Each keystroke resists

pushing letters makes the point

so it is written

***

David Rheins

This morning I read an interesting blog about how technology is making us all zombies to the real world. For example, it’s possible for people to travel to the most beautiful place and spend most of their time taking pictures and posting them of Facebook instead of really ENJOYING the moment of being IN the beautiful place.  And while I believe that sometimes people can become to engrossed into their electronics.. I believe it is a supply/demand concept.

The issue is not about what technology is doing to us, but why do we prefer this kind of communication. What is lacking in the physical world that makes us reach for a blackberry instead of meditating in the sunlight on the beauty of the earth.  I can only guess that the reason is because the form of communication we now have is instant, interesting, fleeting, but most importantly it’s USER generated.

I get to decide what news I read about, what pictures I look at, what movies I review and so on. I also feel like my personal opinion matters.. when I review a clothing brand or fan a charity online, I feel like I’m defining myself with every click.

I have been made familiar with the internet for about 15 years. Still my reach is MSN.com, Hotmail.com, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, NBC.com (where I routinely watch The Office). Last night, as I lie in bed talking to my boyfriend (on the phone)… I told him I was online and bored.. and wondered where all the fun stuff on the internet was. He didn’t know much beyond his 5-10 favorite sites either. I know people are always talking about and finding things that are interesting.. but I can’t seem to find them. Occasionally, I will find fun stuff like Rainn Wilson’s blog… but for the most part.. I stick to my four or five websites and am off the web when there’s nothing left for me to investigate. 

Fortunately, I am using my new blog as motivation to branch out and explore unknown world wide web territory.  I read two random blogs this morning… and left comments. Both we’re interesting. After reading the second blog about Digital Zombies  I couldn’t help but wonder…. why do people prefer what I consider to be distanced connecting. (We’re connecting more, but from an arm’s length away. )

As I let this thought roll around in my head I came to realize a few things.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? Think about all the horrible stories  you hear about families that fight during the Holidays, how uncomfortable conferences are, or how irritating it is to go shopping on Black Friday… I mean..Are we jumping to conclusions about how great reality is… or how great being face-to-face is..perhaps this is why people prefer to be in cyber world.. (or on drugs! j/k )

 I wear a lot of hats. I am a parent, a daughter, a sister, an employee, an ex-wife, a girlfriend, and many more. Throughout my day I spend a lot of time switching hats. These hats are reflected on sites like facebook and myspace. It feels like an organized place where I can evaluate who I am. All of my friends and family are there, co-workers, people I volunteer with. It’s like all my separate worlds have one place where they come together. (sorta scary for some)

Now, some people take ABOUT ME sections seriously and some don’t. (What a great insight into who they are.) But more importantly.. as I’ve changed and grown over the last two years or so. I’ve had to think ABOUT ME. What are my favorite shows, my favorite authors, quotes…etc. Why is that information important?   These things change as I grow..  and I can see that I am becoming the woman I’ve always wanted to be…. I am a work in progress… (from less informed, stereotypical thinking and behavior, to aware, engaged, involved… productive member of society.. that loves to laugh!)

This blog is a part of that progress… as I write here anonymously I hope to be as honest and as real as possible….to continue to grow & mature. 

To remove all hats and just be me.

Stay Tuned.

With COP15 very much in the frame, I thought I’d share 5 useful web resources (linked to the environment and living green) that make smart uses of the web:

WalkIt.com- Walking in and around town is the smart choice – no timetables, no delays, no jams, healthy, green, free, with easy access to services en route. WalkIt provides a route map between any two points, including your journey time, calorie burn, step count and carbon saving. WalkIt covers over 20 cities; I’ve used it in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London and it is brilliant. Good blog too.

MunroMagic.com – If you want to experience the scale and power of the environment, then take a train to Scotland and go climb a Munro, Corbett or Graham. All 283 Munros, 221 Corbetts and 224 Grahams are covered in detail including descriptions, pictures, location maps, walking routes, weather reports. Much of which is generated by the people who do the climbing.

