Photos: Graffiti Sprayer at Danube Channel

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The Danube Channel is a short, man-made sidearm of the river Danube which runs directly through the center of the city. About 10 years ago, spraying basically was an illegal activity anywhere in the city, but then some smart folks decided to officially turn the walls alongside the channel into the city-sprayers' official canvas. On a warm, sunny Sunday plenty of painting action takes place – I shot the following three pics using my EOS D and a lensbaby muse. (Click to enlarge.)

Viennese graffiti art 1 Read more

How WikiLeads cannot get shut down [Cartoon]

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If you're a chef you've probably wondered why everybody is talking about these WikiLicks. And if you're into online marketing, you probably wondered why you are still struggling with Facebook while the competition is already generating WikiLeads like crazy. Calm down – it's WikiLeaks and it probably won't ruin you. Oh, you're a politician? In that case: be afraid. Be very afraid.

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World Blogging Forum Vienna 2010 – the next 10 years in digital media

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On November 13th, A1 Telekom Austria and datadirt, the proud and happy author of this humble blog, invite international top bloggers and Austrian social media geeks to join the first pro-blogging conference in Vienna. The conference focuses on the future of digital media. We will discuss the impact of the internet on various aspects of our life in the next ten years: how will our jobs change? How will our personal life change? What's the next stage of social media? The official homepage wbf2010.at will soon be online soon. The event will take place at A1 TA headquarters at Lasallestra?e 9 in Vienna – we got a main hall plus various smaller conference rooms for break-out sessions, of course all equipped with stable WLAN.

Austrian bloggers and journalists are warmly welcome. There is no entrance fee; due to the capacity of the venue the spots are strictly limited though. In the next weeks, we will invite our international guests and give away all tickets via weblogs and media partners. Secure your spot now and join us: the first ten spots are available… NOW! Read more

Interview with Thomas W. Malone: Collective Intelligence, Privacy and Small Towns

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In the newest issue of my video-podcast MIT Professor Thomas W. Malone talks about his reasearch on collective intelligence and the changing notion of privacy. Professor Malone is the founding director of MIT's Center for Collective Intelligence. In 2004, he published The Future of Work, a critically acclaimed book about the impact of electronic communication on management, organizations and business. Before he started teaching at MIT, Mr. Malone was a research scientist at the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. So enjoy the podcast which contains a short introduction, the interview plus two exlusive bonus tracks :pimp:

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Gallery: Media History at the Technical Museum of Vienna

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In January I visited the exhibition Medienwelten at Technisches Museum Wien. It's a fascinating trip back to the very beginnings of information transmission – a must for anyone interested in the early beginnings of this media society:

The medien.welten exhibition presents the history of transmission media as well as storage media. On 2.500 square meters the evolution of the modern media-system becomes alive. In addition to hundreds of historical artefacts, images and texts, the exhibition features a virtual-information-room that goes beyond the scope of conventional museum exhibitions.

Last Sunday I returned to the museum, but this time I brough my camera. There's plenty to explore: from early telegraph systems which used a piano-keyboard for entering messages to a historic cinema. These pictures only highlight a bit of the exhibition – so if you ever come to Vienna, pay a visit to the exhibition yourself. Read more

How to impress a French girl

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I'm not a big fan of Google in general: there services are not that great, but there's no alternative. But it regularly frightens me how this machine works. Today, European director Steve Rogers told an Austrian newspaper: “When a company gets bigger, it is seen as intransparent. But we try to be as transparent as possible.” Right after that Mr. Rogers showed what he really means when he answered the next two questions about Google's situation in China: “I'm not allowed to comment on this.” (Kleine Zeitung, February 9th 2010, page 29). Temper, temper! Read more

Dear Mr. datadirt, we’re doing research

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Journalism students from the Dutsch university of applied sciences in Utrecht are currently conducting a survey about the popularity of social media – if you run a popular blog, the questionnaire probably already arrived in your inbox. All interviews with social media experts will be published on the crossmedialab homepage – good questions, I'm really curious about the results of the study and my colleagues' answers, just mailed mine to Wolfgang.

How long have you been working with online social media and what was your reason to get into this topic?

The question is: which online services do qualify as ?social media?? I?ve started using the internet in 1994 ? out of mere curiosity. A couple of years later I started working as a web designer for APA (Austria Press Agency). At the same time, 3 fellow students from the department of science of communication and me launched the platform medianexus.net ? a community site for publishing ?grey? student literature about media-related topics. The project doesn?t exist anymore, the site is archived in the Austrian National Library though. The comment function was one our most important features back than ? and even though services like Facebook and Twitter were lurking in the far future, we used e-mail and mailing lists for discussion and organisation purposes.
To me, there is no clear-cut between ?Web 1.0? and ?Web 2.0? ? technologies have evolved, dynamic web applications did replaced static content. So the new tools fuel the use of social media, but the basic principle of enabling dialogue and connecting people has been one of the main strengths of the internet from the beginning. Read more

You want peace, Hippies? Go online!

