protein journal 4

Prote in Journal Issue #04

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Prote in Journal Welcome / Feed / Data / Br ie f ing / Guide / Gal lery / Prof i le

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Issue #04

To coincide with the launch of the Protein OS as a members-only subscription service, you might notice a couple of changes to your regular Protein Journal. The new ‘full-fat’ format includes more data, profiles, galleries, briefings and feeds than ever before as well as a series of city guides with our friends at Unlike.

First launched in 1998, Protein is the original cultural operating system and includes a daily insight resource, a suite of influence monitoring apps and a regular series of workshops, discussion forums and supper clubs. Now we’ve combined these into a single, easy-to-use members service called the Protein OS.

You might have also noticed that we’ve added a cover price. This is because the best things in life aren’t free, unless of course you become a Protein OS member, which rather conveniently you can read all about here:

http://prote. in/os/

Finally, a big thank you to our new contributors and friends at Newspaper Club for their continued support with the printing.

William Rowe, July 2011

Welcome

Contact us

General: journal@prote. in

Editorial: editorial@prote. in

Advertising: sales@prote. in

Distribution: distr ibution@prote. in

Protein UK, 18 Hewett Street, London, EC2A 3NNProtein US, 96 Diamond Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222Protein AU, 285 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 3182Protein DE, 116 Chausseestrasse, Berlin, 10115

Contributors

William [email protected]

Addie ChinnManaging [email protected]

Max ReynerHead of [email protected]

Max SpencerArt [email protected]

Jonathan FaganInsight Analyst

Teddy FitzhughContributing Photographer

Kat ChanEditorial Assistant

Gigi BarkerEditorial Assistant

Kate BerryFeed correspondent

Sara KabiriResearcher

Alex ShepherdResearcher

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Prote in Journal Welcome / Feed / Data / Br ie f ing / Guide / Gal lery / Prof i le Issue #04

Contents


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Issue #04

Feed

Editor’s Picks

Submitted by Prote in

Public Domaine: Skate Culture

La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris goes street with a series of events celebrating skateboard culture.

http://prote. in/feed/public-domaine

Pixelated Realities

Texan artist Shawn Smith’s fascination with 8-bit images sees him create a series of sculptures in homage to the pixel.

http://prote. in/feed/pixelated-real it ies

Ai Wei Wei at Lisson Gallery

Before Ai Wei Wei was detained by Chinese authorities he finalised key works from his past 6 years for Lisson Gallery in London.

http://prote. in/feed/ai-wei-wei-at-l isson-gallery

The web is an endless sea of information. But who has the time to sift through it all? The Protein Feed is here to help. It’s a daily update of what’s important, new and next in the world of fashion, music, food, film, culture, art and design. Here’s our picks from the last couple of months.

http://prote. in/feed

CONFETTISYSTEM NYC

Nicholas Andersen and Julie Ho take party decoration to the extreme with their CONFETTISYSTEM installations.

http://prote. in/feed/confett isystem-nyc

Siân Hislop First Solo Show

Siân Hislop opens her first solo show at French Riviera in London about teenage passions in pop culture and film.

http://prote. in/feed/le-baiser

Map your Twitter Feed

Design studio Neoformix creates a way to visualise the most discussed topics on Twitter.

http://prote. in/feed/map-your-twitter-feed

Eyeo Festival

Eyeo Festival in Minneapolis in the US last month celebrated art, interaction and information.

http://prote. in/feed/eyeo-festival

Life Made Of Glass

Glass manufacturer Corning has created glass that can be a television, computer or mobile phone.

http://prote. in/feed/l i fe-made-of-glass

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TRUE Hip-Hop Launch

Protein’s 18 Hewett Street Gallery hosted New York photographer Mike Schreiber’s TRUE Hip-Hop exhibition.

http://prote. in/feed/true-hip-hop-launch

Catalytic Clothing

Designer Helen Storey and scientist Tony Ryan collaborate to clean the air we breathe through the clothes we wear.

http://prote. in/feed/catalyt ic-clothing

Dieter Rams: As Little Design As Possible

German industrial designer Dieter Rams gets profiled by Sophie Lovell in As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams.

http://prote. in/feed/dieter-rams

Knitted Food

Knitted burgers, knitted hot dogs, knitted ice cream, knitted tiramisu, San Francisco artist Ed Bing Lee takes his art to food.

http://prote. in/feed/knitted-food

Transparent Specimens

Japanese artist Iori Tomita is taking taxidermy to a new level in his series ‘New World Transparent Specimens’.

http://prote. in/feed/transparent-specimens

Clouds in Basel

Designer Asif Khan’s conceptual ‘Cloud’ installation uses helium gas, water and soap to create a floating roof. http://prote. in/feed/clouds-in-basel

Social Memories

Create a book from your social network activity with Social Memories.

http://prote. in/feed/social-memories

Edible RFID Chips

Food meets technology thanks to designer Hannes Harms, who has created an edible RFID chip.

http://prote. in/feed/edible-rf id-chips

E. chromi

Students program bacteria to secrete colours for the E.Chromi project.

http://prote. in/feed/echromi


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Issue #04

Watching New York Run

New York’s School of Visual Arts has created a data visualisation to help understand how people run in the city.

http://prote. in/feed/watching-new-york-run

On The Road iPad App

Jack Kerouac’s classic 1957 novel ‘On the Road’ gets released as a digital iPad app.

http://prote. in/feed/on-the-road

Metamaterial

Ever dreamed of owning an invisibility cloak? Now you can thanks to light-bending Metamaterial.

http://prote. in/feed/metamaterial

Greater Food Culture Map

The Hartman Group gives an overview of the food landscape with its Greater Food Culture map.

