Saturday, November 17, 2012

Important info about book, deadlines

.
We have a tight schedule for the book. These are the official deadlines + other info that have been decided upon in the coordination group:

- Sun Nov 18 at 18.00. Deadline for suggesting trends you want to offload to Daniel/book introduction. No less than 10 groups have suggested (at least) one trend they want to upload up until this point in time. NOTE: I'm away for the weekend, you have an extra day for suggesting trends you want to offload from you chapters compared to earlier info, i.e. Sunday instead of Saturday.
- Mon Nov 19. Daniel will publish info about what trends he will take care of. He might push some trends back to the project groups to take care of in their respective chapters.
- Wed Nov 21. Daniel will have (at least a draft) for the book intro written so you can see what is taken care of in the intro and how to shape the "interface" between Daniel's book into and your individual chapters.
- Fri Nov 23. Deadline for chapters, all texts should be sent (together with pictures) to Hanna.
- Tue Nov 27 between 10-13. Writing workshop in seminar room 4523. Send two persons from each group catching the last spelling errors, for fixing the final touches on the texts etc. These two persons should preferably be the persons most involved (i.e. responsible) for your texts and they can make on-the-spot decision.

New info (never before communicated - IMPORTANT).
I have read your weekly report (week 46). Many groups have internal deadlines for their texts in the beginning/middle of next week. Sometimes you become almost blind to you own errors and assumptions, so I hereby mandate that each group should read the text of two other groups and provide feedback to these two groups. That also means that your text will be read by two other groups and that these groups will provide feedback to you. I have organized this as follows:

I have created a Google document. Do note that anyone with the link can access and edit this document. Please follow the instructions in the document!
.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Offload trends to the book introduction

.
It will be boring and perhaps also redundant if each groups starts their respective chapter by writing a page about different trends they assume will happen during the next 10-20 years. Especially if several group assume the same trends will happen (more tablets, death of paper, paper still going strong etc.).

You can therefore "offload" this work to Daniel who will write the introduction to the book. I have created a form where you can suggest trends (etc.) that you assume will happen and that you would like Daniel to write about instead of taking valuable space in your own chapter to write about these things. You find it here. Do note that there are also group- or project-specific trends/scenarios that you should keep and write about in your group - what we are talking about here is more general "background" societal trends that you might suspect also other groups assume will happen...

We have a tight schedule for writing the texts for the book, but you will still have until Saturday (Nov 17) to submit your suggestions. Daniel will review them in the beginning of next week and will get back to you mid-week (next week) at the latest with info you will need in order to make a good "transition" between the book intro and your own chapter. Do note:

- For the sake of simplicity, please designate one person who is responsible for your group's text. This can but does not have to be the same person as your project leader. This is also the person who should come to the "work seminar"/"writer's workshop" (one representative per group) on Tue Nov 27 (10-13) - we talked about this at the latest coordination meeting (Nov 6), see further this document (search for "workshop").
- Please have only this person be the representative of your group and the only person from your group who uses the form to suggest topics to offload.

Good luck with your texts!
.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Mid-crit schedule

.
We had a meeting in the coordination group today (consisting of me, the executive groups and all project group leaders - although three were absent). Here is some important info that is of interest to all of you regarding the upcoming mid-crit event (this coming Friday).

- The mid-crit will be held in B1 between 10.15-17.00. We will have outside guest critics - please impress them by being on time!
- Each group has 20 minutes for presentation + questions and discussion. Please use a maximum of 10 minutes for your presentation so that there is plenty of time left.
- Send all presentation material (Powerpoint/Keynote slides) to Christian Croona (christiancroona@gmail.com) in advance. The deadline for sending your material to Christian is Thursday Nov 8 at 19.00. Large files can be shared through a public dropbox instead of by mail.
- Please also bring your presentation on a USB memory stick and/or a laptop computer (as backup).

Executive group member Christian Croona is responsible for the final presentation as well as the mid-crit (he will for example be the master of ceremonies on Friday - Daniel will concentrate on being a guest guest critic). Christian has put together a schedule for the mid-crit presentation as follows:

  • 10.15-10.25 Mini-lecture/independent research project 1 (Ted S on never-chosen topic 12 "The future of paid digital content")
  • 10.25-10.35 Mini-lecture/independent research project 2 (Havva G on never-chosen topic 5, "Children's and youth's reading habits/relationship to magazines")
  • 10.35-10.55 MAGnify
  • 10.55-11.15 Future of collecting
  • 11.15-11.30 BREAK
  • 11.30-11.50 Digital lenses
  • 11.50-12.10 Augmented reality and magazines
  • 12.10-13.30 LUNCH BREAK
  • 13.30-13.50 Readly
  • 13.50-14.10 MAGi
  • 14-10-14.30 An audience of one
  • 14.30-14.45 BREAK
  • 14.45-15.05 Future of interactive ads
  • 15.05-15.25 MagZone
  • 15.25-15.45 BREAK
  • 15.45-16.05 Future of distribution
  • 16.05-16.25 Journalists as rockstars
  • 16.25-16.45 Magazine for several senses
  • 16.25-16.45 Wrap-up/concluding words (Daniel)

If you have any questions about the schedule or other practical aspects around the Friday mid-crit event, please pose them to Christian (christiancroona@gmail.com) with a cc to Daniel.
.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Mid-crit

.
The mid-crit is getting nearer. Here is some important information.

