By Ryan Van Etten on 04/21/2010
Game designer/researcher Jane McGonigal asserts that collaborative videogames are the key to solving our real-world problems. In the video here, she outlines why she considers World of Warcraft to be an “ideal collaborative problem-solving environment.” She discusses four key factors in gaming culture that give gamers an edge at problem-solving—urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning.
Posted in Activism, Education, Gaming, Infoculture | Tagged collaboration, counterculture, creativity, culture, game design, gaming culture, innovation, Jane McGonigal, mindset, MMO, MMORPG, motivation, problem-solving, psychology, social gaming, social intelligence, TED, trust, urgent evoke, video, videogame, virtual worlds, WoW
By Ryan Van Etten on 02/08/2010
Multitouch may be next GUI—is there a doubt? For decades we’ve used the mouse, but as GUI technology improves we’ll find more limitations in a mouse-based system. Clayton Miller’s 2009 project called 10/GUI demonstrates the potential of multitouch. According to Miller, “the industry is now at a crossroads.”
Posted in Boundless, Design, Discussion, Editorial, News | Tagged 10/GUI, augmented reality, brain, Clayton Miller, computing, con10uum, Design, gesture recognition, gestures, graphical, GUI, human, human-computer, interaction, interface, iPhone, mobile, mobility, multitouch, nintendo, Pranav Mistry, science, sixthsense, technology, TED, touchscreens, UI, virtuality, virtualization, wii
By Ryan Van Etten on 02/01/2010
Terry McBride—CEO of Nettwerk—talks here about imagination. He argues that with music, context trumps content because music creates emotional bookmarks in our mind. Simply, the song is an emotion. These emotional bookmarks are significant because they enable us to travel backwards in our memories to when we experienced the music. Consumers are in control of the music industry, and access rules.
Posted in Music, Music Flux, News, Popular | Tagged access vs. ownership, app stores, Apple, artist-fan relationship, arts, behavior, business, cloud, consumption, content, context, copyright law, crowdsourcing, digital, digital valets, downloads, emotion, emotional attachment, imagination, iPhone, ipod, live music, music industry, music ventures, MusicBiz, Nettwerk, p2p, positivity, psychology, pull, recession, revenue, smartphones, social music, spotify, streaming, TED, TEDxVancouver, Terry McBride, venture capital, video
By Ryan Van Etten on 01/24/2010
Bill Burton: “Sometimes we limit ourselves by what we believe we can do. We don’t even start. We don’t even try.” Burton delivered this powerful point in his TEDx talk last week, called How To Have A Christmas Number One Single, where, citing RATM’s rise to UK Xmas no. 1, he exemplified the boundless force of social media, and, through a storytelling memorization activity, he demonstrated the limitless—but often unrealized—potential of the human mind.
Posted in Boundless, Editorial, Interviews, Music, Music Flux, News | Tagged belief, Bill Burton, christmas number one, counterculture, culture, defiance, empowerment, facebook, fans, interview, jon morter, killing in the name, memorization, MusicBiz, no limits, nu metal, number one, people, pop, pop charts, psychology, radio, RATM, ratm4xmas, Simon Cowell, social media, social music, storytelling, TED, tracy morter, UK, X Factor, xmas
By Ryan Van Etten on 12/01/2009
The interviews below featuring Terry McBride—CEO of Nettwerk—offer terrific insight to the digital era of music. Terry points out that the ways in which we consume music are changing rapidly—largely due to smartphones—and that the “emotional glue” between fans and musicians is the essence of music business.
Posted in Interviews, Music, Music Flux | Tagged access vs. ownership, app stores, Apps, artist labels, behavior, brands, business, cloud, cloud computing, consumers, consumption, content, context, copyright law, culture, digital, direct-to-fan, DIY, entertainment, fans, future, interview, iPhone, kids, marketplace, media, mobile, mobility, music industry, MusicBiz, musicians, Nettwerk, p2p, partnerships, positivity, service, smartphones, social music, streaming, TED, Terry McBride, trends, video, virtuality
By Ryan Van Etten on 11/24/2009
Musicians (artists) are driven by a fundamental need to create. Music is their art and their expression. Even in a world without money there would be music, and arguably there would be even more music (and other art) than there is today. In his 2009 TED talk, Daniel Pink makes a strong case relating the science of motivation to creativity and business.
Posted in Editorial, Infoculture, Music, Music Flux, Popular | Tagged artwork, behavior, business, change, consumers, creativity, Daniel Ek, Daniel Pink, direct-to-fan, empowerment, engagement, entertainment, fans, human, idea, money, motivation, music industry, MusicBiz, musicians, p2p, Pink Floyd, piracy, platform, positivity, psychology, purpose, research, revenue, science, social media, sociology, spotify, streaming, TED
