after being at the top of the Maslow Pyramid

New trends in our world of 2003, specifically for people who stand at the top of the Maslow pyramid

degree confluence project : The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. The pictures and stories will be posted on the website.

CVA and mobislam are both french services that allow God to visit your mobile phone

psychogeography in virtual environments

Contemplation and psychogeography in digital environments is the next big thing in Virtual Space. One of the other trend would be psychogeography in ubiquitous environment (like drifting in a city with a head up display that modifiy the environment).

so now designers should take care of creating virtual places for contemplation and flâneur

Fax – the technology that refuses to die

Via bbc news :

“faxing is more popular than it’s ever been. Last year an estimated 40% more pages were faxed than the previous year (although the number of fax machines in use remained about constant).”

But why ?

- A signed document sent by fax is admissible as evidence in a court while a simple e-mail may not be.
- The fax machine has insinuated itself into the world of digital communications to such an extent that the distinction between a fax and an e-mail is increasingly blurred. And you don’t even need a computer to receive e-mails – if you have a fax machine. E-mail-to-fax services exist

Bruce Sterling’s Distractions

Via /., in a post about social reputation and whuffie :

‘Distractions‘ is set at the earliest cycle of a post-scarcity future and includes, almost as a throwaway subplot, a culture of ex blue-collar workers who were entirely marginalized because they had no skills of any value. However groups of them did have machinery which could turn any vegetation into edible food so they didn’t have to starve. Also they could make things, provide entertainment or could do manual labor in exchange for anything else they needed. These groups travelled about, living in tents and other temporary housing, existing entirely outside the ‘real’ economy. In fact they had their own economy, built using a computer mediated status system, which determined each individual’s worth and clout.

Cultural and social impacts of mobile technologies

Last week at the world summit for information society, there was a panel about the cultural and social impacts of mobile technologies (documents available on the website):

“A panel of experts and activists will discuss new social interactions, social groups, activities and communities emerging through the use of mobile technologies. The meeting will examine a) the social impact of new mobile technologies and services, and b) how various social factors, such as cultural tendency and behavior, different political and economic environments in and across the different regions of the globe are effecting mobile technology and business.

The second panel will pay particular attention to the potential of these new mobile technologies and services for social and human development in developing countries. The discussion will include, but not limited to, examples of deployment of wireless Internet in the rural Indonesia, and emerging mobile use in Africa. Each speaker will present their experiences and findings in 10-15 minutes, followed by interaction among the panel and with the audience.”

Spam project notes

Ideas about our spam project (in french)
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gamagora

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gamagora is the new video game school in Lyon, France. But at the moment their website is just nothing

geek hierarchy

Social Capital

“Social capital generally refers to trust, concern for one’s associates, a willingness to live by the norms of one’s community, and to punish those who do not.”
Social Capital and Community Governance by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis

Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers to the properties of individuals, social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In that sense social capital is closely related to what some have called “civic virtue.” The difference is that “social capital” calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a sense network of reciprocal social relations. A society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich in social capital. (Putnam 2000: 19)

Robert Putnam (2000) Bowling Alone: The collapse and revival of American community, New York: Simon and Schuster: 288-290
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Nice tramway

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