I don't read nearly as often as I should. By "should" I mean "as is recommended" or "should due to the sheer amount of books I have in my possession or in my TBR pile." TBR means "to be read" by the way, in case you're not of the book-club-going, book-a-thon-reading, too-many-books-so-little-time variety like the rest of us.
I'm turning this into a proper book blog. I had one, sort of: my Tumblr "Officially Obsessed" had a bunch of updates and reviews and reading progress notes. It didn't smack of "this girl is well-read" and the obscene amount of Instagram pictures of food prepared at a bevy of exotic restaurants probably has something to do with that. The fact that I've never reviewed a book of actual substance may also have had a say.
How do I begin? How do I become "well-read?" Find me five years ago and I was under the impression I was well-read. After all, I was reading Shakespeare at 10 years old and attempting Dostoyevsky at 11 years old (we won't discuss the results). However, there were a few years of no books there before Harry Potter brought me back to The Land of The Readers and into the YA cult. I do often tell people "I watch more TV per hours in the day than the average person is awake hours in the day." So how does a TV addict start reading again?
Apr 4, 2013
The Glass Explorers Need Your Help: Thoughts On Cyberbegging, Collaboration and Causes (BEDA 1)
Disclosure: I am an invited #IfIHadGlass Explorer and I am looking for help with a Glass-related project. Learn more here. This post is part of a larger project called Blog Every Day April, which began in 2009 with author Maureen Johnson. This April, I'm combining BEDA blogs with VEDA vlogs to create something every day. I hope you're inspired by this post to take part.
Even before being invited to become a Google Glass Explorer, I saw folks asking for help online, both financial help to purchase the device/pay for their travel and creative help in developing their ideas. You can call the financial portion fundraising, sponsoring or even cyberbegging. Whatever you call it, Explorers are looking for financial contributions online to first make a purchase and then travel to San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York to pick up that purchase.
 |
| Look at Glass. A photomosaic was compiled by Jeff Thomas, combining all of the #IfIHadGlass invitees on Twitter. |
Mar 27, 2013
Networking vs. Collaborating - A Response
First, watch this, because Rosi says it A LOT better than I do:
This is part of what I've been talking about for my ideas for my Glass community. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. I want to talk about the two concepts of Networking vs. Collaborating.
Over the past six years or so, I've worked mostly in the startup scene in New York, or what the nerds like me might call 'Silicon Alley'. There are LOADS of industry events: meetups, monthlies, talks, conferences, festivals, workspaces. In 2012, I learned the difference between the two types of people in this industry. I'm pretty sure they exist in all industries, and correct me if you think I'm wrong, but at any industry event, you will find these two types:
Type A: The Networker
Networkers are sometimes unhappily employed, but mostly unhappily unemployed and feel it is their sole goal in life to meet every person at the event in the hope of getting hired, meeting a potential funder for their next big idea, and reaching into their pocket to complete their conversation with the exchange of information (whether via business card, Bump, or Evernote Hello). Some even measure the "success" of an event by how many cards they have left at the end of the night. You can always spot the networker: they are dressed sharply, they stand out, but in a conspicuous way. They are usually focused on meeting their own ends. Like sharks, they don't turn their heads and gaze around. They focus, hone in, move directly. All of their conversations pointedly come back to one topic: themselves. Their ideas, their process, their mission all take center stage.
I must confess: I was a networker. Two years ago, after a somewhat crushing job loss, I started attending industry events in large part to find a gig. By early 2012, on any given day I was preregistered to attend 5-10 different events having to do with social media or a related content marketing topic. I was trying to get hired. My applications weren't being received well, so I took matters into my own hands...literally. I had business cards done up and printed high quality copies of my resume to carry with me at all times. I went out of my way to turn almost all conversations back to me. After all, I needed a job.
Can you guess what happened? Nothing. No one called. No one hired me. I didn't walk out of any event with a job or even a job prospect. After all, who wants to work with a person who, like Rosi echoed, seems selfish or self-centered and is only interested in meeting their own ends? No one, that's who.