http://prote. in/feed/greater-food-culture

They Won’t Let You Go Cold

Coffee Joulies use temperature-mitigating material to fine-tune the heat levels of your sacred morning cup of coffee.

http://prote. in/feed/they-wont-let-you-go-cold

The Pizza Miracle

Restaurant owner Fergus Henderson cameos in director Tony Grisoni’s short film The Pizza Miracle.

http://prote. in/feed/the-pizza-miracle

Folly For a Flyover

In conjunction with the Barbican, Folly For a Flyover is the latest pop-up structure to hit London.

http://prote. in/feed/fol ly-for-a-f lyover

Biophilia

Bjork releases her new album Biophilia as a series of iPad apps.

http://prote. in/feed/biophil ia

Neurocinema

Protein hosted a forum at the Edinburgh Film Festival that discussed the growing use of neuroscience in the film industry.

http://prote. in/feed/neurocinema

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What are you worth to Facebook?

Social exchange service MyCube has created an infographic to show just how much content is shared across the social web.

http://prote. in/feed/what-are-you-worth

Burger of the Future

Director of technology at the French Culinary Institute Dave Arnold creates the burger of the future.

http://prote. in/feed/burger-of-the-future

Tesco QR Store

Tesco has created billboards in Korea that let people buy products directly from them using their mobile phone.

http://prote. in/feed/tesco-qr-store

Sneakerology

Sneakerology store in Sydney lets trainer addicts delve into the stories behind their favourite footwear.

http://prote. in/feed/sneakerology

Bold Tendencies Opening

Art project Bold Tendancies launched its latest incarnation on top of a disused car park in South London.

http://prote. in/feed/bold-tendencies-opening

DIY FX

Jotta and Intel present an interactive workshop on DIY film effects at London’s Design Museum.

http://prote. in/feed/diy-fx

Hennessy x Q-Tip, The Roots, Erykah Badu

With electric performances and interviews, Thibaut de Longeville and Hennessy’s ‘The Art of Blending’ documentary premieres on Facebook.

http://prote. in/feed/the-art-of-blending

Nike 1948 Relaunch

The relaunched Nike 1948 store aims to celebrate London, with themes of the city’s sport, culture, art, fashion and music.

http://prote. in/feed/nike-1948-relaunch

Simon Faithfull’s Limbo

Artist and digital cartographer Simon Faithfull has amassed hundreds of drawings of his daily journeys using his phone.

http://prote. in/feed/simon-faithful ls-l imbo


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Anything I can get for freeTeaWineMixersHard LiquorChampagneBeer

When I Go Out I Like To Drink

Drinking Habits

The data visualisation (below) has been created using data from our latest Audience Survey. This is an annual report that analyses the attitudes, tastes and behaviours of 18-35 year old consumers, and is based on a qualitative survey with over 3,000 readers of our ad network. For more information, and to purchase the report, head over to our website:

http://prote. in/audiencesurvey

Data


16-18

19-21

22-24

25-27

28-30

31-34

35+


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Issue #04

Smartphones have created an era of mass information thanks to the mobile internet. Now, with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, mobile phones will let us do a whole lot more. They will become our wallets, our business cards and let us embed information in just about anything.

If you live in London, you probably own one of the five million Oyster cards swiped in and out of London Underground turnstiles and buses each day. This simple behaviour of touching an object against a reader to make a transaction is now being adopted by mobile phone consumers. Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range wireless technology that lets people use a mobile phone to collect or share data with another device or NFC tag, will enable people to pay for products with their phone.

The reach is around 4cm, and is designed for tasks that require a close contact touch. The close proximity also means that data exchange is more secure, compared to alternatives such as Bluetooth. Another feature of NFC is that devices simply have to touch in order to establish a connection, and only one needs to be powered. This is similar to QR codes, as any inanimate object - a poster, product, wall of a shop or gallery - can hold and transmit information. But with NFC, there is also the option of peer-to-peer sharing

because, unlike QR codes, NFC is dynamic and can hold information for temporary periods of time.

NFC isn’t a new innovation. In Japan, people have been using it for several years to pay for products in shops with NFC readers. Worldwide there are over 200 trials of various applications. But now NFC is growing rapidly as people are now familiar with the behaviour of swiping an object to pay for something. “Everybody understands the technology because of the Oyster card,’ says David Birch, director of transaction consultation firm Consult Hyperion and chairman of the Digital Money Forum. ‘Early pilots showed no customer resistance. People like it.”

The technology’s primary use is to make contact-less payments. People can already use NFC to make payments for goods in shops. In the UK, Barclaycard is using the technology in its most recent debit cards. Around 40,000 retailers are already able to facilitate wireless payments and its contactless debit card has over 10 million users in the UK. The high street bank has

The NFC RevolutionSubmitted by Max Reyner

Briefing

“With Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, mobile phones will become our wallets, our business cards and a whole lot more.”

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also launched a contactless mobile payment service with Orange. The Quick Tap app lets people load up to £150 on to their phone and make payments of up to £15 in shops with NFC readers. For higher amounts or multiple payments, people are required to enter a pin code.

As more of these stores install NFC readers, money as hard cash, and even credit cards, may start to become obsolete. “Currently NFC is being used in the coffee shop mode with people paying for low value items as a quick alternative to cash,” says Dave Snow, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research. “But as their confidence grows, NFC is expected to enable higher value transactions as an alternative to credit and debit cards.” And it won’t be long until we’re all using it. Juniper believes that global contactless payment transactions on mobile phones will reach nearly $50 billion worldwide by 2014.

The growth in the market is also being helped by the increase in handsets that are NFC-ready. Google’s Nexus S phone has the technology already built in. Blackberry has put NFC in all its new models this year. And by 2014, around one-fifth of all smartphone devices in the world will have NFC capability, according to Juniper.

