Heads, Oakland’s First Friday, June 2013

I do love this NYT Op-Ed (What Data Can’t Do) from David Brooks, especially

Data struggles with context. Human decisions are not discrete events. They are embedded in sequences and contexts. The human brain has evolved to account for this reality. People are really good at telling stories that weave together multiple causes and multiple contexts. Data analysis is pretty bad at narrative and emergent thinking, and it cannot match the explanatory suppleness of even a mediocre novel.

Of course, the qualitative narrative data is still data. It’s mostly the kind of information I work with. Perhaps it’s easy to conflate data with Big Data and succumb to the notion that if the approach to Big Data is limiting, then the approach to data in general must be limiting. But data is data – it’s what we use, in whatever forms, to inform and inspire and drive decisions.

The ethnographic research community is looking at the increasing reliance on quantitative data in business and questioning their role. Rich Radka proposes a “Yes, and…” mindset in this posting, no doubt one of many we’ll be seeing, as our business culture (and culture overall) evolves.

Hello, week!

• From a Monday point of view, it seems like this is a week for writing. I’m holding for a bunch of different clients and while their different planning processes stretches out, it’s a good time to dig into stuff that’s been brewing for me.
• portigal.com should be all set. I think I’ve found all the weird formatting issues that didn’t move over properly. I also updated several hundred rotten links although there will always be more.
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – Flashmob tipping point, TERMINAL BAR: the film.
• What we’re consuming: Touchez pas au grisbi, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’, The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders.

The We Buy White Albums project, earlier this year from Rutherford Chang is pretty fascinating.

Chang has collected over 650 first-pressings of the Beatles’ White Album. He considers the serialized first-press, an edition running in excess of 3 million, to be the ultimate collector’s item, and aims to amass as many copies as possible. Over the course of his Session, Chang will create an archive, listening library, and anti-store to house and grow his collection of the Beatles’ iconic record.

Chang will create a record store that stocks only White Albums. But rather than selling the albums, he will buy more from anyone willing to part with an original pressing in any condition.

I like how he’s taken a precious object that is also a ubiquitous commodity and created a very traditional experience that highlights both aspects. As archaic as the original object is, it has managed to hold onto a good chunk of it’s (non-monetary) value over the decades (writing as someone who doesn’t own, has never owned, and will likely never own the White Album). It’s a somewhat retro-futurist idea, that we have retail set up to deal with one item and one item only, decades later. And more generally retro, asking what album in the last two decades could you imagine doing this with thirty years hence? Is the White Album relatively unique in being the touchstone it represents? The way we produce, market and consume pop culture has changed. What would Chang do in 2043?

I was recently in Kitchener-Waterloo (for the first time in over 20 years) to speak at the marvelous Fluxible conference. I had a little bit of time to walk around and take some pictures. Here are my favorites.

Lots and lots of tea

Oh noooooooo!

Downtown beautification.

Bathroom paper towel dispenser no longer has rubbish below, instead has a badly worn note pointing you to the new solution.

Someone in this area is scent-sitive.

Seen along highway 92 in Half Moon Bay. Subsequent screens indicate it’s an online survey about commuting. Still, really?

I spent a very brief in time in Toronto recently, taking a bit of time after the Fluxible conference to visit my old hometown. I got to visit with folks and of course walk around and take some pictures. Here’s some of what I saw.

Recently I was in LA to speak at IxDA Los Angeles/LA UX Meetup (see more here). Here’s some of the photos from my time in Southern California.

The Wall Project is made from the largest section of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany, with original and added imagery.

In a dystopian-LA moment, I filled my rental car with gas only to find the pump had some ridiculous software error and wouldn’t generate a receipt, giving me a message to see the cashier. There was no cashier as the “store” part of the station was gutted and loosely under construction. The unhelpful signage gave a non-working phone number – no matter what variation of the scrawl I tried. And what good would it do to call for a receipt? I was on my way to the car rental place and I needed a receipt in my hand.

The holes where monitors used to be.

Excitement over a mail chute denied; it definitely does not work.

Exterior, Beverly Hills.

Two weeks ago I was in Tampa to lead a workshop for a client. I had a bit of time to explore the area – here are some of my photos.

The ritzier area of St. Petersburg, with huge houses and huge trees.

Salt-and-pepper tofu at the Yummy House China Bistro. This place was good and rivaled Chinese food I’ve had in San Francisco.

Shampoo Me.

Houston donut fave, thanks to an airport layover.

Not sure I’m as excited about the elevator upgrade as the hotel wants me to be.

God hates swag.

Parking at the Dali museum.

Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area!

• I’m staying local this week, which is a bit of a relief, after several weeks of airplanes and hotel rooms.
• It looks as though portigal.com was moved to its new host without significant downtime for the website or our email. Phew! There’s some weird formatting things we keep finding on older blog posts, and I’m sure various other gremlins will crop up so if you see something, say something!
• Out on the town this week, I’m looking forward to Kim Erwin’s presentation about Communicating the New, her new book (where I’m one of a diverse group of interviewees).
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – Knee Defender, Brand Names for Kids.
• What we’re consuming: Cinematic Titanic, Mori Point, Margaret.

I was in Minneapolis earlier this week to speak at the MIMA Summit. I hadn’t been in Minneapolis since 1999, so I took a little bit of time to explore – here’s some of my photographs.

City icons: Charles Schultz hails from Minneapolis, as did Mary Richards.

Who needs the Kuik-E-Mark?

Create your Turkey Masterpiece! Who could resist, when inspired by those nothing-short-of-masterful pieces?

Inspiring earnest words populate a downtown garden space.

No smoking or dipping. No, that’s not an ashtray, it’s a tin of tobacco. You can tell because it’s got the word “tobacco” written on it, pretty much the mark of failure in icon design.

ATMS are increasing featuring mirrors as safety devices, letting you see whose coming up behind you. This takes it one step further, with a video monitor performing the same function. Is that creeping-featurism?

Marquette Plaza

, constructed somewhat like a suspension bridge.

Not related at all to Chevron. Really?

Sawing you in half daily. At Sever’s. Really?

Mill City Museum