Around this time, I specifically joined a meetup for a topic I knew little about, in order to gain some perspective and maybe have some new talking points for striking up conversation (again, selfish). Little did I know this is what would change the course of my year.
Type B: The Collaborator
Collaborators are about ideas, concepts and visions. They may be employed or unemployed, but regardless of how they pay the rent they aren't focused on finding new work or even on their own work. You will find them at industry events, but they are there more likely to celebrate achievements of their peers or hoping to be inspired by complete strangers. When they strike up conversations, it's not to "sell themselves" or to bring conversations back to them, but to be inquisitive and learn about the folks around them. They are focused on how they can learn from you, how they might benefit from staying in touch, and best of all how they might create something with you. Every friend you have ever met is usually a potential collaborator in some way or another. And possibly vice versa.
Shortly after joining Storycode (the NY Transmedia monthly meetup), I became transfixed by the idea of storytelling and it's relationship to communities and collaboration. Every show I watched, every fic I read, every movie I saw became not about performances or who looked right or about judging the surface, but about the narrative and the delivery and how it made me feel. I was excited to discover something new in myself, something that had clearly been there all along just beneath the surface.
When I finally let go of networking as a means to find work in early April, it was then that opportunities to collaborate began falling into my lap. I was very fortunate to be able to compete in Storycode's first story hackathon (my first hackathon ever!) and my team delivered the Best Use of Twilio earning us a prize. We didn't win the Grand Prize (the team that did was AMAZING), but I was just so happy to work alongside people with a creative goal. Since I was the most outspoken and energetic, people assumed I was "team leader" but I never saw it that way. We all worked together, tirelessly, for over 24 hours to create a compelling narrative and even launch a website. I didn't care about the prize as much as I cared about seeing our vision come to reality and our story told.
Around the same time I began working on the fan conference MISTI-Con, which I'm saving for another post. Or maybe a video. Suffice it to say I can't wait for that collaborative effort to happen this May and the team behind it is truly awe-inspiring. I can't believe how soon it is. about six weeks away!
Later that month, a friend of a friend asked if I might be interested in working on his webseries (which I will not tell the whole story of here -- it's another post I'm working on) and it was the first time I had been that excited about something in the Potterverse in a long time. I was just coming down from the Storyhack high and the seven or eight months I worked with the webseries team were so rewarding. I got to work with all of these amazingly creative people and make some lasting friendships. I hope I can collaborate with them all again someday and create more cool things.
This brings us to my most recent foray into collaborating: creating a community around Google Glass that allows people who are unable to attend fan conferences and conventions to experience that ultimate fan joy and excitement, while also giving me a new way to experience something I've grown so accustomed to that I need to break out of my comfort zone. While I'm still developing how this will work come May (which is the start of convention season and my expected launch) I've never experienced (in the tech industry) the outpouring of support that I have received from the Glass Explorers community on Google+. Since my submission, to getting shared by bigwigs at Google, to visiting the Google offices, to being invtied to join the Glass Explorers beta testing program (!), it has been an incredible last few weeks. More importantly, it has all started with community: I looked to friends to help craft my submission, I looked to peers to discuss ideas I had, and now I'm looking for support to fund those ideas.
I'm still working out how my community concept will benefit people who are less fortunate and how I might be able to bring the experience of a convention to people who might not have the opportunity to see it, but my mind is also bursting at the seams with tons of other ideas for collaboration and community. I want to bring it to Brooklyn Young Filmmakers and talk with low-income residents about first-person filmmaking. I want to have Glass Enthusiast meetups with Camp Interactive kids and come up with ideas for how augmented reality and microinteractions will change computing in our world. I want to connect with other explorers and connect coders with non-coders to create truly amazing things. Things that will benefit all people.
I think community, in a sense, is about thinking big: bigger than you and bigger than me. Part of what Google's moonshot thinking is the endless possibilities of what collaboration and community mean. You coan't go it alone, focused internally, and expect good things to be created out of thin air. You need to connect with others to make magic. To me, community is like networking for a purpose; for a greater good.
