come out of Dundee University’s degree show in 2012 (or maybe it was 2011?). It was a smoking system which piped the smoke around a glass system and saved it along with the conversation you were just having. Wonder what happened to that…?
I really liked Schemer when I first heard about it. I remember calling it inspirational networking.
Well my friend Matt today pointed out it might be closing sooner than I imagined. Adam Coder points out what to be fair I’m also thinking after reading this Engadget leak.
We can’t blame you if you haven’t heard of Google’s Schemer; the goal sharing service launched at the end of 2011, but it hasn’t received much publicity (or traffic) since. Accordingly, the crew in Mountain View may be close to shutting Schemer down. Google Operating System has leaked an internal version of Schemer’s website that includes an unfinished closure page inviting users to export their data. It’s not clear how serious Google is about closing Schemer, however. The internal site may reflect real plans, or it could be a just-in-case placeholder; we’ve reached out to the company for a definitive answer. We won’t be surprised if Schemer gets the axe, though, when Google has shut down more beloved services in the past.
Looks like its the end of the line for Schemer and its a real shame because I’ve introduced it to quite a few people who quite like it. Even I have been using on and off quite a bit.
So seeing how Google are hell bent on getting rid of anything which doesn’t seem to fit Google+, has no moonshot inspiration or make them money right now.. What would I suggest happens to Schemer?
I’d love to see the BBC takeover from Google. Hear me out, its not as nutty as it first seems.
The improvement and inspiration in peoples lives is something at the heart of the BBC, ok we’re mainly talking about Great Britain but maybe its time we looked further a field. Lots of the goals on Schemer match or fit in with a BBC programme (TV/Radio/Web). For example my goal to head to Tokyo… There’s 36 BBC Learning resources about Tokyo. 3 about the religion. 188 verified and checked websites. With some crowdsourcing (hate that word too) a combination of what the BBC recommends and what the people actually use, you can easily see fantastic guides for everything from reading more on the tram to going to Tokyo.
Maybe I need to write this up in more detail but thats for another day.
Interestingly with all this talk about closing down Schemer, I’m thinking what happened to the whole decentralised networking thing? Is there a way to take the best parts of Schemer but bake it into the web? Heck it could be a WordPress plugin or a RDF/a or Microformats/Data?
I have been writing my new years resolutions in the public on my blog for quite some time. I was surprised to found out its been since 2008 I have been doing so. If I remember rightly it was something to do with Critsiano Betta, Miss Geeky and a series of posts about new year resolutions.
Anyhow I’ve inspired someone others to do the same. Andy and Tim.
inspired by
@cubicgarden I blogged my new years resolutions http://www.andy-powell.net/new-years-resolutions-2014/
And thats one of the wonderful things about Schemer. Seeing how your goal inspires others. You can also aid/help people get their goals. This naturally happens when you state your goals in public. For example… here’s a comment from Rachel offering her help with my genealogy. On Facebook theres also more.
The importance of having your own blog/space, yes but its the collective nature which could make it a replacement for the almost dead schemer?
Since Imran pointed me at the trailer transcendence, ever since I’ve been thinking about the singularity.
If you don’t know what the singularity (I’m talking about the traditional sense, if there is such a thing. It gets used in many different ways)
The singularity, is a theoretical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, radically changing civilization, and perhaps human nature
Interestingly I started watching Brain Jazz with Jason Silva and Douglas Rushkoff. (Shame it doesn’t work with the Chromecast). Maybe if I was at home, I could get it working with XBMC/Plex somehow. Anyway, its interesting to watch Silva and Rushkoff wax lyrical about the singularity.
Silva loves the idea of the Singularity while Rushkoff is less interested. (7:30mins in Rushkoff roughly says – remember I’m rubbish at note taking being dyslexic)
“…We talk alot about the singularity, I get the… The singularity to me is this self loathing, anti-human, zombie apocalypse fantasy. The story they tell is the history of evolution is information its self striving to greater states of complexity. Humans are really good, Culture is really good, been good for the last 10,000 years but now computers are better. People are only any good to help machines transcendence the next stage of evolution…”
Silva nicely replies pointing out that this isn’t a zero sum game. We may have a bias towards skinbags but AI is actual fact us if we can get over the skinbag bias.
