innovativeedge

Mood Board for HACER Website Development

2009-03-04T11:31:00.001-08:00

We kicked off our visual design phase of the HACER Website Development project last night with a little mood board. Fun!

12 Creative and Critical Ski Boot Options

2009-03-02T18:44:00.001-08:00

This is an exercise I did for my ski boot project. Come up with 6 Critical and 6 Wild and Creative options for a product/object. I chose to continue research and development of my ski boot project. Our in class critique today brought me to some interesting conclusions that have helped further my overall development of the project. I am quite please!

Calendar Design

2009-03-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a calendar design that I've developed for a website project that I am managing. The idea is to cleanly separate things that you are doing for the week and will happen on the due date with the things that you will complete as a result for the following week. In then end you should also be able to visualize the complete development of the project throughout it's duration.

Fun social design project

2009-02-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

Create your band name & album cover!

This is a fun/quick one. Here’s what you do:

1 - Go to Wikipedia’s “random” page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page’s "random quotations":
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click “explore last seven days”
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it together.

5 - Share with your friends! Put it on Facebook or Flickr

Ski Boots Are HELL

2009-02-25T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a study I did a couple of weeks ago as an expansion of my Ski Boot ideas into the usability of ski boots.

Ben Kweller @ the Varsity

2009-02-20T08:40:00.001-08:00

Check out my review of Ben Kweller at the Varsity Theatre Tuesday night on Perfect Porridge!

http://www.perfectporridge.com/2009/02/20/ben-kweller-varsity-theater-minneapolis-mn-february-17-2009/

Pro prototyping

2009-02-11T12:31:00.001-08:00

Simple, but effective prototyping technique from Google.

Reading for Ideas Journal

2009-02-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

The fact that light can only travel so fast proves the existence of time! The thought of putting a sign on a planet that is then seen 100 million years later because it takes that long for the light to reach that place... I think that proves time right? However, how fast is the universe expanding? Does it expand faster than the speed of light at some point? Is there a relative curve that speed operates on? Is it linear or exponential?

Lykke Li @ Varsity Theatre

2009-02-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

Check out my review of Lykke Li at the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis last night on Perfect Porridge.

http://www.perfectporridge.com/2009/02/09/lykke-li-varsity-theater-minneapolis-mn-february-8-2009/

Mood Boards Today!

2009-02-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

In Creative & Critical Thinking this morning our class developed mood boards and brainstormed ideas for a "secret" client. They rightly are to remain secret since they are starting a business with unique ideas. I was super excited to help them with their ideation! This is the kind of thing I want to do for a living - Consult with small innovative businesses about new ways to approach their products or services.

Revision no.2

2009-02-07T20:49:00.001-08:00

After some research for my Human Factors that I will post soon, I've made a new revision to my Ski Boot design. Hopefully I will have a prototype and a full concept idea by the end of the semester.

Reading for Ideas Journal

2009-02-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

In my Reading for Ideas class we will be required to record approximately two journal entries per week. I like blogs, pictures, vidoes, links etc. and I do most of my quantitative research online, so I think it will be appropriate to record these journal entries here to be tagged as "readingforideas" so that they can be referenced together at a later date.

These journal entries will consist of thoughts provoked by our readings in class and how it might apply to our personal/professional work.

We are currently reading from Italo Calvino's "Cosmicomics"

Here's to more future documentation of my mental process! Let's figure this out!

Gundam 00 Season 2 Episode 17

2009-02-01T18:26:00.001-08:00

Watch Gundam 00 S2 17 RAW in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Rarg

2009-02-01T17:11:00.001-08:00

Super overwhelmed lately. Too many classes, too many assignments, and too many engagements. I love a busy lifestyle, but I'm not totally an all-over-the-map kind of guy. I like some continuity, but that will be my challenge this semester. That's my opportunity of peril. These 18 credits are not going to be the death of me. I will make them work for me. I'm going to try my absolute hardest to make everything flow together into a grand symphony of MCAD Portfolio Progression!

RESOLVE

That's what it's gonna take.

Lykke Li is my hero lately -->

Breaking it up – alternative live video. Filmed by: Christian Haag from Lykke Li on Vimeo.

