Posts filed under ‘mobile’
Kids Online Unconference ’09
I helped promote the second Kids Online unconference again and am so happy with the conversations that we all had. I wanted to share the conversations we had.
We used the hashtag #kidsonline if you want to check out the tweets.
I have a collaborative google doc of notes. Please feel free to check it out and/or add to it.
I also tried my first streamed video (audio is poor for many of the talks, but if you listen hard, you can hear us). It’s broken into 3 videos, each rather long. And the video sometimes doesn’t match with the audio. But I tried, right?
I know there were talks at the end about having another one of these next year. If you are interested, let me know and I can let the rest of the organizers know.
ALSO… I want to start roaming cocktail parties where we can all get together and talk shop about the kids online industry. We have a listserv that you should signup for if you are interested in knowing when the next one is (or starting one of your own)
Kids Online unconference – May 31
Hi all –
First of many plugs about the Kids Online Unconference that is happening the day before the Ypulse Youth Mashup. The whole thing is 5/31/09-6/2/09, but come to what you can.
We need to start getting a headcount, so if you could let myself or any of the other coordinators know if you are planning on attending, that would be great!
To sign up for the listserv we have set up, go to this link http://lists.idcommons.net/lists/info/kidsonline and click the “Subscribe” link.
Thanks!
SXSW09 notes
better late than never, eh?… 
Iphone gaming session
– There are 20-30million iphones/itouchs in market
- games and entertainment 1 to 3, account for more than half
- pinch media has great iphone usage stats in US
- There are over 600 paid family apps
- 70% of mobile market (people using their phone for web use) is from iphone – not the same as market share
- make less than $1 profit margin per app
- hoping for push notifications soon
- core
- free apps – maximize traffic
- platform – multiply traffic (ads incorporated)
- paid apps – direct to premium apps (native & awesome)
- ngmico average durations on games
- 22.6 min rolando,
- topple 11.3 minuutes,
- mazefinger 6.3 minutes
- distribution
- 27,000 apps, hard to get featured
- chronological listing is the only implicit feature area
- refresh every 2-3 days
- ads not cost effective – great clickthru, but not great rev
- youtube videos and reviews
- send out press releases to every media outlets
- get them free copies of the game
- as much info as possible
- once app in top 100, it is self sustaining
- pangea hired reverb communication to handle the pr
- the more you do to encourage viral marketing
- invite and challenge features help
- price points
- started at $10
- *****************
- Learning and Gaming core conversation was a tense and interesting session. Mind Candie’s peeps headed it up and had tons prepared, but the crowd was not having it. Within the first 10 minutes a griefer in the back raised the tension stating that trying to determine how gaming in schools could ever happen with the strict educational standards in schools. A designation of learning versus educational was made, saying that while they may mean very similar things, the connotations are looser with the term “learning”. Then another griefer took it to an extremely tense moment bashing teachers for being horrible and that all of them should be gotten rid of as they were just getting worse. This caused the teachers of the room to get all riled up and many of us wondered who would bring it back to a professional conversation level. Many great applications of integrating learning into games and gaming into classrooms were given, but the topic kept coming back to the lack of a bridge to connect the developers to the educators. One gentleman offered to build such an application and was received with much fanfare a the end. All in all a very interesting session and positive outcome to know that the topic is so emotionally charged.
- ******************
Tech Moms
- Lively conversations in the room and all very passionate
- Talked about the paradox of Paid Endorsements
- lost authenicity if you pay, but risk of negative feedback if you dont
- ROI vs SOI – Sphere of Influence
- Have to figure out where the moms are
- Many moms prefer local forums over blogs
- tons of moms on twitter now
- see the saturation of mom forums/communities, etc and use twitter as a catalyst tool
- “give me the tools” to engage with your brand
- twitter hashtags of #playoutdoors, #momsxsw, #techmoms, #momswhotech
- Rachel Silverman – NYT moms/tech columnist
Psst…introducing Chuggington
Just wanted to let you all know about the project I have been working on. Not much news, other than we launched our production blog at http://chuggington.com.
