A Different Point of View

The best meetings always present new points of view.  Our weekly Mindclay creative meetings are no different.  Though, with Slinky toys being a longtime fixture of our get-togethers, I thought it was about time we presented their points of view.  Enjoy!

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Of Hamburgers and Social Media

Image via Wikipedia

From the moment I walked into my first Five Guys, I was in awe.  All the peanuts you can eat, a simple no-nonsense menu, and a burger buried in a bag of tasty fries.   Forget Jimmy Buffet.  The stark white and red-trimmed interior of Five Guys is the true cheeseburger paradise.  But I digress…

In light of this Ode to Five Guys (I swear I have no stake in the company), you’d think I go there all the time, and, for a while, that was the case.  But no more.  Now I try to avoid the place for two reasons.  One, as much as I love it, I know the food’s only real purpose is to take up permanent residence in my arteries.  Two, the “new” wore off.    Yes, I’m no more than a shallow reflection of society at large.  I gobble up novelty and then, unless there’s a more meaningful permanence to the relationship, I move on.

Now, I do have a reason for writing all of this and, rest assured, it has little to do with actual hamburgers.  The point is, there’s change in the air.    Google+ is waving its digital fist at Facebook and Twitter.  Once fresh off the fryer,  these platforms are starting to lose their exotic  hamburger sizzle.  The fries are cooling.    Some people are starting to see them for what they are.  Still tasty, but, are they what you really want, now that you can see past the “new”?    And what about this Google+?   This may or may not be the new contender that topples the old.  However, you know something will.   It’s only a matter of time – meaning we’re all going to have to be nimble in the next few years.  We can expect the first wave of social media players who need to find and “early adopt”  new online communities as a means of maintaining a hold on the cutting edge.   Then the masses, scared of irrelevance, follow whether they’re truly personally motivated or not.  Not making judgements here.  That’s just organisms in flow, and systems in flux.

I sense the current is turning against Facebook and Twitter.  I’m not predicting their out and out demise or downfall.  Just saying that humans are predictable.   In real estate and desirable destinations, whether they’re real or virtual,  allure comes not with the established old haunts, but with what’s around the corner.

That said, I still love Five Guys. I swear I’ll still visit every once in a while.

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Later Aggregator

There’s no doubt.  Our world of shared media and endless distribution outlets – oh, internet, you bane and blessing – forces all of us to continually shift our weight in a struggle to find the right equilibrium.   We want to share.  We don’t want to steal.    It used to be that only professional journalists had to wrestle with these issues.  Now, we’re all in it together.

Witness what’s been happening in the last couple of days over at the Huffington Post.   Ad Age’s “MediaGuy”, Simon Dumenco, wrote an article, alleging and decrying the Huffington Post’s practice of helping themselves to other writers’ content, all in the name of “aggregation”.   Specifically, Dumenco cites the use of material from one of his earlier AdAge articles which magically found it’s way  -  somewhat reworked – onto HuffPo‘s pages.  Apparently, HuffPo responded with an indefinite suspension of the writer in question. In turn, Dumenco now says HuffPo missed the point –  it wasn’t just one writer being irresponsible.  Dumenco maintains that, in fact, that writer was simply following long-established practices that are at the very core of HuffPo’s way of doing business.  He asserts that the methods in question flow from the top, with accountability resting on the shoulders of HuffPo Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Arianna Huffington.

Personally, I’m a longstanding HuffPo fan.  I don’t always agree with their individual stances, but I have enjoyed the site as a convenient one-stop for news and opinion.  With no direct insight on Dumenco’s allegations, and no knowledge of the Huffington’s Post’s actual established practices, I would simply guess that some protocols will be reassessed, if nothing else than for the sake of good PR.   However, I do think this incident serves to cast light on a broader ethical issue that affects us all: Are we in the blogging community acting responsibly as pass-throughs for the works of others?   What, exactly, are the new rules for sharing, attribution, and aggregation?    I’m sure upcoming classes of media and communications students will sit through lengthy dissertations on the subject.  As for the rest of us, it looks like some may have to learn the hard way.

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Especially YOU!

I am writing to you, personally and directly.   Yes, YOU!