--
If you're reading this Rosi, your video has truly inspired me (as they often do), so thank you. We are lucky to have the internet age and the communities (fan or otherwise) that we do. Indeed, we are also lucky to have opportunities to create media and attend events all over the place to celebrate the things we love. I think you make another great point in stating that communities are all around us, whether in someone's mind waiting to be born or existing in meetups and conventions and industry events. I didn't even realize how many people in the Potter community were trying to create something until last year and I've been (what I consider) an active member for more than six years! Truly, community and collaboration start with talking, with a spark between two or more minds that ignites excitement and passion to make something amazing. It can be as multi-layered as a website that delivers content to fans in all the flavors of their world, or as simple as spending the afternoon making a silly video with your friends:
How are you collaborating and creating? What tools are you using? Tell me in the comments. Maybe if you see another commentor's thoughts it will inspire you or it will spark a collaboration between you. Like I always say, you'll never know if you don't try.
Over the past six years or so, I've worked mostly in the startup scene in New York, or what the nerds like me might call 'Silicon Alley'. There are LOADS of industry events: meetups, monthlies, talks, conferences, festivals, workspaces. In 2012, I learned the difference between the two types of people in this industry. I'm pretty sure they exist in all industries, and correct me if you think I'm wrong, but at any industry event, you will find these two types:
Type A: The Networker
Networkers are sometimes unhappily employed, but mostly unhappily unemployed and feel it is their sole goal in life to meet every person at the event in the hope of getting hired, meeting a potential funder for their next big idea, and reaching into their pocket to complete their conversation with the exchange of information (whether via business card, Bump, or Evernote Hello). Some even measure the "success" of an event by how many cards they have left at the end of the night. You can always spot the networker: they are dressed sharply, they stand out, but in a conspicuous way. They are usually focused on meeting their own ends. Like sharks, they don't turn their heads and gaze around. They focus, hone in, move directly. All of their conversations pointedly come back to one topic: themselves. Their ideas, their process, their mission all take center stage.
I must confess: I was a networker. Two years ago, after a somewhat crushing job loss, I started attending industry events in large part to find a gig. By early 2012, on any given day I was preregistered to attend 5-10 different events having to do with social media or a related content marketing topic. I was trying to get hired. My applications weren't being received well, so I took matters into my own hands...literally. I had business cards done up and printed high quality copies of my resume to carry with me at all times. I went out of my way to turn almost all conversations back to me. After all, I needed a job.
Can you guess what happened? Nothing. No one called. No one hired me. I didn't walk out of any event with a job or even a job prospect. After all, who wants to work with a person who, like Rosi echoed, seems selfish or self-centered and is only interested in meeting their own ends? No one, that's who.
Around this time, I specifically joined a meetup for a topic I knew little about, in order to gain some perspective and maybe have some new talking points for striking up conversation (again, selfish). Little did I know this is what would change the course of my year.
Type B: The Collaborator
Collaborators are about ideas, concepts and visions. They may be employed or unemployed, but regardless of how they pay the rent they aren't focused on finding new work or even on their own work. You will find them at industry events, but they are there more likely to celebrate achievements of their peers or hoping to be inspired by complete strangers. When they strike up conversations, it's not to "sell themselves" or to bring conversations back to them, but to be inquisitive and learn about the folks around them. They are focused on how they can learn from you, how they might benefit from staying in touch, and best of all how they might create something with you. Every friend you have ever met is usually a potential collaborator in some way or another. And possibly vice versa.
Shortly after joining Storycode (the NY Transmedia monthly meetup), I became transfixed by the idea of storytelling and it's relationship to communities and collaboration. Every show I watched, every fic I read, every movie I saw became not about performances or who looked right or about judging the surface, but about the narrative and the delivery and how it made me feel. I was excited to discover something new in myself, something that had clearly been there all along just beneath the surface.
