Macrotrends 2010-2012: Social Behaviors in Retail Environments

Note: This is the first in a series of posts that explore trends at the intersection of human behavior and technology that might emerge over the next three years from the convergence of other, established trends.
The Macrotrend:
The normalization of social behaviors on the web, in combination with the ability to centralize human networks via [...]

Facilitation and the Sound of Cracking Glass

I awoke to a fantastic post on Make this morning about Youth Music Box – an installation at the Royal Music Hall in London that allows kids to construct their own original composition in a few short minutes.
Youth Music Box is a free, interactive musical experience, allowing you to create your own unique track and [...]

Contemplating the Soft Infrastructure of Social Media

There are some really intriguing underpinnings of an infrastructure meme at the moment, which I’ll attempt to coalesce around some ongoing social media trends. Please bear with me:
Deepak Kumar, a consultant with the ICFAI Journal of Infrastructure, outlines the distinctions between ‘hard infrastructure’ and ’soft infrastructure’ in these terms1:
(The) infrastructure sector is divided into hard [...]

Standard Gauge and Cupcakes

1,435mm is a decidedly significant, if seemingly arbitrary figure.
As it happens, it the precise amount of space between train track rails dictated by Standard Gauge (occasionally referred to as Stephenson Gauge), and the specification used on some 60% of the world’s railway mileage.
Four feet, eight and one-half inches – a standard that allows trains to [...]