Archive for June, 2009

Idea killer´s toolbox

{ June 27, 2009 @ 9:37 pm } · { innovation }
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Here´s a  little toolbox for those who have to work in environments, which are contaminated by innovation and creativity. This toolbox shall help to keep the working environment clean from  weird ideas and creative emissions.

Here we go…
First improve your methodical skills >>

Idea killers: ways to stop ideas>>

Another list to learn it by heart …

1. It doesn’t grab me.
2. It’s not in our image.
3. It’s not in our style.
4. It sounds too simple.
5. It sounds too complicated.
6. We’ll never find the time to do it.
7. Sounds crazy to me!
8. We’ve never done anything like that before.
9. Has anyone ever done anything like that before?
10. It’ll turn everybody off.
11. Yuck!
12. That’s not consistent with the way we do things here.
13. How in the world did you come up with that?!
14. Let’s be realistic…
15. Come on…get serious.
16. Great idea-but not for us.
17. People will say we’re silly.
18. People will say we’re reckless.
19. What will people say?
20. It’ll never work.
21. Do you really think that would work?
22. I don’t know…
23. Why bother?
24. Sorry…try again.
25. That’s a new one to me.
26. That’s very interesting, but…
27. That’s fantastic, but…
28. Yes, but…
29. Who’s going to do it?
30. (Silence)


This version here is for those who need  the more “intellectual”  touch >>

Here´s a version to print-out on a  T-shirt. Next time you suggest an idea to your boss, he/she need not to spasmodically search for killer arguments. He/she can select one from your T-Shirt.

The T-shirt also works if you are the boss and need to repel innovation from your employees.  (works without batteries)
Useful, aye? 😉

idea killers

idea killers

Even in the stone-age the knew how to kill (annoying) ideas.  Bravo!
Watch (and learn from)  “the wheel”

or from here: “The fire”

Digital erosion

{ June 27, 2009 @ 9:15 pm } · { internet }
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The Internet and digital products more and more occupy our daily life/ existence. In fact many people can´t even live / think /work /interact/ communicate without digital  services and items. ( me too 🙂
Every day millions of internet-ties create/ transfer/ alter/ consume/ delete new digital content. Regardless if these new digital content items are useful or not, they become somehow new entities/ instances of information.

Yet, by looking at mother nature and how she transforms/ erodes / corrodes any existence of matter into new entities (by using wind/water/gravity/temperature/ chemicals and so on).
These kind of  permanent and autonomous  processes of entropy are extremely creative.

Therefore a thought popped-up in my mind: Aren´t digital entities (of information) also worth to be “erased” (slowly over time) or -let´s say it in a more constructive way- to be permanently transformed (eroded)  into new/different entities (of information), but without any steering/ managing human brain(s) behind all that.

What if … the entire internet once will underlie an autonomous  information eroding/ corroding process?
What if … this has already started?
How?  Through Viruses, Troians & Co for example.

Although these malwares were/ are  created mainly for one (different) reason: To steal/destroy/transform/ exploit information and digital items to make/generate money (or resources). Looking at the explosive expansion of all these pests, one thing  is obvious: in a not  far future the penetration of all existing digital units in the internet will become so broad and deep, that it will create autonomous instances, which will become impossible to stop/terminate them. Perhaps for ever.
Somehow the internet will get it´s own protagonists / agents and context of erosion/corrosion. However this will look like.

Or what about … digital information captured in proprietary formats and technology? If patent-owners run out of business and their technology/ formats quickly become out-dated/ incompatible with new/ modern technology.
Much information was lost already or will  be lost – as we speak- and/or leave back corrupted/ “corroded” information-chunks.

Or what about … Web2.0 websites that become fragmented/ outdated, because user move to other -more popular- websites, abandon their personal websites, stop updating/ delete their content, or when online content sources close their services and leave behind dead links/content feeds.

… and there would be  other examples.

Looking from that perspective, digital erosion/corrosion is already happening.

Ok, that´s how things are, so what?
Well, the answer on this question is: Why percept that as being so  trivial (instead of a new approach)?

Why not … see this autonomous transforming processes as a new and additional creative opportunity/ media.

Why not … create digital items / products that use this momentum of (wanted) decay/transformation as an additional (useful) property/ feature/ chance?

Why not … invent completely new digital products (images/ sounds/videos/text) that live only for a certain time period? Or entertain with variations of the original shape (transformed by digital erosion)?

(Ok, there are already ideas, mainly coming from the music/movie industry. These approaches define time-to-live products that simply stop working after a certain time, but do not slowly decay/transform themselves into something different. That´s a big difference.)