In other news, I went to Afton Alps yesterday and took advantage of the beautiful 40F weather. It was a glorious thing. Afton is surprisingly big, and for having such a small vertical drop (350ft.) they have a surprisingly good terrain park(s). I was surprised to find at least 6 individual park sections including some prime jumps maxing out at around 35ft. Needless to say it was good to spend some time with my feet off the ground. There was a photographer present as I sailed over the last big jump and I hope to see a picture pop up somewhere on the internet soon!

Next on this list --- I had a massage this morning! First time evAr! It was wonderful. Vanilla oil is great. I want to go back. The measly 25 minutes that I could afford was not enough. I want 120 minutes with hot rocks on my back! However, Sanctuary Spa was kind enough to give me a ticket for a free hair cut on my next visit. Thanks guys! I'll be back!

Music

2009-01-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

I miss playing music. I want to confess right now that I haven't been playing guitar at all since the beginning of this past summer. I mean, I've picked it up a few times, but nothing serious. It's so strange, because something that is so much a part of me as a person has sort of dissipated into some unknown corner of the world and left me alone. A much less emotional person.

I was never the best guitar player or singer by any stretch of the imagination. I was good enough that I could write and perform my own music with a small level of competence. The point was how it felt. Jamming out with friends or screaming sorrow at the top of my lungs felt so good. Especially performing it live in the midst of the situation you are expressing. Genuine emotion. It's deep.

I feel a longing for my heart to just cry out like that. I remember the feeling. It's so pure. Not necessarily in sorrow. Just to pour out all the good and bad. Like the deepest despair or screaming heavenly joys from the top of a mountain.

I'll figure it out. I need to reinvent my musical self. Even listening to music has less feeling for me because I don't create my own. It's sad.

I will change.

Lykke Li

2009-01-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

Piercing gaze, hints of reggae, interesting face, strong voice.

She's also an olympic gymnast. But seriously. She's good, and this song is amazing.

This is what I want to do with my life....

2009-01-24T19:36:00.001-08:00

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

The new DH

2009-01-13T21:49:00.001-08:00

I am going to redesign the DH ski boot. I swear. Look out Meyerhoffer!

Kanye West SNL Performance

2008-12-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

Kanye performed on SNL a couple days ago and here's the product. As WDIR mentions, the pinnochio deal at the end and break into the finale is power.

Ye is also really pusin the fashion with this one. Check out that jacket. It's like MJ leather jacket mixed with peacocks and inspiration from his spacey Glow in the Dark Tour outift.

Skinny jeans for everyone!

Daniel Merriweather Ft. Wale - Change

2008-12-21T07:02:00.001-08:00

Mozilla Presentation

2008-12-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

So, I hinted last week about my Mozilla presentation. Basically, I talked about Mozilla's history, how they innovate, and where I think they may go next. I illustrated how Mozilla innovated by involving the class in helping me create add-ons for my space ship just like developers create add-ons to enhance the capabilities of the Firefox browser.

Check out the pictures!

To continue from my hints last week: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies have been around for a while.

Visa uses both technologies in it's new Visa Wave technology that it is working to implement in it's cards. Nokia has created a phone called the 6121 Classic that is RFID and NFC capable, but both Visa and Nokia are going in the wrong direction. RFID and NFC are the right direction, but not with credit cards and personal information. People will not be quick to adopt carrying a cell phone loaded with bank and personal information.

However, people would be quick to adopt a phone that could interact with their environment and link them instantly to the best information about products and events around them.

This is where Mozilla comes in with Fennec. Fennec is Mozilla's prototype mobile browser that could one day be built with the purpose of ubiquitous computing using a RFID and NFC Capable phone.

If it were on an iPhone, it might look something like this:

You would wave you phone in front of a concert or event poster, the RFID tag on the poster would be a unique code or number that would identify with a server that could instantly feed your phone with information intended by the creator of the tag such as adding the event to your iCal, Tweeting to your friends about it, a map, or link to buy albums on the iTunes store.

If Mozilla can jump on an opportunity like this before Apple does by using building Fennec to intuitively incorporate these capabilities, they could be onto a whole new business model of royalties for each swipe and transfer of information from an RFID tag.

Think! The possibilities are endless!

For more information, any posts tagged "mozilla" or "mozconcept" will contain more process information on this presentation and idea.

Internet Exploder *Explorer SUCKS!