As well as payments, NFC can be used as a method of communication between a phone and another object. This is called ‘pairing’. People can use their NFC mobile to obtain information by swiping it on a NFC tag, which can be placed on just about anything. In other words, any object can have information embedded into it.

Brands are already using pairing to make their billboard advertisements interactive. Earlier this year in London, billboards for the X-Men First Class film in May featured embedded NFC tags. People could tap them with their phone and be taken to a mobile website with exclusive content. “These smart posters can supply detailed product information to consumers as they wave their NFC-enabled phone over them,” says Snow. “These posters could also be used to download coupons to the phone which are redeemed during the payment process at the retailer.”

Video game developer Rovio has added location-based services to the technology. As part of the advertising for its Angry Birds game Magic Places, it created a campaign that let players tap their phone on NFC readers found in real-world locations such as shops in order to gain access to new characters and levels within the game.

NFC also lets people share information with each other. It could enable a person to use their phone to share business card information or play a game with someone stood next to them. Consult Hyperion’s Birch predicts people will use their phone in social situations to send the relevant social profile in a given real life social situation. “People will be able to choose from a menu on their phone whether they want to send their LinkedIn or their Facebook,” says Birch. “You’ll use your phone to choose who you want to be.”

People could even embed these social profiles into other objects, predicts Birch. “You could put your Facebook URL into an NFC tag and put in into a notebook that people could scan with their phone to load your profile,” says Birch. “It’s a step towards the internet of things.”

What’s next for NFC? The potential uses of the technology for a variety of industries is huge. It could help workers that hot desk in an office by turning any desktop or laptop you sit at into your own. By tagging and laying their phone next to an NFC screen, all their files will load up from the cloud, and when you remove your phone all your info leaves with you. In hospitals, patients could use their NFC phones to swipe-in and out of medical facilities, and instantly scan and download information on prescribed medication. In restaurants, menus could have NFC tags embedded that translate the descriptions of meals into foreign languages. It could even be used to let people start their car, just be putting their phone next to the ignition.

NFC technology will be the next step in the mobile revolution. Just don’t lose your phone. Or drop it in your drink.

To read more about mobile commerce and changing consumer behaviour, head over to the Briefings section of the Protein OS:

http://prote.in/briefings

“If you live in London, you probably own one of the five million Oyster cards swiped in and out of London Underground turnstiles and buses each day.”

“Around 40,000 retailers are already able to facilitate wireless payments and Barclaycard’s contactless debit card has over 10 million users in the UK.”


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Issue #04

Berlin Store Guide


Guide

With our friends at Unlike.net we’ve prepared a series of guides to give you an insiders view of your favourite places. First up is Philip Gaedicke, co-founder of Berlin menswear store turned brand agency SOTO, and curator of MADE, a creative platform supporting emerging talent from all genres. Philip takes us shopping around some of Berlin’s best men’s retail spots.

1. SOTO

Torstraße remains one of the best loved locales in Mitte. Menswear store SOTO stocks unique labels—many of which are available in Germany for the first time.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/307212-SOTO

6. Pro QM

Stowed away on a side street by Rosa-Luxemburg Platz, Pro QM is a bookstore run by book-lovers for book-lovers. The store is more reminiscent of your well-read friend’s extensive private library than a shop.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/223-Pro-QM

7. MADE

With regular exhibitions and events on the agenda, MADE is one of Berlin’s most progressive, diverse and inspiring artistic spaces.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/307153-MADE

8. AM1

Behind big industrial windows lies one of the finest Berlin menswear stores. Reliably stocking limited designer specialties otherwise hard to find in the city.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/300921-AM1

2. Burg & Schild

Burg & Schild sells clothes that encompass an idea of a past America. Decorated accordingly, the store is clad with photographs of Steve McQueen and the smell of car oil.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/98-Burg-Schild

3. Wood Wood

As one of Berlin’s most beloved streetwear stores, Wood Wood signifies urban fashion from Denmark but has branched globally into a holder of the coolest kicks and hoodies.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/91-Wood-Wood

4. Civilist

Brainchild of the guys from Lodown Magazine, Civilist is a brilliant new all-in-one store, gallery and showroom in Mitte.

http://berl in.unl ike.net/ locations/306696-Civi l ist

5. Do You Read Me?!

Mitte’s newest project space and store stocks beautiful international magazines covering everything from design and art, to architecture and politics.

http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/302693-Do-You-Read-Me

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1. SOTO

Torstrasse 7210178 Berlin+49 3025762070www.sotostore.com

2. Burg & Schild

Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 310178 Berlin+49 3024630501www.burgundschild.com

3. Wood Wood

Rochstrasse 410178 Berlin+49 3028047877www.woodwood.dk

4. Civilist

Brunnenstrasse 1310119 Berlin+49 3085610715www.civi l istberl in.com

5. Do You Read Me?!

Auguststraße 2810117 Berlin+49 3069549695www.doyoureadme.de

6. Pro QM

Almstadtstrasse 48-5010119 Berlin+49 3024728520www.pro-qm.de

7. MADE

Alexanderstrasse 7Level 9, Haus des Reisens10178 Berlinwww.made-blog.com

8. AM1

Münzstraße 2110178 Berlin+49 3030881945www.andreasmurkudis.net


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Issue #04

Mike Schreiber: TRUE Hip-Hop

Gallery


Recognised as one of the music industry’s top photographers, Mike Schreiber’s work has been featured in everything from Esquire to Rolling Stone, with big name industry clients including Atlantic and SONY. His latest project, TRUE Hip-Hop, is a much more personal affair.

