06 May 2010, Posted by Matthew Reinbold in PowWow, 0 Comments

Work as Play, Activity Capture

On April 1st Vox Pop Design was pleased to host yet another Pow Wow. These are events where the friends and associates of Vox Pop’s distributed software development model meet and share what they know. In this round table excerpt the conversation finished up with a lengthy discussion on work as play, and just how that might be achieved.

07 Mar 2010, Posted by Matthew Reinbold in Evocation Log, 2 Comments

UrgentEvoke, Setup and First Mission

Jane McGonigal is a game developer behind ‘World without Oil’, a thought experiment made easier to swallow with a candy-coated game wrapper. Her latest, EVOKE, promises to be a ten week crash course in changing the world. I fear for the n00bs. First impressions here.

27 May 2009, Posted by Matthew Reinbold in New Work Ways, 0 Comments

More Human, Not Less

Renny Gleeson speaking at the February, 2009 Ted Conference had this to say about our evolving expectations regarding availability and connectivity:

So, as we lose the context of our identity, it becomes incredibly important that what you share becomes the context of shared narrative, becomes the context in which we live. The stories that we tell — what we push out — becomes who we are. We aren’t simply projecting identity, they’re creating it.

And so that’s the request I have for everybody in this room. We are creating the technology that is going to create the new shared experience, which will create the new world. And so my request is, please, let’s make technologies that make people more human, and not less.

Full three minute talk embedded below:

10 Mar 2009, Posted by Matthew Reinbold in New Work Ways, 0 Comments

Mike Rowe on the ‘War on Work’

Mike Rowe, as host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, participates in, appropriately enough, dirty jobs. Its remarkable given that Mike was a slacker in his earlier television career (see the Feb 2008 Fast Company cover story). This year he was asked to speak at the 2009 TED Conference and gave a splendid talk on the value of work, the practical wisdom of those who do it, and the multi-front war to demean those who’s collars are less than white.