2008-12-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

How to make your own IE voodoo plush for those times when you just want to punch Windows.

Link to full post:
http://chisa.deviantart.com/art/tutorial-IE-voodoo-doll-65352093

Snow.

2008-12-07T10:24:00.001-08:00

The Colletive - Roam

2008-12-06T19:39:00.001-08:00

Here's a clip from The Collective's - Roam.

More Christmas Cheer

2008-12-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Baggu bags are eco bags for whatever you want. Shopping, groceries, or school books. This season, they've put a great new play on their bags by selling their bags as sustainable present wrapping solutions!

http://baggubag.com/wrapping/

Monday!

2008-12-05T16:27:00.001-08:00

What does this all mean...? Hmm, I wonder!

2008-12-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

You'll have to come to my presentation on Thursday for Innovation and Progress to find out about my new idea!

I'll give you a hint: *RFID

Lightweight Derailleur

2008-12-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Lightweight, known for their bicycle wheels, has now developed a no-holds-barred rear derailleur, that is 50g lighter than even the ever premier Campagnolo Super Record.

At $1,200, it's not cheap, but I bet it shifts supreme. I mean, look at those KCNC pulleys. I can only imagine that they are using ceramic bearings and that you would probably feel noticeably less drivetrain drag just because of that. I may be exaggerating a bit, but it is super cool.

The biggest problem with this derailleur is that it costs more than most people's bike. You would have to have one pretty posh bike in order to rock this jewel. But that's why you'd be buying this...

Red Romero and Gabriel Reed: The Majestic, Madison, WI, November 22nd, 2008

2008-12-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

I Reviewed Red Romero's CD Release show at the Majestic in Madison, WI last Saturday for Perfect Porridge! Check it -->

http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/11/26/red-romero-and-gabriel-reed-the-majestic-madison-wi-november-22nd-2008/

Midi Hero

2008-12-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to @jaffejuice I have come across another insane guitar hero variation. Check it -->

Ken Block - Gymkhana Practice

2008-11-21T21:22:00.000-08:00

Elephant Octopus!

2008-11-20T16:35:00.001-08:00

My friend Jamie Otto told me about this. It's an elephant octopus that lives at around 5 miles below the surface of the ocean!

SHSK'H

2008-11-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

The SHSK'H label was created in 2007 in New York by the musicians Jody Pou and Igor Ballereau with the purpose of promoting their work through exclusive recordings to be found on the site, shskh.com

- www.shskh.com

SHSK'H has one amazing website.

The single intro sound effect of the name is quite surprising, but not unwelcome. It's actually quite inviting and curious. I love how the albums are seemingly suspended by strings and are accented by the best online audio player I've ever seen. The audio player is a circle that tracks wave forms along it's radii when it plays. Amazing.

Please. Explore!

This is how Guitar Hero was meant to be played!

2008-11-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Whether this video is artificially viral as a creation of Activision or truly a pure fan video, it is really awesome!

I can't think of a crazier way to play Guitar Hero than on your bike!

Check out the flames and KISS at the end!

Let me tell you about some gnarly mountain biking

2008-11-18T22:40:00.001-08:00

Tada! So long sweet summer...

Now on to winter!

My Christmas List!

2008-11-18T12:16:00.001-08:00

Shopping can be hard. I'm going to try and make it easy.

Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know what YOU want for christmas!

Or, you can email me at cyclone221@gmail.com!

Things I'm into:
Biking
Snowboarding
Fashion / Clothing
The Apple Store

Where shop:
Wildside - Baraboo, WI
Context Clothing - Madison, WI or Online
www.competitivecyclist.com
www.pricepoint.com
www.burton.com
H&M - Mall of America or Chicago
Urban Outfitters - Malls/ Stores / Online

THE LIST:

1. Burton AK 2L CYCLIC Jacket - S - True Black
Price: ~$300
Where? Wildside Adventure Sports - Baraboo, WI
Or online @: http://store.burton.com/Burton_Snowboards_Jackets/Less_than_350/Mens/PRD_10600/AK+2L+Cyclic+Snowboard+Jacket.jsp?bmUID=1227040416740#

2. B.son Double Mock Fleece Pullover - S - Black
Price: $163
Where? Context Clothing - Madison, WI
Or online@: http://www.contextclothing.com/item.php?id=658

Hint: I LOVE hoodies! Especially the nice thick ones from H&M. S or XS for most anything clothing and the more long and fitted the better.