When I finally let go of networking as a means to find work in early April, it was then that opportunities to collaborate began falling into my lap. I was very fortunate to be able to compete in Storycode's first story hackathon (my first hackathon ever!) and my team delivered the Best Use of Twilio earning us a prize. We didn't win the Grand Prize (the team that did was AMAZING), but I was just so happy to work alongside people with a creative goal. Since I was the most outspoken and energetic, people assumed I was "team leader" but I never saw it that way. We all worked together, tirelessly, for over 24 hours to create a compelling narrative and even launch a website. I didn't care about the prize as much as I cared about seeing our vision come to reality and our story told.
Around the same time I began working on the fan conference MISTI-Con, which I'm saving for another post. Or maybe a video. Suffice it to say I can't wait for that collaborative effort to happen this May and the team behind it is truly awe-inspiring. I can't believe how soon it is. about six weeks away!
Later that month, a friend of a friend asked if I might be interested in working on his webseries (which I will not tell the whole story of here -- it's another post I'm working on) and it was the first time I had been that excited about something in the Potterverse in a long time. I was just coming down from the Storyhack high and the seven or eight months I worked with the webseries team were so rewarding. I got to work with all of these amazingly creative people and make some lasting friendships. I hope I can collaborate with them all again someday and create more cool things.
This brings us to my most recent foray into collaborating: creating a community around Google Glass that allows people who are unable to attend fan conferences and conventions to experience that ultimate fan joy and excitement, while also giving me a new way to experience something I've grown so accustomed to that I need to break out of my comfort zone. While I'm still developing how this will work come May (which is the start of convention season and my expected launch) I've never experienced (in the tech industry) the outpouring of support that I have received from the Glass Explorers community on Google+. Since my submission, to getting shared by bigwigs at Google, to visiting the Google offices, to being invtied to join the Glass Explorers beta testing program (!), it has been an incredible last few weeks. More importantly, it has all started with community: I looked to friends to help craft my submission, I looked to peers to discuss ideas I had, and now I'm looking for support to fund those ideas.
I'm still working out how my community concept will benefit people who are less fortunate and how I might be able to bring the experience of a convention to people who might not have the opportunity to see it, but my mind is also bursting at the seams with tons of other ideas for collaboration and community. I want to bring it to Brooklyn Young Filmmakers and talk with low-income residents about first-person filmmaking. I want to have Glass Enthusiast meetups with Camp Interactive kids and come up with ideas for how augmented reality and microinteractions will change computing in our world. I want to connect with other explorers and connect coders with non-coders to create truly amazing things. Things that will benefit all people.
I think community, in a sense, is about thinking big: bigger than you and bigger than me. Part of what Google's moonshot thinking is the endless possibilities of what collaboration and community mean. You coan't go it alone, focused internally, and expect good things to be created out of thin air. You need to connect with others to make magic. To me, community is like networking for a purpose; for a greater good.
--
If you're reading this Rosi, your video has truly inspired me (as they often do), so thank you. We are lucky to have the internet age and the communities (fan or otherwise) that we do. Indeed, we are also lucky to have opportunities to create media and attend events all over the place to celebrate the things we love. I think you make another great point in stating that communities are all around us, whether in someone's mind waiting to be born or existing in meetups and conventions and industry events. I didn't even realize how many people in the Potter community were trying to create something until last year and I've been (what I consider) an active member for more than six years! Truly, community and collaboration start with talking, with a spark between two or more minds that ignites excitement and passion to make something amazing. It can be as multi-layered as a website that delivers content to fans in all the flavors of their world, or as simple as spending the afternoon making a silly video with your friends:
How are you collaborating and creating? What tools are you using? Tell me in the comments. Maybe if you see another commentor's thoughts it will inspire you or it will spark a collaboration between you. Like I always say, you'll never know if you don't try.
