Announcing Futerati: my favorite Twitter people all in one place (Futurists, Thinkers, Authors, Startups...)

I think you may have noticed by now - I really like Twitter. Twitter and my tweeps have been a huge influence on my work. 

One of the  most important realizations that has recently transpired via my Twitter pipeline is how much I am gaining from the ever increasing Sharism i.e. by what others are sharing with me. I am indeed very, very lucky to be connected to so many brilliant and like-minded people that are publishing their thoughts freely and openly, using platforms such as Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, Slideshare and of course, their blogs. All of you deserve a big THANK YOU.

The increasing scope of the 'Proudly Found Elsewhere' approach (PFE) has become a very important component of my work; and vice versa I am hoping that my output is also PFE'd by others; the social web's "give and you will receive" approach has indeed worked out great for me.

So I figured it's time to give some more explicit credit to all those great people that have influenced me, and I maybe a good way to do that is to list them on a special, Twitter-API-based site such as Futerati; and maybe send some attention their way, in return. Futerati went online a few days ago, and much like Electric Artists' cool TrackingTwitter site (but a lot more personal) Futerati is presenting 6 constantly updated categories (Futurists, Thought Leaders Authors, Activists, StartUps and Others) with people that I follow, their latest tweets, the current number of followers, and with some brief comments on why I like them. With each featured twitter user, you can click straight through to their tweets or their profiles and easily connect with them, as well.

Please note that Futerati is a constant work in progress and therefore not complete at this time; I will be adding a lot more people as I dig through my 7400 network connections, during the next 4-6 weeks.  So, if I should have listed you but have not done so yet please post something on Twitter (use @gleonhard) or use the hashtag #futerati or DM me via Twitter, or email, or comment on this blog. If we haven't 'met' yet but if you still want to be listed please ping me with your details so that I can take a look at you; in any case please note that every single connection I list on Futerati is personally selected by me. Enjoy - and RT!

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Announcing virtual presentations and speeches

As you may have guessed from my travel schedule (see sidebar) I get a constant stream of new people and companies, conference organizers, existing clients and all kinds of organizations that want me to go somewhere and make a presentation, hold a keynote speech or run a think-tank event; from all over the world, and on many different topics. If I actually accepted each invitation I am quite certain I could literally travel from one speaking engagement to the next, for pretty much the entire year. That would certainly get me Red Carpet status with most of the 8 airlines that I usually travel with, I guess.

There have always been a good many logistical challenges in organizing think-tanks and other events; however, the current financial crisis has definitely resulted in much tighter budgets, pretty much everywhere. Increasing concerns for the environment are also palpable - making countless long-distance trips for the sole purpose of a 90-minute speech and subsequent panel discussion is probably not the best example for the efficient use of energy.

Therefore I have been busy exploring new ways how I can present to - and have real conversations with - interested clients from anywhere on the globe without continuously enriching the likes of Lufthansa, Swiss and Singapore Airlines. Again, I do believe that nothing beats the live performance, the face-to-face meetings and the actual experience in what people have started to call the 'meat-space' (as opposed to cyber-space I guess), but maybe some new ways can be explored that offer a similar, and less costly experience.

I recently found a very interesting platform in the new Present.io offering (a new service by Drop.io), which (for anyone with a browser and good Internet access, no additional software is needed) allows for remote presenting, commenting and chats, as well as sporting integrated conference calling, too; all in-one place, and for free. Well, at least for the basic version - they are banking on the Feels-Like-Free / Freemium model, too, and it's working with me already. Good stuff.

The combination of services like Present.io with a live phone call, or Skype / iChat Video, has worked out really well, already, and so going forward, I will start to accept more requests for virtual / remote presentations (some people use the term 'webinars' btw).

I look forward to experimenting with you on what the best formats for this may be; if you have any other ideas for better technical solutions please use the comment box or below or contact me via Twitter or eMail; the same goes for anyone interested in booking a virtual presentation.

Lastly, here is an example of the Present.io / Drop.io widgets:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

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"Where Is It Going": new Twitter-based video show with Futurist Glen Hiemstra: ready for your questions

I recently started a brand-new project with my friend and fellow futurist Glen Hiemstra, entitled Where Is It Going (WiiG). The concept is simple: we are taking questions from anyone, via Twitter, on any future-related topic, and we will record 5-8 minute long videos of Glen and myself attempting to answer as many questions as we can, on a weekly basis. We will also add a few other futurists from our network once we have solved a few technical issues. We have also started discussions with a potential partner that will help us with producing better videos -stay tuned.

