The Future Store – Work in Progress

The idea, concept and image of the future store did not escape my mind. Early this morning, I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when Irja walked in.  She had a concerned look on her face.

“What are you going to speak about at  the conference?” she asked.

I found it hard to give a concentrated answer. “I’m still working with the presentation but I’ve a few things on my mind: the future store,  microworks, the innovation train, iTraining and iTrading.

Irja seemed satisfied with that. “Okay, sounds great, you have an idea, but don’t make it to theoretical.”

She certainly had a point. I have the habit to get overly theoretical or philosophical. Get back, down to earth, I said to myself.

"Are you expecting for something that I don’t understand?"  I asked and continued to motion my mind into a grey zone I’d not discovered before our breakfast discussion.

Obviously, I needed to learn more about. Nevertheless, my presentation wasn’t as clear as I first imagined. But I could now see the whole picture much better than ever before.

Yesterday, the time I parked my car in the driveway and entered our home, Irja was even more curious.

"What is the new thing you have on your mind?" Irja asked. There was surprise and shock in her voice.

"What do you mean?" I stammered.

"So what do you have to make a break-through?"

“Irja, I might conduct a digital tour around the facilities: someone  could be amazed and others bored. Need to find the pitch about the facilities and of our futuristic ideas," I grinned.

Her eyes showed surprise. For a moment, I thought she was going to begin challenging me again, but then, I saw that she was just having a good time analyzing the string of new ideas surfacing during our discussion.

“We certainly have some very important matters to discuss. The future store isn’t a technical thing, it’s not about futuristic logistics, the focus is on shoppers experiences and service. Some people want to do their shopping with high-speed and efficiency.”

“We’re going to figure it out!” I thought.

TV compared with social networks

Website Owner Zone

Website Owner Zone: "Free Social Network for people that have a website, blog, forum or anything else they would like to share...."

I might consider to become a member of this social media network. Learned about it through Twitter.

Web 2.0 Marketing -- Opening the World for the Small Business

"Though several large web based companies have successfully adopted web 2.0 marketing strategies, small businesses have been less adept at implementing these technologies," says Frank Klein, CIO, Relativity.

Moreover, small businesses are still at early beginning when it comes to effective use of social media.

There are millions to be made with this new media, but it takes time to learn the tricks and technologies available. Even though the tools are easy to use compared to those of web 1.0.

Social Intelligenc and IST 2006 Helsinki

There was a reason for me to write about Social Intelligence at the IST 2006 Helsinki event. We spoke a lot about open innovation and co-creation. There were hopes about new projects within the Fp7 framework. Lots of emails were exchanged, projects were prepared, the idea was to promote advances of micro companies. But we just got started.

However, this has been doing and learning. A lot has changed in 1½ year. Flickr, Google Apps, Web 2.0, Social Media, Facebook, Twitter, Jaiku, Ning, you name it. Collaboration on a global scale is easier than ever, but we are still in Europe very restricted to projects within national borders.

The languages are differentiating and separating us. Culture is also imposing barriers to collaboration. Evolution is slower than expected and anticipated. But we got started, we learned to know new people, and the process can continue at any time.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Social Intelligence

Blogs | Chris Hambly

Blogs | Chris Hambly: "Social Media Is Not The Holy Grail. Posted March 28th, 2008 by chrishambly in

It's an interesting title but if you are working on the Internet, and have had your entry point from a social media frame of reference, you are not doing yourself any favors (USA spelling there) unless you consider that to be only ONE tool in your tool box.

To give you an example of that I have pasted in here a list of areas (I grabbed this from InternetWorld, see you there?) that you should probably give just as much time to as your social media campaign, if not you are missing the bigger picture of web marketing.

Some items in the list might not be marketing per se, yet they are related."

Helge: Read more on Chris Hambly's blog...

Selling over Internet

New ways of selling

It's not that hard to imagine what meaning the long term has to a designer in Finland creating a video podcast so that a buyer in Paris can download it on his iPod.

Helge: I wrote this original post December 29, 2005 in Sotkamo. It was the year we made some very important decisions concerning Jatahovi.

The greatest challenge facing makers of arts, craft and luxury goods, after new technology, is the loss of textile and apparel manufacturing jobs in Europe . It has made clothes still produced here very expensive.