Mar 7, 2013
Help Me Fund My Glass Explorer Edition with "The Glass Registry"
Best case scenario in the next few weeks: I'm chosen to be a Glass Explorer. I create my choose-your-own-adventure blog and YouTube channel for when I attend conferences and conventions, allowing an audience to choose what programs, meetups, and sights I go to. I can show the world life through Glass. I can create be a Glass Explorer meetup group chapter for the NY/NJ Metro area.
Worst case scenario in the next few weeks: I'm chosen to be a Glass Explorer but I don't have $1,500 to pre-purchase the device.
How can I avoid this dilemma?
---
When I set out to answer this question, my first thought was about community; the impetus of my #IfIHadGlass application. Sure, I could use Kickstarter or Indiegogo or any crowdfunding platform, but wouldnt that be getting ahead of myself? What sort of perks and rewards would I offer? Maybe backers could choose the color for one backer reward? I couldn't think of much more than that. These platforms are based on creative projects where there is usually a tangible result, like a DVD or an album or a event or an invention. Or, in the case of campaigns for non-profits, collaborators will offer creative rewards of their own making like a special piece of art or a personalized something-or-other.
This was less of a creative project than those. It was, for all intents and purposes, the funding of a purchase. Like one would with a stereo. Or a computer. Or a car. Which brought me to my next thought.
When Dodge put out this 30-second spot earlier this year, I thought it was such a genius idea. Heck, if I was a driver myself I'd probably start a Dart Registry (especially for a car that has WiFi-- let's be real, that is awesome). You can tell who these folks are marketing to- the crowdfund-loving, wedding registry-jealous youth of America. And why shouldn't they be jealous? Saving up for a car is tough. Ask any 16 or 17 year old that.
What if I could do this with Glass? The Glass Explorer edition, according to Google's terms, would be a pre-order of $1,500 (plus applicable tax). If I could somehow use Dodge's idea to catalog each piece or part (visible or known) of Glass with a rudimentary price tag, I could create a registry online and let folks PayPal me the cost of an item. I would hold on to all of the cash gifts until I got notified of being chosen for #IfIHadGlass, upon which point I would transfer the money and pre-order the device. Easy.
Not so easy. How was I going to find a list of all of the parts of Glass? I'd read countless articles and watched The Verge's video and read their article about eighty times, but that wasn't the answer. And how would I name them? Or find pictures of them?
Enter the Google Glass patent application, a Google Image Search for "parts of spectacles" and +Ben Lang, who recently made a gallery collection of hi-res Glass images available at his website after sourcing them from across the vast interwebs. You can find that collection here.
Using all of the above, I went to work.
First, I broke down a list of parts (and the subsequent images I would need) into four lists of approximately 31 registry items:
Worst case scenario in the next few weeks: I'm chosen to be a Glass Explorer but I don't have $1,500 to pre-purchase the device.
How can I avoid this dilemma?
---
When I set out to answer this question, my first thought was about community; the impetus of my #IfIHadGlass application. Sure, I could use Kickstarter or Indiegogo or any crowdfunding platform, but wouldnt that be getting ahead of myself? What sort of perks and rewards would I offer? Maybe backers could choose the color for one backer reward? I couldn't think of much more than that. These platforms are based on creative projects where there is usually a tangible result, like a DVD or an album or a event or an invention. Or, in the case of campaigns for non-profits, collaborators will offer creative rewards of their own making like a special piece of art or a personalized something-or-other.
This was less of a creative project than those. It was, for all intents and purposes, the funding of a purchase. Like one would with a stereo. Or a computer. Or a car. Which brought me to my next thought.
What if I could do this with Glass? The Glass Explorer edition, according to Google's terms, would be a pre-order of $1,500 (plus applicable tax). If I could somehow use Dodge's idea to catalog each piece or part (visible or known) of Glass with a rudimentary price tag, I could create a registry online and let folks PayPal me the cost of an item. I would hold on to all of the cash gifts until I got notified of being chosen for #IfIHadGlass, upon which point I would transfer the money and pre-order the device. Easy.
