how to not be fenced out in ONLY 18 days
…give or take

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓
egypt: the next generation
© 2011 Dave Weinberg

Yesterday’s events in Egypt seem symbolic on at least two levels:

    1. The child standing up to the parent (despite the fear) and asserting her/his place in the world.

    2. The ongoing challenge of print-based daily news media as a vehicle for communicating real time events.

Had a conversation with a gentleman last evening who had only seen newspaper headlines during the day – remaining distraught and concerned over Mubarak’s fiery rhetoric and refusal to step down.

Ancient news to anyone with an internet connection or smart phone.

Projects like The Domino Project are looking at and doing things to address this today with regards to the spreading of ideas in books! Twitter and Facebook have become the digital ticker-tape of this generation. How might the Domino Project model also translate to newspapers, magazines and daily media?

Projects like Flipboard continue to explore a hybrid model bridging context, the random real-time feeds of social media, and the personal preferences of how individuals wish to consume media.

During this time of unprecedented, economic, cultural and generational change we all have our metaphorical Mubaraks and fears. What strikes me is the symbolic 18 days of exhaustively hard work and connection (across class and cultural divides) to achieving a greater, even if uncertain, common goal.

there ARE other options, just ask Cotton Candy Bear…

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓
"I poked the box. Did you?"

Why accept the status quo? You can lay around on a bed all day because it feels cozy and comfortable or you can do something unexpected, maybe something you’ve always wanted to do – but never thought you could, or never thought it would be ‘accepted‘ or ‘appropriate‘ or ‘approved‘, you know, like supervising the single-sort facility at the local recycle center. That was Cotton Candy Bear’s dream. What’s yours?

Coming March 1st – the first title from the Domino Project, powered by Amazon – Seth Godin’s Poke the Box – a manifesto on taking initiative.

If Cotton Candy Bear can do it – so can you…

© Dave Weinberg

feeling stumped?

Posted on by — No Comments ↓
poke the box and follow the domino project
© 2011 Dave Weinberg

To date, cellphoneSketchpad has taken the ‘picture’s worth a 1000 words’ approach (+ headline and caption…) to it’s daily posts. With few exceptions this blog is mostly about the quick get in – view sketch, (hopefully have a useful feeling/thought about it) and get out and get on with your day.

Lots of permission to experiment AND actually #fail* here. Sometimes the posts are spot on, sometimes they suck – such is life. If every post had to be perfect this would have stopped after day three. I love the immediate availability of the cellphone camera as a tool to capture and share some kind of story. Maybe it’s the story I am intending to tell – maybe it’s a free association that you have to the sketch and you come up with your own story. Maybe it’s both – or some days, I’m sure, it’s neither… and I’m ok with that. mobile journal. cyber comic. digital rorschach.

So what is Poke the Box? And what is the Domino Project? Brainschilds of Seth Godin, they are fundamentally about the spreading of ideas. And in the midst of that – offering a new means of publishing, recognizing that the old model of a few behemoth publishing houses ‘deciding’ what does and does not get published – is coming to an end – or arguably all ready has. Poke the Box is the first forthcoming title (due out March 1) from the Domino Project and if it is anything like Linchpin prepare to get very unstumped.

* for those struggling with the notion of #failing check out the definitive title ‘How to Fail‘ from my new friend and fellow Domino Project Street Team (more on that in a future post) member, Aaron Goldfarb.