VW BlueMotion Rulette

Jovoto

New Potential Through User Generated Content, Crowd Sourcing and Open Innovation

Michele Gauler's notes from 4th Creative Morning

A morning highlighting the opportunities and threats that lie in crowd sourcing, crowd funding, collective intelligence and such wonderful things. Read and watch the whole story at Fontblog.

Weavrs

(Pr) David Bausola from Protein® on Vimeo.

Doodem

Facebook connected video has been around for a while now but the guys and galls in Doodem are starting to weave this together off-line into a mind-staggering transmedia story.

The teaser is pretty funny too...

Marcin Jakubowski: Open-sourced blueprints for civilization

Adam Curtis: Das Internets

Adam Curtis on how the internet enables more complex and ambiguous form of storytelling; why Facebook is a Victorian reinvention of public self and how the web is driving cultural homogenization.

An Open Letter

Micro-Volunteering

Secret superheroes: a new internet trend for you
by Clare Cunningham

Doing good in your underpants is no longer the prerogative of super heroes thanks to a new trend dubbed 'micro volunteering'. Increasingly charities, non-profit organizations and social enterprises are utilizing social networks and online platforms to increase awareness of their causes and sign more people up to their campaigns. Micro volunteering takes this engagement to the next level by enabling them to complete real, and much-needed, tasks by volunteering remotely. In multiple studies, most people indicate a strong interest in performing some sort of community service. However most do not volunteer because they do not have the time. With the working week creeping up in hours and family life becoming more complex and it is hard to find the time and energy to volunteer. Micro-volunteering however, provides opportunities to commit to small amounts of voluntary work that can be done from home or on your phone.

The concept is simple - micro volunteering turns 'down-time' spent on the web into meaningful engagement with charitable organizations or social enterprises. Collectively we spend millions of hours on Facebook and billions of hours on YouTube every single day. Micro volunteering aims to convert some of that time into volunteering time. Organizations post up tasks or 'challenges', which anyone can sign up to and then complete remotely. Tasks typically can be done in ten minutes to half an hour. Volunteering challenges might range from tagging photos to translating a document to writing a letter to a sick child.

Currently there is a small, but significant, number of websites offering micro-volunteering opportunities. Help From Home is a British-based sight which encourages you to "change the world in just your pyjamas". Volunteers can choose "actions" from three categories "do good", "green" and "advocacy". There is also a category for "random easy actions" broken down into timeslots of under a minute, under five minutes, under ten minutes, under twenty minutes and under thirty minutes. The Extraordinaires is an American micro-volunteering website that, although just out of its beta stage, has already completed over 300,000 tasks for more than 200 organizations and secured funding of over $1m. This social enterprise additionally provides software to charities and non-profits to help them make use of micro volunteering on their organisation's own website. Even celebrities are getting involved with leveraging "the Crowd" for charitable efforts. In May this year Edward Norton, star of The Illusionist and Fight Club,launched Crowdrise, a social media sight for doing good. People can sign up and launch their own fundraising campaign or join other people's "Project team" and help them raise funds. Crowdrise uniquely offers participants incentives in the form of points and prizes. They have the candidly straightforward motto of "If you don't give back, no one will like you".

The benefits of micro volunteering are multiform. Micro volunteering can be conducted anywhere at any time, providing the kind of flexibility that traditional volunteering cannot offer. Micro volunteering is a good way for those who are shy and uncomfortable with a group of strangers to get involved with voluntary work and perhaps give them the confidence to do other volunteering. There is huge diversity in the type of micro-actions that can be performed and so it is expansive in its scope. This means you're not limited to local organizations and activities. People who are not otherwise able to engage in volunteer activities, such as those with disabilities or those who are housebound, can do micro volunteering. Consequently micro volunteering draws from a larger pool of people. Remote volunteering equals less management time by the staff of the organizations involved, making their working time more productive. The concept can also generate income as a social enterprise in itself through the selling of the software or advertising space. Micro volunteering, perhaps most importantly, fits in well with the younger generation who embrace the internet in all its forms. There is also much more of an emphasis on volunteering being enjoyable rather than some sort of chore. Crowdrise states that experience should be "at least as fun as French kissing someone for the first time". That is pretty much enough for me. This is one stay at home superhero that will be checking in for duty!

Facepark

Availabot

Tate Movie

Tate and Legacy Trust UK announce today the first ever Tate movie. Tate is collaborating with Aardman, the animation company behind Wallace and Gromit, and Fallon, the creative agency that originated the concept. The Tate Movie will be the first of its kind – an animation film made by and for children across the UK.

Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity established to support a wide range of innovative cultural activities which celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has committed £3m to this project.

Showcasing the vivid imaginations of kids, The Tate Movie project will use great artworks to inspire 5-11 year olds nationwide to contribute their ideas to an animated movie. Primary-school aged children will create every aspect of the film, from the hand-drawn characters and plot twists, down to costumes and comic sound effects. Tate and Aardman will run production workshops around the country. Children will also be able to contribute their ideas on an interactive website. The vast bank of material will be brought together by Tate and Aardman in the most impressive way possible using the latest animation technology.

From conception to completion, Tate will work in partnership with a national network of museums and galleries, teachers and children’s services, to offer as many children of all abilities and from all backgrounds the chance to showcase their creativity on this high-profile platform. Tate and Aardman will provide the creative and practical tools for kids to engage with great art from the Tate collections and share their vision with the world.

Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate, said: “This is a uniquely ambitious national project and I am delighted that Legacy Trust UK is supporting it. Over the next two years we will collaborate with the best creative minds, professional and children’s, on an unprecedented scale. Every child in Britain can be involved in The Tate Movie and we will help them to draw on their imaginations, lives and communities whilst developing their visual literacy, and inspiring the artists of the future.”

Dugald Mackie, Chair of Legacy Trust UK said: “Legacy Trust UK is delighted to announce Tate as our preferred partner for our national programme aimed at primary-school-aged children. We are keen to enable children to participate in the London 2012 experience by taking part in new creative opportunities, and The Tate Movie project will play a key role in building a sense of enthusiasm and relevance of the 2012 Games for the young participants.

The Olympics are not just about sport, and The Tate Movie project can help not only to engage children in cultural and creative activities in the run up to London 2012, but also to give creative professionals the opportunity to play an important role in placing the UK on the world map as a cultural leader.”

Dave Sproxton, Co-Founder and Chairman, Aardman Animations said: “In this age of the creative economy where ideas are the driving force, discovering and nurturing creative ideas in children is of vital importance. This project will encourage school children to design characters and backgrounds, record sounds and voices and contribute individually to this exciting prospect. We want children to be involved at every level and believe that the spontaneity and creativity of the children combined with our professional film making team will create a film that is as inspiring as it is entertaining.”

Katrien De Bauw, Group Account Director, Fallon said: “We are delighted to work with Tate and Aardman to see this concept come to life. It is a pioneering and future-facing project that will allow every child in the UK the chance to participate and show their creativity.”