Not so easy. How was I going to find a list of all of the parts of Glass? I'd read countless articles and watched The Verge's video and read their article about eighty times, but that wasn't the answer. And how would I name them? Or find pictures of them?
Enter the Google Glass patent application, a Google Image Search for "parts of spectacles" and +Ben Lang, who recently made a gallery collection of hi-res Glass images available at his website after sourcing them from across the vast interwebs. You can find that collection here.
Using all of the above, I went to work.
First, I broke down a list of parts (and the subsequent images I would need) into four lists of approximately 31 registry items:
- 1. Frame, Bridge & Inner System - Total $375 (10 items)
- - touchpad, accelerometer and gyroscope casing $50
- - flexible aluminum frame & bridge $125
- - pad arms (2 total) $12.50 each (total $25)
- - nose pads (2 total) $7.50 each (total $15)
- - convertible solder (for sunglass attachment) (2 total) $5 each ($10)
- - accelerometer $75
- - gyroscope $75
- 2. Arms, Ears, & Temples - Total $375 (10 items)
- - inner speaker $75
- - mini (or micro) USB output (for charging) $50
- - temple arms (2 total) $12.50 each (total $25)
- - temples (2 total) $50 each (total $100)
- - earpieces (2 total) $12.50 each (total $25)
- - battery casing $25
- - battery $75
- 3. Glass Display & Camera - Total $750 (8 items)
- - display and camera housing $25
- - multi-resolution camera $125
- - light sensor for camera $50
- - display prism housing $50
- - display prism $250
- - gesture-capacitive touchpad $125
- - camera compartment $50
- - Glass button $75
- 4. Other - Total $350 (3 items)
- - choose the color of my Glass $200
- - certified pre-owned Sprint MiFi card $50
- - sunglasses attachment $100
After this, I searched for a gift registry website that would not only allow gifts of my own making, but allow a direct link to my PayPal. MyRegistry does both of these, as well as allow you to import Pinterest pins, which I next decided was the perfect place to host all of my images and price tags. Simple, but detailed. I made the pins, imported them, and tweaked the MyRegistry settings. Voilà!
Now the The Glass Registry is complete. Allow me to explain how you can help fund my Glass!
Step 1: Leave a comment when you enter the registry so I know you visited.
Step 2: Visit The Glass Registry and choose the part you would like to fund.
Step 3: Click "Give as Cash Gift" once you've decided what part and send the amount of that part.(please note: My Registry charges a handling fee per cash gift, on a rising scale; see site for details)
OR
Step 3: Give any amount (as little or as much as you wish) by clicking the "Give a Cash Gift" button in The Glass Fund section. (handling fees still apply)
Step 4: Help me fund my Glass beyond your gift by liking the registry on Facebook (see the 'like' button in the upper right corner) and sharing it on any of your social networks (buttons right there as well).
If for some reason I am not chosen to be a Glass Explorer, I will be donating all of the money I raise to Camp Interactive, a a not-for-profit organization that works with inner-city kids, empowering them "through the inspiration of the outdoors and the creative power of technology." I've worked with CI in the past (while at Livestream) and they are an awesome organization that has a really amazing mission. So, rest assured, no matter what happens, your gift to the fund will go to someone who needs it. In addition, if I am chosen I hope to invite the CI kids to one of our monthly Glass Explorer meetups to allow them to experience Glass for themselves.
You can give to The Glass Registry right now, or if not, you can share it with your social networks and help me in a different way. Whether or not I am chosen to be a Glass Explorer, I'm super excited to see what happens next on my journey.
Thanks for reading. Here's hoping the wait for our #IfIHadGlass notifications will be not much longer.
Feb 26, 2013
Notes on The Last Few Days: It's Been A Bit Overwhelming
It started with a video.
Then a thought process.
Then a blogpost.
And now it's becoming a full-blown obsession.
