Author Archive for Shane Smith

South African Watchdog Group Wants Violent Games & Music Taken Off Shelves

Published by Shane Smith on August 27, 2008 in Intellectual Capital, Social Media and Sustainability. 0 Comments

Hot off this newspress today, we had an interesting distribution snub in the entertainment industry!

The IO reports that Cape Town-based watchdog group the Family Policy Institute has petitioned South Africa’s government to recall all music containing violent lyrics and all video games with violent content. FPI spokesman Errol Naidoo made the request, expressing the group’s concerns over potential negative influences on young people. The move comes in the wake of the samurai sword killing of a 16-year-old by a schoolmate who allegedly dressed himself like Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison. (See image below)


Preferring not to wait for any type of inquiry, Naidoo requested the recall of the games and CDs ”pending the outcome of the investigation”. Naidoo cited the case of two US teens who were convicted of murder in 2003 after stabbing a friend 20 times and slitting his throat after listening to Slipknot’s song “Disasterpiece”. He also cited the case of Bangkok teenager Polwat Chinno who had killed a taxi driver by punching and stabbing him after playing the computer game Grand Theft Auto. “Police believe he was acting out a scene in the violent video game,” Naidoo said.

There was no guarantee that removing violent music and games would prevent violent behavior, but that it would “provide added peace of mind for families”.

I need not take the fun away by showing everyone how much of a stuff up marring this is for many parties involved. Some may agree that these rash decisions are good moves for the industry - those that are in a settled space in life or that have families? Whatever it be - it seems Naidoo has taken a conservative (or paranoid) step by ensuring that an expensive scapegoat was quickly found as to hush the SAWG knocking on his door? This probably won’t affect me much (or anyone on Huddlemind?), as his isn’t even the kind of music I listen to often (as a classical guitarist). Though even I know to throw stereotypes at these micro-cultures as to cynically disrespect and boycott them. Naturally, the problem is perception. And ignorance? We all know the cognitive and attitude differences between age gaps make for many misunderstandings and misinterpretations of trend and tact, hmmm? This dribbles my mind a bit on a SL article I’m compiling in the background - stay tuned, as these generation disjointments present themselves elsewhere too.

Now there’s gaming (and music) politics for you :)
{ Insert moral discussion here }

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Libraries step into the age of iPod

Published by Shane Smith on August 16, 2008 in Collaboration, Mobile Education and eLearning tools. 0 Comments

Libraries step into the age of iPod (Reuters)

Exciting new developments, I see!
Library 2.0 and technology-information hybridisation is here.
The transformation between the old and new information system types over the years has been a shaky one, to say the least. Many have feared the coming of absolute erosion of old media from the face of the earth. I, myself, have dug in heels while watching the conventional academic hierarchy and information overhauls take place with resounding connotations. My mother, who manages the at Knowledge Commons Research Lab at UCT, sometimes finds herself on the receiving end of snide commentary from the academic purists around her. Though this Lab incorporates online peer-reviewed resource databases with everyday online research and makes it available to the undergraduates at UCT, the stigma surrounding the ease of technology blindly prevails. Its hybrid functionality is the logical progression of technology and academia, but doesn’t receive great support from all. The emotional climate around it is much like the way that some architects frown down on draftsmen (not that the KC lab is an underdog in this situation, in light of its successes), even though the functions are maintained through and through. From this, the receptiveness to this electronic library resource may have mixed welcomes. The success of this installment will depend on how its managed and presented (and of course the participation of the libraries/authors/publishers…Creative Commons! Dave, this is where you step in)

Depending on the library and title, the item remains on your computer for one to three weeks before disappearing, meaning you don’t have to bother with returning a book, CD or DVD to the actual library.

Already, I’m not sure how this can be a good way of kicking off a great idea. Why incorporate online academia with open-source style interactive technology by limiting an unlimited resource? The idea behind returning books was to let other people also have the opportunity of renting out the books (as it was a limited resource) and to keep tabs on the library’s assets. In the same way that some users would use the library more often that others, is the above quoted a good idea? The rental on the information alone is logical enough. The rest is just copy-pasted anyway? Hmmm.

I have a feeling that the innovators behind this idea have medium-sized $$ pictures drawn on their eyes, from the forward way they promote this idea. I fear the tool would be a device for skimming profits from educational institutions rather than penetrate the masses of ”illiterates” around the world. This is, of course, wild speculation at this point; I think the idea can completely revolutionise the way we work with information for the better, but is liable to a self-collapse.

