If yes, you’re a digital immigrant. If not, you’re a digital native. This is probably one of the simplest explanations of the digital divide, as explained by Sir Ken Robinson at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), on his Commencement address. Enjoy this and other pearls of wisdom regarding creativity.

James Paterson has been busy lately. Besides filming an Actionscript 3 training DVD with Colin Moock and Hoss Gifford, he cooked up the software component of Harvest, his exhibition currently displaying at bitforms gallery in NYC.

The Rotten Fruit Tardis is an animated vehicle that transports viewers between a myriad of dimensions and nested worlds and displayed as a wall-projection. More than 5000 of Jason’s drawings are drifting in a space with each viewer explores the omni-directional interface.

With music by K-rAd and the help of other brilliant minds like Jeh Ham, Amit Pitaru, Jeremy Felker, Colin Moock, Branden Hall and James Braithwaite, it’s the digital synthesis of his impressive collection of works. Press on.

Following yesterday’s news, i’m sharing a collaboration between blog network Prt.Sc and OFFF, that are inviting all portuguese bloggers to OFFF Screen Challenge and win a chance to be at this renowned festival of post-digital culture, taking place in Lisbon, from 7th to 9th May 2009.

*Disclaimer: As an executive member of Prt.sc, I’ll be judging the entries. That leaves all other portuguese bloggers more chances to win the 3day ticket and show your project at the venue.

The Challenge

OFFF and Prt.sc are showcasing the best of portuguese digital culture: from the garage hack to your web project, OFFF Screen is giving the chance for those using social media to showcase their projects to a wider and interested audience.

The submitted projects are preferably within the broader Catalogue theme “THIS ISN’T FLYING, THIS IS FALLING WITH STYLE · FAIL GRACEFULLY @ OFFF”.  Unleash your creativity, don’t be afraid to fail.

How to apply

Each application must be submitted by a member of  the project that has been writing for a blog at least since December 2008.

Each blog must write at least 3 posts until the 1st of May, related to the project or OFFF Festival, and tagged with  offf and prt.sc. On this date, judges by the OFFF and Prt.sc team will select the 3 best projects. These will be awarded with a 3 day ticket and the chance to present the project on the venue.

Submissions should be sent to offf@prt.sc, with project description, name and contacts, and a permalink to the post announcing the challenge entry.

All posts related to the challenge will be agregated at offf.prt.sc. For further info, contact offf@prt.sc.

Missing the OFFF Festival posts lately?  It’s time with some fresh OFFF news, then:

• Amit Pitaru and James Paterson are in. Some experimental trippin’ expected.
• If there was an A-list for digital creators, if would probably be at OFFF: Paula Scher, U.V.A (United Visual Artists), Robert L. Peters, Chris Milk, Grey London, Stefan Sagmeister, Digital Kitchen, PES, Joshua Davis, Hillman Curtis, Neville Brody, Eva Vermandel, Kyle Cooper, etc, etc,
• Loopita rolls a customized venue for Raster-Noton, the german experimental music label.
• Nerdference panel is premiering, with a lot of D.I.Y. technologies, from open software and hardware, control surfaces, Arduino, tangible interfaces, the works. It’s evolution baby.

So, what’s your excuse to haven’t yet booked your flight to sunny (beach is within walk distance) Lisbon?

P.S.: There’s a open slot for sponsors, a great chance for companies working in creative business to be amongst a creative crowd of +3k and showcase your services.

From guerrilla marketing to urban interventions, the streets have become a new canvas for creativity. One of the most prolific projects in this area comes from Brazil, with the creative duo Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente, aka, 6emeia.

Started as a intervention to transform daily environments as a reflection of their creative work, the duo started painting gaping holes and other objects on urban landscapes, reminding us that even the most forgotten object can be regarded as art.

After a few months absent, my favorite Portuguese online magazine has returned. Rua de Baixo launched today their second version, a truly 2.0 release, as the site is being powered by Wordpress and it’s still in beta.

Started in 2003, it achieved a recognition as one of the main online references of portuguese urban culture, publishing the latest news, events and featuring a wide range of artists and projects. The quality of their online publishing efforts is testified by their faithful readers and newsletter subscribers and more than 40 contributing writers.

Rua de Baixo V2 Launch Teaser on Youtube
The team/collective did a great job on the new version, with new features and a more acessible website (the old one was a frame nightmare). Congratulations, David Carvalho, Hugo Pinheiro, Mário João Camolas and Pedro Marques and to the tech team at Spirituc.

The relaunch edition goes by the theme of DIY, a look on the Do It Yourself spirit of 7 portuguese artists: Joana Bastos (Art); António Aleixo (Cinema); Photonz (Production/DJ); Paulo Almeida (Fashion); Noiserv (Music); Rui Vieira (Design) and Cristina Miguel (Fashion).

On the regular sections, you can fin the usual great news coverage of music, with a a new X-Wife video (canIHaz embedded video player, plz ?), the always surprising cult findings, and an interview with the director of with my latest tv series addiction, made in Portugal, Um Mundo Catita.

Even if you don’t understand a word of Portuguese, have a look and bookmark it as one of the main online references on portuguese urban culture.

Last week was really busy, with tight project schedules and a 24h coding marathon at Codebits. Nonetheless, there’s always time to share the latest fresh inspirations:

First, another great idea by FarFar, with Nokia presenting the next step in workload management. Just upload that boring document you have on your Documents folder and be surprised.

Speaking of mobile, and for not accusing me of a Nokia bias, there’s Samsung Omnia, a video exploration on what a mobile device has to offer, at 42goodthings.com. Also created by a Swedish agency, Projector.

Having a great time? Then grab a Heineken beer, and take a good look around the bar to know the signs.

It could be easier to understand, so i wouldn’t had to put up with the annoying voice off. The Oddcast custom video is nice though. Work by Unit9.

After the digital inspiration, a few more video bytes on creativity, starting with Lit Studio’s Interactive Mirror (not sure how it would work out on a Monday morning)

Interactive Mirror from Alpay Kasal on Vimeo

and ending with an essential talk on creativity and play by IDEO’s T shaped men, Tim Brown.

You have to hand it to those bright minds at IDEO. They do know how to have fun and break the rules. Jay Kaplan and team have put together a modern time Rude Goldberg chain reaction, on eight worldwide locations, six time zones, and roughly fifty people involved.



The Boston team gets their machine ready amongst scenes of local history. Photo credits: Ideo Labs

The video below is 15 minutes of pure blend between engineering and creativity, with each office creating their own chain reaction masterpiece. Enjoy.

IDEO Global Chain Reaction from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.

While finish my article about a “New Brand Of Creative” for the second edition of The Age Of Conversation book, i got to know an AdmCom initiative meant to encourage people to reinvent themselves every day and stimulate their creativity.

The print project has 366 illustrated business cards of creative professions, all of them addressed to the person who receives the box. Besides the creative box, you can browse to yearofcreativity.com and customize your own business card or search for the ideal creative profession.

There are some great cards to kick start 2008 as the year of creativity !