PrintFriendly.com

I use this site all the time because, let’s face it, people still need to print on occasion. PrintFriendly makes printing from the web better. Their algorithm removes ads, navigation, and all the junk you don’t want to print. They use ‘best practices’ in print typography to format your document for great readability. You can also use to create PDF docs.

EdenBee.com

I’m not a member of this hive of climate change activists but I’ve been watching this community for a couple of years and have been impressed by the scale and frequency of activity. There’s lots to like about this issue-based network – from the Rails platform to the goals-based interaction between members.

EdenProject.com

The whole story of the Eden Project – then and now – is inspiring. I think every area in the UK should have an Eden Project but until that happens the website is the best [but one] place to be part of it. It’s a great point to start on a journey of greater appreciation for the environment and the way humans can live sustainably. Start with the site, radiate out to the YouTube channel and then who knows where.

E’ passato qualche giorno dal lancio di Virgilio Sing Ring, l’iniziativa di Sing Ring, start-up del gruppo Digital Magics e di Virgilio per la gestione delle lyrics (pubblicate finalmente in modo del tutto legale) e di un innovativo karaoke online. Su Virgilio Sing Ring, sono già online un milione di testi musicali e più di trecentocinquanta brani (500 entro Natale) per il video karaoke.

Le canzoni per il karaoke di Sing Ring (voce e musica) sono tutte registrate dal vivo ex-novo in alta qualità, permettendo di cantare seguendo la voce registrata, cantare solamente sulla base musicale, o suonare sulla base del testo cantato. Intanto, mentre il brano va avanti, le parole sincronizzate appaiono sul player.

Sing Ring promette grandi sviluppi nella direzione di un sistema sempre più completo di gestione e condivisione sociale della musica cantata e suonata. E naturalmente, Sing Ring si presta a diventare piattaforma di comunicazione per i brand, grazie a video contest in cui gli utenti reinterpretano brani famosi associati alla pubblicità; o si cimentano in nuove creazioni. La funzione sociale e lo spirito di aggregazione espressi dalla musica cantata sono una grande forza, la cui personalizzazione è solo questione di fantasia.

Per avere un’idea di come il Singing Marketing sia già una realtà, basta dare un’occhiata al celeberrimo karaoke di massa organizzato da T-Mobile a Trafalgar Square; o al “format” Singing in the car lanciato dal navigatore Sony nav-u in Giappone.

Al link di seguito, una raccolta dei video relativi all’evento di lancio di Sing Ring.

Presentazione Virgilio Sing Ring

We all know television, and years after the release of the first, image producing machine every house hold in the western world owns one. the ancestors of the ‘TV’ like newspapers and radio are these days more and more combined. Cell phones with internet applications makes it easy for us to access everything that is going on in the world. But one of the most applied application is Youtube.

What began as a user generated video sharing website grew to enormous proportions and now is one of the most visited websites on the world wide web. Whether you missed a program on TV, or you want to watch some archive material for a certain research development, Youtube can give it all.

But what makes it so special besides the fact that your friends can watch your homemade footage, or your favorite programs. You can become world famous by simply uploading a video of yourself. Like Esmee Denters for example, she uploaded a movie of herself in which she is singing. And now she performed with Justin Timberlake and she got a record deal. But probably the most important thing about Youtube is, that it is fun. And it is a great way of wasting your time.

Today’s society is very dependent on the online network Web 2.0. In despite of the fact that the internet isn’t existing for so long, many people are really ‘addicted’ to the internet. Their computer is running day and night and they need to get in contact with others whenever they can.

Most of the contacts between people are made possible via the internet, for example by personal sites, company sites or even online phone calls all around the world.

Almost everyone uses the Web in some way, because almost everybody has access to the internet as long as you have a network connection. There are more and more ways to make this connection possible in a lot of different ways, like your computer at home, your portable laptop, your mobile phone, at internet cafes and even on some of the mp3 players.

Does that also mean that we can’t live without this social network via internet? Of course we can! But today’s society is getting more and more individualistic. Some people crawl behind their computer to upload and download everything they can find.

