July 29th, 2010corbett3000
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iStrategyLabs Call for Talent: Producers, Hardware Hackers, Stuntmen, Artists and Creative Technologists of All Kinds

Dear World:

We’re really busy. We have projects coming out of our ears and have been turning interesting things away that we just can’t think about. This is clearly a good problem – but we also see an opportunity for the community around us to benefit from the buzz we’ve generated about what we do and for iStrategyLabs and our clients to benefit from a pool of new partners.

We want to see how we can work together on things that are awesome.

So here’s where you come in:

1) We need project managers/producers that can start as freelancers and if it works out – potentially come on board full time. If you know how to manage web projects, marketing campaigns, multimedia productions and/or experience creation please get in touch.

You’ll lead teams of designers, developers, videographers, animators and artists for our client projects and other initiatives.

2) We need the best talent from across all manner of skill sets. We already have teams of talented designers, animators, and developers working with us – but we need more. We want to know what you’re the best at, and what you’re most passionate about doing, so we can plug you in to opportunities you’ll find fulfilling. If you are, or know, a super-amazingly-talented (ie. not mediocre) professional freelancer with the following skill sets please get in touch.

People we’re looking for:

  • Web Designers and Data Visualization Specialists

  • Web Developers (WordPress, LAMP, Ruby, Drupal, Django and social API hackers of all kinds)

  • Mobile Developers (iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Mobile)

  • Online Community Managers

  • Social Media Marketers

  • Online Marketers (Google Adwords, Facebook Social Ads primarily)

  • Experience Designers (Video installations, performing arts vignettes, stunts, guerrilla marketing)

  • Creative Marketing Strategists (those who generate amazing ideas for brands)

  • Hardware hackers of all kinds

If you’re interested in taking the first step and getting to know us a bit better, just drop you info in the form below and we’ll be in touch.

Join the Talent Cloud
  2. (valid email required)
  6. Talent Type
 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Posted in Community Development, Experiential Marketing, Innovation Design...
July 29th, 2010corbett3000
7 Comments

Apps for the Army Winners – Doubling Our Expectations

Disclaimer: iStrategyLabs does not represent the views and opinions of the US Army. The views and opinions contained in this post are to be taken solely as those of Peter Corbett, CEO, iStrategyLabs.

When we set out last year to see if the model we pioneered through Apps for Democracy could translate to a different culture like that of the U.S. Army we ran into a lot of skeptics.  As Apps for the Army was being conceived some of our detractors said the following:

  • The Army is too big and slow to do something like this
  • Soldiers don’t know how to code
  • Soldiers don’t know anything about security
  • The apps will be low quality – leave the development to the pros
  • The process will kill any excitement in the program

I’m happy to report all of that was wrong.

Today, the Army has announced something very special – the first winning class of soldiers and civilians who’ve developed mobile and web solutions to address Army’s current challenges.

Of the initial 53 apps submitted a full 25 of them have passed through all security certification and are ready to be deployed today.

This program has taken the software development life-cycle down from an average of more than 1 year to roughly 90 days.

Soldiers are now empowered and incentivized to build solutions to their own problems rather than rely on outside actors to big them the tools they need.

With that all that in mind, here is the full Apps for the Army awards announcement for your consideration:

Top Five Apps for the Army Winners Recognized at LandWarNet Conference

The top five winners of the Apps for the Army (A4A) application development challenge will be recognized at the LandWarNet Conference, Thursday, August 5th in Tampa, FL.

Launched on March 1, A4A is the Army’s first internal application development challenge. In 75 days, 141 Soldiers and Army civilians registered in teams or as individuals to participate in the A4A challenge. By the May 15th deadline, 53 web and mobile applications were developed and submitted.

Fifteen winners and ten honorable mentions were selected from the 53 web and mobile applications developed and submitted by May 15. After passing a security certification, the apps were judged in five categories by a panel from across the Army. Each of the five categories has first ($3000), second ($1500) and third place ($1000) winners, and honorable mentions.

These 25 apps represent more than two times the number of certifiable apps we were hoping for and expecting from the program, said Lt. Gen. Jeff Sorenson, the Army Chief Information Officer/G-6.

Each application will help overcome mission-related challenges through the power of mobile and web devices.
This pilot program is helping define the business processes needed to make it easier to develop applications and certify software for the Army enterprise, Sorenson added.

The top five winning apps support physical training, mental health, disaster relief, mapping and recruiting:

Physical Training Program (iOS) helps Soldiers develop their own Personal Training program based on the Army’s new Physical Readiness Training program. The app provides training plans and videos of exercises. Developers are Maj. Gregory Motes, Cpt. Christopher Braunstein and Cpt. Stacey Osborn of the Army Signal Center, Ft. Gordon, Ga.

Telehealth Mood Tracker (Android/iOS) is a self-monitoring app that allows users to track their psychological health over a period of days, weeks and months using a visual analogue rating scale. Users can track experiences associated with deployment-related behavioral health issues. Developers are Robert Kayl, Scott Swim and Robert Van Gorkom of the Madigan Army Medical Center, Ft. Lewis, WA.

Disaster Relief (Android) is a web-based data survey, dissemination and analysis tool for searching, editing and creating maps viewable on Google Earth and Google Maps. The app assists Army personnel working in humanitarian relief and civilian affairs operations. Clients can be most mobile and handheld devices such as PDAs and smart phones. Developers are Andrew Jenkins and Alex Ly of the Engineer Research and Development Center, Alexandria, Va.