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Newsflash

Published by Shane Smith on July 30, 2008 in Attention Economics, Events and Social Media. 0 Comments

Netcom, PCCW networks are go for Olympics bandwidth

The secret Games

For those pondering about the Games, I have two see-saw contrasting articles for you. The Chinese are throwing large sums of money at infrastructure and propaganda, for which doesn’t seem to fully permeate to the public.

Is this a marketing error or just a softened trend of an apathetic crowd? By strict definition, I guess it is in fact a marketing error (as they failed to follow trend and adjust accordingly?).

No matter - my point lies elsewhere. Once again, excuse my crass nature and jaded outlook. From reading up on the intricacies of the Olympics, I was reminded of something much closer to home - which is of course the whole soccer saga. We all have an idea of how much money is being thrown at the event to make it happen, for which many speculate that it’s going to be major flop. We already have the ever-dull-and-humour-lacking Panarrotis adverts (with other food joints too), shoe companies, radios and good ol’ Coke fetching the idea already…it’s much like Christmas advertisements creeping onto our tubes in September, but on a far more extreme level. I think the marketers are to blame for raping the event by catching the wave too early; lack of tact has never been so vulgar.

Hype.
Who defines hype? What is its key input function? Where are the parameters for’t and how large is its domain? If advertisers aren’t asking themselves these questions every time they dream up something, I sure hope they’d learn to quite soon. Is it possible that Panarrotis (attack number two, muhahaha. I’m really sorry Panarrotis, but you’re the only ones that come to mind at the time of writing this) actually think that they churn out good adverts to the same high advertising standard that we’re used to in South Africa? Maybe I’m the wrong person to ask, as I’m sure these have a prevenient success attached to it amongst other target audiences.
About to push the Olympic Games and the World Cup aside (and all peripheries), I think that there are many lessons to be learned. Is the amount of money you throw at something always proportional to the results? How many of you become discouraged by a bad advertising effort (be it marginal/singular or spam-flood) rather than maintain neutrality? Do all advertisers help with the overall success of an event?

I think we need a revolution of sorts, more companies dishing out awesome adverts per quantity to raise the bar.
The inputs are abundant and my attention (and patience) is scarce - surprise me!

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Is Stoooooopidity Going to be Gooooooogle’s Legacy?

Published by Shane Smith on July 24, 2008 in Attention Economics. 5 Comments

To start off my Journey on the Huddlemind Express, I bring you folks this gem of an article (in case you missed it) from the Sunday Times :
Stoooopid … why the Google generation isn’t as smart as it thinks

And for those in the mood for some extra reading, this great Nicholas Carr piece to compliment:
Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Excuse these blatant attacks on our beloved Google, but it really does fall in the sights of a convenient scapegoat/epitomisation of the pitfalls of our new ”attention economy”. The internet revolution broke huge barriers in allowing us to conquer the ivory towers that once restricted us from unleashing our potential; the internet brings us the world to our fingertips, but that in turn leaves our fingertips resting on the world. How many of you were able to read the above articles properly - absorbing the concepts and savouring the prose? Do we have a habit of reading the book, or watching the cheesed Hollywood rendition? Academics find themselves struggling to keep up with the saturation of irrelevant and unmoderated content on the net today and I fear that digesting the digested into digestible chunks is detrimental not only to holding up the proud gates of truth and logic, but (as expressed in the articles above) more so our way of thinking and functioning in everyday life.

”Distraction is the opposite of attention”. Can we still say that our lives are (now) fully optimised in light of technology advances around us? We are like seagulls, jack of all trades and the masters of none, skimming and swooping at bite-sized chunks of data : the days of eloquence, penetration and understanding are being replaced with poorly crafted user generated content of zero veracity.

Amazing, we can emailsmsmakeaphonecalldraftaletterdrinkourcoffee all at the same time!

I’m going to stop myself right there and end my rant prematurely. Do excuse if I come across as bitter or cynical, but I do like to nitpick at polar extremes to expose points as crassly as possible. As industry professionals, field experts and academics alike, I’m certain that you are all open to my message without me even having to garrulously chant it to you - and thus you walk away with a caustic lesson/articled thought to carry with you. The planets know their place, but information does not. Moderation starts with the indivual : the internet is serious business and it’s ‘’success” is up to how we handle it from here on out.

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