Twelve years in the making, Mike’s new book is a collection of stunning photography that charts more than a decade in the hip-hop scene. Shot entirely on black-and-white film, images of everyone from M.I.A. to Mos Def, Nas to ODB, Eminem to Dwele, and a particularly beautiful image of Voletta Wallace (Biggie’s mother) fill its pages – and our gallery walls, when the UK launch came to town.

Schreiber’s photographs provide a rare alternative to the barrage of high-colour, high-production images that we’re used to from the music industry. Instead, the hip-hop world lets its guard down for his lens – revealing a more intimate side: powerful, immediate and profoundly honest.

http://mikeschreiber.com

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Issue #04

Editor, cofounder and co-publisher of Port magazine, Dan Crowe is to magazines as Fergus Henderson is to food – innovative, full of substance and with an intelligently retrospective sensibility. Henderson’s St John is, perhaps coincidentally, just down the road from the Clerkenwell-based Port office. Little wonder, then, that Crowe is something of a regular there. Maybe that’s also why there was such a charming, wine-tinged interview with the restaurateur in the magazine’s first issue.

It’s this appreciation of differing concepts of fame that is one of Port’s defining features: taking some traditionally famous names (Daniel Day-Lewis stole the cover on the inaugural issue) and mixing them in with, in Crowe’s words, “men who are not well known – but very good at what they do.” So the second time around, the magazine does not see an instantly recognisable face emblazed on the cover, opting instead for David Remnick, Editor of the New Yorker. “It seems very important to us to try and do things differently… but not just for the sake of being different. The point is, it’s not just famous people who are interesting. The great thing about being an independent publisher is that we can decide who goes on the cover.”

At a time when many commentators are busily debating the death of print, Crowe point blank denies the medium’s demise. “In fact,” he says, “small tier magazines such as Port or Fantastic Man are doing really well and these magazines are actually growing.” And central to this, for him, is combining the tenets of old media with the modern, digital movement and recognizing its capability to enhance the physical product. “All of the stuff that’s going on the iPad is basically going to be a moving 3D version of the magazine. But its not really going to be the content of the magazine. If you want the magazine you should still buy the magazine.” At least his priorities are clear.

With Matt Willey and Kuchar Swara joining him at the helm, the trio has succeeded in producing and publishing a magazine where advertising, long the captain of the publishing vehicle, actively takes a back seat.

“There’s always going to be a relationship of sorts between an advertiser and the content,” says Crowe. “The problem really is when you have editors too close

to their publishers, who decide they need advertising so much they just do whatever their advertisers want. It can work out really well, but the problem is that with a lot of mainstream magazines, it’s really obvious to the buyer that the content is basically paid for. And that’s just demeaning. It’s not treating the person buying the magazine with respect. It degenerates the quality of the content and that’s just pointless.”

Such staunch editorial principles reflect the core attitudes that stand at the heart of Crowe’s Port. “It’s simple, it’s masculine, it’s a bit old school,” is how he likes to phrase it. “A lot of our philosophies towards the magazine are routed in the ‘60s. And so we thought of the idea of Port as being unashamedly male – but not in a bravado, pathetic way.” Everything from the core hangs together and to present a united front of what the brand represents. Right down to the bespoke typefaces, namely Port 1 and MFred, which were created in-house by designer and co-publisher, Matt Willey.

Of course, you don’t reach a point of such high finesse overnight. And despite the magazine’s concept being conceived in a pub, the ins-and-outs are, to use Crowe’s words, born of “a combination of all the mistakes I’ve ever made.” After graduating from Goldsmiths in Fine Art he made a change of tact and decided to publish the literary magazine Butterfly. This was succeeded by a long-standing stint at AnOther (the brainchild of Jefferson Hack) and then Zembla (a literary and arts magazine). Key mistakes made ranged from a lack of money to dealing with unruly publishers.

Which is why, lessons firmly learned, this time round the content is firmly in Crowe’s safe hands. So if you enjoy good food, movies, fashion, poetry and most importantly Curb Your Enthusiasm, then this magazine needs to be held firmly in your hands.

To watch the full video interview with Dan Crowe, go to our Profile section on the Protein OS:

http://prote. in/profi le/dan-crowe

Dan CroweSubmitted by Addie Chinn + Gig i Barker

Profile

“It seems very important to us to try and do things differently ... but not just for the sake of being different. The point is, it’s not just famous people who are interesting.”

“There’s always going to be a relationship between an advertiser and the content. The problem is when you have editors too close to their publishers, who decide they need advertising so much they just do whatever their advertisers want.”

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Ghostpoet, AKA Obaro Ejimiwe, makes music that drip feeds simultaneously upbeat and lo-fi sounds of longing and dubstep. His slurring, nostalgic vocals drop over a hypnotic pulse of beats and beeps, and the result is unique and frankly addictive.

Back in London after living in Coventry during his university years, Ghostpoet’s sound brings us into the heart of a new movement in UK music. Recognised by everyone from Gilles Peterson to NME, The Guardian and RCRD LBL as one-to-watch, Ghostpoet recently signed to Peterson’s seminal record label Brownswood, which put out his debut album ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’.

