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Steve and I have been exploring the online reference site, The Book of Odds. Some of the site’s key functionalities are still in Beta, but for over three years they’ve been compiling odds to create a large database of “the odds of everyday life.” You can sign up for free and provide a little profiling information to begin exploring statements of probability related to your profile, or to anything you want to look up.
The idea is to explore the odds of something happening, and then to calibrate the probability in a comparison. If the topic you explore is included in the database (the four main current topic portals are Health & Illness, Accidents & Death, Relationships & Society, and Daily Life & Activities), you’ll get confirmed probability data on that topic, but you’ll also get leads on unexpected connections, as you compare unrelated events by their likelihood of occurring.
The site also has social and learning functions, and content aside from the odds database (newsletters, blogs, related links, etc.) We’re just getting started exploring this resource, and brainstorming about how we can apply it to our day-to-day reference needs. It’s actually pretty challenging to think about life in terms of probability statements – thinking up queries to get started. But once you dig into the site, there’s quite a bit to learn – not only the small bites of data, but how to calibrate probability, and new approaches to classifying and comparing phenomena.
Tyler Farwell p. June 2009 - Swiped from Southern Spaces Journal - Click for Source
The Oxford American magazine website published a brief interview with Richard Florida this week, focusing on Southern U.S. cities’ positioning in the quiet competition to draw creative talent to the workforce.
As the interview is part of the magazine’s free online content, rather than published in print, the format of the interview is loose, and questioning posed to the Rise of the Creative Class / Who’s Your City author and sociologist is a little roundabout. However, as always, Florida’s responses are concise and careful and the discussion is interesting. Though Florida often conservatively draws back from prescribing any kind of cultural shifting, instead focusing more in the realm of city planning and corporate creative worker migration, he’s stretching out a bit in communicating his understanding of many creatives’ needs to balance authenticity and contemporary opportunities in their local communities.
The world has seen its share of interesting footwear in recent years, including Uggs, Crocs, and the most recent trend, “toning footwear.” The overstated sneakers are intended to simulate walking on a soft surface to engage neglected muscles, and to create instability to engage muscles involved in balancing. Toning footwear was pioneered by smaller brands such as MBT, Ryn and FitFlop, but now is infiltrating mainstream brands such as Sketchers and Reebok.
Analysts predict that the shoe will be the next big trend in footwear despite its odd appearance. Others are more skeptical, likening them to Uggs, Crocs and Birkenstocks. The irony is that those who wear these “ugly” shoes swear by them.
A few years ago, Crocs were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Those who wore them thought they were comfortable and functional. Those who did not thought they were atrocious, to say the least. Apparently the negative attitudes prevailed, given Crocs Inc. recent trip toward bankruptcy. Considering that attitudes towards toning footwear reflect those surrounding Crocs, it will be interesting to see if toning footwear takes that same trip.
This morning I revisited Malcolm Gladwell’s TED Talk on Howard Moskowitz, the man behind chunky spaghetti sauce. It’s an excellent reminder of a simple heuristic in marketing and communications thinking: challenging assumptions is the first step toward a breakthrough. In this case, it was the first step in making people happier at the grocery store and at the dinner table.
Packaging is simply a disposable by-product of purchase for most, but for some they see packaging as an opportunity to be more. Although the jury has yet to get hands-on experience with the packaging concept by the Environmentally Conscious Organization (it remains an idea that is hoping to see commercial actualization), the simple design of thoughtfully placed perforations to the standard pizza box provides extended functionality for the packaging.
Even though pizza boxes are made from cardboard, a commonly recycled material, they are not accepted by most centers because they become soiled by their use as pizza packaging. By thinking about the box, this concept allows for a longer life of the cardboard – as make-shift plates and leftover pizza storage — and maybe a glimpse into the benefits of considering the packaging as more than just the barrier between you and product it is enclosing.
Perhaps not the end-all-be-all design, but a definite reminder that the packaging can, and maybe should, be more than just a box.
