Nicole Simon's passionate but pragmatic approach for using blogs, podcasts and other tools in professional and private endeavors. And some other stuff she is passionate about.
"It is not all sunshine and flowers" says Stowe (meaning his talk), and the several problems with recording this interview should have been a warning for me that the editing would not be a walk in the park either. Let's just say that while I am extremly unhappy to release this last interview so late, I am more than grateful that I managed to recover the pieces (and keep most of my hard drive). nuff said.
We start from semi-international conferences via the obligation of web culture to do something for the greater good via "do not switch your brain off" to farmer's markets and the bottom two billion. And even if this sounds strange, it is definitely worth a listen even when reboot is over.
I am interested in exploring the conflict between web culture's tribal aspects -- exclusion of the 'others', the power laws, the mob mentality of fads, herd behavior, taboos -- and the value of deep bonds that can potentially transcend race, language, gender, and culture. Freedom cannot be unattachment.
Our web cultural ethos has be be based on something deeper than self-interest. The web brings us a sort of freedom, but we become ensnared in each other at the same time. I want to explore the known universals of human cognition, and pull out some of the threads about the universals of belonging and examine the bright and dark that can arise from that.
It may be that to be free, we have to accept the traps within us, and unsnare ourselves through web discourse and post-national, glocalized identity. We are like a recovering alcoholic: a kind of freedom, but one where any joy is tempered with doubt.
Francesca Birks is a analyst with the Foresight group at design and engineering consultancy ARUP in London UK.
She and I talk about her work and what a foresight analyst does, how destilling information is relevant, how her area of engineering and technology is on a different time scale than for example the internet as well as about her topic of "structure versus freedom":
Structure vs Freedom: An exploration of the dynamic relationship between freedom and structure in the fields of architecture and engineering.
How do structures create freedom, and when is freedom constrained by the deliberate imposition of structure? When does architecture reinforce its own cultural bias instead of supporting the community interactions at play?
Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]
Ianus Keller is questioning if you still are able to collect images / impressions or if you are too focussed on the computer, the net and social tools.
You might remember Ianus from Reboot 2006 when he presented "a low cost version of the Jeff Han / Surface table", which is called Cabernet.
He and I talk about collecting visual impressions and getting inspired by it (or not). Misqouting him a bit, but Ianus basically noted that interaction designers like to zone out of the physical space - and not even touch it. For them there is not much more physicality than the laptop and their mobile. Also he shares how his work with Wacom worked in expanding their business from hardware to more.
Ton and I talk about why we should "speed up awakening to the effect of internet and mobile communications", the benefit of the pro active role of citizens, intuitive ways of perceiving information and how the Eurocup is reminiscent of the old race of nations. ;)
Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]
Brian Suda is best know for his involvement in Microformats, but also plays around with mobile now.
[Note: When we recorded this, Brian thought he would not be able to make it, but good news is now, he managed to get plane tickets!]
Quick and dirty abstract + links
[please feel free to add helpful comments :)]
we talk a bit about his talk why freeloaders are an asset and not a liability, different examples of freeloaders making companies like flickr, youtube, skype, or stumbleupon more valuable
why microformats are awesome and why they may be even better on the mobile
[Preliminary shownotes as I am on the road today but wanted to put this quickly online as the file did not need much editing. ;) Proper context will follow this evening.]
This is the interview with Guy Dickinson, who will not only do again the awesome Micropresentationformat, but will also foster conversations about the cool topics of "urban gardening, why not grow your own food" and "future of books".
Martin Ludvigsen is an interaction designer with a special interest in the physical space where we live our ordinary lives.
In his talk he wants us to rethink the user: "Design for the collective user’s experience", meaning instead of coming from the single user rethink the approach with a collective in mind.
Similar to the analogy of people considering the Internet to be about computers but others see it as a space / place, his desire is to connect the meat space with 'social' gap that bridge between the worlds so that the collective wins and not just the single user.
My favorite quote of this interview probably is "I want to redesign the last 40 cm of the Internet." (and I am not done yet with that refrigerator thought).
Anne van Kesteren works for Opera on web standards and will talk at reboot about "Keeping the Web Free".
The proposal consisted of one sentence "A talk about the recent advancements in Web browsers and Web standards to keep the Web free from proprietary lock in." - so this is probably a longer 'description' of the possible content. ;)
We talk about the tools of the trades and the standards; how while the web grows, so does HTML and how bad things lead to standards.
He wants to hear about your examples and use cases, so try to find him and talk to him.
(Sorry for the ending and the cut in between, but there where some issues while recording.)
