Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Infographic: The Internet in 2020

View Large | via www.intac.net

Trend Watch: Social Media in the UK 2010 [Video]

This is a little video produced by Ireland-based PR firm Simply Zesty that explores the state of social media in the UK.

The video includes some interesting social media stats and other demographic information, including: 85% percent of the UK population is online and they spend over 6 hours on social media sites every month, nearly 60% of them read blogs and 64% have their own profile on a social network.

Project Gaga 2010: Building a Monster Fan Base

Love her or hate her, there' no denying that Lady Gaga is a cultural force who resonates with many, many young people. Perhaps no other creative genius since the late (great) John Hughes has been able to effectively express the inner turmoil and feelings of disenfranchisement that are part of modern teenage life.

For many young people, Lady Gaga ("Mother Monster") has been able to tap into the global zeitgeist of a generation of "Little Monsters" and empowered them through her music to speak up share their voice.

Project Gaga 2010 is a user-generated fan project that collected over 268 pictures of mostly teenage fans from across the globe all "with the same message: thank you, mother monster, for giving us all a voice."

Teenage fan behavior patterns haven't changed that much in the last 50 years or so. What has changed are the ways in which they express their devotion as a fan to their favorite movie, music or TV star.

Today's teens, unlike previous generations, have many more digital tools that allow them to self-organize via social networking sites, coordinate the collection of this photos from around the world, use free web-based tools to produce a video and free distribution on YouTube. 

And oh, a tweet of approval from "Mother Monster" is a pretty good way to market your tribute.

Now for some of us who are a wee bit past those awkward crazy teenage years this "Mother Monster" tribute stuff may seem a little bizarre.

But before you dismiss it, consider the idea that if previous generations had the same bounty of free digital and self-publishing tools, the web would be full of similar tributes to Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Frank Sinatra or Al Jolson.

Related: Lady Gaga Joins Forces with Virgin Mobile to Fight Teen Homelessness

Global Youth: Kenyan Youth Make "Makmende" a Viral Music Hit

Kenyan-based Just-a-Band have sparked what many are calling Kenya’s first viral sensation with a new 1970s themed music video for their song "Ha-He" featuring a Chuck Norris-ish, kung fu, butt kicking character known as Makmende.

Makmende, a Swahili slang word which means "a hero", is a term used by Kenyan youth in the early to mid 1990s to refer to someone who thinks he’s a superhero. The name supposedly originated from a mispronunciation of Clint Eastwood's phrase "Go ahead, make my day" (Mek ma nday) from his 1983 movie Sudden Impact.

Since the release of the video, Makmende has exploded across the web, including a Facebook Fan Page,  a Twitter account and a website. In addition, Makmende has been the biggest trending topic on Twitter in Kenya.

If Makmende mania continues to build throughout Africa and continues to the US and UK, expect to see a Makmende action film on the silver screen (or playground) near you!

Infographic: Facebook vs The United States

via mashable.com

Trend Watch: Tim Stock on 'Culture Networks'

Culture Networks (Lecture)

View more presentations from Tim Stock.

The idea is that there is a flattening of time and space and therefore a flattening of our traditional understanding of the relationship between subculture and pop culture. The new model of interaction is more ambiguous and requires a more expressive than reflexive view of how influence works.

This lecture on culture networks is part of Tim's Analyzing Trends class at Parsons the New School of Design.

Global Youth: What Youth Think | 2010 Youth Trends Report

Partnering with youth marketers, culture and trend experts from around the world, Graham Brown (the force behind mobileYouth) have crowd-sourced an impressive amount of research on global youth trends and shared his findings in a series of three presentations.

What Youth Think: 2010 Youth Trends Report presentations are a must see for youth marketers, media planners, educators, youth pastors and anyone else who works in the youth space.

So sit back, take notes and enjoy. Then let's all meet up at the Carrot Mob!

2010 Youth Trends Report Part 1

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

2010 Youth Trends Report Part 2

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

2010 Youth Trends Report Part 3

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

Hillary Clinton on Digital Freedom

"There are many other networks in the world - some aid in the movement of people or resources; and some facilitate exchanges between individuals with the same work or interests.

But the internet is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that's why we believe it's critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms.

