City Life, One Minute At A Time

Thanks PSFK for this post on a great programme underway to give us 1 minute glimpses of life in other cities. Fascinating stuff

cityoneminutes is a global web video project that allows you to observe 41 different cities around the world in one-minute intervals.

From a drunk man staggering to hail a cab in Addis Ababa to a serene San Francisco cityscape in the wee hours of the morning, there’s a wide range of cultural and behavioral morsels to absorb, in addition to all of the architectural and design idiosyncrasies of each area.

You can search for videos by city or specific time of day, watch an entire day in one region, or skip around from place to place.

The project is part of a greater collaboration between Dutch public television station VPRO and many different sponsors (including UNICEF and the Netherlands China Arts Foundation) called theoneminutes, which is a site that applies the same one-minute video idea to different scenarios- such as train rides, weddings, and abstract video art.

theoneminutes is also accepting submissions for all of their different categories at present. The best one minute videos will be picked out at year’s end for an annual awards show. Click here for more information.

[via Pop Up Cities]

Great Google project gallery

"A collection of awesome Google-related projects from people around the world" - thanks PSFK

http://goollery.org

Social Media Marketing: Sears and Kmart Step It Up

Thanks Mashable for this post on some interesting social moves by some big name retailers

May 9th, 2009 | by Ben Parr10 Comments

The intersection of social media and longstanding brands is a fascinating phenomenon to study. How does a company that has been around for decades react to the fast-paced world of social media? Do they shun it or embrace it? Do they stumble or do they create a deeper connect with their customers?

This week, Sears Holdings officially launched two social networks for their customers, MySearsMyKmart. Although these social communities do have a few quirks, the initiative that they represent, coupled with their well-designed social elements, is a sign of how more traditional companies are embracing social media technology to create a better customer experience and a better brand. and

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A little on MySears and MyKmart…

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So what exactly are MySears and MyKmart? At their core, they are social networks for reviews. Products being sold by Sears are up for review by any community member, on a 1 to 5 star scale, with generally short one line descriptions or criticisms.

MySears and MyKmart also incorporate several other useful social elements. They have their own message boards and active blogs. My favorite feature, though, is the Ideas section. This is an area for submitting product ideas to Kmart and Sears, with an up-or-down voting system similar to Reddit (). It’s a great way for Sears to solicit new ideas and to start a discussion around them. They could also submit their own ideas and get some feedback from loyal customers.

Despite some great features, the two social networks do have a few quirks that raise questions. MySears and MyKmart are linked to social media accounts on Twitter (), Facebook (), and MySpace (), but the Twitter links direct you to completely idle Kmart and Sears accounts, a no-no that projects laziness. It’s even stranger when you account for the fact that there’s an active account for MySears.

One other strange issue: some reviews date as far back as 2006. MySears and MyKmart had their soft launches in 2008, so we wonder from where they are pulling these much older reviews. Yet despite these small issues, the overall implementation is great. That’s probably because Sears partnered with Viewpoints, a seasoned social media company with an emphasis on reviews, to build these community websites.

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Traditional brands and social media

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What Sears is doing is a more common phenomenon than people may think. Major brands like Ford and Comcast are using Twitter extensively, while other brands like Saturn have their own social networks for their customers.

While many older companies have yet to embrace social media technology, others like Sears grasp the advantages presented by new forms of communication. Building community creates more loyal and caring customers. Twitter and Facebook facilitate a wider discussion and can help prevent PR nightmares. And the shareability of social media helps foster the exchange of ideas between brands and consumers.

Sears now has two great platforms for collecting ideas from passionate shoppers with the Ideas section of MySears and MyKmart. These networks provide customers with useful product reviews. And finally, Sears now has people who will not only evangelize their brand, but keep them honest as well. This is how many older and more traditional companies are embracing social media, and we think it’s empowering the customer and improving the quality of major brands.

Project splitwheel - user designed car

Thanks again Contagious for this great, if extreme example of people-involvment in product development.



How many of you remember that episode of the Simpsons where Homer is reunited with his long-lost half-brother, Herb, who also happens to be the CEO of a major US car manufacturer? Keen to create a car for the average Joe, Herb puts Homer in charge of a new project and relies on his distinctly common touch to create the next American classic. However the ‘Homer’ which looks like a cross between a lime green hearse and one of George Jetson’s wet dreams proves to be disastrous flop - ruining the company and prompting Herb to disown his brother.

Now that crowd sourcing and corporate transparency are hot topics, The Simpsons once again proves to be curiously prophetic, raising the valid question - do consumers really know what they want? It is with slight trepidation therefore, that we approach Project Splitwheel - described as a ‘revolutionary online project to design and build a new performance car based on collective decision-making.’

www.splitwheel.com

By signing up to join the online community, users will be able to vote on every significant stage of the car's development - making the finished article a truly collaborative creation. However, to avoid another ‘Homer’, Splitwheel’s creators have been careful to gently steer participants in the right direction; for those who are unsure which way to vote, the website contains a blog with expert articles and breakdowns of the trickier technical aspects. There are video podcasts showing performance tests of rival cars, along with forums where members can argue - or rather discuss - the finer points of automotive design. (God forbid someone should suggest running twin sequential turbos without a sufficient intercooling system. Pah!)

However, this is no conceptual exercise; the final design will be submitted to British sports car manufacturer and Splitwheel partner Caterham, which will turn the prototype into a fully-fledged production car by the year 2010.

Splitwheel is the brainchild of Wikitanium - a UK-based company operating online projects to design and build new products in partnership with manufacturers and consumers. Contagious spoke to founder and managing director, Piers Drake:

‘Whether you refer to it as "prosumerism" or "transparency", the fact is that consumers are now better informed, better connected and more willing to get involved with products - from design through to development. The automotive industry is perfect for such an initiative because people are spending large amounts of money on an extremely familiar product. There are countless owners’ clubs, online forums and message boards where people passionately discuss the merits/downfalls of their cars. Our thinking was to channel this activity into an actual outcome and gives consumers the chance to put their money where their mouth is.’

Exciting stuff this - we couldn’t help thinking that it was only a matter of time until someone stepped up and really put crowdsourcing to the test, building collaborative brands from the ground up. One thing’s for sure; projects such as this require a delicate balance between dictating consumer conversations and facilitating them. By harnessing the existing social networking activity and providing users with useful, engaging ways in which to learn and contribute, Splitwheel looks like it may have just struck the perfect balance. We’ll be sure to keep you ‘up to speed’ with any updates *contribute to crowd-sourced groan here*

www.wikitanium.com