Inspire

Gerd Leonard on the Future of Mobile Content Types at Mobile Monday Amsterdam (MoMo #10)

Below the highlight of our latest Mobile Monday Amsterdam event: Gerd Leonhard. I met Gerd at the Club of Amsterdam in 2003 and there he talked about the future of mobile music. He was incredibly spot on as a futurist back then. In the presentation below he explains his vision on the future of mobile content during 45 minutes in a passionate way. Recommended viewing!

Our next Mobile Monday Amsterdam event on Monday June 1st, 2009 will feature seven world class mobile internet speakers, each covering a different aspect of mobile internet and sharing their long term vision. The speakers are:

• Howard Rheingold (Smart Mobs guru)
• Jamais Cascio (Mobile Science/Sustainability guru)
• Joseph Pine II (Multiverse guru)
• Robert Rice (Augmented Reality guru)
• Alan Moore (Mobile Society guru)
• Andrew Grill (Mobile Advertising guru)
• Eric Petersen (Mobile Analytics guru)

This will clearly be our landmark event. More information will follow at Mobile Monday Amsterdam website. All videos and presentations will be streamed and can be seen on our website afterwards. I really look forward to this event as a lot of Dutch and international mobile passionate people will be there, even from around the globe some MoMo chapters will be there. If you want to attend this free (!!) event, please drop me a note on [email protected].

Jeff Jarvis on the Success Factors of the Google Culture

Juan Enriquez on the Financial Crisis, Synthetic Biology, Robotics, Cyborgs and the Homo Evolutis

Juan Enriquez has a solid track record concerning delivering and sharing funny, smart, cutting edge and very interesting presentations on different subjects like the evolution of borders and nation states, biotech, economic structures, evolution at large, synthetic biology and cultural evolution. Juan Enriquez thinks and writes primaril about the profound changes that genomics and other life sciences will cause in business, technology, politics and society.

Previous presentations by Mr. Enriquez can be found here: PopTech2009 on Financial Crisis, Long Now Foundation 2007 on Biotechnology and Mapping Knowledge, TED 2007 on Bio-Energy, TED 2003 on The Coming Huge Biotechnology Revolution and PopTech2006 on Countries, Flags and Dynamic Borders. All these talks are highly recommended. Mr. Enriquez is clearly one of my favorite thinkers, futurists and authors around.

The talk below is from the TED 2009 Event last month. I watched the whole TED show personally for the first time. It was truly mind-blowing and very very inspirational. By far, the best event I have ever experienced in my life. All the buzz surrounding the TED event is true. The structure of the program is outstanding touching your mind, heart and soul in different ways.

The talk below by Mr. Enriquez deals with the current global financial and economic crisis as well as the coming revolutions due to synthetic biology, stam cells as well as advanced robotics. Combining these biotech trends on the bacterial, cellular and tissue level with the robotics trend will eventually lead to advanced cyborgs and the Homo Evolutis. The latter group might co-exist with normal human beings but outperform them in different tasks. And this might be sooner than we think, the speed of innovation in this fields is simply impressive.

Enjoy the rollercoaster!

Daniel Suarez Presents DAEMON - Bot-Mediated Reality at the LongNow Foundation

There are many incredible, fascinating and inspiring videos and presentations available on the web and this seems to increase every year. Below one of the better ones in my view. The reason is an upcoming science fiction novel called DAEMON - Bot-Mediated Reality by Daniel Suarez. Recently, he gave a high-impact presentation at the LongNow Foundation, of which I am an active/paid member since the beginning of 2008.

DAEMON deals with bots (software based on narrow AI incorporating algorithms for specific search, retrieve and actionable goals) and the future of the (mobile) web. Daniel shows us that bots are on the rise and that they redefine what it means to be human. What strikes me about this presentation can be summed up as follows:

• The first time it impressed me, but by the time of the second viewing this video really inspired me to broaden my vision.
• Bots are within my field of interest since May 2005 when I worked with/for Yme Bosma and Bas Verhart within MediaRepublic for extending the opportunities of the Eccky bot. Artificial Intelligence (AI), both narrow and general, is key to the development of chatbots.
• Recently, I visited the The Singularity Summit 2008, a remarkable and highly recommended event with speakers like Esther Dyson, Ray Kurzweil, Nova Spivack, Eric Baum, Neil Gerschenfeld, Cynthia Breazeal (fantastic!) and Ben Goertzel. Many talks in this one-day-event considered AI, bots and robots. 
• Daniel Suarez raises several important questions based on the rise of bots. They focus on a new Internet (DarkNet with limited bot-access), lifelogging, pattern recognition, copyright (User Owned Data?), security, terrorism, privacy, authentication, authenticity, identity, outsourcing, (hyper)efficiency, games and virtual worlds and new organizational structures.
• Amazing insights related to advanced reputational (human) systems, social networks and Mobile Augmented Reality as a gateway to a newer, more secured and better Internet (DarkNet) as to block unlimited powers of bots in the next decades in the current internet.
• Bots are also related to the current global financial crisis. Bots are in almost all cases linear, dualistic and digital in nature. The non-linearity of the real world (see the remarks by Nassim Taleb) in most cases might imply sub-optimal decision making by financial bots as can be seen by our current crisis.