What?  You think this blog goes out to the masses and there’s no way I can anticipate and cater to the attention and interests of one isolated blog reader?  Not so!

Alas, I haven’t the time needed to delve into the whole superpowers backstory.  Suffice to say, several years back, I fell into a giant industrial vat of some mega-syllable caustic chemical compound and emerged with the power to anticipate individual bloggers’ interests and thoughts.

There, now that we’ve established trust….

Again, I’m talking to you.  What are you doing not creating?  Ha!!  I’ve called you out on it.  I know.  You rationalize that you ARE creative in some ways, and that your life really doesn’t offer enough creative outlets, and that if you did try to be more creative, you’d simply be out-shined by others.  Well, that’s just kitchen swill for pigs! (aka, hogwash)

This is YOUR time to be creative.  Why?  Because you’re desperately needed.  Have you looked around lately?  Wait, I’ve just been handed a list by our Aggregators of Calamitous Events and Ruinous Maladies (CERM) here at Mindclay Central.  Posting the abridged version:

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As with all lists, even our own Aggregators will admit this one is imperfect and subject to the variances of personal priorities and differing views.  You are welcome to make your own.

The point is – there’s a lot of work to do and, really, most of it boils down to creativity. These are, inarguably, momentous times.  Momentous times require greatness on all fronts, but especially in the areas of inspiration and creativity.  We’ve never been in more dire need of creative solutions.  At the same time, there’s never been such a woeful dearth of them.   The great thing is creativity, when unleashed, is pretty much self-perpetuating and takes all forms, from technical innovation, to inspired leadership, to new ways of communicating and sharing ideas.

Now, as we’ve established earlier, I’m imbued with a special type of blog clairvoyance.  I can sense that you have what it takes. You’re capable of tons more than just sitting on the sidelines and tossing snark bombs. You’ve got the ability to truly contribute and make a dent in at least one of the problems on your own personal CERM list.   So, that’s it. Life is all about creation.  You are a creative being.   Therefore, it’s your responsibility to outweigh destruction with creation – to counterbalance decay with improvement – at every possible moment.

Hey, what do you mean you’re pointing the finger back at me!?   You’re asking if I’ve made any dents on my own CERM list?  Fine! Not that I have anything to prove, but rest assured that, from this point forward,  I’ll work on creative solutions to Endless Transformers Movies and Couscous.   I think I’ll start by writing to my congressional representatives  (I might mention the debt ceiling impasse while I’m at it).

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Behind the Scenes: Getting Our Hands Dirty

As the title implies, this post is all about getting your hands dirty.  In fact, this is a bold-faced celebration of dirty hands – not in the Rod Blagodevich style – but more like this:

Yes, those are honest to goodness dirty hands.   They belong to these people:

The Crew: Chance Qin, Max Baird, Gary Grant, Nick RIghi, Sealii King

And why are their hands dirty?  Because warehouses are dirty.  Why were they in a warehouse?  Because that’s the environment we needed in order to have enough “elbow room” for shooting miniature sets requiring extremely deep backgrounds.  It’s all for a project that plays with  forced perspective shots (among other visual tricks).  This is the team that kindly agreed to participate in the craziness this weekend, willing to sacrifice some of their hard-earned time off for sake of visual experimentation.  It’s what we at Mindclay  call an “incubator” project.   Fun material and definitely a great creative challenge, but also a test of the fortitude of all involved.  Conditions included:

The aforementioned dirt

Oppressive heat and sweltering conditions

Hot lights

A fog machine that wouldn’t play nice

Bald guy making things up as he went along

But it wasn’t all trial and tribulation.  We had some fun along the way.

"I don't know what it is, BUT I LIKE IT!"

Sealii + Fog Machine = Smoke Monster!

"Don't ask, just go with it!"

Can’t wait to share the finished results with you.  But, for the time being, I’ll offer this shout out to our weekend visual effects crew – Nick, Sealii, Chance, Max, Sarah, Suzanne – awesome job everybody!    Next time I promise less dirt and more beverages!

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Your Image in the Cloud

This is either extremely cool, or somewhat disturbing (or both).   It’s called the ‘Cloud Mirror’.