First among them is the freedom of expression. This freedom is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, email, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas - and created new targets for censorship...

The final freedom I want to address today flows from the four I’ve already mentioned: the freedom to connect - the idea that governments should not prevent people from connecting to the internet, to websites, or to each other.

The freedom to connect is like the freedom of assembly in cyberspace. It allows individuals to get online, come together, and hopefully cooperate in the name of progress. Once you’re on the internet, you don’t need to be a tycoon or a rock star to have a huge impact on society."

— U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Kaiser Family Foundation: Daily Entertainment Media Use Among Teens Up Dramatically From 5 Years Ago

Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) about young people's media use.

It includes data from all three waves of the study (1999, 2004, and 2009), and is among the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information about media use among American youth.

“The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth.

Mobile media driving increased consumption.  

• The increase in media use is driven in large part by ready access to mobile devices like cell phones and iPods.

• Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for cell phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players.

• During this period, cell phones and iPods have become true multi-media devices: in fact, young people now spend more time listening to music, playing games, and watching TV on their cell phones (a total of :49 daily) than they spend talking on them (:33).

Parents and media rules.  

• Only about three in ten young people say they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV (28%) or playing video games (30%), and 36% say the same about using the computer.

• But when parents do set limits, children spend less time with media: those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day (2:52) than those with no rules.

Heavy media users report getting lower grades. 

• While the study cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between media use and grades, there are differences between heavy and light media users in this regard.

• About half (47%) of heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a quarter (23%) of light users.  These differences may or may not be influenced by their media use patterns.
  

• Heavy users are the 21% of young people who consume more than 16 hours of media a day, and light users are the 17% of young people who consume less than 3 hours of media a day.

Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do.

• There are substantial differences in children’s media use between members of various ethnic and racial groups.  Black and Hispanic children consume nearly 4½ hours more media daily (13:00 of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites). 
  

• Some of the largest differences are in TV viewing: Black children spend nearly 6 hours and Hispanics just under 5½ hours, compared to roughly 3½ hours a day for White youth.  The only medium where there is no significant difference between these three groups is print.
  

• Differences by race/ethnicity remain even after controlling for other factors such as age, parents’ education, and single vs. two-parent homes. 
  

• The racial disparity in media use has grown substantially over the past five years: for example, the gap between White and Black youth was just over two hours (2:12) in 2004, and has grown to more than four hours today (4:23).

Big changes in TV. 

• For the first time over the course of the study, the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV declined, by 25 minutes a day (from 2004 to 2009).
  

• The many new ways to watch TV–on the Internet, cell phones, and iPods–actually led to an increase in total TV consumption from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including :24 of online viewing, :16 on iPods and other MP3 players, and :15 on cell phones.  
  

• All told, 59% (2:39) of young people’s TV-viewing consists of live TV on a TV set, and 41% (1:50) is time-shifted, DVDs, online, or mobile.

• TV remains the dominant type of media content consumed, at 4:29 a day, followed by music/audio at 2:31, computers at 1:29, video games at 1:13, print at :38, and movies at :25 a day.

• About two-thirds (64%) of young people say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one is watching. 

• Seven in ten (71%) have a TV in their bedroom, and half (50%) have a console video game player in their room.  Again, children in these TV-centric homes spend far more time watching: 1:30 more a day in homes where the TV is left on most of the time, and an hour more among those with a TV in their room.

Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use.  

• Top online activities include social networking (:22 a day), playing games (:17), and visiting video sites such as YouTube (:15).  

• Three-quarters (74%) of all 7^th-12^th graders say they have a profile on a social networking site.

High levels of media & multitasking.

• High levels of media multitasking also contribute to the large amount of media young people consume each day.  

• About 4 in 10 7^th-12^th graders say they use another medium “most” of the time they’re listening to music (43%), using a computer (40%), or watching TV (39%).

• Time spent with every medium other than movies and print increased over the past five years: :47 a day increase for music/audio, :38 for TV content, :27 for computers, and :24 for video games.

Related: Video > Teens Share How They Consume Entertainment Media

The Big Help: How Kids Can Help Haiti

via nick.com

For kids looking for ways to help in the ongoing Haiti earthquake relief efforts and express themselves about the disaster, Nickelodeon has launched a new website at www.nick.com/helphaiti/

The network also plans to air Public Service Announcements (PSA) on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite encouraging viewers to get involved.

