In Premium Blend, Hylton quotes from this commentary by Scott Bradner on the "visions" laid out by Sony and Microsoft at CES:

"To me the visions - if they actually can be classified as 'intelligent foresight' - are virtually identical, are hardly innovative and, I hope, will turn out to be mirages created by extreme nearsightedness..."


What's more critical, he says: the "important battle - the one to let you and me control what we see and do rather than becoming programmable automatons with the controls being in the hands of Microsoft or Sony with the copyright mafia directing both of them."

Whichever "vision" of the future connected entertainment world takes off will probably depend on which one takes hold with the marketplace.

Microsoft has a monopoly advantage, but people don't particularly like them and it often seems to take them several tries to get new technologies right. Sony has a history of introducing new technology that resonates with consumers. Companies that are currently developing new technology that will let us "control what we see and do" with that technology need to pay close attention to making that technology not just user-friendly, but even dumb-user-friendly.

This is really, really important. Don't innovate just for geeks - the geeks are not a big enough market.  In order to avoid having our living rooms taken over by Microsoft and Sony, we need innovative technology that will sell to groups on the diffusion curve beyond Early Adopters.

For more on this, read Corante's new blog, Amateur Hour by Jonathan Peterson:

Companies that give us tools that allow us to play, collaborate and invent are much more likely go gain our long-term loyalty than those who try to convince that what they are giving us is all we need. 

Welcome to Corante's newest blog: Amateur Hour by Jonathan Peterson. I'm going to quote directly from his blog mission statement here because it has important things to say about the status of creativity and innovation on an individual level: 

The rise of mass media in the last half of the 20th Century turned us all into "consumers" and took away much of the natural human inclination to be creators, performers, singers, musicians and storytellers. Today, the rapid proliferation of cheap professional-quality media-making tools, paired with the drastic decrease in the cost of content distribution is leading to a quiet, but very real revolution in the quantity and quality of "amateur" content. It's the democratization of media, the "Big Flip" as Clay Shirky calls it, and we think it's going to play an increasingly important role in how we make, share and consume media.

The innovation "industry" is full of buzzy words, metaphors and even at times solid research in an effort to puzzle out how to foster creativity and innovation at the corporate level. We are constantly told how important it is for companies to do this.

The nasty little conundrum that doesn't often get talked about is this: How can individuals who spend the majority of their leisure time (especially during the formative growing-up years) as "content consumers" manage to be creative on the job? Not talking here about "creative" types. I'm talking about regular people. Those folks who are often referred to as "consumers," which is surely the key word. Who consume content, but never learn how to truly engage what's being consuming and build on it to create something else. (Whether there's anything there worth engaging is a different question.)

My prediction:  The more we are treated as content consumers, not creators and customers, the more our creative impulses  and skills will erode. Not because that's the intent of Big Media per se, but because their business plans foster a culture of consumers rather than creators. Listen to the language we now use to talk about our formerly cherished creative processes -people who used to be called writers and editors are now content providers and content programmers.

IMHO, the antidote to this: stop consuming content and start creating it. By "stop consuming"  I don't mean stop buying, or stop viewing, listening, reading, gaming. I mean start approaching the music, films, books, games, etc., as the outward manifestation of someone's creativity rather than as a product to be used up and thrown away. Approach it as something to become engaged with. If there's not enough "there" there to engage, then don't even go there in the first place.  And by "start creating" I mean make your own content, your own writings, photos, films, multimedia projects, web pages, computer programs, whatever. Start a blog! Give yourself permission to do this. You don't have to be good, you just have to do it. If you're already doing this, do it more. Encourage children to do this, however and wherever you encounter them. Encourage your employees and co-workers and neighbors to do this.

Read Amateur Hour. He's onto something. Let's encourage the creation of tools and technologies and policies that foster creativity. Let's not slip any further down the "content consumption" slope. Because the bottom is a mighty uncreative place, I fear.

An astute reader who is currently blogless pointed out, re Purple Cow:

The original Cow Branding Techniques are found here and at Cluetrain Topica list from July of 2001. Seth Godin did not ask permission again.

My Purple Barn will be closed today. Visiting hours by appointment only.
Marek J

When I confessed my Cluetrain-less-ness in this matter and asked permission to post from his email, he replied: 

Any of my posts are Creatively designated as Yum Yum versions of Imaginative Pastures License Technology developed by Fishrush (Pasture + Purple Grape in Squeezable bottle = Purple Cow Yum Yum)

and thoughtfully provided a link to the original Cluetrain cow: 

Apparently there was once an actual cartoon with a train and this cow, but we can't find it on the Cluetrain site. If any of the Cluetrainers know where the original cartoon is and will give me the location, I'll post it. You can never have too much cow!

