The College-University Fair, do you stare or do you dare

On Monday 3 November the college-university of Rotterdam organised a fair where students from second and third year could get information about their possible ‘minor’ (the so called ‘specification’ within your study). I had the chance to promote and inform other people as a representative of the ‘minor’ I am following currently, formally known as ‘concept development’.

The fair took place at one of the main buildings of the school department offering information and services and first encounters with these ‘minors’. As soon as I entered I had the feeling of chaos, and it was, quite.

Though there was a map, the interaction with the environment lacked severely, not mentioning the programming and understanding timetables and ‘whereabouts’ on the location itself. We even had to share our small stand which made it even harder.

In the afternoon we organised two lectures for interested students, and two times we were able to fill the room, nevertheless not always with the most interested students seeking for their obligations within the minor.

The presentation ‘thinking outside of the box’ answered questions of students as in why students should choose for this minor, what you can do by following this minor, what is expected from you and of course, what do you expect from it.

A lot better than previous slides I have seen, I must say. The presentation has improved a lot, and fairly stands out amongst the others. Strong and clearly students could see now what it is about, with me and my fellow student giving live examples and interact with the audience. And by taking that last thing, that is exactly what should be, by my understanding, more encouraged.

Interacting with the potential students can be improved. This could be simply realized by picking examples and making it more fun which is exactly what will keep it attached, remembered and told about.

Simple solutions to make the concept development presentations more interesting is to start with a ‘check in’, a kaospilot technique, naming what were you thinking in a maximum of one sentence, breaking the ice already.

The content of the presentations could be also somewhat more active, like naming trends, you name a trend! What did you noticed lately? Or why do you have an iPhone ? Why do you wear GStar, why do you stand still on the escalator? You could play more to the awareness of the students present, like 'did you notice the red arrows on the sealing?' or 'did you notice that the text under my name tag is upside down?'.

Let them name their ideas, their quest for life, let them think out loud and feel free to join the fun and serious sides of concept development.

Buy & Die !

Some time a go, in the time of the CPD, a Guest lecture was held. The lecture organized by students contained two speakers and a workshop. The second speaker was the strategy director of Ara, a company responsible for the promotion of the royal Netherlands air force, Cordaid, Campina, several ministries and many others. He had an interesting and understanding vision.

Trends on the internet, which was the subject of the day, wasn’t easy according to him. A thing to start with is to read the clue train manifesto which is downloadable on the internet for free. He referred to the manifest as that a powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed with result that these markets are getting smarter.

Markets are like conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. There is a question, an answer, a conversation between two sides. Traditional single side media is going downhill, because of this oneway traffic, social media is making individual and group activities more and more possible and visible to the rest of us. And most corporations –quoting the manifesto- lack in the involvement of the customer, ignoring this development. Which I would like to call the "Buy & Die"-Attitude. They stick to talk in a soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, ignoring their ability to deliver genuine knowledge, opting instead to crank out sterile happytalk that insults the intelligence of markets literally too smart to buy it. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.

Because there are people that will match your communication. And that is interesting. According to that statement he showed a display of integrated marketing communication:

As presented in this diagram you can see there are four categories of people in the world of the web (see the pyramid on the right). The creators represent 7% at the top of the pyramid, the ones that make content, contribute if via Wikipedia etc. The next step in the pyramid are the critics which account for 18%, collectors 18% and finally the wonderfully named “couch potatoes” (Robert Armstrong, 1976).

Engagement by marketing differs per group. With couch potatoes reached by Push marketing, collectors are reached by providing content, critics with dialogue and finally the creators can be touched by giving a platform for their creativity. Interesting and definitely good in understanding marketing and communications worldwide.

Do you have a Bie & Die Experience ?

High Tech Super Soldier

Once upon a time the planet is going to be torn apart, if it is not because of ourselves with all our wars and destruction and resulting climate shifts, it would be by external forces like asteroids, artificial intelligence and little green men.

It is slightly easy to spot a recent movie with one of these future scenarios, but come on; the future scenario just isn’t that bright.

But there is a light in the dark. Salvation is near. There is a massive rise of mankind; evil will be defeated with all sources available and humans will live happily ever after

But what are those sources, these appliances where mankind deals with in the future. Technological breakthroughs in times of warfare are impressive (according to a lot of people; the most advantageous) because people are under pressure, and the one with the biggest gun wins. In science fiction movies (and games) based in the future you see this as well; like all the technological possibilities of weaponry and other arsenal in Star Ship Troopers.

In a lot of games and movies (maybe for the first time in Alien, 1979) there is this simple utility that helps seeking your comrades in the field. The product is simple; a small screen which shows your location and the location of your other fortune members. The product is used in many games (for instance Halo seen below) which creates a good overview and reduces friendly fire.

The need for this product rose tremendously on account of friendly fire incidents amongst the Dutch Soldiers in Iraq. According to Menno Bentveld in a show called ‘Nieuwsblik’ on 23 February a same sort of product will be used by the ministry of defense in 2011.

According to Dutch Newspaper ‘Trouw’ the device is already there. The so called CIM (communication and information module) is a pocket computer where you can see the commander and the location of its troops. At the moment the CIM is in a test phase though, next year it will be a standard in a soldier combat utensils…

Though the product cannot show the opponent…
...yet.