The website features message boards for kid discussions about the aftermath, as well as a list of organizations that kids can encourage their parents to investigate ways to help the people of Haiti.

Global Youth: Student Filmmakers Document the Earthquake in Haiti

 The Ciné Institute is Haiti's only film school and home of an innovative program that trains Haitian youth in all aspects of filmmaking (creative, technical, business skills) necessary to grow local digital media industries in Haiti that can provide jobs and spur economic growth needed to improve their lives and the lives of others in their community.

Despite having their school reduced to rubble and losing most of their film equipment, these young filmmakers have been tirelessly been documenting the aftermath of the quake that has devastated Haiti.

Luckily they were able to salvage some of their equipment and since then have been sharing the "we story" of their community by uploading on-the-ground reports via Twitter, their website and their Vimeo page.

These filmmakers have put together some eyewitness reports, filming, editing and uploading for as long as they have enough fuel to run the generator, showing both the physical destruction of the buildings, as well as human suffering that is now all too commonplace in post quake Haiti. 

“I was afraid, I was afraid. After finishing our short movie, I went to help my friend Bougon because he was shooting in our neighborhood when this terrible catastrophe happened, which has put my city, the city of Jacmel, in mourning.

Despite my fears, I went to help friends, people I didn’t even know. We felt powerless, we could have saved more people. The city of Jacmel needs you really badly.”

~ Joel Pierre Louis, January 13, 2010

The stories and images captured by the students' are heartbreaking and hard to watch: families having the bodies of their relatives being held hostage by greedy morticians, valiant doctors doing their best to treat patients without the barest of medical supplies, residents seeking equipment to gather the bodies trapped under the collapsed buildings and the overwhelming task of trying to find space in the local cemetery to bury the dead.

"Les Handicaps" by Vadim Janvier from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

"Priere" (Prayer) by Manassena Cesar from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

"We were a film school until yesterday. Our new mission is to do recovery stories," writes Annie Nocenti, one of Ciné Institute's instructors. "Hopefully, stories of Haitians rebuilding."

Connect with Cine Institute

• Ciné Institute
  
• Vimeo
• Twitter
• Facebook
  

President Clinton Calls for Immediate Support for Haiti

In the face of the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Haiti, President Clinton, the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, asks everyone to give what they can to provide urgent relief to the people of Haiti.

Visit William J. Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief or text HAITI to 20222 and $10 will be donated to relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

• American Red Cross International Response Fund

  Donate »

• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

  Donate »

• Mercy Corps Haiti Earthquake Fund

  Donate »

• Partners in Health

  Donate »

• UNICEF

  Donate »

• UN World Food Programme

  Donate »

InfoGraphic: 10 Largest Youth Populations

SHOW is an online informational tool launched in May 2008 by Mapping Worlds under the age of 15. The website offers users a new way to look at the world by resizing countries on the map according to a series of global issues.

In this interactive map SHOW breaks down the ten largest youth populations. The current crop of children is the largest in world history. However, the global baby boom is slowing, and total births are projected to begin falling in 2030.

Fertility is already falling in many developed countries, but the decline is offset somewhat by immigration. Three of every ten people in India is under 15; in Africa, four of every ten.

Global Youth: Win a Trip with Nicholas Kristof 2010

Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times Op-Ed columnist and co-author of Half the Sky, invites students to enter an essay contest to win a reporting trip to Africa, giving them an opportunity to blog for nytimes.com and to file videos to The Times and YouTube.

The contest is open to students at American universities – either undergraduates or graduate students – who are 18 years old or over. The application deadline is a minute before midnight, Eastern Time, on Monday, Jan 18.

So what is Mr. Kristof looking for? Here's the scoop from his blog:

You can apply either with an essay of up to 700 words, or a video of up to three minutes, or both. Send the essay to winatrip@nytimes.com.

Post the video on my YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/NicholasKristof, next to my own video invitation for applications. In either case, explain why I should pick you.