It’s a cool project. I am getting to dive into areas of our industry I haven’t had a chance to before which is always exciting. Subscribe to the Production Blog to stay updated.
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Tags: Chuggington, Ludorum, kids, trains, preschool, animation, CGI, virtual world
Researching digital distribution this week
Thinking about digital distribution this and wanted to brain dump and hopefully get feedback from you all. I am trying to compartmentalize digital distribution so that I can explain my understanding of it to others in an easy way. Any help would be appreciated.
I see the strategy being simultaneously very different and very similar for independents and corporate company endeavors online.
INDEPENDENTS:
If you are an independent person, with something to say you have a variety of options available to you. Focusing online, you can post your thoughts on someone else’s site or blog, join a forum or community and voice your opinion or many other outlets for you express yourself.
If you want a bit more involvement, you can decide to manage it yourself in a variety of ways and formats. You can start a blog and rant in written form, you can start a podcast and rant in verbal form or you can start a video cast and rant in physical form.
If you decide to go this route, you may want to increase your audience, so you can add your content to aggregators and feed lists so that more people can search for and find your content. You can add tags to entries that are cross referenced on other sites. You can offer other ways for your users to find your content, like feeds or social bookmark tools. You can also syndicate your content and put it on multiple platforms and other sites, depending on the format.
CORPORATE:
What if you are a producer of someone else’s content, like your company, and you find yourself in the similar situation above. As an independent, it’s easier to determine how big and wide-spread you want your content to be, it’s your choice, that’s all you are thinking about.
But with a company, you have tons of other issues to think about:
- Which pieces of content are you going to offer to the world?
- Do you have rights to put this content online?
- Where are the borders of those rights? Formats? Clip length? Countries?
- Should you offer downloads or streaming? DRM or not?
- Are there overlaps with different channels? Mobile? Web? VOD?
- Will you have a Handheld Gaming Device strategy? Does it work on wifi and non-wifi enabled devices?
I have been watching these issues for years now. The market is moving so fast in every way, that I never really get a chance to focus on these channels. So I am reaching out. Correct me if I am wrong in classifications or defintions and add if you can where I don’t have enough info.
Licensed video distribution channels:
- These are companies that you either pay to be on or they pay you, but there is a formal contract/deal/aggreement drawn between the producer of the content and the distribution site/channel.
- They stream most of their content and normally do not allow for cross pollination of the content on their site.
- Because of their association with the networks, these are also sometimes referred to as IPTV or Internet protocol television.
Independent video distribution sites
- These are sites that allow anyone to post their own content after agreeing to a simple “click here” sort of terms of use.
- They stream their content, but encourage cross pollination of the content on other sites by use of an embed code.
- These are also sometimes referred to as IPTV or Internet protocol television, although not as much as the examples above as television implies networks and programming.
- Some of these sites are using “Channels” to group similar content in an effort to help consumers used to the more congruent programming on television.
Video on Demand (VOD)
- These are distribution methods that are usually tied to network content, where the network will offer selected programming in a cache that the consumer can watch at their convenience.
- This is a highly demographic driven distribution channel. Preschoolers and older adults tend to use this at higher rates. Tech thought leaders use DVR devices in lieu of VOD.
- Comcast offer an area on their set top box where individual networks can offer VOD selections.
Mobile Distribution
- This is where I need an infusion of who are the leaders now. I studied the market in early 2006, but with how quickly things are happening, who knows who is the leader now (actually, one of you knows)
- I DO know, that format-wise, mobile content, at least non-interactive content like videos, needs to be within the under 3 minute mark.
- This will change as soon as the new high-tech phones (iPhone, Nokia N95, etc) start becoming more of a mass market reality, but the marketplace is by in large still flip phone based. I do see more and more people getting the qwerty keyboard phones (ala Sidekick, helio, etc) for ease of texting.
- What is very big still is ringtones and all derivatives of ringtones. Ringbacks are even spreading in popularity.