The title reveals both Ghostpoet’s admirable propensity for self-awareness and his talent to deliver a mellow sound, tinged with thoughtful melancholy – without sounding miserable. For someone who is driven by a deceptively simple goal – to “be as creative as possible in as many different ways as possible” – he couldn’t have been more successful. As a result though, it gives us the unjust if not downright impossible task of assigning a genre to the debut that spans the range from hip-hop to dubstep and beyond. The manifold influences and genres fall into place, however, when you learn that his creative process is equally diverse. “My music is just kind of everything I’ve listened to up to this point,” he says. “I’m constantly soaking up knowledge.” Or as he puts it in his song ‘Longing For The Night’ – “got some A levels / ain’t dumb…”

Ghostpoet says it as he sees it and his voice is the voice of a generation: smart yet unpolished, creative yet self-aware. A voice that was made possible through the very digital platforms that define his generation. He credits Myspace as the push he needed to get stuck into the music industry. “I saw other people all across the country doing what I was trying to do and they were in the infant stages like me. People like Mika and Quez and Sampha and Delz; people who were just starting out like me and it was just like: ‘Wow, they’re doing that. Maybe I could give it a go’.”

It’s this kind of honesty, this charming uncertainty, which assures his audience of a raw, real experience when he performs. It’s also this that makes chatting with him feel like you’re just hanging out with a mate at home.

Despite all the musical accolades that are beginning to launch in his direction, he is still very down-to-earth. When asked to describe what he does – that singular question in any interview that typically helps define a job, a role, or at the very least an artistic style – his response is simply: “I make experimental music of sorts and I try to be a happy individual.” Not an erroneous statement by any means. But nevertheless wonderfully understated.

It’s this man that makes the music – and through the eclecticism of his music we learn what makes the man.

If you cite life itself as your major creative influence, then you’re free to derive inspiration from whatever you make of it. “I live life, experiencing it through my eyes and through other people’s lives,” he says. “Through stories and snippets of peoples conversations on my daily travels.” Which although might seem banal, effectively synthesizes the experimental with the commonplace and thus guarantees accessibility for his entire audience. And all this from a man who, had fate decided differently, might still be earning a crust in customer service and using every spare second of every day just “thinking about making music.”

Similarly accessible is Ghostpoet’s website. There, no avenue is overlooked: two of the available audio platforms include Soundcloud and Bandcamp – the perfect ways to scope the debut album out if you haven’t yet had the chance to hear him play live on one of his seemingly never-ending tour dates. Protein caught up with the easy charmer before his gig at East London’s Land of Kings festival, in turn fresh off a UK wide tour with Metronomy. It’s clear why we’re not the only ones who see in him a musical force to reckon with. Stay tuned.

To watch the full video interview with Ghostpoet, go to our Profile section on the Protein OS:

http://prote. in/profi le/ghostpoet

GhostpoetSubmitted by Gig i Barker + Kat Chan

Profile

“I saw other people all across the country doing what I was trying to do and they were in the infant stages, people who were just starting out like me.”

“I make experimental music of sorts and I try to be a happy individual.”


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Issue #04

Social networking is booming in China. But this isn’t Facebook, Twitter or even Myspace. A government keen to restrict the influence of the West has prohibited the use of global social networks. In their place, a group of clone networks has developed, each inhabited by a generation of digital natives keen to express their personalities and political opinions.

The names of social networks in China – Douban, Renren, Qzone, Sina Weibo – might sound unfamiliar. But their function isn’t. Each one is more or less a direct copy, or clone, of a Western social network. Renren, the country’s largest network, is a clone of Facebook. Music sharing network Douban is similar to Myspace. And Jeipang lets people check-in at physical locations in the same way Foursquare does.

These clones have developed mainly because of legislations by the Chinese government, which has banned the use of Western websites such as Youtube and Facebook. “The social media and overall online ecosystem in China is unique because of local regulations,” says Steve Garton, Managing Director of Media Research at Synovate China. “But despite this, the whole industry has adapted and has grown dramatically to suit China. It’s made for China as opposed to made in China.”

These clone networks are now thriving with activity. Around 41% of the 450 million people in China using the web spend their time on social networking sites, according to the Data Center of the Chinese Internet. This number is set to grow even more, as more people get access to the web. There has already been an increase in people online of 44.8% between 2009 and 2010, according to CTR China’s Media Audience Research & Report.

Renren – meaning ‘everyone’ – is the largest network, with over 33 million active users each month. Formerly known as Xiaonei – or ‘on campus’ – Renren started its life in the biggest and most elite universities, just like Facebook. And the similarities don’t end there. Renren replicates almost everything Facebook does. It has a Connect function, ‘like’ buttons, location check-ins, and groups for shared interests. Even its colour palette is familiar. “It takes the best ideas from the West and adapts them for China,” says Garton.

The Chinese Social WebSubmitted by Max Reyner

Briefing

“It’s made for China as opposed to made in China. It takes the best ideas from the West and adapts them.”

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So why has social networking become so big in China? One reason is the way it helps to facilitate social ties between people – an important cultural characteristic within the country. “In China, an individual is part of a family first before the individual,” says Garton. “Long-term relationships are very important.”

Social networks also function as a platform for people to express and share their political views. Tales of corrupt government officials are posted and blogged, then re-blogged and re-tweeted throughout the giant networks. “They spreads like wildfire,” says Garton. “It’s become a very powerful form of social expression and an enormous force that’s empowered many people in the country.”

This strong desire to express opinion has seen more Chinese people using micro-blogging social networks. The biggest of these is the 140 million strong Sina Weibo, similar to Twitter in format, and growing at a rate of 10 million users each month, with over 50 million messages posted each day. “Social exchange is the key driving force of everything in China,” says Goubin Yang, Associate Professor at Columbia University and author of Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online. “On Sina Wiebo this exchange is made easy. You don’t even have to write anything. You could just follow and re-tweet to show you’re paying attention and respect.”

Chinese social network users aren’t just expressing themselves with words. Photo-sharing social network Camera360, which has grown to over three million users in China, lets people share photos which they have taken using their mobile phone’s camera. Social network Douban, similar to Myspace, is popular among creatives and urban youth as a way of sharing music, books, video and events.

