It may sometimes seem as if eightbar is taking over dogear nation, but the founding two Michaels(Martine and Rowe) are honoury eightbars anyway, so Andy Piper doing the recording and editing for the show is not quite so bizarre.
Anyway this weeks show features your truly as a guest. I almost missed out the podcast in my web evolution, but I am circling back around and finding it a very good way to explain my passion for all things. The only fly in the ointment being my broad Norfolk accent, but the other guys sound great 🙂
Yes I did do a Clarkson impression, and I did mention my disdane for Vista so it was not all virtual worlds!
So thankyou Dogear-nation for having me guest. Enjoy the programme let us know what you think its on itunes and everything :).
For those that don’t know tag things of interest on delicious.com with dogear-nation and it can become part of the running order for discussion on the show.
Category Archives: Hursley
A glowing reference for Eightbar
I realized I had bought some Phillips lights for christmas that are the right size for my Shapeways eightbar 3d printed light poem. So here it is in all its glory.
Business week predicts a resurgence in 3d this year
A colleague Bill Chamberlin(*updated with full name and link to his external blog 🙂 ) had spotted this article in business week and shared it with us. (Business Week provided great coverage back in 2006 when our CEO Sam Palmisano entered Second Life )The stand out line is of course “3D returns in a big way” not that it ever went away of course.
The prediction refers to the increase in 3d capability from Nvidia, and also James Cameron’s Avatar project (film, game, world etc). I am waving at Corey Bridges at Multiverse of course as he has very close ties with this project and the production team from what we heard in LA this year
If you tie this to my epredictions around companies needing to do something to engage and communicate across organizations strapped for cash and not travelling it really is an obvious step isnt it?
Still as I saw a quote used on twitter by Kathy Sierra “You can’t reason people out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into” I am sure there is still some convincing to do.
So if you are out there and wavering, not knowing why your business can benefit from virtual worlds, even it if is just for the sake of an argument give us a call here at eightbar 🙂
2009 eprediction, wishlist, speculation.
Looking back on what has happened the last few years, both here on eightbar and for me personally I can still see we have a long way to go to get to a point where we can sit back and say, yes virtual worlds/metaverses/3d web done!
Of course that is never actually going to happen, we are talking here about cultural change aswell as technical evolution. There will not be one product, one offering, one service, one answer. Everytime you catch yourself thinking that thats when disruptive innovation comes along and does something you never could expect.
So, what should happen next year? eprediction time.
1. I expect to be asked to share the war stories and consulting experience with people about how eightbar evolved and how we got our large corporation to sit up and take notice. Its a matter of record the journey is documented here, in books, articles, anecdotes. Its a story of traditional enterprise having to adjust to the 2.0 of all things. Virtual worlds are a subject, a rich one, but the journey has been one of a different form or organization, growing out of necessity and passion and with good intent. I have enough chapters for the book now!
2. I would like the progress to continue, all the platforms getting better and stronger, but the reason some have worked up to now is the initial free approach. I could not have got anyone to follow inot any virtual worlds really that cost money to set up and run. The very nature of public and free to sample dropped a huge barrier, as with blogs, all the major web2.0 sites. Being able to say, whats stopping you then? and the answer being either IT policy or apathy/fear is a great lever to help people.
3. Cloud will grow hugely. This really is a no brainer and relates to 2 above. People, normal people, do not want to run servers, patch things, have kit sitting around. Us techies might love it, but a service that does stuff, somewhere else. Well thats the obvious solution. We have been around this before too, but as with all these things, we now have everything aligned and utility computing/grid computing/network computing, on-demand etc is a reality. It will improve, it will get better and more user friendly. You can see the start of a VW trend and cloud with Simondemand on Amazon EC2
4. Financial doom and gloom will spark some very strong entreprenarial activity. Yes startups, not all silicon valley. Its times like this entrepreneurs take risks, dive in and get on with it. Things will either pick up, or we end up back in the stoneage, either way sitting not doing anything is not an answer. Fear, like failure is not an option. Fortune favours the brave and all that 🙂
5. Business use of virtual worlds will get so easy, so pervasive, people wont even question the point any more. Wishful thinking, but richer human communication that costs less that the current options, phone, plane, real estate in a world that is seeking to find better ways to do things. Whats the problem, get on with it already!
6&7. These intentionally left blank, there are a few very exciting things going on that I cant blog about yet, but I predict these will be rather huge and massively revolutionary*, when I can say I will retrofit into this post and say a hindsight told you so.
8. 3d printing a.k.a rapid fabrication the rise of the fabricaneur in manufacturing, just have to add that in as its so important for the evolution of products.
There that’s it. Now, as it says on my Xbox 360 profile “can we get on with it?”
Lets rock 2009!
*updated to masssively revolutionary after complaints from those who know about it that evolutionary is too soft 🙂
Wishing you all a very merry christmas
From all of us here at eightbar, a very merry christmas and happy new year. We all know 2009 is going to rock, so eat drink and be merry.
