Newspapers Are Dead, Long Live the News

While many entrenched in the media industry are trying to find ways to prop up the traditional model of print - micropayments, subscription models, media cartels - in the face of economic turmoil, some thinkers - Steven Berlin Johnson and Clay Shirky among them - believe that this attempt at life support is only delaying their inevitable demise or perhaps, reorder. Even as the newspapers continue to sound the rallying cry of, “You’ll miss us when we’re gone,” Johnson and Shirky seem to be of the mindset that despite the rocky times we’re sure to face, new models will develop to replace the old ones. In other words, we’ll get by, somehow. And while neither man claims to be a soothsayer for what sort of media landscape lies ahead, they’ve got some interesting thoughts on the subject just the same.

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Steven Berlin Johnson: Old Growth Media and the Future of News

Clay Shirky: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable

Scott McCloud: Understanding comics

cott McCloud bends the presentation format into a cartoon-like experience, where colorful diversions whiz through childhood fascinations and imagined futures that our eyes can hear and touch.

Source TED

Why play is vital -- no matter your age

A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults -- and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.

Source TED 

Old toys - new games

Frantz Lasome is working on an augmented reality toy concept that takes make-believe and lays it out in front of your eyes. His project lets kids use their old toys as game pieces and controls in an virtual world. Players battle it out, assigning weapon functions to their real world toys, and can watch the virtual action through special glasses. Though it seems like a fantastic toy, you have to wonder how immersion in an augmented world will effect kid’s developing minds.

Augmented Reality Toys (Work in progress) from Frantz Lasorne on Vimeo.

Source Frantz Lasone via PSFK

Sound Visualization Jewelry

The Sound Advice Project creates custom bracelets of any sound’s waveform. Although the project is aimed at parents who want to make anti-drug message bracelets for their kids, the concept seems full of interesting possibilities.

Source PSFK

Дорбро пожаловать в IQ marketing... tatoo gallery

Мы решили не останавливаться на создании супермегапопулярной серии антикризисных открыток

Мы поняли, что хорошим идеям, так сказать, тесно на бумаге и...  сделали на теле наших коллег антикризисные татуировки.Хотите верьте, а хотите нет, но все, что вы видите настояшее :)

Подробнее про проект можно узнать здесь anticrisis project

Кстати, нашему примеру последовали наши соседи - Шведы и стали печатать газету на... человеческом теле IQblog: They are following us :)

Has Crowdsourcing Gone Too Far?

As much as the internet has fueled innovation through the free exchange of ideas and collaboration with anyone across the globe, are we also remaking a market economy that only benefits those on top who control the mass lines of distribution? Wired considers the pitfalls of crowdsourcing - a phenomenon once heralded for its ability to disrupt the traditional model of business by leveling the playing field for experts and amateurs alike - as more and more companies leverage its potential to their advantage which turns out, might not be beneficial for everyone involved.

Witness the upheaval afflicting the design industry, sparked by the rise of so-called “spec design” sites likecrowdSpring and 99designs. Customers post creative briefs directly to the community, which then competes to create a design that best fits the clients’ needs. A typical “assignment” will draw dozens of submissions. The winner receives a nominal fee (as little as $200), and the client receives a logo or website design at a fraction of what a professional agency might charge. The losers get zip, which goes a long way to explaining why working on spec (”on speculation,” or without guarantee of payment) has always been considered the work of last resort for writers, designers and other creative professionals.

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