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Barrack O. has been president of the United States for almost a year, yet still he didn't solve all of our large-scale problems: there's still hunger, illnesses, wars and injustice – maybe he can't do it that fast. I guess that grave change will not occur until 2012 (no, not the end of the world, but the next US presidential elections). The team of Wired Italy takes a different approach in terms of “who” to believe in: the fundamental changes driven by the internet are far more severe than those triggered by a single person, even if usually referred to as the most powerful man in the world. So Wired Italy proposes that the internet per se should receive the next Peace Nobel Prize.

Internet for Peace

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Win a free ticked for meshed #1 conference!

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meshed - social media marketing konferenz in linzMeshed #1 conference takes place for the first time this year. From May 28th to 29th, the ars electronica center Linz will focus on all aspects of Social Media Marketing. On my German blog datenschmutz I am giving away a free 2-day-conference pass (priced at ?680) and there's more: using the coupon-code meshed_datenschmutz will save you ?170 when ordering a regular ticket. To enter the competition, you need a twitter account as I will be tweeting various quiz-style questions during the next three days. The persons who answers most questions right wins the ticket. There's only one downturn: the whole-give-away is explained in German and I'm using my German twitter acount @ritchie_tweets, as the conference language will be German, too.

So if you happen to be near Linz during 28./29. of May and would like to attend meshed #1, check out this posting on datenschmutz.

Barcamp in Klagenfurt: My bags are packed

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Barcamp Klagenfurt 2009Lookin' forward to Barcamp Klagenfurt – it's been a while since the last un-conference, and I'm expecting an international crowd: after all, Slovenia is very near, and I'm quite sure that some Swiss, Italian and German web entrepreneurs and bloggers will drop by. If you've never visited the city of the “Lindwurm” (a mythological dragon, the town's landmark), there's a good reason now to travel to Carinthia.

The actual Barcamp takes place during the weekend, but we will all hang out together on Friday – so it's very likely quite a few folks will be hang-overed on Saturday, which is why I might consider doing my presentation on Sunday: I'm planning to speak about future micro-blogging scenarios and I will introduce my “3 twitter strategies”. The perfect chance to test Prezi under live conditions :mrgreen:

The participant list is 51 names long by now, I'm sure there will be at least 100 attendants. Of course the entry is free – it's an unconference. If you want to join, just add your name to the list of participants in the Austrian Barcamp wiki. Big Shout-outs to Georg, Ed and all others involved in the organisation of this event!

Need a place to stay? Klagenfurt's Youth Hostel not only offers very cheap accommodation (EUR 34,- for a single room), it's also located very close by the university, where the BC takes place – reservations can be made via e-mail: Youth Hostel Klagenfurt.

Weekly Blogistan Round-Up no. 47/2008

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obamoidaNo more denial, it's official by now: no more outdoor swimming 2k8, winter has kicked in Vienna. Yesterday, the little white thingie called snow was floating around in the air, which is nice, if you live near the Alps (skiing season!), but which sucks, if you live in Vienna: as soon as the first snow is falling, car-drivers get crazy: no matter if the streets are actually slippery or not.

Seth on Trust: I trust you, says Seth, but if you abuse my trust once, you won't be part of the inner circle next time. No need to comment on that, expect: full akk:

If I believe I'm talking on the record, to everyone, I need to be a lot more careful in what I type. Of course, there's no way for me to enforce this. No way for me to sue you or something if you start taking my words (in context or not) and post them here and there. Except for one: I just won't trust you again.

Craig's face gets redder: Obviously, Facebook wants to re-furbish its marketplace. Classified are big business, which currently is largely covered by Craigslist, MSN and eBay (via Kijiji). According to TechCrunch, Facebook chose Oodle, who probably won the pitch thanks to their previous field-experience aka Walmart Classifieds – the relaunch will take place in December. If Facebook manages to offer a better product than their competitors, this could mean some big buck: the combination of a social network with a classifieds-system sounds like a very good idea – but obviously, something was missing so far, since the current marketplace is one of the least busy areas in FB-town; let's see if Oodle will change that.

Monty Python on youtube: No more need to illegally upload MP-sketches: the British comedians are going affirmative and created their very own Channel, which not only features the well-known pieces but also rarities from the vault. I bet fan-numbers will increase rapidly! [via Laughing Squid]

A quantum of what? Glad I don't have to watch the newest JB movie, as Dan reviewed A Quantum of Solace and came to the frightening conclusion that there is actually no bond girl in this movie. Actually, his resum