Upon arrival, party guests are given a special coded badge.  They’re then asked to sign in, either with their Facebook, Flicker or Twitter ID.  The Cloud Mirror then goes online and mines their social media presence for all kinds of tidbits that form a profile of sorts.

Now, imagine yourself as one of the guests:

With the badge hanging around your neck, you then proceed to one of the Cloud Mirror installations around the room.   The installation is a a combination of LCD screen, video camera and a reader that picks up on your badge’s code.  The  camera is pointed directly at you.   That’s the mirror part.  Meanwhile, the reader is scanning your badge.  That’s the cloud part.  Suddenly, random entries from your social media past start popping up on screen in the form of cartoon thought bubbles, superimposed next to your live image.  

As a party tool, this is a fun conversation piece and an instrument of extreme potential embarrassment.   As the creator points out in the video, it’s amazing that people subject themselves to this, even though they’re forewarned of the potential mortification factor.  In a broader sense, this shows, yet again, how the intersect of social media and emerging technologies will redefine how we play and interact.  It also gives pause to all of us caught up in the grand unfolding anthropological experiment that is social media. Careful next time you look up and observe a shape in the cloud.  The image you see might just be your own.

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It’s No Joke!

Just came across this excellent take on the use of humor within the creative approach –  How to Merge Creativity With Comedy

With a long list of memorable humorous spots under his belt, the author, Gerry Graf,  knows a thing or two about funny.  The article also prompted me to consider a tangent subject: the motivation for using humor.

I think it’s only natural to want to turn to jokes when addressing a crowd.   After all, laughter represents one of our strongest coping mechanisms. A little well-timed comedy offers a great way to either diffuse or disarm while maintaining rapport.  But, just think about how many luncheons you’ve gone to where the punchline falls flat.   A lethal mix of delayed, forced laughter and then uncertain silence – giving the audience time to reflect on why  the CFO chose accounting over an act at the Improv.  Ouch!

So, here’s the question, if comedy is so hard, then why do so many people turn to the idea of using humor when it comes to selling their product or conveying their message?   At least when the CFO bombs, he or she can take shelter behind charts and spreadsheets.   But humor attached to ads and marketing messages? Well, there’s just no retreating.   Don’t get me wrong.  I love humor in marketing, advertising and all forms of messaging.  When it works, there’s nothing more powerful.  It’s just that I think folks need to stop first, and do an honest assessment of their own motivations.  Are they force-fitting humor as a means to mask their own insecurities about their core message?   If so, it’s probably time to rethink that part before going any further.    I believe that all good comedy is rooted in honesty and that laughter won’t flow if the jokes come from a less than genuine place.   Another way of thinking about it: Comedy makes a good salve, but a lousy bandaid.

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F-Stop the Future

I continue to be amazed and delighted by the organic qualities of life poking up like weeds in our digital landscape.    As case in point, I offer an article I came across on CNET.

Teen hipsters discover joys of analog photography … – CNET News.com

It seems the current crop of teenagers are rebelling in a way that should really annoy the heck out of their DSLR-toting parents.  They’ve gone digging in their collective attics and found the old family film cameras.  Point, shoot, gasp!

For those of you who don’t remember how  film cameras worked, I did some digging on Wikipedia-

I’m always a little dubious about Wikipedia citations.  But I digress.  The point is, we now have teenagers roaming the streets with light meters and film cameras! They’re openly embracing the random  anomalies that come with the imperfect process of recording an image on film.   It strikes me that this development is not terribly different from the reemergence of the turntable as a little bit of retro-rebellion mixed in with a good honest appreciation for what works.  Both devices have their own unique qualities that remind us there might still be a place for analog in our lives.

By the way, for those of you who doubt my Wikipedia page and think this is a mock-doc, perhaps it’s also time for the revival of the typewriter, harkening back to a time when this kind of spoofery was a whole lot harder!

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An Honest Take on Social Media

Just taking a quick minute in between speakers at this year’s Social Fresh series in Tampa.   Even though we’ve only heard from one speaker so far, my head is already swimming with ideas.

Brian Simpson with Vikram Chatwal Hotels had some great things to say about his experiences  in the social media arena.   While there’s a lot to go into, honestly, it can all be boiled down to one thing:

Honesty

Social media is the newest boomtown, and as such it can potentially draw in every manner of opportunist, drifter, grifter and snake oil salesman.   I think the SM public, in general, is savvy to that fact.  As such, you can imagine there’s a lot of intuition and gut-checks  being applied by your potential visitors and fans.

