Anyone who’s experienced the contractual back-and-forth and mutual scheduling headaches that can accompany freelance creative and project selection may be excited about this week’s unveiling of Startup Weekend founder Andrew Hyde’s new undertaking Pick.im. The freelancer portfolio database enables talent-seekers to search for copywriters, developers, and other specialists in their geographic area and price range. An average of 10 freelancers are currently signing up hourly for what Hyde describes as a more ethical (read: not spec work-centered) response to “sleazy services” that had previously dominated the freelance planning process.
The Boulder-based startup aficionado said he interviewed 500 freelancers about what they would seek in joining a service like Pick before joining up with the Phoenix-based developers at FlatterLine. They skipped a beta release to go straight to the public launch that has resulted in the project hiring of a photographer and UI expert today, and Hyde says a legally binding contract feature is forthcoming. “What is on Pick right now is about 1/3 of the features the site needs to really tick,” he wrote on the Pick blog. “I have a good guess on the 2/3 of the features, but the last 1/3 is going to come directly from listening to our passionate freelancers and clients.” Said like true community advocate.
The lineup and special tributes for this year’s SF International Film Festival were announced this morning, and I won’t waste time relaying the handful I’m most looking forward to after a few well-selected 2009 premiers including advertising industry retrospective Art & Copy and (Untitled)‘s satirical look at the modern art market. Starting in April, the following look most intriguing:
Short film maker and animator Don Hertzfeldt will be honored with a “Persistence of Vision” award on April 23 at Kabuki Cinemas before the Life, Death and Very Large Utensils program.The semitragic work he draws by hand before shooting with antique 16mm or 35mm film cameras is can’t-close-the-browser-window good, including this rejected cartoons video (which won’t be screening during the festival, though shorts Intermission in the Third Dimension and I am so proud of you will be).
With talks from the smart minds at Bit.ly, TED Conferences, Foodspotting, and Instructables, it will be hard to keep me far from this spring’s Web 2.0 Expo at Moscone. The “Power of Platform” conversations include Trulia data guru Jesper Andersen presenting tools for data visualization and Yahoo design pattern library’s Christian Crumlish speaking about designing for play following the publication of his book “Designing Social Interfaces.” (In the interest of full disclosure, both have supported Ignite Bay Area, for which there will be another series of five-minute talks on May 3 in conjunction with the Expo and sponsored by .CO. There’s still time to send a talk idea our way.)
But amid the UX and analytics conversations, one that particularly stands out for its simple synopsis is IDEO interaction designer Jef Cunningham’s description for his customer-driven development talk: “He strives for simplicity in form and function. Mostly he likes stories.” Man of my own heart.
Chalk it up to wanderlust or missing the English brand planners I used to work with, but I wanted to share two videos out of the UK that are creating conversation around business sustainability and the future of publishing (the two having quite a bit of crossover). The first, from consumer resource Brandkarma, is an introduction to their community aimed at changing brands for the better through user feedback on company ethics. The questions it poses have global implications but are presented in an imaginative way–and I appreciate that they’ve taken a nod from Jimmyjane’s white gloved approach to demonstrating toy usage.
The second is DK publishing’s hypothetical take on the fate of content creation as told through the words of an anonymous (or imaganed) teenager. You’ll want to see the dichotomy of concern for the actions of Lady Gaga vs. Gandhi yourself; as many a teen girl might tell you, there’s enough attention–and desire for media about–both. Thanks to Mashable for turning me onto this one.
This is one o’ those nights when everything you might want to do over the course of a week falls within the same three hour period. SF Ballet’s limited run of “The Little Mermaid” inconveniently conflicts (for we slaves to iCal, at least) with the international celebration of Twestival at Horizon Lounge and the SF for Acumen Fund fundraiser at SNOB wine bar in Nob Hill. Woe are we.
The tweeting-for-good festival coincides with hundreds of global charity events today to raise funds for Concern Worldwide, “a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization” that helps people living in extreme poverty achieve major improvements in their lives. More than a quarter of a million dollars have been contributed at this point, and the touchpoints outside the events include an iPhone app, music downloads through Twestival.FM, an eBay auction, and (obviously) V-neck tees.
In reading Jacqueline Novogratz’s autobiography “The Blue Sweater” about the work with African social entrepreneurs that led her to create the venture philathropy-focused Acumen Fund, I’m sad to miss a local discussion of the fund’s Indian and Pakistani agricultural investments tonight. Nob Hill’s “Sonoma, Napa Or Beyond” (SNOB) wine bar will play host to a dialogue with Tarim Wasim, the founder of the Association for the Development of Pakistan, about his approach to selecting and funding sustainable non-profits (including medical goods suppliers and school construction).
