The “Internet of Things” is one of our favorite ideas here at Undercurrent. Kevin Ashton coined the term in 1999 to describe a system of networked physical items that feed data back in the system about where they are and what state they’re in. It promises a world of smart objects that we’re slowly coming to realize. Two interesting new projects caught my eye over the weekend that move us closer to realizing this dream.  Read more

The triumph of digital is practically complete. Now is a moment when digital competency – or the knowledge, know-how, and understanding necessary to make effective moves in the contemporary era – has moved beyond specialized organizational pockets and boutiques and is moving throughout entire organizations. The spread of this knowledge is not complete by any means, but our clients today are, by leaps and bounds, better prepared and more knowledgeable about how to navigate the landscape and confront the changes to business and culture that digital tools have wrought.

This triumph of digital means more than knowing how to make the most out of social media or whether to let personal devices onto your IT system. As Aaron points out in his letter commemorating Undercurrent’s fifth anniversary, digital has moved beyond status as a set of tools or platform-specific solutions to problems. “Digital isn’t a place,” he writes, “It’s not even a pace. It’s an operating system. A method of dealing with the most complex and rapidly changing dynamics we’ve ever experienced.” Approaching problems from a digital worldview requires more than creating new tools to solve problems. It requires designing systems that respond to the ways our assumptions, behaviors, practices, sensibilities, expectations, and processes of meaning making have changed. Read more

We’re back again with Make-A-Chart Friday. Everyone can play. The rules are simple: make a chart. Tell someone at UC about it on Twitter or via email. We’ll upload it here and link out to you. It’s fun. Read more

We’ve been publishing daily here since early February. Today, we thought we’d take the opportunity to point out some of the best pieces we’ve published, giving you a second chance to catch up on some of our best thinking. Read more

Last summer we spent a bit of time looking at the devices and media people used during their commute. Today, we thought we’d share some a few of those data points as a snapshot into what happens while people commute. Not surprisingly, we found that digital devices made up the bulk of the mediums people engaged with during their commute.  Read more