camera.nt

Random 12: A Scotty Hendo Twitter Experiment

2009-01-24T11:46:00.017+04:00

On returning from a wonderful trip to Iran, I found a whole bunch of new followers to my Twitter @floatr on 3rd Jan 2009. One among them was Scotty Hendo @scottyhendo who expressed delight at following my recent Persian adventure and if I remember correctly, he Tweeted about the Random 12 experiment a day into me following his stream. I like randomness, because it just makes think 'why not?' So, I readily jumped in to volunteer for this and what follows is my adventure through it.

My first task was to choose a random word and find 3 interesting and random people to follow. I, then, was to follow 3 people they've each recently replied to.

My Random Three

The first random word I chose was 'Rise'. Don't exactly know why I was thinking that, but it felt uplifting and action oriented for the experiment.

1. @mskogly

He's from Trondheim in Norway and his bio says that he is a web guru at NRK by day, father every morning/ evening, environment freak always, and happy art blogger by night. His current passion is circuit bending and beam bots.

2. @danpeguine

He's from Tel Aviv and his bio says that he is currently developing @honestybox, a Facebook app - 5M+ users. His last is not pronounced like 'Penguin' but like 'Peg - In'

In the spirit of experimenting, I decided to choose a second random word for the 3rd and final follow. I chose 'hurry' as I wanted to it to reflect my feeling of urgency about completing the experiment.

3. @caked

She is from Brooklyn and her bio says that she is a barbie girl in a barbie world and a 20 years old photographer.

The @Reply Nine

@larskflem

I don't understand most of his tweets as they are in Norwegian, but I like his bio which says 'Share and participate. Play and connect.'

@jagels

A web developer, but not much else to describe about coz' he tweets in Norwegian too.

@gautez

I think he works at NRK, but otherwise the tweets are in Norwegian.

@titanas

He is from Athens, Greece and is interested in some sort of Mobile/ Technology/ Web mélange.

@OHT

He is from Tel Aviv and involved with OneHourTranslation.com, an all languages translation site that uses real people to translate the text.

@rachelsamoul

She writes and blogs in French about a variety of different topics mostly around her life in Tel Aviv.

@couture

Her bio reads "I am everything she said I was...& you fucking love it." Voila!

@ibeaute

Young girl from California with protected updates who says in her bio "there's 1000 u'z and ONLY 1 ME!!!"

@mannywallace

Don't know much about him, but he seems like a nice man who just lost a close friend to AIDS.

Three Observations/ Findings/ Learnings:

1. This experiment sounded simple and straightforward at first, but like all experiments there are factors outside the initial problem set that affect it along the way. In my case, the context of my search word was different for different people, the time of day that I was searching impacted who I found and English is not as commonly spoken as we think it is.

2. Twitter is an interest + 'people you know/ friends' network. Few have a balance, for many it is skewed one way or another.

3. More people are passionate about their work/ job/ career today than they were a decade or two ago and they love talking about it. Gone are the days when people worked simply to pay their bills. The world will be a much better place, if everyone loves what they do and where they work.

My overall experience was mixed, it was exciting to find random interestingness, but it was also frustrating when I didn't understand it due to language barriers. One way to overcome this frustration could be to incorporate a dynamic translator into Twitter apps that allow users to translate tweets into the language of their choice. I hope @TweetDeck reads this and finds a way to connect more of us. :)

Thanks to Scotty Hendo for giving me the chance to participate in my first Twitter experiment. The experiences of two other participants in this experiment are here, Cindy Hartman and Geoff Wood.

To more Twitter experiments!

