Defining 'Digital': a thing and a way
+ the place where AR, VR, NFTs (and probably other acronyms) meet.
My iPhone can be really stupid. Every time I get on the train it locks down and asks me ‘Are you driving?’.
And when driving in the Central African Republic (CAR) on a very bumpy mud road for four hours, my iPhone health app claimed I’d walked more than 30,000 steps. Its poor sensors couldn’t differentiate between the bumps it felt in the road and actual foot steps.
Stupid iPhone? Or just tech that’s got some catching up to do, but in general is already scarily impressive…
This is all by way of an intro to this edition of Digital Wisdom from me, your sleep-deprived* scribe, Andrew Horton.
It’s going to be an eclectic mix of ‘things I’ve found interesting, and I hope you do to’.
First up, I’ve been listening again to the Digital Marketing Institute’s podcast called Ahead of the Game, which I highly recommend if you’re into digital marketing, futurism, digital culture etc.
I heard an interesting discussion with someone called Jason Jercinovic, who is Head of Digital at North Highland, a business transformation agency. He was talking about emerging tech in marketing.
I’ve heard and read lots on how you define ‘digital’ today. Is it just ones and noughts, or is it more that that? Spoiler: it’s more.
Digital is both ‘a thing’ (technology) and ‘a way’ (a modern adaptive system of working)” says Jason. ‘We make meaningful digital evolution happen through the transformation of workforce, customer, and operational processes – with technology sitting at the core.’
Isn’t that a great definition? I thought so. It’s a bit Karate Kid too… ‘a thing… and a way, sensei'.’
Perhaps a helpful phrase to use the next time you’re trying to explain digital to your exec team or senior leaders.
Next up: the metaverse. There have been some very interesting developments in the last month or so, notably Facebook’s rebrand to Meta its solid bet on the take up of the metaverse.
The metaverse is being called the ‘future of the internet’ and Wired mag explains it as a coming together of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), NFTs etc. But it says there’s even more to it:
‘It also translates to a digital economy, where users can create, buy, and sell goods. And, in the more idealistic visions of the metaverse, it's interoperable, allowing you to take virtual items like clothes or cars from one platform to another. In the real world, you can buy a shirt from the mall and then wear it to a movie theater. Right now, most platforms have virtual identities, avatars, and inventories that are tied to just one platform, but a metaverse might allow you to create a persona that you can take everywhere as easily as you can copy your profile picture from one social network to another.’ Wired.com
Here’s an interview which Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg gave to Gary Vaynerchuk about the rise of the metaverse. It’s worth your time to give it a watch, despite the interview being a little disjointed.
If you managed to see it and have a thought on it, drop me a comment below. I think it’s really fascinating and scarily impressive.
OK, that’s all for now folks.
*I mentioned above that I’m pretty sleep deprived. My wife and I have two little boys and… let’s just say… they need some attention at different times of the night.
Thanks for reading, and please do share with any others you think would find this newsletter/blog interesting.
Take care, and keep out of Omicron’s way!
Andrew.