NORTHERN PLANNER

Lauren tagged me ages ago, so it’s about time I got around to putting down five blogs that make me think. Now there are far more than five, and you all know who you are, so I’m going to choose some that give me a slightly different perspective on stuff…..

1. Fake it until you make it. These are the observations of One Woman Running, an aspiring creative. I love the way she writes, I like her observations on The Work, but what I really enjoy is the way talks about her life. She makes me remember what it was like struggling to get that first job and how brave temps and people doing something they don’t love are – every single day.
2. Regine Debatty (we make money not art). This is a new one for me, but I love it. It sits at the intersection between technology and art. She shows how artists are using their medium to expose the ethical questions we should be asking about what’s going in in labs right now. As a science geek I love it, as a planner who wants to know what the conversations about the future are, well ditto.
3. Ray Kurzweil’s blog about emerging trends and technology can be quite scary sometimes, but always useful. The silliest thing I can do as a planner is just read stuff about planning. I think it’s important to hoard all sorts of interesting stuff. This is a great place to do just that.
4. I have to put Lauren and her She Sees Red Blog. I don’t know enough about art, something I want to remedy. Lauren’s reporting on her gallery visits, and how she does her own work is really helpful and a joy to read. Lauren’s one of these people that doesn’t just talk, she does.
5. So is James Boardwell. He’s someone I was lucky enough to meet at those Northern Planning summits. Now he helps me with most of my Web 2.0 stuff, and social research. His blog doesn’t get updated very much, which is a good job since lots of his stuff needs time for proper reflection. There’s lots of meaty posts about, well, everything. Every time I meet him he makes me think, for as long as I can keep up with him that is. He’s living proof that it’s essential to know people who are far cleverer than you are.
6. And I’m going to be cheeky and add a sixth. Marcus Brown is an interesting, generous man. He’s on the third version of his own blog, which is beginning to sire some posts that are incredibly profound, honest, personal and beautifully written. Then there are his alter egos, The Dead Artist and Sacrum. Sacrum is very funny, but he’s also an intelligent comment on the way planning models are used to look clever while doing nothing useful whatsoever.

By the way, Sacrum seems to have packed his bags and vanished into hiding at a secret       destination. Do you think he was responsible for the Olympic logo?

Ray Kurzweil’s ideas sound daft at first – but before you dismiss him, consider the following:

In the the 1970’s he invented programmes to analyze patterns in composers music and make new scores in their own style.

In 1984 he made the first electronic gizmo that could perfectly mimic acoustic instruments (Stevie Wonder suggested it).

He’s one those technical doers that believes something will be useful and possible and – does it.

Right now he thinks we’re only decades away from clever, conscious computers. Ones that will be able to demand rights and will probably be more intelligent than us. Now of course the problem with futurology is that it’s usually wrong, but look at Honda’s Asimo…machines and computers are already changing our lives, and the process is speeding up all the time. Think of the way mobile phones have truly revolutionised our social lives, or the way the internet has transformed information culture (and social lives too).

You might be worried that with all these machines doing everything for us, we’ll get bored without the trials and tribulations of the daily grind, but just maybe culture is ready…

Consider the emerging behavior of Baby Boomers – over 55’s have all that energy, all that time and all that money. Some (mostly male) try and replace the lost corporate status and usefulness – they try and hold on. But others are beginning to embrace this time of life as a new beginning, a chance to do all the things they wanted to try but never had the chance – in essence an experience culture based on self actualisation. They don’t want to be defined by age, but by attitude.

Anyway, imagine you were a mediaeval serf transported to 2007. Even a poor homeless person would be existing in the lap of luxury to them. Worrying about a home being repossessed isn’t quite the same as fleeing rape and pillage, or avoiding the Inquisition.

So maybe an answer to the question, "How will we stay interested?", would be, "Are you interested now?".

Of course we know that in the 1960’s they were predicting that by now we’d all be enjoying unlimited leisure by by now. But it never happened. Economists have shown that consumerism and our booming living standards are not making us happier – we’re more glum than we were in 1950. That’s thanks to us working our socks off so we can get the latest stuff we don’t need, and then find we get bored with it quickly, so we need to work harder to get more. Maybe the Baby Boomers chasing experiences are showing us the way.There’s plenty of evidence around that we’re ALL craving more time now, with loved ones, but also for ourselves.

And maybe more people will be able to do the kind of jobs that interest them, maybe we’ll have jobs that allow us to have flow – like the way you lose yourself in gardening, or a good game of chess.

That said, after a 200 years decline of working hours, the 80’s saw a reverse – largely thanks to lack of job security. But we still spend more time on leisure too. For the first time, in 1999 we spent more on leisure than clothing, housing food or transport.

So where do we get the time? You could argue that we spend less time with friends, but we also toil less over household chores. Technology has reduced drudgery, which we’ve filled with more work and more fun. But there’s a sting in that tail. Any more technology has a danger of being seen as drudgery too – another booklet to read, more settings to learn. More so than ever, innovations have to be useful and easy to use – take the work AND the thinking away from us. Think about it, our houses are already run by stupid robots – central heating, oven timers, answering machines, Sky Plus…….

That serf looking at us now would think we’ve gone mad. There’s an intense pressure on us to make the most of our down time now. We watch crap reality shows guiltily, we lounge around in pools worried that we should be seeing an art gallery, or wandering through an old cathedral. We eat prepared meals guiltily thinking of unopened cook books.