I had seen a porn for gals book a few years ago that was almost vision-straining in the eye rolls it induced in me. A clean sink and a Baby Bjorn are nice and all, but their turn on potential is…far-fetched for most women at best. Enter SF-by-way-of-Boulder designer Jamie Panzarella, an online experience creator who’s not too timid to invite women to put a Rick James track on a video of a gent shaving (or a plate of rotating gourmet cheese) and address it “supertramp.”
Knowing friends with varied triggers that make them melt, Panzarella sought a way to address the particularness and complexity with which many women pursue that which makes them melt. Ladywood.biz was born, and the just-launched site’s steamy video creation tool with a send-a-friend capability and array of curated news items make for entertaining reasons to return. (The eye-catching magenta and black color scheme isn’t bad, either.)
“It all started about a year ago when I was at a hotel and decided to peruse the porn selection–just to see,” Panzarella said. “I was surprised by the variety: horny housewives, swinging soccer moms, naughty cheerleaders…All of them were cheap. Not one movie catered to ladies. This intrigued me: that we don’t have the options, and if we did, what would they be?”
While still in alpha, the SF-based restaurant and dish finder Clooch is a helpful new local food guide whose pro and con breakout provides quick visual understanding. Husband and wife team Gene and Yelena Drabkin started the site when they thought that user review sites were too clogged with “who cares” information (according to Gene, “the amount of user reviews [and] review sites is growing exponentially while the amount of time people have to process the information stays the same if not decreases.”) Their response? Clooch aggregates restaurant reviews from Yelp, OpenTable and Citysearch while identifying relevant review snippets–and publishing only those portions deemed meaningful to diners. For fans of certain dishes, say tom yum soup or eggplant parmesan (may be ready to nosh over here), the popularity and user opinion criteria make for a quicker way to choose where to eat than browsing reviews. Nationwide rollout to follow.
I’m a big believer that we can all use a little color on a Monday, and painter Matt Mignanelli’s latest geometric work adds a bit of fun on the toughest day of the week (that being the one following a sunny weekend in both SF and NY, Mignanelli’s stomping grounds). In preparing to introduce his colorful 16″ by 20″ works to an emerging Scottish modern art scene, the RISD-educated artist created “The Paradigm” series exploring the struggle between structure and nature that he experiences living in cities. Both in the new series and earlier paintings (including “Get Yer Nails Did,” bottom, which I first mistook for rabbit keychains), black is a strong antidote to the highly saturated neon that comprises much of his work, with the exception of nighttime SF photography. Mignanelli will be showing locally next at Medicine Agency at Mason and Jackson starting August 20.
Friday night dance shows are disadvantaged from the beginning: chatty crowds can find it hard to focus after the work week with the second act being the only thing keeping them from a cocktail. ODC, the local company that set up shop in San Francisco after arriving with a busload of dancers from Ohio’s Oberlin College in the ’70s, has worked around that problem. (It is also one of two American companies to join the State Department in a cross-cultural look at dance education in South Africa, according to The New York Times today.)
In staging its the second of its original spring 2010 programs at Yerba Buena, the 10 dancers under Brenda Way’s charge present simultaneously athletic and intentional performances that demanded audience attention. Despite neutral costumes, the playful choreography of “Something about a Nightingale” and the premiering “Labor of Love” is a perfect way to showcase the ability that has helped the company win tests of strength against Cal athletes in recent years. But the keynote of the program, “In the Memory of the Forest,” is most compelling with its video backdrop of dancers interacting in the forest as a live performance of the original score bounces and climbs. The very capable dancers’ imaginative approach reminds me of an observation of e.e. cummings’ poetry: it’s only when you know the rules of the craft well that you can break them.
If you’ve been watching the most recent Ignite Show videos wondering how you can get a piece of the action or have a compelling concept for a five-minute talk this May, please send ideas for the next Ignite Bay Area our way by April 11. Speakers will present their thoughts, creations or cleverness to Web 2.0 Expo-goers and members of the public over the course of 20 slides. Historical, knowledge-sharing, and funny talks tend to resonate better than product pitches in this format, and we encourage you to think big. Our only ask: enlighten us, but make it quick.
What: The potential for you to prepare a brief talk related to your knowledge/experience/passion When: Monday, May 3, at Mezzanine (444 Jessie Street, SF) How: Write to ignitesf@gmail.com with “submission idea” included in your subject line. Send a paragraph pitch by midnight on April 11 for consideration. Speakers will be notified the week of April 19 for the next set of public talks to be hosted by Ignite co-founder Brady Forrest, TechWeb, and Bay Area planners Carmel Hagen and Emily Goligoski.