 This is how you can participate in WhereIsItGoing (WiiG):

1. Be sure to follow @gleonhard and @glenhiemstra on Twitter
2. Tweet your futuristic questions to us, anytime, but be sure to use the hashtag #wiig (this way we can find your questions via Twitter Search, no matter if you addressed them to us or not)
3. If you want your tweets to be included on the live video of the twitter stream (#wiig) please be sure to tweet at 9 am PST / 12 noon EST / 6pm CET /12 midnight Singapore, and follow the live tweets via twitter search; we will publish the finished video on WhereIsItGoing.com soon afterwards. We will be on the tweet streams for at least 20 minutes.

Spread the word!

 

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Meet me in Singapore June 18-21 (CommunicAsia Keynotes)

If you live in Singapore or happen to be there June 18-21 2009 please come by CommunicAsia for my speeches:  June 18 speech & presentation on Mobile Marketing http://ow.ly/9iZo; June 19 Talk on Mobile Content http://tinyurl.com/qnetx8

Keynote Address June 19, 10 am  The Future of Mobile Content, TV & Entertainment: The content industries are seriously challenged by the Internet's disruptive forces - it may have taken longer but is really hitting home now. Many trusted business models are no longer working, copyright and value traditions are being challenged, and content consumption is drastically changing, everywhere. Now that Internet access is becoming a default part of just about every mobile phone, even more drastic changes are on the horizon. Who will pay for what kind of content on mobile phones, when, why, where and how? Will mobile TV and mobile music finally take off, and what will be the future business models? Where the opportunities are and where are the minefields and myths that need to be discarded?  Gerd will present the most crucial trends, examples and future scenarios and preview some of the findings from his upcoming book 'Broadband Culture'

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Announcing a new video show with fellow Futurist Glen Hiemstra: WhereIsItGoing (WiiG)

 I just started this exciting new Video Show with my friend and fellow Futurist Glen Hiemstra (Futurist.com), in Seattle, Washington.  We will be recording a new episode every week, on a current topic. The shows will be between 5 and 10 minutes long, and we will try to get to the bottom lines as quickly as possible, giving each topic a quick futuristic angle (whatever that means;)

Glen and me have collaborated many times before, including the Futuretalk podcast & video series, and DVD (feel free to download the whole thing via Mininova, if you're interested). We also do think-tanks together - feel free to ping us if you're interested.

We are currently using Skype video recording and it works ok, but there is apparently no way to get better backgrounds integrated into the actual recording, quite yet - so if you have any better idea, please let us know.  We are both Mac users, so we tried iChat which was cool - clouds and orbits in the background - but we could not get the audio to sync reasonably well with the video once we started recording (using Screenflow or Screentoaster) - not so good! 

Visit the WhereIsItGoing website for more details or subscribe to the iTunes video-podcast feed here on Blip.tv (great for offline use).  Hope you like it!

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Join us for an exciting evening at the Royal Society for the Arts in London (April 8): "New Media Futures"

If you happen to be in London on April 8, 2009 (6pm), please join me and my fellow speakers for a talk and presentation at the Royal Society of the Arts. The evening is entitled:  New Media Futures - what next for content and creativity? and promises to be quite entertaining;) Thanks to the RSA, this event is free of charge and seating is limited so be sure to register early. A few more details about this event:

"The internet is radically disrupting most of the traditional content distribution and selling models, starting with music and games, followed by TV, film, books and print publishing. Once everyone is always-on, mobile and hyper-connected, and everything is available everywhere, how will content be created, distributed, marketed, consumed, and paid for? Who will do what, for whom, and how will the traditional players such as broadcasters, record labels, publishers and distributors adapt? If new players, starting with telecoms, device makers, advertisers and brands, indeed move into the content business, what will be their challenges and opportunities. 

Given the challenging financial climate, how do we reconcile the need to reward enterprise and secure sustainable revenue streams, with the expectations and demands of the “freeconomics” generation? What kind of legal, regulatory and cultural framework do we need to ensure that this new eco-system of creators, consumers and intermediaries generates more benefits for all involved?  A panel of media visionaries convene at the RSA to predict the innovations in technology, business models and user behavior that will shape the media landscape in the coming decade.

