Misc

March 11, 2008

Next year @ SXSW panel: The World Breathes Data

I thought of the panel I want to propose for next year's SXSW. Just went to the 'beyond the iPhone' session and everyone was talking about phones! I figure that phones are such an anachronistic way of thinking about our future interactions with data. I want to do a panel called "The World Breathes Data" - which focuses primarily on enhanced reality - a world in which every object is connected to the cloud - in which our user interface devices are much less "devicy" and much more like integrated components. Like when we look at a chair and it tells us its history: designer, manufacturer, materials used, carbon footprint, purchasing history, people who have sat in it, places it has been, etc... and we don't need a "phone" to access this stuff. The example becomes more relevant when we talk about people, I suppose. When we look at a person and all known data points about those people are fed into our brains. And as we walk through the world, we're transmitting a constant stream of data back into the cloud. What are the implications of this inevitable future - who is doing it - and what does it look like?

February 04, 2008

Visual Arts Data Service

This is pretty interesting - a collection of arts images arranged by theme/era - for educational purposes...
http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/index.html - kind of like an IStock photo meets Wikipedia for art.

"Online visual arts collections can be used to enhance an art history lecture, give students a refresher on various types of architecture, and for community history projects. The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) offers up just those types of collections, and it's one that users will definitely want to bookmark for future reference. The VADS is based at the Farnham Campus of The University College for the Creative Arts and currently they have over 100,000 images available for use. First-time users may wish to get their feet wet by clicking on the "Search" tab on the left-hand side of the homepage. From this page, they can take a look at the "Image of the Day", browse through popular searches, and also browse the materials offered by theme. Clicking on the "Collections" section gives visitors a sense of the broad coverage offered on the site, as they will find links to digital archives of Romanesque sculpture, war posters, a massive photo archive of East London, and a diverse set of textile collections. Finally, the site also has a list of case studies and a guide to good practice for those who might be working on digital projects in art education."

December 03, 2007

TroubleEngine.com

I have a problem with domain names. A compulsion to buy them. Sometimes I have an idea for what they could be used for - dreams of starting a business around them - but sometimes I just like them. I just reserved TroubleEngine.com for no apparent reason. Here are some others:
BattleOfGreats
BunnyTeeth
DebateMashup
DebateMob
FluxTide
HeadToHeadBattle
MightyMessenger
MissionHipster
MonsterScare
PopularityBattle
ScaryScaryMonster
SmokeSmoker
SoSimpleCMS
SpotSpot
SquidAndJelly
TxtPolitics
VideoSwarming
Web4Happy
WhichOneIs
YouTubeBattle

I really should use some of these!

November 07, 2007

Virtual Book Shelf

TSplashshelf1his is pretty interesting: a virtual book shelf that you build to showcase your favorite books and then embed on your blog/website.

http://www.shelfari.com/

October 28, 2007

When will the internet touch the art world?

Great article in the WSJ on Sat about how the auction houses are encroaching on art dealers' territory (Oct 27, 2007, secW "Painted into a Corner"). What's most compelling to me about the piece doesn't have much to do with this particular conflict, but to do with the truly cloistered and non-market functions of the art market. Dealers and auction houses are useful to consumers in the same way that travel agents were useful - by providing information to consumers who have difficulty getting it themselves. And at the same time they operate like DeBeers by controlling the ebb and flow of art supply, driving up prices, and secreting information. It seems almost inconceivable that such a business could survive in today's business climate - but i suppose art is in a special category that so tightly controlled that a few entities can maintain, like DeBeers, its strangle hold.

The article is talking about how the market is changing - but only so much as auction houses are replacing dealers. That's not real change. That's a shift in control.

Some examples from the article:
* one dealer is "protecting his business" by blacklisting clients who resell at auction art they have bought from him. one buyer who resold at auction can "forget about buying a work from us ever again" and that these tactics have "succeeded in keeping many of his key collectors in line."

* collectors put their trust in dealers to give them a good price (b'c pricing information is so difficult to find)

* galleries have long served as the gateway to artists - arranging studio tours, repping the artist

The internet hasn't touched this system yet. Christies sold $4.6 billion last year. Wonder if it will. What will it take?