Due to the fact that the Web keeps on changing and modernizing, the possibilities on these kind of networks are growing faster than ever. They are even talking about a Web 3.0, the so called Semantic Web. This means the Web will be more intelligent and will think more for the webuser. Does this also mean the network-society will be more individualistic as it is nowadays?

Resources:
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.commoncraft.com 
http://www.marketingportaal.nl/artikel/592/wat-is-web-30

I came across this site; Know Your Memes. It is really good, and a must see for people wanting to understand the cause and origins of online virals. I had a good time this sunday going through all these mini dokumentaries (about 4 mins a piece), giving me the back story on virals such as; the keyboard cat, starwars kid, rickrolls, lolcats, numa numa etc. They also coverd some virals that I hadn’t caught on before, which was very interesting. But what I found truly interesting was when they explained how the market and the media tried to get in on the virals and make a profit, and how this affected the different virals. For example the Christan Bale Rant. This viral was heavily pushed by the media and thus peaking very quickly but then again fading away equally fast. This shows that in this example, for a viral to be long lasting it has to come from a more underground independent source.

A must see, for all online marketing people.

linky

I’m proud to present two creative designs sent in by my readers:

The first is a beautiful variation of the 3-d origami star sent in by Christina, using leftover wrapping paper and cardstock.

The orange and baby pink are gorgeous against the yellow leaves in the background (thanks to Christina’s boyfriend for the great photo!). I also like how she used natural thread to hang the ornament. Very eco-chic!

This wonderful gift package was created by Henry using double-sided origami paper and sheer ribbon:

The origami pattern shows well against the solid white (great use of negative space!), and the deep purple ribbon becomes a nice accent, and because it’s sheer it doesn’t feel heavy at all. Great job!

For instructions on how to create the origami decoration, see: Origami Gift Wrapping

Special thanks to Christina and Henry for sending me their artwork!

I spend a lot of time in the Pet Society´s Gallery and Fan Art forums, it is amazing to see that we have so many talented players both when it comes to decorating their pets house in ways I certainly never thought was possible and in drawing their own pet or other pets.

I just thought I´d share some of these works with those of you who are not participating in our forums, as there are so many different and interesting things to see!

Let me start with Hop Hop Hoppity’s Art Gallery ★ – you can take a look at the whole thread by just clicking  on the link.  A lot of different art in this thread, I cannot include every piece, but I´ll reference a few of my favourites below.

While fan art is very popular, we also have the  Gallery forum, where our players posts screenshots of their Pet Society rooms. I´ll reference some of the rooms that caught my eye while looking through the posts today.

Clara’s Dream House!! – in this thread what caught my eye was the fantastic bathroom. Now who would not want to have a view of Big Ben from their jacuzzi?

In ROMEO’S DREAM MANSiON. – there is some scary stuff to be seen!

If the backyard wasn´t scary enough by day:

then what about at  night?? Very scary stuff!

In BUBBLE’s HAVEN, what caught my eye was the fantastic garden!

And every house needs and entrance, and what an entrance Bubble has into her house, I´d definetely come to visit!

I could not help to notice the thread My little gift for Oinky and Rhino – the image turned out a bit squashed below, but you can click on the link to view it in all it´s glory!

It is so fun to see that we are engaging so many talented and interesting people!

I can unfortunately not include everyone in a short blog-write-up, so don´t be sad if you are part of the fan art community in our forum, but I´ve not mentioned you in this blog post. – maybe I´ll mention you next time.

Thanks again to all of you who post screenshots, stories and fan art, we at Playfish really enjoy looking at all the fabulous threads and posts you all make!

]]> http://blog.restaurantcitygame.com/2009/11/12/a-day-in-restaurant-city-user-story/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:56:14 +0000 mejlis http://blog.restaurantcitygame.com/2009/11/12/a-day-in-restaurant-city-user-story/

A big thanks to TheChocolateOne for sending us this story – anything can happen in Restaurant City!

