Has Technology Helped or Hurt the Olympics?

As I watched the Olympics over the last two weeks I kept arguing with myself- has technology helped or hurt the Olympics? The truth is, I still haven't won or lost the argument. With this being the 30 year anniversary of the Miracle on Ice hockey game I watched a lot of retrospectives on the event. Besides the actual winning of the game, one thing that kept resonating with me was remembering that the game actually occured during the day and was shown tape delay that night. Because there was barely cable TV and it was long before the internet or 24 hour news/sports channels on cable, nobody knew the US had actually won until the game aired that night. Over the last 30 years, specifically, over the last 15 years, TV ratings for the Olympics have declined, except for the years in which the Olympics were held in time zones where most events could be shown live. Declining ratings, in my opinion, can be directly attributed to the internet and 24 hour news/sports coverage. Die hard viewers will always watch, but those who are more peripheral enthusiasts are less likely to watch an event if they already know the results. Over the last two weeks if I wanted to watch something at night that happened during the day it was a lot of effort to not hear the results before watching that night. Because less and less events are shown live, NBC has to resort to stringing you along for 3 hours before they finally show the winning US person in their 2 minute performance. And that's also why we get the never ending tear jerker personal profiles. The primetime telecast of the Olympics is less about the actual events and more about doing anything possible to keep viewers. With that said, the Olympics that just finished got great ratings.

On the other hand, 30 years ago if an event wasn't on the main network it wasn't shown. These past Olympics besides the daily and nightly coverage on NBC we also had MSNBC and USA. If we didn't have 3x the coverage we definitely had twice the coverage than if we just had NBC. The increased coverage is 100% credited with the infatuation people have with Curling now. People started getting in to Curling when it was shown as an after thought on those networks 4 and 8 years ago during the Olympics. More coverage means more exposure for the secondary Olympic sports which I think it good. Also, there is something really cool about watching downhill skiing and ski jumping at 500+ frames per second. Seeing details in extreme slow motion gives you a completely different sense of the action. All the different slow-mos and all the different camera angles really give you a different view of the events.

So there you have it. Don't know where I really stand. Maybe I'll pick up the argument in 2 years after the Summer Olympics or 4 years after the next Winter Olympics.

How the Future Works.... by Bob Allen

It's about 36 degrees and raining outside and the sky looks like an impenetrable roof. That would be Albany, the Capital of New York, at the need of February. I’ve come on our third Radical Platypus mission. You may remember that my pal Jim Brazell, a futurist, scientist and general passionista for all-things Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math; teamed up with me this year and formed Radical Platypus. We brought our very divergent backgrounds along with a couple of other colleagues together to form a new kind of speaking and workshop team. Radical, because we are intentionally iconoclastic on what we present on how the world might be likely to change and Platypus because we are an unusual but potent combination of attributes.

Tomorrow Jim and I will give a PlayShop to the New York State Association of Career and Technical Education Administrators called “How the Future Works Today: yourWORLD, yourSTORY, yourCALLING”. We’ll be combining some speaking (Jim focused on how the world of Tech-Prep education is changing and me on Story and Innovation practices) with some facilitation to help our audience create the future state of their discipline. When we rolled this work out in Atlanta a while back, we got good feedback, We've added and hybridized since then so hopefully we’ll get the same here. Now, if only I can avoid going outside...

Ringling College 2010 Design Summit by Bob Allen

Last week I got to spend two days in Sarasota as a participant in the Ringling College 2010 Design Summit. It was energizing to be immersed in a group of business and governmental leaders for two days exploring the idea of Design and Business. What I heard and experienced was gratifying for us at IDEAS because the resounding message was that the design-thinking we apply in our Innovation work is deeply needed in business. Moreover, our StoryJam protocols are a viable system of applied design! I learned all this by listening to people from across the country explain it. It was at times all I could do to now leap up and yell “Yes, Right On! That’s us! We DO THAT!” OK...I DID leap up and say it but only once.

