Dash Away, Dash Away All

Here's a piece of out-of-home advertising that really gets the heart racing...

The sports-shoe manufacturer Asics set up a 60-foot video wall in the Columbus Circle subway station in New York City to see how close you can come to leading U.S. marathoner Ryan Hall's 4:46 average pace he sets over the course of the 26.2-mile race.

Reminiscent of other, similar kinetic out-of-home displays such as Volkswagen's efforts in its "Fun Theory" series, this shows how to pay off a brand message through action, not just reading. Lace 'em up and stretch out!

Living Well With Digital

Kip Voytek, partner with MDC, is a novel combination of geekazoid and humanist thinker while working with one of the largest marketing services agencies in the world. He's able to toss Emerson, Montaigne, and Shakespeare together with "The Matrix" and refs to Wikipedia.

His imaginative and energetic five-minute spin here about making your way in the digital world shows this eclecticism, and is fun(ny) to boot.

Hunt for the New

The pace of creating new devices continues to increase. This recent posting in "I Have an Idea" surveys the most recent lot of them. (No, this poor guy in the image doesn't have a bad case of acne; read the article to see what the heck's really going on.)

While I can understand its gee-whiz wonderment at these devices, it's not yet clear how they might be used for telling compelling stories and for creating compelling forms of involvement.

While it's important to keep a finger on the pulse of new devices, it's just as important to remember that devices are only one part--and, frankly, an increasingly small part--of what really new media are all about.

A Troglodyte's Call

With snail's pace of innovation in really new media over the past weeks (same ol' stuff week after week), I thought it was a good time to think about trends in media education as well as in media work.

We've all heard about "convergence." Despite its value, what it means too often is efforts to cut costs primarily by trimming staffs and making each remaining person wear more hats.

While there's a benefit gained with people breaking out of narrow job-description silos, the trouble is that the broader people are spread, the thinner their knowledge and practice inevitably becomes.

Nowhere is this more true than with really new media. If the demands for profitability increase to the extent that we return to the days in which fewer people do everything from copy to design and production, the inevitable result is thin, safe work.

The pressure to produce overwhelms the need to explore and create. Safety in reusing what's worked in the past becomes valued over innovation.

Particularly with digital techniques, only extreme techies have the depth of technical sophistication to help creatives translate concepts into execution. There's no way the creatives who cook up the concepts could also execute work such as the Nokia World Biggest Signpost and the Halo Monument Light Sculpture.

So, consider this a vote against workplace convergence--not in favor of a return to the assembly line of yore, but of pioneering new ways of working together that preserve depth of knowledge and the freedom to create and innovate. And the value of doing so.

More on the 'Real' as the 'Virtual'

Okay, so there's video games and real games, right?

Britvic wants to change all that, and, by doing so, underscore the cutting edge of digital as dispensing altogether with such facile distinctions as that between 'virtual' and 'real'.

Britvic's Champion of the Playground is an online game/competition directed at kids, and intended to interweave a product message about their juices with encouraging kids to exercise more ('really', not virtually).

Kids register and receive a 'skill kit' to use. As The Drum puts it, "Skills kits contain a kit bag and a web cam, as well as a digitised skipping rope and a digitised hackysack that contain micro-chips which record a code when the child practises certain skills. Children can enter the recorded code online to receive further skills points and see how they compare against their friends in their friends league'.

The activity takes place virtually and really, rendering the ol' division between 'virtual' and 'real' increasingly irrelevant. 

Blurring the Line Between "Virtual" and "Reality"

How often are campaigns and promotions thought about as linking a separate "virtual" with a separate "reality"?

A number of recent efforts highlight how limiting this is.

Another recent effort that doesn't simply make a "virtual" anything, but instead maps the "real" onto/within the "virtual" is the mixed-media project/proposal "110 Stories," pitched through Kickstarter by Brian August.

By visually reproducing a view of the absent World Trade Center towers to anyone looking at Ground Zero through an iPhone, it not only helps people see/remember what once was at that site, it helps them share that experience with others.

Just as the virtual makes tangible what once was real, the real provides the impetus and substance for the virtual.

These and other efforts are remaking what we mean by "digital."

My Current Favorite

In terms of meeting "really new media," few I've seen recently can top Nokia's effort it titles the "World's Biggest Signpost."