And thats my problem with Transcendence. Its all Zero-sum, theres no room for the humans (say hello to the robots indeed), I’m deeply worried about this being clique central although (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Johnny Depp has been talking about the philosophical underpinning of the film. For me having Christopher Nolan on-board is a massive plus, but he’s not actually directing or writing it.
I guess we’ll find out in April which way it goes…
Back to Rushkoff and Silva’s mindjam.
Rushkoff point through out, is people are not learning from there experiences and then bringing it back into reality. So they create Second Life instead of changing First Life. Life should be lived to the point of tears Silva says and Rushkoff agrees, adding we’ve lost the Awe in life, this is why people seek physiological drugs/highs. But the best part of such a high is the come down, the realisation that our world is full of awe.
This is something I can relate to. I have never taken physiological drugs. Even while being surrounded by them at raves and clubs in the 90′s. I always said my life is so full of stimulation and awe, I don’t need to fill it with even more awe.
Theres plenty of great ideas and questions in the session including Rushkoff’s deconstruction of our current social networks. Lovely look at human nature and the young kids trading sweets in a traditional bazaar.
Maybe we need a Brain Jazz in Manchester? This level of conversation is something I do miss.
Usually its related to a project idea, and they are asking for the trajectory target?
Well with the lens on Perceptive Media, which I believe is the future of storytelling. The kinds of storytelling which touches and engages at such a deep level. Canus said life should be lived to the edge of tears (I assume happy & sad).
The moon shot is the lucid dream…
“Immersive works of art or entertainment are increasingly not content to simply produce a new range of sensations. Instead, they often function as portals into “other worlds.” Erik Davis
Martin Bryant’s post titled The art of saying nothing.
It’s a common problem; a high-profile speaker from a big-name firm takes to the stage and manages to say nothing new or interesting during the whole 20 minutes they’re on stage. Any challenging question about the company’s future plans or a controversial episode in its recent past is met with an “I’m not going to comment on that.”
It makes sense – especially for employees of public companies who don’t want to be responsible for a dive in stock price thanks to an unfortunate turn of phrase – but the watching audience is left with… nothing.
…
Why appear at all if you’re just going to reiterate your company’s mission or story that has been reported time and time again?
This may sound like the moan of a writer looking for stories, but conferences are a powerful opportunity for companies to get a message across. It’s not enough to simply turn up. Give us some news! If you can’t give us news, at least make sure that the person you send to speak on stage has an engaging story to tell.
I’m not a fan of it and frankly I’d rather choose to talk when I got something new to say and can talk somewhat freely. Nothing worst than having to stick solid to a script or not talk about the elephant in the room. Also not a fan of giving the same presentation again and again, I like tweak and change it for the audience.
The opportunity to talk shouldn’t be taken lightly even after years. Its a chance to touch hearts and minds, find collaborators and understand better ways of telling your story.
If your not… your wasting everyones time.
Its a tricky one…
I like to buy presents of my godchildren which matter. Its tricky because you don’t want to buy something boring but educational. When I was young my godparents would get me Lego, Chemistry sets and ultimately Technical Lego. This certainly helped my creativity develop.
So whats the modern equivalent of Lego? Something you can buy more of and add to?
Well I thought Raspberry Pi. Yeah, no brainer right?!
But here’s my issue.
I have 2 male godchildren (4 and 6) and 1 female (7).
My natural thought was to get one for the 6yr old, specially because his dad is technical and the child has already shown an amazing comfort with computers. The other male is too young and frankly more interested in super-heroes. So why not the older female?
I don’t know… (and I feel like I’ve had this debate before, so excuse me if you’ve heard it before).