Now brands are taking part in the conversation. Unlike its Western counterpart Twitter, Sina Wiebo features threaded comments, groups, audio, instant messaging and video uploads. This rich media has encouraged over 30,000 brands to use the network to engage with their customers. Beauty brand Dove used the network for a campaign earlier this year called You’re a Beauty Story. It created a micro-site within Sina Weibo that encouraged women to post and share their personal beauty stories. Cosmetics brand Clinique uses its Sina Weibo site to tell its consumers about new products, as well as host competitions and relevant editorial content.

Location-based social networking is one of the latest trends. More people are using check-in social networks, similar to Foursquare, Gowella and Facebook Places. In the first quarter of 2011, there were over 6.5 million location-based accounts, according to research firm EnfoDesk. It’s now helping brands to create location-specific ad campaigns. Luxury brand Louis Vuitton partnered with Jeipang, a network with over a million users, to produce a location-based campaign for its travel exhibition at the National Museum of China. People could check-in using their mobile phone at the exhibition to receive a special Louis Vuitton badge, as well as information about the exhibition’s design and story. Social network Renren is adding a commercial element to its social check-ins. It’s set to launch a credit card called The Renren CMB in collaboration with China Merchants Bank in July this year, which will let people receive offers when they use their mobile phone to check-in at affiliated retail stores.

Another way people are using social media is for entertainment, particularly gaming. Kaixin001 is a major online community based around gaming. Brands are already building game apps on the network to engage with them. Car brands MINI and BMW have collaborated to produce a gaming app on the network called Car Parking. The app features a driving simulation which lets people drive and upgrade virtual cars of the two brands.

The key for brands wishing to market to people through these social networks is to understand both the differences between each social network, and how people use each one to express themselves. Studying these networks, brands can also gain an understanding of the attitudes and behaviours of Chinese consumers.

To read about more emerging markets and consumer behaviour, go to our Briefings page on the Protein OS:


“A government keen to restrict the influence of the West has prohibited the use of global social networks. But a group of Chinese clone networks has developed, each inhabited by a new generation of digital natives.”

“Renren – meaning ‘everyone’ – is the largest network, with over 33 million active users each month.”


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Issue #04

Gallery

PostermatSubmitted by Prote in

Last December in New York, an exhibition opened at the city’s 104 Green Street gallery space called POSTERMAT that showed a selection of limited edition posters by artists both infamous and new to the scene. Names at the show - which was curated by Kathy Grayson’s art outfit The Hole - included Yoko Ono, Barry McGee, Bruce LaBruce, Harmony Korine and Aurel Schmidt.

The idea for the exhibition came from a now-closed shop called Postermat on E 8th St in Greenwich Village, which sold the latest and best punk and indie posters to music enthusiasts in the 1980s and ‘90s. To ensure the new POSTERMAT exhibition was as authentic as possible, Grayson and her team enlisted the creative help of Aaron Bondaroff, a regular to the shop when he was younger.

Here’s a selection of images from the POSTERMAT exhibition, which was a resounding success. In fact, Protein liked it so much, we even invited the exhibition to our very own gallery space at 18 Hewitt Street in May this year.

http://theholenyc.com

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Issue #04

Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said: “The trouble with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.” Asking people what brands they like isn’t always an accurate way of finding out what they’ll buy. Neuromarketing may have a solution: why ask consumers questions, when you can just scan their brains?

In the 1970s and ‘80s, drinks company Pepsi used psychology to help demonstrate how people perceived its brand. It used blind-taste tests that found that consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to that of arch-rival Coca Cola. And yet, as far as the sales numbers were concerned, Coca Cola continued to be the flavour of choice.

So what happened? Neuroscientist Read Montague attempted to understand this phenomenon better by using fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) surveillance. He scanned people’s brains during the taste tests, and discovered the majority of those given a blind-sample showed significantly higher activity in the region of the brain associated with feelings of reward.

When Montague revealed in advance which of the options was Coca Cola and which was Pepsi, however, almost every participant said they preferred the taste of the Coke – and their brain activity supported this.

The frontal cortex, an area linked to higher-level rational thought, showed activity. This suggested that memories and existing brand opinions were involved in the decision making. In other words, Coke’s branding was actually overriding the senses.

Fast forward to 2011, and neuroscience is being used regularly by big consumer brands to test how people might engage with new products and advertising campaigns. They are doing this with tools borrowed from the medical industry. Neuroimaging, a category of device that includes fMRI, are the main set of tools. They were once the sole reserve of medical research, identifying blood clots and diagnosing brain disorders. Now, with more portability and affordability, a number of neuroscientists and marketers have combined to apply these techniques to the consumer mind, scanning and highlighting areas of the brain activated through increased blood flow when performing a task.

Neurofocus is one neuromarketing company which has devised a way to use brain imaging to measure a person’s engagement with a product, and importantly, the likelihood of them purchasing it. “Neuromarketing is really understanding what is emotionally engaging,”

NeuromarketingSubmitted by Jonathan Fagan

Briefing

“Why ask consumers questions, when you can just scan their brains?”

33


says Thom Noble, European Managing Director of Neurofocus. “If you’re not engaged then you’re not likely to act upon it. It’s possible to infer from this how likely people are to move towards behaviour.”

Doing this, says Noble, is a more accurate way to get an idea of what people think of products than traditional market research, such as surveys, questionnaires and focus groups. “The challenge is to get meaningful results,” says Noble. “If you’re relying on questions, there’s the possibility for a lot of distortion and bias.” And the more unfamiliar a person is with the subject, the more likely the answer will be inaccurate,” says Noble.