Movement Projection (Android) is a map-routing app for road navigation that allows Soldiers to input obstacles and threats — in addition to stops, start and end points — and calculates the best and fastest route. Luke Catania of the Engineer Research and Development Center, Alexandria, Va., is the developer.

New Recruit (Android) provides information for potential recruits. Features include military rank and insignia, Army news feeds, an Army physical fitness test calculator, and a Body Mass Index calculator. Thomas Maroulis of Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, developed the app.

The complete list of 25 winners will be available soon on the CIO/G-6 website, http://ciog6.army.mil/Apps4Army.aspx.

Apps for the Army applications will be available for DoD CAC-card holders through the DoD Application Storefront beginning August 3.

The Army provided application development teams with key resources such as a cross- platform, cloud based, secure development environment. A4A marks a shift away from traditional Army development practices by using the latest in agile development methods, while focusing on rapid deployment. Milbook, AKO, and Twitter facilitated the cross-pollination of ideas, problems and solutions among developers over the course of the challenge. The forge.mil development site served as the collaborative software repository for participating teams.

A media and bloggers’ roundtable will take place Wed, August 3 at 10 a.m. at the LandWarNet Conference in Tampa FL at the Convention Center in the Press Room, Room #2. Lt. Gen. Sorenson and several of the A4A winners will participate.

If you plan to call in, please contact: SSG Dale Sweetnam at (703) 614-0371 or dale.sweetnam@us.army.mil to get the call-in number.

If you plan to participate in person at the media event, please contact: Anthony Garcia at 703-602-9375.

With media queries, contact: Margaret McBride at margaret.mcbride@us.army.mil. Look for updates on the Army CIO/G-6 Twitter feed @ArmyCIOG6 and follow the Apps for the Army conversation at hashtag #apps4army.

Posted in Innovation Design
July 11th, 2010Peter Corbett
1 Comment

Digital Capital Week: An Experiment in Mass Collaboration

This June iStrategyLabs embarked on one of its biggest experiments yet. In collaboration with Shiny Heart Ventures, we threw our full weight into producing a 10 day festival called Digital Capital Week. In 3.5 months time, driven purely by word-of-mouth, we spawned a 6,000 person experience that will shape the nations capital for years to come. This will be a 10,000+ person event in 2011. Here are some highlights then a full metrics deck:

  • 5,791 total registrants
  • 13,000 tweets by 2434 people generated
  • 600+ blog posts created about the festival
  • $125,000+ in pro-bono consulting delivered to local non-profits
  • Attendees from across the country and world, with 90% of the Mid-Atlantic
  • 12,000 voters cast 34,000 votes for bands to play at our closing party at the 9:30 Club
  • Coverage in The Washington Post, WUSA9, and a lot more

DCWEEK 2010 Final Metrics

Posted in Community Development, Digital Word of Mouth, Experiential Marketing...
June 8th, 2010Peter Corbett
2 Comments

Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report June 2010 – Privacy Concerns Don't Stop Growth

I’ve been wondering if the recent backlash related to Facebook’s privacy settings would hurt the service. Over the past 5 months at least, it has not.

Facebook continues to grow and this addition of our Facebook Demographics and Statistics report shows growth across all ages:

facebook_demographics_statistics_June_2010

Key insights:

  1. So far this year, Facebook’s US user base has grown by 21.8 % (22,474,900 users)
  2. The strongest growth remains in the 55+ segement at 35.3% (3,443,460 users)
  3. This time Chicago is seeing a growth spurt – almost doubling in 5 months
  4. Facebook’s Privacy issues are not causing account cancellations en-mass

Refer to “Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report 2010 – 145% Growth in 1 Year” for a full look at 2009.

Posted in Brand Strategy, Interactive Strategy, Social Network Analysis
May 26th, 2010DJ Saul
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Twitter Spam is So Hot Right Now – Ugh.

We recently posted about Facebook Spam and how it affects both users and marketers, [note: since that post I've been friended by about 6 fake profiles...].  The other obvious fakery invading our digital lives is all too apparent.  From direct links to multi-lingual pornographic content, to the full gambit of phishing attacks, and even law enforcements’ practice of monitoring the social web — Twitter spam is taking off.

You’ve probably been followed by someone like this at some point…

Screen shot 2010-05-18 at 9.59.31 PM

Or, maybe it’s someone that actually looks real and totally innocent:

Screen shot 2010-05-19 at 8.58.00 AM

You’ll notice the one thing both have in common, they each only have 1 follower.  New services are popping up left and right that claim to automatically build a massive following on Twitter, driving traffic to your business (and making you an overnight success, because traffic = money!).  It will look something like this:

Screen shot 2010-05-19 at 10.16.25 AM

The philosophical hook for Twitter spam relies on the same reciprocation bias that Twitter itself also uses… “if you follow me then I’ll follow you.”  The interesting segment of this ecosystem are the subsequent products that now see a clear opportunity, e.g. http://thetwitcleaner.com/ — which explains, “In the same way that Google proved the cost effectiveness of super targeted advertising, a Twitter list that is 30-50% smaller but full of actual clients & people that are genuinely interested in what you do is worth significantly more than a larger list full of junk.”

Screen shot 2010-05-19 at 11.38.57 AM

As Facebook is under fire for privacy issues and spam continues to proliferate the social web, the important thing is that we the users are at least savvy enough to know what’s real and what’s not — so we can move on.

Posted in Digital Word of Mouth, Social Media Monitoring, Social Network Analysis