My name is TheChocolateOne and I’m the head chef and owner of Massive Dynamics. Let me give you an inside look on what it takes to manage a restaurant.
My day starts pretty early as I have to open up to let my employees in. I’m running a bit late so by the time I get there, my staff is outside waiting for me to let them in. I have 3 chefs and I’m horrible at remembering names, so I just call them Chef 1, Chef 2 and Chef 3. I’m usually the one shouting, “hey! Chef 3! What’s taking so long on the Royal Garden Salad?” I also have 4 waiters, and all of them are great at what they do.

As we’re getting to our stations, the first customer arrives – ah, it’s Sam. He’s a regular here at our restaurant. Sam’s usually here for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes he’ll stop by for a few cups of coffee in between. Basically, he’s here all day!

“Sam, nice hat,” I point to the cheese on top of his head.
“Thanks,” he replies, “just bought it. Wait, where are the toilets?”
I laugh, “they’re over there”.

Sam looks over to where I’m pointing and breathes a sigh of relief, “thank goodness! You’ve added dividers!” He leans in a bit and says, “it’s was a bit awkward the way you had it. Y’kno, the chair – toilet – chair – toilet…” He sits down and says, “whip me up a Tuna Sushi!” Chef 1 shouts, “yes, sir!”

Throughout the day, we have a lot of people coming in and it’s always busy. At one point, one of my waiters comes over and asks, “sorry to bother you Chocolate, but can I take a break?” I freeze up and reply, “absolutely not! We’ve got people to feed! We only take breaks if no one comes in! Here’s a sandwich.” Around noon, Chef 2 checks on the garden outside. I’m desperately hoping that one will turn out to be sugar but when he comes back he shakes his head in disappointment, “this sugar drought is horrible. No sugar for miles!”

I decide now’s a good time to check out the Market so I ask two of my waiters to push the arcade in front of the door. “We only have 2.6% stamina left! I don’t think we’ll make it,” they groaned. I told them that this business isn’t for everyone and that there are always people wanting to experience working in a restaurant. Translation? Work or I’ll sack you and hire someone else.

At the market, I take a look around. Cream for 2500, ice cream for 4200 and basil for 3600. I really need cream but seeing as how I’m the only one here, I take a chance to talk to the seller, “psst, listen, I’ll keep it quiet but just tell me one thing – will sugar be on the market later?” He glances around him and whispers, “sorry, friend. You’ll have to find out – later”. Well, can’t blame me for trying. I purchase 4 creams and as I’m walking down the street, I hear screaming in the distance. Oh no, I thought, that sounds like my staff! I drop everything I’m holding and run as fast as I can.

Bursting through the door, I see a rogue squadron of penguins.
“Eek!” My waiters are screaming, standing on top of the Elegant Chairs.
“No!” I shout, as I realize they’re leaving footprints on the new items I just bought.
Chef 3 says, “don’t worry, boss. I’ve got this…” She runs around looking like a maniac with a net, but manages to capture the penguins. “Phew,” she sighs, “good thing I used to work at a zoo.”

After peace is restored, I realized I dropped my creams. I go back outside – but they’re gone! There’s a note on the ground and I pick it up. Somebody wrote:
“Thanks for the cream! I’ve traded you some sweetcorn.”

I look down at the pile of useless sweetcorn and gather them up, feeling dejected. Back at the restaurant, things are running smoothly again. I throw the sweetcorn into the storage room and take a moment to look over some of my ingredients. 2 creams left, 5 pumpkins, 7 basils, 86 sweetcorns and yet… no sugars. I looked up at the ceiling and prayed to the sugar gods, “please! Let there be sugar! I’ll do anything! I’ll…I’ll…dance! Yes, I’ll sing and dance if you just give me sugar!” So, listening to the music playing in my head, I start swaying to the nonexistent music like a bendy straw in a tornado. That’s when I heard, “ahem…uh..boss? We need you out front….” I turn around and one of the waiters is staring at me with a look that can only be described as this: O.o

“Er…uh…ahem. Not a word to anyone,” I stutter. She replied, “I won’t say anything. Nice moves though…”

I rush back out and take up my stove, cooking the Chili Con Carne in record time.
Eventually, it’s time to close up for the night. It’s really amazing how fast the day goes by. As I say my goodbyes to the cooks and waiters, I lock up and walk home, getting ready for tomorrow – another day in Restaurant City.