Recommended viewing by Peter Schwartz, Paul Saffo and Kevin Kelly! The book will be officially released on January 9th, 2009.

Juan Enriquez on the Financial Crisis

Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo.

Outstanding and razor sharp analysis by Juan Enriquez - one of my favorite thinkers and speakers - on the current financial crisis. Recommended. Together with Nassem Taleb on Edge with his post on the Fourth Quadrant and Kleiner Perkins on SlideShare with their 30 slides on the financial crisis in my view a quite complete and rigorous analysis.   

Business and Revenue Models for Online Media: Options

Great post on the Long Tail blog by Chris Anderson, Fred Wilson and Michael Cader on the business or revenue model options for online media properties. With strong relevance for offline media/events and digital marketing as well. Below the business model options.

I would like to see the category 'research / metadata ' included here as most advertisers are quite interested in the metadata / research within (social) media companies. This goed beyond the stated "Sales of User Information" below as it includes all the information/comments/widgets a user associates with a topic, brand and/or product. These insights can be used for trendwatching, emergent co-marketing & partnering deals and new business development.

"1. CPM ads ("cost per thousand views"; banner ads online and regular ads in print, TV and radio)
2. CPC ads ("cost per click"; think Google ads)
3. CPT ads ("cost per transaction)
4. Lead generation (you pay for qualified names of potential customers)
5. Subscription revenues
6. Affiliate revenues (think: Amazon Associates)
7. Rental of subscriber lists
8. Sale of information (selling data about users--aggregate/statistical or individual--to third parties)
9. Licensing of brand (people pay to use a media brand as implied endorsement)
10. Licensing of content (syndication)
11. Getting the users to create something of value for free and applying any of the above to monetize it. (Like Digg or Reddit but also Open Source Marketing in broader terms)
12. Upgraded service/content (ed: aka "freemium")
13. Alternate output (pdf; print/print-on-demand; customized Shared Book style; etc.)
14. Custom services/feeds
15. Live events
16. "Souvenirs"/"Merchandise"
17. Co-branded spinoff
18. Cost Per Install (popular with top Facebook apps who can help others get installs)
19. E-commerce (selling stuff directly on your website)
20. Sponsorships (ads of some sort that are sold based on time, not on the number of impressions)
21. Listings (paying a time based amount to list something like a job or real estate on your website)
22. Paid Inclusion (a form of CPC advertising where an advertiser pays to be included in a search result)
23. Streaming Audio Advertising (like radio advertising delivered in the audio stream after a certain amount of audio content has been delivered)
24. Streaming Video Advertising (like streaming audio but in video)
25. API Fees (charging third parties to access your API)"

Kevin Kelly on the Evolution of Value Creation and Business Models on the Web (Better Than Free)

Better Than Free is a new blog post by Kevin Kelly with a lot of buzz on the web this week. It is about the evolution of business models and value creation on the web. Important piece of thinking, especially for all those involved in the digital content/entertainment business. In my view this post resonates with the attention economy and the emerging business models within social networks/platforms (recommendtions, social economy). Additionally, people pay in my view increasingly for experiences (physical and social) and context and less for the content itself. Both are relatively scarce.

"When copies are super abundant, they become worthless. When copies are super abundant, stuff which can't be copied becomes scarce and valuable. Well, what can't be copied?

There are a number of qualities that can't be copied. Consider "trust." Trust cannot be copied. You can't purchase it. Trust must be earned, over time. It cannot be downloaded. Or faked. Or counterfeited (at least for long). If everything else is equal, you'll always prefer to deal with someone you can trust. So trust is an intangible that has increasing value in a copy saturated world.

There are a number of other qualities similar to trust that are difficult to copy, and thus become valuable in this network economy. I think the best way to examine them is not from the eye of the producer, manufacturer, or creator, but from the eye of the user. We can start with a simple user question: why would we ever pay for anything that we could get for free? From my study of the network economy I see roughly eight categories of intangible value that we buy when we pay for something that could be free.

