Jan Pen, a Dutch economist who died last year, came up with a striking way to picture inequality. Imagine people’s height being proportional to their income, so that someone with an average income is of average height. Now imagine that the entire adult population of America is walking past you in a single hour, in ascending order of income.

The first passers-by, the owners of loss-making businesses, are invisible: their heads are below ground. Then come the jobless and the working poor, who are midgets. After half an hour the strollers are still only waist-high, since America’s median income is only half the mean. It takes nearly 45 minutes before normal-sized people appear. But then, in the final minutes, giants thunder by. With six minutes to go they are 12 feet tall. When the 400 highest earners walk by, right at the end, each is more than two miles tall.

via A special report on global leaders: The rise and rise of the cognitive elite | The Economist.

If it is not texting and looking and TV, it’s computer and listen to my iPod (…) If i know i’m gonna miss a show i record it.

I have facebook on my cellphone. I could research a word, do anything on my phone.

— Diamond, 14

The Kaiser Family Foundation released today a report on Generation M(2), a research on media habits of 8-18 year olds, with a sample of more than 2,000 young people across the US. Impressive how this 100% connected generation is using mobile as the main gateway to digital content. Not to mention the multitasking habits. But you knew that already, right?

Key findings of the report include:

• Over the past five years, Young people have increased the daily consumption of media from 6:21 to 7:38

  

• An explosion in mobile and online media has fueled
  the increase in media use among young people.

  

• Youth who spend more time with media report lower grades and lower levels of personal contentment.

For a short overview of what kids have to say, follow the video below:

The first day was full of FREE workshops, with a guerrilla usability workshop by Andy Budd involving wine tasting, courtesy of Cortes de Cima and Adegga. Awesome #2.

On Thursday, the sessions started with a massive amount were to choose from. As far as i could find out on the coffe breaks, highlights were Julian Bleecker’s Design Fiction and Mark Wuben’s Home Made Ubiquitous Computing (today i’ve realized he’s also the co-author of always useful sIFR). I really enjoyed the session on Designing with common sense, by the folks of AllOfUs. Even more after i had the chance of having a great talk at lunch with Nick and Sandy. Andy Budd closed the day with a great presentation on User Experience, an appetizer for the last day main theme. Awesome #3.

Friday started with another great session by Brian Suda about semantic web and microformats, and the morning ended with our own robotic curator Leonel Moura discussing Artificial Creativity. The afternoon had the most expected sessions with Stowe Boyd and Tara Hunt focusing on social flow and social capital. Awesome #4.

If you couldn’t attend (shame on you), grab the presentations, now highlighted on Slideshare.net homepage as Shift08. Awesome #5.

And did i mentioned that it was a great chance to meet a lot of interesting people, from all over Europe, and start a true Shift movement? Awesome #6.

If further prove is needed how awesome it was, check the video testimonials below:

Loved it in 2006, 2008 was awesome, can’t wait for 2009. A big thanks to all of Shift’s team. Awesome.

We’re almost there: the 2nd edition of Shift – Social and Human Ideas for Technology is taking place the next 15th to 17 October.

Having attended the 1st one – and loving it – i’m expecting the same amount of enthusiasm and interesting discussions on how technology is shaping society and our daily lifes.

The event is organized by close friends Bruno and Pedro (at non-profit), with 60 speakers during the 3 days, at Parque das Nacoes FIL (Lisbon). The subjects in discussion include: Education, History, Genetics, Economics, Accessibility, Usability, Mobile Technologies, Open Source, Transportation, Energy, Architecture and Art. Quite a treat, eh?

With confirmed speakers like Andy Budd, August de los Reyes, Julian Bleeker, Leonel Moura, Manuel Lima, Stowe Boyd and Tara Hunt, it shows how Portugal is becoming a great place for tech/digital conferences, after OFFF‘s success the past May.

I’ve just registered but hurry up and get one the last available tickets. Shift !

“the last shall be first and the geek shall inherit the earth“

The above quote from one of the latest NYTimes editorials, reminds me of how digital natives have progressed. After the dot-com crash, we shifted the focus of the Internet from business to communities, and a new Millennial generation has arised.

Internet Attention Deficit Disorder has become a reality to the horde of nerds, geeks or MMORP fans, with the usual pundits horrified by the alienation of digital natives.
The fact is that “we” (if you read this blog, i’m soooo calling you a geek) created a different kind of individuals: connected, multi-taskers, highly skeptical and with a new sense of democracy built on top of online communities.

Image Credits: Geek And Poke

Geeks are no longer a weird tribe, but started to shape soiety with new behaviors. From education to environment, geek influence is undeniable. Take for example Nerdcore, a new musical genre but also a documentary about nerds, geeks, dorks and the way they interpret Hip Hop:

Not only geek-culture is becoming mainstream, but it also creates their own sub-cultures, with idiosyncrasies and references that spawn from Star Wars paraphernalia to Python riddles. The Internet has further amplified our cult of the ego, capitalized by social networks. On a neo-”Brand Named You” paradigm, one of the most searched keywords is our own name, so beautifully stated on the film “Google Me“.

Our identity is thus increasingly shaped by digital mediums, with many joining the geek horde. Today’s relationships are built over the keyboard, and when we finally meet the person IRL (In Real Life), she’s no longer a stranger as the emotional barriers have been demolished by a long series of emoticons.

Image Credits: Geek And Poke

A few years ago, someone told me i was spending too much time online, that i should get a real life. I promptly replied: “Online is also my real life. I have friends, a culture, a digital identity with many of the community bonds more truthful than in your-so-called-real life”. Thankfully i can now be proud of being a digital native. It’s not just the money pouring in the tech world, it’s also the sense that i became part of a community that allowed me the access new realms of information and cultures.

I’m proud of being a geek.

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From the same show, Doc Searls speaks about the origin of Cluetrain.

Adam and Dessi Price, inspired by their trip to the 11 Spring Project, turned a downtown building they owned over to the art community in Utah. They started this project only knowing one local artist and every artist that joined after came from word-of-mouth. In the end, over 144 artists participate in the project. Over 7,500 people toured through the building.

Learn more about this project here.

Source: Wooster Collective

Interesting study by ZenithOptimedia, found at Julio Alonso‘s blog, with several questions to proeminent spanish bloggers and more than 2.000 phone interviews.

Favourite insights:

• Most people get to know blogs through friends
• Users read mostly their friends blogs, followed by tech blogs
• 44% of interviewed users admit they might change brand due to comments read on blogs
• LiveSpaces and Blogger are the dominant publishing platforms
• Advertising is well accepted, as long as not too intrusive
• Users see blogs as an independent medium, with participation as the main feature

Link to study (4Mb pdf).

Green is the new black, with the Al Gore manifesto making waves in many fields. Now it’s the turn for designers to take a stand with designcanchange.org.

The site uses great  infographics and smooth photo transitions to present a quick overview about global warming and encourages designers to make a change, through their active role in society. Choosing materials or suppliers that are ecologically sustainable is one of the examples given so in the end a designer does make a difference.

Our professional role does have implications to our society – in a sense,  we do shape the environment with minor design choices that build the long tail of our consumer society. If you feel like taking a active role, take the pledge and join the community.