For those unfamiliar with ROFLCon, it’s a biennial conference held on the East Coast that celebrates all things internet. This past weekend, it paid West Coasters a visit for the first time dishing out some serious subjects but with an air of silliness, and I was fortunate enough to be on the team that brought the conference to life. Despite the long hours, the past few months have been a blast filled with ridiculous moments. And how could they not when you’re spending your days and nights making a life-size Pedobear, designing on a Mac from 1987 (not a lie) and buying 8″ floppy discs from eBay.

I just wish all projects ended with a massive party
and an animated .gif photo booth
aand double rainbow Jell-o shots (also not a lie).

::clink:: Cheers to one srsly amazing team!

If Harris’s name doesn’t sound familiar, you’ve probably encountered his work without knowing. Back in 2006 he and Sep Kamvar released a fascinating project called We Feel Fine. I was dumbfounded when it was released and still am. In short, their program continuously collects sentences posted online that use the phrase “I feel” or “I am feeling.” The infographics and trends are incredible. You should check it out for yourself if you haven’t already.

Since then Harris has developed a number of other projects including I Want You To Want Me, an interactive installation about online dating, Whale Hunt, a beautiful photographic storytelling project that correlates to Harris’s heartbeat, and Balloons of Bhutan, an intimate encounter with a nation that prides itself on its Gross National Happiness.

Source: balloonsofbhutan.org

I think it’s safe to say we were mesmerized by Harris as an individual – his unusual collision of talents and free roaming lifestyle. But what I found especially interesting and refreshing was his willingness to admit that the older he gets (by the way, he’s only 32), the less clear things become. Just because someone can capture a mountain a data and discover unique trends in our human existence, doesn’t make the world any simpler. When you step out of the programmer roll (or another highly focused roll, in my opinion) and remind yourself to be human, to dig deeper, you realize there is so much more in the world left to learn. And as we age, we discover more things that we don’t know or understand. I suppose that’s the beauty of it. We can continue discovering new things until the day we die.

If anything, watch to this video from Harris’s photography project Today. It provides a little insight into the notion of aging without gaining clarity. His closing line is perfect, “Boy meets world. Boy still baffled.”

Be sure to keep an eye out for Harris’s new project, Cowbird, revolving around storytelling. Hopefully he’ll share it with the public soon – it looks amazing.

The second bit of news is that SwapYourShop made it into the the 2011 SXSW Interactive PanelPicker! Our proposed panel,”Bartering Life: The Trend of Online Exchange Services,” will cover the twist technology has taken on tradition barter and trade and the ways in which users are seeking to live, work and consume on the the cheap. You can read the full description here.

The SXSW PanelPicker looks to you, the public, to decide who presents at South-by and who doesn’t, so we need your help. Please, please vote for our panel here. You’ll have to create a SXSW account in order to vote, but it’s worth it. Thanks in advance!

The team at SXSWi 2010

While the publicity was of course a great catalyst, myself and the rest of the team were taken aback by the way in which some writers framed the SwapYourShop concept, specifically Urban Daddy’s article. After reading it I had a bit of an epiphany – there must be hordes of men in the world aspiring to be the 21st century Don Draper.

Our reaction to the article was a bit of shock followed by an acknowledgement that publicity is publicity. However, I do want to clarify (and had the article had a comments section, I’d be writing this there) that the intention of the SwapYourShop community is to support creative professionals by helping them immerse in new cultures and creative environments all the while keeping their jobs. It’s an opportunity to escape the day to day routine, gain new experiences and come home more inspired and refreshed. If that involves sleeping with the receptionist, so be it, but that’s not really our message. The article also failed to clarify that SwapYourShop is intended for creative professionals only at this time. My apologies to all of the international diplomats out there who wanted to participate, but the Peggy Olsons of the creative industry have wised up in the last half century anyway.

