oOOo is my symbol for this Quick Peeks blog.
This was Prince's symbol:
I think Prince went wrong when he conjured up an unpronounceable symbol that no one could actually type, because it doesn't exist in font land, even in the most obscure font menu choices.
I've picked a symbol to represent me here on this blog, that anyone can find on a common keyboard, and Quick Peeks is easy to say.
What does oOOo represent?
I think oOOo will also make a great t-shirt, someday. I see MOO.com cards, I see MOO.com stickers -- I see a branding empire where people only communicate by sending ASCII secret code messages in drawings. Hmmm...well maybe not quite that far gone. But I have been known to say "bring back ASCII!"
For a quick peek at one of my favourite highly skilled uses of ASCII check out:
STAR WARS ASCIIMATION
The genius behind turning the entire George Lucas film into an ASCII work of art is:
Simon Jansen.
Thank you Simon! For providing me with endless amazement and awestruck delight about what can be done with ASCII, since 1997.
And super thanks to the folks over at Frazmtn.com for compiling a whole bunch of Star Wars ASCII designs.
Hey Frazmtn.com, if you are reading this blog, can you please please pretty please make a Princess Leia ASCII drawing?
.-. |_:_| /(_Y_)\ ( \/M\/ ) '. _.'-/'-'\-'._ ': _/.--'[[[[]'--.\_ ': /_' : |::"| : '.\ ': // ./ |oUU| \.' :\ ': _:'..' \_|___|_/ : :| ':. .' |_[___]_| :.':\ [::\ | : | | : ; : \ '-' \/'.| |.' \ .;.' | |\_ \ '-' : | | \ \ .: : | | | \ | '. : \ | / \ :. .; | / | | :__/ : \\ | | | \: | \ | || / \ : : |: / |__| /| | : : :_/_| /'._\ '--|_\ /___.-/_|-' \ \ '-'
Ah, I love ASCII, and, yes, I am that retro when it comes to technology,
-Lisa
PS: Do you have a favourite ASCII website, drawing or do you make your own? Please leave a comment and point me toward it. I collect ASCII drawings.
no comments
Last’s week’s b.TWEEN festival delivered as promised, with many from the digital community gathered in Manchester to seed, share and sell ideas. Among the two day gathering, there were some magic moments, including:
oOOoIdea Incubation
Steve Taylor, Director of Innovation, for Aegis, kept a busy appointment schedule to counsel participants on their ideas. His valuable advice to entrepreneurs, creatives and people with the very beginnings of a potential idea, is fostering the start, and strengthening, of new things to come in the digital industry.
oOOoChina Insight
Keynote speaker Kaiser Kuo, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising (China) Group Director, Digital Strategy, who is based in Beijing, gave an inside look past what he described as being “the great firewall of China” in Censorship, Culture & Chinese Netizens, speech that the Manchester Evening New’s blog The Mancunian Way covered here.
Read more about his thoughts about the future of digital marketing in China on his Digital Watch , as well as his own blog "Ich Bin Ein Beijinger".
Attendants loved the fact that he is also one of the founding members of China’s heavy metal band Tang Dynasty -- which looks great in character: 春秋
Kaiser Kuo’s speech, and his rapport with attendants, earned him the title of being the The most inspirational person at b.TWEEN 08.
oOOoThe Navigators
Throughout b.TWEEN, expert navigators of the emerging media landscape mapped the way of the present, and gave insight to the future, with highlight sessions from, Carolyn Maze, Managing Director, Fluorescent Media, along with Double Fusion’s David Miller and Kevin Bacon’s AWAL , and others.
oOOoAn All Ages Show
Generational mentoring carried the show, as it was the younger generation meets the older generation throughout the two days, on stage and off, with both jellieellie and Bill Tidy presenting, and Channel 4’s Matt Locke giving the big picture view of how the broadcaster is empowering teenage audiences.
oOOoThe Seeds
Most inspiring were the connections and idea sharing happening between attendants. Idea swapping and support was plentiful and encouraging.
I attended b.TWEEN as a finalist in the Branding Talent competition, with a seed idea called Rare Fruits . The top prize was awarded to Robin Cramp for his Little Me concept for Littlewoods, a great fit for the brand.
Although the Rare Fruits seed idea did not win, what the experience did provide was some spot-on feedback from the mentors at b.TWEEN, including suggestions for possible next steps.
OK fast and furious PEEK straight from bTWEEN08 in Manchester --
The PUBLIC (yes! that is YOU) vote is on right now -- for one of the top prizes up here--
Exploding Narratives
It's one of the more creative uses of storyboarding, with futuristic technology thought in mind.