- Games seem to be holding steady as well. I personally do not know anyone who games often on their cell, but I see them often enough where I am able to accept the statistics that talk about mobile gaming on the rise.
- But who are the leaders? Are the mobile networks still paying for content or are the producers paying to be on the network? Not sure where this stands currently.
Handheld Gaming/Internet Devices
- This is a relatively new area to look at for digital distribution (unless you are a game developer ). But more and more handheld devices have wifi enabled.
- Is anyone taking advantage of this medium besides the hardware/software companies that ? Are there any independent distributors utilizing this medium? I know the PSP plays mini disc movies – is there downloadable content as well?
- How is optimization for Internet handheld going? Is the market big enough to justify the resource time from your staff?
Internet Capable Gaming Consoles
- Same sort of questions as above, is anyone taking advantage of this outlet, or is it locked down by the indiviudal game companies?
Correct me if and where I am wrong and add where it is needed. Thanks!
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Tags: VOD, DRM, wifi, joost, hulu, youtuibe, myspace tv, revver, vimeo, crackle, vuze, mobitv, vcast, psp, sony, nintendo, xbox 360, nokia n05, iphone
Web 2.0 is so normal
I had a chat with a friend last night about what “Web 2.0″ is. He, a young marketing exec, thought that it was basically a programming term and that since he wasn’t hearing it that much anymore, it’s kinda a dead trend. Oh no, I told him. It’s much more than a marketing term for programming.
Basically I separated Web 2.0 into 3 areas: Design, Programming and Community. I said that any one of the elements, done correctly, could qualify something as up for a Web 2.0 label, but a combination of the three ensured it.
- Design
- I am writing a creative brief today and started digging around to see if I could find some references for aesthetics I am partial to. In doing so, I uncovered this nice writeup that summarizes some of the typical design elements found in a “web 2.0″ site.
- http://f6design.com/journal/2006/10/21/the-visual-design-of-web-20
- Programming
- I told my friend, if you hear the words Ruby, Python, Drupal or AJAX used, you are dealing with a Web 2.0 site. Of course, many other programming languages are used to achieve the kind of drag and drop feel of a Web 2.0 site, but these are the big ones lately. These are also nice languages to see on a developer’s CV if you are hiring them for a job, as, even if they are not experts in any of the languages, they are forward thinking.
- Community
- How happy am I that the accidental career path that I wandered onto has become such a superstar in the industry.
- Users are #1 in the Web 2.0 era. You have to figure out a way to not only provide ways for your company to hear and communicate with your audience/users, but to actually listen and value their input. Voting, focus groups, user enhances product design – the list is becoming infinite in the ways a company can immerse itself it it’s audience and become better for it.
Let me know if I missed any major facet of Web 2.0. I think most characteristics will fall in these buckets though.
Now that Web 2.0 has become normal, the fun begins. Virtual worlds, user-centric design and strategies, MTV and video game raised kids becoming executives and generally blurred lines between companies and users are just the beginnings of a new era of business. Web 2.0 isn’t dead, it was just the beginning. And I am excited for things to come.
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Tags: web2.0, design, mtv, video games, virtual worlds
Proactive online content for kids
Those of us who understand the positive aspects of online play need to help shape the climate online in the next couple years. Gone are the days of bragging about how your child knows so much more about technology/computers/internet than you do. More and more of our lives are being spent online. Let’s treat that sea change with a bit more respect than simple awe/wonder.
If we don’t want EVERY brand space online to be blatant consumerism with no message or goal, we have to be proactive about preventing that from happening. We must work toward not just calling out the bad sites, but creating and commending the good sites. And not just ones that give lip-service to more holistic goals – ones that actually step up and do it.
I ducked out of the Kids and Teens talk at the Virtual Worlds conference last week in order to see a young girl doll brand case study. Oy vey, was that a hard one to sit through. The developer giving the talk continually talked sarcastically about the girly brand that he developed, which showed me that he didn’t respect the audience and community the site was trying to develop. How can you create a great community if you don’t care about them?