One final note – amidst the growth madness, we transferred the community’s backend from Drupal to Wordpress’s BuddyPress to better serve our members. We’re really pleased with the new setup and with it, managed to overcome some issues we were previously faced with using Drupal. BuddyPress also provides the community with more user interaction opportunities. Unfortunately, we’re now lacking the functionality to upload photos of your home and office space, but it’s one of our high priorities and hopefully we’ll be adding that soon. Below are a few features we’re excited to have now:

1. Members can follow the activity of their friends and the entire community.

2. Members can create groups and connect with others that share similar interests, professions or live in the same city.

3. Ability to link from others’ profiles in order to narrow searches (ex. find other members located in Cozumel, Mexico)

A great friend of mine is currently getting her master’s in New Media at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. As a wrap up for one of her seminars, she and a colleague are working on “The Cubinator Project“, an exploration into the roles time and space play in new media. Here’s what they say about it:

Anna Munster observes how speed becomes our new unit of measure for distance in the virtual realm. We tend to experience closeness when response is very fast. Consequently, lag in response creates the effect of remoteness. In the globalized 24-hour economy, strongly supported by digital media, we are also prompted to believe that everyone or everything is always working and available. Our interaction with a computational device somehow erases human constraints (our biological rhythms, our physical distances) in our imagination.

With our project we aim to expose the regimes of perception that virtuality engrave our sensory system. After exploring … the relationship between bodily perceived space/time and new digitally created space/time parameters … we will try to produce a direct experience of these collisions between the physical and virtually perceived space.

That high-level upper education talk is to say that the two students are holding a 24-hour performance of “The Cubinator Project”. During this 24-hour period, the public can contact them through digital media channels and request the creation of an origami cube. The two students will broadcast this 24-hour performance live on the internet to show their real time interactions and cube creations. The more people that interact with them, the more cubes they’ll create and the larger their cube art sculpture will become. Cool, right? You can read up on more of the details here.

The performance will take place on April 17th at 7:00pm (Amsterdam time). Tune into the project’s website to join the fun.

On a side note, my friend also has a A+ blog called Munt Thee about happenings in Amsterdam. I highly recommend it to those visiting/living in the city. Sure makes me miss it!

Augmented Reality: Gimmicky Trend or Market-Ready Technology?

This panel acknowledged that fact but more interestingly, they argued AR’s real-world value beyond entertainment. AR can be a very effective tool when we acknowledge just that, it’s just a tool and not a starting point. Below are a few examples of great AR usage:

1. Lego’s Toy Packaging

If you’re familiar with Lego’s AR project, you might argue, “but that IS a gimmicky trick”, which is probably true. But I think the way in which Lego capitalized on AR was pretty perfect for their target audience. You can imagine little boys (and girls) going nutso in the toy store when they see a fully constructed spinning helicopter right before their eyes. That enthusiasm for a very specific Lego product translates into direct sales.

2. USPS Virtual Box Simulator

Even the government has jumped on board with AR. For this project, they’ve created a tool that helps users determine which envelope or box size is needed for their mail items. You simply hold your stuff up to your webcam and it helps you with the selection. I was too lazy to print the eagle icon so I drew a box instead. Where should I mail this “crisp summer lager”?

3. Google SkyMap

And, of course, we can’t leave out Google. With their tool, you can explore the night sky by pointing your phone toward space, and they’ll show you a star map for your location in order to check out visible planets and constellations. I think this app is reason enough for me to ditch my tween phone.

One of the panelist in this session said this about infographics, and I think it sums them up beautifully – “Let the data do the talking.” They advised to always ask yourself the question, “What are we trying to answer?” and go from there. The data will say it all.

If you’re a reader of GOOD magazine or The New York Times, it’s likely you’ve come across some of the impressive examples that were presented in this panel. Below are a few of my favorites, and you’ll see that the data does in fact do the talking.

How Different Groups Spend Their Day – The New York Times

This infographic allows you to compare how different segments of the American population spend their time each day. Some of the larger categories include eating, working, household activities, traveling and TV. Below you can see the increased amount of time older Americans spend watching TV compared to the younger (those under 65). It’s pretty fun to play with.

Girl Power – GOOD magazine

GOOD magazine created this infographic in 2007 to look at gender imbalance among the world’s leaders. The grid is composed of various female leaders’ faces and each cell represents 1 million people governed. Shortly after GOOD created this infographic, Pratibha Patil was elected in India and a reader created a “revised” version – pretty funny.

The Hidden Cost of War – GOOD magazine

And lastly, infographics can come in video form as shown in this animation GOOD created in 2008. They estimate the cost of the War in Iraq and then walk you through how they came up with that number through a series of beautifully designed graphics. It’s pretty interesting/scary to see how it adds up.