Dan Pink may have shuttered his blog, but he still writes a monthly column called Idea File for the WSJ’s free, entrepreneur-focused StartUp Journal. In each Idea File, Pink takes an idea for a business and “runs it through its paces,” as he says.

I say, what’s best about the column is the way he drops tidbits of ideas-about-ideas throughout. This month he introduces the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Theory of Innovation: "Sometimes the most powerful ideas come from simply marrying two existing ideas nobody else ever thought to combine." (See also “combine” from the creativity heuristic SCAMPER.)

Seth Godin’s back with a new metaphor….err, book: Purple Cow, which is about

Remarkable marketing: The art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service.

But he's not really talking about marketing, he's talking about creating the most innovative product possible....jumping into new uncharted territory, not building on what you've done before.

You've got a chance to reinvent who you are and what you do. Your company can reenergize itself around the idea of involving designers in marketing and marketers in design. You can stop fighting slow growth with mind-numbing grunt work and start investing in insight and innovation instead.

As usual Seth’s got a creative marketing campaign to match his book (you can only buy it by the case! No, really!).

Announcing:  Archives of IdeaFlow and all of the other Corante blogs.  Plus, you can now get Corante blogs emailed to you!  Look directly to your right for IdeaFlow's email sign-up, and visit the other blog pages for their email sign-ups (links to all the other Corante blogs are right over there in the left-side nav bar).

…but very necessary, says Nicholas Negroponte in "Creating A Culture Of Ideas" (Technology Review): His thesis: “Expertise is overrated. To build a nation of innovators, we should focus on youth, diversity, and collaboration.” Includes an interesting take on idea-sharing during the recent boom years:

At the digital bubble’s peak, being open about ideas was particularly hard for computer scientists because people saw riches coming from not sharing their ideas. Students would withhold ideas until after graduation. As one person held his or her cards close, another followed, and as a result, many research labs declined in value and effectiveness. In this regard, thank God the bubble has burst.

The idea that focus on youth, diversity, and collaboration leads to innovation is supported also by Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class, whose “creative capital theory” goes like this: "You cannot get a technologically innovative place unless it's open to weirdness, eccentricity, and difference."

Florida has just started a newsletter called Creative Intelligence (example here) "which will explicate “newly developed leading indicators for the creative class.” See also the series Cities of Ideas, which has run on an occasional basis all year in the Austin American-Statesman.

Speaking of Austin, that’s exactly where I’m headed today. See you Monday!

Doc Searls adds to the Content is Crap conversation:

Yes, there has been much snot flung in the general direction of the old content companies, whose responses to the presence of the Internet in their lives has generally ranged from hostile to clueless. But Creative Commons isn't about snot-flinging. Its purposes are constructive. If it succeeds, it will enlarge the content business by including a public domain that's well-stocked with useful stuff made even more useful by uncomplicated licensing. What's wrong with that?

Winterfest by the Creative Problem-Solving Institute, Feb 5-9 in San Diego, CA. Beginning and advanced training in the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem-Solving method.

Creating The Future by the American Creativity Association, March 12-15 in Philadelphia, PA. Topics include: Business Applications Of Creative Problem-Solving; How To Survive As An Innovation Champion; Fuzzy Logic: Using Continuums To Build Practical Models For Achieving Optimum Creative Behavior In Groups; Enhancing Creativity Through Improvisation; The 7 Levels Of Change-Different Thinking For Different Results. Thanks to Innovation News for the link.

2003 Conference on Business Innovation by The Conference Board (the folks who also bring us the Consumer Confidence Index), March 19–21 in New York City. Topics include: Linking Innovation To Broader Objectives; Getting Your Culture Ready For The Next Big Wave Of Innovation; Enabling Your Customers To Innovate In Real-Time: Reverse Innovation; and Measuring Return On Innovation - A New ROI. Thanks to Pure Content for the link.

...and visions of the converged future! Must have been the Consumer Electronics Show. Read all about it:

Doc Searls blogs two views of CES.

CNet News: "Maybe it's just a matter of bad caffeine management on my part, but it's hard for me to get worked up about a tech event where the stars are wristwatches and refrigerator magnets. But where else can you stand in a 5-mile-long taxi line while watching burly guys with pliers compete for the title of the world's top car-stereo installer?"

New York Times (reg reqd): "Despite the gloom in other slices of the economy, sales of consumer electronics in the United States actually grew last year (to a record $96 billion). This trade show of manufacturers, retailers and customers was alive with energy and crowded with exhibits. … It's only a matter of time before you'll see people rebooting their toasters."

Business 2.0: "Coolest gadget: In a move sure to resonate with Capt. Kirk and Trekkies worldwide, Microsoft unveiled an Internet-enabled wristwatch that can receive sports scores, traffic updates, and appointment reminders via an FM radio networking technology that the company calls DirectBand."

