picnic printed Final edition 2008
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See you next year at PICNIC 09! page 3 Photo by henri smeets
Nulaz wins award
boomerang creatives
It Happens in Surprising Africa
paint the world orange
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‘100% of online daters lie. I say 100% of all daters lie’
Surprising Africa Cultural exchange, educational programmes, mobile and technological innovations and advancements – all of these are happening in Africa! By Liz Farsaci
Many people from a variety of companies and organisations spoke on these subjects throughout Friday at a special event entitled Surprising Africa. In many ways, this was an apt title because it certainly was a surprise for many audience members to find out just how many creative, positive and inspiring things are coming out of Africa. Kenyan author and journalist Binyavanga Wainaina set the tone of the day with his opening speech on the power of the African people to come up with creative Girl Power New technologies are enabling and empowering women to be creative and to share their artistic messages with others in ways not previously possible. Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko, from South Africa, spoke of her photography, which focuses on fashion, identity and self-expression. Lamis Saidi, a web poet from Algeria, talked about her poetry and even treated the audience to a recitation – in Arabic and English. Meanwhile, guerilla filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa, from Nigera and London, previewed and talked about her film This Is My Africa. Musical Magic Throughout the day, the audience’s musical horizons were broadened with hip hop from the heart of Africa as well as older music from the continent. Thomas Gesthuijzen, a radio DJ, spoke about his website, www.africanhiphop. com, which unites hip hop artists from Africa and broadcasts their music. He also helps publish the music of African hip hop artists through record labels in Europe. Meanwhile, music journalist and DJ Jair Tchong played energetic songs dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. What I Want From A Mobile Phone When Younghee Jung, a senior design manager from Nokia, asked people in Ghana what they wanted from a mobile phone, they came up with some interesting and innovative answers. One man who could not read wanted a phone that could read text messages aloud, arguing that this would help him not only know what the text messages said but also learn to read. One man’s grandmother had trouble with her eyesight, and so he wanted a big mobile phone that would tell her which buttons she was pressing. Another person wanted a phone which could hold various SIM cards, enabling the user to switch between networks, while another man wanted one with a big antenna and a torch.
solutions to challenges. ‘I’ve never seen such a place where people find so much good in the face of such adversity,’ he said. ‘All of us have something to learn from the African people.’ Other speakers talked about specific mobile and internet applications which are taking off in Africa. In the morning, these included trendwatcher and blogger Eric Hersman, Younghee Jung from Nokia (see box), Andy Chung from Nokia, Mark Kamau, who spoke of NairoBits.com and Uju Ofomata, from OneWorld UK. Eric, Younghee and Andy all talked about new mobile applications and developments in Africa. As Andy pointed out, the European market is saturated, and so his phone company is looking to develop in emerging markets. However, these mobile applications are also helping people learn from and connect with each other. Mark said NairoBits.com, an online design school for young people living in the Nairobi slums, is both teaching and inspiring these youths. ‘Aside from just training us to use computers, this project was a new hope,’ Mark said. Meanwhile, OneWorld UK is helping young people in Africa learn about sexual health and HIV/AIDS through its e-learning project, LearningAboutLiving.org.
Ethan Zuckerman, speaker at the Surprising Africa event Photo by Ivo van der Bent From his blog: ‘And now, a well-meaning photographer has me sitting in wood chips on the floor next to a stuffed sheep. I think the sheep is supposed to be reading my laptop over my shoulder. Or something like that. It’s confusing here in Holland.’ More on www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog.
The afternoon talks were also about how people are applying these new technologies to connect with and inform people. Olivier Nyirubugara, from Africa Interactive, spoke about mobile phone reporting, while Ethan Zuckerman talked about the power of blogs, and how they have led to citizen journalism and storytelling. Gisel Hiscock, from Google, also spoke about the varied work her company is doing in Africa, while three talented women spoke about their art (see box). The day was organised by Butterfly Works and SICA, the Dutch Centre for International Cultural Activities.
Lamis saidi Algerian poet and computer scientist Photo by Fred Byrman
francis kwere Architect from Burkina Faso Photo by Fred Byrman
ideosyncracies Artists’ Impressions of PICNIC 08.