Maybe we’ll welcome these new machines with open arms, maybe we’re ready to enjoy our time, but you just wonder if leisure will turn into so much hard work…….

Progress is usually considered a good thing. Mostly it is, but sometimes it can be a double edged sword. Of course there’s the usual examples, like nuclear power, or the combustion engine, but maybe there’s other, less obvious implications we don’t consider.

Sometimes we can get caught up in the thrill of a new innovation without thinking the consequences through.

Take cars for instance. We’re all waiting for the day when we have decent electric cars without emissions, or maybe they’ll be running on hydrogen cells emitting only water. But electric cars will almost certainly be quieter, how will this affect road safety? Will more pedestrians be run over since they can’t hear a car coming?

And as for cars that emit water vapour – that’s actually THE most efficient global warming agent. Do we know for sure we won’t just make too many clouds?

Then there’s the internet. We’re already wondering if the ‘connected’ western world isn’t in danger of becoming a culture of lonely, socially inept individuals.  Still, most would agree that getting the Third World connected will be a force for good. Not only will dictatorships find it harder to maintain control when they lose the monopoly on information, in theory it  should be great for people in isolated areas to feel more connected to the rest of the world.

BUT, I read about some disquieting research on Nigerians who were using the web for the first time. Many actually felt more negative and helpless about their lives. Imagine a blind person who has no concept that there is anything wrong with  them being told that other people can see….

Many felt poorer than ever after seeing all the riches elsewhere. And the richness of experiences elsewhere made some feel lonelier and more isolated than ever.

Then there’s getting to exited about what you’ve developed, without considering if anyone actually wants it. Videphones have been possible for a long time, but people simply did not want them. They were just too invasive. It took mobile phones and the feeling of control we have over them before we got comfortable with it.

I bet someone somwhere is intent on holographic phones. Imagine always being on show, people who phone first thing seeing you in you’re PJ’s, seeing that spot, or your bedhead. Will we be even less inclined to actually go out and see people when we’re ‘with them’ artificially? Will anyone want that?

Who knows, but this is part of the reason behind me, as a planner, wanting to get more involved in product development, maybe that’s where I can be most useful. Or maybe it’s developing those added value services that help people avoid any negative effects of what we’re selling them. I don’t know.

But I do know that progress for progress’ sake can be more subtly complicated than we often acknowledge. 

I’m a bit dazed and confused after a week of sleeping, eating, reading and drinking, but I’m here.

I’m most confused by learning that Rob Campbell has a pair of pert breasts, but let’s set  that aside for now.

I need to blog about the PSFK conference and I need to get myself sorted for this too. But I’ve got tons of other stuff just aching to be posted about. Not least working up to more advice, this time about research. And there will be some news on swimming along with some crumbly stuff about, well, this and that.

Good to be back.

I’m supposed to be on holiday, but…

I had a good day at PSFK yesterday. I’m supposed to be blogging about it (they let me in for free), and I promise to do so when I get back next week.

For now though, it was well run, the venue was ace, and the speakers were superb. BUT it struck me that the people who were the most interesting were not the ones talking about advertising, or really ‘planning’. The best stuff was from people who are doing something a bit different. Ian Tate was easilly the best for me though. Conclusion of the day? The most interesting stuff isn’t coming from the established big agencies (or clients). Small seems to be better. I’ll report fully in a week or so.

It was great seeing people though. Will and Charles were there, I met Helen for the first time and we had lunch. She’s a lovely and Comfortably Disorientated in person as she is online. I also had met Beeker for the first time. We both had coffee with Russell. She was very patient with the Star Wars geekery.

I was very thankful they were there. I always feel out of place at these things. I’m far too shy to go up to people I don’t know and usually end up shrinking into a corner hoping no one will notice me.

It was a shame I missed the evening – and Lauren. But Friday night was the first night of my holiday. I wanted to get home to Mrs NP.

That’s really it now. ‘Bye.

You may have noticed I keep going on about heroes. Now David Beckham ISN’T one, for a host of reasons I shouldn’t need to explain. However, you’ve got to admire the way he’s bounced back again.

Back in 1998, after THAT World Cup sending off, he was probably the most hated person in the country. But in the space of a couple of years, he was national hero, admired as much for his iconic status as his free kicks.

Today, after the humiliation of losing both his England and Real Madrid shirts, he’s the prime mover in Real’s return to form, playing the football of his life and back on the England squad.

The man just seems to thrive on proving people wrong. He’s a living example on how best to channel resentment and the burning need to have revenge. Bearing a grudge and spending all your energies trying to get even doesn’t work. You may get to even the score, but you’re left with nothing. However, if you use that searing rage, channel it, to spur you on, to show people how wrong they were, it can motivate you like nothing else. And you’re not left with an empty shell at the end, you’ve done something great.

Last week was an important week for me. A very hard one, but the end result was winning a pitch that put one or two demons to rest, some quite long term- mostly about proving some people wrong; about me and also some of the people I work with. And you know what? Now I couldn’t give a monkeys about one or two who helped me focus, if you know what I mean. I’m just proud of myself and the some of the people I work with. Pretty good that. Would the same result have come about without their ‘help’? I’m not sure, but they certainly helped me make sure damn sure it did.

Famous Rob Mortimer has been searching for that elusive job for a (too!) long time. But he’d better get a move on since his little brother has started his own blog about branding and stuff. If it wasn’t for the fact that Junior is still a student, Mortimer should be very worried, not to mention the rest of us. As Palpatine said to Anakin, "We shall watch your career with great interest".

Go take a look and tell him what you think.