Houston Chronicle: "The missing pieces [of convergence], it turns out, have been wireless connectivity and hard drives."

Extreme Tech:  "As digital technology has evolved, the PC industry thought that it was the natural heir to the convergence of digital technology and traditional media. But if this year's CES is any indication, the large consumer electronics concerns will not simply go quietly into the night. There's too much at stake."

Also, Extreme Tech’s full show coverage is here.

Austin American-Statesman:  "In his first-ever appearance at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, [Michael] Dell said technology companies must do a better job of helping their customers if the consumer technology industry wants to continue to grow."

WinInformant:  "Gates’ [keynote speech] didn't measure up [to Steve Jobs’ at Macworld the week before]: If you break down his talk, you'll find that he primarily discussed previously released products or updates to those products. Gates mentioned only two truly new products: Media2Go, which is essentially a video version of Apple's iPod, and the Microsoft SPOT Watch. I can't get excited about a connected watch. (I had two of those Timex data watches years ago, by the way.)"

And "The Show's Theme Was ... TV. This year's CES was all about TVs. Big-screen TVs. Wide-screen TVs. High-Definition Television (HDTV) TVs. Flat-panel TVs. Plasma TVs. LCD TVs. Digital Light Processing (DLP) TVs."

The just-announced Eldred defeat has knocked the “Content is Crap” discussion off the top of the page at many a blog. Although I’m a little late to the party, here are some comments on Arnold Kling’s essay.

For those who may have missed it, Arnold said this:

Creative Commons is based on a naive ideology that believes that raw content is gold, which then gets stolen by the evil media companies. In reality, the economics of content are that most of the value-added comes from the filtering process, not the creation process. If you want to overthrow incumbent publishers with Internet-based alternatives, you are better off starting from the assumption that Content is Crap.

and this

I see Creative Commons as a form of 1960's protest theater, not as something that solves a real economic problem.

Later on Bottom Line, he added this:

I don't think that current copyright law is an important factor limiting the growth of culture. The point of my raw sewage metaphor is that the value of content is not constrained by its terms of use, but by the fact that most of it is worthless. My point is that alternative copyright rules do nothing to fix this problem. The challenge in media today is not how to enable the average author's work to be used in more flexible or creative ways. The challenge is in filtering the average author's work so that it is exposed to interested consumers without wasting everyone else's time.

Much discussion has ensued, which you can read here and here. At Copyfight, Donna Wentworth quoted Seth Finkelstein as “hitting the nail on the head” with this comment:

Umm, which "economic problem" [is Creative Commons trying to solve]? It seems to me that Creative Commons is about proving that the optimal setting for creativity is not infinite copyright. That's a social problem, not an economic one."

I’m with Donna – Seth’s is the hammer comment. The reason: Arnold is dissing Creative Commons because it doesn’t solve an economic problem there’s no evidence it was ever intended to solve.

Assume that Z is a creator of words and images. As a creator, Z essentially has three relationships to copyright. Picture these scenarios: 1) Z may wish to reference someone else’s words or images in a set of words or images that Z is creating.  2) Z may wish to make her own words or images public. 3) Someone else may wish to make Z’s words and images public in a way Z has not instigated herself.

Having one kind of copyright means that making words and images public is essentially an all-or-nothing proposition – either Z sells her work through a publisher who will hold all rights, or makes her work available for free without even the guarantee of attribution. In contrast, Creative Commons offers 11 different licenses, so creators may offer “some of your rights to any taker, and only on certain conditions.”

So Arnold’s right – Creative Commons essentially does nothing to resolve the economic problem of unfiltered content. But Seth’s right as well – this is not an economic problem, but perhaps a societal one.

I see Creative Commons as a way to solve copyright as it presents economic problems for individual creators, but not necessarily as it presents an Economic Problem for our society as a whole (except in the sense that individual solutions in the aggregate have the potential to effect positive societal change). Creative Commons solves individual economic problems by offering creators ways to make their work public for all the various individual reasons why a creator would find that economically attractive to do. The point is that many of those reasons have nothing to do with straight pay-for-words-and-images transactions.

Creative Commons also solves the creator’s problem of being able to use source material as reference/point of departure without undue financial burden (I’ve been talking about words and images, but this issue also addresses open-source software).

There is an entire creative universe out there operating almost completely under the radar screens of Big Book Publishers, Radio Companies, Record Companies, etc. The denizens of this Under-the-Radar universe are not well-served by the DMCA. Perhaps none of us is, but the potential for Creative Commons to facilitate a marketplace for the Under-the-Radar universe of word and image creators has great value to us as a society.