Footsteps of Esther Polak
Illustration by Nils Muhlenbruch, more at www.nmdoc.nl/picnic.htm
‘On Twitter, hardly anyone ever speaks about masturbation’
PICNIC 08: Looking back and ahead So that was PICNIC 08! Has it really been three days? Well, here’s the good news: the dates for PICNIC 09 are already fixed, 23-25 September. Marleen Stikker and Bas Verhart, founders of PICNIC, look back and to the future. by Victor Engbers
Marleen stikker and Bas verhart Photo by Ivo van der Bent
PICNIC Back Channel Report overview The back channel was a good addition to the whole PICNIC experience. BY MAARTEN lens-fitzgerald (dutchcowboy, Mobile monday amsterdam, sprxmobile)
More than 1537 pictures were sent via Moby Picture; the number of tweets on Twitter and movies on Seesmic and YouTube was uncountable. And of course there were loads of blog posts. People broadcasted, shared, explained, helped and communicated with each other. And yes, they inspired, like the conference itself. Highlight on the back channel on the first day was conductor Itay Talgam. On Twitter @Halbluchs posted: ‘End of first day at #picnic08 - Itay Talgam’s presentation was by far the best; funny, inspiring and moving.’
winner, had a very clear message that night and didn’t say any more after that: ‘We won’. The last messages on the back channel where about the party. Most captivating and real were the pictures and tweets from @silvertje. She sprained her ankle at the party. Everybody could follow her journey from dancefloor to hospital. Complete with pictures. http://picnic.slandr.net/
‘Parties and beer are not the right combo for me’ On day two the back channel was abuzz about two off site events: the PICNIC Jailbreak and Beer & Innovation. On Twitter @Stevenvanwel shares that Amazon’s chief strategist @simone_Brunozzi joined the jailbreak. And beer does prove to be a tricky substance with one more day of conferencing ahead, according to @ Spif : ‘At picnic around 08:00??? Man some parties and beer are not the right combo for me...’. On the final day, Vodafone Mobile Clicks Award and the PICNIC party were the subjects most discussed. At PICNIC the final six presented their businesses and competed for the award. The back channel was crowded with people covering the presentations live. The CEO of NULAZ, the main
maarten, our back channel reporter
Was it as good for you as it was for me? M: ‘Simply stated: it was a huge success.’ B: ‘The conference, the special events, the labs: we had a full house all over. In total, we had over 6000 visitors. It turned out to be a great mix: business people, intellectuals, people from the government, artists, marketers, scientists, hackers, you name it.’ M: ‘We saw that PICNIC 08 performed well as a platform for different organisations. Also, we noticed that there were a lot of off-PICNIC events.’ B: ‘In other words, at this third edition we can safely say that PICNIC has established itself as a household name in the area of crossover between creative content and technology. The network that we have realised seems to be very firm.’ What were your personal highlights? B: ‘The sessions with Nike were great, and I was a great fan of Itay Talgam, the conductor who ended, rightly so, with a standing ovation.’ M: ‘I loved Matt Costello who turned out to be an astonishing magician. But I guess it’s mostly the variety of activities that struck me.’ B: Of course, the Green Challenge was huge. Instead of one winner, we were able to award a second prize of 100,000 euros thanks to the Postcode Loterij. That says a lot about the high quality of the contestants, but also about the partners we work with. It’s thanks to
them PICNIC is here to stay.’ M: ‘Regarding our partners, it’s not just the financial contributions that made PICNIC tick. Also their expertise and networks were very helpful.’ B: I’d also like to mention PICNIC Young. Through this, PICNIC makes a strong point of being a breeding ground for the next generation of people working in this field.’ M: Up front, we decided to make PICNIC 08 very much about experience. This turned out great. People did not just talk about new technologies, but they demonstrated how they worked too. The various LABS did wonders in that field.’ How will PICNIC 08 affect the lives of the visitors? M: ‘Hopefully, and probably, it will take them half a year to sort out all the new contacts and ideas they came across at PICNIC 08. B: ‘But of course we also expect every one to return to PICNIC 09 in Amsterdam. The dates are already fixed: 23-25 September.’ Finally, how would you describe the atmosphere at PICNIC 08? B: ‘As an experience that’s been surprising, natural, sexy, intelligent and creative.’ M: I would call PICNIC 08 a seductive event, in the sense that we succeeded in seducing people into thinking a step further and acting on it.’