Last month I outlined five SXSWi sessions that looked rather promising. And with the conference now just one month away, I’ve highlighted another five for you to add to your schedule. We’re in countdown mode!

1. Is Wordpress Killing Web Design? / Dan Oliver, .net Magazine

Oliver and the panel will debate whether or not CMS tools are hindering creativity in web design. I’m a bit confused by this session’s description because the tool, Wordpress in this case, has little effect on my personal creation process. The work my studio and I produce looks far from template-like. This confusion can be partly attributed to the fact that we focus solely on design rather than design and development saving us from execution fears (up to a certain point). Perhaps in this case ignorance IS bliss. All in all, it should prove to be a great show thanks to an interesting subject matter and a solid line up of panel members.

2. Where the Sidewalk Ends / Iain Coyle

I’m afraid this session might be the equivalent of hanging out in your bookstore’s Self Help section, but it sounds great so who cares. Coyle’s panel has a solid line up as well including designer/illustrator Frank Chimero and Thinking For a Living’s creator, Duane King. The panel will discuss the importance of personal projects – how they help one become a stronger creative and positively influence one’s client work. So if you’re needing a little kick in the pants to remind you of your original passion, the one you had before your clients stomped on it, this panel might motivate you to find it again.

3. Re-Inventing the Wheel: Sketching your own IA Process /
Chris Fahey, Behavior Design

We’ve all been there. You sit down with the research and tools ready to design and feel as though you don’t know where to start. It reminds me of Sidney Harris’s cartoon (below) which reads, “And then a miracle occurs.” So what exactly happens in that “miracle”? And what can we do to insure a “miracle” happens every time? Fahey’s session will shed some light on that process and hopefully help us all avoid those initial moments of panic.

4. Beyond the Desktop / Peter Murholz, Adaptive Path

The public at large quickly familiarized itself with the iPhone and Wii interfaces. So what’s next? Murholz will show us where things are heading with new, unfamiliar interfaces. I’m sure the iPad will make an appearance here and I look forward to hearing Murholz’s perspective on what this means for future products and user interaction.

5. Web Accessibility Gone Wild / Jared Smith, WebAIM

Good intentions, bad results. Smith will shed some light on the accessibility mistakes we’re making, how they’re hurting users, and how to correctly go about web accessibility. He’ll explain what appropriate alternative text looks like, how to make complex images such as graphs accessible, and how to apply accessibility practices to web apps.

One of the best things about living in Austin is having SXSW in your backyard. This city turns into one giant party for a good week with a steady flow of geeks, film buffs, hipsters and free booze. If you fall into the geek crowd like myself, you might be interested in these interactive sessions below which will take place March 12-16. With two months still ahead, SXSW has posted a preliminary list of confirmed panels. I already have a comically long list of ones I’d like to attend, but here are five recommendations to start with:

1. Interactive Infographics / Casey Caplowe, GOOD

The designer in me is drawn to this session – serious eye-candy. GOOD consistently displays beautiful infographics both in their magazine and website. I assume Caplowe will walk us through examples such as these Transparency graphics. Yum. Read the full description.

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2. Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon / Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering

If you’re like me and dread holiday shopping, Amazon was probably your one-stop-shop last month. So much for keeping it local. Anyway, Spool will uncover some of the great and not-so-great aspects of this monolithic e-commerce site. It should be an interesting dissection to watch. Read the full description.

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3. Designing the First Fifteen Minutes / Rob Goodlatte, Facebook

Goodlatte will share some insights in creating a user experience that keeps the user from immediately jumping ship. I’m especially interested in this one due to the SwapYourShop online community I’m collaborating on. Read the full description.

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4. Fluid Web Typography: Many Types, Many Faces / Jason Cranford Teague, consultant

I was banking on a Get Your Glyph On sequel* but have yet to see it listed. If it doesn’t surface, I won’t be totally and utterly heartbroken thanks to Fluid Web Typography. I’m hoping it touches on new legal solutions for font downloading as I discussed in this post. Read the full description.

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5. Long Distance UX / Lisa Kamm, Google

Our SwapYourShop team is always interested in learning more about collaboration among global teams, and what better way to learn than from Google? Kamm will share tips and tools on creating a smooth and effective long distance collaboration experience. Read the full description.

*I’m confused by this one. It appears as though Get Your Glyph On 2 is happening due to the web page but perhaps it hasn’t been confirmed because it’s not listed here.