Helge: We had the same development in the 90's. Now Finland is facing the fact that traditional pulp and paper is becoming vulnerable. It's all about innovation or die!

But the real reason for a growing concern is that still only a small part of designers, arts, crafts and fashion people are not participating in the technology revolution. But some do, others don't.

Helge: I'm clearly referring to the Design & Craft Fro-project. This project started at this time an we had to think how to build customer relationships and how to improve internal project management.

They are outside the medium rather than inside it. The discouraging thing about watching models flip down the runway is that it doesn't allow you to look at and think about fashion in a new way.

Helge: We discussed the use of video. YouTube was in its infancy at this time.

It's the same aesthetic trip, and the Web has widened our emotional and aesthetic expectations.

Helge: Today I write about how to use Social Media to build Customer Relationships. The social aspect of communication is becoming increasingly important. Selling isn't a one way story telling anymore. It's all about establishing a dialog with users, clients, partners, and potential prospects.

Blogging the BRITE Conference « American Shelf Life

Blogging the BRITE Conference « American Shelf Life: "If you’re interested in attending, Francois has offered American Shelf Life readers a discount on the registration fee. Drop a comment here and I’ll email you with the discount code.

Here is more information on the conference:

“BRITE ’08 will bring together big thinkers from business, technology, media, and marketing to discuss how technology and innovation are transforming the ways that companies build and sustain great brands. Topics include:

1. social networks,
   
2. user-generated content,
   
3. viral campaigns,
   
4. B2B branding,
   
5. driving innovation inside and outside the organization,
   
6. ROI for online marketing,
   
7. TV 2.0,
   
8. online content platforms,
9. brands that thought big in 2007

Josh Bancroft

Helge: I've made it my business to blog about some of the US West Coast and Silicon Valley people that I've learned to know in Twitterland. I don't know them in person but their faces are familiar. I learn more about their work and missions from other bloggers. I'm able to follow what happens on the other side of the globe through Twitter, blogs and social media platforms.

Josh Bancroft

jabancroft@gmail.com
Cell: 503-334-1889

My Job: Social Media Evangelist for Intel Software Network

• His blog http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com/
• Josh Bancroft was twittering about Gnomedex

My Gnomedex coverage is going to be mostly in my Twitter stream

Published by Josh Bancrof | August 10, 2007

I’ve got my laptop set up, so I’m not relying strictly on my iPhone (like OSCON), but I plan on posting “microupdates” and photos as Gnomedex progresses, with longer full blog posts as warranted.

So, if you’re wanting to follow my updates at Gnomedex, make sure to follow me on Twitter, or head over to joshbancroft.com, where all of my microposts and photos are aggregated. Let the geeking begin!

Helge: The idea of using Twitter to cover a seminar or expo is a good idea. The essentials will be revealed. People can follow the twitters online and comment, send questions. It's like chatting. I've thought about the possibility have a small group twittering about Global Open Innovation and Co-creating, or it could be a specific project.

Rex Hammock’s weblog » Blog Archive » Happy Birthday, Doc

The blogging culture isn't very old. I did start early. Blogging is still a minority hobby in Finland and those who use Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook and other Web 2.0 and social media tools is even smaller. The short form SMS twitters and jaikus are a great way to communicate with the world. Podcasts are very useful but take more time to produce.


rexblog.com: Rex Hammock’s weblog » Blog Archive » Happy Birthday, Doc: "The first time I ever heard the word, “weblog,” it was from Doc Searls. And the first time I ever heard the word, “podcast” it was from Doc Searls (on September 28, 2004 — I blogged about it the next day).

I am a big fan of Doc’s and the things he says. Heck, I’ve listened to and internalized so much of what he’s said, I’m sure a lot of what I write here is merely channeling Docisms.

Doc also taught me to look out of the window when I fly. Because he takes incredible photographs out of the windows of airplanes, I look forward to his travels because — in “where’s Waldo fashion” — I can’t wait to see what geologic formation or natural phenomena he’ll record: I can recall photos of mud-slides, forest fires and, just recently, an awesome display of the Aurora Borealis.

I think Doc Searls sees lots of things the rest of us don’t because he looks while others don’t think to. His depth of curiosity is, fortunately, balanced by his gift for analysis and the ability to write in such a way as to convey perceptive — sometimes even radical — ideas in a provocative (but respectful and professional), non-technical and entertaining fashion"

Social Media