Beautiful toy boxes / toy chests available at not the greatest of websites (the woman on the right gives me the hibbie jibbies – thank goodness there’s an optional close button). Ok so back to the good stuff, WoodToyBox.com provides a great array of personalized wooden toy boxes.  You just choose the type of wood (oak, cherry or espresso) and select the font style.  The site also offers 4  different handpainted toy boxes.

And, let’s not forget that all toy boxes are 100%: handcrafted, wood & guaranteed.  Beat that other toy box maker!

I would love a dark cherry alphabet toy box for mini we… but, I’d love to choose another alphabet style.  What would be awesome is if WoodToyBox.com would provide a user generated (in general or by popularity) engraving option.  Similar to Treadless (gosh, I LOVE that site).  I’d pay extra for that option.  That would be taking the idea of crowdsourcing to the consumer product level.  Love it… WoodToyBox.com please consider.

psst…they’re also made in the USA.  That aspect feels especially good to write about on Veteran’s Day.

Il Nokia signpost è un’installazione alta 50 metri, con una grande freccia che contiene uno schermo LED. Lo schermo si popola ogni volta di indicazioni su nuove Cose Belle, segnalate dagli utenti di tutto il mondo attraverso il sito e le mappe di Ovi. E la freccia, ovviamente, si sposta in direzione del luogo in cui quanto segnalato si trova.

Come funziona il Nokia Signpost

Un modo semplicissimo di comunicare il concetto: Nokia ti aiuta a scoprire e condividere (o, semplicemente, ti “indica”) tutto ciò che di bello c’è al mondo.

Naturalmente, il Nokia Signpost e le sue dritte possono essere seguiti anche su Facebook e su Twitter.

When I study history, the first question in my mind is: why do people care about history? Yes, I am that kind of person who doesn’t like to look back. It is already gone. Why should I still care about it? However, when I learned about history 2.0 concept, I can understand the reasons that why people always love history. History is the true discourse of the past, that uses the past to explain the present and get a slight understanding of future. “Past and present are part of our future” is my understanding of history 2.0. By studying our everyday history, we may understand more about oursevles. On top of this, it may also invoke a new passion. The Powerhouse museum’s Flickr and Facebook groups are filled with smiling nostalgia and a true love of what the 80s meant to them. Using the new media resources available online, the people can become more active and can create something new, changing ‘history’ from being written about in dusty library volumes to something personalised. They are generating their own history by saving and distributing it online in pictures, video and posts.

Another example of niche user-generated history can be found in China. ‘HuiLi’ shoes were been famous in 1980s . Their flexibility and comfort were essential requirements for Chinese martial arts, and according to Chinese tradition, HuiLi symbolizes the dual elevation of both body and mind. The young people who were born in 1980s must know about HuiLi. They were their shoes that they wore everyday when they were a child.

20 years later, HuiLi shoes return to people’s attention. But this time, it is not only for Chinese, it is for all over the world. ‘HuiLi’ shoes have a brand extension ‘Feiyue’ (Warrior), which is found in fashion magazines, fashion journals and websites. It becomes the new sign of the street fashion style. In 2005, HuiLi undertook a project where they go the young people who was born in 1980s to actually design the shoes. The design project also includes advertising which run us back to 1980s China, the days without Nike, Adidas and Puma.