Neuroscience gets round this by looking at what we’re really thinking. As much as we’d like to think we’re rational human beings, many of our decisions are not consciously made. In fact, studies have shown that 95% of our decisions are not made through conscious awareness at all. Where traditional market research looks at what we verbally articulate, neuroscience looks at our deeper thoughts in our subconscious. “The main advantages are in looking at responses that are difficult or impossible for people to articulate,” says Heather Andrew, Director at neuromarketing company Neuro-Insight. “Neuroscience gives us a way of objectively measuring, in a quantified way, the things that people are thinking and feeling,” says Andrew.

There are two categories for these types of response, she goes on to suggest. One is a strong emotional response, and the other is a response that happens at a sub-conscious level. Sub-conscious responses are often difficult to decipher as people might not realise they are even reacting in that way. “We don’t make a conscious decision to put things into our memory,” says Andrew. “But brain imaging can identify what’s going into memory.” This is called memory encoding, which she proposes is a more accurate way to predict people’s purchasing behaviour than verbal recall.

It’s no wonder then that brands such as General Motors, American Express and Campbell’s are regularly using neuroscience to test people’s

engagement with new products and campaigns. According to Noble, Neurofocus conducts hundreds of tests each year for their top clients. Although not all of them are happy to disclose it. “All the biggest brands are using it,” says Noble. “But most of them are keeping it to themselves.” Even so, neuromarketing has become a key part of today’s marketing mix.

But it’s not just about measuring consumer engagement. Neuromarketing has also uncovered ways that advertisers can refine and improve their strategy. In 2010, a study by media marketing agency ThinkBox explored how the brain processes television adverts. They discovered that we break information down into smaller chunks while we absorb it. This means that when there is a pause in music, visuals or a break in conversation within an advert, the brain shifts the preceding blocks of information into the memory for processing. During this moment of data-handling, the brain temporarily shuts out anything new, essentially ‘blinking’ out new information for a moment.Many brands traditionally place product information at these quiet points in adverts, perhaps at the end a punch-line or directly after some action. However, the study shows that to get the best recall from consumers, and ensure a stronger emotional connection to the product, the information should instead be placed either side of this blink moment.

So what’s next for neuromarketing? Well, it could become the ultimate market research tool. Our brains are responsible for the formation of culture, personality, language and reason – the very things that drive marketing and advertising. Applying neuroscience and neuroimaging tools to marketing problems has the potential to provide considerable insight, and help us better comprehend the impact of marketing strategies.

As consumers, we are in contact with dozens of brands on a daily basis, and neuromarketing may hold the key to illuminating the process by which we store, recall, and apply information, and what really happens when we look at an ad in a magazine or on TV. But consumers can rest for now – brands can’t control our brains just yet.

To read about more innovations that are changing how we market products, head over to the Briefings section of the Protein OS:


“David Ogilvy once said: “The trouble with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.” But neuromarketing might have the solution.”

“It’s no wonder then that brands such as General Motors, American Express and Campbell’s are regularly using neuroscience to test people’s engagement with new products and campaigns.”


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Issue #04

In his own words Aaron Koblin is “a bit of a mix between art and technology.” A typically gross understatement from the man whose strings to his bow include speaking at a recent TED conference, holding the position of Creative Director of the Data Arts team in Google’s Creative Lab, and inclusion in the ‘Collections Contemporaines (Des Années 1960 à nos jours)’ at the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

The accolades might be eye-catching, but even without them, his complex, absorbing digital works speak for themselves. Koblin’s personal favourite is ‘The Johnny Cash Project’ - a playful, interactive piece that collects individual portraits of Johnny Cash, created by independent audience members, which are then organized to recount a cohesive story told through the plethora of perspectives. The resulting configuration of frames can then be selected according to style, popularity or even number of brushstrokes, the construction stripped right back, even allowing us to watch each individual frame’s creation.

But this is not the first time Koblin has used music as an avenue of exploration and his passion for the discipline weaves its way throughout his work. This isn’t to say that he’s out to deconstruct it in the same way he does with other fields of study. Far from it. Instead he sees music as a tool to support and integrate with the visuals he creates. Or as he puts it: “I think that music and visual arts can complement themselves nicely. They do different things - the music forces you into a different mood and mindset whilst the visual stuff can engage you in a more direct cognitive manner.”

Koblin’s talent is quantified through his famed curation of data. And yet, perhaps with a touch of perversity (or just humility), he doesn’t actually think much of his maths skills. His computing skills on the other hand really shine when it comes to sifting through and processing the acres of information he is faced with at each turn.

“It’s kind of about getting a balance. It doesn’t take a lot of data before it’s beyond the grasp of the human mind that’s unaided by the power of human technology. And at that point it becomes the relationship of how good your algorithms and techniques are versus how big the data set is. I think you can have a ridiculously enormous and complex data set but if you have the right tools and methodology then that’s not a problem. The real trick is filtering and figuring out where the noise is and what’s important and what’s not.”

And, as an artist, how does he figure out what is important for him to focus on? “I think it’s personal interest. If it seems like it’s a data set that’s going to tell an amazing story or have a relationship to something that I think is intriguing and relate to our lives and something important then I’ll probably be interested by it. There’s definitely also an aspect of the data itself whether it’s actually granular and rich and going to lead to something beautiful. I guess it’s a little bit like, depending on the project, a landscape: whether it is intrinsically beautiful or if it’s already boiled down and drab.”

And if this is the case, then it’s pretty important not to let the data get the better of you. “Not getting attached is a valuable thing too,” he says, “Because it can drag you down quickly. If you get attached to the legacy of the production that can be a painful thing so it’s better just to be honest with yourself as to what’s interesting, what’s working, to keep refining, moving on and not to be afraid to start over.”