boomerang creative artwork: Daniël disselkoen daniël is one of the 6000 creatives that are active on Boomerang.nl Curious to see more of his work or work by the others? Go to www.boomerang.nl
‘The Post Secret website is a good example of romanticizing lies’
The Experimental World of a Dutch Band For their new album The Pickering Player, Dutch band BLØF set up a virtual world in which fans can experience the recording of an album. Bas Kennis, keyboard player of BLØF and keynote speaker at PICNIC 08, spoke to Victor Engbers about the project. by Victor Engbers
Why is BLØF so popular? ‘There’s the quality of our music, but I guess it’s also because we are “regular guys”, although we positively hate that term. Still, we are at the crossroads of the alternative and popular scenes. They both seem to like us.’
Bas kennis Photo by Ivo van der Bent
How experimental is BLØF? ‘We‘ve always been looking for new ways to give our fans something extra and, of course, to boost our record sales while at it. One of our last projects involved travelling around the world, which resulted in a DVD, two books, a website, a movie and a even a restaurant.’
What about the project surrounding The Pickering Player? ‘We recorded this album in a fantastic house in Ireland. During the sessions, we filmed everything. Afterwards the whole house was digitalized and turned into a virtual world. Visitors of the website can see us performing form all possible angles but also get a lot of extras like lyrics, interviews and movies.’ Only people that buy the album get to watch this. Why is that? ‘We can only do such a thing because we sell albums. In the end, it’s an extra for the fans. They get a lot more than
just the album. There’s a sneak preview at our website. Here people can also make their own video clip.’ What’s the future of music? ‘Nobody really knows what will happen. I’d say that everyone who talks about music 2.0 is right. Still it’s clear that artists should always be paid for their work. In this respect Sellaband is a great initiative.’ Links www.pickeringplayer.nl/single www.sellaband.com
Paint the World Orange Got a creative idea for putting miniscule Holland on the world map? The Dutch Government might give you 500,000 euros for it. by Marlous Veldt
On the last day of PICNIC 08 a barrage of orange garlands – twisting themselves around orange dancers with orange flags and blowing orange whistles – declared the ‘Paint the World Orange’ contest opened. Anyone who comes up with a surprising idea to re-brand the lowlands could be one of the five to be asked to further develop their concept and compete for the grand prize next year. Dutch designer Marcel Wanders (‘I wish I could participate myself!’), chairman of the jury, called on the creative industry to ‘think and compete and do something that is stunning and cunning and lives up to the vision of this beautiful small country. We will se-
lect the most fabulous ideas and spread them across the globe.’
‘Ideas that politicians don’t come up with’ Minister of foreign trade Frank Heemskerk added to the battle call by video stream from sunny Den Haag. ‘We need surprising ideas that politicians don’t come up with. There is a war for creative talents going on and we need all of them to come to Amsterdam.’ Go to www.orangecontest.nl for details and get your orange-stained hands on the money.
sketch made at picnic idea machine Photo by Gijs van Meurs
sketch made at picnic idea machine Photo by Gijs van Meurs
boomerang creative artwork: Thomas Schmidt Thomas is one of the 6000 creatives that are active on Boomerang.nl Curious to see more of his work or work by the others? Go to www.boomerang.nl
‘Laptops are digital enfants terribles’
Story of Seesmic
‘Usually I don’t talk about my own company at conferences’, Loïc LeMeur almost apologized at the end of his speech. He made an exception for the latest instalment of PICNIC. by Jaap Stronks
LeMeur demonstrated how he uses his own web service seesmic.com to communicate with his users. He simultaneously showed the way for other corporations that could use the video conversation tool to engage with customers. Picnic Printed got a chance to speak with LeMeur after his keynote speech, starting off with a simple question.
