Business & Innovation - PG03-08 (Cycle 2) Group: Chinese Language Learning Tool (10 April 2012)

Business & Innovation - PG03-08 (Cycle 2) Group: Chinese Language Learning Tool (10 April 2012)

Fiddian Warman - Soda

the business of digital and physical making
Camberwell - Fine Art (Sculpture)Middlesex - Digital Arts

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Business Strategies
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Robot bulldozers

Robots

Photo-transistors

Megatronic installation

Web-based client-side Java work - Northcote

Soda constructor - dot and lines that are animated, working on ios version, funding from Nesta

Talking to Pearson about licensing Springy physics game

Amnesty International, repression on the internet, data censorship, handing over of data by corporates

Education/Art/Learning crossover - funding from Creative Partnerships, putting creative people into schools, interactive pieces that express something about the school

- pupils designed icons about energy, software to upload photos to control a digital light sculpture.

Energy ring - Science Museum - inside surface is an LED, works according to Newtonian physics, interactives for museums.

Churchill museum - interactive table top piece, markers moves around on a tabletop showing Churchills interactions with allies in Second world war

GRS - build products and services which are technology frameworks, to resell, and build IP within the company. - Mash/Gas - software framework, text from various sources and montaged in real time. 1st project for Phizer research and development facility.

Also used same software for the cultural bid for Olympics.

Same technology for British council and Tate gallery, for Damascus, for cultural discussion.

Project between two cultures, tagging between UK and China, wrote a web app, to create a haiku.

Produced software which displayed on the screen of Shanghai science musuem.

Alot of work, is very international work.

Project for Boeing, artwork for Shanghai expo, first time to interact with airlines, artwork around theme of travel, cultural exchange. - Dreamscape.

Laser scanners, gestural interfaces, interactive screen.

Dreamscape - moderated interface tool.

Funding from Welcome Trust to create neurotic - 3m tall robots, playing punk music

Neural network - models neurology

Learn by experience, histogram created and then the robots would pogo up and down

Physcial things - skins for buildings, building in barcelona, inflatable cells, membrane pumping air inside the cell, using aldrinos to control each cell.

Work for museum in Saudi Arabia, King abdullah research centre for Atomic Energy. - ping pong game. - crossover of physical and digital.

Idea of making a makerbot, 3D printer, tweet sent out to produce a makerbot by the community.

Makers Guild - support makers, craftspeople, designers, coders, and engineers.

Running a program of six events at the V&A.

Looking at funding for space for the makers guild.

Soda's Ups & Downs - shape of business - formed Soda in 1997, slow steady rise, picking up more people, work coming in with artwork and commercial work.

Developed own software to create IP within the company. Licensing out to people.

Grew to about 12 people. Won bafta award. Overheads - £40,000 per month.

Often doing work that they did not want to do.

Talked to incubator - genesis, nurture small businesses in exchange for equity.

Consulted management consultants, large business plan.

Dot com crash in 1997 - work dissapearing, clients were pulling in budgets.

Investors, folded up cheque books in 2001, combined with dot com crash created a big problem with Soda.

In 2007, had to make employees reduntant, scale down, leaner process.

Bought assets and restarted. Remove debts. Restarted soda but made alot of similar mistakes.

Lacked business focus, profitable business plan. Still trying to fund own projects.

Better if you do not have big overheads.

Managed to last until 2009, and then same things happened again. Directors has illnesses.

Need to be resilient, things can turn from difficult to unworkable.

Started a new version of Soda. Now taken on an administrator. Expert in Learning games.

Model of pulling in freelancers for projects, keeping overheads to a minimum.

Contract can be substantial, last for 6 months, but does not start for some reason, organisation issue. People not paying.

Looking to license out more software. Build the Ioss mentioned before.

Alternate funding models 

- Grants - TSB, EU, Research Council+

- Partnering with established businesses

- & Boot strapping

Arts Council, Research council

Technology Strategy Board, large grants to micro grants

Co-funder of Awesome Foundation - solicit ideas through the website.

- might be creative, might have good social purpose, have a meeting in a pub, winner get a prize award.

In late 90s squatted in the offices of a Print design company, digital agency that could help morph business.

Approach businesses, to inject creative energy into business.

Bootstrapping, be as lean and mean as possible, networking spaces, online collaboration tools.

Look for the low-hanging fruit. Get some revenue flowing into the business. Cash is king. Getting money into the business. Start building cash reserves.

Social media - effective marketing for low money. Tweet alot, form groups, build structures to support business.

Get to know the customer base.

Planning, VC to get money requires proper business plans.