3. ASICS Split Second 7 Shoe - 8.5 - Grey/Black/Red
Price: $64
Where? http://zeta.zappos.com/product/7403319/color/2915
Hint: Zappos has free shipping and return shipping!

4. Nudie Swong Socks
Price: $25
Where? Context Clothing - Madison, WI
Or online@: http://www.contextclothing.com/item.php?id=595
Hint: I love everything in Context. You can't go wrong here.

5. H&M Gift Card
Where? H&M - Minneapolis, MN or Chicago, IL

6. Bike Repair Stand
Where? Wildside Adventure Sports - Baraboo, WI

Hint: The guys at Wildside will know what to get, but they might try to get you to buy a goofy hat...

Smartwool Sock!!!
Price: under $20
Where? Any local bike shop!

Anything Bike/Snowboard! Accessories w/e!
Bike Jerseys, shorts, socks, gloves
Snowboard gloves, ipod holder, hat, etc.

Hint: Again, just ask the guys at Wildside.

Thanks for looking!

Things to come...

2008-11-14T13:56:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a new portfolio website. It will be up soon! Check it -->

Hummer Disappointment

2008-11-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is an ad that was recently run by Hummer in National Geographic and it is terrible.

At the bottom, the ad details some amazing, secret, and secluded singletrack.

MTBR posted this in their blog along with a story about the author who actually went to search out this secret trail using the rough directions outlined in the ad.

Unfortunately, Hummer really dropped the ball on this one. There is no trail. The directions and picture were a complete FAKE! They missed out on a great opportunity to interact with their customers. They could have put directions to a real secret trail, or better yet, since there aren't really too many secret trials, they could have built their own trail! This could have been an extremely powerful way to connect with mountain bikers who could be potential customers!

If the trail was real, can you imagine the amount of buzz and press they would have gotten through online bike communities, bloggers, and big manufacturers?

They could have posted clues, made it a bit of a scavenger hunt to take pictures, interact with a website, and get some amazing exposure for their brand, but no. It was a complete farce.

Sorry Hummer, but until you start making cars that don't kill the planet - or at least create a marketing campaign to be competent in this new world of creative media - I've got to say; Hummer Sucks.

Here's a link to the MTBR article. Interesting story and lots of great pictures! I just feel bad that the guy wasn't pleasantly surprised by some rad renegade Hummer singletrack!

http://reviews.mtbr.com/blog/welcome-to-the-open-%E2%80%A6-a-myth-by-general-motors-exposed/

BePositive Collaboration

2008-11-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a little bit of thinking about how to spread the popularity of BePositive....

My first thought was that which Amanda, Brandon, and I had talked about a few weeks ago. Make a BePositive Facebook Group.

My second thought was: how could we collaborate with another group, band, etc. in way that would benefit both parties?

In order to do that, we'd first need another party. Brandon and I have talked about having a party or partnering with a band to do a show, but with our lack or nonexistence of funding at the moment, this is not likely to happen.

My next thought came when I created the BePositive Facebook group. In the little "Related Groups" box were our friends at Untitled and Unbridled.

Chase Misenheimer and Alex Crawford chat it up and play weekly selections of new indie music off of upcoming records, shows, and listeners requests. They really put on a worthwhile show.

You can subscribe to their podcast on iTunes, check out their Blog, MySpace, or join their Facebook Group.

At present, this is as far as my idea spans. Collaborate in some way with UandU to either just plug each other in some way or hopefully come up with something creative. We'll have to pow-wow on it.

Perfect Porridge

2008-11-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Update: Just got word that my article was quoted on Culture Bully.

Check it -->
http://www.culturebully.com/the-hub-wednesday-november-12-2008

Last night I did my first review of O'Death at 7th St. Entry for the Minneapolis, MN music blog Perfect Porridge.

Check it out after the jump

http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/11/11/odeath-drakkar-sauna-and-lucy-michelle-the-velvet-lapelles-7th-st-entry-minneapolis-mn-november-10th-2008/

More Mozilla Process

2008-11-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

In process towards my end presentation for my Progress & Innovation class I've been sketching some more ideas about Mozilla.