Friday our long time creative collaborator, designer and composer Tim Duffy, joined me in presenting a 2 hour seminar to 50 or so students. We got to share our own tales to The Creative Journey and listen to theirs. It's so powerful to see how much fresh talent and energy is being unleashed. Our pal Dr. Wanda Chavez teaches here and she got us connected. Friday afternoon I was able to give a talk on the Power of Story as a design tool to the conference audience and it went well. I think these kinds of events really stretch my head about who we should be working with and how we can help clients in new ways. Later this month, I get to go to Albany NY and do a similar workshop for educators. I’ll let you know how that goes.

To learn more about StoryJam and IDEAS Innovation visit http://www.ideasorlando.com/innovation/index.php You'll find additional information about StoryJam under Story Development.

Avid & Final Cut, Can't We All Just Get Along?

A couple weeks ago we hosted a round table discussion involving Kirk Arnold, COO of Avid, Michael Phillips, Principal Product Designer at Avid and about 20 of Central Florida's most highly regarded post production specialists. The evening was put together by the Orlando Post Pros group and we were very happy to play host as well as have our two staff editors involved. The purpose of the evening was for Kirk Arnold & Michael Phillips to tell all of us what they are working on and what's ahead for Avid and also to listen to everyone in the room about what they like, don't like and need from the future Avid products.

I thought it was a good night, time well spent. How often do you get the opportunity to visit with two high ranking people from the company who's product is very important to your business? Inevitably any discussion about Avid these days turns in to a discussion about Final Cut Pro as well. Often times those discussions end up being an us against them or a this is better than that conversation. And my question is can we all just get along?

Our philosophy here at IDEAS is that there is a time, place and budget for both Avid and Final Cut Pro. It doesn't have to be a conversation about whether one is better than the other. It should be a conversation about what's the best product for the project you're working on. We take great pride in the fact that we have both Avid and Final Cut Pro in our facility. Currently we have a Final Cut Pro with all the bells and whistles (Color, Motion, etc.), a Media Composer Nitris DX and a Symphony Nitris DX. All of the systems work almost exclusively in HD off both files and tape.

We have been working with Avid products since they became mainstream back in the 90s. We have been using Final Cut Pro for about two years now so we admittedly have much more knowledge and are more comfortable on Avid. But that doesn't change the fact that we realize the pros and cons of both. Cost will always be something that hurts Avid. Stability will always be something that hurts Final Cut. Avid has the hardware and software parts down to a science. Final Cut is only software so while it will always be on a MAC, there are a variety of media drive choices as well as video cards depending on what you're doing. The Avid DS, which we had for 6 years, is the best tool out of all of them for compositing and effects. But DS is more expensive which means there's less out there which means (as we found out) there are less people out there who know how to operate it.

The bottom line is that some projects are better done on an Avid while some are better done on a Final Cut. Anyone who tells you that every project is best suited on one or the other is, in my opinion, incorrect. We talk to our clients, see what materials they have, what they are trying to accomplish, figure out the best way to produce the best possible final product, then decide whether it should be done on an Avid or a Final Cut. And as far as price goes, we don't really have a rate card for our services on either system. We have done editing for $75 per hour because it's pretty low maintenance (cuts & dissolves only) but we've done editing for $200 per hour because it was intense and it required a lot of resources (color correcting, plug-ins, etc.). And those rates have been charged on Final Cut or Avid so price isn't driven by which system. And of course, the $75 & $100 per hour rates are offered, regardless of the system for higher volume, longer term clients and projects.

Anyway, just my $.02. Both Avid and Final Cut are good systems. There's no need to bash one over the other, they both have their place in our industry.