I also didn’t want to buy her pink stuff but she loves it so much. Along while ago I bought her some pink lego and she seemed quite happy with that. Although to be fair I’ve never actually seen play with them. Me being a melding godfather decided one year to buy her a mini telescope, hoping it will foster a little more science in her life. Of course this nothing against the parents, I love them to bits. But my understanding of what a godfather does is to do whats best for the child regardless of how much it drives the parents insane.
So back to the point, why have I not bought her a Raspberry Pi? Is this nasty sexism which I don’t know about? Absolutely not!
I guess I balanced it all in my mind and decided it would be a little unfair to force something like this on her at this stage. Instead I bought her some more Lego but the friends subsection.
What would you do? Am I doing down the godfather title by not giving her what might be good for her? She has godmothers, maybe its the godmothers who gives her what she wants and the godfather who makes the difficult decisions. And I don’t mean that in a sexist way, the godmothers should be making the difficult decisions for the boys, while the godfathers are buying stuff he wants?
Who knows but I am certainly thinking for her birthday, I should find something which crosses over and brings out her geeky side.
Any tips on what, are very welcomed.
I’m hoping the likes of Jasmine Cox, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Rosie Campbell, Rebecca Gregory-Clarke, etc. Can offer some advice on this? I can’t be the only one wondering about this….?
Help this teacher make a great point to her students about the consequences of social network use. Please RT widely
It says…
I want to illustrate to my junior high students (grade 7-9) how fast a photo can be shared on the internet. Please “Like” and “Share” this image to help me teach caution and discernment to the students in my classes.
Although a great idea and I’m not against teaching and eduction, but its worth pointing out the incredible power this also brings to each and everyone of us. Empowerment should also be taught in the same lesson. Never has there been a way to connect a mass audience at such low cost and such speed. The inception of the internet and social media is a great thing too. And its too easy to teach the negative. The internet and social media isn’t something which should be feared, rather taught how to responsibly participate in.
Forgot to blog about Amazon prime air earlier this week. Amazon plans to deliver some goods via drones/octocopters.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says.
The drones, called Octocopters, could deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg to customers within 30 minutes of them placing the order, he said.
Theres a million reasons why its not going to happen in the next few years but the thing which I believe Amazon have missed is Pigeon post.
Pigeon posts packet switching network is a lot more efficient and could scale way beyond Amazon’s idea of one Octocopter per package. If your going to do it, do it with scale in mind Bezos!
As Nathan Rae posted to tech news today…
There is an example of Perceptive Media which I like to use. Its a bit of a messy example because I’m usually trying to avoid spoiling the plot of Vanilla Sky or Open your eyes. I used it at TedXBristol, to explain why perceptive media can be so incredible. Of course there is spoilers below.
I remember when I watched Vanilla Sky for the first time, there was a scene which seemed to give me chills or something like a deja vu. I felt like I knew the scene so well, like I’d been there or seen it before. How is this possible? A film I’ve never seen before and a place I’ve never been before? Well in the film you are led to believe they are using parts of Tom Cruises memory to make him feel comfortable with whats going on.
One such scene is a image from his memory. An image of the Bob Dylan album – Free wheelin.
That image comes from flicking through my fathers LP collection when young. I’m not even sure if he still has it or not but something somewhere in my brain is that image. When I saw that image again build up in a similar way, something triggered my brains pulses to say you have seen this before. I call it a deja vu but I’m not certain what it is. Something pulled that image out of my memory and front and center in my mind.
There is something about Vanilla Sky and ultimately Open your eyes which seems to trigger memories beyond just mine.
It was amazing to hear Jason Silva on London Real talking about Vanilla Sky. Although Jason is an excitable character, his observations about storytelling and the affect of the movie is spot on.
Great storyteller can do amazing things.
They craft magic, the surreal and the impossible in our minds through simply words, images or sound. They weave a world which is for a brief moment believable.
Its a little bit of cold reading, great communication skills, excellent storytelling and a number of other things. Perceptive Media enables the great storytellers to do what they do best but on a broadcast sized audience.
