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- April 24, 2006
Big Power, Tiny Engine
April 24, 2006Read moreVia Leftlane News, which is quickly becoming my favorite source for automotive news: Angel Lab’s Massive Yet Tiny engine looks like an ingenious refactoring of the internal combustion engine. I saw the short video clip and almost fell out of my chair when I saw what they did, with a power-to-weight ratio 40x greater than existing designs. AWESOME!
- April 24, 2006
Flash Tools: MTASC Notes
April 24, 2006Read moreBen Jackson has been telling me to switch to alternative Flash Actionscript tools like MTASC, but I’ve been resistant. Today, however, I’ve gotten a little fed up with the sluggishness of the built-in Flash 8 compiler. The tradeoff: I like the Flash IDE, because it’s comfortable and I like editing graphics within the environment. Plus, since I’m working on a PC, the experience doesn’t have the tradition of sucking as it has on the poor Mac platform (though this has since been fixed in Flash 8…yay!)
Anyway, MTASC is much faster and more robust, but it is a command line tool with a different workflow compared to the Flash IDE. Time to do some research!
Warning: geeky notes follow, covering what it took to convert from Flash IDE to MTASC-friendliness. Ben already has a Mac writeup, so I’ll be focusing only on Windows.
- April 23, 2006
Island Music
April 23, 2006Read moreI recently stumbled upon this rearrangement of a familiar song, performed by Eduardo Gouveia. If you remember where it comes from and gasp, we should be friends :-)
- April 23, 2006
Discussion Forum News
April 23, 2006Read moreThe discussion forum continues to grow…whew! Right now, I’d call it something of a self-empowerment strategies discussion group, which is very cool. We have a few more public background stories available in the guest area; you’ll have to join in to participate in the braoder discussion. It’s been a fascinating blend of personal stories mixed with project and career ideas; the analogy that comes to mind is that it’s like a raw version of Po Bronson’s book What Should I Do With My Life, with a little bit of Gig : Americans Talk About Their Jobs. One happy difference from that book; this is an international crowd.
Some of the topics from the past week:
- 60-second Pitches — I’m trying to figure out how to do them, and am posting them publically for all to heckle. I’ve never really gotten it smooth, but trying it in the context with a bunch of people who have to deal with the same issues (or imagining that) has been nice.
Identifying Your Benefits for Others, So They Can Connect With You — The question on my mind lately. It’s related a bit to marketing, but also toward making connections in general that produce useful collaboration. It’s marketing in the sense that you have to know what your benefits are, and how to portray them to someone else so they “get it”. Remarkably hard.
Creating a Revenue Stream Based on Writing — Also on my mind, with great perspectives from other people. It might just help to talk about this stuff in general.
The University — I decided to make this private again, but I’m starting to post the groundwork for various “how do I do” topics of current interest. Right now I’m looking at actionscript and rich internet application development, seriously considering Flex or OpenLaszlo. There are tons of things I want to look into, but I’m very irked at the lack of clear documentation and workflow examples. So I might as well research my own.
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p>There’s been a lot of interesting discussion in the Background stories areas too as we get to know each other. I personally am finding it inspiring and thought-provoking, hopefully others are feeling the same way.
More next week!
- April 20, 2006
Storytelling versus Co-creation of Story
April 20, 2006Read moreA friend of mine just told me about Ron Walter, Branded Entertainment Storyteller. He works for Conductor, an agency that calls itself a “brand storytelling” company:
“We believe in the power that stories have in making meaningful and lasting connections. We think of consumers as an audience, and audiences are loyal if you continue to surprise and delight them. And as we like to say, ‘Would you rather hear a sales pitch or listen to a story?’”
Part of me recoils in horror because I automatically distrust advertising. However, I have to stop and reflect about what’s so different about this and what it is I’m trying to define with “Storytelling by Design”. That phrase still doesn’t quite ring right to me, either. Gah!
Thinking about this a bit, it again comes down to purpose: I want to use storytelling as a method of engagement with a process, not so much as a “marketing approach”. Admittedly, there is a customer service angle as well; my theory is that if people feel engaged in the creation of a story with someone they enjoy interacting with, everyone will be happier and the work will kick ass.
Having said that, I’m looking for a process that emphasizes the co-creation of the story in a real-life, productive context. It’s not so much storytelling itself that is the point, though it provides a reference for creating a good experience. I’m also reminded of dungeon mastering and video game design, which are two of my influences, and the importance of being a “good host” at a dinner party.