There's FIVE finalists up for this award -- along with plenty of other idea brewing folks who are here, many nail biting, about what kind of crowd approval they'll get from their peers -- and the whole wide world!
GO HERE & CAST YOUR VOTE NOW!
FIND OUT MORE
By the way, in the SEED SHARE SELL spirit where there is plenty of all this good stuff happening up here in Manchester --
Check out the Enterprising Ideas category to give yourself some feel good inspiration for the weekend.
Over lunch I just heard the concept and initial SEED idea that one contestant is up to, and I feel warm, fuzzy and really hopeful for everyone's future because of what Hug Everthing wants to do to the planet.
Another *star* up here is Jay Cousins who is bursting with genius ideas in all sectors and a master of Quickfire.
He's back on stage --- again! -- with Enterprising Ideas, along with plenty of other digital talented creative people.
Don't let the Dragon's Den eat these young budding seeds alive! Let 'em grow -- get on the webcast at www.btween.co.uk and watch, listen, LEARN from them.
It is a great Friday afternoon at the office break time!
WATCH THE WEBCAST LIVE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!
Back to biting my nails, to see if our Rare Fruits entry for the Branding Talent competition gets the dragon's votes.
Today at bTWEEN in Manchester I’m looking forward to peeking in on one speaker today, who is more like every speaker in the room. This keynoter is bTWEEN’s live chat messages, an expressive sort, and cheeky.
The ramble that runs on stage, via the live chat uploads projected on screen, is a combination of helpful, with attendants posting information links to supplement discussions, asking questions and occasionally leaving hilarious commentary.
bTWEEN's chat feature was created by muchosmedia and runs alongside the live webcasting being provided by Kinura. You can join the chatter remotely, here.
Other Peeks:
oOOo A 60-Year-Old Baby is at bTWEEN
The 'Baby' is the world's first stored-program computer and was designed by Professor Freddie Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, at the University of Manchester. The first prototype created proved that digital storage was possible using the cathode ray tube (CRT). The Guardian has a full write-up about ‘Baby’ here.
oOOo The Sound of bTWEEN
Attendants are enjoying the lulling sounds filling the conference room, being provided by Martyn Ware’s immersive sound system from his company illustrious, including some sounds that the chatterer’s threads say sounds like whales.
oOOo bTWEEN Competitions
Finalists are presenting their ideas in a variety of categories including Quickfire, Interactive Gallery, Exploding Narrative, Enterprising Ideas and Branding Talent. The atmosphere here is exactly as the tagline for bTWEEN states that ideas are being “seeded, shared and sold.”
It looks like much of the heart & soul of the UK digital community is in Manchester, for bTWEEN08, where creative talent is gathered for a two day conference that includes cash prize competitions, and invites the public to vote for what participants come up with.
Kind of the X-Factor for digital types, there’s opportunity here for showcasing ideas, skills and imaginative uses of technology to peers. With presentations being delivered in a ‘Quickfire’ format of fast pitching ideas with minimal Power Point slides, and enthusiasm that hopes to give the audience the WOW factor that might win approval, new ideas are plentiful.
Tonight’s opening launch event at the Manchester Art Gallery included presentations from the winners of the Exploding Narrative category, a challenge that invited submissions for location based mobile games, stories and educational journeys by developing content with the new medium of mscapes. The games make use of GPS-enabled PDAs, and are based on easy to use software developed by HP Labs, who awarded each winner a £1,000 cash prize to deliver their ideas, who included:
Robin Shackford‘s Super Scurry
Ben Minton's The Detective
Ben Dalton's Our Music, Our City
Hazel Grian's With You
Martin Rieser's Riverains
Attendants find out Friday evening who wins additional awards.
I’m here representing my agency Hai Media Group, along with media partner Ecolocate, as finalists in the Branding Talent competition for our Rare Fruits concept.
I’ll try to share some quick peeks from the conference over the next two days about what I see.
I'm in Manchester this week to attend bTWEEN08, where I'll be sharing ideas with other digital entrepreneurs from thoughout the UK.
I'm a new blogger here with Brand Republic and I'm happy to be a contributor.
I'll be peeking about at a variety of happenings from the worlds of new technology, art, entertainment, business and beyond.
I hope you enjoy what I invite you to take a peek at from time to time.
Lisa Devaney
Blogging for:
Member since: 14 Jun 2008
Last login: 22 Dec 2008
Total Posts: 34