‘We like to meet face-to-face’
Loic le meur at the white house
Why should we use Seesmic? ‘Seesmic is a video conversation tool. Social software is all about connecting people in new ways. If we use it for blogging and social networking, there is no reason why we shouldn’t also do it with video, enabling face-to-face interaction. And that’s a big advantage: we’re human beings, we like to meet face-to-face. Video conversations are as
close to real life as online media gets.’ Seesmic isn’t only about video. You recently acquired Twhirl (twhirl.org), a popular Twitter client. How will these two be integrated? ‘We’ll definitely converge them, so we’ll have Seesmic in Twhirl on the one side, enabling users to actually use Seesmic from Twhirl. On the other side, we’ll have Tweets integrated into Seesmic.” Is it hard to build a company when you’re constantly trying to figure out which direction to take? ‘It’s very difficult, but also very exciting. Video conversation is a totally new space. When we started out, even microblogging didn’t even exist yet. The marketing, the way you communicate about your business – it all changes constantly. You never know what’s going to happen. You can grow your company best by learning from
your community, hearing from them what they want. Then, you should try to deliver that. It’s challenging, though. I’m very transparent as a CEO, but the stockholders ultimately own the company. You cannot please everyone all of the time – but we try to.’ How could companies use Seesmic to engage their customers? ‘Just be yourself, as much as possible. You can’t lie or cheat on video. It’s the opposite of marketing, really. That’s why it’s hard for many companies to use social media in general. It’s very tough to really be transparent. It’s about listening to what people are saying about your products, and then joining the conversation. Some corporations don’t know how to do that, because they’re used to traditional marketing and PR, which is all about controlling your message. Many corporations do get it though. Nike gets it, for example.’
exit poll at Coolpolitics Power Lunch These three joined the Coolpolitics Power Lunch where democracy was re-designed. Small groups focused on various topics like Holland’s Next Top Politician. By Ellen Geijs & Lian Kool Photos by Pauline Lemberger
Floor Hoonhout (21), student
Nicholas Blok (26), student
Kwela Harmenns (37), team manager KaosPilots
‘I learned how people of different ages and nationalities think about this. It was an interesting topic anyway, finding solutions to make the international law system more flexible. I think older people can learn more from the younger generations than they do now.’
‘I had no expectations at all, but it was quite fascinating. There was not really a goal, so I kind of missed the point of being there. But we did reach some interesting points about how to question the government and the system of democracy. Also I met three people I’d like to work with.’
‘This was great, because it was interactive. We could use more of this at PICNIC. What I missed was a sharing of ideas: the groups that discussed different subjects were not brought together in the end. I would’ve liked to “take a step forward”, to do something with the ideas that we came up with.’
favourites Madanmohan Rao from India is a PICNIC 08 ambassador. by Madanmohan Rao
Rao promotes the conference throughout the world (especially in Asia). ‘Amsterdam is a great location to visit for such an interdisciplinary event, which combines cutting-edge thinking with pure hedonistic fun! I always walk away with a wealth of knowledge from the speakers and attendees. Here is my Top 10 list of trends from the worlds of connectivity and creativity.’
Top 10 list of trends 1. 2.
The Rise of “Professional Social Networking Citizen media brings political power to the people
3. Mobile communication is opening up unprecedented value chains 4. ‘Everything now for me’ 5. Music will be delivered via a digital flat-rate model 6. Innovations from emerging economies 7. Green impacts come to the fore 8. Human behaviour morphs with new media 9. The importance of cross-media, cross-modal interactions 10. The biggest innovation will be in the process of innovation itself
boomerang creative artwork: DTM_INC DTM_INC is one of the 6000 creatives that are active on Boomerang.nl Curious to see more of his work or work by the others? Go to www.boomerang.nl
‘It’s not rocket surgery’
Nulaz wins vodafone Mobile Clicks Awards On the last evening of PICNIC, in a full house, the winner Nulaz was announced along with the runners up. Nulaz walked away with €60,000. TipSpot won €30,000 and MapTheGap €10,000. By David Prater
The six finalists of the Vodafone Mobile Clicks Award: 1. Nulaz (winner) www.nulaz.com What is it? With Nulaz you can see where your friends are, share locations, and view local info. A cool party or the newest movie: Nulaz tells you what’s happening! In other words: Still seething at the standard of service at that restaurant? Get revenge instantly and in complete anonymity by telling all of your friends never to go there.