Through his talk, he talked a couple times about the core values of “Empowerment” etc that the site’s founders wanted to convey in the virtual world. But almost in the same breath, he would reiterate multiple times that the only purpose for the site was to “sell more dolls.” Makes you wonder if the brand managers of those dolls know and care how their brand is being conveyed to conference audiences and their online community.
If “to sell more dolls” is truly the reason that the parent company wanted to launch this world, fine. They certainly are not alone. But that doesn’t mean all the other sites that will be developed in this category have to be like that.
Sesame Street’s Panwapa world is a cool approach to get into a space that is bound to be crowded in the next 2 years – preschool to early readers, 4-7 year olds. Kudos to them for being there before anyone else with a solid idea for a world (and not just the mindless wandering and silly games that make up almost every world in this space).
Whether we like it or not, a child is assimilated into the tech space earlier and earlier as the years go by. To pretend that this isn’t happening or block the kids from sites on a micro level is not the way to improve the situation. It’s the ostrich effect and doesn’t improve anything for anyone, especially the kids.
People who grew up with technology are now having kids. These younger generation parents have less or no aversion to introducing their kids to the online/tech coolness that they have grown up with. As producers of content (be it for a marketing purpose or pure creative), we have to develop for the parents AND the kids. These younger parents will still want the educational aspects that the past decade of attentive parents wanted, but the younger parents understand all of this on another level. Many of them understand that you can have fun, build relationships, and develop as a human online. They also understand the importance of design, navigation and user interface in your online experience. AND they will, directly or indirectly, teach these concepts to their kids.
Hopefully the content will start to catch up with paradigm shift that is happening world-wide as I type. Is your content up to the task?
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Tags: panwapa, sesame street, proactive, virtualworlds,
Virtual Worlds 2007 Visionaries Panel
Visionary Panel – Where the Platforms Are Going Next
The media has been largely dominated by one virtual worlds platform but innovation is coming fast and furious on multiple fronts from multiple vendors. This one-of-a-kind session brings together the visionaries of the major platform companies for an interactive discussion on the future of the virtual worlds platform. Join us for a session you won’t want to miss.
- Christopher Klaus, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kaneva
- Raph Koster, President, Areae, Inc.
- Michael Wilson, CEO, Makena Technologies
- Hui Xu, Founder & CEO, HiPiHi Co., Ltd
- Stephen Lawler, General Manager of Virtual Earth, Microsoft
- Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer, & Marketing Director, The Multiverse Network
- Mark Wallace, blogger , 3pointD.com (moderator)
What does the future look like?
- A Common App is needed – so that all the worlds are not so compartmentalized and there is greater portabilty
- More incorporation of Social Networking features and games
- Usability hurdles need to be dealt with – the average person still finds most VWs to be too difficult and there is little being done for the mobile platform
- Controlled Identity management to all you to manage all of your identities in all of your worlds, with your own criteria for privacy and transparency
3D/Social Search Fans
– “3D is a red herring” Raph Koster
– we should be talking about 3D not as the next big thing, but as an aspect
– More important question is regarding what we are using these space for and ding inside of them
– 3D doesn’t work for everything – shopping market
Hui Xu, HiPiHi CEO, brought up how non-multiculti the crowd was
- he felt that culture blending and learning form other cultures was the biggest potential for these worlds
- No standard language exists to discuss these spaces yet, we don’t have a multi-lingual tool to bridge the gaps and we don’t have the world view mind set to talk theoretically yet.