Another Planet

To feel what concept and product development is we are supposed to see a development as seen in the post earlier about the organizer with attitude. But what is a trend, and how do you recognize a trend? We are about to explore a sixth sense of the human being. For a start we begin with an assignment of how Europe will look like in 50 years from now.

As an interesting discussion follows I write down all the necessary statements. The idea is to see and think about new technologies and habitats, and how this will take shape over this time period. Discussion groups gets formed easily and a flexible environment, compared with a cafeteria -including the need for coffee in this early morning-, is created.

World leadership will change is definitely written down as one of most important factors, Asia will be more open and understood with Europe as a sidekick, or most reliable partner.

As our group continues we get to the following statements that for instance Asia, with China as the main factor will be the future as in dominance and behind the steer of the boat, but Europe will be an important factor in this. Europe with countries like the Netherlands will have an important meaning in years of sustainable entrepreneurship; as in pioneer technology. Besides this a development as stimulation of this technology will get a new vision; more taxes on current methods, and even possible boycott against environmental damaging products, like fuel for instance.

It was an absolute majority about replacement of transport in the future and America would stay behind. Asia would get very important in this as they are currently already ahead on many occasions (for instance fast and commercial light rail trains) and aware of the current situation; as they would produce and consume the same as an average American they probably would need another planet.

A01: Summarize Goals

For the time being a "Communication & Multimedia Design - Student with the minor Concept & Product Development" it is obliged to specify your learning goals using Smartie's, which comes from the SMART abbriviation often used with concept and product development. It stands for: specify, measure, accept, realistic and time boundaries, which I will explain below. But now we have to two extra letters (which stands for Inspiring and Effort), and one added by myself the S, which stands for the Solution...

Well what are we waiting for, let's start with those damn smarties!

The Personal Learning Goals I want to work on:

• Time for Creativity
• Deal with Handicap
• Listening & Understanding

Specification

Can you specify your goals ? Which situations & are other people involved ?

Time for Creativity; because of work, school and my social life I have little time left for creative passions like writing stories, playing music, photography, drawing and painting. Mostly I am working alone, but in music I would like to play with other musicians. As I found the people I previously played with we decided to try and set up a night and start playing together more seriously.

Deal with Handicap; because a lot of work is on the pc I’m trying the best to take my time off because of an ache in my hands and arms. I have had special training for this but the best way is off course doing other things; which suits me for taking more time for creative expression without the use of a computer. I want to make clear to myself and find a way of hours spend of what I can do and what not. And I have agree with that, that I can not do some things any longer any more.

Listening & Understanding; I see myself often as a bad listener. As I try to write as many things down and remember most of conversations I can not stand the fact that my concentration is sometimes low and easily drifting away; like thinking of other things or staring at nothing for a long time. I want to try and focus more and look for ways of how I can improve this.

Measurable

How do you know you reached your goals ? How is this measurable ?

Time for Creativity; I know I have reached this goal as I am satisfied with my work and as in music; the cooperation and successful evenings playing together with productions of value would be enough.

Deal with Handicap; when I do not bother, or taking time or thinking about any form of handicap any longer I would reach this goal.

Listening & Understanding; As I would see actual trust and remembrance of important or less important points without drifting away I would reach this goal.

Acceptable

Are your goals acceptable for everybody ? Why should you, and why should you not do it ?

Time for Creativity; is creating more time for other things and working out less things in digital format. This endangers digital productions or other editing to reserve the use of a computer.

Deal with Handicap; as seen in the previous point I made is creating more time for creative passion to deal with the handicap, and use only when necessary.

Listening & Understanding; is definitely an important factor in social life as well as in school or freelance assignments. I see myself taking more time to specify the speaker, like debriefing and capturing important facts of the speaker without loosing the essence of the conversation or discussion.

Realistic

Are your goals realistic and achievable in your current situation and within your competency?

Time for Creativity; could be real within weeks. The budget is limited so it is important to create as much out of it as possible. As it is possible to combine certain goals and achieve the maximum.

Deal with Handicap; an efficient way of working is possible and achievable but I have to clear to myself and putting borders. Deadlines and milestones are important as in (school) work but do not spend more time than necessary.

Listening & Understanding; is realistic and achievable as in it is measurability of the speaker and own criticism.

Time Boundary

When should your goals be achieved, when are results to be expected ?

For all of my goals there is a time boundary of within 1 to 3 months.

Inspiring

Are your goals summed in a positive way and inspiring for you (and other people), and how important are these goals for you ?

The goals are definitely inspiring and could create a possible conclusion document how to create the maximum out of the minimum; work but have time for your personal interest as well and combine those to choose an environment without letting other people down.

Effort control

Are the goals within your own reach and are you the one making these goals possible ?

The goals are within my own reach as I am mainly responsible for what is happening to me or how I would like to evolve without the effort of a lot of other people. If I am not the person taking the step, it will not happen. With all of the goals I am though depending on other people making to make it possible. As I have to deal with a handicap I can have spare time for creativity alone or with other people with listening and understanding while working together.

Solution

Is there a brief solution to achieve your goals?

The solution is to create in the upcoming 2 months a new way of working which would state in a conclusion document how to create gain the maximum out of minimum effort in a world where I can create time for creativity and social needs and wants.