Michiel munnEke (nulaz) Photo by Fred Byrman
2. TipSpot (1st runner up) www.tipspot.nl What is it? A mobile social city guide service for selecting events. In other words: It’s Friday night and post-work drinks are over, but you’re keen to kick on - what’s happening? 3. MapTheGap (2nd runner up) www.mapthegap.nl What is it? A location-based social networking application for idea management and creative purposes In other words: Play hide and seek in the centre of Amsterdam.
4. MobyPicture www.mobypicture.com What is it? A mobile application for sharing photos and videos on different social networks, including Wordpress, Blogger, Twitter and more! In other words: No need to log into every social networking site on the internet to spread your social capital around! 5. Mi-I www.mi-i.nl What is it? Install Mi-I on your mobile phone and compete with friends while
watching a match or participate in your favourite TV show. In other words: Get off the couch and do something active by texting fellow players in a game of Brady Bunch trivia. Easy money! 6. Exphera www.exphera.org What is it? A mobile solution for global mobile broadband access for a fixed fee (roaming solution for international users). In other words: Avoid handing over buckets of money to your mobile provider every time you go to Belgium!
Vodafone announces the winner of the Mobile Clicks awards Photo by Henri Smeets. c360.nl
boomerang creative artwork: DTM_INC DTM_INC is one of the 6000 creatives that are active on Boomerang.nl Curious to see more of his work or work by the others? Go to www.boomerang.nl
Picnic and prejudice By Lian Kool & Ellen Geijs, Photos by Pauline Lemberger Valeska, 21(left) and Michiel, 45 (right) Michiel about Valeska ‘She’s young – 25 I’d guess. She’s from Central or Eastern Europe. For a living she does something weirdly creative; she’s not your average website girl. Here at PICNIC she’s meeting and talking to lots of people. When it comes to her appearance she wants to look messy chic.’ Valeska about herself ‘I’m a bit younger than he thinks: 21. I study Media and Entertainment. My home country is Germany. I am indeed a social person. I like to talk to people and that’s what I’m planning to do today. He’s also right about my style: a bit messy but well-thought out.’
Valeska about Michiel ‘He’s someone with a good sense of humour. He considered his clothes carefully, without being vain. He reads a lot and plays tennis. He has a family, two kids. He’s in business, has a good position, a manager maybe, in a successful media company. His age? Somewhere between 45 and 50.’ Michiel about himself ‘Well, she’s right about a lot of things. Even about playing tennis! I’m director at a large publishing house. I have two kids, but not really a family. My family consists of me, and my cat. Choosing my clothes is hard, because my closet is very shady and I’m colour-blind. So if I find the right suit, I buy five pieces at once.’
‘We are experimental rabbits’
Hackerscamp Time for Slow Ten Social RFID Games. These brand new installations were conceived and built during the Mediamatic Hackerscamp at PICNIC. By Michel Langendijk
Communication
Could we invent ‘slow communication’, just like we’ve come to embrace the concept of slow food? Yes, we can if Stefan Agamanolis has a say in it, anyway. By Jaap Stronks
Duckrace Photo by Harm-Jan Weevers
1. ikRun Arjan Scherpenisse: ‘iCome, iSee, iRun’ 2. DuckRace Marc Boon ‘Ever realised you can use your social network to win a duck race?’ 3. Friend Drink Station Ino Paap: ‘Great to see how many people celebrated a new online friendship with a free beer.’ 4. Breathylizer Jasper Speicher ‘Sometimes it’s important to link social lubricants to social mechanisms’ 5. ikWin / Google Battle Axel Roest: ‘It’s great to see how enthusiastic people are about their own web popularity.’
6. ikCam Eke Rebergen: ‘... people using their ikTag to make nice portraits for their profile’ 7. Vbird Mark Wubben: ‘Our Vbird should have flown, but couldn’t and wouldn’t’ 8. Breedrs Luis Fernández ‘That’s how life goes...’ 9. Department Menno Steenvoorden: ‘We buy privacy and sell security’ 10. Mobile Massage Couch Edwin Dertien: ‘It’s so nice to work on a project in which you have to sit down regularly to test how relaxing it is!’