There are 8 key value drivers : Immediacy, Personalization, Interpretation/Support, Authenticity, Accessibility, Embodiment, Patronage and Findability"

Book Recommendation: Theory U from C. Otto Scharmer from MIT

I am reading a remarkable, high-impact, deep, original, inspiring and profound book from MIT called Theory U written by C. Otto Scharmer. It is difficult to summarize this outstanding book due to its enormous richness but in my view and experience it is in the league of the works from Jared Diamond, Kevin Kelly and Howard Rheingold. It is a spiritual, personal and business journey combined. Very special indeed. And it resonates with an incredible amount of my own experiences and observations, especially within my intensive Twitter community as a transformative, open ended journey since March this year.

I just can't stop reading it, every page is so full with ideas. Some hints on topics: blind spots, growth, spirituality, innovation, creativity, leadership, change management, web 2.0, globalization, communities, learning, smart mobs, evolution of organizations, democracy, capitalism, open source, emergence, complexity and many examples from private life, politics (Iraq) and business.

Referenced leading authors are among others (be prepared for a long shot): Brian Arthur, Argyris, Senge, Brand, Carr, Castells, Christensen, Coase, Collins and Porras, Dalai Lama, de Geus, Florida, Friedman, Fukuyama, Gladwell, Goethe, Habermas, Hagel, Hamel, Handy, Hawken, Heidegger, von Hippel, Maslow, Minsky, Mintzberg, Morgan, Nietzsche, Nonaka, Peters, Prahalad, Putman, Sen, Sheldrake, Soros, Steiner, Tolle,   Sun Tzu, Varela, Trompenaars, Weick, Wheatley and Wilber. And all combined in a structured and new way...amazing.

Highly recommended ! This clearly is my favorite book of 2007, no doubt about that :-D

The Impact of P2P and Peer Production on our Economy, Society and our Digital Media Future

Just discovered a new inspiring speaker via the blog Smart Mobs called Michel Bauwers. Below his presentation with a 50 minute timeframe on P2P, peer-to-peer networks, communities, co-creation, mass collaboration, open innovation, FabLabs, wikinomics and peer production.

Highly recommended as this is one broad overview of key trends in our economy, society and digital media infrastructure. It is all-encompassing and thought provoking in many many ways. And it is clear. It integrates the views from Yochai Benkler, Lawrence Lessig, Howard Rheingold, Kevin Kelly, Don Tapscott, Henry Jenkins, Neil Gerschenfeld, Chris Anderson, David Weinberger and Alex Steffen in a new way. However, I do miss the impact of biotech and nanotech on his vision of peer production.

My 2 cents concerning this video:
- I do believe that open source, commons-based, non market peer production will grow the coming decades, both in the immaterial as well as material world (using Web/FabLabs).
- I like the distinction between hierarchical systems, decentralised systems and distributed systems and its impact on self organisation and fluidity (reminded me of David Weinbergers' latest book on categorisation). As the world clearly is moving at the speed of light towards to innovation, agility and flexibility, the distributed (web and P2P) model seems to become the dominant model, both organisationally as well as technically.
- I support the idea that the increasing autonomy and empowerment of individuals and their social networks/peers will reverse the power balance. Sources of trust are in peers, no longer in key institutions. Strong institutions with power are relevant and effective in situations where individuals are not empowered (enough), these are increasingly a thing of the past. Indeed, Eamonn Kelly - CEO of Global Business Network - wrote a piece on the impact of the emergence, self organisation, bottom-up culture on global issues. Additionally, Paul Hawken recently made the growing impact of NGOs explicit in this book Blessed Unrest.
- I dig the idea that peer production is about intrinsic motivation, authenticity, love and passion. And that's precisely why these initiatives thrive, both economically as well as ethically. If you self-select a project, YOU are in there with your whole mind and heart, including all your social and ecological values and norms. This means in my view that key improvements in our ecological and social agenda worldwide will be driven by these peer produced projects and not primarily by for-profit organisations (e.g. WiserEarth, WorldChanging etc.).

The Metaverse Roadmap : The Future of Web 3.0, Virtual Worlds, Augmented Reality, MMORPGs, Lifelogging, Google Earth and All Other Key Trends in Digital Media

Finally, the Metaverse Roadmap 2006-2016 has been published with over 72 pages of very valuable content related to all subjects/tags from my blog and even much more. The section on Predictions (9) is just stunning and breathtaking, so much highly interesting insights. The coming months I will pick some topics from this report to give you my perspective on them.

This is probably one of the most important reports on the future of digital media as a whole. It covers all aspects: economic, social, cultural, legal, political, technological and psychological. To me, this Metaverse Roadmap report is the absolute number 1 resource at this moment. It's just incredible. Thanks to all who contributed.

Very highly recommended to all my readers !