Peter Rukavina finds himself exteending his time in Copenhagen every reboot he attends - which makes sense, because it is a long way from Canada. His ventures pay off for us, because he discovered the great Sim card deal at Thelia.
When I work for free, I retain almost complete creative freedom -- what are they gonna do, fire me? -- and so, ironically, I find myself working better, faster, and more productively without the artificial incentive of remuneration.
Claus Dahl is a software developper from Kopenhagen and would like to hear sounds from you. Well more he wants us to make / have a Sine Wave concert!
"You can add yourself to something which you cannot do on your own." Listen to how it works and how you too can be part of this. We also talk a bit about how reboot has evolved over the years and why you need to participate.
Flemming Funch is Danish, lived for 18 years in California and now runs a software company in France. He likes to talk about philosophical / technical issues and looks like a Musketeer. A strange, but interesting combination. ;)
It is always a pleasure talking to David Weinberger and just catch up with what he is up to, but I am also looking forward to listen to his after dinner talk at reboot and learn a bit about the history of information!
Shownotes (did I miss something? add in the comments!)
what he has been up to the last 6 months
why the history of information interests him
from information extremism to something new
forgetting and remembering (I was referring to this interview with
there are more important things than the digital divede [and I admit putting him on a spot there where he could not really give an answer ;)]
about the after dinner talk he is given - and the competition of football
how he is looking forward to be taken apart and challenged by the audience
(Btw, I was calling David on his skype phone and found the quality to be surprisingly good.)
My interview series for reboot is now finished (at least for this year) and I will return to 'normal' mode here. I am now going to fall into bed after I spend too much time in traffic today (4,5 hours on the road for a 60 km away city is just too much).
Matthias Müller-Prove is a computer scientist, and working as a User Experience Engineer & Interaction Designer for StarOffice and OpenOffice.org. He is giving a talk about "A Duel between Desktop and Web".
He and I talk about:
his interest in the history human computer interaction
the short summary of his thesis
books from the cellar
Douglas Engelbert's demo
we do not reinvent - earlier interaction designers had it easier because there was no need for backward compatibility
general environment of web application is not seen in a holistic way
computer system should empower the user!
desktop environment is not improved anymore, web people do not have the big vision and do not get out of the boundaries of the browser - both are crippled
the problem of different OS and the different ways to work with them
there is no consistent global guideline for all kind of devices - www to mobile to consoles
I still have three more interviews to edit but due to some meetings out of town I will only be able to edit and upload them later tonight, so please check back this evening _/ tomorow morning for the last three: Matthias Müller-Prove about interaction design / usability, a philosophical one about intuition with Oleg Kaefood (well, more about philosophy *g*) and as the last one Fred Oliviera about Geography or why it does not matter where you are.
"I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
why human this year - to make again a central theme
insight was: all what is happening currently is a massive shift from machine / industrial perception to a more social, playful, finding yourself way - the desire to make sense
more self-organizing, more conversation, no Q&A!
how the program was / is organized - the wow factor
more rooms this year and an official babysitter!
present among your peers and not sucking up to the participants
about birth, kids and death
companies can die, too.
you do not raise people
what would have happened if we would have had access when we were younger
how children start translating japanese comics
people coming from 23 countries
why it is great that there is another conference with fancy names
it is just for 500 people - well, go make your own version of reboot!
His description about reboot is definitely one of my favorites:
everyone is very open, a great mix of having fun and being very very serious
this very playful, but on the other hand people really trying to dig into things
very practical but at the same time it got strong theoretical leanings
it's very aspirational while at the same time it's pragmatic and
trying to help people trying to do things which are very nuts and bolds
[..] it is kind of amazing that it can spread so far and do so much
[Link for the podcast feed - if you subscribe in itunes, be careful to adapt the settings or you only will get one episode per day!]
About Nicole Simon
I love working with people and help them get successful, especially through the use of social software. Though I have been on the net for over a decade and have consulted SMB for years, I also understand the corporate side, as I have worked in a major corporation for 15 years.
If you need a name for what I do, I usually call myself a European New Media Specialist with a special interest in blogging, podcasting and second life. I also love to 'testdrive' products / concepts which is best described as Technology Implementation Analyst.
When I do interviews (mainly pre conference podcasts I put them up here: Bloxpert so I can seperate blog / podcast talk a bit more from the stuff here.
Useful Sounds is my personal podcast, and I also have a German blog. Living in Lübeck, Germany, a European point of view comes with everything.
Why ctbk? Smooth-tongued responses are for the timid ones, and if there are no challenges, there is nothing to gain either. :)
Complete Feed for ctbk