TransLumen Technologies, LLC Fluid Stills -
Douglas Siefken

Emooreathome’s deck

Paul, at Active Voice, created a series of templates for the hPDA and CircaPDA based upon the iPhone that are nothing less than dynamite!

Active Voice – “Boom”
DiyPc Conversation

I had the pleasure of meeting an author on the forefront of social media innovation that has inspired my own methods on more than one occasion, Andy Sernovitz.

His work,Word Of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, makes leveraging the viral marketing potential of online and offline communities as simple as making it easier for happy customers to share their passion with others. Thanking customers that say supportive things, and seeking out opportunities to make make right past customer service wrongs, remind me of how simple the process of social media engagement really is.

Andy wrote a short article provoking the question of whether companies are encouraging emergent word of mouth agents, from any number of unexpected environments, using my own experience as an example.
I responded with the following comment:

I took a lesson from Tom Kelley in my approach. He prescribes a new face of business – that of the anthropologist. Embedded within vocal communities, I have found that using the emergent tools of the environment to spark discussion through collaborative new product development (otherwise known as “hacking”) generates a great deal of positive feedback. The result is a spike in consumer generated marketing, and a steady stream of collaborative ideation that gives consumers a voice in the direction of ‘their’ company.

Conversations are the objective. I encourage others still hesitant to join in the discussions to break away from checklists and short-term goals that are designed to be measurable. [ex. Email 15 "talkers" -> check] The real value of open customer engagement is long term. Every example of remarkable customer service and interactivity that is open to search engine traffic becomes a footprint in the history of one’s brand identity. Weave inspiring narratives throughout the net that will compel future customers to fall in love with your own unique customer experience.

Through persistent, genuine interaction, passionate customers convert from “talkers” into “teachers,” thereby amplifying the voices of every new community they encounter.

I encourage anyone interested to check out Andy’s blog,

“Damn! I Wish I’d Thought Of That!”

He consistently manages to discover examples of companies doing small things that impact business in a big way.

Not long ago, I attended a Second Life reception for Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings exhibit. His work consisted of patterns of light, colors pooling together and spilling into symbols and textures, telling an indecipherable narrative that could continue for an infinite period of time. It was as much an experience with the environment of onlookers surrounded by panels, or windows, through which image confronted thought like a foreign language, as it was a unique statement of expression.

Last week at the encouragement of a friend, whom incidentally is also the artist, I went to the newly renovated Cass Hotel in Chicago. Spanning 80″ across the back of the lobby counter, a DLP screen held an image that I had only heard about, but never experienced first-hand.

“It’s a fluid still,” I overheard one employee reciting to another. The panel actually contained an imperceptibly manipulated phase of image that was slowly transitioning from one photograph of the exterior of the building to another. In so doing, the artwork was using a very contemporary tool in its aesthetic mechanique, time.

What compelled me most by the work was the idea that it was not to be watched, nor could it be fully appreciated with any series of looks. It is art that is to be experienced – peripherally affecting oneself in a non-intrusive manner.

Click To Play

After viewing the piece for the first time in person, I understood the glimmer that had Doug so excited. We are surrounding ourselves with stagnant video displays and static billboards that are ripe for something new. Of all of the potential this kind of technology possesses with respect to pervasive computing and the re-purposing of surface for digital interfacing taking place in our visual world, I look forward to the effect this kind of temporal imaging will have upon our art world, where the artist becomes both a digital painter, choreographer, director, and experience architect all at once.

TransLumen Technologies, LLC Fluid Stills -
Douglas Siefken

(a prototyped reaction to Innowen’s article at D*I*Y Planner: “The Colors of Productivity”)