---
The last few days have been amazing overwhelming awe-inspiring squeeful and as my Tumblr friends would say /FEELS. After I submitted my Glass Explorer application I wrote a blogpost on my process and pushed it to my networks. Little did I know the big G was watching. :-)
Not only did the Glass team see my posts, but the following morning the Communications Director for Glass +Courtney Hohne reposted it to her networks. I was so thrown by this show of support for a nobody like me. It made me wish that the Glass team themselves were choosing the invitees for the Explorer program and not an independent jury. Alas, such is life.
As if the day couldn't get any better, one of my friends who works as a technical sourcer at Google, +Claire Watkins, read my post and invited me to Google's New York office for a chat.
In the spirit of full disclosure: I've never worked for Google nor have I ever been to their office, despite my having worked on 111 Eighth Avenue's 15th floor at Livestream. Claire and I are acquainted through a mutual fandom friend and are not related nor do we live together (no matter how awesome that would be). For many years, this friend spoke of Claire, who runs RupertGrint.net, as one of her closest fandom friends, but we only met a couple of years ago. Having run my own fansite and podcast for a short time, I had heard of Claire through other friends at MuggleNet, the world's leading source for Potter-related news. I now consider Claire a friend and fandom colleague.
Back to my story. Claire took me (and my large ridiculous suitcase I had to carry because I was on my way to travel by bus to New Jersey) through a quick tour of the Google offices. Keep in mind I worked in this building for almost two years and never set foot on Google soil, so I was a bit excited. The conference rooms are lush and the cafeteria is gorgeous. Lunch hour was already over, so we grabbed a few drinks and chatted on the veranda.
It was nice to talk about Glass with someone at Google who is as much in the dark as we all are. We talked about my blog, my ideas for a community of Glass Explorers and meetups in New York, and she wished she could apply to be an Explorer herself (unfortunately Google employees and contractors are not eligible). She joked that she once saw some Glass team members and begged to take a photo with them, but they declined for obvious reasons.
As someone who has always admired Google's innovation and their forward-thinking treatment of the user-creator relationship, it was so nice to walk the halls and quickly realize that this company is a lot like other big companies. In fact, walking the long corridors between departments reminded me of my days working at Walt Disney World.
There was so much secrecy shrouded around the "magic" behind the Magic Kingdom (where I started on the property in 2003), but when you finally saw behind the curtain (or in this case "in the tunnel") you realized that companies are made up of real people working together to make magic. The cafeteria is there. The guide maps tell you which direction to what department. The custodial and security teams are sharing laughs during a quick coffee break. Things are usually just run-of-the-mill on a day to day basis. What is exciting however is the knowledge that somewhere in the building, someone is putting on a Cinderella wig preparing to change a little girl's entire world. In this case, I could imagine a Googler working on the Mirror API or debating color names for future models.
Later that same day, +Sarah Price, Community Advocate for Glass, also showed her support for blogpost and my application. Today, a community of Glass Explorers, developers, pioneers, and would-be Explorers are all showing their support & excitement about ideas I had. It's nice to be appreciated, especially after months of full-time job searching and thankless freelance work.
There's been a few articles I recently read that I want to shed some light on as well. Chris Davies over at Slashgear recently connected Google Now and Glass much like my post, saying both "are still young, but there’s a lot about the future of Android that rests upon their reception and development." Davies nailed it. I wouldn't be surprised if Glass' success meant more collaboration between the two teams.
Another story at Engadget, which was posted before the now infamous UI footage I'm calling "the 'OK glass' heard 'round the world", speaks to the rumor that Google retail stores will open this holiday season. For me, this was an eventuality, a "when not if" situation. You can be sure it didn't take the Windows 8 store in Times Square for me to realize that Google would be launching brick & mortar loactions by 2013's end.
I want to mention lastly how amazing it's been to connect via G+ with not only supporters of my own ideas, but also with the folks who've had hands-on real-world experiences with this wearable tech I think can change the lives of so many fans out there. Hopefully I'll get my Glass invite, make my pre-order, and attend my Explorer event in the weeks and months to come, but until then, it's been so nice to meet you all and discuss where we think Glass can go. The possibilities really are endless.
More to come, so stay tuned.
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