This first one is all about the current browser war and their progress towards the imminent "Web 3.0" like the world of Aurora and other next-gen internet internet ideas.

Internet Exploder is a bit behind and is due for some catch-up work. I doubt they'll be the next one to step up the bar. Safari is right up there and current, but browsers like Firefox, Flock, and Cruz have stepped it up in terms add-ons, features, and specialization. Chrome seems to have the best grip on the future with it's application integration and movement away from the static OS desktop. In addition, Apple has started to move into the new world of mobile phone applications with its App Store, which has opened up a lot of new opportunities for social and online marketing, but Google is not far behind with Android. Hopefully someone will open up a new paradigm of interconnected PC and mobile browsing and communication.

Here I've got some ideas about how pieces of this project will be fitting into my final presentation and how I can incorporate visual and physical elements.

This is what I'm thinking so far:

First will be a visual explanation of Mozilla's history and some basics on their innovation structure including the visualization that I posted a few weeks ago.

Second will be an activity where I present a mock project or idea under an Open Source Creative Commons License. It will be pretty bare bones, like a spaceship with no gadgets or a monster that has no eyes, tentacles, or scary features. Next, I will create a scenario for the monster or space ship. Some sort of adventure that will include some sort of obstacle that will require the monster or spaceship to have additional features to completely. Then, I will ask the class to make a quick drawing of some things that they would add to the monster or spaceship to improve it's performance in it's task. Finally, the additions that the class draws up will be added to the monster or spaceship and we can talk about how everyone contributed to the development of the monster or spaceship just like a Mozilla development community would contribute to Firefox or other Mozilla Labs projects.

In the last segment of my presentation, I will segue from the development of Mozilla Labs projects, into my ideas on any new innovations that Mozilla may introduce in the future. I have more to think on this, but I would like to come up with some sort of prototype or demo of my idea.

To summarize for class. So far I've included all of these element that we have studied in previous weeks:

Ideation
Sketching
Mapping
Storytelling
Group Activity
Play
Prototyping

So there you have it! More to come this week!

News flash!

2008-11-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

This just in. Senator John McCain, in a last ditch effort to gain some ground in the polls, has announced that if he is elected the next President of the United States, he will sponsor a free burrito day at Chipotle on Wednesday!

P.S.

If you want to design your own Chipotle burrito, go to the Burrito Generator!

My Chipotle Burrito:

Chipotle Fan.com

Oh really!?

2008-11-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Pepsi has released new packaging designs for their cans, bottles, etc. What can I say, they are less than exciting. The Mountain Dew bottle looks amazing, but the Pepsi bottles are quite uneventful. They are clean, yet that font just looks like Geo Sans Light or Lane Narrow...

Not to mention: the little Pepsi orb just looks like a comic word blurb or a goofy sail boat... or if you scroll down in the comments here you will see how goofy they've been with the MLB, NBA, and many others...

Tsk tsk Pepsi! What were you thinking!?

My Bucket List

2008-10-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Hank recently posted on BePositive about creating a "Bucket List" as a way to explore who you are as a person, your life goals, and possibly some sort of meaning to your earthly life. Here's my attempt at a Bucket List!

1. Married to just the right woman.
2. See the world. [I would feel so left out if I didn't, and I mean the WHOLE world.]
3. Own my own business and be successful.
4. Innovate in something I am passionate about.
5. Drive a Ferrari.
6. Complete a triathlon.
7. Have a child.
8. Compete in a mountain bike race.
9. Fly an airplane.
10. Learn a second language.

Visual Map of Mozilla Open Innovation Model

2008-10-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

If you remember the sketch that I posted a week or two ago, here is my first draft. I've shown it to a friend or two and emailed it to my professor as well, but just important, is what it means to you!

So, please! Tell me what you think. What I really need to know is what it means to you and if what I am trying to get across is clearly communicated. Thanks for looking!

Here is a link to download the full .pdf if you prefer to view it in High Res.
http://j.homes.mcad.edu/~jszymanski/images/Mozilla_VisualCommunityMap.pdf

New Kicks!