The installation is strategically very sharp, with the user involvement not simply a standard contest or game, but rather is directly contributing to delivering/enacting the key message. What's more, the monumental scale  underscores the power of a user's finger digitally enabled, while the sheer fun you can see on people's faces (rather than stress, as in many competitive games) sets this one quite a ways apart.

Finally, this project also demonstrates what to me is the next frontier in digital thinking: Namely, that digital isn't simply what happens virtually as opposed to in the "real world," but it's how the virtual becomes mapped onto the real.

And Now for Something Completely Different

(I've been looking for a chance to use that Monty Python line for a title...)

While the point of the blog is to highlight fully-realized examples of really new media, it's also a good idea to highlight those that aren't so fully realized, if for no other reason than they have a great potential as yet to be figured out or realized.

One is augmented reality using Bing maps. Blaise Aguera y Arcas (at this time, at Microsoft of all places, but who knows where he may be now) did a TED talk last year on this project. Imagine Google Maps and Google Earth integrated with video, and that almost captures what this is all about.

A second is laser tagging--as in, instead of using cans of spray paint and getting arrested for vandalism, using digital mapping and a pen laser to draw.  Our friends at the Graffiti Research lab have it all worked out.

When measured up against "really new media," these are, of course, incomplete. But that means they and others like them are ripe for thoughtful creative development.

Near Misses, Near Hits

Integrating this blog into my teaching has its plusses and minuses. While it encourages students to initiate their own search and investigation into new media (a plus), it also tends to be repetitious and ultimately safe (a minus), due to how the grading system encourages students to play it safe.

This helps explain the over-reliance in student postings on smartphone apps (easy to search in iTunes, other postings have apps so that seems to boost chances of acceptance) and on Facebook apps.

So, for next academic year, I won't accept any submissions of free-standing smartphone apps, and any pitches for Facebook-related things had better be good!

It also takes me away from posting things I encounter, as does the crazy Maymester teaching schedule. But, now that that's done, time to re-engage.

How Energy Efficient is your Hohm?

With the economy in poor shape, everyone is trying to find ways to save a couple of dollars. And, by living more eco-friendly, people are not only helping the environment but also helping their wallet by cutting their utility bills.

Microsoft recently released an online power management application designed to help users save money by allowing them track their home energy consumption. And it's free.

Hohm allows users to keep track of the amount of energy their homes use. After providing information about heating, cooling, lighting, and other energy consumption, Hohm tells them where exactly their energy is going.

Hohm also gives users energy-saving recommendations such as installing new caulking on windows, removing air leaks, and installing a programmable thermostat. All recommendations are based on what appliances users have, and the characteristics of each users’ home, as well as their energy expenditure patterns.

And, if you’re tired of watching reruns on your DVR, Blue Line's PowerCost Monitors give you a chance to watch your energy consumption and expenditure in real time.

Rather than require you to have an engineering degree and keep tedious records, Hohm puts the onus on itself. And isn’t that what new media should be for?

[Contributed by Andrew Chang]

Gas-Go-Round

Don't these prices make you a bit nostalgic?

One, two, three….FOUR?!?! As prices at the pump reach a new high of four dollars a gallon, people all over feel the pressure to save as much as possible.

For some people, a full tank of gas may soon cost a $100 now, more that a week’s worth of groceries or a nice new pair of shoes.  Unfortunately in today’s hectic society people are on the move more than ever, which means more travel, not less. Which means more gas to buy, which means … you get the point.

However, hope’s on the way. Cheap Gas is a smartphone app that uses your phone’s GPS to see where you are, then to show you how much gas costs at the gas stations closest to your current location. Cheap Gas even plots the quickest route to reach your choice of station.

Imagine not eating up gas to find out where to get more. Now you can use your expensive fuel for what it was meant to do.

[Contributed by Andrew Chang]

Tweet that Mercedes!

To update its old, stodgy image for the social-media age, Mercedes-Benz hired Razorfish to launch the first-ever Tweet Race.

Each of four teams had a celebrity leader whose job was to motivate their followers on Twitter to participate. The more tweets a team received, the more gas they were allocated. The objective was to fuel the car until it arrived in Dallas, Texas where this year’s Super Bowl was held.