See here an application (to slowly extinguish your digital trails  in internet), which is a perfect example for the digital erosion approach: Vanish >>

Or …, for example, what if websites would underlie erosion/ corrosion processes and start to continuously transform themselves affected by a broad range of impacts (user interests, searchengine  interaction/ cross-traffic by mashup , RSS etc../ online-time). Actually websites (Web2.0) only change their appearance based on active /desired requirements/ needs by users/ website owners. There is low autonomy. On the contrary website owners, of course,  invest much effort to keep this autonomy away from their websites.

Why not …. re-think the paradigm and use (some) autonomy to make websites more interesting, surprising, creative and unique.

Why not … invent new digital products that autonomously transform/ evolve to become more an more unique/ self-customised.
Perhaps this could also make digital copies obsolete?

Who knows?

However, this is just a thought, an idea I published here.
It´s up to you, to read it, think about it, ignore it or become inspired.

However, please tell me your thoughts (if you have something to tell). 🙂

Total customisation of digital products

{ June 27, 2009 @ 8:00 pm } · { internet, Uncategorized, work }
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mass production of radios (source: wikimedia)

mass production of radios (source: wikimedia)

Since the industrial revolution … the production industry rationalised all processes to keep production costs low and revenue high.

To manage all that, products need/ed to be “clones“ and produced in huge masses. Furthermore customer need/ed to be “conditioned” on mass-products.

This is/was easy by offering products with attractive (cheap) prices.

The same approach was/ is even better applicable on digital content-products (videos, sound, text). All these products can be cloned easily without any loss of quality.
Well,  this approach became more applicable -than intended- in terms of illegal copies/ downloads.
Anyone can have his mass-production @ home and clone digital content as much as desired.
The consequences are: a massive loss of revenue for the digital content industry – as they say.

However, all that induced a cardinal thought in my mind:
Why do we (as consumers)  need digital clones at all?
Why is there no alternative for buying/ stealing a digital copy, which is exactly the same thing as zillions of other consumers have?
Isn´t that -somehow- boring?

If you buy a painting from an artist. You feel happy to hold a unique piece of artwork in your hands.
Of course, you could buy a cheaper replica (done by -again-  a mass replica production industry, mainly coming from china).
But that´s dull.

If you real admire an artist, you want to get something authentic, something unique.
Perhaps more,  something that contains elements of a direct relationship between you and the  artwork.

Fine. So what?
What does this all have to do with digital content business?
The answer is…
Perhaps there are alternative approaches of coping/ cloning digital content, that have a higher attraction to customers.

Oh yes? and how?
What if … producers/authors/ composers do not created finalised contents anymore?

What if … they “only” design some kind of frameworks, that provide lot of degrees of freedom that enable  content re-compilation and can create many variations of their artwork.

Side note: This is already normal  in computer games. In many console/ online games users can upload their fotos to avatars/ customise characters/ objects/ maps/ landscapes/ plots et cetera.
So why not with “static”  digital products like movies/ sound/ text?

So, before these variations are finalised, the consumer comes into the play… and  his (very) personal profile data (or any other personalising data).
This could also be any discrete data derived from user images/ recordings/ even (PC-mouse) movements and so on.
So when the consumer buys e.g. a music album from an artist in an online music-shop, all personal data (which he permitts) is integrated and used to generate a new (finalised) variation of the product.
Which is -somehow- unique and personalised.

Of course, one can think of endless other personalising data sources,  that could be gathered via interaction from the customer.
(Hopefully in a transparent, open and fair way).

Out from all that customer data, a new personalised product will be spawned, right before the customers eyes. He/she can then immediately download/stream “his/her” product. Which is/ will be (quasi) unique, then.

Furthermore he/she can create endless variations with different personal data, again and again.

How many degrees of freedom of variations are possible, is something an artist/ producer has to define in his framework.
This could open a completely new dimension of creativeness/ opportunities – in my opinion.

A nice side-effect on this approach could be, that “stealing” digital copies becomes more and more obsolete, because …
Who really likes to listen/watch/ read a  personalised (“contaminated”) copy of another customer  you don´t even know/ like ? 😉
You want “your” version from your artist. Not the “nobody” version.

Of course, this approach will not replace classical digital copy at all. In many cases you really need a clone of the original (e.g. documentations etc..).

I only tried to relativise the dominating paradigm of cloning originals 1:1.
This approach – I believe- can inspire new ways to make digital content more attractive/ inspiring and more un-attractive of simply “stealing” it.