2008-10-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

Got a killer deal on these from Aldo today. Regular price = $150. Jake's price = $68. I was able to talk the salesperson down on the price because they were on sale online and not in the store. I also found a 15% off coupon for all online purchases, which can be found here -->

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/aldoshoes.com

People at the store were super nice and helpful, even though their shoes may be a little overpriced, but it just takes a little shopping around and a little Google know-how.

New Parts for the Paragon!

2008-10-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Paragon got some new parts last weekend!

FSA OS-99 Stem 90mm 6 degree rise. So long Bontrager Race X Lite and your crappy
sticker!!

WTB Rocket V Race Saddle

… and Crank Brothers Egg Beater SL Pedals. Not sure how I feel about these yet. I’m still working out the cleat setup, but I sure do come unclipped a lot when I don’t want to as compared to my previous Candy C’s… I have faith that I will be able to figure it out.

P.S.

2008-10-26T15:06:00.004-07:00

P.S.

I need this bike...

[Trek Remedy 9]

So I can do this...

Not to mention. This kid is nuts!

No Mega Ride... :(

2008-10-26T15:06:00.003-07:00

I’ve been looking forward to the MORC (Minnesota Offroad Cyclists) MEGA RIDE II that was scheduled today. The Mega Ride is a tour of the Twin Cities best single track totalling about 50 miles! However, to my dismay, last night at 12:30am it was cancelled.

I’m still not entirely sure why… Yesterday and for the past couple days of rain the weather for today looked unfavorable, but the trails had most of yesterday afternoon and all of last night to dry out. Rain was predicted for early early this morning, which is probably why it was canclled, but I really wish we could have somehow gone through with it.

Fortunately, I did get to ride today. I was grinding tooth and nail to ride. I wanted it so bad, but unfortunately, today was not my day. I just felt sluggish. It may have been my poorly nutritioned breakfast, but I just rode like crap. I started fast and would have spurts, but then I would also have spurts of terrible. I walked through a couple of the Expert sections that I would normally breeze through.

I think this section took a good bit of my big chainring hostage… I haven’t seen it since.

There is a group ride up at the Milaca trail system about an hour north of the cities, but the weather looks like snow tomorrow with temps in the low 30’s… I still haven’t decided if I’m hardcore enough for that. We will have to see!

I’ve also got to start taking pictures when I ride. My friend Jake Kuchta did a great job earlier this semester when we were out together, but I haven’t had any since. Here are couple from our September Adventure —>

Me on my brother’s 4500 beater machine equipped with SID Race Ti Fork… HAh!

Kuchta killin it in the air… cus he’s white…

2008-10-26T15:06:00.001-07:00

My poor Nudies are falling apart! There are now 5 holes in the butt, a hugely blown out crotch that is partially repaired, a hole in the ankle, and a broken belt loop! Good thing I’ve got my new Imperial Dukes!

2008-10-26T15:05:00.002-07:00

This is about I feel right now. School + School = No Food. I need a trip to the LundZOR!

Roller Coaster Life Study

2008-10-26T15:05:00.001-07:00

I’ve seen many people do these things where they make it a point to take a picture of themselves every day without fail. I tried this for a few day. Here are my days…

This is one way that people analyze their day-to-day lives. I’d like to take a new approach.

A Roller Coaster Life Study

Everyone’s life is a roller coaster, but I would like to visually plot mine as one. I am going to develop a chart system that will allow me to plot my mood in relation to my activities and order. For example, if I go mountain biking, and then take a nap; will I be happier for the rest of the day than if I made lunch immediately after I went biking.

Hopefully this makes some sense in text, but I will soon be posting my scibbles! Then, once my study has finished, I will post the tool for you to do your own!

Check back later today as I will be scanning my doodles after class!

Colour Game

2008-10-26T15:04:00.002-07:00

This is an interesting tool/test that my friend Nathan Dryden posted on BePositive.

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a 16! What is your score?

What’s cool is how closely it connects to my Visual Thinking class, in which we just finished a study of color/word associations through Shigenobu Kobayashi’s “Colorist.” This book maps words and colors to provide a very useful tool of presentation for those in visual arts.

I took screen shots of three different buildings from King Street in Madison, WI and made a pallete of four prominent colors from each facade.

We then took ideas about relating colors and words from Kobayashi and
integrated our color palette with Kobayashi’s word/color map.

This allowed us to gather word associations from the colors we acquired from our street. With these words and colors we then designed a very basic mach-up of a neighborhood branding.