Overall, the campaign generated more than 150,000 tweets from 21,000 users. And it raised more than $120,000 for charity, reports BenzInsider.com.

Who ever knew that tweeting could create so much energy?

[Contributed by Courtney Brennaman]

Let's Bump!

Thanks to the power of social networking and many other new technologies, forming relationships and meeting new people is a whole lot easier.

Now, thanks to Bump, it's even easier.

Bump is smartphone app that allows people to share a variety of information with each other simply by "bumping" their phones together.

Before bumping, users can choose exactly what they want to send and the other party confirms this information after the "bump." Once confirmed, the information is automatically stored in the phone. This application has continued to evolve and nowadays, users can even become Facebook friends with a simple touch.

Bump is a quick, easy, and efficient way to exchange information. Things that would normally have to be inserted manually can now be accessed in a couple of seconds through a simple movement. Bump did not change how people receive information, it simply made it easier.

Goodbye tediously keying in others' info. Hello, Bump.

[Contributed by Christine Byun]

Drive More Efficiently With Your Phone

With gas prices quickly approaching four dollars and automobiles still remaining people’s number one means of transportation, everyone could use a break with the escalating costs.

The good news is every driver can now be aware of how much gas they use. The Drivegain app for smartphones educates drivers on their driving habits in a manner that can improve fuel efficiency, which in turn decreases carbon dioxide emissions. It helps drivers change how they drive to save them money and become more environmentally aware.

Connect your phone to your car's IT system, set your phone in a holder on the dashboard, and it tells you all you need to know. The app can be personalized to specific cars, and go so far as to explain which gear you should be in if your car is manual to whether your cruise speed is ideal.

Being knowledgeable about how to save fuel can save drivers money and will essentially save toxic amounts of carbon dioxide from being transmitted into the atmosphere. As a description of the app puts it, “United States drivers could ultimately save up to two hundred dollars a year and reduce CO2 emissions by 66kg by abiding by the apps responses.”

Drivegain fits the category of really new media because it, once set up, it allows drivers to be more conscience and proactive towards a task we all participate in.

[Contributed by Gabriella Callaway]

Where's That Stinkin' Bus? Lemme Check My Phone

Students at many large colleges and universities rely on campus transportation to get to class. But, with just a few minutes between classes and crowded bus stops, it is often difficult for students to know which bus to catch to get to class on time.

Transloc is a new passenger information system that is available on many college campuses. Bus riders can use it to view a digital bus map that tracks a bus's exact location.

Through an app on their Blackberry, iPhone, or Android, students can see each bus moving along its route. In addition, each bus stop contains a screen that shows a digital bus map, allowing riders to know the exact location of the buses on that route.

Transloc turns bus routes into a virtual reality, making campus transportation more convenient.
And effective.

[contributed by Bliss McMichael]

Make It Fun to do the Right Thing

As a social-media contest on the heels of its successful agency-conceived efforts, Volkswagen conducted a contest in which the rest of us were asked for ideas about how to make doing the right thing fun.

It had already made taking the stairs and throwing away garbage fun, by using new technologies in new ways ("The World's Deepest Bin" ["garbage can" for you Americans]; "The Piano Staircase"; and "The Bottle Bank Arcade Machine"). Doing so suggests that doing "bad" isn't in our genes, but in our world.

Regular-guy Kevin Richardson sent in an idea about how to make obeying the speed limit fun, which has become known as "The Speed Camera Lottery."

Rather than a grumpy visit from an officer and a ticket for speeding, a speed camera photographs cars that do not exceed the speed limit. All owners are entered into a periodic lottery, with winners earning cash awards.

The Swedish National Society for Road Safety actually made this innovative idea a reality in Stockholm, Sweden.

Zzzzzz....

Been mighty quiet the past few weeks. Let's hope those creative minds get going.

See What Your Phone Can Do Now

See something in a store and want to find out more about it and where to get it cheaply?

If you have an iPhone or Android, the latest version of Google Goggles makes this a point-and-see operation.

As an app loaded onto your iPhone or Android, it decodes barcodes or even recognizes the actual product you're pointing your phone's camera at. Once recognized, the app connects your phone not only to the website of the manufacturer, but it also generates search results for where you can buy it and how much it'll cost.

As transparent and easy as show and tell--this is really new media in action.