You can also listen to individual stories below.

Additional Links

• Nora mentioned this site about bundling ebooks
• Main page photo by The Noun Project

Podcasts

Humans have long loved using symbols to represent common concepts. But as visual communication becomes even more common in our digital lives, can there be a standardized system of icons that are understood regardless of culture and geography? Edward Boatman thinks so. Over the past year or so, he’s developed The Noun Project, a free online library of icons for every noun and concept.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 16:56]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

Recently, I was invited out to beautiful Victoria, B.C., to attend Transmission Global Summit, a conference on the future of the entertainment industry in a digital world. While I was there, I did an on-stage interview with Angel Gambino. Angel is a serial entrepreneur with a history in digital media, from BBC to MTV to Bebo. Currently she is an advisor to wireless music system manufacturer, Sonos. I wanted to talk to her about another project, though. Angel is co-founder of Rosa Parks, an ambitious plan to re-invigorate the Corktown neighbourhood in her native Detroit (the first building they purchased is on Rosa Parks Blvd in Corktown) Angel and I talked about what it takes to create a creative hub in an area, and what physical communities can learn from online community-building.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 33:38]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Those interested in exploring more about creative clusters and how physical spaces can be re-energized might want to check out Spark’s special on Building Creative Hubs, and my full interview with Mark Surman on the topic.

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 15:53]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you enjoy this interview, you may also want to check out my interview with Fernanda Viegas on the Many Eyes project.

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

You can also listen to individual stories below.

Additional Links

• APM music used in this episode
• Main page photo by harakiri

Podcasts

Making wearable computers? A booster for your iPhone made out of a mint box? It doesn’t get more DIY than this. Limor Fried is the founder an lead engineer at Adafruit Industries. She’s one of the leading forces behind the maker movement – people who like to alter technology to better it, or make electronics at home from scratch. And she’s particularly interested in making hardware that is open source.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 19:30]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

Hey I’m Andrew and I’m hanging out at Spark for a couple of weeks. And I need your assistance. I promise, I’m not asking for money, nor am I a Nigerian prince. I’m simply a music lover in distress.

At the start of 2012 I gave myself a goal to to discover a new band/musician/composer/ensemble every day for the rest of this year. I’ve been trying hard since then to follow through, with mixed success. My criteria is that if I was sitting in a bar, and this band comes on stage, would I stay for the whole set? If the answer is yes, they go on the list. If the answer is no, I move on and find another band.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the internet is big and there are a lot of songs on it. Lots of songs means lots of crap. Lots of crap means Andrew’s spending a lot of time searching for bands fit for the list.

Sure, there are many websites to help. You’ve got Pitchfork, NME, the Guardian’s band for a day page and loads of blogs, online radio stations and the like. But after searching these pages, I’ve noticed something. In the quest for finding the next big thing, they’ll write about anyone and their banjo. Music overload. When one of these sites does happen to stumble across something really great, the other sites jump on it days later (just search “Devin Therriault” as an example). This ocean’s one thousand miles wide and about an inch deep. What’s a new music hound to do?

There are a few notable exceptions, and one I want to highlight here. Laurie Brown’s Radio 2 program The Signal is, in my not so humble opinion, one of the greatest show on the FM dial or online when it comes to new music. If you haven’t, check it out.

So here’s where I need your help [Webmaster’s note: FINALLY!]. I want you to let me know if you have the same problem I do. Do you find it difficult to find new bands? Where do you go for new music? Get lost in the online music world? Also, I lied. I am a Nigerian prince, and I want to share my vast wealth. All you need to do is let me know the names of some new bands I can add to my list, and I’ll wire the cash to your bank account. [Webmaster’s note: Andrew is not a Nigerian prince. He’s a radio producer.]

You can also listen to individual stories below.

Podcasts

We recently heard about a new initiative called the “Cool Japan” project. Run by the Japanese government, the idea is to have leading creative lights in Japan post questions or problems to a site called Mazer, and crowdsource the answers. The winning ideas will be bid on by businesses to make them a reality. It made us wonder how far an idea like this could go. What could this mean for the future of problem solving? Nora speaks with digital culture writer Don Tapscott about whether Mazer could be a bellwether for how governments and citizens build the economy or design public policy.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3. [runs 17:00]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]

Rebecca MacKinnon is an Internet policy researcher, and co-founder of Global Voices, the international blogger network. She’s also formerly CNN’s Bureau Chief in Beijing and Tokyo. Her brand new book is called Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. She argues that just as democracies have ‘consent of the governed’ so the Internet requires that private corporations and governments have ‘consent of the networked’.

You can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? It’s a podcast feed full of additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]