So what kind of a person am I looking for? The truth is, I’m not entirely sure – except that I want someone with excellent communication skills, who can blog and vlog (video blog) in ways that will capture the interest of other students.

If you’ve done blogging, vlogging or journalism, be sure to mention that. Ditto for anything else that makes you special or will make your voice more memorable.

What a fantastic and life changing experience! I would encourage any student who is interested in social justice issues (like global poverty) and sharing "the we stories" of people who don't have a voice to apply for this opportunity.

For those of us who are a wee bit beyond our college years and ineligible for this trip--you can still get involved by supporting the Half the Sky Movement, Charity Water or Oprah Winfrey's For All Women Registry. There are lots of ways to help people suffering from crushing poverty.

Even $5 dollars can change a life.

For you university students' who are interested in applying for this trip, be sure to check out Mr. Kristof's blog which has all the details, rules, info on the selection process and legalese from the NYT lawyers.

Good luck!

Weekly Wrap: 10 Social Media Commandments, 'Glee' Obsession, Life Without Facebook, Digital Content is the Future, PS3 Social Upgrade, Life After Oprah, Pakistani Youth & More!

Ryan Murphy full of 'Glee': Thanks to his breakout Fox hit "Glee," Ryan Murphy not only has his finger on the pulse of the youth market -- he has it firmly by the throat, so to speak. The exuberant song-and-dance comedy averages 8 million viewers a week (most in the highly desirable 18-49 demo) and has quickly gone from cult obsession to national phenom. [Variety | 2009 Youth Impact Report]

Ten Commandments of Social Media: There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to social media. People seem to think that every day standards and decency get tossed out the window because of the anonymity of the Internet.

There are Ten Commandments of Social Media that you should always try to follow. They will not only make you a better person but they will make your followers that much more appreciative of what you have to say. [Noupe.com]

Life After Oprah: As the Queen of Talk Prepares to Depart for Cable, Clues as to How She'll Fill 24 Hours of Airtime, and More. Related: Here's What to Expect on Oprah's OWN cable network. (Check out the OWN promo video! Pretty cool, but not optimized for social sharing.) [AdAge] [USA Today]

Comcast-NBC Deal Shows Future is in Digital Content: While Comcast seems to be taking a different approach — marrying entertainment content with the largest cable TV system in the nation — it and Time Warner have arrived at the same conclusion: The future is in content, and the pipes that carry it matter less.

But the larger motivation is that Comcast wants more programming — particularly from NBC Universal's cable channels — to deliver to its subscribers and to sell to other distributors. [Yahoo! News]

Sesame Street Heads to Nigeria: Sesame Workshop is developing a new version of the long-running children's series Sesame Street to bring messages about staying in school, girl’s empowerment and HIV/AIDS to Nigeria. [AWN]

Hearst Plans Digital Service: Publisher Hearst Corp. plans to launch next year a service called Skiff to sell digital versions of newspapers and magazines on electronic readers and other devices, in a system it believes will be more visually appealing to readers and more lucrative for media companies. [WSJ]

NYU Student Goes A Week Without Facebook, Becomes Bored: Kelly had initially set out to go Amish and abandon all forms of technology, but pressure from her teacher to not create the suggestion that she had possibly died combined with an unawareness of just how many things constitute as technology prevented her from doing so. [NYU Local]

Designing Websites for Kids: Websites designed for children have been largely overlooked in web design articles and design roundups, but there are many beautiful and interesting design elements and layouts presented on children’s websites that are worthy of discussion and analysis.

There are also a number of best practices that are exclusive to web design for children’s sites — practices that should usually not be attempted on a typical website. [Smashing Magazine]

PS3 to Enhance Online Social Experience: The next firmware update will enable PlayStation 3 system gamers to share their gaming experiences with friends on Facebook, Including Trophies Won In-Game, PlayStation Network Game Purchases, and Game Events. [Sony]

Most Young Pakistanis See Nation Going in Wrong Direction: Despair among the young generation is rooted in the condition of their lives, the report found. Only a fifth of those interviewed had permanent full-time jobs. Half said they did not have sufficient skills to enter the workplace.

And one in four could not read or write, a legacy of the country’s abysmal public education system, in which less than 40% of children are enrolled in school, far below the South Asian average of 58%. [NYT]