So it turns out that instead of just “a bit of a mix between art and technology” we can add to the list - computer expert, music enthusiast, curator, social commentator, internationally acclaimed artist, public speaker, investigative inquisitor and all round nice guy. And even with all of that we’re still selling him short.

To read more interviews with inspiring individuals who are shaping how we live, head over to the Profile section of the Protein OS:

http://prote. in/profi le/aaron-koblin

Aaron KoblinSubmitted by W i l l Rowe + Gig i Barker

Profile

“The real trick is filtering and figuring out where the noise is and what’s important and what’s not.”

“Music and visual arts can complement themselves nicely. They do different things - the music forces you into a different mood and mindset whilst the visual stuff can engage you in a more direct cognitive manner.”

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Parsnip, Brown Shrimp and Clementine. Mackerel, Cucumber and Kohlrabi. Goose, Jerusalem Artichoke and Pear Stickelton. Apple, Cider and Christmas Pudding. Welcome to the delicious world of Ben Greeno. And if all of this doesn’t make your mouth water, then it’s doubtful anything will.

He began his whirlwind career as a chef at the restaurant 21 Queen Street in his hometown of Newcastle, followed by a move to Nottingham’s Michelin-starred restaurant Sat Bains, as a sous chef. But after several years abroad and now finally back on his home turf, this time around he isn’t working in the shadow of anyone else.

Greeno is part of a new generation of chefs – and a new generation of chefs requires a new generation of diners. So instead of focusing on the traditional restaurant format, he’s turned whole-heartedly to a more timely dining format – namely the supper club. First with The Loft Project, then Tudor Road, and lately the Young Turks. Through all of these, his aim remains to appeal to “young people who want to go out and eat, who don’t want to spend a fortune but want to enjoy something a little different.” Banish from your mind the type of supper club that serves up a bog standard bowl of SpaghettiOs you could’ve ‘cooked’ better from the comfort of your own home.

Joined by Isaac McHale from Elliots and James Lowe of Fergus Henderson’s St John Bread & Wine, Young Turks is the embodiment of this attitude, with chefs collaborating rather than competing.

As a means of operation, supper clubs have always been, at least in theory, shrouded in mystery and fuelled by word-of-mouth. In this instance, though, that mouth happens to be the blogosphere – giving anyone with a decent amount of interest and a computer relatively easy access. “As stupid as it sounds, it’s pretty much [promoted] itself, through other people’s blogs.” And this goes both ways, becoming fuel for the chef himself. “I’m constantly looking at food websites from all over the world,” he says. “I look at a lot of supper club sites and most of them are doing things in a different style to what I do.”

And this style he talks about? “There is a strong European influence as I was in Denmark for four and a half years – and now there’s a slight Asian influence as well. Being in the middle of London has really

broadened my horizons.” With Tudor Road located a stone’s throw from the Vietnamese delicacies of the Kingsland Road, it’s an influence that might not have been predictable before his arrival but is undeniably very welcome. Still, it is clearly self-evident in his ingredients that his stint in Denmark had a profound impact, especially when you then consider that this time was spent first at Kommandanten, then Noma, The Paul and finally chef de partie at MR.

It’s another characteristic of supper clubs that they create a sense of intimacy for their attendees. By allowing visitors into their homes, and quite often into their kitchens, supper club chefs establish a natural rapport with their audience. And with all the current debate over ‘urban versus rural’ and ‘global versus local’ within both food and wider culture, it provides a way of not only addressing such issues but also bringing them to life. And Greeno does so with his culinary finger very much on the pulse: “A big trend at the moment is getting into eating vegetables as the main ingredient rather than a big piece of meat. I always do one vegetable course but I wish I could get away with more.”

And what are the chef’s other top predictions to watch out for? “There are a lot of urban orchards and gardens in London and it’s only going to get bigger and bigger. I’ve just been reading about a project in New York, which uses its roof top space as a garden, they grow a lot of their produce and even keep bees. They’re knocking out really good pizzas and modern food whilst being on their way to self-sustainability. Somewhere like that in London would be amazing.”

With his next project yet to be revealed, let’s hope for all our sakes that the Ben Greeno intends to keep some stake back here in Blighty. We’ve become accustomed to his food and unique approach, and are waiting to see where the next culinary step takes him.

To read more interviews with inspiring individuals who are shaping how we live, head over to the Profile section of the Protein OS:

http://prote. in/profi le/ben-greeno

Ben GreenoSubmitted by Gig i Barker

Profile

“There are a lot of urban orchards and gardens in London and that’s something that’s only going to get bigger here.”

“There is a strong European influence [to my cooking] as I was in Denmark for four and a half years – and now there’s a slight Asian influence as well. Being in the middle of London has really broadened my horizons.”


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Issue #04

Data

Well-Formed EigenfactorSubmitted by Prote in

Designer Moritz Stefaner works on the crossroads of data visualization and information aesthetics. With a background in Cognitive Science and Interface Design, his work beautifully balances both the analytical and aesthetic aspects of mapping complex phenomena.

His work with The Eigenfactor Project analyses the flow of scientific ideas. Turning a mass of scientific journal data into information-aesthetic visualizations, and mapping science from the perspective of information flow.

The elegant graphic displays approximately 60,000,000 citations from almost 8,000 journals over the past decade. The four colours represent the main groupings of journals, which are then subdivided into

fields in the outer ring. The inner ring represents the individual journals scaled by the Eigenfactor Score - essentially an influence score or Google PageRank equivalent for science journals.

The first image displays all citation flow, both in and out, from the journal Nature over this period, with line colour based on the colour of its origin group. The opposite image plots the flow of the top 1,000 citation links over the decade, with line size and opacity illustrating the strength of connection.

http://well-formed.eigenfactor.org

http://moritz.stefaner.eu

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