Developing a small lean boot strapped busines still requires a business plans, focuses what the business is, can be as little as 5 slides in a presentation

Do a simple form of forecasting, listing overheads, where potential revenues could come from.

Create some form of balance sheet looking at profitability

Do the accounts, assists with planning, online accountancy packages - FreeAgent

- can do away with expensive accountancy fees.

Projection of estimates and quotes.

Exercise:

Projects in groups around particular business ideas

Decide on a business, focus on how to get the business started, grow and sustain it, than the idea itself. Marketing strategies, how would you grow the business, see a VC, bootstrap.

Write a 5 year plan

20 mins, then report back, sell the business.

Feedback with quick 2 mins presentations.

MakerBot

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Companies that can be partners -

- if you want to open a business in China, contact agencies, show you the possibilities.
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Get an idea of projected revenues

Look at possible revenue streams

Find ways to add value to what they are doing.
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1.15pm - Talking about degree show
2pm - Meeting with Elkin, - Group project
Manufacturers (Production), then Retailers (Distribution).
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*Find a calligrapher, search on LinkedIn
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Discussion on Degree Show

25/26 June - Setup

27 June/28 June – Exhibition

29 June - Takedown
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£5000

35 students

£140 per student

5 groups

g1.Marketing - £1000

g2.

g3.

g4.

g5.

Ask for Budget from previous show

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Artist presentation: - Lilliane Lijn

language

word

mind

energy

matter

change

light

word

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forms

circle

ellipse

sphere

cyclinder

cone

triangle

square

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Echo-Light – 1963, circular lenses

Liquid Reflections, 1966-1968

Vibrographe – 1960, moving black and white lines create illusion of colour

Young Universe – 1962

Beyond Images Poem Wheel – 1964

Man is Naked – 1965

Atom Body was Light – 1964, words as velocities

Sky never stops Poemcon – 1965

Act as Atom – 1968, transparent cones with text

Poemkon-D-4-Open-Apollinaire, ICA, 1968, space and poetry

Anti-Gravity Koan – 1969

Material Alphabet – 1970, invented a new language, sections out of alumnium

Book: Crossing Map – 1970, writing and drawing

Conjunction of Opposites:

Lady of the Wild Things – 1983

Woman of War – 1986, dark shadow

Venice Biennale – 1986

Figures, computer controlled, complex, figures that listened, sculpture that responds to sound.

They transform sound into light.

Electric bride, 1989

Cage connected to scuplture with electric volts

Speaks in Japnaese, drama of the sumerian dissent from life into darkness

MoonMeme – see the moon, and what it is like tonight.

http://lilianlijn.com/moonmeme/index.html 

3 letter word, Shi, Shi, Shi

+++

Ruins of Kasch – 2008 – Light reflected through airgel

Reality – Lightshow

Firespine – 1976 – put prisms onto rocks, spectra

Spectra heliostats, constantly changing

Can follow sun, but can also direct a heliostat

Way Out is Way in Poemdrum, 2009, 10 ft high

19th April 2012, 7-10pm, Exhibition – Meaning of Power

Flying faster than Birds – words change into light through motion

Matter Spins, Poem Drum, 2011

Essential Forest Poem Drum, 2011

Power Game, 1974, Royal College of Art

Casino, 15-20 players. 108 cards with a word on each card.

ie.HEART/REMNANT/SHARPEN/WEB

Power Game, 2009, ICA, transdress event – liberating feeling

Creating more words, Game is composed of layers. Can vote on who will win.

Croupier dealing out cards. Banker moves around the table. 

Decide which word is most powerful. Can ask for another card.

Sentences – War/Death – word more powerful.

Fame, players, gamblers, watchers.

Screen – division with place where decisions are made.

Social power game. Words generate strange connections.

Facebook page. Vimeo page. Usually only invite people twice.

Work has progressed in multiple strands. Power of the national lobbies is very powerful, artist working outside boundaries of nationality.

Powerful countries make powerful artists.

Power game online on Twitter.

ResonanceFM, analog digital conference.

- website design, with Richard Wilding. Change rules.

Faced an issue with the max ceiling.

Finish of Talk

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LLT Talk

GROUP PLAN:

10 April – Tuesday groupwork

14 April - 1st saturday

17 April - Tuesdaygroupwork

21 April - 2nd saturday, presentation.

24 April – Tuesday Presentation

ACTION: Email group about Brixton, meet on Saturday 14th April, Speedy Noodle 2.30pm

ACTION: Email Elkin files from Antonio – TXT file

ACTION: Business Plan draft – to send to Elkin

ACTION: Send groupings – radicals to Group

ACTION: Find out from Beatrice about presentation