And he has: he’s the chief executive and research director of Scotlandbased Distance Lab, a research facility specialising in slow forms of communication. His keynote speech at PICNIC 08 on Wednesday was entitled ‘Duelling with Distance’, ‘because we’re usually fighting the disadvantages of bridging distances, instead of simply dealing with them’. Take the mobile phone for instance: the same design philosophy that created fast food has created the mobile phone,’ Agamanolis says.
‘Communications technology sometimes seems to strip us of our humanity’ Within mere minutes, the PICNIC audience is presented with a range of innovative concepts that Agamanoli and his colleagues have cooked up. They’ve tried to recreate some aspects of using a traditional red, British phone booth, which typically is a solitary experience free from distractions. He shows a video of two people having a telephone conversation, while floating in a swimming pool with iron helmets on,
Games Go Social Remember playing Pacman on your Atari? Since its launch in the 1980s, the gaming world has changed incredibly. Through the explosion of social networks, gaming has gone social. By Martine van Duijn
A mixture of games, communities and networks creates an environment where gamers can share their experiences with others – known and unknown. Social games have no bounds; they transcend demographic categories, including age, race and gender. We share experiences, interact, dream, challenge and learn in fun and innovative ways. Social games allow competition and collaboration.
‘You can buy and sell your friends as pets’ ‘Many people do not consider themselves gamers, but if you have ever played a quick game of tic-tac-toe, you have participated in a social game’, says Shervin Pishevar of Social Gaming Network. With the social game (fluff) Friends for example, you can adopt a
pet and put it on your Facebook profile. You and your friends can pet it, feed it, or even visit your pet’s (fluff)Book profile and leave messages on its (fluff) Wall. Another popular social game is Friends for Sale, where you can buy and sell your friends as pets, like a stock market. This type of entertainment is very exciting, but according to Kristian Segerstrale of Playfish creating success is also very hard. ‘Monetizing is being developed, focusing on transactions and advertising. Traffic costs and customer support can be very high. Social networks have the potential to be the next big thing in video games. To realise their potential, it’s important to create value and focus on quality and experiences that people enjoy.’
Illustration by Zsuzsanna Ilijin
effectively eliminating every sensory distraction – resulting in quite thoughtful conversations, while the participants lose track of time. Communications technology sometimes seems to ‘strip us of our humanity’, Agamanoli continues, ‘but it doesn’t have to.’ He backs up this claim by showing another project, intended for private bedroom communication between partners – with the catch that they’re not in the same bedroom. Both participants are wearing a special ring, which is detected by a camera on the ceiling, which in turn transmits a light beam on the bed of the person at the other end of the line. Effectively, they’re drawing white-coloured light signs on each other’s beds and bodies. As a nice touch, the colour switches to pink when the respective gestures are synchronised. Ultimately, Agamanoli concludes that we’re able to create communication systems which aren’t generic, but tailored to our relationships. ‘Technology doesn’t have to be hardedged. It can be healthy, slow, soft, and able to reflect our humanity and our traditions.’ I’ll drink to that.
‘Just bought a couple of domains’
Party pics by Blurb
Blurb and Artmiks preserve the best moments of the PICNIC 08 experience in a printed Blurb book. These pictures were taken by PICNIC partypeople in a set by photographer Gabriele Merolli. Check www.blurb.com
PICNIC‘08 in 360º on your iPhone! Use your iPhone or iPod Touch to view interactive panoramic photos. Download the PangeaVR from the app-store and choose www.c360.nl/picnicvr/pano.xml
JOIN BOOMERANGS CREATIVE FORCE! Got an unstoppable urge to create? Go to Boomerangcreate.nl and upload your wildest work. We make it visible to heaps of interesting clients. As a registered Boomerang Creative you will be updated on challenging, creative contests of any level and in every discipline; design, film making, animating, concept, etc. So join now!
COLOPHON Concept PICNIC’08 and Boomerang Media Els Steenhagen, Pola Zijlstra Publisher Boomerang Media Editor Gijs van Meurs, www.meng.nl Editor Boomerang Creative Pascale Bosboom Concept design & Art Direction Nine Fluitsma, Floortje Bouwkamp (and thank you Kim van de Groep) Copy editor Tim Muentzer Special thanks Amsterdam Weekly, NL Unlimited, Indrukwerk, PresTop
Boomerang newslab with PresTop screens