A few photos along the way –

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)

And while all of the “new” is going to be a lot of fun, there’s definitely some “old” I can’t let go of. This is my unpractical, idealistic packing job.

Ink and watercolor. Each month I post a personal piece of work. Read usage limitations.

What’s what:

1. Vulcan Video’s entire inventory (the South location)
2. A massive jar of HEB’s smokey citrus salsa
3. A crate of Torchy’s Tacos, half of which are baja shrimp (and hopefully not covered in BP’s oil)
4. The dog I wish I had
5. Another crate full of Topo Chico
6. A large sack of Ruta Maya coffee beans
7. A few cases of Real Ale’s Firemans #4
8. Cowboy boots
9. A jar of intense sunlight
10. A large snow globe of Stacy Park
11. And my best friend – he’s waving in the back there

A few examples were presented at SXSWi this year and frankly they’re pretty cool. It’s an odd thing to be able to select and highlight text that sits at an angle with a drop shadow. See for yourself. Below are a few examples of sites using these new techniques.

Created by Alex Girón

Not actually sure who created the Beercamp site. Holler if you know.

Created by Trent Walton

Created by Andy Clarke and Brian Suda for tweetCC

Code examples:

Text Shadow
text shadow: 1px 1px 1px #000; (h-offset y-offset blur #shadow color)
Multiple Columns
column-width: 300px
column-gap: 20px
Rotate
transform: rotate (10deg);

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!

All in all, it was a totally fun project and a second version might be in order down the road. I’m thinking the next totem pole needs some characters from Chuck Palahniuk’s “Fugitives and Refugees” – a local ghost, a santa from the Santa Rampage and maybe even that 2.5 lb. hair ball that’s apparently an hour south of the city.

Below are a few pieces from the creation process:

Then the printing magic happens… and done!

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.

I’ll officially kick off my first VOTM post next week, but in the meantime here’s a quick preview of my current pet project. More to come.

Each week I post a personal piece of work. Read usage limitations.

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.

Taken at Cahal Pech in San Ignacio.

Taken while canoeing through Barton Creek Cave.

Taken on the beaches of Dangriga.

Taken right outside of Barton Creek Cave – tree roots hanging down from the cliff above.