HuiLi designer Lijia comments: “Design HuiLi is a way for 1980s young people to memories their childhood times”. They were the consumer in 1980s, but now they are the generator. The new design of Feiyue today evoke their early memories and experiences as a child. The project is partly facilitated by Chinese versions of new media such as Youtube and Facebook. Feiyue sneakers also has YouTube promotional videos, despite YouTube being banned in China. They have a Flickr photo album, and the brand even has its own Chinese version of Facebook. The 80s young people also create their own Feiyue shoes and upload the pictures on the internet. A Chinese girl who uploaded images and comments onto the Feiyue Facebook group says “I wore Huili sneakers when I was a kid and I’m sure everydody of our age has a big impression on the shoes…’. People have come together to share their experience of HuiLi, they create videos of HuiLi by comparing the old and new styles of the shoes and they add background music to the video which was a popular song in the 80s. Huili even created a new enthusiasm for 80s Chinese clothing which were all made in China.

In this example you can see that history is not only about the past but also about our future. We gain from history and it can allow us to generate new things. The most notable feature of this example is the way in which web 2.0 platforms were utilised to facilitate this project, and the way in which popular memory was collated and documented online. And it wasn’t just ‘for the sake of it’, it was used to understand the place that these shoes had in people’s personal history, and to empower those people to further develop on the design of the shoes for the future. This develops on the notion of history 2.0 as participatory and unfixed.

Ciascuno di essi rappresenta un superpotere, il superpotere che ognuno di noi può scoprire di avere, grazie a un semplicissimo test, disponibile anche su Facebook.

I supereroi sono disponibili in versione maschile e femminile. Possono essere personalizzati con le nostre facce e resi protagonisti di fantastici fumetti, come quello di seguito.

superpoteri.it è solo una parte di un articolato progetto di comunicazione, costruito sul concept di comunicazione di SuperFlash come “carta coi superpoteri” (prepagata ricaricabile, carta di credito MasterCard, conto corrente con tanto di IBAN stampato sulla carta). Gli altri due pilastri sono:

• SuperFlash Blog, un concorso per blogger “a tempo”, organizzato su piattaforma WordPress insieme a Liquida. In un mese, gli scrittori del web si sfidano a chi raggiunge più lettori e apprezzamenti.
• Una campagna direct response rivolta ai micro-target di potenziali utilizzatori della SuperFlash. La carta viene loro proposta come soluzione ideale a specifiche esigenze, mentre navigano per organizzare un viaggio all’estero o per cercare uno stage in azienda o per fare acquisti online.

McDonalds wants you, yes you, to help them advertise their new angus burger – but only in 2 words. You simply go to HonorAngus.com to make your submissions.

Back on September 24th, the chain even used programmable billboards in Kansas City and patrons got to see their 2-word headlines for 10 seconds each.

Why do I have the feeling that this is a bad idea for Ronald and Co.? It’s so spoofable it’s ridiculous. And if you don’t think hackers are going to figure out a way to take control of those billboards and write their own 2-word missives, you’re nuts.

“Terrible beef”? “Crappy food”? “Artery clogging”? “Obesity epidemic”? There are too many…

Via.

Su http://xfactor.talktalk.co.uk/ si può partecipare a una iniziativa che ricorda il nostrano “Italia… UNOOOO”. Qui lo sforzo richiesto agli utenti è un po’ più grande e “tecnologico”. Diremmo: al passo con i tempi. Seguendo le istruzioni, si ha la possibilità di registrare un messaggio video, in cui le lettere sono disegnate dalla scia luminosa del cellulare davanti alla webcam. Naturalmente, si può scegliere tra lettere e numeri già presenti nella library; oppure registrare la propria performance. I messaggi più belli compaiono in video durante i break pubblicitari di X-Factor. Brand format + user generated content + cross-media.

This is a story that we received from Siti where she writes about her pet Tiara and the dilemmas of popularity!

Written by: Siti Nur Fatin (hateie)

Tiara is a very quiet pet. She usually stays at home and rarely goes out.

She only ventures out to go to school or to buy necessities like food and furniture. Her best friend is CutieBabe, who is also timid like Tiara. A lot of people say that they were made for each other. And that is quite true.