Its been one heck of a year for us here, Roo moving on, Rob becoming a dad, the odd role change here and there. The one consistent thing is having the eigthbar flag to rally around, whether in virtual worlds or out fixing the planet with homecamp.
What will we see next year? More VW’s and toolkits coming to life? more corporate take up to improve communication in a nervous world? rise of mirror worlds and instrumentation for a smarter planet? fabricaneurs making the virtual real with 3d printers? Some of this will happen, either that or we all sit scared in a hole waiting for the clouds to pass. I somehow think the entreprenaurial spirit of many of us, sparked by virtual worlds, wont let that happen will it ?
Anyway, time will tell. Enjoy the holidays whatever you are doing. May all your presents rez correctly.
Paved paradise put up a parking lot
Over at Ugotrade once again Tish has done a fantastic post about Homecamp which includes a stack of my fellow eightbars. There is also a great interview with Andy SC about all things Current Cost meter, Second Life visualizations of his automated house and Smart Planet in general.
Many threads are coming together now, a more eco minded but technology driven approach to things. Much of this has been bubbling around for ages and lots of us take it for granted people know this stuff. However, read the post and get the full vision from the leaders in this field of eco automation.
Andy’s house is currently seeking a new more official home as it was demolished from Hursley island this weekend and replaced by a Seigmancer Nino Empress Condo which is actually the same sort of thing by the same creator that was there before I cleared the space for Andy’s house.
The house will be missed on Hursley island, a great (first!) build by eightbar alumni Laronzo Fiztgerald/Mark Alexander of Uproar Design, but look for a public place to view it very soon.
As you know I like the flow of linkages between things, back in the early days of the internal metaverse the project leader that Roo and I worked with was David Currier, he left to go and start a… Home automation company homespace integrators 🙂
There is also of course our good friends and collegues over at Eolus where mirror worlds and real world instrumentation are making huge savings on running properties and facilities.
Whilst showing the linkages here I also have to say thanks to James Governor/Monkchips for tweeting “my Team of 2008 award goes to IBM’s Eight Bar at Hursley Labs. RedMonk celebrates makers and doers – these guys exemplify getting on with”
****Update James has written a whole blogpost on us, and very nice it is too. It’s brilliant to have had this sort of impact. We dont do this for fame and glory, but to start a conversation, to engage with people as IBMers in ways that they may not be used to, and then to be thanked for it. Brilliant 🙂
Things coming to fruition, linkages flowing and people saying thanks do mean a great to to this humble little band in Hursley and also the wider band of eightbars across the company. One heck of a tribe I reckon 🙂
Eightbar, an emotional hello
We had a bit of a gathering today on my Hursley island in Second Life. Since mid 2006 I have been providing us as eightbar with a bit of a haven. A place for IBMers and now some exIBMers and guests to call home in the crazy world that is Second Life. As this has always been an unofficial space, just as this is an unofficial blog the island(s) have existed out of a need for community but not in anyway paid for by the community. I viewed it as a duty upon myself to grow the community and provide the islands. I thought we had reached a point where we no longer needed them, and that maybe it was time to free up the hundreds of pounds a month that had been such an important investment.
So, a core bunch gathered to hear me tell the story of Hursley, some of the oldest eightbars and some of the newest. I should not have been suprised, but I was moved, by the waves of support from the gathering and agreeing that we all still wanted this place of history and future to exist. It is something that any of the masses of eightbars woudl have been proud to have been at.
I am not sure we worked out exactly how to pay for this all, but we have so many people that its really a no brainer to cover the costs of 2 islands. There was certainly a willingness and some fabulous donations to get that going.
So why has Hursley and IQ remained so long as our personal island? Well because it was the right thing to do, and now by mass concensus and action, sharing the message with our fellow eightbars it still is the right thing.
Its not a server, its a place, and its our place. We started our tribe in that space and the tribe has even more heart than ever and is quite a force to be reckoned with.
Go eightbar and thank you all who atteneded, who wanted to attend and who will hear the message for the support! 🙂
Irving and Obama – Fantastic Innovation News
Some fantastic news is zooming around the internet right now. A former IBM Vice President and now MIT visiting professor Dr Irving Wladawsky-Berger is now on President Elect Obama’s Technology and Innovation Panel.
This is significant because Irving is a great visionary and for us here at eightbar has been a very key supporter from the very early days of virtual worlds. Sandy Kearney was working closely with Irving when we first met and serendipty kicked in.
Irving has been trying things out and blogging for many years too. So we can all rest assured that he “gets it”.
Quite a day given our CEO Sam Palmisano has joined in on an exciting discussion around social media inside IBM today.
(Thanks aneel for tweeting this news in the first place )
Global Entrepreneurship – The end of the beginning
Yesterday I “jetted” off to Manchester to speak at an event sponsored by the MIDAS group. I was up to speak about the future, about virtual worlds, about 3d printing. I also decided to make sure I adjusted a little to speak more about the power we all have as people. Inspired by hearing and being with lots of social entrepreneurs at chain reaction at the start of the week, and really feeling they were kindred spirits, it made sense to illustrate both eigthbars rise, the personal aspects of getting things done regardless of the obstacles and being proud of my community and how we have all come together at the right time both inside and outside IBM.
