This week on Spark’s regular, over-the-air radio broadcast, you’ll hear Spark 151: Bee Furniture, Fan Subbing and The Smartphone Wallet which first aired back in June 2011. But you won’t hear Spark 151 this week on the podcast, because we’ve promised no more podcast repeats. We’ll be back with a brand-new episode of Spark next week, on March 4.
In the meantime, you can listen to the original broadcast of the whole show below (runs 54:00).
Play audio:
You can also listen to individual stories below.
Making Our Money Mobile
The launch of Google Wallet in the U.S has got us thinking about mobile money again, the idea of using your smartphone to pay for things – no cash, no plastic. This may be a new idea for the western world, but mobile money systems are already operating in other parts of the world where cell phones are the way to pay for goods and services. A couple of months ago we took a look at the already functioning system of M-Pesa in Kenya, and had David Schropfer on the show to talk about the prospect of it ever becoming a reality here. David is the author of The Smartphone Wallet – Understanding the Disruption Ahead, and in light of the latest developments, we decided to call him up again on Skype. (Runs 13:51)
Play audio:
- Google Wallet
- David Schropfer
- The Smartphone Wallet – Understanding the Disruption Ahead
- Full uncut version of interview with David Schropfer
- Spark 139: Kaj Hasselriis on Mobile Money in Kenya, and David Schropfer on if it could catch on in Canada
- Spark 130: Femi Akinde on African E-commerce
Inter-species Collaboration
These days we see all kinds of human-machine collaboration around us. But how about a little inter-species collaboration? That’s what Canadian concept designer Vanessa Harden’s been thinking about. Vanessa is currently in London, England developing a new design process that fosters a collaboration between honeybees and humans to create bespoke furnishings. Yup, right now in London, bees are working with humans to make furniture. Vanessa, along with project co-designer Kevin Hill and beekeeper Angela Dougall, take Nora on a tour of their project. (Runs 9:21)
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The Art and Commerce of Fan Love
What happens when you bring together the internet, a niche international fan base, and an obscure German soap opera? Quite possibly, the future of television. Hand aufs Herz fan Clare Lawlor and digital strategist Xiaochang Li tell us all about the world of fan subbers – people who painstakingly do their own translations and subtitles on programs they love, and then put them up on the Web on places like YouTube. It sounds harmless and probably good for publicity, right? Well, the broadcasters aren’t always so keen. Copyright, dontcha know. But could it make good business sense to allow your fans to do it? (Runs 16:14)
Play audio:
- Hand aufs Herz
- Jemma International (where you can find the transcripts)
- Jenny and Emma International (where you find the subtitles)
- SAT1′s official Jemma page (where you find the broadcaster’s clips)
- More on the Jemma storyline at afterellen.com
- Xiaochang Li’s blog
The Domino Project
Author and entrepreneur Seth Godin is known for harnessing the disruptive power of the internet. Now, he has set his sights on publishing. His latest venture is called The Domino Project, and the model is simple: get rid of the middlemen, and try to create direct connections between authors and readers. That means publishing books without the help of agents, publicists, or even bookstores, and working with tight turnaround times and very little capital. (Runs 9:19)
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Hi spark folk:
I bet you got comments about Aganetha Dyck the first time you aired the 'interspecies collaboration' with bees piece.
Aganetha has been working with bees for 10-15 years. Here's at fairly recent Canadian Art article about her: http://www.canadianart.ca/online/see-it/2009/09/0… & a blog with good visuals of her work: http://acidolatte.blogspot.com/2009/09/aganetha-d…
Enjoy.
Hi Lesley, thanks for sharing! We’re familiar with Aganetha Dyck’s work, and when the show re-aired this weekend Nora mentioned her as well. So cool to see how artists are collaborating with bees in different ways.
! had the pleasure of seeing Aganetha Dyck's collaboration with bees show at the Mendle Gallery in Saskatoon years ago. It was magical …handbags ,shoes, mundaine objects transformed into art. As a fellow artist we talked about the intimate and unpretentious beauty of the work…very much the quality of bees.
I saw a show of hers at the Winnipeg Art Gallery years ago. She had an amazing wedding dress collaboration with bees. There was a tube that went up to the roof of the WAG, if memory serves, so the bees could come and go about their bee business.
Do bees have consciousness, do they know what they're doing, do they have feelings and intentions? Do they experience love, and grief, and happiness? Can bees make art?