My Trip to Seattle by Bob Allen

In the age of the “social network” it's more than ever about who you know. But, before there was ever a Facebook or Twitter, there was hanging out at the gym. A few years back (OK, double digits), I met up with a guy in Orlando through my old boss at Disney. He and his wife ran a personal training business and he took me on as a client. After about a year of working out under Jeff’s watchful eye (he once came in my house and actually dragged me out of bed to work out) I got in tremendous shape and Jeff and I and his lovely wife Michelle (who we still call Mike to this day) ended up running two marathons together one of which was the first ever at Walt Disney World. Well, as luck would have it, Jeff surfaced recently at a trade show in Orlando and came to see me. He is now a new business development executive with a company that makes the most advanced fitness equipment in the world. It turns out these guys have wangled a way to include a pretty cool screen and interface with a lot more capacity to provide content for those long and lonely (and in my case sweaty and breathless) hours (or minutes) on the treadmill or the elliptical trainer. Just a long way of explaining why I flew corner to corner from Orlando to Seattle for a creative session tomorrow about just what kind of content might be cool in this new media. What do you want to see on your treadmill screen? Let us know!

The Power of Story

Last week was a nice reminder to us of what we call The Power of Story. It's not some mystical or “magic bullet” concept (and there is a lot of that going around about story these days). We conducted one of our signature StoryJams for a client who is developing a new resort-one that has both challenges and opportunities that are unlike any other and at a time in history when conditions are unprecedented.

There were 35 people in the group and they ranged in beliefs from “Let’s Go!” to “You gotta be kidding!”. Many, we were warned, were not into being “warm and fuzzy”. Cut to the bottom line, by noon the group was deliberately and creatively crafting this new resort. Effortlessly changing their own paradigms and willingly donning the guise of their guests as they took the plan to a new level. Some of the biggest and most thoughtful contributors? All of the people who we were told “might not get into it”.

In the other case, we got a chance to help an institution harvest and collect some of the core stories of their origins. This is, to us, sacred tribal knowledge and when the holders of it move on, retire or pass away, organizations can be forever disconnected from the stories that define their purpose. Not so in this case. Two great days of dialogue and sharing of stories from the people who made history for our client resulted in a cache of real treasure-now preserved and useful for generations. Two great stories we think!

Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) Recap

The Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) was held last week here in Orlando, Florida. It is fascinating to see the number of technology offerings available to those in the education industry. From SMART boards to classroom response systems, companies continue to gear up to meet the needs of teachers and their students. Although seeing all of this technology was “cool,” the more important question that people were asking at the conference was, “How are teachers using this technology to improve their craft?” And, “Does all of this technology actually enhance the way teachers teach and students learn?” It seems to relate in many ways to the same debate that Richard Clark and Robert Kozma had in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The debate revolved around whether or not the media (or technology) you use to deliver content improved one’s learning. There have been many arguments made on both sides of this discussion, but at the end of the day most would agree that the technology you choose has to make sense for the content you are teaching and the instructional strategies you are using. The two go hand-in-hand.

Of particular interest to us last week was to see how educators are using technology to improve their own professional development. Since the creation of our TeacherStudio product (http://www.teacherstudio.com/), we have participated in many conversations that revolve around this topic. Several sessions were focused on this subject and we enjoyed learning about how others are approaching this very important task. It’s no surprise that teachers are doing more with less, and it is important that they still have time for their own professional growth. Some school districts are partnering across state lines to share best practices. Others are looking to “free” online tools, such as Moodle and Ning, to provide their teachers with online support. The reason we put “free” in quotes is because although these tools do not cost any hard dollars, per se, it does require someone’s time within a school or district to get these sites set up and organized. Great progress has definitely been made in this arena and it is exciting to see.

We attended Diane Lewis’ presentation where she talked about how her district, Seminole County (Florida) Public Schools, is using a palette of professional development options to meet the diverse needs of their teachers. From face-to-face training to an educational world in SecondLife they offer a wide array of options. However even with all they were providing – there was still a gap. They needed a way to give their teachers just in time training and a way to see exemplary teachers in action. Our TeacherStudio product is proving to be an answer to that question. It gives districts a way to offer an affordable online professional learning community for their teachers. It makes sharing of best practices easy which lets districts maximize face-to-face time with their teachers, as well as dollars. Although this is just one solution, it definitely offers online tools that teachers and administrators can use.

For more about IDEAS go to http://www.ideasorlando.com/ and for more about IDEAS Learning go to www.ideaslearning.com/