LOST IN MASTICATION

[Unfortunately, this isn't a well thought out post, and completely un-researched.  I write this blog-post-turned-essay as a way to spark constructive discussion about the Web and the way it is transforming lives.]

Happy 40th birthday Internet.

The first test that led to the operation of the Internet happened on September 2, 1969.  Many other things happened that summer, including the Apollo 11 lunar landing and Woodstock.  All three events changed the course of history in then unimaginable ways.  None, however, has affected individual lives as much as the Internet.

The Internet made the Web possible. (By comparison, the Web is only half the age of the Internet.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Web has changed so much about our society, culture and habits.  Many are embracing it, while others will continue to shun it.  Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Web is here to stay.

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Curious to revisit Wikimedia and see what photos of mine have been used or remixed under the CC-NC-SA license.  There are a few new ones since last year, and others that aren’t listed on Wikimedia, but linked through Flickr’s own analytics tools:

I got an e-mail a short while back to use one of the black lab photo below for a travel magazine highlighting pet-friendly destinations in Orange County too.

The top Google Images Searches that yield traffic to my photos might be telling me that I missed some calling around red and white weddings (???):

• red and white wedding pictures
• wedding bouquet
• bride
• red and white wedding dress
• red and white bridal dresses
• photos of rome
• picture of japan on flickr
• moscow state
• old town prague
• getty exhibit
• free download vector graphics (this ones makes no sense to me!)

The all-time best, but completely wrong use of one of my photos still goes to “Bride dies of heart disease on her wedding day“, which uses a photo of a good friend on her wedding day in Laguna Beach, CA.

Here the catalogue of remixed photos, as referenced in Wikimedia Commons to date:

“Wikipedia Loves Art” is a really cool campaign marrying Wikipedia with Art Museums.  In short, this month-long event is a scavenger hunt and free content photography contest among museums and cultural institutions worldwide, and aimed at illustrating Wikipedia articles.

You can add your photographs, to the online Flickr group. Goal lists for LACMA and other museums across the country are listed on the Flickr group page (as well as on Wikipedia, but the Flickr page is easier to read). And each participating museum or cultural institution is giving away cool prizes too!

Wikipedia has become such a trusted resource over the past few years, and the opportunities to contribute to it are endless.  Why not do it through something fun like a photographic scavenger hunt?

Here’s one of my photos that I took at the 2007 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade that made it into Sarah Brightman’s Wikipedia entry (just simply by posting it on Flickr):

I REALLY wish I had the time to do the scavenger hunt!  What a great way to promote art while harnessing the power of crowd-sourcing and providing a cultured venue for a very personal, real-life collaboration.

Expand this post for more on rules and participating museums.

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I’m really fascinated by tag clouds.  I’m always on the look out for them, and I’m glad they are being used by the media more.  According to Wikipedia, tag clouds were spun originally from Flickr.

Tag clouds are the best way to find out in real-time what’s being talked about most, and how frequently.  Popular terms appear in a cloud, and the most popular appear in large, bolded font.  What makes tag clouds interesting – particularly when taking a snapshot of one document, such as Obama’s inauguration speech – is that you get a “sense” or “mood” for the tone of the speech, website or other collective of words and tags.

TweetDeck has an application called TwitScoop which lets me know what’s abuzz in the Tweetdom.  This is great for finding out about the latest news, like the recent USAir incident.

Above is a tag cloud from Obama’s inaugural speech today (via the LA Times).  To see comparison tag clouds from Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Lincoln, visit Read, Write, Web (@rww).

And here are a few cool tag-cloud generating tools around the web:

• Wordle (My favorite so far)
• Tag Cloud Generator
• Tag Crowd

Talk about lightening speed… or as quickly as you can think and type in 140 character bursts.

Just minutes ago a USAir flight in NY crashed into the Hudson.  Twitter is abuzz.  Within seconds, I had about 50 tweets appear on TweetDeck.

And just seconds ago, a post from @scobelizer via dbarefoot regarding a photo on Flickr, viewed some 1,000 times already in the last 5 minutes.

Search Hudson or Plane on Twitter search and you get all the latest…

Hope everyone is OK.

UPDATE:  Reportedly everyone is OK.  And this iPhone picture from Janis Krums (@jkrums) is citizen journalism at it’s best!

I’m waging a bet that successful new businesses will hinge on a hybrid economy.  In fact, the survival of many old school businesses (such as broadcast companies, newspapers, automative, etc.) here on out will depend on the ability to adapt to the hybrid economy of the future.

What is a hybrid economy?  I don’t think too many people have a grasp on this concept yet, even though we are living in the midst of it RIGHT NOW.

I did a Google search on hybrid economy and the results mostly revolve around the economical nature of hybrid cars.  One other search result – an article from 1993 – describes a hybrid economy as the convergence of the public-private sectors.

But the hybrid economy that I refer to is about the remix of real business and crowdsourcing, as Lawrence Lessig describes in short:

Commercial entities leverage value out of sharing economies, and vice versa.

Flickr is a service that depends on the content of its users and is highly successful.  Many third-party companies have spawned off the success of Flickr such as Moo, Imagekind, QOOP and Blurb.  Even Capital One is leveraging the power of the hybrid economy through Flickr by allowing users to create personalized credit cards.

Mass collaboration, crowd sourcing and social media has already proven to the market that people are willing to contribute for free or at little cost to organizers.  It’s also become evident over the last several years that the new generation of consumers are willing to put in labor and sweat equity for the reward of having simply participated, or being part of the design (ala Wikipedia).  Often times all anyone needs is due credit and publicity; sometimes to jump start their career or get their name on the map.  I’m one such individual.

New businesses here on out would be remiss if they ignore the potential of sourcing their customers.  @AdamAinbinder brought up a good example tonight with Friendster and their inability to reach the success that Facebook has.  First mover advantage has no advantage if you are unable to allow your community to feel that they are an integral part of the product or service.  Likewise, imagine where Apple might be today with the iPhone had they not opened up application development to the masses.

Whether it’s starting a very 1.0 business such as a recreational facility, or a 2.0 lifestyle business (i.e. MarthaStewart.com, Livestrong.com), the ability to interact with those most interested in your arena – the hobbyists and the connoisseurs – is what will feed the momentum, and thereby business awareness, growth and success.

More to come on this thought…