Speakers: Gerd Leonhard, media futurist, author and blogger; Richard Titus, Controller of Future Media, Audio, Music & Mobile, BBC; David A. Smith, chief executive of Global Futures and Foresight (GFF). Chair: Ralph Simon, CEO, The Mobilium Advisory Group and Chairman Emeritus & Founder, Mobile Entertainment Forum - Americas.

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My Christmas gift to all my readers (more details)

Image by Nicolai Kjærgaard via Flickr

A lot of people have asked me to post my Christmas gift message (LinkedIn, Facebook etc) to my blog, as well, so... here it is.  Share!

Here is my humble Christmas gift to my readers, followers, digital & real-life friends, feed-receivers, LinkedIn peers, and connected fellow travelers: Free Premium Content. Loads of it.

Enough to keep you reading, listening and watching for most of your Christmas holidays, and then some...

• Free PDF with my "Best of 2008 Blog Posts & Essays" (66 pages, US letter size, 10MB)
• Free PDF with my 2007 "Music 2.0 / More on The Future of Music" book (8MB)
• iPhone versions of Music 2.0 and "Best of 2008" (using the Instapaper iPhone app)
• 28 free slideshows on the future of media, content, advertising, telecom, marketing, copyright...(via Slideshare)
• Many other PDFs, including all of the 2007 End of Control preview chapters
• 29 videos on the same topics (stream or download via iTunes), on Blip.TV, streaming-only via Youtube
• My entire Futuretalks DVD (late 2007), with fellow futurist Glen Hiemstra, moderated by Ralph Simon, 222 minutes, for download or streaming, via my Drop.io sharing account (please use the guest password: future), for more details and free audio podcast versions of the DVD please go to IT/Media Conversations / Futuretalks.com
• Approx. 500 photos and illustrations via my Flickr page
• More ephemeral stuff: my Media Futurist blog RSS feed, Twitter updates RSS feed

All content is free and Creative Commons Non-Commercial & Attribution licensed. Please feel free to re-use, with reference to Gerd Leonhard and link to www.mediafuturist.com

Enjoy!

Please note: if you feel like spending $2.50 on the PDFs - just for the sake of showing that some content is worth a few $ - please feel free to go to my Lulu.com page and order the PDF from there (they take Paypal, too). Lulu also offers the actual dead-tree books for less than $10, nicely printed on-demand and send anywhere in the world. For the Best of 08 book please be sure to select the correct version (not the letter size). The Music2.0 book at Lulu is $17.75

Media Futurist 2008 by Gerd Leonhard, Media Futurist is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

An early Christmas Gift to my blog readers: Content!

Image via Wikipedia

Read more here:  Xmas2008: Futurist Gerd Leonhard's 2008 Christmas Gift: Content!

Now using Google Friend Connect on my blog - let's connect

Google just invited me to their new Friend Connect Service, so I have installed the Widget (see the side-bar) and am looking forward to connecting with you this way, as well. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

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The Media Futurist Lulu Experiment: new book & pdf with 'Best of 2008' essays and blog posts available now

Lulu rocks! I just created a 92 pages 6"x9" b/w book that comprises my best blog posts and essays from 2008, along with various illustrations. I thought that a very-low-price, on-demand book likes this makes perfect sense for everyone that does not have the time to keep up with my daily writings on this blog or otherwise - and a lot of people told me that they would like to read my stuff in a different way than via RSS or PDFs.

So now, courtesy of the ingenious folks at Lulu, you can order a nicely printed 'real' book for a very low price ($9.95 USD) and read it using the good old 'dead tree' interface. A PDF is also available, for 1/4 of the price of the book ($2.50 USD) Please note that I will keep revising this book (Lulu makes that very easy), i.e. I will of course add my best posts from Nov & Dec 2008, as well.

If you like this idea, please spread the word!

Voila: the French version of my Open Letter to the Independent Music Industry

Back in July 2007 I wrote a fairly long (but worthy;) essay called "Gerd Leonhard’s Open Letter to the Independent Music Industry: Music2.0 and the Future of Music is yours – if you can resist the temptation of becoming just another music cartel"  which became quite a popular read for people in the music industry, around the world. Now, I have the great pleasure of sharing the French translation with you, below. This must have been a pretty tough job given that I am diving fairly deep into geek language territory in the English version, already - but it always amazes me what happens when you offer stuff in an open format - if it's good, other people will continue and expand the work, and together, maybe something much larger can be created.