Tiara took up baking, as baking is not something that attracts attention. Or so she thought! Tiara was the best baker in her neighbourhood. She knew how to bake anything, anything at all! Cheesecakes, Pies, Cupcakes, Muffins, Cakes, Croissants, Donuts, just name it, she can bake it all! And all her creations are known to be very delicious.

Soon, everyone knew about her. Whenever she went out to fetch some ingredients for baking, lots of people would cheerfully greet her. Tiara was puzzled and surprised at the sudden attention she got from her neighbours.

Every now and then, she would receive little notes and little gifts on her front door. Some of them were from neighbours that she rarely meets.

Tiara was not fond of the attention she was getting and so she started thinking of ways that would make her unnoticeable again.

The next day, Tiara hatched a plan and implemented it immediately. She called CutieBabe and said that she was going for a short holiday and will be back in a couple of days. Then, she walked to the stylist, took a deep breath, and went in…

A few minutes later, out stepped FuchsiaDarling. Is she a new neighbour, or an old friend in disguise?

FuchsiaDarling was quite rude! She sent mean notes to her neighbours and made prank calls to annoy people. Even the shop owners were not spared!

She was the terror of the neighbourhood! Everyone disliked her.

After a few days causing havoc, FuchsiaDarling felt miserable. She did not have any friends, and everyone kept on avoiding her. She rushed to the stylist to turn back into Tiara!

Having turned back to her original self, Tiara called CutieBabe about her return before inviting her neighbours to her house. All her neighbours turned up and each of them got to taste Tiara’s fabulous pastries. CutieBabe told Tiara about FuchsiaDarling and her horrid behaviour. Tiara just grinned at her best friend, no one knew what happened to FuchsiaDarling, except Tiara!

First of all, let’s start off with what Web 2.0 is and what it stands for. Web 2.0 is the evolution of internet as we know it today. This applies mostly in the usage of the internet. Web 2.0 is just a commonly used term to describe the difference with Web 1.0, the early days of the internet. I’ll explain what those changes exactly mean, but first we have to look at what the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 are.
  

  Web 1.0 was basically used for distributing information to internet users. It mostly consisted out of consuming content. For example, most of the websites were based on getting information to you without you being able to deliver any form of feedback.
  With Web 2.0 that changed. More and more content is user-generated. This is made possible by the simplification of the way users are able to get content online. For example, blogs are an easy-to-use form of making a website. They allow people, with little experience or technological understanding to maintain a website. A good example of user-generated content is the site Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which allows users to alter the content in a constructive manner. This is a link to blog that explains in more detail what Web 2.0 is and its characteristics.

   How the internet will keep on evolving is unsure. One theory is that it becomes more accessible, or semantic, not just from home or on a laptop but on phones and devices that still have to be created. There is no doubt though that we’ll continue on the path we’re currently on that of social bookmarking, social networking and user-generated content. Here is a link to a site that explains more detailed what Web 3.0 will be about.

Not only can information generated be by the crowd, but products too!  I found a site called shirt.woot.  This site revolves around user generated products; t-shirts.  Each week member/user of this site are given a new theme, or contest.  This contest is called a Derby.  The users then vote on the shirts that best attained the goal of the week’s Derby.  Winners are announced, and the winning t-shirts are printed, and users can order their favorite one.  I think this is a really cool idea, because it isn’t just like other t-shirt sites, like Shirt Press where a user just makes a shirt for his or herself; instead many users make the same type of shirt and then compete and that way the best shirt results.

Doritos, brand americano di patatine di Frito-Lay, è stato tra i primi a coinvolgere gli utenti nella creazione di spot da dedicare al grande pubblico. Questa tradizione è iniziata da tre anni, è partita con i video-contest su piattaforme come YouTube o Jumpcut, ed è proseguita con la creazione di una piattaforma ad hoc (Crash The Super Bowl)  per la co-creazione di spot pubblicitari.

Il lancio del mega contest per il prossimo Super Bowl conferma quanto si intuiva già dalle ultime esperienze: lo spirito iniziale dello user generated commercial è ormai quasi perso. Qui si fa sul serio: agenzie e case di produzione, avanti!