This is the final product.

Mozilla Project Beginning

2008-10-26T15:04:00.001-07:00

Right now in my Innovation & Progress class we are doing research on an innovative company. My company is Mozilla. The eventually goal will be to give a brief history of Mozilla, descirbe their process of innovation, and then predict how they might go about innovating in the future.

Below is a sketch of an idea I have for how to illustrate the distribution and workings of Mozillas groups, teams, and how they go about bringing in outside ideas through their Mozilla Public License.

What is going on here you ask? I know, it’s kind of difficult to see, but just generally…

The goal of this visualization will be to demonstrate the connections between Mozilla and it’s all of it’s contributing communities.

—> On the left you have the start of a project, idea, or general goal.

—> On the far right is the path of the purpose of the project.

—> In the middle, you have the current project completion. Each circle represents a person contributing to the project.

Each person comes to the project from different angle and background. Everyone has something different to offer. They move into the project and move out during daily cycles taking in new experiences and inputs that they use to continue to contribute to the project. Many of these inputs that are gathered come from interactions from other people outside of Mozilla.

These are other companies, forums, and communities that interact with Mozilla and share in their open innovation model.

Get to know me...

2008-10-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

This morning I started brainstorming about what it is I must do In order to express my personality very clearly on my website or blog. Again, the goal is for people to get a feel for who I am very quickly, so they can experience who I am without needing to know me for a long time or sit down and have a very serious conversation.

I’m almost thinking that I should design a basic website structure that is super flexible and has areas that expand, contract, and change emphasis and that can be redesigned in and added to or subtracted from easily without having to readjust the entire site… I’ll be working on this structure.

Let me tell you a story about who I am.

2008-10-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

The few people that know me really well tell me that I will be great and I will do something important or interesting. My challenge is finding my path to that aspiration.

I want to develop a space on the web that is more than a blog. I want to have a space that is a direct connection to my mind, my personality, who I am, and the way I think. It may include videos, sketches, ideas, comments. What can I do?

This Is My Online Persona

2008-10-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

So, I've changed my mind again and decided to make this my personal blog. It will still continue to reflect my thoughts and progressions through BePositive, but I will be putting my personal ideas and experiences here as well.

I'll start off with my new bike! I recently purchased a 2009 Gary Fisher Paragon.

It's a poor picture, I know, but hopefully I will get to ride with my friend who has a nice camera soon. Or maybe I'll just find a sunny day! Who knows...

The Paragon is a 29er, which means that it's got big wheels. Bigger than a standard mountain bike. The big wheels give you a better angle of attack on obstacles and also make for an overall faster bike.

More about 29ers

So far I'm really liking it. The frame is stiff and the new G2 Geometry makes it handle better than any other bike I've been on. It's so eager to turn in and whip around corners. Sometimes it makes me feel like I am not as brave as the bike.

The full SRAM X.9 setup works great. I've been at a bit of a loss to set it up properly since I don't have a bike stand in my apartment. I'm seriously thinking about getting one though.

The brakes are another issue. Avid has long had problems with their Juicy breaks making the notorious squawking noise and my new Paragon is no exception. The brakes have very little power compared even my previous 2008 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo which had the step down; Juicy 3 brakes. Modulation is better on the 5's, but overall power is pretty poor. It may just be that not only does the rear squawk, but it vibrates the entire frame when it does it and completely ruins braking performance. I think a call in to Avid will be in order....

Avid did just release a new G3 rotor, which, coincidentally, did not come on my bike. I may have to purchase these.

This next weekend I will be adding a little bit longer and lighter FSA-OS99 stem and a WTB Rocket V Race saddle. Can't wait to get those parts on it and do some more riding! The MORC Summit is this weekend!

Stage One - COMPLETE

2008-10-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

I feel that we have reached the end of stage one in BePositive. BePositive is online, and everyone has successfully migrated from "the thread" to the new forum structure, as well as having a few new key members join.

Now, my next goal will be to acquire new members in the form of new people that can continue to contribute to the BePositive Community. In order to do this we need to keep populating the forums with new content, I need to continue to evolve the design, integration, and usability of the site design, and we need to locate, target, and market to new people.