PS: I intend to continue following my Random 12 until the end of the month and then make a final decision on who I filter out. I feel generous giving people a chance. ;)

Gloom over Dubai

2008-12-04T10:51:00.001+04:00

Gloom over Dubai Realty, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

Dubai's real estate industry has enjoyed tremendous success in the recent past.
But it looks like the bubble has finally burst, which means the only industry, realty, that has helped this emirate onto its feet may be the very reason for its downfall.
We know very well what happens when you create excess in the hope that there will be excess to cater for, i.e. excess demand in the form of tourism. The excess for Dubai is a very expensive one as it is in the form of heavily leveraged urban property developments like the Palms, the World and Universe Islands, the Waterfront, the Marinas, the Tallest Towers, the Biggest Malls among other superlative projects.
And then when a financial crisis hits the world, what does Dubai do?
Wait hopelessly for the rain clouds to pass...

Once Oasis Beach Hotel, Dubai Marina.

2008-10-21T10:31:00.001+04:00

Oasis Beach Hotel, Dubai Marina, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

This hotel in Dubai Marina is being demolished only after a few years of its existence. Rumours have it that the new structure will be the tallest hotel tower in the world. Another superlative for Dubai!

Freej - Um Khammas

2008-08-15T12:09:00.002+04:00

Freej - Um Khammas, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

Um Khammas is an extremely funny character from the animation series, Freej.
Freej is aired during the month of Ramadan, so the next season will be on soon. Nothing to get excited about for me since it'll in Arabic and the copies with English subtitles won't be out on DVD for a while after.
I would be wonderful though if the makers of Freej give non-Arabic speakers a wonderful Eid gift by releasing the DVD collection. ;)
I reommend you watch the first season in the meantime.

Contextual Dilemma

2008-07-31T10:41:00.003+04:00

Power of Education, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

Who do you think may have written the above? Please stop a moment to think before reading on...

When I first read this piece in "The Art of Looking Sideways", I naturally assumed that a little girl had written it. Did you too?

While uploading it now, I am questioning the reasons for the assumptions and I don't seem to have any concrete ones. All my reasons are based on the language used, the handwriting and the concept I was working on at the time of spotting it.

Ofcourse, there is no real evidence to believe that this was written by a girl child, but I did. So, is my assumption purely contextual or are there some inherent signs in the text to suggest it?

Sunset Silhouette of Dubai

2008-07-27T17:02:00.001+04:00

Sunset Silhouette of Dubai, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

A view of the sunset during my drive back last evening.

And yes, the extraordinarily tall building is Burj Dubai!

Happy Food

2008-07-25T10:05:00.002+04:00

Good Food, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

I feel happy when I eat good food.

Meal prepared by Chef Julius Mooney.

System Administrator Appreciation Day

2008-07-25T00:24:00.002+04:00

System Administrator Appreciation Day, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

Thanks to all the system administrators who attempt keep our world of bits and bytes running without disruption! ;)

Madeleine McCann at Nairobi Airport

2008-07-23T22:17:00.003+04:00

Madeleine McCann in Nairobi Airport, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

Now that the official investigation of Madeleine case has been suspended, will the search for her stop too?

I found this poster in the Nairobi International Airport.

Baked Fish - Cooking

2008-07-22T20:32:00.002+04:00

Baked Fish, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

You know the fish is cooked when its eyes turn white. Interesting to know!

Desktop Pac-Man

2008-07-22T16:42:00.002+04:00

Pac-Man Dolls, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

More Pac-Man art forms seen near me. What's with Pac-Man and me today?

Pac-Man

2008-07-22T10:08:00.002+04:00

Pac-Man t-shirt, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

What a coincidence!? Johny walks in with this t-shirt and it's time for me to begin the design a new digital game/ idea.

Dubai Skyline - Morning Glory

2008-07-22T09:26:00.002+04:00

Dubai Skyline - Morning Glory, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

This is the view I wake up to every summer morning in Dubai. Isn't it glorious? Yaaawn...

Buckets

2008-07-21T16:23:00.002+04:00

Buckets, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

...used for the construction of consultation wards for children at Mbagathi District Hospital, Nairobi.

Inspired - Cover

2008-07-21T15:57:00.003+04:00

Inspired - Cover, originally uploaded by Kedar Iyer.

This book inspired me to start camera.nt, a picture rant of interestingness from my camera phone.