The web migrated monetization models
= Subscription > Commerce/Ads
- vws have to do the same
- Migration needs to be Ads > Goods > Services
– new toys are helping this transition
QQ (?) service – IM, Virtual E-commerce
Mobile Phone banking is very big overseas now
Local search is an opportunity to monetize
- ads need to excel in AI to raise relavancy
Mirror worlds will be the link to the Mass market
- Education contexts
- MS Live maps – Accurate to 4 inches
- Real versus Imaginary
- Melt content – reenact a bank robbery from earlier
“We are in the bookstore business – not the fiction or non-fiction business” – need to stop seeing everything as mutually exclusive
“Blogging in 3D is dumb” – Raph Koster
Representationally Agnostic
- data will show up how the user want it
3D is hard form many populations to grasp
- kids, older, etc
- it is not the holy grail
We need to jump over the now and next and think about later
Wii-mote and Hardware is helping innovation
- 3D mouse
Multiverse is sketchup compatible
Language – vulcanization of cultures
- there are translators for vws
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Tags: areae, hipihi, multiverse, kaneva, future, kids, tweens
Virtual Worlds 2007: VWs and the music industry
Virtual Worlds and the Music Industry
It began with the rise of iTunes, the shift from reaching fans via traditional methods like selling CD’s to reaching them via the Internet. And now, as an extension of the Internet/iTunes popularity, musicians are reaching their fans in virtual worlds. The truth is that artists know their fans are online and virtual worlds are the perfect venue to reach them. In fact, artists are dropping new albums in virtual worlds to increase subsequent CD sales as well as holding live virtual events to reach fans across the world. And with virtual worlds showing huge increases in registered users, you can expect to see more mainstream artists building better name recognition and more personal relationships with their fans via their avatar.
- Dorcas Casey, VP of Project Strategy & Development, FunWebProduct
- Tim Stevens, President and CEO, Doppelganger
- Matt Bostwick, SVP, Franchise Development, MTV Music Group
- Greg Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, GGL Global Gaming (moderator)
MTV
4d tv
- integrating what you see on tv with vw’s
- start on tv and then migrate to the vw
showed a promo for virtual mtv with artists appearances in world
- 30 major artists and emerging artisits
Zwinky
- launched ecommerce and micro transactions
- 13-18 is primary audience
- 50 cent boutique launched this year
- stage Z – 24 hours of programming, 175k users over
- profiles of celebrities
Vside
- virtual nightclub
- created a whole city of bars
- 40 radio stations, moving up to clubs
- emerging band
There was more of a tone of “wonder” with this panel while I was in there. I opted to go to the otehr panel on web based vws instead which turned out to be much more spirited nad less idyllic.
technorati tags:mtv, zwinky, vside, music
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Virtual Worlds Forum Interview
Lizzie: What do you think draws children towards immersive environments and virtual worlds?
Joi: I think role playing, that playset, that play house thing and
that play pattern has always been there. And I think what’s happening
now is that technology is just allowing that experience to be played
out in a different way…Allowing them to go into those virtual worlds
and actually be that character, be the doll, be whoever they were going
to be as opposed to just holding the dolls and playing so….Lizzie: This is a natural extension?
Joi: I would say so…I think virtual worlds are very much at the
beginning and of course kids are always right there in all the stuff.
Kids are always right there, right at the beginning when something
comes out. I don’t think the virtual worlds that are out right now have
really figured it out. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.Lizzie: What needs to be there to get children going?
Joi: I definitely think games…I think the video games right now,
especially the first person, real time, strategy type of things? Those
ones are really hitting it…If you need that complete immersion you
definitely have to have game play, you definitely have to have
interaction between the users, they have to communicate with each other
and not be hindered by a specific list of words or pre-defined chat.Lizzie: Should businesses launch their own virtual worlds?
Joi: Is your audience, you know, screaming they want to get to that next level or is it just because it’s in the news right now? I think there’s a lot of those really basic questions that people have skipped over. Do you need a virtual world? How are you going to justify the costs? These are questions…I don’t see people having those kinds of conversations. I think the hype is making people skip some basic strategy questions.
Virtual Worlds Forum Blog » Blog Archive » Interview with Joi Podgorny
Even though my name is spelled wrong (the “r n” DOES look like a “m”) and I have a tendency to say “you know” way to much, still fun to show off another interview.
technorati tags:virtual-worlds, tweens
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