Bringing in new members will be the biggest challenge. In order to get new people to join, we will have to have compelling content on the site. Things that people will get excited about when they see it and want to contribute their thoughts. So, scour your Digg's, and dredge through your Delicious! Find stuff that you think is cool and innovative, and get it up on the site! Tell us about yourself and your ideas! Whatever appeals to you.

Next, talk about BePositive. Don't just Be, BePositive. I'm sure everyone has a friend or two that might be interested in what we are doing here. Send them a personal invitation via email, the invite tool on the site, or just write on the Facebook wall.

Lets get this community on the map!

-Jake

More Members + More Posts = More Ideas

2008-09-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to thank all of the Alabama natives that have recently made the migration over to the dark side. Thanks for joining guys!

Don't forget that if you have a blog, a Facebook, a MySpace, LJ, whatever, please post us! We want to spread the word as much as possible and get the word out to the rest of the internet about what it is we are doing here!

My Marketing class has been an intense wave of input, ideas, and new websites and tools. I will be continuing to re-arrange the website in order to make it more clear and content emphasizing.

I also am continuing to evolve the BePositive general description of sorts as a 30-second talking point that will let us easily explain what BePositive is about.

Keep your eye on the "Manifesto" tab for a glance into the core ideas of what BePositive is all about. This will be the place to see the evolving state of the community.

The other day I installed Google Analytics on the BePositive site, and WOW! This is one powerfull and rich tool! I highly recommend this free service to anyone who has a website/blog that they want to see who all is coming too, but not just their friends and family that are already followers.

Introductions

2008-09-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

At this time, I think it is important to at least have a "soft" opening. Like a hotel. Like the hotel in Ocean's 13.

The blog will be the official "BePositive Build Blog" and will detail our process of building a community here with BePositive.

BePositive is a project that Brandon Watson and I (Jake Szymanski) have been working on for about a year now. We are the founders and moderators who will be around to stoke the fire and do our best to push the limits of this community. That said, don't be afraid to add Brandon as a friend on the site.

Right now, when you first come to the site and click on the "Blog" tab, you will get Brandon's Blog. For now, this will serve as the official BePositive Blog. BePositive is a community of interdisciplinary with diverse interests. Fortunately, we are all here with one thing in common. A thirst for innovation. The core principles of this will be outlined in Brandon's blog. There are some ideas that this site has been founded on that are key to what we are doing here. So please, read Brandon's blog and you will pick up on the essence and oneness of what is going on here.

As you may have witnessed, we gained a few members tonight! It makes me innumerably happy to see people joining BePositive. To see people join and get involved will be my greatest satisfaction.

I personally addressed about a dozen people on Facebook today, so hopefully we should see a few more people drift in over the next couple days.

So, to all of you who recently joined, thank you again! I can't wait to see your crazy new ideas inhabiting the space of the forums.

On a construction note; Brandon and I had a really good talk tonight on making the purpose of BePositive more clear and some of the way that we want to go about this. You may start to minor things on the site shift and change a little bit, but don't worry. It's gonna happen. That's what BePositive is about after all isn't it? Change and innovation!

Forum Population

2008-09-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am just doing my best to get some content into the Forums. Hopefully I can get people posting and excited about things that I find online and learn about in class. Sometimes I wonder if I am just out to learn all the things that the world has to offer instead of discovering then when they are completely new to other people.

However, the problem with me jumping in and populating all the forums is that that is not what BePositive is about. BePositive is about the contribution of many people, not just the ideas of one. This is what will make it great.

So, if you're reading this. Think about something you've learned recently, or the last thing that made you go, "Wow!" Post it! I'd love to see it, and read about it. I will respond!

See you out there.

The Progression

2008-09-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

BePositive is currently a work in progress. I've decided that a good purpose for this blog will be to record my process of developing the BePositive Community.

http://bepositive-community.ning.com/

I am using the Marketing & PR class that I am taking right now at MCAD as a way to further articulate my goals and ideas with BePositive. Over the next couple of weeks I will be working to develop specific goals, objectives, and tactics for the future of BePositive. Hopefully, this will lead to a real marketing plan and some good exposure for the site in way of getting the right people involved in the community.

ONe

2008-09-09T12:03:00.001-07:00

I've decided to start a blog in order to further my online involvement and the recording of my ideas. I think that too many of them just stay in my head. Let it begin.