IAB Engage 2009

I spent today at the IAB’s Engage 2009 conference. Charles Leadbeater, author of We-think: the power of mass creativity, was the best speaker for me. I liked his advice for dealing with trolls (“sometimes, you just have to let it go”) and it was refreshing to see someone speak so fluently without the dreaded PowerPoint. His note about the future of media being about ‘mutuality’ was music my ears as well (as that’s what we’re trying to do with Reputation Online by combining editorial with UGC).

I also found his insight into the way kids interact with the online space really insightful. I realised a while ago that I don’t have any connection with anyone under the age of 21 any more, so his firsthand experience was great.

He spoke about his son hating things that stop him from grazing content; copyright, ads etc. “The dominant part of his culture is playing. It’s a fragmented space in which he is a participant, instead of a passive watcher”.

Leadbeater also made an interesting point about the potential for ‘playing’ online to be integrated into Education. One Sunday, his son had discovered an animation tool online and was so excited by it that he pondered making it a career choice, asking for extra software and books to teach himself. Leadbeater said that in an ideal world, this could have been continued at school the next day if his son had been able to go in and ask to learn more from his teachers.

He compared this to his own experience of a Sunday night as a child, which was all about Songs of Praise. He noted that he admired the architecture, fashion, design within the show, because that was all he could watch. For kids nowadays, there’s a vast amount of subjects and information online to get involved with. Yes, this could mean that they don’t pay attention to each one as much as he did with SOP, but it’s an interesting idea all the same.

Tech not causing social isolation after all…

US firm Pew Research has released its report into social behaviour, called ‘social isolation and new technology’.

From the company’s Internet and American Life project (which is a nonprofit), it looks only at American users of social-based technology, but is still a fairly good gauge of Western use. The main outcome was that technology is not leading to social isolation and those that use the internet and mobile phones actually have larger and more diverse social networks.

Keith Hampton, lead author and an assistant professor of communication at the University of Pennyslvania said;”It is a mistake to believe that Internet use and mobile phones plunge people into a spiral of isolation.”

He also said that the key findings of the study “challenge previous research and commonplace fears about the harmful social impact of new technology.”

It found that on average, the size of people’s discussion networks is 12 percent larger among mobile phone users, nine percent larger for those who share photos online, and nine percent bigger for those who use instant messaging.

The diversity of people’s core networks tends to be 25 percent larger for mobile phone users, 15 percent larger for basic Internet users, and even larger for frequent Internet users, those who use instant messaging, and those who share digital photos online.

You can read the full overview on Pew’s website.

FTBC on the QT

I’m going to FTBC on the QT this Wednesday, following a quick call from my good friend Olly Knowles (who’s now at Momentum).

Fashion Targets Breast Cancer do some great promotions and events that help make the condition more relevant and visible to younger people. This session on Wednesday is a celebration of what’s been done in 2009 (like the tie up with Topshop as pictured above), and a look forward to what they want to achieve in 2010.

I’m looking forward to it, as I’m very supportive of an organisation that combines funding research, with education. It’s a smart approach, as one without the other is meaningless.

Digital table tops at Inamo

I love the digital table tops at Inamo in Soho. There’s no waitress, just servers. You can scroll through the menu by clicking two buttons on your side of the table, place an order and check your bill in real time. You can change the atmosphere of your surroundings by changing the light, ‘tablecloth’ or even play a game.

The ‘chef cam’ is a great idea, but isn’t too clear and a little far out to be truly interesting. I’d love to be able to click through multiple cameras and watch how my food was being prepared. They do amazing lamb as well