At the very least, the Creative Commons experiment makes it possible to model different uses of copyright enough so that we all might begin to figure out better business models for filtering/publishing/selling creative works.

Watching Chicago yesterday reminded me of how metaphor serves us so well as a building block of creativity. What is a metaphor, after all, but a new way of looking at an idea, an object, an event? The best musicals, like Chicago, work metaphors hard but effectively. Director Rob Marshall understands how to layer metaphors, and he never mis-mixes. My favorite: Slick lawyer Billy Flynn's courtroom tap-dance.

Fascinating article from the Austin American-Statesman about creative chef secrets:

Rick Bayless shared his secret breading ingredient: corn flakes, which are traditional (and, presumably, not secret at all) in western Mexico. Corn flakes inspired Bayless to coin a name in their honor. "In Spanish you can do all sorts of fun things with words. So we call these breaded dishes 'Encornflecado.' "

Nominations are open for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

As if we needed one more sign of our scandalous times: Creativity came in almost dead last in a list of 28 attributes deemed to be most important for business leaders. The list was the result of a survey of 570 white-collar professionals, as reported in CFO.com, which asked: "What is the most important trait or attribute that the leader of your company should possess?"

On top of the resulting list was honesty (24% of respondents named it as the most important trait in a leader). The other top four: integrity/morals/ethics (16%); caring or compassion (7%); fairness (6.5%); and good relationships with employees, including approachability and listening skills (6%).

In contrast, down at the bottom of the list were flexibility (0.6%), good personality or sense of humor (0.5%), attention to detail (0.4%), creativity (1.2%), and decisiveness (0.8%).

Hmmmm. Best case would be company leaders who were ethical and honest in addition to being creative and flexible - not instead of.

Thanks to Chuck Frey's Innovation News for pointing me to this Atlantic Online article on the idea of genius as it's expressed in American culture, by Harvard's Marjorie Garber (emphasis mine):

As a culture, we have become increasingly addicted to the idea of genius … If we remind ourselves that what is really at stake is creativity and invention; if we can learn to separate the power of ideas from that of personality; then perhaps we will be less dazzled by the light of celebrity and less distracted by attempts to lionize the genius as a high-culture hero—as essence rather than force. It's not just another word that we need; it's another way of thinking about thinking.

January’s full of future predictions; see these, these, and these, from other Corante news columns. From Chuck Frey’s Innovation News I found an article by Linda Naiman offering practical advice on how you can “mine the future” yourself, spotting trends that you can connect to ideas for your own business. Here's some of her advice, with my comments in italics on how to use the Internet and blogs to kick up this future-mining project a few notches:

-- Track via film, TV and print media the four sectors of society that tend to capture leading trend behaviour, products and personalities: music, fashion, sports and fitness. Good starting places: Google Zeitgeist and Blogdex. Or just pick any blogroll and dive in. 


-- Track new laws. Reason your way to new tools and assistance folks will need to comply. Try Copyfight, LawMeme, and blogrolls therein. Also check this and this.


-- Futurist Watts Wacker advises clients to read a trade magazine from a different industry once a week. "Let's say I'm working with a bunch of computer executives. Once a week for six weeks, I'll send them a different trade magazine - 'Progressive Grocer,' 'Automotive News,' something from the corrugated-box industry, a jewelry magazine. Their assignment is to find two things in every issue that relate to their business or provoke their thinking. Everyone comes in with at least ten." Try this using the Business 2.0 Web Guide Industry page as a starter.

from Fast Company:

2003 will be the year of the New Normal ... Vision matters, but only if it can be financed and delivered in a reasonable period of time. - Roger McNamee, Integral Capital Partners and Silver Lake Partners


To appreciate and exploit the complexity of a networked economy, people have to push themselves not only to know what they don't know, but also to get to know it. If you're a designer, take an economics course. If you're an engineer, take up painting. If you're a consultant, sign up for an improvisation class. Get to know that new thing to a point where you can understand the tension between your own way of thinking and seeing and this entirely different perspective. For 2003, start to build empathy for the things that are different. - Clement Mok, American Institute of Graphic Arts

My favorite thing to do on New Year's Day: Watch the Rose Parade and listen to the commentators talk about how the floats were made (in between all the plugs for the shows that air on whatever network you're watching, of course). As I write, the parade is about to start. But it already started in the blogosphere: Susan Kitchens has photos of this year's floats in progress (also here) and photos of completed floats. (FYI - she's one of Dave Winer's Blogger of the Year nominees.) Neat.

Hank Williams was discovered dead in the backseat of a Cadillac in Oak Hill, WV, 50 years ago today. Here's a pretty cool interview with Charles Carr, who drove the car Hank died in (song by the Austin Lounge Lizards - look on down the page - there! - for a link to a sample....Amazon won't let me link directly to the sample).