Critical Mass

Warsaw is not a friendly place to ride your bike. Except from every last friday of the month when hundreds of cyclists ride slowly through the city. The event is called Critical Mass (since 2004, started in San Fransciso 1992) it´s a manifestation for the fact that Warsaw is not a place for cycling and a protest against the heavy traffic, so the traffic has to be patient during this time....
I happened to "run" into the mass twice on my way home from work today. The tramdriver had to stop and look out for the cyclists who were escorted by the police. Unfortenately, the weather is rainy and snowy so I guess it wasn´t "a good day for it". On a summer evening I can imagine the power of the event.

At work
On Monday I have to deliver a strategy for the competition I´ve been working on. We had a meeting today and talked about the product and how the competition could work to send out the right message/feeling for the brand. I have to change my idea and try harder to find the synergy between the product, the brand promise and the engagement online.

Less digital

... but still communicative.
Magazines and newspapers (and gossip...) is part of the culture and a good way to practice the language I believe.

The first notice I saw when I opened the magazine was about the Swedish Jennie Widegren - fitness instructor and a streetdance member of Bounce. Jennie was a profile for the Reebok campaign "Your Move" during 2008. Hypermedia was responsible for creating Your Move on the Polish market and advertising and media planning on a global basis.

At work
Three days passed by and my personal planning is under construction. The brief I mentioned last time was about re-designing a website including strategy for a large chain store. After the client meeting things looked quite different. This case is about design and production so I have no active part in this case anymore. Since yesterday I´ve been working on a campaign for Procter & Gamble and I have an idea for a competition.

Nice to meet everyone at the agency again!

I arrived to Warsaw on Saturday evening. It felt really strange leaving Arlanda in Stockholm with only three people on board. I was the only person waiting for luggage at the airport.

My first day at work is over, including the nice dinner I had with my dear colleague Beata. I´m happy to be back and my computer and desk was ready, waiting for me. I worked here during the the autumn for 4 months and now I´m looking forward to new projects and new clients! This week we are going to make a 3 months plan for my development and stay in the agency.

Tomorrow there is a client meeting and we will get more information regarding the brief I´m going to be engaged in. We need more information to know the width of the project.

The future of geotagging

I love collecting memories like photograph my journeys and activities, but lately I´ve given serious thoughts of what to do with all my pictures. Every time someone comment or show appreciation of my photos I feel happy of course. But beside of uploading them to Flickr I would like to use the photos in a better way somehow. There are so many pictures taken from all over the world from the same place and it would be great to do something together. That´s why I like the idea of the project and company Photosynth.

Photosynth is creating a live search map based on photos from people all over the world, the same spot but different angles. The use of photos from the same spot it´s possible to reconstruct a scene and an experience of a 360 degrees view. It´s a great way of contributing to a nice 3D experience. After creating a so called ”synth” (a way to compile your photos) you have to geotagg and upload them to the website (Microsoft and Silverlight programme only). One example is the photosynths from the Obama Inauguration Events when thousands of people took pictures at the same time.


Source photo: http://blogs.msdn.com/photosynth

I haven´t yet tried myself, but as far as I know, this idea, the Photosynth, could be even more interesting in combination with cameras including geotagging and a function on Flickr (or similar photo sites) that automatically merge photos together based on the tagging and published on the map. Right now it seems like a lot of work to do before your ”3D panorama” is ready and published. Of course this function should be optional, but in my opinion this brings a lot of value to your own photo experience, a way of sharing.

Walk and find your way

Tonight I will arrive to the airport in Warsaw. Airports is a place knowned for being difficult to navigate around. Especially if you are in a hurry, then it´s impossible to find anything.

Luckily enough one of my colleagues will pick me up and take me to my appartment. To drive in this traffic, I´ve been talking about this many times during my first stay in Warsaw. I could never drive in this heavy traffic. To drive in cities and find your way can be a challenge wherever you are. GPS is a good thing, but I´m wondering how "helped" I would be in the middle of a chaos.

I like to walk. That´s why I have an interest in the combination gps, maps and mobilephones. I simply want to know where I am and where I´m going. I´m not a technique freak and expert in this area (I´v had a Samsung mobile for 6 months but so far I´ve only used it for making calls in Poland with a cash card... the map function had been great though). But, wouldn´t it be really nice with an application in your phone that made it possible to "walk" down a street and zoom in the stores and do the window shopping. Before you get there, so you know if it´s worth while. Like Google´s Street View and the virtual walks of course, but for walking not driving AND mobile friendly. I could save you some time.

Mission Weeks - a Stopover in Stockholm

The last two weeks we´ve been at Berghs SoC with Isobar and Farfar. We learned, we fought, we said goodbye for the second time and this weekend we are leaving for new destinations.

Coaching the future Farfar Academy students

Changing perspective!

I left Warsaw just before Christmas and currently I´m back in Stockholm for a two week education at Farfar Academy. On Saturday I´m going back to Warsaw again!