I have booked the lecture hall B1 the whole day, i.e. Friday Nov 9 between 10.15-17.00. A detailed schedule will be announce mid-week (sometime after the coordination meeting with the executive group and project group leaders on Tuesday Nov 6).

As has been mentioned several times before (for example during one or indeed several of the very last activities in the start-up phase of the course, at the two coordination meetings that your project leader has attended, as well as in blog posts last month (for example here and here)), we require your personal individual presence at this event - all day (not just part of the day, for example when your group is presenting)

I have also, at several occasions (see the two blog post above), asked you to notify me if there are collisions with other courses. I have offered to personally get in touch with other teaches and negotiate/ask them to move their activities if a sizable number of students take that other course - but no one has gotten in touch with me and asked me to do that.

If only you (or perhaps just a few more students) take another course which collides with this event, you should prioritize this course over the other course on this one occasion. Do note that Nov 9 is the only scheduled event and indeed the one and only occasion between Oct 11 and Dec 5 when the course Future of Media requires you to be someplace special sometime special.


As to the event itself, each group will have a maximum of 10 minutes to pitch their basic ideas and also brag about all the work you have done this far (read literature, interviewed hotshots or ordinary people, done focus groups, surveys, drawn sketches, built mock-ups or prototypes, created a storyboard for a movie etc). Each group will altogether have a guaranteed 20 minutes reserved for the presentation and for discussion of their work (or perhaps a few more minutes if time allows for it).

Do note that the emphasis at the event is on the soundness of your concept and your ideas. A successful presentation and a benign reception can be seen as a go-ahead to continue your work on the path you have (already) taken. Another alternative is of course that you get feedback that encourages you to veer some from the direction you are heading in (ranging from timid suggestions and fun ideas to forceful "recommendations" that you most certainly should take into account).


We have invited three external guests ("guest critics") for this event - see below. They will listen to each group's presentation/pitch and then query and discuss your work. Students from other groups are of course also welcome to chip in and ask questions!


Do note that this is also the premier occasion for you to get an idea about what (all) other groups are doing in the course. Perhaps you will realize that there is a need to coordinate your work with another group (for example if you overlap, or if there is a "natural" progression or fit (or contradiction) between your topic and that of the other group). This will for example also have implications for the order in which we will schedule groups to present their projects at the final presentation (Dec 7).

Our three external guest critics for this occasion are Åke Walldius, Milad Hossainzadeh and Anders Malmström:


About: Åke Walldius is a researcher in Human Computer Interaction at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). He earned his Ph.D. in Cinema Studies at Stockholm University after having worked for 20 years in video production and information visualization. He is team leader for the Socio-technical Practices team at the Media technology an Interaction design Group and is an appointed expert in standardization. His main interests are socio-technical visualization, genre analysis and design pattern composition and use. Åke has been responsible (2008) and co-responsible (2007, 2009, 2011) for the course Future of Media at the Media technology programme at KTH.





About: Milad Hossainzadeh is a young architect and entrepreneur who was born in Iran. He grew up in Sweden and has lived in London where he graduated from UCL The Bartlett School of Architecture. He is currently based in Stockholm, working at the leading Scandinavian architectural firm White. He shares his time as a member of Urban Land Institute and the recent startup of BLINK - a transnational think tank for responsive ideas of changes in lifestyles, cities, cultures and economies. Milad gave the lecture "Thinking inside the box from outside!" in our course on Oct 10.



About: Anders Malmsten started his career in media as a journalist in the early 1980's, working as a reporter and editor in several daily newspapers in Sweden. In 1993 he was appointed project leader for developing Dagens Medicin (Medicine Today), a newsweekly aimed at the medical profession. Dagens Medicin became a success in Sweden and Anders Malmsten headed the launch in Denmark, Norway, Finland, The Netherlands and Poland in the 1990's. In 1999, Anders was awarded The Great Journalist Award, Sweden's most prestigious journalistic award, for the launch of Dagens Medicin. In 2002, Malmsten left Dagens Medicin to start his own consultancy and worked for several Nordic magazine publishers as well as governmental organizations and corporations. After Bonnier's acquisition of two groups of magazines in the US in 2006 and 2007, Malmsten was recruited back to Bonnier to start Bonnier International Magazines, focusing on licensing Bonnier's magazine titles and the development of new markets. Anders gave the lecture "Digital and global magazines will change the future for magazines publishers" in our course on Sept 7.
.