I know that many people sticking to the status quo, saying things should stay the way they are, saying that we are all idealists in the way we communicate and share to cause innovation to happen across the world will just think its more “kool aid”. Well it might be, however we might just be right.
The web seems to have been able to unleash and remove some of the fear people have had for getting things done. The web now really gives a place for a first step, sharing an idea with one other person, asking one person for help or their opinion. It is those first steps of gathering and affinity that are the most important to break the apathy. It does not matter if its hooking up over a game like WoW or even and shooter on Xbox Live, a chance meeting in Second Life, spotting a twitter on the same subject, a blog post comment or trackback or whatever there is to come next. People are really forming to get traction make connections and take action. For me this is the personal side of creating a smarter plannet, more devices, more connections but incorporating people in that.
After my pitch along those lines there was a barrage of excellant question there was another brillian pitch by Imran Hakim. He was famously backed on the BBC Dragons Den programme for his iTeddy idea by Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis.
Imran talked about how the idea even came about, his brother betting him it would never work. Imran is a real entrepreneur, iTeddy was not his first nor his last business. He spoke very personally about a restlessness, striving to make things happen, not just make money. Our stories were very much the same, one of battling and believing, of making the most of serendipity and contacts. He also shared some insights into just how long a Dragons Den pitch is, in his case 3 hours!
After both our pitches we were both swamped with brilliant conversations over lunch with everyone. I love to hear that people have felt moved, or enthused by what I have to say and that came across in all my conversations.
I also managed to have som time talking to Imran as the hall emptied, and it was a fascinating personal insight upclose with a very successful and connected business person with ideas and drive. Very inspiring I must say.
Thanks to all who attended and got something from this including my IBM colleagues.
I liked Godin’s tribes so much here are some more thoughts
This started life as an internal IBM post, to my tribe there, however, I liked it so much I wanted to share it more widely, just changed a few words.
As I have mentioned before I am so pleased that Seth Godin’s tribes book is as good as it is. Seth states these 5 things to do and 6 principles that as leaders (which we all can be should we choose to connect with people and care about something) we should do.
Every leader cares for and supports a movement, that movement can now be 10 people, 10,000 people, community, work colleagues, global or local.
The 5 things to do really should resonate for anyone who has chosen to associate with eightbar and/or the internal IBM Virtual Universe Community. If you have a passion and want people to gather around then this helps (as this worked for eightbar out of instinct it may help to see some structure to let you know how doable this is to make change).
This is particulary interesting given the doom and gloom at the moment. This is precisely when the leaders of the future will already be working the networks.
Things to do
1. Publish a manifesto (it does not have to be written just known)
2. Make it easy for follower to connect with you
3. Make it easy for followers to connect to one another
4. Realize that money is not the point of a movement, it exists to enable it. The moment you cash out you stunt your movement
5. Track your progress, publicly
Principles
1. transparency is the only option
2. movement needs to be bigger than you
3. movements that grow thrive
4. movements are made most clear when compared to the status quo i.e. when they are noticebly different not the same as another movement
5. exclude outsiders (a powerful force is who is not part of the movement)
6. tearing others down is never as helpful as building followers up
If you consider the first 5 things to do and think eightbar.
1. Publish a manifesto – we exist to explore virtual worlds and web2.0, to look out for one another and help as best we can.
2. Make it easy to connect with you, well, blogs, Second Life, phone, email, inside and outside the firewall. everyone is important.
3. Make it easy for followers to connect with each other. as above. Thats the beauty of the virtual world as the movement enabler.
4. Realize money is not the point. There may be some corporate arguing on this, but as with Linden their mission statement is to improve the human condition. There is profit in this, but the purpose is to make life better, for us to connect more to be able to share ideas and get things done. If those things are ‘business’ then great, if they are philanthropic then great too. (This fits nicely with smart planet I think)
5. Track your progress, publicly….. Er yes. http://www.eightbar.com and this blog and all the other blogs and twitters etc. The worst thing we do is keep things to ourselves.
On the principles I think they are fairly obvious. The exclusion (5) may seem a little strange,but if you think about it, eightbar was for IBMers as a group or movement to join. We have a few external advisors, alumni and guests occassionally. However the flag we rallied around was IBMers with a passion for change, and enabling that with virtual worlds.
So, anyone, absolutely anyone has the ability to share what they are doing and gather people interested in that around them. The web lets this happen. So next time you are thinking I wish x would happen or y would get going, dont wait. Web 2 is Web do. Start now. If you have an excuse as to why not, protecting your position, too many emails, the world does not work like that, thats the way it has always been etc. well you are missing out of making a real difference to a whole lot of people.
Its not easy to carry on leading, you may get laughed at, criticized but that usually indicates you are doing the right thing. I also dont think the people hammering on you will ever stop either, if they do you need to take it further.
So what are you waiting for. Get on with it.