Honest communications and a true desire to foster a community are key.  Otherwise, as Mr. Simpson so ably pointed out, you’re simply developing a base of spectators.   The difference?  Spectators may follow you, but they’re indifferent to your well being.  They have no passion for your standing.   A community, on the other hand, is more of a family.  Yes, you may witness some disagreement, and airing some of that dirty laundry can be occasionally problematic and embarrassing, but there’s also a mammoth plus side:   When push comes to shove, a portion of that community WILL rally to your cause no matter what.

In his presentation, Simpson admitted that all this doesn’t amount to a clean “sell up” that you can readily explain to the CEO with solid guarantees.  But watch what happens when the going gets tough.  Your spectators desert you.  Your community supports you, even before you’ve developed your own response plan.  And when it’s time to spread some good news or share a new initiative, your spectators remain indifferent.   However, if you’ve treated your community well, and with honesty… well, those community members are already out there spreading your message, without you even having to ask.

Bottom line – don’t be exploiters, give as much as you’re taking, and, above all, respect the fact that when you start a community you’re actually part of the community, not the unilateral owner.  Adhere to these basics and you’ll prosper in the boomtown.

And that’s my honest take.

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Make Your Story Matter!

Here’s an interesting question, found on one of the online discussion groups I belong to (Digital Storytellers):

If you had to describe in several steps (5 to 10) the key steps of good storytelling, what would they be?

Since this is a subject near and dear to my heart, I’ll make certain to share my take within the discussion thread, but also thought I’d share it on MindoMondo as well.   The points I’m addressing here are adaptable to all stories, regardless of their medium, delivery platform or length.

For me the list really can be distilled to five simple points. I’m far too lazy for ten! Sure, these can be expanded on with tangential ideas, but, within my own creative approach, these are always the core absolutes, inspirational and indispensable:

1.   Empathy

Your story only matters in as much as it delivers meaning to those who might come across it.   Everyone has their own ongoing life story.  Yours has to mesh with it in a way that mirrors and even provides answers to the reader’s/viewer’s/user’s own anxieties, loves, hates, hopes and dreams.  This is true in short form, long form, linear, and even non-linear stories.

2.  Honesty

If you need empathy for the narrative appetite of others, then you also have to tap into your own internal motivations, even if you’re telling a story with no true personal connection. You HAVE TO find that thing within yourself that makes you care about this story.  Your  job is to find the psychological bridge that allows you to connect.

3.  Analogy

I’m going out on a limb with this one, but I think all good stories have an analogous quality.  To me, it’s just like visual compositions.  You rarely take an interesting picture by approaching the thing head on.  Angles are the thing!  Analogies are the storytelling equivalent of that visual rule.  Analogies (and their metaphorical cousins) provide the narrative geometry that compel us to look at things anew and with a fresh, receptive perception.

4.  Characterization

This one sounds pretty obvious.  Of course stories have characters!  However, I’m always amazed at how many stories shortchange when it comes to interesting characterization.   Remember honesty?   (see key step #2)   If you haven’t mastered honesty, you’ll also have a tough time with characterization.   It’s only the ability to acutely observe, both internally and externally, that allows us to share items of interest.   People are generally the subjects of stories.  You have to be a keen observer to mine the veins of human characterization.    Likewise, you also have to apply those same powers of observation to elements of place and setting.   All these things demand thought in terms of characterization.  Even if the thinking does not make it overtly into the story, your observations still power the backstory and imbue the whole thing a sense of depth and credibility.

5.  The Unexpected

Produce something I didn’t see coming, and I’ll remember you.  Give me everything I expected, and I’ll resent your consumption of my time.  That simple!

There. That’s my  take on it.  I know, I didn’t mention pacing and voice, and I didn’t give metaphors their full due.  No apologies here.  That’s just the kind of imperfect blogger I am!   Though, I do hope you have your own list, and I hope you’ll feel free to vehemently disagree with some or all of the above.  Just one thing – when you reply, at least be sure to include a smidgen of Key Step #5!

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