Hugh Garry

Algorithms are nature

A brilliant talk from Area/Code' Kevin Slavin on how algorithms are shaping our world, ruined only by his cheeky wink at the end...

The Hot 5 - 29/07/11

1. Ricky Gervais on Big Think - Great interview covering Animal Rights, The Death of the Newspaper, The Principles of Comedy and Growing Up Poor.

2. Oatmeal's The State of the Web in 2011 - Oatmeal sum up the state of the web today with a series of witty cartoon poking fun at the continuous demise of former gods.

3. Exquisite Corpse - IDEO's Exquisite Corpse is a delightful experiment in collaborative nonlinear storytelling methods.

4. The Auteur Myth - Great article from Wired on the myth of the auteur looking at how we tend to over simplify the story of the role of Steve Jobs at Apple using Hitchcock as an analogy.

5. Portraits of dogs as they shake off water - Yep. Exactly that.

Storywarp - A conversation about storytelling

The Hot 5 - 22/07/11

1. 3D printing in and out of Minecraft - Just give your head a moment to get around that and then check the link.

2. Rise of the Machines: How Rube Goldberg inspired a decade of creative copycats - From Honda through to BERG and Sony, lots of lovely examples of how one idea can create many wonderful versions in all shapes and sizes.

3. The Final Image - Nice collection of images from the the final shots of some rather famous movies. There's a nice game in there somewhere.

4, Teller Speaks - Teller from Penn and Teller give a nice talk on repetition and intention.

5. Embrace Contraint - Seth Godin somewhat echoing a talk I gave on Wednesday about the value of restraint in creativity. Also worth checking this from Johnny Moore which looks at self imposed restraint in experimentation.

The BBC: In the business of 'Social Objects' since 1922

Had a pleasant evening in the company of Hugh McLeod and Mark Earls discussing Social Objects. It came at the end of day in which I'd given my last departmental talk at the BBC. Earlier Jem Stone had done a great turn about the history of the BBC and Social Networks. 

In amongst all the conversation around 'big brands not getting social objects' it occurred to me that the BBC has been in the business of social objects since its inception in 1922. If you ever need to convince a brand that social objects work tell them to take a good look at the BBC. 

We originally brought people together around a wireless, then the TV and gave them something to talk about. From the first radio broadcasts to the Coronations, to the first Wimbledon and FA Cups shown on TV, Desert Island Discs, The Reith Lectures and Radio 1's Roadshows and Big Weekends, we gave people a reason to connect with others. 

Around the watercooler, down the pub, in the playground people would share, debate or bond over content that challenged, provoked and stimulated intelligent minds. Then came the internet and social media which made talking and sharing a hell of a lot easier - but we know that the tools are never interesting, it's the social later that sits upon them that is. Thankfully our ROI is not measured in the number of followers we have on Twitter and Facebook - and never will - we measure our success in engagement.

Because we focus on people and not profit the idea of social objects comes easy to us. We have always placed a high value on the conversation that brings audiences together rather than being obsessed with the brand to customer schtik that other 'dinosaur' organisations continue to invest their energies in. 

With an eye on the future, things are looking good too. As our archive grows and we continue chop all our content into easily found shareable chunks people with find new friends and conversations around the objects we throw out there. And like the Kula Ring these objects they share will continue to come second to the ceremony that surrounds the act of giving and receiving. 

Making the soul relevant to a greater number of people

I love this video of W+K's John Jay that I found via Only Dead Fish. A lot of what he says had me thinking about how I might be perceived by my colleagues at the BBC and how I could have done more to change their perception over the years. Not that I'm complaining. I've been treated really well and like to think I've made my mark. I guess it's only natural to assume that there is more to you than what your work mates could ever be aware of - that you can do other things - perhaps had a greater impact in certain places.

"Sometimes in our industry we get siloed to death... The longer you work the more people want to put you in a silo so that they can define you by their terms. Our job is to never let anyone define who we are by their terms."

Having been there so long, and been content in my position, its only natural to find oneself siloed. That's one of the reasons I had to leave. I'm leaving without any clear idea of what it is I want to become, how I want the world to see me or what path my career will eventually follow. If I had to drop a cliche on it I'd say it is a case of me having to getting lost in order to find myself.

"One of the greatest challenges is to put yourself in cultures where you don't belong. Put yourself amongst people you don't normally hang out with. Get yourself out of your comfort zone culturally. I think that's very important."

Taking John's advice I intend to spend the next 12 months so far out of my comfort zone that I expect to wake up every morning in a cold sweat. From the middle of August I plan to do something different every day, make new friends from all over the world and immerse myself in new cultures. Blogging it all as I go of course.   

5 Things I Liked This Week - 15/07/11

1, Backseat Driver - A Toyota iphone game for young children which mimics the journey of the car you are travelling in using GPS. Much better for those long journeys than I-Spy.

2. The Art of the Factory - Factory workers around the world are asked if one of their workers would produce an 'incorrect' version of the product they make every day. I think we did that with David Hooper's Disgusting Electronica.

3. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - Ex Pixar designer designs an immersive children's book for the iPad. Wonderful.

4. A quick history of the BBC and Social Media -  Jem Stone summarises the story of BBC and Social media from Family Favourites, Swap Shop and the Radio 1 Club right up to the current day. Great reading.

5. The Walkman and the origins of cyberspace - As Russell points out Desert Island Discs has an incredible archive, with nuggets of brilliance hiding behind every palm tree. Here William Gibson talks about his vision of cyberspace springing from his experience of the Walkman

Creativity is...

1. Combining

2. Stealing

3. Re-contextualising

5 Things I Liked This Week - 01/07/11

1. Jesse Schell on games and education - The brilliant Jesse Schell talks a lot of sense about the value of games in education, games that listen and virtual currency. Excellent stuff. 

2. 7 Platforms changing the future of publishing - This is publishing's punk rock era. These are exciting for new writers. A fantastic resource list curated list by Maria.

3. Mel Exon on positivity and cynicism - Great blog from Mel looking at the value of positivity and the perils of cynicism in the creative process.

4. The 5 Rs of 21st Century Content Curation - Great tips for anyone in the curation business.

5. Wilderness Downtown: Ad or Art - Interesting discussion on whether the WIlderness Downtown video should have been eligible to compete for the Lion at Cannes. I particularly like the comments that it was 'unfairly cool'.