Lettre ouverte aux Indépendants: "Music 2.0 et le future de la musique s’offrent à vous – à condition d’arrêter de copier les majors"   was kindly translated by Christophe Soulard (owner of Mexican Stand-Off), in Paris / France, with some additional assistance by Sylvie Krstulovic, also in Paris. All is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to take it and spread it around!

"Le 29 juin 2007, de passage au London Calling, un groupe de labels indépendants m’a proposé d’intervenir lors de l’assemblée générale de l’AIM (NdT :   Association  Of Independent Music, syndicat des producteurs indépendants du Royaume Uni). J’ai saisi cette occasion pour développer mes idées sur les changements que les indépendants devraient prendre en compte, afin de profiter au mieux des mutations de l’industrie musicale.
J’ai le plaisir de vous présenter ma vision de ce que j’ai baptisé « Music 2.0 » - cette nouvelle génération de l’industrie musicale qui se crée sous nos yeux. Le modèle « Music 2.0 » est à l’opposé du modèle traditionnel ; la plupart des anciens usages, des modes de relation et des traditions démodées ne pourront survivre à cette révolution.  J’essaierai de vous convaincre, vous, leaders de l’industrie musicale indépendante, de m’accompagner sur ce chemin sans états d’âme, de sauter le pas, en abandonnant les idées préconçues et vos « dogmes », et en agissant avec conviction – car c’est le prix à payer pour changer de cap. Selon F. Scott Fitzgerald, « Le propre d’une intelligence supérieure est sa capacité à penser simultanément deux choses opposées, et malgré tout, de continuer à fonctionner ». Pour avancer, c’est certainement ce que devra faire l’industrie de la musique ! Au cours de la dernière décennie, les innovations techniques et économiques dans le domaine de la musique ont ébranlé bien des traditions, des hiérarchies sociales et économiques et des situations de monopole, et s’il y a bien une chose dont nous pouvons être sûrs, c’est que la fête bat son plein…."

Read the entire essay online, here, or download the PDF  gerd_leonhard_lettre_aux_independents_french.pdf

And / or download the original version en Anglais / in English Download gerd_leonhard_music2.0 Book Excerpt Open Letter to the Independent Music Industry.pdf

If you still need more food for thought, buy or or download my Music 2.0 book (yes, in English)

Spread the word - use these tools.

Collaboration with MIDEM / MidemNet 2009 (guest blog and conference)

I have started a new collaboration with the Reed-Midem organization. Reed Midem runs the annual MIDEM convention, conferrence and tradeshow; this event is probably the biggest and most established music industry gathering worldwide, and will run from January 17-21, 2009, in Cannes / France. MidemNet is the digital music & technology part of MIDEM and is now pretty much the key event as far as the conferences are concerned (at least from my point of view). I have been going to MIDEM for something like 10 years now, and it's been good to see that they are now trying to really address those monumental changes that are impacting the music industry, and maybe show some paths into the future to the 12.000+ participants that flock to Cannes every year.

I will be doing some regular guest-blogging over at the MidemNet Blog, and I will also be involved in the conference program - details tba but you can bet it will have something to do with the Future;). Stay tuned! Previous posts on MIDEM are here

New blog / site design!

If you haven't noticed yet, I changed my site design and added a fancy flash header ;).  Please let me know how you like it! Thanks.

Reminder for iPhone users and other mobile readers: try my new mobile versions (and QR code, too)

I have been using my mobile devices (iPhone, Nokia E61, Nokia Internet Tablet etc) a lot, lately, and really like it when bloggers offer mobile versions of their sites - it just makes it so much easier to scroll and read the posts or columns without that having to always zoom back and forth with 2 fingers (particularly if one is driving... ehem...). So I decided to set up a mobile version of this blog, as well, here - and it looks decent I think. Another hot tip for actually reading longer stuff is Instapaper, a great add-on to your iPhone that allows offline reading of webpages - very useful.

Mobile version of my blog now available (iPhone users rejoice!)

Mofuse now offers a pretty good version of my blog, here - bookmark it for your iPhones and Nokias and Blackberries... and let me know how you like it.

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